The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday reversed its position in a key voting rights case that will be before the Supreme Court later this year. The DOJ confirmed its support for an Ohio maintenance tactic used to remove people from the voting rolls by filing an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court. [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Washington on Monday denied a motion for summary judgment filed by two psychologists who devised the torture techniques used on three former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prisoners, allowing the case to proceed to trial. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit [...]
Mauritania conducted a referendum on Saturday to abolish the senate and to change the national flag. President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz applauded the vote and and said the move to abolish the governing body would improve governance by introducing more local forms of lawmaking. Opposition to the president’s administration boycotted the vote and said that [...]
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City of Chicago sued the Trump administration Monday to stop the implementation of policies that would withhold federal funds from so-called “sanctuary cities.” The complaint claims that the the new policies would require Chicago to choose between individuals’ constitutional rights and funding for law enforcement. According to the complaint, the [...]
An inquiry conducted by the Myanmar government has found no crimes against humanity were committed during violent clashes in Rakhine state last year, Vice President Myint Swe said Sunday. Speaking to reporters at the release of the Rakhine Investigative Commission’s final report, Swe denied allegations of ethnic cleansing and gang rapes. He did concede that [...]
Nonreligious anti-abortion organizations must follow the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contraceptive mandate, ruled a split panel in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Friday. The court rejected Real Alternative Inc.’s argument that its religious beliefs should create a religious exemption and also that there was a substantial burden on the organization [...]
Increasing violence in the Kasai provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has become more ethnic-based, according to a report released Friday by a team of UN human rights investigators. The UN team based their findings on the interviews of 96 people who have fled the violent region, confirming that over the course [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) joined forces with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the National Immigration Law Center , and Jenner and Block, LLP on Thursday in filing a petition for mandamus and complaint for injunctive and declaratory relief against the US State Department for refusing to process immigrant visa applications of the 2017 US [...]
At a Department of Justice (DOJ) briefing on Friday Attorney General Jeff Sessions condemned the “staggering number of leaks” of “sensitive government information” and threatened to investigate and prosecute anyone who carries out such leaks in the future. Specifically, Sessions stated that the DOJ “will not hesitate to bring lawful and appropriate criminal charges against [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday overturned the murder conviction of a former Blackwater Worldwide security guard and ordered resentencing of three others for the killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2007 . Nicholas Slatten, a former Army sniper, was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to [...]
