The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded Friday that US President Donald Trump’s unilateral diversion of $3.6 billion from the Department of Defense budget to fund a border wall on the US-Mexico border was unlawful. The court concluded that 10 USC § 2808, which permits “military construction projects, not otherwise authorized by [...]
Amnesty International urged the UN Security Council Monday to take action against Myanmar for military abuses. Amnesty’s condemnation of Myanmar’s military action follows after reports of intensified violence between Myanmar’s military and Araken Army that led to civilian casualties. Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, called on the Security Council to refer [...]
“The goal is to dominate the street.” – US President Donald J. Trump, June 1, 2020 There are disturbing connections. Before openly embracing the “Proud Boys” during his first debate with Democrat opponent Joe Biden, Donald J. Trump praised the value of “good genes” in Minnesota. Though such a seemingly “positive” evocation might not normally [...]
A federal judge on Sunday upheld Minnesota’s extended absentee ballot deadline. The deadline allows election officials in Minnesota to count absentee ballots postmarked on election day that are received within a week of the election. In upholding the deadline, Judge Nancy Brasel found that the Republican Party of Minnesota Electors who brought the suit lacked [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary stay on Saturday allowing Governor Greg Abbott to limit each county to one drop-off site for absentee ballots for the upcoming election. On Friday, a federal judge had granted a preliminary injunction against the governor’s limit. The plaintiffs had noted that the governor’s [...]
The Israeli Cabinet unanimously approved a peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates on Monday—the first peace agreement that Israel has signed in more than 25 years. Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained that the agreement will open the door to trade between Israel and its neighbors, leading to a major geopolitical and economic turning [...]
In the 1970s, the federal government passed the Controlled Substance Act (“CSA”), outlawing a plethora of psychedelic substances. Many of these now illegal psychedelic plants have been used for sacramental purposes for eons. Over the following decades, a number of regulatory, statutory, and judicial exemptions were carved out of the CSA for religious use of [...]
The US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania dismissed a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump’s re-election campaign challenging mail-in drop boxes in Pennsylvania on Saturday. The lawsuit challenged the statewide use of ballot drop boxes in at least 20 counties. The Trump campaign alleged that the unmonitored and unsecured ad hoc drop boxes [...]
“Representation matters. I wore my father’s prayer hat, and stood at the steps of the Supreme Court, waving our flag.” – Ibrahim “Ibby” Baig On June 15th, 2020, Ibrahim “Ibby” Baig awaited, like many others, for a decision of paramount importance to the lives of gay Americans to come down from a court which has [...]
A federal judge for the district court of the District of Columbia on Thursday ordered the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the White House to confer on the administration’s official position regarding the unredacted release of the Mueller investigation report. The order comes as part of a lawsuit concerning a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [...]
