ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Court of Appeals found that a lower court incorrectly terminated a father’s parental rights; he, a Native American, was absent due to long-distance work at the time the child’s mother was allegedly neglecting their child. The state family department did not adequately show it made “active efforts” to reunite the family as required by the Indian Child Welfare Act.
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge allowed Filipino shipyard workers’ trafficking and Fair Housing Act claims to proceed against their employer, which allegedly did not permit them to evacuate a storm-prone town for Hurricane Ida in 2021 and instead forced them to remain in a leaky bunkhouse with no power for weeks.
Federal courts have ruled that HIV is not disqualifying for those already serving, but HIV is among the health conditions that disqualify a person from enlisting in the first place, the Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights said.
One judge on the panel dissented, maintaining that such relief is meant for “low-level, rank-and-file government employees,” not the president of the United States.
“Please, I need some birth control in case I get raped," patients tell Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan, a pediatric-adolescent gynecologist in Miami, where state law does not provide exceptions for rape or incest after 15 weeks.
The fate of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman who died in custody after being detained by the morality police — because her headscarf was allegedly too loose — has ignited unrest across Iran.
In a case brought by activists and lawyers frustrated with Poland's flagging rule of law, Warsaw insists that its surveillance operations are legal.
SANTA FE, N.M. — The New Mexico Supreme Court determined that the Legislature did not intend for portions of the state’s Governmental Conduct Act to be punished as criminal violations. The question arose because a county treasurer allegedly used his position to pressure people into sexual relationships; the law speaks of “ethical principles” and “aspirational expressions” rather than criminal statutes.
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois declined to dismiss a family’s lawsuit against Chicago and four police officers they accuse of conspiring to cover up the 2014 shooting death of Roshad McIntosh, an unarmed Black man who ran from police during a stop. Their excessive force claim against an officer and their wrongful death and conspiracy claims survived the motion to dismiss.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge allows an imprisoned trans woman’s lawsuit to move forward against the state’s public safety department, which allegedly refused to provide her with gender-affirming surgery. Her claims for deliberate indifference and disability discrimination were well pleaded, in part because she offered medical opinions indicating the procedure is medically necessary for her.
Iowa’s efforts to bar recording of animal abuse in livestock facilities has twice before been found to violate the First Amendment.
