The Supreme Court of Virginia agreed on Tuesday to hear an appeal filed by an advocacy group that challenges a decision from earlier this year that upheld the constitutionality of 11 state legislative districts. The plaintiffs, joined by OneVirginia2021 , a non-profit organization aimed at “fair redistricting”, sued the state on the grounds that the [...]

The Iowa Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked a law that enacted a 72-hour waiting period before a woman could get an abortion. The bill was passed in the Iowa house in April and signed into law by former governor Terry Branstad right before he left office in May to assume his new role as [...]

A bipartisan group of US senators introduced the USA Rights Act on Tuesday that would overhaul aspects of the National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless internet surveillance program. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act , which is set to expire at the end of the year, is used by US intelligence officials to combat [...]

The Supreme Court of Kenya ruled Wednesday that it was unable to hear a case in which the petitioners are seeking to delay the upcoming presidential election. The court was unable to hear the case because it did not have the required quorum of justices present. There are a total of seven judges on the [...]

The US Senate on Tuesday approved HJ Res 111 , which cancels a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule related to arbitration agreements. The canceled CFPB rule, 82 FR 33210 , prevented providers of specified consumer financial products and services from requiring consumers to sign arbitration agreements that barred them from participating in class action [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday ruled 6-3 that a 17-year-old unidentified, undocumented immigrant has the right to obtain an abortion. A week earlier, the same court through a three-judge panel temporarily blocked a lower court ruling permitting the teen immigrant to have an abortion, noting that it [...]

Russia on Tuesday vetoed the UN Security Council’s resolution to extend the UN Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapon (OPCW) investigation into the Syria chemical-weapons attack. In February Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the Syrian government conducted “coordinated chemical attacks” on rebel-controlled portions of Aleppo. In the same report, HRW alleged that Russia [...]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the dismissal of Hawaii v. Trump , the last remaining challenge of the now expired March 6 travel ban . In the brief order, the court noted that the provisions of the original executive order “expired by own terms,” and thus the matter is rendered moot. As a [...]

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday resuming the admissions of refugees into the US but introducing heightened vetting procedures. The order states that the prior executive order barring refugee admissions from a number of Islamic nations is no longer in effect and “the Secretary of State may resume travel of qualified and [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Azadeh Shahshahani of Project South discusses a case of discrimination in access to public utilities … It’s hard to believe that in the twenty-first century there are still households that face the risk of going without electricity or running water because of who they are and where they come from. But in [...]