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Category: Law/Crime

U.S. expected to sanction IDF unit for human rights violations in West Bank

U.S. expected to sanction IDF unit for human rights violations in West Bank

Axios reports: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to within days announce sanctions against the Israel Defense Forces “Netzah Yehuda” battalion for human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, three U.S. sources with knowledge of the issue told Axios. Why it matters: It would be the first time the U.S. imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit. The sanctions will ban the battalion and its members from receiving any kind of U.S. military assistance or training, the sources said. A…

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Trump forced to listen silently as potential jurors offer their unvarnished assessments of him

Trump forced to listen silently as potential jurors offer their unvarnished assessments of him

The Associated Press reports: He seems “selfish and self-serving,” said one woman. The way he carries himself in public “leaves something to be desired,” said another. His “negative rhetoric and bias,” said another man, is what is “most harmful.” Over the past week, Donald Trump has been forced to sit inside a frigid New York courtroom and listen to a parade of potential jurors in his criminal hush money trial share their unvarnished assessments of him. It’s been a dramatic…

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Blinken says he’s made ‘determinations’ linked to human rights accusations against Israel

Blinken says he’s made ‘determinations’ linked to human rights accusations against Israel

Reuters reports: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said he has made “determinations” regarding accusations that Israel violated a set of U.S. laws that prohibit providing military assistance to individuals or security force units that commit gross violations of human rights. The Leahy Laws, authored by then-Senator Patrick Leahy in the late 1990s, prohibit providing military assistance to individuals or security force units that commit gross violations of human rights and have not been brought to justice. Earlier…

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Pregnant women are being turned away from emergency rooms with fatal consequences

Pregnant women are being turned away from emergency rooms with fatal consequences

The Associated Press reports: One woman miscarried in the restroom lobby of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to admit her. Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North Carolina, a woman gave birth in a car after an emergency room couldn’t offer an ultrasound. The baby later died. Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from…

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New York AG says $175 million Trump fraud bond isn’t properly backed, should be voided

New York AG says $175 million Trump fraud bond isn’t properly backed, should be voided

CNBC reports: The New York Attorney General’s office on Friday asked a judge to effectively void a $175 million bond posted by former President Donald Trump to secure a much larger monetary damage award in his civil business fraud case as he appeals the judgment. The AG’s office in a filing said Trump and other defendants in the case had failed to show there is enough identifiable collateral to back the bond for the judgment in Manhattan Supreme Court. The…

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What sentencing could look like if Trump is found guilty

What sentencing could look like if Trump is found guilty

Norman L. Eisen writes: To date, Mr. Trump has been unrepentant about the events alleged in this case. There is every reason to believe that will not change even if he is convicted, and lack of remorse is a negative at sentencing. Justice Merchan’s evaluation of Mr. Trump’s history and character may also be informed by the other judgments against him, including Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling that Mr. Trump engaged in repeated and persistent business fraud, a jury finding that…

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Western governments increasingly concerned about their complicity in Israeli war crimes

Western governments increasingly concerned about their complicity in Israeli war crimes

The New York Times reports: For months, Western governments have provided military support for Israel while fending off accusations that their weapons were being used to commit war crimes in Gaza. But as a global outcry over the growing death toll in Gaza mounts, maintaining that balance is becoming increasingly difficult, as was clear on a single day this past week. On Tuesday, in a United Nations court, Germany found itself having to defend against accusations that it was complicit…

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Majority of voters think Trump committed ‘serious federal crimes,’ according to NYT poll

Majority of voters think Trump committed ‘serious federal crimes,’ according to NYT poll

Politico reports: A majority of voters believe former President Donald Trump has committed “serious federal crimes,” according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll. Fifty-three percent of likely voters said they believe this, while 39 percent of those surveyed said they did not believe that Trump committed serious crimes. Nine percent said they didn’t know or didn’t answer the question. The numbers broken down by party affiliation show that 90 percent of Democrats believe he has committed serious crimes,…

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A legal process rigged in Trump’s favor

A legal process rigged in Trump’s favor

James Romoser writes: Nearly 500,000 people in America are in jail while they await criminal trials. Trump, obviously, is not one of them. In all four of his criminal cases, he was allowed to remain free with minimal conditions of release. One of the few conditions — perhaps the central one — is that he must refrain from saying anything that would threaten or harass potential witnesses, co-defendants or jurors. His Georgia bond order, for instance, states: “The Defendant shall…

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Where is America’s ‘rules-based order’ now?

