The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should take into account pulp mill toxins such as mercury, dioxin and more in setting emissions standards. The lawsuit between the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and the EPA was hinged primarily on whether it was “necessary” [...]

The state of Missouri filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the Chinese government and its top institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Emergency Management and the People’s Government of Wuhan City, over their role in the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The lawsuit states that Missouri is seeking recovery for “the [...]

Bipartisan senators on the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on Tuesday announced two pieces of legislation that would invest $19.5 billion into improving the country’s water infrastructure. The America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 (AWIA 2020) looks to provide improvements to the rivers and harbors of the US, to the conservation and development [...]

Amnesty International released a global report on the judicial use of death sentences and executions Monday, finding that death sentences decreased worldwide last year. The report includes 20 countries and covers January to December of 2019. Overall, confirmed executions decreased by 5 percent from 2018. In 2019 there were approximately 657 executions. Amnesty explained this [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld Texas’ COVID-19 pandemic abortion ban Monday. The ban includes medication-induced abortions. Texas has banned the abortions citing concerns over the procedures causing a personal protection equipment (PPE) shortage during the COVID-19 crisis. Texas Governor Greg Abbot issued Executive Order GA-09 on March 22, 2020. The [...]

The US Supreme court granted certiorari Monday for a case concerning whether accessing authorized computer information for improper purposes is a crime. The case, Van Buren v. United States, involves police sergeant Nathan Van Buren of Cumming, Georgia. Van Buren contacted a local man associated with criminal activity for a personal loan. In a sting [...]

A federal district court judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to improve its measures for protecting the health of detainees in the agency’s facilities and consider releasing those most at risk of contracting COVID-19. Numerous individual detainees and two advocacy organizations have sued ICE, arguing that its relative [...]

The US Supreme Court issued its decision in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian Monday, settling technical questions in a dispute between Montana landowners and a mining company over liability for hazardous materials cleanup within—and beyond—the scope of the federal law governing “Superfund” sites. Under the law, called the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that federal patent law does not allow for an appeal of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to institute a procedure for challenging the validity of a patent after a finding that a one-year time bar does not apply. Inter partes review is a process established by [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that defendants on trial in state courts for serious offenses must be convicted by a unanimous jury, under the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial, which is incorporated to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled in Apodaca v. Oregon that the [...]