New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed on Monday the Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act, also known as the “Green Light Bill”, which amends the Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) to allow undocumented immigrants access to driver’s licenses. The bill authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue standard drivers’ licenses and restricts what [...]
The Supreme Court of the State of Colorado ruled on Monday that an initiative to repeal the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (“TABOR”) is a single subject that can be voted on in one referendum. The case arose when the Title Board declined “to set a title for proposed Initiative 2019-2020 #3”, which would be asking [...]
Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an independent investigation into the detention and death of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. After collapsing during his trial, the Egyptian President was pronounced dead on Monday. The cause of death was a heart attack, but family and [...]
Russian President Vladmir Putin has signed a new law that would impose fines for the distribution of unauthorized foreign print media. Under the new law, media publications must obtain a permit and register their media outlet with Russian media watchdog, Roskomnadzor. Committee to Protect Journalists Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said criticized the [...]
The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF) filed an amicus brief on Tuesday with the US Supreme Court urging it to find that the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a unanimous jury verdict applies to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The LDF submitted the brief in support of the [...]
“There is no longer a virtuous nation, and the best of us live by candlelight.” -William Butler Yeats From the beginning of his presidency, Donald Trump has presumed a hard and fast distinction between America’s national interest and the broader interests of our “state of nations.” Rather than recognize the indissoluble interdependence of all states, [...]
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed bipartisan legislation on Friday that protects patients from paying for surprise out-of-network medical bills. Surprise medical bills most often arise during medical emergencies when a patient with insurance receives treatment outside of his or her provider network. Frequently, when the insurance company and healthcare provider cannot agree on a fair [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must stop denying abortion care to undocumented minors in federal custody. Beginning in 2017, the Trump administration directed shelters not to facilitate abortions for the undocumented immigrant children in their custody. In October 2017, the ACLU challenged [...]
The Supreme Court of Alaska ruled on Friday that Alaska’s sex offender registration statute violated the due process rights of out of state offenders by requiring them to register as sex offenders without allowing them to be heard. The court addressed the question of whether Alaska Sexual Offender Registration Act (ASORA) registration requirements violated due [...]
UN Secretary-General António Guterres spoke (video and transcript) to parties of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on Monday, marking the 25th anniversary of the convention by urging greater conservation of the world’s oceans. The Secretary-General emphasized the current decline of the world’s oceans providing statistics and stating: Today, the oceans are [...]
