Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. –Amendment I, US Constitution First. That there be prefixed to [...]
Is it possible to advocate for universal human rights while quietly dismantling the institution one of its core articles was written to protect? Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) calls the family “the natural and fundamental group unit of society.” Yet modern ideologies of left and right alike have treated the [...]
On November 5, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections Inc., two consolidated cases challenging President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs imposed on China, Mexico, Canada and other countries. The plaintiffs argue, and the lower courts agreed, that the president’s use of the International [...]
In recent years, several countries—including Croatia, Malta, and others—have recognized femicide as a distinct crime. The Italian government and parliament also took this step, acknowledging that killing a woman solely because of her gender is not just homicide, but a crime rooted in gender-based violence. These legislative shifts are historic because they name what was [...]
A recent article in the Washington Post concerning widespread internet shutdowns in Russia for alleged wartime defense purposes got me thinking: How hard would it be for this to happen in the US? It took me about a minute of online research to answer my own question: not hard at all. Express Presidential Powers over [...]
It was a late September afternoon when I spotted a pair of beautiful earrings on Instagram. Curious, I followed the account’s links to an online shop. Alongside the other items, they offered curated gift packages. When I messaged them, I learned the owner was a young woman. The shop owner, Diana (a pseudonym), responded with [...]
It has been almost two years now since my father and his wife fled from Haiti. Men and boys, armed with assault rifles, descended upon their home in the middle of the night and riddled it with bullets. Using machetes, they tormented my family, hacking away at my cousin’s neck and fatally injuring my father’s [...]
It was a cold case. Fifty-four-year-old Esther Williams was found dead at her home on April 28, 2014, in Cumuto, Trinidad. Her common-law husband and daughter, Sewak Jagroo and Shastri Jagroo, told police that they had discovered Williams’ body hanging, indicating that she had taken her own life. However, a post-mortem examination revealed that Williams’ [...]
“It’s hurting so bad,” Byron Black said five minutes after the State of Tennessee initiated his execution last month. The 69-year-old’s anguished words echoed through the death chamber as a device designed to save lives may have prolonged his dying, creating the very cruelty the Constitution forbids. Mr. Black had suffered from congestive heart failure, [...]
The earth shook beneath Afghanistan once again, and as rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble, one devastating truth became clear: half our population remains invisible even in our darkest hour. As aftershocks continue to rattle the earthquake-stricken regions, the images and videos emerging from the disaster zone tell a familiar, heartbreaking story. Men dig [...]
