The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Thursday that Hungary failed to fulfill its obligations under EU law after adopting legislation that restricts international protection offered to asylum seekers. The ruling comes after Hungary adopted legislation in 2015 that created transit zones at the Serbian-Hungarian border to apply asylum procedures and created the concept of [...]

The US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment Wednsesday charging Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a Kenyan member of the al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group al Shabaab, with six counts of terrorism-related crimes for allegedly plotting an attack similar to those carried out by al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001. Al Shabaab, a wing of al Qaeda in East Africa, joined [...]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Thursday that warrants issued by Polish judges must be enforced by other member nations despite concerns of systemic and generalized issues of judicial independence. This ruling comes from two European arrest warrants issued against Polish nationals who were abroad in the Netherlands. The district court of the Netherlands [...]

With the continuing pandemic – and expiring housing and unemployment benefits across the country – millions of people may have their utilities cut off soon. Meanwhile, at least 13 states currently have expired moratoriums on water shut-offs. Many notable COVID-19 hotspot states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma) never implemented any moratorium on utility shut-offs. For those facing [...]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ), the EU’s highest court, on Thursday upheld Belgium’s ban on slaughtering animals without stunning them first, rejecting legal challenges from Muslim and Jewish groups. This ban expands the restrictions that EU Council Regulation no. 1099/2009 placed on meat processing facilities to require the use of reversible, non-lethal stunning or [...]

Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill Tuesday tightening the rules governing the activities of foreign law enforcement agents. Some measures in the bill are identical to those in bilateral agreements, while others are new. Measures include limiting the immunity granted to foreign agents and requiring agents to share all the information they collect with [...]

A group of US Senate Democrats introduced legislation Thursday that would establish a federal commission to supervise college athletics and to grant student-athletes extensive compensation rights, including profit-sharing. The College Athletes Bill of Rights, spearheaded by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), aims to set up a federal commission consisting of nine members [...]

The US Department of Justice announced Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached a settlement agreement with Home Depot over its failure to follow rules involving lead paint in renovations. The complaint was lodged in Atlanta and claimed that Home Depot had violated the Toxic Substances Control Act. According to the complaint, Home [...]

The New Jersey legislature voted to legalize the sale of marijuana on Thursday in a move making New Jersey the first state in the region to legalize the drug. The New Jersey legislature voted to approve the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (S21). The vote is in line with the [...]

The Teitiota family from a little-known Pacific island didn’t intend to become a catalyst for expanding the concept of asylum—but they became one anyway.  In 2015, New Zealand denied the family’s asylum claim and deported them, despite the parents’ plea that their three children’s health and well-being were at risk amid crop failure, withering coconut [...]