When the internet went dark and the world outside narrowed to the walls of a single room, AmirAli Maleki kept writing. With reliable connectivity gone, the notes application on his phone became his means of defiance. Whenever everyday life pressed in on him, whether through a conversation or an image evoking fear or solidarity, he [...]

At a moment when the meaning and vitality of the rule of law are hotly debated, we risk forgetting that the principles we now take for granted were not inevitable—they were fought for, often by individuals whose names have been forgotten. This series profiles the pioneers of rights: people who identified gaps in legal protection [...]

This week, President Donald Trump pardoned a man federal prosecutors described as the architect of a “narco-state” who moved 400 tons of cocaine to United States shores. In September, the US military began killing people on Caribbean vessels based on unproven suspicions they were doing the same thing on a far smaller scale. The strikes [...]

As Israeli forces launched a major ground offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, a United Nations investigative commission concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The commission’s determination carries no immediate legal enforcement power, but creates significant obligations for countries around the world under international law. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry [...]

Two years into Israel’s military campaign against Hamas, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are dead, and the rest of the population is facing increasingly dire humanitarian circumstances. Food scarcity experts at the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on Tuesday said “the worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in the Gaza [...]

Today I am finally free. They may have imprisoned me, but they never took my spirit. –Leonard Peltier, Feb. 18, 2025 Native American activist Leonard Peltier, one of the longest-serving federal prisoners in US history, was released to home confinement on Tuesday after spending nearly five decades behind bars. His imprisonment stems from a controversial [...]

“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”* — JD Vance, US Vice President, via [...]

On February 7, President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting US aid to South Africa and offering refugee status to white South African farmers, claiming the country’s new Expropriation Act has enabled racial discrimination. The order represents a significant shift in US-South Africa relations and has raised questions about both countries’ approaches to addressing [...]

Before US President Donald J. Trump returned to the Oval Office and began systematically attacking initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across US institutions, Alabama passed SB 129, a law aimed at stifling a broad swath of DEI-related initiatives at public universities. Now, educators and students are challenging the controversial state law in [...]

On his first day back in the Oval Office as the 47th President, Donald J. Trump launched an unprecedented wave of executive actions aimed at systematically dismantling policies from the previous administration. Within hours of his inauguration, the new Trump White House announced over 60 presidential actions that comprehensively targeted diverse policy areas, including immigration, [...]