Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Tuesday that the Senate will vote on the FIRST STEP Act, an expansive criminal justice reform bill, within the month. The bill passed the House in May of this year and has awaited a Senate vote ever since. McConnell previously said that the Senate would not vote on [...]
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) announced on Tuesday that it would challenge the constitutionality of legislation that sent striking Canada Post employees back to work. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government introduced Bill C-89 after five weeks of rotating strikes by postal workers. The bill, which the CUPW alleges will lead to thousands [...]
The government of New Zealand passed a law that removes many restrictions on medical cannabis on Tuesday. While it will take up to a year for the new regulations and licensing policies established by the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill to be rolled out, the law also establishes an exception and statutory defense [...]
Leaders of the House and Senate Agricultural Committee reached a bipartisan compromise and released the text of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 on Monday evening, which Congress will vote on as early as Wednesday. The bill notably eliminates a work requirement for beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) proposed by the House and [...]
In the last 3 years, the Hungarian Government, especially with its support from the recently obtained 2/3 majority in the Parliament, has introduced several legislative changes which seriously undermine the essential elements of the rule of law. Criminalization of “facilitating or supporting illegal immigration”, banning homelessness and the Government’s continuing interference in the higher education are [...]
Delegates from 164 UN member states assembled in Marrakech, Morrocco, to adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration on Monday. The compact reaffirms the signing nations’ commitment to protecting the human rights of migrants and acknowledges that migration is an issue that requires collective, multinational action. While the compact does not create new [...]
The US Supreme Court declined to review two cases on Monday about a state’s ability to defund Planned Parenthood. By denying certiorari in Andersen v. Planned Parenthood and Gee v. Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court let decisions from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Tenth Circuits stand. Both held that 42 USC § 1396a(a)(23) allows Medicaid [...]
The US Supreme Court agreed to add Kisor v. Wilkie to its docket on Monday. The court will limit its review to the first question presented by the petition for certiorari, which asks the court to reconsider precedent from Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand that directs courts to defer to [...]
In a referendum held on Friday, October 26, 2018, the people of Ireland voted to amend the Irish Constitution to remove the word blasphemy from Article 40.6.1, which declared that “he publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.” This constitutional amendment enables [...]
Special Counsel Robert Mueller said in a court filing Friday that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort lied about his contacts with the Trump administration after President Donald Trump took office. In the heavily redacted document, Mueller also said that Manafort lied about his communications with Konstantin Kilimnik, an alleged Russian intelligence agent. As summarized [...]
