A group of five Pennsylvania inmates sued the state’s Department of Corrections and its employees, according to a Tuesday announcement from the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project. The lawsuit, filed last week, alleges severe mental health consequences stemming from the use of solitary confinement in Pennsylvania prisons. The class action lawsuit, filed in the US District [...]

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged Niger authorities on Monday to immediately release Niger journalist Samira Sabou. Niger news outlet Air info confirmed with Sabou’s relatives that Niger authorities arrested Sabou at her home on September 30 for an unknown reason. Abdoul Kader Nouhou, Sabou’s husband, told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that four unidentified men [...]

The UK Ministry of Justice announced Tuesday its plans to further reform whole life orders, also known as life imprisonment, in the UK. Under these changes, those who have committed crimes and are awaiting their sentence can be given a whole life order, regardless of if the offense is committed before this legislation is put [...]

US District Court Judge Rosemary Marquez affirmed the final consent decree in the case Toomey v. State of Arizona on Tuesday, banning Arizona from excluding gender-affirming care in state health insurance plans. The consent decree includes four major provisions: the state is permanently enjoined from not including gender-affirming care in the state health plans, the [...]

Guatemala faced political demonstrations and protests Monday after the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), the nation’s highest electoral body, was reportedly raided for the fourth time by the nation’s Public Ministry (PM) last week. According to a press release by the US Department of State, the PM seized election materials as part of a continued effort [...]

Law students from the European Union are reporting for JURIST on law-related events in and affecting the European Union and its member states. Ciara Dinneny is JURIST’s European Bureau Chief and a trainee with the Law Society of Ireland. She files this dispatch from Dublin.   Irish criminal barristers have withdrawn their services as of [...]

The US Supreme Court released orders Friday and Monday after its September “long conference.” The court granted certiorari for 12 cases Friday and two cases Monday for its Winter term, to be argued in January or February. All cases listed in Friday’s order were granted certiorari. The accepted cases include: Moody v. Netchoice; Netchoice v. [...]

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) rejected a US State Department report claiming that the PRC supports the global spread of disinformation on Saturday. A PRC Foreign Ministry spokesperson, quoted by the Xinhua news agency, said that the “report is in itself disinformation as it misrepresents facts and truth.” The spokesperson accused the US of [...]

The US Supreme Court kicked off its Fall 2023 term Monday by hearing oral arguments in a statutory interpretation case examining federal sentencing laws. The issue before the court in Pulsifer v. United States is whether a nonviolent drug offender can receive a sentence below the mandatory minimum for their offense if they do not [...]

Law students and law graduates in Pakistan are reporting for JURIST on events in that country impacting its legal system. Izhar Ahmed Khan is a 2022 LL.B. graduate of the Pakistan College of Law (University of London International Program). He files this from Lahore.    Last Friday, September 29th, a day meant to be a day [...]