Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan posted on Facebook Monday that his wife has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes as results of two open cases. Sotoudeh has been charged with spreading information against the state, insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader and spying. Last year Sotoudeh represented a number of [...]
The New Mexico Senate passed a Union Security Agreements bill with a vote of 23-19 on Sunday that could ban local “right-to-work” ordinances. Ten different counties throughout the state have currently adopted ordinances that prevent employees from being required to join a union or non-union members from paying union fees. Adoption of the bill would [...]
Colombian President Ivan Duque said Sunday he objects to several articles in legislation implementing a 2016 ceasefire agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group, ignoring warnings by supporters of peace and the International Criminal Court (ICC). Duque objected to six of the 159 articles in the so-called Special Jurisdiction for Peace [...]
A federal judge granted a motion on Friday to expand the class definition in a class action lawsuit against the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency. In the original complaint, the plaintiff, Ms. L, sought to reunite with her seven-year-old daughter after they both fled violence from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Upon seeking asylum in [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Maryland on Thursday lifted a nationwide preliminary injunction on the Trump administration policy banning most transgender individuals from serving in the military. Judge George Russell removed the preliminary injunction, stating that he is “bound by the Supreme Court’s decision to stay the preliminary injunctions [...]
Nicholas Acklin is on death row in Alabama, our home state where we both have practiced law for almost 50 years. As past presidents of the Alabama State Bar, and together with former members of Alabama’s appellate courts, we have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review Mr. Acklin’s case and ensure that he receives [...]
The Tennessee House of Representatives approved an abortion bill 93-73 on Thursday that would ban abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. The bill provides an exception for medical emergencies that may require an abortion. The bill also states that when the fetal heartbeat is detected, the person who discovers the heartbeat must “ecord [...]
Russia’s lower house, the State Duma, passed a bill on Thursday that would fine individuals and companies for spreading “fake news.” The Duma defines fake news as “unreliable socially significant information distributed under the guise of authentic messages and posing a security risk.” Russia’s Prosecutor General will be the one to determine whether the information in question falls into [...]
The US House of Representatives passed HR-1 Friday, dubbed the For the People Act, to “make it easier, not harder, to vote,” which overhauls a number of voting rules in campaign finance, access to voting, and ethics rules. The bill contains provisions to update voter registration, including automatic voter registration, prohibiting deceptive practice and preventing [...]
Twenty-eight players of the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) sued the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) Friday for multiple claims of gender discrimination. In a complaint filed in federal district court in California, the women allege that the USSF has consistently discriminated against them based on their gender, treating them as inferior to the male [...]
