The US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday ordered Trump administration officials to stop threatening investigation and prosecution against state and local election officials who do not comply with federal election demands. The temporary restraining order, issued less than a week before the 2026 US midterm elections, lasts for 14 days. [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to require California election officials to set aside mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters whose citizenship federal officials questioned. The 2-1 ruling denied an injunction pending appeal. The majority concluded that the Department of Justice (DOJ) [...]
The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights stated Friday that states and businesses must ensure that their corporate governance standards respect human rights and that these rights are integrated at every stage of corporate activity, including decision-making and regular operations, in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles). [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday warned escalating Houthi military efforts in and around the city of Taizz have cut off civilian access to life necessities and humanitarian aid. “Renewed efforts by the Houthis to cut off food, water, and medicine to Taizz show their utter disregard for civilian lives,” Niku Jafarnia, HRW Yemen and [...]
In a filing before the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) stated that FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel will not serve as poll monitors during the 2026 midterm elections. Eric Neff, acting chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division [...]
US civil rights organizations filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s “Unlawful Voter Initiative,” days ahead of midterm elections. The plaintiff organizations, which include the ACLU Voting Rights Project, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, and Common Cause, filed the suit in the US District Court for the Northern District of [...]
The United States Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in federal district court against the Anne Arundel County Board of Education alleging that the Maryland county’s school district’s policy on gender identity and expression violates federal law. Specifically, the department claims that the school district’s policy perpetuates “secretly gender transitioning” students without parental consent [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) concluded Wednesday that Rio de Janeiro police obstructed their body cameras during a 2025 raid that killed 122 people, and that none of the footage it reviewed shows the killings. The year-long investigation found that police breached orders from Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court and their own protocols during Operation Containment, carried out October 28, 2025, in the [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency application to reinstate a 2024 federal regulation that allowed immigration judges to temporarily pause deportation proceedings through a practice known as administrative closure. In a one-sentence unsigned order in City of Baltimore v. Texas with no noted dissents, the Court left in place a June 22 [...]
The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Tuesday that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases reached record highs in 2025—another portent of global warming, which increases the frequency of extreme weather events and associated risks to societies and economies. WMO deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett stated: “The past 11 years have [...]
