US District Judge Cormac J. Carney sentenced 21-year-old Xavier Batten of Florida to 42 months in prison for conspiring to firebomb a Planned Parenthood clinic, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a statement Monday. The events leading to Batten’s sentence transpired in February and March of 2022. According to the DOJ’s statement, Batten [...]

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) released a 67-page report Tuesday detailing its findings from monitoring the 2022 US midterm election and showcasing strategies to combat racial inequality during upcoming election cycles. The report, entitled Democracy Defended, specifically focused on voter experiences in seven of the nation’s southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, [...]

The US Supreme Court Monday declined a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Black Lives Matter organizer DeRay Mckesson, effectively allowing him to be sued by a Louisiana police officer for negligence. The case at bar, DeRay Mckesson v. John Doe, centers around a protest that took place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July [...]

Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC) announced on Tuesday that it had reached a tentative settlement of $600 million in a class action lawsuit regarding the February 2023 freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. According to the NSC news release, the settlement “is designed to provide finality and flexibility for the class members.” Class members would [...]

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost admitted on Friday in a court filing that the state’s ban on most abortions is unconstitutional after voters passed an amendment to the Ohio Constitution in November 2023 enshrining access to abortion. The issue in the pending litigation is a law passed by the Ohio legislature and signed by former [...]

A federal judge in California dismissed Monday a lawsuit brought by X (formerly known as Twitter) against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit organization that researches digital hate speech and campaigns for social media reform. X, owned by Elon Musk, filed its suit in July 2023, alleging that by reporting instances of [...]

The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission released an opinion Tuesday criticizing Hungary’s recent sovereignty protection law as a potential threat to free discourse. In light of its analysis, the Venice Commission ultimately recommended that the law be repealed. The opinion centers around Hungary’s Act LXXXVIII on the Protection of National Sovereignty, adopted in December 2023. [...]

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) announced Tuesday a proposed emergency rule that would disallow the use of “X” as a substitute for male or female on state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. In its filing, the DRA asserted that the emergency rule is necessary for the Office of Driver Services (Office) to [...]

The US Supreme Court temporarily blocked Senate Bill (SB) 4 on Monday, a strict, new Texas immigration law criminalizing various immigration offenses. The Court’s order was in response to an administrative stay granted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Saturday, allowing the law to be enforced. The applicants, the [...]

Hungary’s parliament voted to ratify Sweden’s membership bid to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Monday, officially becoming the final NATO nation to approve of Sweden’s accession. As a result, Sweden is poised to become the thiry-second NATO member state upon formal invitation of NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Article 10 of the NATO Treaty [...]