JURIST reports in April 2026 that UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor has issued a sharp warning that Mexico continues to fail in protecting human rights defenders and the lawyers who represent them, despite formal protective programs. Front Line Defenders ranked Mexico second worldwide in killings of human rights defenders in 2024, with at least 32 …
Human Rights Watch reported on April 23, 2026 that Vietnam’s Decree 109/2026, which takes effect May 18, empowers police and commune-level officials to revoke lawyers’ licenses and impose heavy fines for vaguely defined offenses such as “insulting” officials or “obstructing” state agencies — frequently the same officials a defense lawyer would be challenging in court. …
In an April 23, 2026 analysis, CBS News reports that multiple former federal prosecutors have identified serious legal weaknesses in the SPLC indictment that they say could lead to dismissal of some or all charges. The article notes that the indictment struggles to clearly articulate the elements of wire fraud and money-laundering conspiracy as applied …
The U.S. Justice Department has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights organization known for tracking hate groups, on charges of wire fraud, false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC paid more than $3 million …
A CBS News Sunday Morning report by Ted Koppel examines the Trump administration’s restructuring of the U.S. immigration court system, which falls under the Department of Justice rather than the judicial branch. Over the past 14 months, more than 200 immigration judges have been fired, retired, or forced out, and former judges interviewed—including Ryan Wood, …
The Trump administration fired two immigration judges this past weekend who had earlier dismissed deportation cases against two pro-Palestinian student activists. Judge Roopal Patel had ruled there were no grounds to deport Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was held in detention for 45 days, while Judge Nina Froes dismissed proceedings against Columbia University …
Hundreds of former U.S. Department of Justice attorneys — who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations — have filed a formal comment opposing a proposed DOJ rule that would allow the Attorney General to block state bar associations from investigating federal government lawyers. The former officials argue the rule violates the McDade Amendment, a …
Charles R. Epp. “The Legal Complex In The Struggle To Control Police Brutality In India.” In Fates of Political Liberalism in the British Post-Colony: The Politics of the Legal Complex. Edited by Terence C. Halliday, Lucien Karpik, and Malcolm M. Feeley, pp. 91-111. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2012. This chapter examines the Indian legal …
Terence C. Halliday, Lucien Karpik, and Malcolm M. Feeley, eds. Fates of Political Liberalism in the British Post-Colony: The Politics of the Legal Complex. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2012. This book explores why new nations sharing the same British colonial heritage developed divergent levels of political liberalism after independence. Through comparative essays on former …
Edward L. Rubin. “The Varieties Of Judicial Independence And The Judiciary’s Role In Political Reform.” In The Legal Process and the Promise of Justice: Studies Inspired by the Work of Malcolm Feeley. Edited by Rosann Greenspan, Hadar Aviram, and Jonathan Simon, pp. 335-360. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2019. This chapter highlights the crucial role …