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Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warned on Thursday that the Trump administration’s attacks on the judiciary are “not isolated incidents,” but are designed to intimate the judiciary and “impact more than just the individual judges who are being targeted.” Justice Jackson further warned that the threats and harassment of the judiciary are an attack [...]

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Mathieu Landretti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday filed lawsuits against Hawaii, Michigan, New York, and Vermont over “unconstitutional” and “burdensome” climate change initiatives. The lawsuits fit into two categories. First, the DOJ filed suits against the states of New York and Vermont over their “climate superfund laws.” In 2024 both states passed legislation that aims [...]

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Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday announced that the economic indicator in its 2025 World Press Freedom Index has fallen to an unprecedented critical low, prompting the global state of press freedom to be classified as in a “difficult situation” for the first time in the Index’s history. Of the five metrics RSF tracks, the [...]

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Friday of the significant risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI) to press freedom, noting that states increasingly “weaponize” AI to restrict the flow of information. In conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, which revealed increasing media repression, Türk stated: AI-based algorithms often dictate what we [...]

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China News Service, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Friday of the “unremitting violence” being committed against civilians in Myanmar’s ongoing civil war despite an active ceasefire that began in the wake of the March 28 earthquakes.  Türk noted that the Myanmar military, or the Tatmadaw, is reported to have launched at least 243 [...]

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday issued a 59-page report stating that the US should repeal the Alien Enemies Act. HRW emphasized that US obligations under international law have drastically changed since the Alien Enemies Act was enacted. The organization stated: “he US is party to numerous human rights treaties that oblige the government to [...]

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The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned on Friday that severe funding shortfalls are stripping away essential protections for the world’s most vulnerable refugees and leaving them increasingly exposed to abuse, poverty, forced returns to unsafe conditions, and the threat of embarking on dangerous journeys in search of safety. In the [...]

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Joe Gratz, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Attorneys for high-profile murder defendant Luigi Mangione moved for dismissal of the state charges against him on Thursday, citing violations of Mangione’s constitutional rights. In the motion to dismiss, attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo claimed the state charges violated Mangione’s rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the US Constitution. Friedman Agnifilo claimed the “most [...]

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Wolfmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Human Rights Watch reported on Friday that the fourth UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Laos showed little progress over the past five years, and condemned the country’s attacks on dissidents and activists.  HRW criticized the country for not meeting rights obligations in ceasing arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and partial investigations. Containing 271 [...]

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to cease federal funding for public broadcasters National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), calling such funding “not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.” NPR and PBS receive their funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), established [...]

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