The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to challenge Michigan’s practice of permitting state-contracted and tax-funded child placement agencies to use religious criteria reject qualified prospective parents based on sexual orientation. The complaint, filed against Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Director Nick Lyon and Michigan Children’s [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Maine and Planned Parenthood on Wednesday challenged a Maine law requiring abortions to be performed by a physician. 22 MRS §1598 reads “Any person not so licensed who knowingly performs an abortion on another person or any person who knowingly assists a nonlicensed person to perform [...]

A judge for the UK’s Court of Protection ruled Wednesday that there is no obligation for judicial consent to end care of patients in a permanent vegetative state. Justice Peter Jackson of the High Court Family Division oversaw proceedings on patient M, a woman who had been on an End of Life Care Plan since [...]

Numerous raids on government and corporate headquarters in the Catalonia region of Spain, which includes the city of Barcelona and has a population around 7.5 million, have led to widespread protesting and increasing tension between police and civilians. The conflicts come as an October 1 vote for independence in the region, a vote the Spanish [...]

British Prime Minister Theresa May told the UN General Assembly Wednesday that Internet companies must increase efforts to remove terrorist content from their online sites to prevent widespread distribution. While May acknowledged the efforts made thus far, she highlighted increasing efforts from terrorist groups to disseminate propaganda in a quicker fashion. May has urged companies [...]

The UN opened a treaty for signature on Wednesday prohibiting a wide range of nuclear weapon-related actions. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted during a UN conference in July by a vote of 122 to 1. The treaty acknowledges the risks of nuclear warfare and calls for the total elimination of [...]

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that evidence of a field sobriety test is not conclusive evidence of driving under the influence of marijuana. The court found that although there is clear scientific evidence that the field sobriety test performance can be used to measure blood alcohol content of at least 0.08 percent, no [...]

Wisconsin’s Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the state’s right-to-work law, stating that the law does not violate the constitution. The right-to-work law prohibits requiring non-union members to pay union dues as a condition of employment. Challengers of the law claimed that it amounts to a taking without just compensation for the unions, who still [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday blocked a 2015 San Fransisco ordinance that mandated health warnings on advertisements for soda and other sugary drinks. The beverage industry sued San Francisco in July 2015, seeking injunctive relief to prevent the implementation of the ordinance, which was set to go into effect [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by more than 100 Seattle police officers who claimed the city’s new guidelines on using force jeopardized their safety, ruling that the officers’ claims were unsubstantiated by the Constitution. In the opinion, the court stated: The City of Seattle has [...]