Month: May 2025

Mexican Federal Judges File Human Rights Petition to IACHR on Recent Judicial Reform: Vance Center Files on Judges’ Behalf

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Fourteen current and former Mexican federal judges have filed a human rights petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), alleging that Mexico’s controversial 2024 judicial reform violated their rights and undermined judicial independence. Filed by the Vance Center for International Justice, the petition highlights how the reform—enacted under former President Andrés Manuel López …

Gobe and Salaymeh (2016), “Tunisia’s “Revolutionary” Lawyers: From Professional Autonomy to Political Mobilization”

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Tunisian lawyers played a key role in the 2011 uprising and its aftermath, using political lawyering to gain symbolic influence and act as watchdogs over the new government.

Batesmith and Stevens (2018), “In the Absence of the Rule of Law: Everyday Lawyering, Dignity and Resistance in Myanmar’s ‘Disciplined Democracy'”

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In Myanmar’s authoritarian legal system, everyday lawyers resist state power by preserving client dignity, offering subtle defiance where rule of law is absent.

Shafqat (2019), “Civil Society and the Lawyers’ Movement of Pakistan”

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This article analyzes how lawyers drove Pakistan’s 2007–2009 judicial movement, but civil society’s framing made its democratic impact possible.

Ghias (2010), “Miscarriage of Chief Justice: Judicial Power and the Legal Complex in Pakistan under Musharraf”

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The article explores how Pakistan's judiciary expanded its power under Musharraf, with lawyers and judges resisting regime control through public interest litigation.

Berkman (2010), “The Pakistani Lawyers’ Movement and the Popular Currency of Judicial Power”

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This article explores how Pakistan's lawyer-led movement challenged dictatorship and reshaped judicial power and political engagement.

Abel (2023), How Autocrats Attack Expertise: Resistance to Trump and Trumpism

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This book explores Trump’s attacks on expertise and truth, highlighting the resistance from professionals defending integrity against his autocratic tactics.

Abel (2023), How Autocrats Abuse Power: Resistance to Trump and Trumpism

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This book examines Trump’s autocratic tactics and the resistance from various sectors that defended liberal democracy.

Abel (2024), How Autocrats Seek Power: Resistance to Trump and Trumpism

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This book examines Trump’s attempts to subvert democracy and the various forms of resistance that defended liberal democracy against the threat of autocracy.

Abel (2025), How Autocrats Subvert Elections: Resistance to Trump and Trumpism

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This book examines the January 6 insurrection and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, focusing on legal, political, and civic resistance to Trump’s autocratic actions.