Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill abolishing the death penalty Wednesday. Under Senate Bill 1165 and House Bill 2263, any person with a death sentence for an offense committed before July 1, 2021, will be sentenced to life imprisonment instead, and “no person may be sentenced to death or put to death” under the [...]

The New Zealand Parliament passed the Holidays (Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage) Amendment Bill (No 2) on Wednesday, providing three days bereavement leave for mothers and partners after a miscarriage or stillbirth. The bill was presented by Labour MP Ginny Anderson who highlighted the importance of providing time to recover physically and mentally recover from grief [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-3 Thursday in Torres v. Madrid that a Fourth Amendment seizure was effectuated when officers applied physical force with the intent to restrain, even if the person of interest did not submit and was not subdued. Torres was approached by two officers whom she believed were carjackers. She ignored their [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Caniglia v. Strom Wednesday, a case where the court is to decide if “community caretaking” is considered an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s general prohibition on warrantless searches and seizures. The case involves a dispute between a married couple and subsequent seizure of weapons from their home. [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday upheld Hawaii’s firearm-licensing law, which restricts open-carry licenses to those who can demonstrate “the urgency or the need” to carry a firearm, that they are of good moral character, and are “engaged in the protection of life and property.” The appellant, George Young, applied for [...]

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday adopted a resolution for creating a team to investigate Belarus’ excessive use of force and torture during the violent crackdown on the country-wide protests that erupted post the elections in August last year. President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed re-election for his sixth term in the disputed polls [...]

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed controverial voting restrictions into law Thursday following passage in the senate by a vote of 34-19. The bill enforces a rule for absentee voters to provide more documentation for verification, replacing the previous signature verification process. It also cuts down early voting from three weeks to one. The bill also [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral argument Tuesday in United States v. Cooley, a case about whether tribal police officers have the authority to detain non-Indians on Indian land. The case stems from a 2016 incident wherein a police officer of the Crow Nation—a federally recognized tribe with an Indian reservation located in south-central Montana—detained [...]

Former US Attorney General Eric Holder testified Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration in support of the “For the People Act” on voting rights. Holder said that the Act is necessary to “abolish the undemocratic trinity of issues plaguing our democracy-gerrymandering, voter suppression, and dark money.” Under the proposed legislation, eligible citizens [...]

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights agreed Thursday to conduct a joint investigation into human rights violations and abuses allegedly committed by all parties involved in the ongoing conflict in Tigray, the northernmost region of Ethiopia. The conflict in Tigray started on November 4 [...]