The United States has a long history of anti-monopoly sentiment. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fighting big business was a major issue in politics, with leaders across the political spectrum promising to take on large corporations. Fed up with child labor, dangerous working conditions, low wages, political corruption, and ruthless business practices, [...]

A year into the pandemic, the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility published ABA Opinion 498, providing guidance on how lawyers can comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct while practicing virtually. The ABA Model Rules permit the virtual practice, defined as practicing law anywhere other than in a brick-and-mortar office. But they [...]

Well, some say life will beat you down Break your heart, steal your crown So I’ve started out for God-knows-where I guess I’ll know when I get there  – Learning to Fly, Tom Petty, and the Heartbreakers  I was brought back to the numbers in this article by Dr. Katherine Simpson titled “ International Commercial [...]

One of the latest achievements of the criminal justice system is the acceptance of repentance, serf-reformation, and reconciliation, drifting from the classical concept of strict punishment as a measure against crime. The concept of providing amnesty emerged in the past as a means to correct any error in the judgment of courts, is now practiced [...]

Much controversy surrounds the use of the flags associated with the Sri Lankan people, mainly because they are loaded with ethnic symbolism in a country recovering from a generation-long civil war along ethno-nationalist lines. The flags of concern here all feature big cats as central to their designs. Big cats, wherever they occur, have been [...]

On March 12, 2021, the Biden Administration designated Myanmar for temporary protective status (TPS). DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “Due to the military coup and security forces’ brutal violence against civilians, the people of Burma are suffering a complex and deteriorating humanitarian crisis in many parts of the country.” A few days earlier, Venezuela was [...]

The recent review of the U.S. human rights record at the United Nations through the Universal Periodic Review process yielded 347 recommendations for improvement, 80% of which the U.S. accepted. Among them were several urging the U.S. to rescind a Trump-era executive order targeting the International Criminal Court (ICC) and those who support it. Just [...]

Many state governors’ actions related to quelling the COVID-19 in Brazil appear to neglect constitutional provisions. So much so that many states’ Governors of the Brazilian Federation decided to adopt lockdown, despite the fact that the World Health Organization itself has already concluded that lockdown is not the primary measure aimed at combating the terrible [...]

For many states, Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) are a primary method of reducing energy-related emissions and promoting clean energy. RPSs are strengthened in several different ways, and the technology they aim to promote varies between states. The most effective method for achieving the goals of RPSs is directly increasing the clean-energy percentage goals they set [...]

In 2006 as the Human Rights Council was being set up, I wrote an opinion piece on this website in which I shared, among other aspects, my impressions as to how the Council would shape up. Experience thus far produced mixed assessment. The transition from the Commission to the Council took a couple of years, [...]