This July 31 report (United States) describes the Trump administration’s dismissal of two additional judges at the Chicago Immigration Court, which has become the national leader in deportation orders. The article notes that the administration has fired more than 100 of the roughly 750 immigration judges in place at the start of the term while …
On July 31 (Thailand), Human Rights Watch reported that Angkhana Neelapaijit, a senator and former member of Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission, filed a police complaint after a wave of social media posts accused her of being unpatriotic and sympathetic to a separatist group, with some posts calling for her to be killed or “disappeared.” …
Lawyers for Lawyers reported that U.S. immigration authorities detained Wu Shaoping, a Chinese human-rights lawyer who fled China after facing pressure connected to his legal work. Wu had sought asylum in the United States, and legal organizations warned that deporting him could expose him to renewed persecution. The case is especially relevant because a lawyer …
This July 30 report from the IAPL Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers (Iran) documents the conditional release of defense lawyer Elham Zeraatpisheh on bail in Shiraz, alongside the recent arrest of attorney Astareh (Maryam) Ansari, a member of the Fars Bar Association, at her home. These cases are part of a broader campaign in …
This July 29–30 analysis (Nepal) examines allegations by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists that Supreme Court justices in Nepal were pressured to resign and threatened with impeachment. The article argues that judicial independence depends not only on the absence of direct interference but also on judges feeling secure enough …
In a July 30, 2026 commentary at Consortium News, former New Jersey judge Andrew P. Napolitano argues that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche should not be confirmed as attorney general, contending that his years as Trump’s personal defense lawyer leave him unable to separate loyalty to the president from his oath to the law. Napolitano …
During proceedings against opposition figure Kizza Besigye, attorney Erias Lukwago was arrested, while Kenyan lawyer Martha Karua, who was leading Besigye’s defense team, had previously been prevented from entering Uganda. The developments occurred as Besigye collapsed in court after months in detention and his lawyers raised concerns about his health and access to adequate treatment. …
Human Rights Watch warned that proceedings before Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal were failing to satisfy international fair-trial standards. The organization argued that inadequate procedural protections could permit the imprisonment of political opponents and undermine the credibility of accountability proceedings. Read it here.
In a statement issued from Chicago on July 28, 2026, the American Bar Association denounced personal attacks on judges by government officials and urged public officials, lawyers and the public to reject rhetoric that targets individual judges or attempts to delegitimize the courts over unfavorable rulings. The association pointed to recent social media posts by …
Green, Bruce A. and Wald, Eli, Lawyers, the Rule of Law, and the Executive Orders Targeting Law Firms (July 12, 2026). U Denver Legal Studies Research Paper No. 26-12, 78 Okla. L. Rev. XXX (2026), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=7113919 In the spring of 2025, President Trump issued a series of executive orders, and threatened to issue …