In a brief per curiam order issued Monday, Pennsylvania’s top court dismissed a recent complaint over the scope of Governor Tom Wolf’s executive order shuttering non-essential businesses to slow the spread of COVID-19. The lawsuit had been filed by a gun store owner and a gun buyer, contesting that selling firearms was an essential constitutional [...]
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called Monday for “an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world.” The stark language comes in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has dramatically altered life in nations the world over, including many engaged in ongoing armed conflicts. The UN leader characterized the virus as a problem faced [...]
Six former US officials with esteemed careers in diplomacy and prosecuting war crimes issued a brief but forceful statement Wednesday criticizing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s response to recent actions at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Earlier this month, ICC prosecutors won an appeal allowing them to continue an investigation into war crimes during the [...]
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday signed a bill passed by the state assembly the same day, providing paid sick leave and family leave benefits to New York citizens who are ill or quarantined during the coronavirus pandemic. The benefits of the new law apply both to those who are sick and those in [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims that Disney stole her idea for the characters in Inside Out that represent emotions. The plaintiff, Denise Daniels, had started a business called The Moodsters Company, marketing eponymous characters that [...]
The Autorité de la concurrence, France’s antitrust regulator, issued a USD $1.2 billion fine for Apple on Monday, citing the company’s anticompetitive practices in dealing with two of its wholesalers. The wholesalers, Tech Data and Ingram Micro, were also issued fines in the tens of millions. In a press release published Monday, the agency stated [...]
The US House of Representatives voted 278-136 Wednesday to approve a bill that would reauthorize several soon-to-expire laws that govern surveillance by federal law enforcement. The legislation has been a hard-fought compromise among lawmakers from both parties with differing priorities about privacy protections, reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts, and allowing continued [...]
A federal district court judge issued an order Wednesday vacating the controversial “work and community engagement” requirements for Medicaid recipients in Michigan. Starting in June, the program would have removed tens of thousands of Michigan residents from the Medicaid rolls for noncompliance, and Michigan’s government has tried to terminate the requirements over the objections of [...]
The Prime Minister of Greece announced on Monday that his government would “not be accepting any new asylum applications for 1 month.” The move comes in response to a decision by Turkey over the weekend to openly allow refugees to cross the border into Europe. The Turkish government claims it is overwhelmed with asylum-seekers, and [...]
The Corte Constitucional, Colombia’s highest judicial body, on Monday dismissed a high-profile abortion case, declining to rule on the issue. The move effectively preserves the legal status quo for abortion rights in Colombia, with access to abortion only in cases of threats to the mother’s life, rape or fatal medical problems for the fetus. The [...]
