The National Assembly of Hungary adopted Bill Number T/16365 on Tuesday, effectively banning sexual orientation and gender identity related discourse in schools. The new law, which bans discussions relating to the LGBTQIA+ community, contains various other provisions that put in place stronger measures against acts of pedophilia and sexual crimes against children–all the provisions forming [...]

US President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law Thursday establishing June 19 as a US federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the country. The Senate unanimously passed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act Tuesday without amendment. The Act then passed overwhelmingly in the House Wednesday with a [...]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named the Honorable Mahmud Jamal to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) on Thursday. Jamal will replace the retiring Justice Rosalie Abella, and becomes the first person of color to sit on Canada’s highest court. Preceding Jamal’s appointment, the Liberal government formed a non-partisan advisory board led by former Progressive [...]

In May 2021, a major American energy pipeline faced a massive cyber-attack that caused the US to lose 1.2 million barrels of fuel a day. Shortly after the attack, US intelligence found that the party responsible for the attack was from Russia. However, in terms of the Russian government’s involvement in the hack, US President [...]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 3979 into law Wednesday, banning Texas public schools from being able to teach students critical race theory. Critical race theory is a social theory that asserts that racial issues in society are influenced, created, and maintained by societal structures and cultural assumptions. It focuses on the intersections between gender, [...]

Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards signed a new law on Tuesday that eliminates prison time for the possession of modest amounts of marijuana. The new law is the latest move away from Louisiana’s traditionally strict stance on the drug. The bill makes the possession of 14 grams or less a misdemeanor in all cases and [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana ruled Tuesday that the Biden administration does not have the constitutional right to temporarily pause issuing new oil and natural gas leases for offshore and public lands. For now, the federal court has blocked Biden’s executive order issued on January 27. The [...]

A group of Norwegian climate activists on Tuesday formally requested that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) review Norway’s plans for expanded Arctic oil and gas extraction, arguing that their “rights to life and private and family life are directly affected by climate change.” Environmental groups Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth, along with [...]

The Photo That Haunts All of the United States In a recent JURIST post commemorating Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, one of us wrote about a photo that haunts us. Thanks to the kindness of Alessio Parisi, we are now able to share that photo with you. It is above in black and white and [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Wednesday upheld a lower court’s decision to strike down North Carolina’s statewide abortion restrictions. For the past 140 years, North Carolina has criminalized the “procurement or administration of abortion as a felony.” In 1967, the state enacted an exception to the abortion ban that permitted [...]