The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal on Thursday partially upheld the special administrative region’s recent ban on face masks during public gatherings. The ruling notes that “the expert evidence shows masks function as a facilitator of anonymity for rioters and those who resort to violence. The PFCR makes it an offence for anyone without [...]
US Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf Tuesday urging a reduction of the immigrant detainee population to minimize the spread of COVID-19. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has stopped the detention of immigrants who pose no security threats, but that is not enough according [...]
National nonpartisan legal advocacy group Free Speech for People published a guide on Tuesday that outlines four legal and policy changes states should make to ensure a “safe, accessible, and trustworthy election” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although some states have already postponed primary elections, Free Speech for People stressed that “elections—the foundation of our democracy—must [...]
The South African National Education Health & Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), South Africa’s main healthcare workers’ union, filed court papers against the Minister of Health and Department of Health Tuesday over a lack of compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1993. NEHAWU claims that the Department of Health is failing to provide [...]
The American Bar Association (ABA) issued a resolution Tuesday encouraging state licensing officials to grant recent law school graduates emergency authorization to practice law in their states. “The American Bar Association strongly urges the highest court or bar admission authority of each jurisdiction to immediately adopt emergency rules that would authorize 2019 and 2020 law [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overruled a decision by the District Court for the Western District of Texas on Tuesday, instead allowing executive order GA-09 by Texas Governor Greg Abbott banning most abortions to preserve medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Abbott released this executive order on March 22 ordering that [...]
During a Coronavirus Taskforce press briefing on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced that the US could withhold funding to the World Health Organization (WHO). Trump first criticized the organization for “disagree with travel ban.” He then suggested that WHO “could have called months earlier … and should have known .” Then the president suggested [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a class action lawsuit on Monday against the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the warden of Oakdale Federal Detention Centers in Louisiana seeking “the release of people who are incarcerated and at high risk for serious illness or death in the event of COVID-19 [...]
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called Sunday for a “ceasefire” in domestic violence, after a recent surge following global COVID-19 lockdowns. “Peace is not just the absence of war. Many women under lockdown for COVID-19 face violence where they should be safest: in their own homes,” Guterres tweeted. “I urge all governments to put women’s safety [...]
A federal judge in California ruled Monday against numerous Los Angeles-area gun stores and the National Rifle Association in their case challenging local and statewide orders to close shop during the COVID-19 pandemic. The plaintiffs, citing the Second Amendment, sought to enjoin the enforcement of various business closure orders in Los Angeles that Mayor Eric [...]
