US federal court hears arguments in case that could overturn LGBTQ employment protections
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Tuesday held oral arguments in Braidwood Management v. EEOC. The case is a class-action lawsuit filed by a for-profit wellness business and a church. The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory judgment that the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) allow employment policies that [...]
Guantanamo Bay detainee released after 16 years imprisonment
The US Department of Defense (DoD) Thursday confirmed the release from Guantanamo Bay of Majid Khan, a former money courier for al-Qaeda. The release follows a transfer agreement between the US and Belize. The deal, which will see the Central American country of Belize house Khan within its borders, is the first of its kind [...]
The US Department of the Treasury announced Thursday that it and the Turkish government have identified and frozen the assets of a “key financial facilitation network” based in Mersin, Turkey. The asset freeze targeted four individuals and two entities in Turkey that were accused of assisting ISIS with transferring funds between Iraq and Syria. The [...]
Recent concerns about leaks of US Supreme Court decisions and Justice Clarence Thomas’s refusal to recuse himself in a case that might involve connections to his wife, Virginia Thomas, have spurred calls for a code of ethics for US Supreme Court justices. Although the Judicial Conference of the United States promulgated a Code of Conduct [...]
For nearly a century, many progressives have seen the Constitution, and especially the Supreme Court, as allies in the effort to make our political and economic life more democratic. For a long time, this trust seemed warranted. The initially reactionary New Deal Court came to embrace the power of the national government to limit corporate [...]
DOJ charges Iraqi national in alleged plot to assassinate George W. Bush
The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force Tuesday arrested an Iraqi national charged with an alleged plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush. According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, 52-year-old Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab entered the US on a visitor visa in September 2020. Shihab then filed for asylum and US [...]
US Senate advances Jackson nomination following Judiciary Committee deadlock
The US Senate Monday voted to move Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination to the Senate Floor after the Judiciary Committee deadlocked along party lines. The deadlock is the first time the committee has split on a Supreme Court nominee since Justice Clarence Thomas was nominated by President George H. W. Bush over 30 [...]
“…Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space. These are our comrades, those dearest to us – not only colleagues, friends and people who once served together, but also relatives, people bound by blood, family ties.” — Address by the President [...]
Beat the Drum for War: Vladimir Putin Through a Middle Eastern and Arab Looking Glass
The Russian-Ukrainian crisis started to deteriorate in early 2021 when Ukraine arrested pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk on allegations of conspiring a coup d’etat, and Russia initiated military exercises near the Ukrainian border. Russia is the second-largest oil producer, trailing only the United States, and the third-leading oil exporter, behind Saudi Arabia and the United Arab [...]
Biden Administration's OSHA Vaccine Mandate: Judge Sutton's Dissent
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on December 17 in a bipartisan, 2-1 decision upheld OSHA’s vaccine-or-test requirements for the American workplace and lifted a stay previously put in place by the Fifth Circuit. Judge Jane Stranch, an Obama appointee, joined by Judge Julia Gibbons, appointed by George W. Bush, wrote that [...]
