The US Department of Justice filed an appeal on Friday with the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit challenging a lower court ruling in July blocking new applications to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA was started by the Obama administration in 2012 and allows individuals brought to the US [...]
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that the Russian authorities’ investigation into the circumstances of the death of human rights activist Natalia Estemirova was insufficient. Estemirova was abducted and murdered in July 2009 after having investigated various cases of “kidnappings, torture and extrajudicial killings in Chechnya.” She had publicly alleged and denounced various [...]
In a case addressing the extent of obligations owed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held on Friday that intelligence agencies are not required to confirm nor deny the existence of records relating to whether the agencies were aware of an imminent threat [...]
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) joined with several other legal entities in a lawsuit Tuesday accusing New York Police officers of race discrimination, police brutality and violating the free speech of a peaceful protester. The lawsuit, filed against the City of New York, the mayor of New York, the Police Commissioner, and [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Guam v. United States that a case against the US for causing toxic waste pollution in Guam may proceed. This case originated from a lawsuit by Guam against the US accusing the Navy of causing the contamination at the Ordot Dump. Guam alleged that the US was responsible [...]
The Supreme Court released Monday its opinion in CIC Services v. Internal Revenue Service clarifying two seemingly conflicting provisions of the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The Court held in favor of CIC Services, holding that the suit is not under the scope of the AIA: “CIC’s suit aims to enjoin a standalone reporting [...]
UN human rights experts responded on Monday to a review by the British government into race inequality by “categorically reject and condemn the analysis and findings.” The review culminated in a report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities that was released last Wednesday. The report was ordered by the government following the Black [...]
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a petition by Guantanamo detainee Nashwan al-Tamir to dismiss the charges against him and disqualify the judge presiding over his case over conflicts of interest. Al-Tamir was apprehended in 2006 in Turkey, taken to a CIA black site and tortured for six months, and then held at Guantanamo [...]
Tennessee filed an emergency request on Monday asking the US Supreme Court to reinstate a 48-hour mandatory waiting period for abortions pending appeal. The law was challenged by several doctors and a medical center on behalf of their patients. US District Judge Bernard Friedman held in October that the waiting period was unconstitutional, following “five [...]
China on Saturday announced sanctions against the chair and vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Gayle Manchin and Tony Perkins, Canadian parliament member Michael Chong, and Canada’s House of Commons foreign affairs subcommittee on international human rights. These sanctions were in direct retaliation for sanctions imposed by the US, UK, Canada [...]
