A class action lawsuit was filed Monday in the Western District of New York accusing the Rochester Police Department (RPD) of racist practices and a “pattern … of using excessive force.” Plaintiffs include residents of the city of Rochester, New York, who have been subjected to excessive force by the RPD within the last year, [...]

A year into the pandemic, the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility published ABA Opinion 498, providing guidance on how lawyers can comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct while practicing virtually. The ABA Model Rules permit the virtual practice, defined as practicing law anywhere other than in a brick-and-mortar office. But they [...]

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Tuesday issued an administrative order directing the chief equity officer to “mitigate the impact of new voting restrictions imposed by Senate Bill 202” on Atlanta residents. This is the latest action in a growing response to what President Joe Biden called “Jim Crow in the 21st century.” SB 202, [...]

The Russian state communications regulator announced Monday that it would be extending the punitive slowdown of Twitter traffic until May 15. The Russian regulator had first announced the decision to slow down Twitter nearly four weeks ago in response to what it deemed as the social media platform’s failure to remove banned content such as child [...]

The appeal of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak began at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya on Monday, as Najib attempts to overturn his 2020 conviction on corruption charges related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal. Najib’s conviction arose from charges involving money laundering, abuse of power, and criminal breach of trust from [...]

Tennessee filed an emergency request on Monday asking the US Supreme Court to reinstate a 48-hour mandatory waiting period for abortions pending appeal. The law was challenged by several doctors and a medical center on behalf of their patients. US District Judge Bernard Friedman held in October that the waiting period was unconstitutional, following “five [...]

The US Supreme Court granted review Monday in Brown v. Davenport, a case that will decide how harmless error review is applied in federal habeas petitions. The case arises out of a Michigan court that shackled a criminal defendant during a trial. State courts concluded that shackling him violated the Constitution, but that the error [...]

What do Taylor Swift, Gal Gadot, and Kristen Bell have in common? Aside from their celebrity, they have all been victims of deepfake pornography. Deepfake technology is used to manipulate media so that the original face in a video is replaced with a face of the user’s choice. While that can make for a funny [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Monday allowing him to run for an additional two terms, meaning that Putin could retain control of the Russian presidency until 2036. Putin first served as President of the Russian Federation from 2000 until 2008, then stepped down to serve as Prime Minister from 2008 until 2012, at [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by New York state residents claiming that the World Health Organization (WHO) negligently responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the complaint filed last April, plaintiffs alleged that the WHO failed to “properly monitor the response [...]