Legal counsel for the US Supreme Court Monday defended Justice Samuel Alito and his wife from allegations of outside influence raised by members of Congress. In a November 20 letter, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Representative Henry Johnson (D-GA) questioned whether Alito was in any way influenced by or gave advance notice to a right-wing [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Monday reversed a preliminary injunction previously implemented to bar the enforcement of an Indiana law requiring fetal remains to be either buried or cremated by clinics that provide abortion. The ruling reverses a September district court decision which barred enforcement of a series of provisions of [...]

The UK government Monday opted against a ban on “legal but harmful” content in its Online Safety Bill in response to backlash over free speech on social media, especially Twitter. Social media companies will now be under no obligation to remove legal content that may cause harm, such as content that promotes eating disorders and [...]

Australia’s National Party Monday announced it opposes a campaign to secure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation in Parliament. Voice to Parliament is a proposal to amend the Australian Constitution through a referendum scheduled for 2023. The From the Heart campaign explains that Voice to Parliament is: An Indigenous representative body that provides advice to [...]

Law students and law graduates from Pakistan are reporting for JURIST on events in that country impacting its legal system. Here, Eisha Chaudhry, a law student from Islamabad pursuing her LL.B. program at the University of London, reflects on former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks last weekend at a mass rally in Rawalpindi at the [...]

Payton Gendron Monday pleaded guilty in an Erie County, New York court to criminal charges resulting from a mass shooting he carried out in a Buffalo supermarket in May. Gendron’s defense attorney Brian Parker said: Our client pled guilty to every count in the indictment with the full knowledge that he will spend the rest [...]

The US Supreme Court Monday heard oral arguments in Percoco v. United States. The issue before the court was whether a private citizen, who is not a government employee but has informal governmental decision making power, owes a duty to the public and can be convicted of honest-services fraud. The case stemmed from activities that [...]

Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. Here, a Staff Correspondent for JURIST in Kabul reports on the first official publication of a Taliban decree in the country’s official gazette, published by the Afghanistan Ministry of Justice. For privacy and security reasons, we [...]

In a triple referendum held Sunday, the citizens of Slovenia chose to uphold three laws initially put to a vote by the Democrats Party (SDS). The legislation at stake included: removing the political influence from Slovenian state broadcaster RTV Slovenija; allowing the creation of new ministries; and postponing a care system for pensioners. After this [...]

Thomas Kraemer is Senior Counsel at Kakar Advocates in Kabul, Afghanistan, and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is a Special Correspondent for JURIST currently based in Istanbul, Türkiye.   Afghanistan’s Supreme Leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, recently issued an order directing the manner of processing of “principal documents”.  The order does not [...]