********** LAW **********
return to top
Judge rules Alabama cannot prosecute those who help with out-of-state abortions
Tue, 01 Apr 2025 14:01:07 GMT
State attorney general had said anti-conspiracy laws might be used to charge groups helping women travel for abortions
Alabama’s attorney general cannot prosecute individuals and groups that help Alabama women travel to other states to obtain abortions, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
US district judge Myron Thompson sided with an abortion fund and medical providers who sued Alabama’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, after he suggested they could face prosecution under anti-conspiracy laws. Thompson’s ruling declared that such prosecutions would violate both the first amendment and a person’s right to travel.
Continue reading...The Trump administration’s detention of Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk rests on an opinion article she wrote in 2024, her lawyers said in a filing.
The post In Trump’s America, You Can Be Disappeared for Writing an Op-Ed appeared first on The Intercept.
Florida prosecutors say Michelle Taylor used gasoline to set a fire that killed her son. Top forensic chemists say they’re wrong.
The post The Arson Evidence Doesn’t Hold Up. Florida Is About to Convict Her for Murder Anyway. appeared first on The Intercept.
Appeals court had upheld block on flights using Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members
The Trump administration on Friday asked the US supreme court to intervene to allow the government to continue to deport immigrants using the obscure Alien Enemies Act.
The request came one day after a federal appeals court upheld a Washington DC federal judge’s temporary block on immigrant expulsions via a wartime act that allows the administration to bypass normal due process, for example by allowing people a court hearing before shipping them out of the US.
Continue reading...The law behind the warrants bars concealment of people in the country illegally, yet the students were legal residents living on campus.
The post ICE Got Warrants Under “False Pretenses,” Claims Columbia Student Targeted Over Gaza Protests appeared first on The Intercept.
Trump’s “Operation Aurora” swept up only one suspected gang member — but set the stage for a radical expansion of government power.
The post How a Landlord and a Florida PR Firm Helped Trump Kick Off the Tren de Aragua Gang Panic appeared first on The Intercept.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who started the now-infamous group chat coordinating a US attack against the Yemen-based Houthis on March 15, is seemingly now suggesting that the secure messaging service Signal has security vulnerabilities.
"I didn’t see this loser in the group," Waltz told Fox News about Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, whom Waltz invited to the chat. "Whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean, is something we’re trying to figure out."
Waltz’s implication that Goldberg may have hacked his way in was followed by a ...
There is nothing simple about alleged youth offenders such as ‘MMA’, despite how they are portrayed in the news
If you want to understand the debate about bail reform in Victoria – and the gulf between the position taken by the Allan government and the recommendations of experts – you could do worse than consider the case of an alleged youth offender known as MMA.
His case has straddled the recent changes in bail laws: he was granted bail in the Victorian supreme court only days before they were introduced to parliament, and then had to apply for an extension of that bail last week under the new laws.
Continue reading...New Jersey Democrat began talking on Monday night to highlight ‘a nation in crisis’ and is still going
US voters are headed to the polls on Tuesday in Wisconsin and Florida in elections that some see as a test of Donald Trump’s popularity and the political clout of his billionaire ally Elon Musk.
The most closely watched contest is a battle for a seat on Wisconsin’s seven-member supreme court. Conservatives are trying to flip ideological control of the court, which currently has a 4-3 liberal majority. The contest, which features liberal judge Susan Crawford facing off against conservative Brad Schimel, will have huge consequences in the state.
Continue reading...Forcing the abandonment of new commonsense, evidence-based guidelines is a new low for a party that once prided itself on justice reform
A progressive sentencing guideline that was due to come into force today has been shot down in the crossfire of the culture wars. This is devastating news for people whose lives would have been changed by the guideline, such as pregnant women and mothers.
The Sentencing Council’s updated “imposition of community and custodial sentences” guideline signalled a change in sentencing. It would have required magistrates and judges to consult a pre-sentence report before deciding whether to imprison someone of an ethnic or religious minority, alongside other groups including young adults, abuse survivors and mothers. It would have taken into account structural disparities in sentencing outcomes, such as the high risk of stillbirth that pregnant women face in prison and the damage caused by separating mothers from children. It would also have introduced measures to combat racism in courts. The UN has described our justice system as systemically racist, and a 2017 review conducted by the now minister David Lammy acknowledged its “racial bias”.
Janey Starling is the co-director of gender justice campaign group Level Up
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...As claims pile up about the charity he founded, he’s learning that smiling and biting your lip can be quite painful. Hear, hear, as the Windsors might say
Straight faces, please, as we try to look charitably at the toxic row engulfing Prince Harry’s charity. Are you up to speed with this everyday story of giving folk? I’m in such a muddle with it all that I can’t remember if I’m allowed to say that purely from my observations of her telly interviews, Sentebale chair Sophie Chandauka does seem like a right old loose cannon.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s do a quick recap. Sentebale is a charity to help children and young people with HIV and Aids in Lesotho and Botswana, and was set up almost two decades ago by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, in honour of their mothers. Its current chair is Chandauka, a Zimbabwean lawyer, and something about her stewardship of the charity has provoked its entire board of trustees to judge that their relationship has broken down irretrievably. Accordingly, they have all resigned. Chandauka in turn has said that the charity was riddled with “poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny [and] misogynoir”, and accused Prince Harry of “harassment and bullying at scale”.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Conservatives bid to overturn liberal majority on Wisconsin supreme court while Florida votes to replace Mike Waltz
US voters are headed to the polls on Tuesday in Wisconsin and Florida in elections that some see as a test of Donald Trump’s popularity and the political clout of his billionaire ally Elon Musk.
