On Tuesday, August 11, after 22 years without an execution in Lebanon, the country’s parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, making it the first Arab country to formally scrap capital punishment. The new law replaces death sentences with life imprisonment with hard labor. And what was the only party on record in that country to [...]

The international system stands at an inflection point. The simultaneous rise of strongman leadership in China, Russia and the United States—three states whose power shapes global order—has accelerated a worldwide retreat from liberal democracy, multilateralism and the rule of law. This trend is not isolated. It has emboldened authoritarian figures across the globe, weakened international [...]

Israel has ignored three binding International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders on Gaza for more than two years, a United Nations commission of inquiry concluded June 18, finding that it “continues to blatantly disregard” measures issued in January, March and May 2024 (A/HRC/62/CRP.2, para. 330). The finding is not just another entry in a long [...]

Whether the issue is redistricting, affirmative action, voting rights, abortion, presidential immunity, or any of the other country-defining questions that the Roberts Court has decided over the last two decades, there can be no doubt that the justices dramatically changed our nation’s politics and national identity. But the Roberts Court is not unique in its [...]

In mid-June, 17-year-old Shakiba* was arrested by the Taliban’s morality police (the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) along with dozens of other women. Her alleged crime was “improper hijab.” Shakiba was fully covered in a chadar namaz—a full-body prayer veil—but she was wearing a little eye makeup, and that was [...]

An aggravating circumstance is any factor surrounding a criminal act that increases the severity of the harm or the culpability of the offender. When present, an aggravating circumstance elevates the charge to a higher classification. The result is a harsher penalty at sentencing. The International Criminal Court should consider designating evidence of drugged action (combatants [...]

The Supreme Court today upheld birthright citizenship in a 6-3 ruling in Trump v. Barbara, striking down President Trump’s executive order that sought to deny citizenship to children born on US soil to undocumented or temporary-visa parents. In a conversation published nearly a year ago, I spoke about the case with the controversial AI chatbot [...]

Wearable AI cameras like Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are outpacing the privacy and consent laws meant to protect people from covert recording. And the resulting footage is increasingly feeding the non-consensual intimate imagery market. The gap is widening fastest for women and girls, whose images are captured in public, uploaded without consent, and recycled into [...]

Pope Leo has issued what observers are calling the most direct papal acknowledgment yet of the Catholic Church’s historic role in legitimizing slavery, buried within a sweeping new encyclical on artificial intelligence and human dignity. In Magnifica Humanitas, a wide-ranging encyclical primarily addressing artificial intelligence and Catholic social doctrine, Pope Leo acknowledged both the Church’s [...]

The United States RELEASES, WAIVES, ACQUITS, and FOREVER DISCHARGES each of the Plaintiffs from, and is hereby FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of action, appeals, or requests for any relief… — From the Office of the Attorney General order signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, [...]