LGBTQ+ advocacy group criticizes Puerto Rico law criminalizing gender-affirming care

Getting arrested or charged with a crime is scary—and for good reason. Even if the charges seem minor or you think the case will blow over, the effects can last far beyond the courtroom. A criminal record can change your life in ways most people don’t expect. Whether you’ve been charged with a misdemeanor or a felony, understanding the long-term consequences is key. In this article, we’ll explore how criminal charges can affect your future and why working with an experienced criminal defense attorney Jersey City is one of the smartest decisions you can make. 1. Employment Opportunities One of the biggest ways a criminal charge can impact your future is through your ability to get a job. Many employers run background checks before hiring. If they see a criminal conviction—especially for theft, violence, or drug-related crimes—they may reject your application, even if you’re qualified. Even if you already have a job, certain charges could…

A tragic motorcycle accident on Highway 99 in Sacramento County early Thursday morning has claimed the life of one motorcyclist, serving as a stark reminder of the dangers faced by motorcycle riders on California’s busy highways. The incident, which occurred around 1 a.m. on northbound Highway 99 south of 12th Avenue, involved a motorcyclist who lost control and collided with the rear of a red Acura RSX. Details of the Highway 99 Motorcycle Crash According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the motorcyclist was traveling northbound when they lost control of their vehicle and struck the back of the Acura. The impact was severe enough to eject the rider from their motorcycle, while the unmanned bike continued across multiple lanes of traffic. Despite emergency response efforts, the motorcyclist succumbed to their injuries at the scene. The identity of the deceased motorcyclist has not yet been released by authorities, pending notification of family members. CHP…

Painting of Nipper by Francis Barraud (1898-99); subsequently used as a trademark with “HIs Master’s Voice.” Lehrman v. Lovo, Inc. On July 10, 2025, the federal district court for the Southern District of New York issued an Order granting in part and denying in part a motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit that Paul Lehrman and Linnea Sage commenced against Lovo, Inc. The lawsuit, Lehrman v. Lovo, Inc., alleges that Lovo used artificial intelligence to make and sell unauthorized “clones” of their voices. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the plaintiffs are voice-over actors. For a fee, they read and record scripts for their clients. Lovo allegedly sells a text-to-speech subscription service that allows clients to generate voice-over narrations. The service is described as one that uses “AI-driven software known as ‘Generator’ or ‘Genny,'” which was “created using ‘1000s of…

Predrag Dojcinovic, University of Connecticut, Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute; International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (1998-2017), has published War Crimes: Definition, History, Practice. Here is the abstract. This encyclopedic entry on war crimes provides insights into their definition, historical development, and application in major international criminal trials. As some of the gravest offenses under international law, war crimes involve serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during armed conflict. Defined in Article 8 of the 1998 Rome Statute, they include targeting civilians, torture, and using child soldiers. Rooted in ancient norms and shaped by Grotius, the Lieber Code, and the Hague Conventions, the concept evolved significantly through the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols (APs), which extended protections to civilians and non-international conflicts. Enforcement by tribunals like Nuremberg,…

[Part I is available here.] In the first part of this post, we explored the history of section 706, and why it probably does not support universal remedies. But even so, several Justices have hinted at their hesitation to read vacatur out of the APA. This will force the Court to contend with the second hurdle that vacatur must leap before it fills the shoes of the nationwide injunction, and the one we deal with in our own article. Is vacatur constitutional? Start with the basic definition of judicial power — “the power to render judgments in individual cases.” A corollary of this power, as well as a traditional principle of equity, is that the court’s power acts upon parties at suit, not upon the whole world and least of all upon the law itself.  This dictum was nicely summed up in Frothingham v. Mellon, where the court recognized that when it reviews a statute, it acts “not [upon] the execution of the statute, but the acts of the…

