The Oakland, California, City Council unanimously approved a new ordinance Tuesday that will prevent landlords from looking into the criminal history of applicants for rental housing. A subsequent vote next month will allow the measure to take effect. The new rental protections for ex-convicts will be the strictest in California to date; previously, San Francisco [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases Tuesday. The two cases cover the application of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) and the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (known as the New York Convention). In the first case, Shular v. United States, a Florida man was convicted [...]

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO), an agency tasked with auditing the federal government and the legality of its activities, found Thursday that the freeze on military aid to Ukraine that has been at the center of impeachment proceedings into President Donald Trump was unlawful. The agency’s analysis found that when the Office of Management [...]

In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, France, Germany and the UK described their disappointment with Iran’s move to cease complying with the nuclear deal agreed in 2015, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA). Following Article 36 of the JPCOA, the three European countries will now formally refer the issue to the [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg issued a lengthy ruling on Tuesday finding that Russia violated treaty provisions requiring fair trials for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev under the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned the well-known former oil executives who had butted heads with Russian President [...]

The head of the criminal division of Spain’s Supreme Court sent a letter to the EU Parliament on Thursday stating that the 13-year prison sentence for Oriol Junqueras, a Catalan independence leader, would bar him from sitting in the EU parliament. Junqueras was convicted of sedition and misuse of funds last October for his role [...]

By a vote of 330-231 on Thursday, the UK House of Commons approved the latest iteration of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s legislation regarding leaving the EU. The vote paves the way for the bill to pass to the House of Lords. Upon approval there, the UK’s departure will be set to be final by the [...]

In a supplemental sentencing memo filed on Tuesday, US Justice Department prosecutors amended their request for leniency for former national security advisor to Donald Trump, Michael Flynn, instead seeking prison time. Previously, the prosecutors had been open to a sentence of probation for Flynn, who in 2017 pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators about [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday ordered challengers to the Affordable Care Act to provide a quick response to their opponents’ motion to expedite the court’s consideration of the case. They must file their response by this Friday at 4 PM. The challengers, the Trump administration and a group of state attorneys general, won a [...]

The regional court of Frankfurt am Main in Germany issued a ruling Thursday banning the ride-hailing service Uber throughout the country. The case had been brought by a taxi association alleging that Uber and its drivers violated regulations governing transport orders. To operate as it does, the court held, Uber would need to be licensed [...]