de Sa e Silva, F. (2020). From Car Wash to Bolsonaro: Law and lawyers in Brazil’s illiberal turn (2014–2018). Journal of Law and Society, 47(S1), S51–S73. https://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12250 The article examines the role of law and …
Month: September 2025
Iranian Lawyer Detained Without Charges for Over Four Months
Abolfazl Ranjbari, a lawyer and writer, has been imprisoned in Tabriz for 138 days without clear charges. Arrested by security forces on May 4, he spent two months under interrogation before being transferred to Tabriz …
The Hand That Rocks The Gavel
This American Life #868 — “The Hand That Rocks the Gavel.” Reporters spend weeks inside New York’s immigration court, where ICE detains people in courthouse hallways as immigration judges describe unprecedented pressure from the DOJ …
America’s judges are under attack – lawyers have a duty to defend them
Threats against judges are on the rise — with more than 500 reported in the last year alone. From executive branch officials to political commentators, attacks are increasingly aimed at delegitimizing the courts. This escalation …
Major changes needed to address bullying and harassment at the Bar, report finds
A major review led by Baroness Harriet Harman has uncovered a “culture of denial” at the Bar in England and Wales, where bullying, harassment, and sexual misconduct are widespread and often go unpunished. The 129-page …
ABA Task Force Calls on Lawyers to Pledge to Protect Democracy and Rule of Law
The American Bar Association’s Task Force for American Democracy has recommended that every U.S. state expand lawyer oaths to include a commitment to upholding democracy and the rule of law. The proposal comes amid declining …
Afghan Women Judges Left in Peril Without Asylum Support
Since the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan’s female judges and prosecutors have lived under constant threat. Once respected leaders, they are now forced into hiding, facing intimidation, violence, and social erasure. Many cannot seek medical …
Painter (2024), “Avoision: When Go oision: When Government Lawy ernment Lawyers Turn the So urn the Sovereign Against eign Against Itself”
The article Avoision: When Government Lawyers Turn the Sovereign Against Itself (Case Western Reserve Law Review, 2024) argues that when government lawyers engage in “avoision”—working at the edge of legality to help political superiors achieve …
Lawyer Arrests in Zimbabwe Worry Rights Groups
Two Zimbabwean human rights lawyers, Douglas Coltart and Tapiwa Muchineripi, were arrested after advising police not to interrogate their hospitalized clients—opposition activists who reported being abducted and tortured. Rights groups say the arrests amount to …
Judges Attack Supreme Court’s ‘Inexcusable’ Trump Rulings in Unprecedented Outburst
Multiple federal judges, including some appointed by Donald Trump, have openly criticized the U.S. Supreme Court for what they see as its “inexcusable” pattern of siding with the Trump administration by overturning lower court rulings …