OSeveno, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rights groups have criticized recent US sanctions targeting the International Criminal Court (ICC), its staff, and those cooperating with it, including the ICC prosecutor and four judges. The coalition of international legal organizations, consisting of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, Judges for Judges and Lawyers’ [...]

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday warned that a newly enacted law in Ecuador threatens the rights and protections of children, particularly those recruited or used by organized crime groups. The Public Integrity Law, passed by the National Assembly on June 24 and signed by President Daniel Noboa the following day, introduces sweeping punitive measures [...]

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The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management that the members of the US Preventive Services Task Force were properly appointed under Article II of the Constitution, preserving preventive care requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A group of Christian-owned businesses sued the task force, claiming that the preventive care mandates [...]

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday reported that Kyrgyzstan’s parliament has passed two bills that allow the authorities to restrict media activities without judicial oversight and merge the country’s main anti-torture body with the ombudsman’s office, threatening both media freedom and protection from torture. The organization urged the Kyrgyz president to veto these laws, stating [...]

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In a 6-3 ruling released Friday, the US Supreme Court found that a universal-service contribution scheme does not violate the nondelegation doctrine, which restricts Congress’ ability to delegate its power to federal agencies, private companies, or the other two branches of government. Writing for the majority, Justice Elena Kagan described respondent Consumers’ Research’s reading of [...]

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Two national immigrants’ rights organizations filed a federal class-action lawsuit on Friday seeking to block President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order ending birthright citizenship. The filing comes just hours after the US Supreme Court issued a decision limiting the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions against federal policies, while leaving open the door [...]

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The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) commended Vietnam’s National Assembly on Friday for its decision to abolish the death penalty for eight criminal offenses while also urging additional action. While hailing the partial abolition as a “historic vote,” the OHCHR called on the country to take further steps by abolishing [...]

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The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Texas law that mandates that adult consumers of pornographic material verify their ages before accessing the material. Applying intermediate scrutiny, the court held that the law is likely constitutional under the First Amendment. The law, HB 1181, only applies to “commercial” entities, including “corporation, limited liability compan, [...]

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Mathieu Landretti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The US Supreme Court on Friday granted a preliminary injunction to a group of Maryland parents challenging their school board’s mandatory instruction of LGBTQ+ themed storybooks in elementary schools. The court stated that the introduction of the books, combined with the parents’ inability to opt their children out of the instruction, “places an unconstitutional burden [...]

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On Wednesday, at the NATO summit in The Hague, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez formally rejected the alliance’s newly agreed aspirational guideline for member states to increase defense spending to 5% of national GDP by 2035. In a carefully negotiated compromise, NATO permitted Spain to endorse the summit’s joint communiqué with a subtle but significant [...]

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