Published February 2, 2026
The Kpandai Elections Decision
On Tuesday, 27th January 2026, the Supreme Court of Ghana by a 4–1 majority, overturned the decision of the High Court, Tamale, which had annulled the parliamentary election for the Kpandai Constituency earlier declared in favour of Honourable Matthew Nyindam.
The ruling follows an application brought by Hon. Mathew Nyindam through his Counsel, invoking the Supreme Court’s supervisory jurisdiction to set aside the decision of the High Court on grounds of jurisdictional error. The said jurisdictional error was essentially that the said High Court had wrongfully assumed jurisdiction relative to the election petition filed by the NDC parliamentary candidate in that constituency.
It was further contended that the petition had been brought in violation of statutory timelines, as the said petition was filed after the constitutionally stipulated twenty-one (21) days.
The Supreme Court upheld his application, effectively restoring Honourable Matthew Nyindam as Member of Parliament for the Kpandai Constituency.
It bears emphasis that the Supreme Court’s determination turned mainly on procedural breaches that characterised the filing of the election petition at the High Court, Tamale, which deprived the court jurisdiction to have heard and determined the petition.
In other words, the substance of the plaint of the petition such as the alleged voting irregularities in some 41 polling stations as well as the findings of irregularities by the High Court, Tamale, and as to whether or not Mr. Nyindam had validly been elected in the elections, were not examined and determined by the Supreme Court.
The decision no doubt reopens the perennial debate within our jurisprudence as to the proper balance between substantive law and procedural law.
Panama High Court Ousts Hong Kong Port Operator
The Supreme Court of Panama has annulled a contract for a Hong Kong company to operate two ports at either end of the Panama Canal, denting China’s influence in the region.
The high court said the terms under which CK Hutchison runs the ports of Balboa on the Pacific Coast and Cristóbal on the Atlantic side were unconstitutional, setting the stage for the company’s departure from the port facilities.
For Panama’s Supreme Court justices, the political pressure was significant, as the port operations put Panama center stage in the rivalry between the U.S. and China.
The ruling comes a year after Trump set his sights on Panama. He said Chinese infrastructure that has been built up around the canal in the past three decades was a security threat to the U.S.
After the Supreme Court ruling, Hutchison’s unit said it reserved the right to pursue international legal proceedings to protect its investment, hinting at the possibility of taking the case to international arbitration. Wall Street Journal
Saudi dissident awarded £3m damages threatens enforcement action
London-based Saudi dissident who a judge awarded £3m in damages from Saudi Arabia for assault and the hacking of his phone has insisted that it must pay up or face enforcement action.
Mr Justice Saini held that the Saudi government infected the phone of Ghanem al-Masarir with Pegasus spyware and, while surveillance was continuing, in 2018, its agents attacked him outside Harrods in central London.
It was a landmark judgment, holding to account a regime that has faced numerous allegations of human rights abuses but has consistently managed to avoid legal responsibility for abuses.
However, with the Saudi government having long refused to participate in the case after failing to have it thrown out on the grounds of “state immunity”, the question is whether it will comply with the order to pay al-Masarir damages. The Guardian
Judge Won’t Stop Federal Immigration Enforcement Surge in Minnesota
A federal judge on Saturday declined to immediately halt the federal immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, saying she lacked the authority to do so.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez issued the ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by the state of Minnesota, which alleged the federal government used its aggressive enforcement campaign, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, to coerce changes in state policies and punish Democratic officials it disliked.
She wrote that although the operation had “profound and even heartbreaking consequences” on the Twin Cities, she didn’t have the authority to halt it at this early stage of litigation.
“The Court can readily imagine scenarios where the federal executive must legitimately vary its use of law enforcement resources from one state to the next, and there is no precedent for a court to micromanage such decisions,” Menendez wrote in the ruling.
Federal Judge Rules Out Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione
A judge ruled Friday that federal prosecutors can’t seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, who is charged with gunning down a UnitedHealthcare executive in Midtown Manhattan.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett threw out a charge that was the basis for the Justice Department to seek a death sentence against Mangione.
Garnett said the killing of Brian Thompson outside a hotel in December 2024 was clearly a crime of violence, but she said murder charges can rarely be brought under federal law, and only under very specific circumstances that prosecutors hadn’t met in the Mangione case.
“The analysis contained in the balance of this Opinion may strike the average person—and indeed many lawyers and judges—as tortured and strange, and the result may seem contrary to our intuition about the criminal law,” the judge wrote. But she said her conclusion was dictated by Supreme Court precedent.
Garnett said in court that the government could appeal her ruling before trial. Prosecutors didn’t immediately say whether they intended to do so. A Justice Department spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Mangione, who has pleaded not guilty, appeared in federal court Friday for a pretrial hearing wearing khaki jail garb. He still faces two federal stalking charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. The judge said his trial, which is scheduled to begin with jury selection on Sept. 8, would go forward on those counts.
Garnett said she was confident she could find an impartial jury, saying her New York court was no stranger to cases that had received overwhelming public attention.
Outside the courthouse, Mangione defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo thanked the judge—and Mangione’s many supporters. “We get your letters, we get your emails, and we really appreciate all the support,” she said.
Mangione, a 27-year-old Ivy League graduate, was captured in Pennsylvania after a five-day manhunt that ended with his arrest in a McDonald’s. Prosecutors said Mangione held a grudge against the health insurance industry and plotted the killing of Thompson for months.
