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Chiquita’s money helped buy weapons and ammunition used to kill innocent victims. —US Government sentencing memo, 2008 In 2007, Chiquita — one of the world’s largest banana producers — admitted that for years it had been knowingly paying a Colombian terrorist organization to protect its operations in the country. The consequence was predictably violent, allegedly [...]

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Florida ban on certain gender-affirming care including puberty blockers and hormone therapy was illegal under the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution. Florida Statute Section 456.52 banned individuals under the age of 18 from receiving puberty blockers to “stop or delay puberty in order to affirm a person’s [...]

It has not even been 24 hours since former US President Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, and US Republican politicians have reacted with one accord, slamming the trial as a politically motivated sham while calling into question the impartiality of Judge Juan Merchan and the New York [...]

The Supreme Court decided Thursday that government officials cannot indirectly suppress free speech through coercion, reinforcing their previous decision in Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan. Justice Sotomayor, writing for a unanimous court, said a government official “can share her views freely and criticize particular beliefs, and she can do so forcefully in the hopes of [...]

US District Judge Aileen Cannon denied special counsel Jack Smith’s request to restrict Donald Trump’s public statements in the ongoing classified documents case against the former president. The prosecutors had sought to bar Trump from making public statements that could endanger law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution. In her order, Judge Cannon [...]

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster on Tuesday signed into law a gender-affirming healthcare ban for transgender minors. House Bill (HB) 4624, known as the Help Not Harm bill, prohibits physicians, mental health providers and other healthcare professionals from “knowingly” providing gender-transition procedures to individuals under eighteen years of age. HB 4624 defines “gender transition procedures” [...]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott pardoned former US Army Sergeant Daniel Perry on Thursday after the Texas Parole Board unanimously recommended a pardon for the ex-soldier who was convicted of killing armed protester Garrett Foster at an Austin Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020. The case received national attention, as Perry claimed he shot Foster in [...]

US District Judge Cormac J. Carney sentenced 21-year-old Xavier Batten of Florida to 42 months in prison for conspiring to firebomb a Planned Parenthood clinic, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a statement Monday. The events leading to Batten’s sentence transpired in February and March of 2022. According to the DOJ’s statement, Batten [...]

US District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed the classified documents criminal trial of former president Donald Trump on Tuesday, moving the trial date back at least two months. Cannon vacated the previous May 20 trial date, finding that various pre-trial motions and issues regarding the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) need to be addressed first. She [...]

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) released a 67-page report Tuesday detailing its findings from monitoring the 2022 US midterm election and showcasing strategies to combat racial inequality during upcoming election cycles. The report, entitled Democracy Defended, specifically focused on voter experiences in seven of the nation’s southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, [...]