On April 7, US District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued an order suspending the FDA’s approval of mifepristone based on a lawsuit filed against the FDA by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine — an organization comprising four anti-abortion medical associations, and four anti-abortion doctors. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit then partially blocked [...]
Accountability in law is a cornerstone for more stable societies. Both domestically and internationally holding those who step away from the law accountable deters the future perpetration of crimes. Justice mechanisms that work together bolster that effort and enhance efficiencies that breed confidence in assured justice. Since the invasion by the Russian Federation into Ukraine, [...]
In March, the Pakistan Parliament passed a bill to regulate the exclusive discretion of the Chief Justice (CJ) of the Supreme Court in initiating cases under suo motu jurisdiction and in making the Benches of Judges that hear cases. The bill also provides an intra-Court appellate review by a larger Bench. Before the bill could [...]
The suffering that Afghan women have endured is matched by only a few other groups in recent world history. – Afghan-American novelist Khalid Hosseini Afghanistan stands alone as the only country in the world where women are systematically denied the fundamental right to education. For over a year now, the Taliban’s ban on female education [...]
Since gaining power in August 2021, the Afghan Taliban, following a unique normative mixture of Pashtun culture and Islamic law, have closed universities, colleges, and secondary and primary schools to deny education to women and girls. In banning women from higher education, the Taliban education minister argued that female college students do not adhere to [...]
As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we should recognize that our history of gender inequity and oppression is now being used by our highest courts to narrowly define the contours of women’s rights going forward. We need to fight back to ensure our principles — of equality, human dignity, and respect for the [...]
Nullum crimen sine poena, “No crime without a punishment” The ICC Warrant Against Vladimir Putin The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for committing egregious war crimes in Ukraine. With this law-enforcing issuance, the ICC acknowledges inter alia the continuing validity of the Nuremberg Principles under international law. [...]
As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his new Republican House majority threaten the pipeline of U.S. aid to Ukraine, more than one observer has noted the irony in the fact that the mantle of the antiwar cause has now been assumed by the right. The images of protestors being beaten outside the Democratic National Convention in [...]
To what extent can the United Nations (UN) prevent and control so-called anti-corruption campaigns that serve only to bolster the power of authoritarian regimes? As authoritarian power spreads, this is an increasingly urgent question. If the UN does not take measures to track and curtail illegitimate anti-corruption campaigns, it is the people whom these campaigns [...]
Can access to justice be enhanced via the advent of generative AI such as the widely and wildly popular ChatGPT app? I get asked this pointed question quite frequently. The straightforward answer is that generative AI provides a mixed bag, namely that in some respects this type of AI will indeed enable greater access to [...]
