The US Supreme Court agreed Friday once again to take up partisan gerrymandering cases from Maryland and North Carolina. The court postponed further consideration of the question of jurisdiction in Rucho v. Common Cause, the North Carolina case, and Lamone v. Benisek, the Maryland case, and set arguments for March. Both cases have been before [...]

The Russian Federation formally charged US citizen Paul Whelan with espionage Thursday, according to Russian news agency Interfax. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested Whelan on December 28. Under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, espionage is punishable by 10-20 years in prison. The family of Whelan, a retired US Marine, [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Thursday rejected an appeal by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge Number 7, blocking them from intervening in the court-ordered reform program aimed at combating the Chicago police’s pattern of unconstitutional use of force. In January 2017 the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released a [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday against New York City’s Local Law 146, which would have required home-sharing sites, like Airbnb and HomeAway, to submit monthly reports detailing short-term rental transactions to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement. The report would [...]

The Supreme Court of California declined Wednesday to block a law requiring state police departments to publicly disclose reports arising from improper officer use of force. The San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Employees’ Benefit Association, a police employee union in San Bernadino county, petitioned the court to block the release of records from before 2019, arguing [...]

Effective on Tuesday, Washington state increased the age limit for purchasing semiautomatic assault rifles from 18 to 21 years old. For individuals between the ages of 18 and 21 years old, the law allows the individuals to possess a semiautomatic assault rifle under certain conditions. This includes in the person’s house, business, or on real [...]

As of Tuesday, the US and Israel are no longer part of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Trump administration’s State Department had announced withdrawal in October 2017 to be effective at the end of 2018. At that same time US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, commented with a release implying [...]

The EU, along with the US and the UK called Tuesday for an investigation on into the Bangladesh elections that occurred on December 30. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was re-elected to a third consecutive term, and her allies obtained greater than 90 percent of the seats in parliament. Opponents of Hasina believe that the elections [...]

US Chief Justice John Roberts released the 2018 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary on Monday. The report discussed the importance of the relationship between federal judges and their clerks. It also reported an update on the Federal Judiciary Workplace Conduct Working Group, which was established to investigate inappropriate conduct in the workplace against clerks and [...]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Trump Administration proposed major revisions to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards on Friday, which will ease restrictions and create financial benefits to coal and oil-fired power plants. The 119-page report found that the EPA proposes that it is not “appropriate and necessary” to regulate hazardous air pollutant [...]