Voters in six states considered ballot measures Tuesday to cap, limit or restrict various types of taxes. In Oregon a ban on taxes on groceries was defeated, and a legislative requirement of three-fifths majority for revenue increases was also defeated. In Washington a ballot measure to prohibit the state government from enacting taxes on groceries passed. In [...]
UN Special Rapporteur Idriss Jazairy said Thursday that sanctions that seek to block a country’s trade completely are equivalent to economic warfare against civilians. Economic sanctions are meant to burden states, but these often expose civilians to hardships, including impediments to humanitarian assistance. According to Jazairy, blocking necessities such as food and medicine “expos innocent [...]
A three-judge panel for the US District Court for the District of Maryland on Wednesday threw out Maryland’s, finding that the process of redrawing the federal voting districts violated the constitutional rights of residents in the state. The state has until March to draw a new map that passes constitutional muster or the court will [...]
A UN human rights expert said Thursday that in order for Cambodia to “achieve a durable peace and sustainable development,” the Cambodian government must work more closely with civil society groups. The expert noted that “civil society organizations still faced considerable burdens in complying with Cambodia’s restrictive laws.” The expert urged the government to review [...]
The US Court of Appeals for Tenth Circuit on Tuesday dismissed a whistleblower lawsuit, holding that the False Claims Act (FCA) does not protect whistleblowers from retaliation once they are no longer employees. Debbi Potts was a campus director at “CollegeAmerica Denver, Inc. (CollegeAmerica), a predecessor of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education, Inc.” [...]
Senior Judge Roslyn Silver of the US District Court for the District of Arizona on Wednesday sentenced Ahmed Alahmedalabdaloklah to life plus 30 years in prison for crimes committed in 2011 related to bomb construction. Alahmedalabdaloklah, a.k.a. Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Ahmad, was convicted by a federal jury in March for seeking “to harm American soldiers by conspiring with [...]
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Wednesday that the Hungarian state’s monopoly on mobile payment systems for public parking, road tolls and public transportation fees is contrary to EU laws. The mobile payment system, which is accessible through smartphones and computers, was made mandatory by the government. The mobile payments were processed by a company [...]
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases Wednesday regarding service processes for foreign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) and attorney’s fee caps for lawyers representing clients in Social Security benefit cases. In Republic of Sudan v. Harrison, the petitioner is appealing a decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Second [...]
A number of clean energy and environmental protection ballot measures were voted down Tuesday. These ballot measures ranged from more conventional measures requiring certain percentages of a state’s electricity production to come from renewable sources to more radical measures including direct taxes on carbon emissions and the requirement of an open and competitive electricity market. [...]
Voters in traditionally more conservative Idaho, Utah and Nebraska voted Tuesday to adopt Medicaid expansion provisions through ballot measures. Montana voters decided against an initiative that proposed a tax hike on tobacco products to continue funding the Medicaid expansion programs already active in the state. In Idaho voters approved Proposition 2 that proposed expanding Medicaid eligibility [...]
