The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday restored all 82 nominees who were appointed to governmental positions by former governor Scott Walker in the lame-duck session following his campaign loss to Governor Tony Evers. The ruling follows a recent decision by the 3rd District of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, which stayed a lower court’s decision finding the appointments and legislation [...]
Hope Medical Group for Women, a Louisiana-based abortion clinic, filed a petition for certiorari Wednesday asking the US Supreme Court to strike down an Louisiana abortion law (Act 620) requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a hospital. Section (2)(a) of Act 620 requires that abortion providers: Have active admitting privileges at a hospital that is [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday that more than two years of decisions by Colonel Vance Spath, a military tribunal judge who formerly oversaw the case of Abd Al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Al-Nashiri, should be discarded because he failed to disclose his application to be an Immigration Judge in the Department [...]
The US Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a Deputy Attorney General nomination hearing Wednesday for Jeffrey Rosen, who currently serves as the Deputy Secretary of Transportation. In his testimony, Rosen highlighted several areas on which he would focus if confirmed. For example, we will work together to combat violent crime and the opioid epidemic ravaging our communities. [...]
The European Council agreed Wednesday to extend the deadline for the ratification of the Brexit withdrawal agreement until October 31. The extension comes after UK Prime Minister Theresa May sent a letter last week in which she requested the deadline be pushed back to May 22 pursuant to Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union. In [...]
The Canadian government proposed changes to its asylum laws Tuesday via a recently tabled omnibus budget bill. If approved, the omnibus bill would include provisions to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that would prevent refugees from seeking asylum in Canada if they have made asylum claims in other countries. Division 16 of Part 4 [...]
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled Wednesday that a consent decree allowing Highmark members in-network access to UPMC facilities in Western Pennsylvania will end June 30. The ruling comes after UPMC filed a motion to dismiss in response to a petition filed in February by Pennsylvania Attorney General (OAG) Josh Shapiro. In the petition, Shapiro alleged that UPMC shirked its duties [...]
Judge William Alsup of the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday ordered Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to stop paying dividends to shareholders and instead direct those funds toward vegetation management. PG&E is accused of starting California wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire, because of the company’s failure to properly maintain its power lines [...]
Hong Kong amended the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance (FOO) and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance (MLAO) Monday to include arrangements that would allow for extradition to Macau, Taiwan and mainland China on a case-by-case basis. The revised ordinances aim to close a loophole exposed by a recent murder investigation in Taiwan. In February of last year, a Hong Kong man [...]
The US District Court for the District of Colorado held Wednesday that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to take a hard look at the reasonably foreseeable impact of certain aspects of the Bull Mountain Master Development Plan. The Bull Mountain Master Development Plan approved the development of 146 [...]
