The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held Friday that public universities cannot compel professors to respect student pronoun preferences. Per the court, such speech is protected under the First Amendment, particularly if pronoun preferences go against a professor’s religious or philosophical beliefs. The case stemmed out of a dispute between Professor Nicholas [...]

The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Monday issued sanctions against two individuals and two entities associated with the Myanmar military. The sanctions are in response to the Burmese military’s ongoing crackdown against protestors in the wake of the military’s coup in January. In a statement, OFAC Director Andrea M. Gacki said, [...]

The US Department of Labor on Thursday proposed to withdraw a Trump-era rule making it easier for companies to classify employees as independent contractors. The rule was promulgated shortly before President Joe Biden’s inauguration but has not gone into effect yet. It was widely expected to be eliminated by the Biden administration, which expressed an intent [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California approved a $650 million settlement in a biometric privacy class action lawsuit against Facebook. The settlement is one of the largest ever for a privacy lawsuit and represents a major victory for data privacy advocates. The lawsuit originated in 2015 and was filed by [...]

Attorneys general from 17 US states sent a letter to congressional leaders Friday expressing support for a student loan debt forgiveness program up to $50,000. The letter, spearheaded by Maura Healey of Massachusetts and Letitia James of New York, is in support of Senate Resolution 46 and House Resolution 100. Both resolutions call on President [...]

The US Senate on Saturday voted 57-43 to acquit former President Donald Trump on an impeachment charge stemming from the deadly Capitol insurrection in early January. All fifty Senate Democrats and seven Republican Senators voted to convict Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors due to his alleged incitement of insurrection. But the final vote was [...]

The parents of a deceased amateur investor sued the financial trading app Robinhood Monday for the wrongful death of their son, Alex Kearns, who committed suicide last June mistakenly believing that he had lost $730,000 in a trade on the app. According to the lawsuit, Kearns’ last written words were, “How was a 20-year-old with [...]

Scotland’s Court of Session dismissed a case Friday suggesting that Scotland could hold another independence referendum without the approval of the UK. The case, brought by Martin Keatings, a staunch advocate for Scottish independence, was a long-shot effort to overturn the 2014 referendum, when Scots voted to stay in the UK by a 55-percent majority. [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed grave concern following a military coup d’état in Myanmar. Civilian political leaders, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, were among those detained in the military raids conducted hours before the parliament was to convene. Bachelet called Monday for their release. The army declared a state [...]

Marc Simon, the son of Sylvan and Bernice Simon, both of whom were killed in the 2018 Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh that killed eleven people and wounded six others, has sued firearms manufacturer Colt and the National Rifle Association (NRA) for their roles in radicalizing Robert Bowers, the indicted shooter. The novel 47-page [...]