Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) introduced a bill on Thursday “to protect transportation personnel and passengers from sexual assault and harassment.” The bill, known as the Stop Sexual Assault and Harassment in Transportation Act, would require that commercial airlines, railroads, ships, certain bus lines and other forms of “covered entities” have formal sexual assault and harassment [...]
Human Rights Watch reported on Friday that members of Burundi’s security forces and ruling party youth league “killed, raped, abducted, beat, and intimidated suspected opponents in the months leading up to a constitutional referendum.” The referendum on whether Burundi’s president, Pierre Nkurunziza, can hold office past the two-term limit (potentially allowing him to stay in [...]
The city of Pensacola, Florida, on Wednesday urged the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to overturn a lower court order to remove a 34-foot cross in Bayview Park because the cross violates the Establishment Clause. Pensacola argued both that the plaintiffs lack standing and that Pensacola’s actions are constitutional because the lower [...]
Davidson County state court chancery judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled on Wednesday that the removal of three statutes of Confederate generals in Memphis public parks did not violate state law. The Tennessee Heritage Protection Act prohibits the removal of monuments with historical significance from public property. However, the city sold the parks to a nonprofit, [...]
Judge Daniel Ottolia, of Riverside County Superior Court, ruled against California’s End of Life Option Act on Tuesday, which allowed physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients. The suit was brought by the Life Legal Defense Foundation , a Christian legal organization that opposes abortion and assisted suicide. Ottolia ruled that the End [...]
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed a bill on Tuesday that will ban conversion therapy from being practiced on LGBT minors. SB 1028 defines conversion therapy as “a practice or treatment by a mental health or child care practitioner that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” Conversion therapy is now defined as [...]
UN Special Rapporteur for the rights of indigneous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz , expressed concern Friday over Guatemala’s “discrimination and marginalisation” of the nation’s indigenous peoples. The statement came after Tauli-Corpuz’s 10-day visit to Guatemala, in which she witnessed indigenous peoples living in extreme poverty and being forcibly evicted from their homes. According to the statement, [...]
The California Senate approved a bill on Thursday that would limit evidence regarding a person’s immigration status to situations where it is relevant. Senate Bill 785 was introduced by state senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and assemblyperson Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) in February 2017. The bill reads in part, In a criminal action, evidence [...]
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari Monday in two cases dealing with the question of whether breaking into a mobile home or other "nonpermanent or mobile structure" constitutes a burglary under the Armed Career...
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) filed a lawsuit Friday against Donald Trump, Russia, Julian Assange, Wikileaks, and several Trump aids including Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort. The complaint, filed in the US District...
