Your Wednesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top CNS stories for today including California lawmakers voted to shatter the business models of homegrown companies like Uber and Lyft by approving legislation that would force the tech industry and many others to turn independent contractors into employees; A White House lawyer President Donald Trump has nominated for a spot on the Second Circuit dodged questions about whether he advised on some of the administration’s most controversial immigration policies; A Scottish court ruled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson unlawfully thwarted Parliament’s power when he got the queen to suspend Parliament for five weeks on the eve of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, and more.
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National
1.) A White House lawyer President Donald Trump has nominated for a spot on the Second Circuit dodged questions Wednesday about whether he advised on some of the administration’s most controversial immigration policies.
2.) Warning of a dangerous precedent, a coalition of news organizations asked the Second Circuit on Wednesday to unseal the names of Trump-related entities and people whose tax returns are in Deutsche Bank’s possession.
3.) In light of the recent breakdown in peace talks between the U.S. and Taliban to end America’s longest war, most Americans think sending troops into Afghanistan 18 years ago was not a mistake, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
Regional
4.) California lawmakers voted to shatter the business models of homegrown companies like Uber and Lyft by approving legislation that would force the tech industry and many others to turn independent contractors into employees.
5.) Responding to civil liberties groups who cast the budding technology as dangerously flawed and an invasion of privacy, California lawmakers on Wednesday approved temporarily barring law enforcement from implementing facial recognition software.
6.) In the Permian Basin, the nation’s largest and most active oilfield surrounding the cities of Midland and Odessa in West Texas, pump jacks are as common as pickups and the industry’s presence is built into the fabric of daily life.
International
7.) In another blow to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a Scottish high court on Wednesday ruled Johnson unlawfully thwarted Parliament’s power when he got the queen to suspend Parliament for five weeks on the eve of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.
8.) A Dutch doctor was found not guilty of murder Wednesday for performing euthanasia on an elderly patient with a severe case of Alzheimer’s disease.
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