A Tennessee police officer was convicted Saturday of use of excessive force in violation of an arrestee’s civil rights on multiple occasions. Former Tracy City police chief Anthony “Tony” Bean’s sentencing will take place in June, and the former officer could face up to 10 years for each of the three charges. The Civil Rights [...]

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Friday declared unconstitutional Pennsylvania’s “no-excuse mail-in voting law,” which permits voters to cast their ballots by mail without providing an excuse for their absence. Doug McLinko filed suit against Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary Veronica Degraffenreid, seeking an order declaring that Article XIII-D of the Pennsylvania Election Code violates the Pennsylvania Constitution. [...]

JURIST is launching a new series of dispatches from major US states written by JURIST correspondents “on the ground” in those jurisdictions. JURIST Operations Director Ram Eachambadi files this report from Los Angeles. Earlier this month, Los Angeles County filed a petition in California Superior Court to hold Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva in [...]

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) Friday announced draft provisions and regulations for content providers who alter facial and voice data, the country’s latest effort to combat deepfakes, or videos and other visual technologies that have been altered in order to disseminate false accusations and spread misinformation. The guidelines, which are intended to regulate technology [...]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized his Western counterparts Friday for what he described as their selective interpretation of international treaties, and poured scorn on a former US Ambassador over his understanding of the 2015 Minsk Agreements. Since December, upwards of 100,000 Russian troops have massed along the Ukrainian border. Diplomatic negotiations between Moscow, Kyiv [...]

The White House and the Justice Department announced Friday that 99 law schools across 35 states and Puerto Rico answered the attorney general’s call for action to help communities during the housing and eviction crisis. In August 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a letter to the legal community calling for help. He noted that [...]

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Friday took action against three companies accused of forced labor practices. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order and two forced labor Findings. The Withhold Release Order was issued against Malaysia-based YTY Group, based on information that YTY Group uses forced labor in its manufacturing [...]

Official discrimination against people affected by leprosy remains codified by way of more than 100 laws worldwide, and this status quo must end, urged a senior UN official on Friday. “It is time for all States concerned to make a choice: whether to keep such discriminatory laws against persons affected by leprosy in violation of [...]

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Friday ruled that California’s net neutrality law, SB 822, can remain in place, holding the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2017 decision to reverse federal internet protections cannot bar state action. SB 822 is aimed at protecting the free and open internet by restoring the net neutrality protections afforded by [...]

Hundreds of current and former UN officials, human rights and legal experts, international NGOs, and academic institutions have signed an open letter to the UN Human Rights Council calling for an international investigation into the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran. In 1988, following a fatwa issued by Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah [...]