The most closely watched contest is a battle for a seat on Wisconsin’s seven-member supreme court. Conservatives are trying to flip ideological control of the court, which currently has a 4-3 liberal majority. The contest, which features liberal judge Susan Crawford facing off against conservative Brad Schimel, will have huge consequences in the state.
Continue reading...We live under mutual surveillance, asked to leave public ratings for every purchase, meal, taxi ride or hair appointment. What is it doing to us?
‘Alexlilly1999* has left you feedback!” pings the Vinted notification. My stomach flips as the app loads and I open my review: “Quite good.” A gut punch. I sit in shock, scrutinising the words in front of me. “Good” is a bit uninspired but “quite” feels both passive-aggressive and viciously spiteful: quite good. Alexlilly1999 has also given me just four stars. It’s a lukewarm write-up considering the dress I sold them was good quality, a brilliant price and shipped quickly. I glare at the review. And then another notification pops up: do I want to leave feedback for the buyer? Well, yes, actually, I do.
It’s likely we’ve all, at some stage, been asked to leave feedback online. Called your electricity provider with a query? Please answer a few quick questions about the service you received. Had something delivered by a courier? Please rate your experience. Often, the promise of prizes – from £200 worth of high street vouchers, to spa trips and luxury hampers – is dangled in exchange for our appraisals. We’re asked to judge the people who serve us coffee; drive us in taxis; cut our hair; extract our teeth. A friend of a friend was recently asked to leave feedback for an interview process just moments after the company had rejected them for the role.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction bans her for five years from public office. More on the charges, the sentence and what happens next
Good morning. Marine Le Pen appeared to have been expecting a guilty verdict in her trial for embezzling millions in European parliament funds to pay her party’s workers in contravention of the rules – and even to have anticipated that she might face a period of ineligibility for political office once her inevitable appeal was over. But as she stormed out of a French court yesterday, shaking her head and muttering “incroyable”, it was clear that she wasn’t expecting this.
The judge found Le Pen guilty along with 24 other members of her far-right National Rally party. But whereas a sentence under house arrest and fine were suspended pending the end of her appeal, a five-year ban from public office kicked in immediately. That means she will be ineligible for the 2027 presidential election in which she has been the frontrunner for months.
US politics | Stock markets in Europe and Asia fell heavily on Monday after Donald Trump suggested that new tariffs he is expected to announce this week would hit “all countries”. In the UK, ministers are expecting to be hit by the tariffs, despite having hoped to secure a carve-out.
Israel-Gaza war | Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one United Nations employee, were killed by Israeli forces “one by one” and buried in a mass grave eight days ago in southern Gaza, the UN has said.
Housing | Only 2.5% of private rented homes in England were affordable for people on housing benefit last year, with charities warning that more people will be pushed into rent arrears and homelessness as a freeze on the benefit takes effect.
Taiwan | China has launched large-scale military drills around Taiwan, accusing its leaders of being “separatists” and “parasites” who were pushing the democratically run island into war. The drills, accompanied by a propaganda campaign, were launched without warning on Tuesday morning.
Space exploration | Whatever Elon Musk and Donald Trump liked to insist, astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams were never stuck, nor stranded in space, and definitely not abandoned or marooned, they told the world on Monday. The pair had to stay on the international space station for nine months instead of 10 days after a prototype space capsule had a propulsion fault.
Continue reading...Having been found guilty of systematic embezzlement, the far-right leader cannot claim to be a political martyr
Emmanuel Macron’s troubled second presidential term was already set to go down as one of the most turbulent in the history of France’s Fifth Republic. A succession of prime ministers have come and gone at dizzying speed. A snap election last July, foolishly called by Mr Macron in the hope of seeing off Marine Le Pen’s far right National Rally (RN), almost catapulted it into power. None of that drama, however, remotely rivalled the coup de theatre delivered on Monday in a courtroom rather than a voting booth.
The decision by Paris judges to bar Ms Le Pen from standing for office for five years, having found her guilty of embezzling public funds while an MEP, has spectacularly shaken up a political landscape dominated by the far-right threat. Ahead of presidential elections in 2027 – in which Mr Macron cannot run – Ms Le Pen had become the candidate to beat, using her experience to exploit deepening discontent with the political mainstream. In a genuine bombshell moment, it now seems likely that a replacement – probably her youthful protege, Jordan Bardella, who is yet to turn 30 – will be obliged to step in.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Tell us about your favourite coastal place to eat and drink – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break
Eating fish and chips by the beach, slurping ice-cream close to the waves, sipping cocktails as the sun sets over the sea … a foodie treat always adds to a trip to the seaside. Whether it’s a cool bar right on the beach, a favourite coastal chippie or a great cafe, we’d love to hear about your tasty beside-the-sea discoveries in the UK. Tell us where it is and why you love it for the chance to win a £200 holiday voucher.
