The New Jersey Assembly canceled a vote on a bill to decriminalize marijuana Monday after a Senate Amendment included a provision that also decreased the penalties for psilocybin, or magic mushrooms. The debate over the marijuana decriminalization bill comes after a decisive vote by New Jersey residents in favor of legalizing marijuana. Earlier this month, [...]

The US Senate unanimously passed a bill Monday that would allow justice officials to impose criminal sanctions on individuals involved in international doping fraud conspiracies. This act, known as the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019, would provide restitution to victims and require information sharing with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The bill would make [...]

A bill called “Daniel’s Law” that shields the addresses of certain government officials passed the New Jersey Senate on Monday and is now heading to the desk of Governor Phil Murphy. The bill, S-2797, “prohibits disclosure of certain personal information of active, formely active, and retired judicial officers, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers, and their [...]

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to reinstate a District Court order requiring Texas prison officials to enact basic safety precautions for the coronavirus. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented from this decision with Justice Elena Kagan joining. The case was filed by two inmates at the Wallace Pack Unit, a geriatric prison in Texas. Laddy [...]

Hungary and Poland vetoed the EU budget and COVID-19 recovery package Monday in objection to a rule of law clause. The leaders of Hungary and Poland took issue with a provision that would tie the funds to respect for democratic norms. Another provision would allow a qualified majority of EU governments to impose sanctions on [...]

The first person charged under the controversial security law imposed on Hong Kong by China earlier this year entered a not guilty plea Monday. Tong Ying-kit, 24, has been charged with inciting secession and engaging in terrorist activities for his actions during protests on July 1. According to reports, he drove a motorcycle into a group of [...]

UN human rights experts called Monday for an immediate end to the systematic detention and criminalization of human rights defenders, as well as excessive use of force against them. In the past three months, Cambodian citizens attempting to exercise their rights to peaceful assembly have suffered persecution and excessive force at the hands of government [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia has barred drilling for the second time in two years on over 300,000 acres of federal land in Wyoming because the government failed to sufficiently consider the drilling’s impacts on climate change. Two environmental nonprofit organizations, WildEarth Guardians and Physicians for Social Responsibility, sued [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday urged the EU to press for human rights reforms in Central Asia during an upcoming meeting. Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU, was set to have a virtual meeting with foreign ministers of five Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—at the 16th EU-Central Asia Ministerial Meeting [...]

Fifteen Asia-Pacific countries signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on Sunday after eight years of negotiations. The countries include Australia, China, Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand and Malaysia. The 15 member countries account for about 30 percent of the world’s population and 30 percent of global GDP, making it the largest trade agreement in the world. [...]