On August 20, 128 retired federal and state judges, joined by the Democracy Defenders Fund and Lawyers Defending American Democracy, filed a Florida Bar complaint against Department of Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival, alleging that his social media posts “threaten the rule of law and increase the risk of violence against judges.” On July …
On August 18 the U.S. Secretary of State sanctioned International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane, a Japanese judge, and Abdoulaye Seye, a Senegalese senior trial lawyer in the Office of the Prosecutor who has been investigating conduct in the West Bank and is nominated for election as an ICC judge. The Court condemned the designations …
In an August 18 filing in the Eastern District of North Carolina opposing James Comey’s vindictive-prosecution motion, federal prosecutors argued that presidential direction of subordinates exercising executive functions is “a feature, not a bug” of the constitutional system, and characterized the tradition of Justice Department independence from the White House as a historical “myth.” The …
Three months after taking office on May 15, Attorney General Gabriel García Luna — a career judge and former president of the Judicial Disciplinary Board — has closed FECI, the politicized special anti-impunity prosecutor’s office, and dismissed at least eight high-profile prosecutors aligned with his predecessor María Consuelo Porras. Porras, sanctioned for corruption by more …
A former assistant U.S. attorney in Michigan has sued the Justice Department over her April dismissal, arguing she was let go without cause or notice because she had prosecuted anti-abortion activists under the FACE Act. Her complaint alleges violations of the Civil Service Reform Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the First and Fifth Amendments, …
In this NPR All Things Considered segment, host Sacha Pfeiffer interviews ProPublica reporter Aaron Davis about newly confirmed Attorney General Todd Blanche’s appearance on Meet the Press, where Blanche declined to pledge that the Justice Department would operate independently of the White House and said no attorney general should make such a promise. Davis, coauthor …
Former Venezuelan judge María Lourdes Afiuni has been granted full freedom, closing a case that ran more than 16 years and became emblematic of the collapse of judicial independence in Venezuela. The ordeal began in December 2009, when Afiuni ordered the release on bail of banker Eligio Cedeño, who had been held in pre-trial detention …
Amnesty International issued a follow-up Urgent Action on August 7, 2026, calling on Zimbabwean authorities to drop all charges against human rights defender Bhekimpilo Mbedzi. Mbedzi was arrested on July 15 after posting a video on Facebook urging the public to join a demonstration planned for July 31 against Constitutional Amendment Act No. 3; authorities …
Uganda’s Directorate of Public Prosecutions is seeking criminal contempt charges against Eron Kiiza, a lawyer on the defence team for opposition figure Kizza Besigye and co-accused Obeid Lutale, over posts he made on social media, the Daily Monitor reported on August 6, 2026. The State is asking the court to find Kiiza guilty of criminal …
A sweeping New York Times investigation published the weekend of August 2, and analyzed in the legal press, reconstructed how the elite law firm Paul, Weiss chose to strike a deal with the White House rather than litigate against an executive order targeting it — an order issued because the firm had employed attorneys involved …