A Congressional House Select Committee is investigating the attack on the US Capitol last January. Global Insight assesses what these hearings mean for the legacy of former President Donald Trump – and for the future of US democracy.

On 2 May, a draft majority opinion showing that the US Supreme Court intends to overturn 49 years of a constitutional right to abortion was leaked to the public. The opinion on the case before the Court, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, reads: ‘The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision’.

Facing low fertility rates that could undermine labour forces and social structures, governments are pursuing labour reforms, immigration expansion and pronatalist policies. Global Insight explores the impact of such policies on human rights and gender equality.

An independent people’s tribunal has found that China has committed genocide, torture and crimes against humanity against the Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic minorities. The Uyghur Tribunal in London delivered its judgment in early December after 18 months of analysing reports, documents, publicly heard witness testimony and other evidence.

A novel approach to lawmaking has enabled a Texas abortion ban to evade judicial scrutiny despite concerns about its constitutionality.

The US Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative judge supermajority – created with the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the Trump administration’s last days – has begun reviewing and ruling on a string of politically divisive cases. The ongoing debate over reform of the Court itself was already heated; now the temperature of that debate is rising.

As the first 100 days of the Biden presidency draw to a close, Global Insight assesses whether the administration looks set to ‘build back better’, or simply reset the United States to the pre-Trump era.

US senators voted in mid-February to acquit former president Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection. Conviction would have required 67 votes, but only 57 senators voted in favour and 43 voted to acquit.

UK government ministers face increasing condemnation for verbal attacks on the legal profession in the aftermath of an alleged terrorism incident at a London firm.

The UK government faces a rising tide of legal action regarding decision-making during the Covid-19 pandemic. As Martyn Day, Co-Founder at Leigh Day in London, tells Global Insight, the handling of the pandemic has in some ways been ‘ripe for legal intervention’.

In Poland, pregnant people face heightened scrutiny following an order from the Health Minister, signed in early June, requiring doctors to register all pregnancies in the country. Information collected will include past or current illnesses, medical visits, treatment and blood type. In light of Poland’s near-total abortion ban, there are fears the register could be weaponised to monitor pregnancy outcomes and persecute women suspected of having abortions or suspected abortion providers – particularly as the information can be accessed by the Polish prosecutor’s office through a court order.

The Ukraine refugee crisis has prompted unprecedented public and political support. Global Insight assesses the potential for more compassionate responses to future crises.

A year after insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol building, disinformation’s grip on the country is only increasing. In a year in which US voters will go to the polls for mid-term elections, Global Insight explores the dangerous direction that US democracy is heading in.

Governments across Europe are being called upon to take gender-based violence as seriously as terrorism.

The fall of Afghanistan to Taliban forces in mid-August led to a mass exodus from the country as many citizens sought to escape the new regime. Following the 70th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, Global Insight examines how threats to, and gaps within, the international refugee protection regime may undermine the assistance owed to those who have fled the Taliban.

Since high-profile Republicans warned that mail-in voting had to be limited for the party to ever win the presidency again, hundreds of restrictive bills have been introduced across state legislatures. But rights advocates are battling voter suppression, and corporate America is being pulled into the fight.

In late January, the European Commission and individual European Union Member States threatened legal action over significant delays to Covid-19 vaccine dose deliveries from AstraZeneca. The bloc almost triggered Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol, which enables controversial export controls along the politically fraught border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but U-turned after broad condemnation.

After US President Joe Biden’s election win in November, the Trump administration and its allies launched a suite of lawsuits to attempt to overturn the result and secure Donald Trump a second term. Lawyers involved in bringing these proceedings have faced criticism on the basis of professional ethics concerns.

Global Insight examines how, even as the Bidens move into the White House and the Democrats take control of the Senate, the legacy of the Trump presidency remains strong.

In early September, the British Government introduced its proposed Internal Market Bill to parliament, a piece of legislation that has quickly become highly contested. Ostensibly intended to protect the United Kingdom’s internal markets if negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union break down, the Bill’s text has raised questions about the UK’s commitment to the global rules-based order.