US District Judge Mark Walker blocked the enforcement of a Florida law Wednesday that would have banned a transgender public school teacher from introducing themselves to students with their personal pronouns. The law, which went into effect in 2023, bans public school employees or contractors from providing to students a “preferred personal title or pronouns [...]
New York Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant invalidated Thursday the state’s laws regulating the marketing of recreational cannabis, clarifying a ruling that appeared to strike down all cannabis regulations as unconstitutionally vague. Judge Bryant criticized the regulatory process and chastised the New York State Office of Cannabis Management for failing to show that the regulations [...]
A New York judge denied a motion Wednesday to delay former US president Donald Trump’s falsified documents trial start date until after a US Supreme Court decision concerning presidential immunity is handed down. The case, New York v. Trump, accuses the former president of falsifying business records to conceal payments to adult film star Stormy [...]
A panel of federal judges in South Carolina issued an order Thursday reinstating a congressional map that was declared unconstitutional racial gerrymander in 2023 due to concerns that it would be impractical to adopt a new map so close to the 2024 election season. In their five-page opinion, the three-judge panel, all appointed by Democrat [...]
US federal prosecutors filed a complaint in a New York federal district court Wednesday seeking the forfeiture of two multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartments purchased by former Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold in connection to an alleged money laundering and corruption investigation. The investigation centers around contracts the Erdenet Mining Corporation, a state owned mining company, entered [...]
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected a challenge Thursday from tobacco companies that alleged a bill requiring graphic imagery on cigarette packaging and advertisements was a violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA) was enacted by [...]
Democratic Republic of Congo journalist Stanis Bujakera was freed from prison Tuesday after serving a six-month jail sentence for forgery and spreading false rumors for an article about a government intelligence agency’s involvement in the death of political opposition candidate Cherubin Okende. Bujakera’s lawyer Yana Ndikulu announced the news in a statement to the journalist’s employer [...]
The US Department of State imposed arms restrictions Thursday on the import or export of US-origin weapons and services from or to Nicaragua. In a statement to the press, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller cited “brutal repression” and “recent sham elections” as ongoing concerns for the Biden administration, vowing to continue to use “diplomatic and [...]
A federal district judge found the city of Flint, Michigan in contempt for its failure to finish the replacement of lead-contaminated pipes in the city’s water supply system according to a timeline laid out in a 2023 court order. The order, released Tuesday, granted a motion from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) which sought to [...]
The Delaware House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday requiring individuals who are seeking to purchase a handgun to first obtain permission from the state, in addition to undergoing fingerprinting and firearms training. The bill now awaits approval from the Delaware Senate before it becomes law. The bill also includes provisions on firearms resale and [...]