Where is America’s ‘rules-based order’ now?

Spencer Ackerman writes: No sooner had a nearly unanimous United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an “immediate cease-fire” in Gaza last month than the United States and Israel acted as if it were a meaningless piece of paper. Israel, unwilling to accept a U.N. mandate, continued bombing the overcrowded southern city of Rafah and besieging Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Shortly after the vote, Biden administration officials called the resolution, No. 2728, “nonbinding,” in what appeared to be…

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States warn Biden could miss ballot. Dems say exceptions have been made for GOP

States warn Biden could miss ballot. Dems say exceptions have been made for GOP

The Washington Post reports: Democratic officials are looking at their options after Republican secretaries of state in Ohio and Alabama warned them that President Biden might not appear on their ballots in November because of the timing of his expected nomination at the Democratic National Convention. Publicly, the Biden campaign is expressing confidence that he will appear on the ballot in both states. But the situation has created new headaches for Democrats and stoked distrust with election officials over what…

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Exxon declares war on its dissenting investors

Exxon declares war on its dissenting investors

The Lever reports: ExxonMobil has launched an extraordinary lawsuit against two investment firms for the alleged offense of filing climate-focused shareholder proposals. The fossil fuel giant’s underlying goal: killing a federal regulatory effort that would make it easier for all U.S. shareholders to voice environmental and social concerns about the companies they own. Critics say the company is also trying to intimidate shareholders from ever proposing such resolutions again in the future — under threat of being tied up in…

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Arizona’s zombie abortion ban is back. It’s every state’s future if Trump wins

Arizona’s zombie abortion ban is back. It’s every state’s future if Trump wins

Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern write: On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that its total abortion ban, a seemingly dead law dating back to 1864, is once again enforceable, despite more recent legislation that seemed to supercede it. The zombie ban makes virtually all abortions a felony, imposing a prison sentence of two to five years for any provider. There is no exception for rape or incest. The law was enacted before women could vote, and was long…

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European court rules human rights violated by climate inaction

European court rules human rights violated by climate inaction

BBC News reports: A group of older Swiss women have won the first ever climate case victory in the European Court of Human Rights. The women, mostly in their 70s, said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change. The court said Switzerland’s efforts to meet its emission reduction targets had been woefully inadequate. It is the first time the powerful court has ruled on global warming. Swedish campaigner Greta…

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Germany is accused of complicity in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza

Germany is accused of complicity in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza

  Germany has been accused of aiding and abetting genocide in Gaza, in a case before the UN’s top court. It was brought by Nicaragua and calls for emergency measures to stop Germany from selling weapons to Israel. It also wants Berlin to restore funding to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. Nicaragua’s lawyer had harsh words for the dual role Germany’s playing in what the ICJ’s already ruled to be a plausible case of genocide. Al Jazeera’s senior…

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Elizabeth Warren says she believes Israel’s war in Gaza will legally be considered a genocide

Elizabeth Warren says she believes Israel’s war in Gaza will legally be considered a genocide

Politico reports: Sen. Elizabeth Warren believes international officials could find that Israel’s assault on Gaza legally constitutes a genocide, she said during an event at a local mosque last week. “If you want to do it as an application of law, I believe that they’ll find that it is genocide, and they have ample evidence to do so,” Warren (D-Mass.) said Friday while taking audience questions during an event at the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland, Massachusetts. A video…

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