US President Donald Trump on Friday announced a state of emergency to obtain $8 billion for a border wall between the US and Mexico. A significant amount of the funds are expected to be taken from the Department of Defense budget, but Trump was not firm regarding funding or spending plans. The declaration was couched in [...]
A group of human rights organizations filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday challenging its policy requiring Central American migrants to return to Mexico to wait for their asylum requests to be processed. The Migrant Protection Protocols sought to reduce the amount of families seeking asylum in the US. The American Civil [...]
The US House of Representatives passed HJRes 37 on Wednesday calling for the withdrawal of US Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen. The resolution states that only Congress has the authority to declare war. Congress has not made any declarations of war against the Houthis in the Republic of Yemen, who are the [...]
The American Bar Association issued Formal Opinion 485 Thursday, which states that judges who perform marriages as a “mandatory obligation of judicial office may not decline to perform marriages of same-sex couples.” The opinion comes after the 2015 Supreme Court decision, which held that states are not allowed to refuse “to license marriages between individuals [...]
The Kentucky Senate passed SB 100 on Wednesday, which provides changes to how customers are compensated for net-metered electricity generation. The bill passed by a vote of 23-12. The bill affects solar, wind, biomass or biogas, and hydro energy facilities under 45 kW installed at customer sites. Currently, electricity customers are compensated based on the difference [...]
Thirteen same-sex couples filed lawsuits across four districts in Japan Thursday alleging that the country’s denial of same-sex marriage is a violation of the Constitution. During a news conference and march to the Tokyo District court, one of the plaintiffs, Kenji Aiba, explained that they are seeking ¥1 million in compensation and damages for emotional distress [...]
A group of experts from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have condemned the harsh crackdown by France on public protest and demonstrations. According to the report, the government of France has increasingly restricted human rights—particularly those of free demonstration—in response to the rise of the gilets jaunes (“yellow jackets”) protest [...]
Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) reintroduced the Electronic Court Records Reform Act as HR 1164 Wednesday with cosponsors Mike Quigley (D-IL), David Roe (R-TN), and Henry “Hank” C. Johnson, Jr. (D-GA). The full title of the bill is “To direct the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to consolidate the Case Management/Electronic [...]
India’s Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, passed a bill to protect investors from Ponzi schemes on Wednesday. It will become law once it is passed by the upper house of parliament (Rajya Sabha) and receives presidential assent. The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill aims to establish a statutory mechanism to ban Ponzi [...]
Maria Ressa, Philippine journalist and known critic of the country’s president was arrested Wednesday on charges of cyber libel for her work as CEO and executive editor for Philippines-based news site Rappler, drawing criticism from rights groups. Rappler has been critical in its coverage of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose administration has alarmed human rights [...]
