The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has announced that it will release 8,000 inmates from prisons to prevent further COVID-19 spread in prison populations. The CDCR and Governor Gavin Newsom have agreed to release the prisoners despite earlier court rulings that held that California was under no legal obligation to do so. The [...]

The Supreme Court refused Friday to re-instate a federal district court order that extends Texas mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supreme Court released a brief statement announcing its denial. It also included a statement from Justice Sotomayor: This application raises weighty but seemingly novel questions regarding the Twenty-Sixth Amendment.  I do not disagree [...]

President Trump, on Friday, issued a new executive order to protect public monuments. Under the order, those who illegally remove or vandalize public monuments can face up to ten years in prison. The Attorney General was directed to collaborate with state officials to prosecute violators to the fullest extent of the law. Additionally, the order provides [...]

The US Court of Appeals for Third Circuit on Friday upheld revised rules regarding settlements for former National Football League (NFL) players with neurological damage from football concussions. Under the revised rules, the settlement provides the following for retired NFL players with neurological damage: The Baseline Assessment Program, which provides baseline neuropsychological and neurological examinations [...]

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a police reform bill into law Friday, banning police officers’ use of chokeholds. Additionally, the bill allows the Iowa Attorney General to investigate and prosecute officers for unlawful conduct, requires officers to have bias training and prohibits officers with previous misconduct charges from joining the force. Reynolds praised the Iowa [...]

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos over the new, finalized Title IX rule Thursday. Seventeen states and D.C. jointly filed in a D.C. federal court, while New York filed separately in the Southern District of New York. Both cases allege [...]

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that exempts importers from reporting products with mercury-containing components. The court concluded that such an exception works against the Toxic Substances Control Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2607(b)(10), which requires manufacturers to report products that contain mercury. The court was concerned that by [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Thursday denied the Trump administration’s request to continue Keystone XL Pipeline construction. This decision will delay pipeline construction until the Ninth Circuit renders its final decision. The Ninth Circuit’s denial follows after the Montana District Court revoked construction permits for the Keystone XL Pipeline in [...]

Italian magistrates placed Uber Italia under special administration Friday over food deliverer exploitation allegations, according to Reuters. Italian authorities have placed the company under special administration to investigate reports of underpaid food delivery workers. Anonymous sources allege that Uber paid over 1,000 deliverers only three euros per hour. The sources also allege that Uber paid [...]

The EU General Court rejected gas pipelines Nord Stream AG and Nord Stream 2 AG’s challenges to EU Directive 2019/692 on Wednesday. In May 2019 the EU passed Directive 2019/692, which requires that bundled gas pipelines owned by the same company running between member states (in this case Germany) and third countries (in this case [...]