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.
Justice Shrestha’s interim order will allow same-sex couples and other LGBTQ+ couples to legally register their marriages immediately, while the government prepares legislation to amend the civil code and formally legalize same-sex marriage.
The unanimous ruling came after a 50-something trans woman – who chose to remain anonymous – sued the Economy and Trade Ministry for relegating her to the men’s restroom or a women’s bathroom two floors away.
State law does not provide “a sweeping immunity for any and all acts police officers may perform within the scope of their employment,” Justice Leondra Kruger said in the 7-0 ruling.
Alabama redistricting and voting rights scored a landmark victory in 2023 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, ordering Alabama to redraw congressional maps that illegally diluted Black voters’ political power. The decision surprised many observers who feared the conservative court would further weaken voting protections following its 2013 Shelby County ruling. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberal justices in affirming the legal standard protecting minority communities from racially discriminatory district maps. The ruling immediately pressured Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas to address similar redistricting violations.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has appointed the state’s first out transgender judge and the nation’s first trans man ever to serve on a judicial bench.
The ruling adds pressure on the Japanese parliament to legalize same-sex marriages. Japan remains the only country in the G7 that has not legalized marriage equality.
Nepal’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to seize illegal wildlife collections held by wealthy citizens, ending decades of selective enforcement that punished poor and Indigenous communities while elite collectors displayed tiger pelts and rhino heads openly in their homes. The May 2023 ruling, sparked by a writ petition from conservationist Kumar Paudel, requires private collectors to register their holdings — anything acquired after 1973, when Nepal’s conservation law took effect, is subject to seizure. In a thoughtful twist, the court ordered confiscated items preserved for public education rather than incinerated, turning evidence of wildlife crime into tools for awareness. By insisting that conservation law reach the powerful as well as the poor, the ruling points toward a more just foundation for protecting wildlife everywhere.
In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court of Namibia has ruled that the government is required to recognize same-sex marriages performed legally in other nations between citizens and foreign nationals.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has given the green light to a bill seeking to decriminalize homosexuality in a move hailed as a “historic development” by campaigners.
A provincial court recognized that the mining companies violated the communities’ constitutional right to consultation and the rights of nature guaranteed by Ecuador’s Constitution since 2008.
