On September 17, 2018, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly (99-1) in support of the Opioid Crisis Response Act (OCRA) of 2018. OCRA proposes a series of measures addressing the devastating, long-term impacts of opioid addiction and abuse nationally. Building on efforts previously authorized in 2016 via the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) and the [...]
As the world turns inward, nationalistic perspectives are on the rise. It feels like 1930, where the international order laid out in the Versailles Treaty, was about to be turned upside down. Today, something terrible is lurking around the corner, sitting in the shadows of anarchy and fascism. The rule of law tentatively steps forward [...]
The Scottish Court of Session , Scotland’s Supreme Court for civil matters, said Friday that a question of Britain’s ability to revoke the Brexit plan upon its inability to agree posed by anti-Brexit advocates is one for the EU. Article 50 of the Treaty on EU provides the protocol for how a member state may [...]
Amnesty International UK blamed the Venezuelan government under President Nicolás Maduro for the “worst human rights crisis in its history” in a report published on Thursday. The study highlights human rights abuses that Amnesty condemns as showing a disregard for human life. Among the most poignant statistics are that 22 percent of homicides committed in 2016 [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Minnesota ruled Friday that a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that bans discrimination in health care based on sex includes transgender and gender non-conforming people. Plaintiffs Brittany Tovar and Reid Olsen brought suit against health care providers Essentia Health and Innovis Health over “health care [...]
California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1884 on Thursday banning full service restaurants from automatically providing customers with plastic single-use straws for beverages. The bill allows restaurants to provide customers with plastic straws only on request by the customer. After notice of violation upon a third violation of the statute, restaurants are fined $25 [...]
The Eastern High Court of appeals in Denmark on Friday upheld a decision that a Rwandan native and Danish national since 2014 can be extradited to face trial for crimes against humanity. Wenceslas Twagirayezu is suspected of committing crimes against humanity in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Twagirayezu was arrested in May 2017 . In a [...]
Governor Ralph Torres of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on Friday signed HB 20-178 to legalize marijuana. In particular, the bill allows a person who is 21 or older to “possess and transport up to one ounce of marijuana, 16 ounces of marijuana products in solid form, 72 ounces of cannabis in liquid [...]
The Malaysian Anticorruption Commission (MAC) brought additional charges against former prime minster Najib Razak on Thursday. The former prime minster was arrested and brought before the Kuala Lumpur Session Court to hear more than 20 corruption charges against him. The additional charges against Razak were made pursuant to the Anti-Money Laundering Act, Prevention of Terrorism Financing and Revenue [...]
The Cardinal of the Archdiocese of New York on Thursday announced that he has secured outside assistance from a former federal judge and prosecutor to investigate church policies surrounding sexual abuse allegations. Barbara Jones is a former judge who served on the bench for 16 years in the US District Court for the Southern District [...]