If your E-2 visa was denied due to source of funds issues, you’re not alone and we’ve successfully helped many applicants turn that denial into an approval. This is one of the most frequent reasons E-2 visas are refused, usually because the consular officer determined that the investment funds were not clearly documented or lawfully obtained. Even when your capital comes from legitimate sources such as business income, family savings, or an inheritance, your application can still be denied if the documentation doesn’t clearly prove the lawful origin. We’ve guided numerous clients through this challenge by organizing detailed, credible evidence that satisfies consular scrutiny and results in E-2 visa approval. Many clients ask, “How do I prove the source of funds for an E2 visa?” To meet the E2 visa source of funds requirements, you must provide a detailed paper trail showing where every dollar came from. If you received money as a gift or…

I have posted a draft of my latest essay, How the Modalities Work: Constitutional Interpretation as Problem Solving, on SSRN. Here is the abstract:The modalities of constitutional argument are shared cultural tools for thinking about the Constitution, analyzing legal problems, and formulating arguments to resolve them. Constitutional interpretation is a kind of problem-solving, and the modalities are our legal culture’s tool kit for analyzing and solving constitutional problems.Many different kinds of history can help us make arguments with the modalities. Therefore there is no artificial limit on the kinds of history that can be relevant to constitutional interpretation. The central question is whether the history we employ furthers the specific kind of legal argument we are making.Our use of the modalities presumes that at any point in time some arguments are better than others. Disagreements about the Constitution are pervasive and may be never-ending, but this…

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk called for urgent accountability and a halt to escalating violence in the southern Syrian city of Suweida on Friday, following credible reports of mass killings, arbitrary executions, looting, and the forced displacement of civilians. Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani emphasized that “the bloodshed and the violence must stop, and the protection of all people must be the utmost priority, in line with international human rights law.” She cited reports of gross violations, including the deliberate killing of civilians, kidnappings, and the destruction of homes in the predominantly Druze governorate. The human rights chief noted that hundreds of people have been killed since July 12, including the “unlawful killing” of at least 13 people and the reported summary execution of at least 6 men on July 15. The office also documented that one Druze man was forced to…

The Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) prohibits unfair and deceptive trade practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce. It “is designed to protect consumers from deceptive acts that mislead consumers.” CareerFairs.com v. United Business Media LLC, 838 F. Supp. 2d 1316 (S.D. Fla., Sept. 28, 2011). “A claim for damages under FDUTPA has three elements: (1) a deceptive act or unfair practice; (2) causation; and (3) actual damages.” City First Mortg. Corp. v. Barton, 988 So. 2d 82 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008). An unfair practice is “one that offends established public policy and one that is immoral, unethical, oppressive, unscrupulous or substantially injurious to consumers.” PNR, Inc. v. Beacon Property Management, Inc., 842 So. 2d 773 (Fla. 2003). Because FDUTPA is meant to protect consumers, a question arises regarding the extent to which non-consumers can sue under the statute. The Miami business litigation attorneys of…

Czech President Petr Pavel signed a new law on Friday introducing changes to the country’s criminal code that ban support for ideologies considered harmful to public order and societal cohesion, including communism and Nazism. The law forms part of broader initiatives across Eastern Europe to enhance legal frameworks aimed at addressing totalitarian movements. As reported by Euractiv, the amended law establishes prison sentences of up to five years for individuals who create, endorse, or advocate for Nazi, communist, or other movements that are proven to seek the suppression of human rights and freedoms or to provoke hatred based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or social class. While the measure applies to a broad range of ideologically motivated actions, how the law will be applied to political organisations, especially those with communist affiliations, remains uncertain. The new legal revision has drawn widespread criticism from communist parties. The Czech…

From In re Martin, decided yesterday by Bankruptcy Judge Michael Slade (N.D. Ill.): While I appreciate Mr. Nield's and Semrad's remorse and candor [in their response to my order to show cause], I find that they both violated Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9011 [by] {filing a brief containing fake quotations and nonexistent authority manufactured by artificial intelligence}. I further find that a modest, joint-and-several sanction of $5,500, paid to the Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court, along with a requirement that Mr. Nield and another senior Semrad attorney attend an upcoming course on the dangers of AI scheduled for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ) annual meeting in September, is the least harsh sanction that will appropriately address counsel's conduct and deter future, similar misconduct from them and others…. The first reason I issue sanctions stems from Mr. Nield's claim of ignorance—he asserts he didn't know…

