The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has upheld Ohio’s HB 214 law that prohibits doctors from performing an abortion with the knowledge that a women’s reason for terminating the pregnancy is a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis. The court ruled 9-7 Tuesday in favor of Ohio, with Judge Alice Batchelder writing for the [...]

Congressional Democrats, led by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), unveiled legislation Thursday to expand the US Supreme Court The legislation, entitled “Judiciary Act of 2021,” seeks to amend 28 USC §1, which currently says “The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of a Chief Justice of the United [...]

One Fair Wage (OFW) filed suit Thursday against Darden, the parent company of the Olive Garden and Longhorn restaurant chains, over its low wages. OFW says that the $2.13/hour tipped wages Darden pays its employees leads to harassment and discrimination in the workplace. OFW says the company could prevent employment discrimination given there is no [...]

The UK’s Upper Tribunal (Immigration & Asylum Chamber) ruled Wednesday that the Home Office failed to properly investigate deaths at immigration centers. Upon finding Oscar Okwurime dead in 2019, the UK Home Office began deportation proceedings against Ahmed Lawal. Ahmed Lawal, a friend of Okwurime, was being held in the same deportation center and could [...]

The Washington County, Minnesota Attorney’s Office Wednesday announced a second-degree manslaughter charge against Kimberly Potter, the white police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man. The charges come after Potter, a veteran officer of 26 years, and Tim Gannon, the chief of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, both resigned from their posts [...]

UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged governments on Monday to impose a “solidarity or wealth tax” on the rich who made money during the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to reduce inequality. “We must make sure funds go where they are needed most. Latest reports indicate that there has been a $5 trillion surge in the [...]

Mexican authorities on Monday arrested 30 marines suspected of forcibly disappearing people along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2014. While the exact number of missing persons is unclear, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, has one of the highest missing persons rates in the country with an estimated 80,517 people having gone missing between 2006 and December 2020. During [...]

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock on Monday announced that the agency will allow abortion pills by mail during the COVID-19 pandemic—a departure from a Trump-era rule requiring patients to go in-person to a medical clinic or hospital. Woodcock’s communication came via a letter sent to two leading non-profit organizations representing [...]

Dozens of the largest law firms in the US signed on to a statement on Monday denouncing efforts to restrict Americans’ ability to vote. Leaders of 62 of the nation’s 100 largest law firms added their names to the statement, which called “laws that impose unnecessary obstacles and barriers on the right to vote and [...]

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill allocating $536 million to fight wildfires in California on Tuesday. The funding is $200 million more than he originally sought. While California’s wildfire season occurs in the summer and fall, dry conditions this past winter have already produced a few wildfires. As such, in addition to handling recent [...]