The Washington State Supreme Court on Thursday ruled unanimously that a florist’s refusal to provide her commercially marketed wedding services for a same-sex wedding constituted a violation of the Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD). This decision reconsidered Arlene’s Flowers v. Washington, a case that was decided before the US Supreme Court heard Masterpiece Cakeshop v. [...]

Oregon Senators on Wednesday approved SB 870, which would update the state’s electoral college process to reflect the will of the nation. “Prior to the time set by law for the meeting and voting by the presidential electors, the chief election official of each member state shall determine the number of votes for each presidential [...]

A spokesperson for the US Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) said in an email statement Wednesday that because the number of unaccompanied children being detained is placing a strain on ORR resources, ORR is scaling back programs at the shelters where the children are detained. The programs that will be reduced are the English language [...]

North Carolina’s House of Representatives failed on Wednesday to overturn a veto of a bill that would have required doctors to try to preserve the life of any infant born alive during an attempted abortion. The override effort fell short of the required three-fifths majority by only five votes. The bill, titled the Born-Alive Abortion [...]

The Sri Lankan government proposed a new law with a five-year jail term as well as a fine of $1 million rupees to combat the spreading of fake news and hate speech. This proposed legislation comes in the wake of the Easter attacks where misinformation was spread leading to a nine-day ban on the use [...]

Veterans will have expanded access to medical care outside Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities beginning Thursday. The final rule, published Wednesday, establishes the Veterans Community Care Program under the VA MISSION Act of 2018 (MISSION Act). According to the VA’s official blog, “veterans should expect a fairly transparent and seamless transition” into the new [...]

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal on Thursday unanimously granted a same sex-couple the same right to employment and tax benefits that an opposite-sex married couple has under Hong Kong law. In reaching its decision the court held that because Hong Kong recognizes opposite-sex couples married in other jurisdictions where there marriage is legitimized, [...]

The US House of Representatives voted 237-187 Tuesday to approve HR6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, which would create a path to citizenship for so-called DREAMers who entered the country illegally as minors. According to the Migration Policy Institute, HR6 would help around 2.7 million, of an estimated 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants, [...]

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released new restrictions on non-family travel to Cuba Tuesday. The new OFAC regulations end a “grandfathering” provision that allowed individuals who had made at least one travel-related transaction for a people-to-people trip [...]

The Tennessee Court of Appeals held Tuesday that the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) do not have standing to prevent the removal of Confederate statutes at parks the City of Memphis had sold to Memphis Greenspace. In December 2017 the city of Memphis sold parkland to Memphis Greenspace, after which Memphis Greenspace removed statutes of [...]