US Senate Democrats failed Wednesday to change filibuster rules and pass voting rights legislation. HR 5746, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act narrowly passed in the House of Representatives last week by 220-203 votes, but the Senate defeat had been expected. The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act would have made significant [...]

A judge for the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Puerto Rico Tuesday gave final approval to a plan for Puerto Rico to exit bankruptcy after nearly five years. The restructuring plan, signed by Judge Laura Taylor Swain, marks the largest public-sector debt restructuring deal in US history, reducing the island territory’s debt by [...]

The US Supreme Court Tuesday turned away a dispute over a city’s refusal to grant a property tax exemption to a church, drawing a sharp dissent from Justice Neil Gorsuch. In Trustees of the New Life in Christ Church v. City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, the court had been asked to decide whether the city violated [...]

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a bill Thursday guaranteeing abortion rights in the state. Murphy also signed legislation to expand contraception coverage under private insurance and Medicaid. The new legislation comes amid concerns that the US Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving it up to individual states to regulate abortion. The court [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia Tuesday blocked a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all employees of federal government contractors. US President Joe Biden had signed Executive Order 14042 in September, requiring all contractors that work with the US government to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Several states immediately challenged [...]

As part of the continued expansion of JURIST’s global legal news coverage, JURIST launched a section dedicated to long-form journalism and explainers on Wednesday. JURIST’s new Features section will dive deeper into the enduring legal issues of our time, providing nuanced perspectives and insights from newsmakers and others at the frontlines. Explainers will serve as [...]

The High Court of the Indian capital of New Delhi directed police Wednesday to register First Information Reports (FIR) against political leaders for provocative speeches inciting violence in the city. It ordered the police commissioner to watch video clips of inflammatory statements by political leaders and lodge FIRs. In India, an FIR is a written [...]

Nepal’s law ministry has prepared a draft bill to “domesticate the Geneva Conventions with the objective of removing the gap in the domestic legal system,” a ministry official was reported to have said on Monday. “The new bill proposes imprisonment till death for serious violations of the provisions of Geneva Conventions that deal with the [...]

A three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday sent a case accusing President Donald Trump of violating the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution back to the lower court. In its order, the appeals court rejected the Department of Justice’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought [...]

The US Supreme Court added 13 cases to its docket for the October 2019 term Friday, including three cases challenging the Trump administration’s decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protected undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children from deportation. The court also denied review of an Alabama [...]