Two months into her presidency, Costa Rica’s Laura Fernández is locked in a standoff with the country’s judiciary that Reuters reports is stalling any coordinated state response to drug-related violence in a nation once known for its stability. The dispute centres on steep budget cuts imposed on the courts and a legislative proposal to shift …
This article surveys efforts by the administration to use subpoenas, search warrants, criminal investigations, and prosecutions against political opponents, journalists, former officials, and critical institutions. It highlights cases in which judges or grand juries found insufficient evidence or indications of retaliatory, pretextual, or vindictive prosecution. Because it is a legal analysis rather than independent investigative …
Federal agencies have pulled back sharply from civil rights enforcement after a Trump executive order directed them to deprioritize “disparate impact” cases — those targeting policies that appear neutral but disproportionately disadvantage protected groups. The legal standard dates to a 1971 Supreme Court test, was written into law by Congress in 1991, and was upheld …
A New York Times investigation by Danny Hakim, published July 19, 2026, reports that the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Illinois has been destabilized by the aftermath of last fall’s federal immigration operation in Chicago, known as Operation Midway Blitz. According to the Times, the office filed assault charges under a rarely …
Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan made a rare appearance before Congress on July 14 as the Court requested increased funding to protect justices and their families. Barrett described having to wear a bulletproof vest and explain the precaution to her children, while Kagan said the security environment had changed dramatically since …
On July 16, the IAPL Monitoring Committee reported that lawyer Čedomir Stojković’s trial was scheduled to begin on July 17 in a criminal case arising from social-media posts and online commentary critical of President Aleksandar Vučić and the Serbian government. Stojković was arrested earlier in 2026 and spent more than four months in detention or …
On July 15, President Trump fired Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran prosecutor, less than an hour after all 17 active and senior federal judges in the Western District of Washington unanimously appointed him as the district’s U.S. Attorney. The appointment followed the administration’s use of unusual personnel maneuvers to keep its preferred interim …
In a July 10 report, The Washington Post described a bus tour of retired federal and state judges, dubbed “Justice in Motion,” traveling from suburban Pittsburgh through Ohio to outside Detroit to warn the public that judicial independence and the rule of law are in grave danger as the nation marks its 250th anniversary. The …
On July 13, 2026, the New York City Bar Association urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Todd Blanche’s nomination as U.S. Attorney General, ahead of his confirmation hearing scheduled for July 15. The letter, signed by City Bar President Matthew Diller and Rule of Law Task Force Chair Susan J. Kohlmann, argues that Blanche’s …
On July 10, the Associated Press reported that the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo had removed the professional licenses of potentially hundreds or thousands of lawyers from the Supreme Court’s official registry, without notice or explanation. Those affected included exiled human rights lawyers, attorneys with no political practice, Nicaraguans living abroad, and even …