New York must offer vaccine to all prisoners immediately, judge rules
A judge in the Bronx ruled that people incarcerated in the state’s prisons and jails had been arbitrarily excluded from the coronavirus vaccine rollout.
Courts
U.S. Federal Judge blocks further oil and gas extraction in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest
The ruling rebuked the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for failing to consider threats to public health, endangered species, and watersheds before opening more than 40,000 acres of the forest to fracking last year.
Supreme Court Of Canada upholds national carbon tax
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled this week a federal carbon tax that is legal pursuant to the “peace, order, and good government” provisions of the Canadian constitution.
Japanese court rules same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional
The court ruled that sexual orientation, like race, is not a matter of individual preference and therefore denying same-sex couples the same benefits as straight couples is unconstitutional.
U.S. federal judge orders record penalty against Exxon for thousands of Clean Air Act violations
A U.S. District Court judge has imposed a $14.25 million penalty to punish the company for violating the federal laws—the largest yet imposed in a Clean Air Act citizen enforcement suit.
Court makes “historic” ruling that France is responsible for climate inaction
The court gave the French government two months to take appropriate steps before ordering it to lower emissions or compensating for the effects of its inaction, The New York Times reported.
Dutch court orders Shell Oil to pay for harm done to Nigerian farmers
Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary must pay punitive restitution to Nigerian villages for oil spill contamination that brought death, illness, and destruction to Nigerian farmers and communities.
Tribe in Panama wins landmark case granting them 400,000 acres of ancestral forests
The Naso tribe will share management responsibilities of 400,000 acres of land within La Amistad National Park and Palo Seco Nature Reserve after the court granted them authority to create a comarca: a semi-autonomous tribal kingship, in the two parks.
The U.S. Supreme Court has fully restored DACA protections
DACA protects people who immigrated to the US with their guardians as children, shielding them from deportation, regardless of citizenship status.
U.S. Supreme Court hands victory to transgender students in locker room case
The Supreme Court has declined to take up a case brought by Oregon parents who want to exclude transgender students from school locker rooms and restrooms.