A judge for the US District Court for the District of Colorado on Friday blocked Colorado officials from enforcing laws that prosecute or cite voters who take selfies at the ballots. Colorado Rev. Stat. § 1-13-712(1) prohibits a voter from “show his ballot after it is prepared for voting to any person in such a [...]

The Turkish Government on Friday arrested eight pro-Kurdish political party members, including the party’s two leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, then arrested an additional nine party members Saturday. All arrestees are members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party , accused of terror-related acts and were members of the nation’s largest opposition political party. These arrests [...]

Kansas district court judge Larry Hendricks on Friday ordered a stop to Kansas’ voting registration system that would have prevented more than 18,000 people from voting in federal elections for failing to follow particular registration rules. Hendricks ruled that the state’s justification of avoiding voter fraud was far outweighed by the disenfranchisement of thousands of [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday denied a motion for preliminary injunction challenging the New York law that makes it a misdemeanor crime for voters to post pictures of their ballots on social media. The plaintiffs had challenged the law last week, claiming that banning [...]

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) on Friday urged the EU to better address Hungary’s “sustained attack” on human rights and democracy since Prime Minister Viktor Orbán took office in 2010. Upon the beginning of Orbán’s term, Hungary adopted a new constitution called the Fundamental Law , which has since been criticized for neglecting [...]

Bridget Kelly and William Baroni, former New Jersey officials under Governor Chris Christie , were found guilty Friday of all counts against them for the 2013 lane closings on the George Washington Bridge. Kelly and Baroni were facing nine counts including conspiring to fraudulently misuse federal property, wire fraud and deprivation of civil rights. The [...]

One year after the disastrous collapse of a mining dam in Brazil, UN experts called on the Brazilian government, Samarco, Vale, and BHP Billiton Friday to refocus recovery efforts. The statement urged officials to act on issues concerning the environmental harm and human rights impact brought about by the catastrophe. While the UN acknowledged the [...]

The US Supreme Court issued an order on Thursday granting a last-minute stay of execution just as state officials in Alabama were preparing to execute Thomas Douglas Arthur by lethal injection. The application for the stay was presented to Justice Clarence Thomas, subsequently referred to the court and now stands granted pending disposition of a [...]

For the first time in history, governments around the world have agreed to legally binding limits on global temperature rises as the Paris Agreement on climate change became effective on Friday. All governments that have ratified the accord are now legally obligated to cap global warming levels at 2C above pre-industrial levels—regarded as a limit [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Thursday denied the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s effort to allow out-of-county poll watchers to monitor precincts on election day. Judge Gerald Pappert stated that the request was not in the public interest and did not meet the standard for a last-minute intervention [...]