US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to permanently end US funding for the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO is an international organization responsible for monitoring public health concerns and coordinating governmental responses. The US contributes between $400 and $500 million annually to the WHO. In a public letter to the director of the WHO, [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Opati v. Republic of Sudan that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) permits a punitive damages award against Sudan for the role it played in 1998 al Qaeda bombings that occurred outside of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Following the 1998 bombings, victims and family members sued [...]

A federal appeals court dismissed a Missouri death row inmate’s petition for post-conviction relief Sunday, despite questions about the evidence used to convict him, clearing the way for his execution to take place on Tuesday. This order will vacate a 30-day stay of execution that a federal judge granted to Walter Barton on Friday. Walter [...]

Puerto Rico’s newly-elected Governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, announced in a press conference Saturday that Puerto Rico will hold a non-binding referendum on November 3, the same day as US presidential election, to decide whether Puerto Rico should become a US state or remain a territory. “It is never too late to be treated as equals,” [...]

With an expected increase in mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic, voter rights advocates have filed lawsuits across the country challenging existing obstacles in states’ mail-in voting procedures. Challenges to mail-in voter restrictions have been filed in Tennessee, Texas, Minnesota, Georgia and North Carolina, among others. Some challenges primarily address the general restrictions states have [...]

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the House of Representatives passed the largest relief package in U.S. history on Friday. The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act authorizes more than $3 trillion in new spending, including aid to state, local, tribal and territorial governments, as well as additional $1200 payments directly to [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP joined together to file a lawsuit on Thursday against US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos over new regulations regarding the handling of sexual harassment and assault on college campuses. The Department’s new regulations offer further definitions for what conduct constitutes sexual harassment [...]

The US Senate on Thursday approved the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act, which will reinstate expired FBI surveillance tools used for counterintelligence and counterterrorism investigations. The Act would restore the ability of the government to obtain secret court orders requiring third parties to hand over any “tangible thing” that is deemed relevant to national security investigations. This [...]

The state of Michigan announced settlement Thursday in a lawsuit over the poor reading skills of Detroit school children. The case follows a federal appeals court decision affirming that Detroit students at under-performing schools have the fundamental right to a basic minimum education. In the settlement, Governor Gretchen Whitmer agreed to propose legislation to fund [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday in Lucky Brand Dungarees, Inc. v. Marcel Fashions Group, in favor of Lucky Brand. One of the first cases the court heard this year, the trademark dispute largely dealt with a question of civil procedure. Lucky Brand raised a defense in this lawsuit that it had not fully [...]