The Supreme Court granted certiorari on Tuesday in United States v. Arthrex Inc and two other consolidated cases to address the appointment of administrative patent judges. The question before the court is whether administrative patent judges are considered “principal officers” under the US Constitution’s Appointment Clause or are instead considered “inferior officers.” If administrative patent judges are [...]

Cyprus announced via Twitter on Tuesday that it will abolish a citizenship-through-investment passport scheme that grants citizenship and guarantees visa-free travel throughout the EU to individuals who invest €2 million minimum. This announcement followed an investigation by news source Al Jazeera revealing that high-ranking politicians issued passports to convicted criminals. Allegedly, high-ranking Cypriot officials, politicians, [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday lifted a stay issued in August, reinstating the district court injunction barring federal agents from targeting journalists and legal observers at protests. The injunction sets out that press passes, standing to the side of protests and carrying professional-grade photographic equipment should be used to [...]

A Florida appeals court on Friday overturned the trial court’s ruling in favor of Florida teachers challenging the order that they argued “forced” school districts to reopen. The court held that the union’s case was not strong enough to qualify for the injunction issued by the trial court and that the trial court “exceeded the [...]

Chinese officials announced Monday that Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been charged with espionage. Yang was detained by Chinese authorities in January 2019 and has not been released since. A former Chinese diplomat and spy novelist, Yang wrote on Chinese politics for several years. He became an Australian citizen in the early 2000s. Yang claims his spy [...]

US President Donald Trump issued a proclamation Saturday indicating plans to move forward with an extension of safeguard taxes to cover double-sided solar panels that were previously exempted, while also raising the future overall tariff rate from 15 percent to 18 percent. The proclamation comes more than two year years after Trump approved new tariffs [...]

As the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Caucasus, slug it out over a decades-long dispute about a piece of ground, one is reminded that conflict, once again, has become dirty and lawless at many levels. Civilians have become targets, protective symbols of the Geneva Conventions, such as the [...]

The US Senate Judiciary Committee began the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Monday. Republican Senators sought to make the hearing about Barrett’s Catholicism, while Democrats focused on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Roe v Wade. In addition, Democrats focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. Criticism included the lack of contact [...]

On 25th September 2020, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment notified the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020 which removed the mandatory medical examination requirement that the previous draft of these rules (issued in July 2020) had created. The earlier draft was heavily criticized by the transgender community for taking away their [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a ruling on Friday that effectively limits ballot drop boxes to one box per county for the upcoming presidential election. This lawsuit was precipitated in mid-August, when Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a directive that limits the number of drop boxes available for [...]