Two “Personhood Acts” were introduced in the South Carolina legislature this week that would criminalize receiving or performing an abortion. State Senator Richard Cash introduced the bill in the Senate on Wednesday, and State Representative Josiah Magnuson introduced a similar bill on Thursday. The Senate bill reads, “The General Assembly acknowledges that personhood is God-given rather than an endowment of [...]

US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday extending for another 90 days an earlier proclamation that banned migrants caught entering the US illegally from seeking asylum. The initial order was blocked by federal judge in the Northern District of California. The judge ruled that the policy directly conflicted with the text of 8 USC § 1158(a)(1). The judge’s ruling was [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Thursdayupheld a ruling that Georgia’s electronic voting system poses a security risk and would potentially deny voters due process under the Fourteenth amendment. The plaintiffs brought an action against the state for their use of direct record electronic (DRE) machines for the midterm elections in [...]

The Hawaiian Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously recommended a bill decriminalizing marijuana on Thursday, clearing its first hurdle to becoming law. The bill would declare, “that the legalization of marijuana for personal or recreational use is a natural, logical, and reasonable outgrowth of the current science of marijuana and attitude toward marijuana.” If passed, it would permit [...]

Attorney General nominee William Pelham Barr was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday in a 12-10 vote. During the hearing, Democrats on the Committee expressed concern about a memo that Barr wrote last year that called the Mueller investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 election “fatally misconceived.” Senate Democrats expressed concern that Barr would [...]

US Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced a resolution Thursday proposing a Green New Deal to combat climate change. The resolution assigns the federal government five main duties. These duties include reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, creating millions of high-wage jobs, and investing in infrastructure and industry. The government would also have [...]

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Thursday that his office filed a petition to modify the current consent decrees between University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Highmark Health (Highmark) to include requirements that ensure UPMC will promote public interest in the state. Specifically, Shapiro’s petition requests that UPMC is held accountable to their obligations [...]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed revisions Wednesday to “Payday, Vehicle Title, and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans” to rescind rule requirements in an effort to increase consumer access to credit. According to the Bureau, the Obama-era rules reduced competition, and there was insufficient evidence and legal support for the stricter regulations. The current rules require lenders [...]

The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Safehouse, a nonprofit organization, to prevent the opening of the first supervised drug injection site in the country. Safehouse aims to address the opioid epidemic by allowing a safe environment for drug users to be administered injections by medical [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit stayed the execution Wednesday of Domineque Hakim Marcelle Ray, an Alabama death row inmate who was denied the presence of his imam in the execution chamber. Ray was convicted of the 1995 rape, robbery and murder of a 15-year-old and sentenced to death. He was informed [...]