Several pharmaceutical companies are beginning middle or late stage trials of experimental COVID-19 vaccines in Brazil and South Africa, leaving trials in other developed countries for sometime later. Meanwhile, in the United States, Black and other minority recruitment for trials lag: Michael said several factors have led to “a perfect storm of not goodness” for [...]
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro granted pardons Monday to 110 citizens and members of the national opposition ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for December 6. Sectorial Vice President of Communication, Tourism and Culture Jorge Rodriguez announced the pardons during a presidential press conference, noting that Maduro is seeking “dialogue with the people of Venezuela.” This [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which sought to enforce a subpoena issued to former White House counsel Don McGahn. The appeals court found that the committee lacked a cause of action. McGahn left his position as White House [...]
A federal appeals court on Monday denied an attempt by Michael Flynn, US President Donald Trump’s previous national security advisor, to dismiss the case against him. The case was originally brought by the FBI, but the FBI has since decided not to pursue the charges against Flynn further. Judge Emmet Sullivan has not permitted the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Friday that a Texas District Attorney did not violate the First Amendment when he fired his crime victim unit coordinator because of political differences. The court held that District Attorney Omar Escobar, Jr. was justified in his actions because political affiliation is an appropriate requirement [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday allowed Sarah Palin’s defamation claim against the New York Times to proceed, rejecting the paper’s motion for summary judgment. This follows an appeals court ruling in 2019 that allowed the claim to advance to discovery despite an earlier dismissal. [...]
On August 3, New Jersey’s Supreme Court publicly responded to a letter from more than 100 New Jersey law school faculty and administrators rejecting their call for a one-time issuance of “diploma privilege” for 2020 law school graduates and other first-time bar applicants in lieu of a remotely proctored bar examination in October provided by [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that Keith Nelson, who was convicted in 2001 of the rape and murder of 10-year-old Pamela Butler, has been executed. Nelson was pronounced dead at 4:32 PM EDT by the Vigo County Coroner. In October 1999 Nelson told an acquaintance that he wanted to kidnap, rape, torture [...]
A Chinese national was charged Friday with destroying a hard drive during an FBI investigation into possible involvement with the transfer of sensitive software to China. The US Department of Justice said that Guan Lei, a 29-year-old Chinese national and researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, was arrested pursuant to a criminal complaint [...]
More than 20 states filed a lawsuit Friday against the US Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) over changes to a key environmental law. The lawsuit seeks to vacate a final rule, promulgated in July, which made various changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Since 1970, NEPA has served as the US’s “bedrock law [...]
