UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein  said on Monday that he is concerned about the future of the UN because of the veto power held by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: Russia, the US, China, the UK and France.  Zeid told  journalists that he felt the permanent five were “running [...]

A panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit  on Tuesday vacated  a lower court’s decision dismissing a suit against the Department of Homeland Security  for confiscating photos of law enforcement officials at the border. The photos were taken by activist Christian Ramirez in 2010 on a pedestrian bridge near the US-Mexican border. Ramirez observed a [...]

Poland’s Supreme Court  ruled Thursday that Supreme Court judges can continue to sit on the court until the Court of Justice of the European Union  rules  on the laws passed by Poland which give the government more control over the judiciary. One law  passed  by Poland’s legislative branch last week would give politicians the ability to select justices. Another law [...]

The UK Supreme Court  ruled  Monday that in cases where a patient is in a permanent vegetative state , the patient may be taken off life support, including feeding tubes, without court approval if both the relatives and the doctors are in agreement. The UK Court of Protection will still issue a ruling in cases where the relatives and doctors [...]

The Minnesota Supreme Court  remanded  a 2015 class action lawsuit concerning racial and socio-economic segregation in Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools to the district court on Wednesday. The court of appeals had thrown the case out last year. The appellants, who are parents of Minnesota schoolchildren, alleged that the state violated the Education, Equal Protection and [...]

Iowa Judge Karen Romano  of the Polk County District Court  granted a temporary injunction  blocking portions of Iowa’s new voter identification law relating to absentee ballots. Romano filed the injunction Tuesday, which was made public Wednesday. The injunction halts the parts of House File 516 , which change the amount of time to cast an absentee ballot from 40 to 29 [...]

The Organization of American States  passed a resolution  on Wednesday denouncing violence in Nicaragua, particularly the violence committed against members of the Roman Catholic clergy and other protesters by the Nicaraguan government.  The resolution also advocated that the Nicaraguan government adopt an electoral calendar to strengthen democracy and participate in a national dialogue. Twenty-one member states approved  the [...]

The attorneys general for New York, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey filed a lawsuit  on Tuesday against the Trump administration’s $10,000 limit on the federal deduction for state and local taxes (SALT), alleging that it harms taxpayers and undermines state sovereignty. The suit alleges that taxpayers in the plaintiff states will not only be paying more [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois  ruled  Thursday that the court will not stop the extradition of former Lithuanian judge Neringa Venckiene. The charges stem from Venckiene’s allegations  that powerful Lithuanian officials were involved in a pedophile ring. The charges against her include stalking, disobeying a court order and assaulting a police [...]

US President Donald Trump  signed an executive order  on Tuesday that changes the hiring process for administrative law judges (ALJs).  The order allows agencies to appoint ALJs and exempts the candidates from the “competitive examination and competitive service selection procedures.” Previously ALJs were hired  from a general list of qualified candidates. Trump cited a recent Supreme Court decision , [...]