If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition.
Continue reading...DOGE claims it’s not an “agency” that has to comply with FOIA. We don’t buy it — and so far judges haven’t, either.
The post DOGE Keeps Trying to Dodge the Freedom of Information Act. So We’re Suing. appeared first on The Intercept.
Democratic New Jersey senator’s address saying ‘our nation is in crisis’ passed the 12-hour mark on Tuesday morning
Cory Booker, the Democratic US senator from New Jersey, has embarked on a marathon overnight speech on the Senate floor to warn of what he called the “grave and urgent” danger that Donald Trump’s presidential administration poses to democracy and the American people.
Booker began his speech at 7pm on Monday night and passed the 12-hour mark with barely a break in speaking at 7am Tuesday.
Continue reading...Fears access could create cybersecurity attack risk; Trump talk of third term met with scorn. Here’s your roundup of key US politics stories from 31 March 2025
Members of Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) reportedly gained access to a payroll system over the weekend that processes salaries for about 276,000 federal employees across various government agencies, despite warnings from senior staff about the potential risks.
Senior career officials at the interior department reportedly issued a memo last week highlighting the unusual nature of the request to gain access to the Federal Personnel and Payroll System and the associated risks with granting it, the New York Times reported.
Continue reading...“Do your job!” the crowd chanted, urging Rep. Victoria Spartz, one of the most outspoken DOGE supporters, to rein in Elon Musk.
The post GOP Leaders Said Don’t Do Town Halls. This Indiana Republican Did — and Got an Earful. appeared first on The Intercept.
Only drones can begin to capture the scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip. The journalists doing it were targeted again and again.
The post Israel Leveled Gaza — Then Killed the Drone Journalists Who Showed it to the World appeared first on The Intercept.
“We had positive ID of him walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed.”
The post The Real Outrage About the Yemen Signal Group Is That It Called for Attack on Civilian Home appeared first on The Intercept.
Despite years of official criticism of encrypted messaging, CIA Director John Ratcliffe revealed that Signal comes installed on agency computers.
The post U.S. Officials Called Signal a Tool for Terrorists and Criminals. Now They’re Using It. appeared first on The Intercept.
A Cornell student suing the Trump administration over free speech — and now facing deportation threats — shares his story on The Intercept Briefing.
The post Exclusive: As Trump Threatens to Deport Him, Momodou Taal Says It’s “Time to Escalate for Palestine” appeared first on The Intercept.
While other diet fads come and go, the ultra low carbohydrate Keto diet seems to endure. But as scientists begin to understand how the diet works, more is also being discovered about its risks. To find out more, Madeleine Finlay speaks to Javier Gonzalez, professor in the department of health at the University of Bath, with a special interest in personal nutrition. He explains how the diet works, what it could be doing to our bodies and what could really be behind the weight loss people experience while on it
Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod
Continue reading...
Image:
Europe’s human spaceflight ambitions are reaching new heights, and ESA’s Astronaut Reserve is a key part of this journey. Selected in 2022, these talented individuals are undergoing Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) to ensure they are ready for future missions.
Among these remarkable women from across Europe are Meganne Christian, a materials scientist from the UK, Anthea Comellini, an aerospace engineer from Italy, and Carmen Possnig, a medical doctor from Austria, who recently completed their first ART training block at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.
Their diverse scientific backgrounds reflect the wide-ranging expertise needed for human spaceflight, whether as part of ESA’s astronaut class, mission planners, or scientists shaping the future of space exploration. Beyond their work with ESA, they are also driving innovation, advancing research, and strengthening the broader space sector. Women play key roles across ESA and beyond, contributing as leaders and experts in these areas.
Meganne, Anthea and Carmen recently completed their first ART training block at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. In this image, they are pictured inside a mockup of the Columbus module, Europe’s permanent laboratory on the International Space Station.
The training covered key areas such as human behaviour and performance to develop teamwork and decision-making skills in high-pressure environments. They also received physical fitness training, scuba certification in ESA’s Neutral Buoyancy Facility, and media training to effectively communicate the importance of space exploration to the public.
In addition to technical and operational skills, they explored fundamental science, including biology experiments conducted on the International Space Station. Their training also includes insights into space policy, mission operations, and the latest advancements in space technology.
While members of the Astronaut Reserve are not yet assigned to specific missions, their training ensures that they are prepared for potential future opportunities through commercial spaceflight
The journey continues in the second half of 2025, when the members of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve will return to EAC for the next phase of ART, further building on the skills and knowledge they have gained.
RSS Rabbit links users to publicly available RSS entries.
Vet every link before clicking! The creators accept no responsibility for the contents of these entries.
Relevant
Fresh
Convenient
Agile
We're not prepared to take user feedback yet. Check back soon!
