Serious law. Primary sources. Global perspective

The United States Senate voted 81 to 13 to override US President Donald Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Friday, marking the first time the president’s veto has been overridden by Congress. The NDAA is the annual bill authorizing funding for national defense and has been passed every year since 1961. [...]

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A US federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on Friday filed by Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert and 11 presidential electors from Arizona challenging the constitutionality of the Electoral Count Act. The plaintiffs alleged that the elector dispute resolution provisions under Section 15 of the Act violated the Elector’s Clause and Twelveth Amendment of the US Constitution. Specifically, [...]

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The Yantian District People’s Court in the Chinese city of Shenzhen sentenced Wednesday 10 Hong Kong activists to imprisonment ranging from seven months to three years for illegal border crossing. The Shenzhen coast guard authorities intercepted the boat taken by the group from a port in Hong Kong on August 23, in waters under Guangdong province’s [...]

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The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) condemned Thursday Iranian officials’ fourth execution of a child offender in 2020, stating that the execution of child offenders is “categorically prohibited under international law.” Mohammad Hassan Rezaiee was executed early Thursday morning for an offence allegedly committed by him at the age of 16. [...]

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The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said Friday that Ethiopian security forces killed at least 76 people and wounded 190 people during violent unrest in June and July following the assassination of musician Hachalu Hundessa. The violence began amid protests triggered by the killing of the musician in the Galan Condominium area of Addis Ababa. Hundessa [...]

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A 12-year-old English girl took the first steps in a lawsuit against TikTok on Thursday. The intended claimant is joined by Anne Longfield as a litigation friend, a form of legal advocate in the English court system. Longfield, the United Kingdom’s Children Commissioner, and the claimant intend to bring action against “six corporate defendants said [...]

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Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal revoked media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s bail on Thursday, seeing his return to custody until February at the earliest. The ruling comes only a week after Lai was granted bail by the High Court on a number of stringent terms, including that he pay HK$10 million and refrain from posting [...]

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The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Thursday that plaintiffs cannot recover punitive damages from the state when a law enforcement officer uses excessive force. Punitive damages are awarded as a way to punish the defendant and to deter that same conduct in the future. The Iowa Tort Claims Act (ITCA) prohibits an award of punitive damages [...]

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The Supreme Court of Venezuela invalidated a motion by the National Assembly on Wednesday to extend its term an additional year in light of the December 6, 2020, parliamentary elections. The National Assembly is currently controlled by the opposition party led by speaker Juan Guaidó. Most of the opposition parties boycotted the December elections on [...]

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President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation on Thursday titled the “Proclamation on Suspension of Entry of Immigrants and Nonimmigrants Who Continue to Present a Risk to the United States Labor Market.” This proclamation extended two previous presidential proclamations: Proclamation 10014 and Proclamation 10052. Under Proclamation 10014, the president had previously suspended the “entry of aliens [...]

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