ABA Journal

Human Rights

442 ABA Journal Human Rights articles.

Weekly Briefs: Bar group that ditched drag trivia event criticized; Black law schools guide drops overall rankings

Social justice group criticizes bar drag event cancellation

The nonprofit Southern Coalition for Social Justice is forwarding a letter with more than 100 signatures to a bar group that canceled…

Policy allowing migrants to be expelled during COVID-19 emergency has ended; what will be its legacy?

A federal policy used to expel migrants expired May 11, when the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency ended. The government’s authority to invoke the public health policy had been used to expel migrants without evaluating their potential asylum claims. Legal analysts are now turning their attention to the longer-term influence of the policy and potential precedents.

Lawyer-turned-playwright celebrates Broadway debut with powerful legal drama

Prima Facie is a new one-woman play on Broadway, centered on an ambitious lawyer who, after building her reputation representing men accused of rape, must navigate the same legal system to seek justice for herself after her sexual assault.

Transgender girl can stay on team, for now, after SCOTUS denial; action comes as US proposes new Title IX rule

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to reinstate a West Virginia law that bans transgender athletes from playing on female sports teams.

Daughter sues agency after DNA test IDs likely suspect in institutionalized mother’s rape

A woman who used AncestryDNA to find the man who likely raped her developmentally disabled mother in an institution has sued the New York agency that employed him as a caretaker.

Suit filed on behalf of women denied abortions in Texas despite dangerous health complications

Doctors and hospitals in Texas are turning away pregnant women who face serious health risks and need abortions because the medical providers fear prosecution, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.

Law school named in honor of Black attorney in what may be second time in history

The Florida St. Thomas University College of Law recently announced that it would be adding Benjamin L. Crump to its title in recognition of the Black civil rights lawyer.

Intersex children should be allowed informed consent on surgeries, ABA House says

Most intersex surgeries are performed on children under the age of 2, according to a report attached to a resolution adopted by the ABA House of Delegates. Some youth would like medical intervention, but others who had it experienced trauma as a result of the choices that were made for them, according to the report.

Legal community supports Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s war against Ukraine

The Ukrainian Mothers and Children Transport initiative, or UMACT, is a collaboration of lawyers, professors and law students that helps Ukrainian families secure travel visas. Its name aims to evoke the Kindertransport, which brought 10,000 Jewish children to the United Kingdom as World War II loomed, says law professor Michael Bazyler, a former refugee from Poland of Ukrainian descent.

Supreme Court considers Title VII accommodation for Christian postal worker who wouldn’t work on Sundays

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide the case of a Christian postal worker who quit his job after he was disciplined for refusing to work on Sundays for religious reasons.

Berkeley Law dean thinks school is on ‘strong legal ground’ after student groups ban Zionist speakers

Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, said he will cooperate in an investigation spurred by a ban on Zionist speakers by several student groups.

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Is designer’s refusal to create website for same-sex wedding free speech or illegal discrimination?

The case of 303 Creative v. Elenis is about whether the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act violates the First Amendment free speech rights of Lorie Smith and her wholly owned design firm.

Chemerinsky: An important week of arguments in the Supreme Court

Next Monday and Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two of the most important cases of the term. Each could have enormous implications for future litigation and for constitutional law.

Lawyers struggle to make headway with growing immigrant backlog

The virtual courtroom of immigration Judge Thomas Mulligan of New York City’s Varick Street court was not exactly a well-oiled machine on a recent August morning. The judge was occupied with master calendar hearings, the docket where respondents—they would be called “defendants” in other settings—acknowledged and answered the government’s charges.

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