Legal News

The Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the California courts, approved 11 temporary emergency rules on Monday to ensure California courts can meet the state’s health directives while also providing the public with due process and access to justice. The rules that were adopted include “setting bail statewide at $0 for misdemeanors and lower-level felonies to [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma issued a temporary restraining order Monday against the state’s ban on abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic. The request for a temporary restraining order was brought to the court by abortion rights advocates against Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt after he issued an executive [...]

The US Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Office of General Counsel and Media Bureau on Monday rejected a petition by Free Press, an advocacy group, demanding a government investigation into broadcasters that aired statements by President Donald Trump during White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings and related commentary regarding the COVID-19 pandemic by other on-air personalities. [...]

On Monday night, the Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked Governor Tony Evers’s emergency executive order to postpone the state’s Tuesday, April 7, primary election— mere hours after Evers signed it. Shortly after, the US Supreme Court denied an extension of absentee ballot submission deadlines. The election will go forward as planned. In the initial order, Evers [...]

Citing concerns about the spread of COVID-19, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed an executive order Monday postponing Tuesday’s primary election. In the order, Evers postponed the elections until June 9 and extended the deadline for absentee ballots until then. Though Evers was initially reluctant to postpone the elections, as he was unsure if he had [...]

A special US District Court panel of three judges on Saturday denied California inmates’ request that a certain category of inmates be released in order to allow the physical distancing necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The request, which was filed on March 25, invoked an order entered by the special panel in 2009 [...]

China released Wang Quanzhang, a human rights lawyer, from jail Sunday according to BBC reports. Wang defended political activists, religious minorities, and victims of land seizure from Chinese prosecution. Though authorities released Wang from jail, he is placed on a mandatory quarantine in the city of Jinan for fourteen days. Chinese officials contend that the [...]

The U.S. Supreme Court postponed oral arguments scheduled for April as a result of the coronavirus pandemic on Friday. The court is considering alternative options for handling the various outstanding cases. This announcement comes after the Supreme Court postponed arguments scheduled for its March session. Court spokeswoman, Kathleen Arberg state, “in keeping with the public [...]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a request by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to order the release from county jails certain classes of persons in response to possible covid-19 outbreaks. The ACLU had filed an application for relief under the court’s King’s Bench jurisdiction, which would allow the court to decide an issue that [...]

3M Corporation released a statement Friday morning suggesting it may not comply with a Trump administration request that it cease exporting N95 respirators to Canada and Latin America. On Thursday the president issued a memorandum ordering the company to prioritize orders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the respirators. The memorandum formally invoked [...]