This archive collects milestones involving courts — judicial bodies at local, national, and international levels — as actors in meaningful change. Stories here cover rulings, legal precedents, and decisions that advanced rights, accountability, or justice around the world.
Issued by the court sitting en banc, Tuesday’s decision reversed a previous ruling in which a panel of judges had struck down Maryland’s ban on assault weapons and detachable large capacity magazines.
A game-changing federal court ruling orders Wisconsin to redraw legislative district lines that unfairly and unconstitutionally favor Republicans.
The International Court of Justice was born in June 1945, when the UN Charter created the first permanent global tribunal for disputes between nations. It held its first session the following April at the Peace Palace in The Hague, with fifteen judges drawn from the world’s major legal traditions. A quiet but radical idea: countries could bring their grievances to judges instead of armies.
