Reuters released a comprehensive report Wednesday on women’s deaths in jails across the US. The report collected data from more than 500 jails from 2008 through 2019 and documented 914 female inmate deaths. The report cited suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, deficient medical care for inmates detoxing from opioids, and inadequate medical standards for treating pregnant [...]

The US Food and Drug Administration filed a supplemental brief on Tuesday requesting that the Supreme Court lift a preliminary injunction “barring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from enforcing longstanding safety requirements with respect to medication abortions effected through the use of Mifeprex (or its generic equivalent). This pill is approved for use to [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the state’s COVID-19 mask mandate. The court found that the complaint was a “shotgun complaint.” It criticized the complaint for supplying “irrelevant factual allegations and legal conclusions,” having “arguments that stray from the statutory and constitutional underpinning [...]

The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in three new cases Wednesday, including two cases about compensation for student-athletes. The court consolidated the cases National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston and American Athletic Conference v. Alston. In the 1984 case National Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, the court held that the [...]

Environmental and Alaska Native groups on Tuesday requested the blocking of an auction of oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and “a court order barring permits sought for seismic operations.” The plaintiff groups include the National Audubon Society, the Gwich’in Steering Committee and the Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, among [...]

The Abolitionist Law Center published a report Tuesday highlighting racial disparities in Pittsburgh policing. The report shows that in 2019, Black people accounted for 43.6 percent of traffic stops and 71.4 percent of all frisks, though Black people only account for 23.2 percent of the city’s population. The report also shows that Black people also [...]

Despite the recent spate of federal executions, a report released Wednesday by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) reveals record-low state executions and new death sentences in 2020. Seventeen people were executed this year, of whom 10 were executed by the federal government. This is the first time in American history that federal executions exceeded state [...]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions for religious gatherings in New Jersey and Colorado until district courts can hear the cases. In both cases, petitioners challenge restrictions imposing stricter limitations on religious gatherings as violations of the First Amendment. The petitioners argue that the restrictions on religious institutions are harsher [...]

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted Monday to issue an order requiring nine major social media and video streaming companies to report on their use of consumer data. The order, issued pursuant to section 6(b) of the FTC Act, requests information pertaining to five subjects: 1) the collection of consumer data, 2) the use [...]

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Michigan chapter (CAIR-MI) filed a lawsuit Monday against the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) for making Muslim and Moorish Science women remove their hijabs for mugshots. Photographs of the women without their hijabs are posted on MDOC’s public website. DOC ID cards also display the mugshots. The “Muslim and Moorish [...]