A Seattle judge gave the go-ahead to a class action lawsuit challenging a once-secret government program which delayed Muslims’ citizenship and immigration applications. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones denied a Justice Department motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Wednesday. The Star Tribune reports the case was originally brought to court by the American Civil Liberties
A U.S. judge heard arguments against the deportation of around 100 Iraqis arrested in the Detroit Metropolitan area. The arrests were undertaken by immigration authorities nationwide, seeking to detain Iraqi immigrants who had committed ‘serious crimes’ and had their final deportation orders approved. The move came after the Republic of Iraq agreed to begin accepting
A Rhode Island town owes one family tens of thousands of dollars after its police department spent hours interrogating a third-grade girl. The lawsuit against Tiverton, RI, was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island on behalf of a local family in 2015. On Tuesday, Tiverton announced it’d settle for $40,000 in
Black residents of Hamtramck, MI, are back in court for a second time. The plaintiffs were evicted from their homes a half-century ago, as the city pursued an aggressive campaign of urban renewal and revitalization. Finally allowed to return to newly-constructed homes in Hamtramck some forty years after an initial, victorious lawsuit, residents say they’re
Democratic Senators are urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to curb the practice of telemarketers using straight-to-voicemail technology to bypass consumers’ ringtones. The Hill reports that Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal, both of Connecticut, penned a letter together with Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and other legislators, requesting Pai not permit companies to ‘leave messages
A court in Pakistan sentenced a man to death over allegedly blasphemous materials posted on Facebook. Government prosecutors announced the verdict Sunday, the latest development in a social media crackdown spearheaded by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The conviction of 30-year old Taimoor Raza marks the first time in the history of the populous South
A human rights organization is filing a lawsuit against Georgia’s Worth County Sheriff’s Office after 900 students were searched by law enforcement officers in an unannounced and unprecedented drug sweep. The incident prompting the suit occurred midway through April. Several dozen police officers converged on the school without advance notice, ordering students into hallways and
The Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill that includes increased penalties for individuals found guilty of participating in female genital mutilation. The package of bills ups the punishment dictated by federal law. With bipartisan support behind the law, legislators made performing or coordinating female genital mutilation a state felony with a maximum sentence of
Donald Trump is livid at the 9th Circuit Court for refusing to lift an injunction against his travel ban. In the latest chapter of an epic struggle that’s hardly subsided since Trump was elected president, the court stood by earlier decision to block the controversial executive order. Frequently derided as a would-be blanket ban on
A federal appeals court ruling will lead to dozens of inmates at a Houston jail being released, after judges found the county’s bail system discriminated against the poor. Harris County, encompassing the city of Houston, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deliver an emergency order blocking the original decision, upheld by the 5th Circuit Court