Research and advocacy group Freedom House found in a report published Monday that global internet freedom has declined for the ninth consecutive year. Freedom House found that political leaders employed individuals to shape online opinions in 38 out of the 65 countries covered in the report. Cross-border influence, in which authorities in a growing number [...]

A federal on Saturday issued a temporary restraining order keeping the Trump administration from enforcing Presidential Proclamation No. 9945—preventing the immigration of those who will burden the health care system. The proclamation was set to become effective on Monday. The new rule would require consular officers to ask visa applicants if they will be covered [...]

The German Federal Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that complete cuts to individual unemployment benefits for breaches of duty are unconstitutional. The traditional practice utilized by the German government was to prohibit benefits for citizens who did not search for jobs during their period of unemployment. The court did allow for up to a 30 percent [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Monday that the Ugandan police and military have responded harshly to students protesting fee increases at Makerere University in Kampala. It is reported that the police and military have “fired teargas into student residences, raided dormitories, and beaten and arrested students.” In addition to this, the police have been arresting [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a decision by a lower court on Monday that an accounting firm employed by President Donald Trump must comply with a subpoena to release the president’s tax returns. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance obtained a grand jury subpoena in August ordering Mazars USA, an accounting [...]

The US government notified the UN on Monday of its intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. In remarks made in June 2017, President Donald Trump announced the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement due to the “unfair economic burden” imposed upon American workers and businesses. In the press statement released on Monday, Secretary [...]

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief on Friday filed by SurvJustice and other rights groups against US Secretary of Education Betsey DeVos and the department’s policy regarding Title IX enforcement. The department of Education released a new guidance document in 2017 that has been highly contested since. This decision comes after oral [...]

Judge Michael Kelly of the Michigan Court of Claims ruled in favor of Enbridge Energy and against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) who both ran campaigns against the Enbridge Line 5 dual pipelines, which run under the Straits of Mackinac that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The construction [...]

The US Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may obtain disgorgement as “equitable relief” in civil enforcement actions for securities fraud violations. This case arose when Charles Liu and his wife, Xin Wang, misappropriated most of the approximately $27 million raised from Chinese investors under an EB-5 [...]

The Kentucky Supreme Court held Thursday that a non-profit LGBTQ+ organization lacked standing to bring a suit against a print shop that refused to make Pride festival t-shirts based on religious belief. The Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO), a Kentucky non-profit organization that represents and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community, filed a complaint in [...]