The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday that a Texas District Attorney did not violate the First Amendment when he fired his crime victim unit coordinator because of political differences. The court held that District Attorney Omar Escobar, Jr. was justified in his actions because political affiliation is an appropriate requirement [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday allowed Sarah Palin’s defamation claim against the New York Times to proceed, rejecting the paper’s motion for summary judgment. This follows an appeals court ruling in 2019 that allowed the claim to advance to discovery despite an earlier dismissal. [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that Keith Nelson, who was convicted in 2001 of the rape and murder of 10-year-old Pamela Butler, has been executed. Nelson was pronounced dead at 4:32 PM EDT by the Vigo County Coroner. In October 1999 Nelson told an acquaintance that he wanted to kidnap, rape, torture [...]

A Chinese national was charged Friday with destroying a hard drive during an FBI investigation into possible involvement with the transfer of sensitive software to China. The US Department of Justice said that Guan Lei, a 29-year-old Chinese national and researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, was arrested pursuant to a criminal complaint [...]

More than 20 states filed a lawsuit Friday against the US Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) over changes to a key environmental law. The lawsuit seeks to vacate a final rule, promulgated in July, which made various changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Since 1970, NEPA has served as the US’s “bedrock law [...]

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Rupert Colville said Friday that video footage of Jacob Blake being shot by police in the US suggested excessive force and a subsequent Wisconsin shooting demonstrated a need for stricter gun control. Kenosha, Wisconsin, has witnessed multiple days of unrest after Blake, a black man, was [...]

President Donald Trump Friday granted a full pardon to prison reform advocate Alice Johnson after she spoke on his behalf at the Republican National Convention (RNC). Trump had previously commuted Johnson’s life sentence back in 2018. Convicted in 1996 for eight federal criminal counts relating to involvement in cocaine trafficking organization, Johnson was sentenced to life [...]

Five nonprofit organizations, including Rock the Vote, Voto Latino, Common Cause, Free Press, and Maplight, have jointly filed suit in the US District Court of the Northern District of California against the Trump administration in connection with US President Donald Trump’s executive order from May expanding the government’s power over social media organizations. Trump passed [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against federal officers for excessive force and unlawful arrests in Portland, Oregon. The suit was filed Wednesday on behalf of multiple veterans and several demonstrators who were protesting against police brutality. The defendants named include the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security, [...]

The Supreme Court of Israel ruled on Thursday that a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank had been built on land that had been privately owned by Palestinians, and as a result, the settlement had to be removed (case # בג”ץ 953/11). The case involved the settlement of Mitzpe Kramim, an outpost in the [...]