The Arkansas Supreme Court issued two opinions on Wednesday striking down a city ordinance that banned discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Both decisions involved challenges to an ordinance, passed by the Fayetteville City Council and approved by the city in a referendum, to extend the protections of the federal Civil Rights Act and the Arkansas [...]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Friday that the US will withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a nuclear arms control pact between the US and Russia established during the Cold War. The INF treaty “bans ground-launched missiles with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.” Pompeo cited Russian noncompliance with the [...]

A Florida appeals court on Wednesday held that unregulated Bitcoin sales can be prosecuted. This decisions comes three years after a Miami-Dade circuit judge threw out the felony charges brought against Michell Espinoza, a web designer accused of selling $1,500 worth of bitcoins to undercover detectives. Circuit Judge Teresa Mary Pooler ruled that Espinoza could [...]

Bipartisan US lawmakers introduced the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act Wednesday to limit the president’s power to levy import tariffs under the guise of national security. The bill amends sections of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, specifically Section 232, which gives the president the ability to impose duties for national security concerns. In 2018 [...]

Lyft and Juno, two ride-sharing companies operating in New York City, have filed separate lawsuits against the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission to block a new rule proposed by the commission mandating a minimum wage per trip. The rule proposed by the commission creates a new minimum wage based on a per-trip formula. Drivers [...]

UN human rights expert Idriss Jazairy expressed concern Thursday over the impact on innocent Venezuelan citizens after the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s national oil company. The US imposed sanctions earlier in the week in an attempt to oust President Nicolás Maduro for Juan Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly. By stopping the export [...]

Zel Fischer, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, announced a pretrial reform plan on Thursday.  In his annual State of the Judiciary address, Fischer said, “We all share a responsibility to protect the public–but we also have a responsibility to ensure those accused of crime are fairly treated according to the law, and not their pocket [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Wednesday ruled that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must pay disability benefits to blue water navy Vietnam veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange. Alfred Procopio, Jr. served aboard the USS Intrepid during the Vietnam War but never set foot on land. Procopio twice sought [...]

The New York State Assembly passed comprehensive gun legislation on Tuesday to diminish gun violence in the state. Among the legislation passed is the “Red Flag Bill” that blocks a person deemed to be a threat to the safety of themselves or others from buying a gun for up to a year. A petitioner, which [...]

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestine will not accept US foreign aid after Thursday for fear of potential US legal consequences per Congress’ Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act (ATCA) of 2018. The US currently provides nearly $60 million in security funding to the Palestinian government each year. Though the aid is needed, Abbas says the cost of [...]