Marissa Zupancic is JURIST’s Washington DC Correspondent, a JURIST Senior Editor and a 3L at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She’s stationed in Washington during her Semester in DC. Today I attended oral arguments at the US Supreme Court for Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. The case concerns whether the [...]
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Explainer: Supreme Court Prepares for Oral Arguments in Latest Reproductive Rights Case
The US Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday in a case concerning the authorization and regulation of the abortion pill mifepristone at a time when reproductive rights are at the heart of political division and changing policies across the nation. At the center of the case is the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine’s lawsuit against the Food [...]
Explainer: Unpacking SB 4, Texas's Controversial Border Security Legislation
In recent days, an unusual state border-security law has ricocheted back and forth between US federal courts, introducing novel questions of state and federal supremacy. Long disgruntled over the federal government’s perceived inadequate efforts to curb illegal immigration along its southern border, Texas enacted a state law that would enable it to take action in [...]
Georgia to go forward with first execution in more than 4 years after parole board denies clemency
The Georgia Parole Board denied clemency for inmate Willie James Pye on Tuesday, making him soon to be the first inmate executed in the state since 2020. Pye was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 after the murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbough, with whom he was involved in a relationship. During the clemency meeting [...]
US Supreme Court allows Texas law criminalizing illegal entry from abroad to go into effect
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a stay that prohibited the enforcement of a Texas law that criminalizes illegal entry into the state from other countries, allowing the law to go into effect. While Justice Samuel Alito indefinitely extended the stay Monday afternoon, he found himself among the six justices voting to lift the stay [...]
In the Halls of Brazil's Senate: Unpacking the Legacy of the US Constitution
To date, America’s greatest contribution to the world has been its Constitution. The importance of this document far surpasses such other cultural achievements as the Moon landing, the telephone, GPS, rubber vulcanization, and Henry Ford’s mass production lines. It is more important, even, than Gone With the Wind, and the hamburger — even though this [...]
DRC prosecutor requests 20 year jail sentence for journalist
A prosecutor in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) requested on Friday a 20-year sentence in prison for Stanis Bujakera, a journalist on trial for an article implicating military intelligence in the death of an opposition politician, Chérubin Okende. Bujakera was arrested last year on September 8 and is facing charges including spreading false information. Bujakera [...]
The US Supreme Court struck down Colorado’s attempt to bar Donald Trump from appearing on its election ballot on Monday. In a unanimous per curiam decision, the court reversed a Supreme Court of Colorado decision that barred the former president from seeking election in the state due to an alleged violation of Section 3 of [...]
US Supreme Court hears oral arguments on Trump-era bump stock ban
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on the legality of a Bureau of Alchohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rule that banned rapid-fire “bump stock.” The case is an appeal from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which struck down the rule. Throughout all the arguments, the justices wrestled with [...]
The Missouri Senate voted in favor of legislation Thursday that would make it more challenging to amend the state’s constitution. Essentially, the legislation imposes a higher threshold for ballot initiatives submitted to Missouri voters to succeed in passing constitutional amendments. The legislation, Senate Substitution (SS) No. 4, is a substitute for Senate Joint Resolutions (SJRs) [...]