R (on the application of Edward Bridges) v The Chief Constable of South Wales [2020] EWCA Civ 1058The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has held that the use of automated facial recognition technology (AFR) by the South Wales Police Force (SWP) unlawfully interfered with Edward Bridges' right to respect for and non-interference by public authorities in his private and family life, which is protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Attorney-General for the State of Queensland v Sri & Ors [2020] QSC 246On 8 August 2020, the Attorney-General successfully sought a mandatory injunction (court order) in the Supreme Court to prevent a planned sit-in protest organised by a group that advocates for the rights of refugees. The protest was to take place on the Story Bridge, a major traffic route in Brisbane, and be a ‘sit-down and not-move-on assembly’ during which arrests would be expected.

Raysor v DeSantis 591 US ____ (2020)On 16 July 2020, the United States Supreme Court, without opinion, denied an application to vacate the Florida Eleventh Circuit Court’s (Eleventh Circuit) stay of a permanent injunction. The permanent injunction would have prevented Florida from enforcing a law that requires people with a felony conviction to pay all outstanding fines, fees, and restitution payments, in order to be able to vote.Justice Sotomayor, joined in dissent by Justices Ginsburg and Kagan, reproached the “Court’s inaction [as continuing] a trend of condoning disenfranchisement”.

Baker v Commissioner of the Australian Border Force [2020] FCA 836The Federal Court of Australia upheld the decision of the Australian Border Force (ABF) to refuse an application by an ultra-orthodox Jewish couple for an exemption to the current travel ban, in order to attend their son’s wedding in the United States.The Court found the ABF had correctly determined that the couple did not provide a “compelling reason for needing to leave Australian territory”, as required for an exemption.

Binsaris v Northern Territory of Australia [2020] HCA 22On 3 June 2020, the majority of the High Court found that prison officers’ use of tear gas on four Aboriginal children in Don Dale Youth Detention Centre was unlawful. The High Court unanimously held that each of the four young people were entitled to damages for the harm they suffered.

Geller v. De Blasio et al F.Supp.3d (2020)On 18 May 2020, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York held that Mayor Bill de Blasio's 25 March Executive Order, which restricted non-essential public gatherings to curb the spread of COVID-19, did not violate the Plaintiff's First Amendment right to freedom of speech.Although the decision only considered the severity of the pandemic in New York, it could also be relied on to restrict public protest throughout the duration of the pandemic in the United States. This could be particularly problematic in the context of the Black Lives Matter protest movement, which re-emerged on a global scale in early June.

Mark Rowson v Department of Justice, Corrections Victoria and the State of Victoria [2020] VSC 236 A case was brought in the Supreme Court of Victoria seeking orders to temporarily release a 52-year-old man from Port Phillip Prison in light of the serious risk of harm or death that COVID-19 would pose to him if a case of the virus arose in prison.

Mr Amjad Rihan v Ernst & Young Global Limited & Others [2020] EWHC 901 (QB)In a potentially significant decision, the High Court of England and Wales has accepted the existence of a duty of care to protect a whistleblower and awarded damages of more than US$10 million.

Smethurst v Commissioner of Police [2020] HCA 14The High Court of Australia unanimously held that the search warrant relied upon by the Australian Federal Police to enter and search the residence of journalist, Ms Annika Smethurst, was invalid. The invalidity of the search warrant rendered the AFP's entry into and search of Ms Smethurst's residence unlawful and an act of trespass.

Inquest into the death of Tanya Louise Day (COR 2017/6424), Findings, Coroner English, 9 April 2020On 5 December 2017, during her train journey, Ms Day was approached by a V/Line train conductor. He called the police, Ms Day was ejected from the train and arrested for being drunk in a public place. Ms Day was taken to Castlemaine police station and detained in a police cell. Despite the requirement that she be physically checked every 30 minutes, this did not happen. The CCTV footage shows that at around 5:00pm Ms Day fell and hit her head on a concrete wall of the police cell.

Ong Ming Johnson v Attorney-General and other matters [2020] SGHC 63In this case, Justice See Kee Oon of the Supreme Court of Singapore (the Court) declined to declare section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises acts of "gross indecency" – sex between consenting adult men – unconstitutional. Despite the law's origins under British colonial administration, the Court ultimately found that section 377A did not constitute an unlawful infringement on the rights of gay and bisexual men in modern day Singapore.

The Australian Institute for Progress Ltd v The Electoral Commission of Queensland & Ors [2020] QSC 54The Australian Institute for Progress (AIP), a think tank based in Queensland, sought declaration from the Queensland Supreme Court that due to ordinary rules of statutory interpretation, it was able to accept political donations from property developers.