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Jurisprudence, edited by Kevin Tobia. Here is a description: This handbook introduces readers to the emerging field of experimental jurisprudence, which applies new empirical methods to address fundamental philosophical questions in legal theory. The book features contributions from a global group of leading professors of law, philosophy, and psychology, covering a diverse range of topics such as criminal law, legal interpretation, torts, property, procedure, evidence, health, disability, and international law. Across thirty-eight chapters, the handbook utilizes a variety of methods, including traditional philosophical analysis, psychology survey studies and experiments, eye-tracking methods, neuroscience, behavioural methods, linguistic analysis, and natural language processing. The book also addresses cutting-edge issues such as legal expertise, gender and race in the law, and the impact of…

A devastating tragedy struck Delaware County on Thursday night when a volunteer fire chief lost his life while responding to a drunk driving crash. The 51-year-old assistant chief of the East Branch Fire Department, a dedicated volunteer with over 25 years of service, was electrocuted after downed electrical wires made contact with his fire truck following a vehicle collision on Route 30 in Hancock. The incident occurred around 9:30 p.m. when the fire chief responded to a crash where an intoxicated driver had struck a utility pole. When the emergency vehicle arrived on scene, a low-hanging electrical wire came into contact with the top of the fire truck. As the fire chief exited the vehicle and touched the metal door, he was fatally electrocuted and declared dead at the scene. The drunk driver, a 54-year-old man from Downsville, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated after veering off the road, hitting a guardrail, and then striking the utility pole.…

The Download of the Week is The Supreme Court Under Threat: Early Lessons in Judicial Self-Protection by Curtis Bradley & Neil Siegel. Here is the abstract: This Essay explores how the U.S. Supreme Court, despite being vulnerable to defiance of its decisions and political retaliation, has developed tools of judicial self-protection to preserve its institutional authority as well as the Constitution and the rule of law. Arguing that the Court performs not only a legal role that requires interpretation of the law but also a political one that demands institutional preservation, the Essay examines how the Court has historically navigated political threats by using a range of tools—including avoidance, delay, narrow rulings, strategic dicta, and rhetorical appeals. The Essay focuses on three nineteenth-century episodes: the Jeffersonian backlash following the election of 1800, Georgia’s defiance in the Cherokee Cases in the 1830s, and controversies…

By Andy DelaneyTwo opinions Friday, both about credit, but in very different contexts. In our first case, the credit is for time served. Mr. Davila blew off his furlough and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested in Massachusetts and spent 490 days in the pokey there for both Vermont's warrant and local charges. He wanted that time to count toward his Vermont sentence so he filed a petition requesting as much. The trial court denied credit, siding with the Department of Corrections. The trial court reasoned that under the law, petitioner couldn’t get credit for days spent out of state while an arrest warrant was outstanding, and he wasn’t "awaiting transportation" to Vermont while Massachusetts still had pending charges. So, the trial court granted summary judgment to the State, rejecting petitioner's claim for credit for the Massachusetts jail time. He appeals.  On appeal, a slim SCOV majority agrees with the…

Polish law, like laws in many anti-abortion U.S. states, permits abortions under limited circumstances. But because of uncertainty about exactly when those circumstances have obtained, clinicians are reluctant to use these legal exceptions.In other words, deep fear of criminal and disciplinary penalties chills even permissible, standard of care therapy. Relatedly, hospitals are torn between following state criminal law and following federal EMTALA law in some labor emergencies.This week, three Polish physicians were sentenced for failing to provide an abortion. 30-year-old Izabela, died of sepsis 22 weeks into her pregnancy because the doctors feared breaking abortion laws. But Poland permits abortion when the mother's life is in direct danger.As I argued many years ago, safe harbor exceptions to general prohibitions must be clear and precise to work.

Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles invites applications for a full-time entry-level or experienced Associate Professor or Professor of Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills. Founded in 1911, Southwestern is an ABA-accredited, independent law school located in the center of Los...

The Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD) held a successful Biennial Conference in Phoenix at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University (ASU). (mew)