Nightly Brief

Your Monday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announcing that the agency would begin pushing back against lawsuits which target it by ending “sue and settle” practices; a federal jury returning a guilty verdict against the New Jersey man who carried out a series of nonfatal bombings in New York and New Jersey last year; California Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday vetoed a President Donald Trump-inspired proposal that would have required presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on the statewide ballot; researchers may have confirmed a notion that’s central to Douglas Adams’ novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” — that dolphin are smarter than us, and more.

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**1.) **In National news ** EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced on Monday that the agency would begin pushing back against lawsuits which target it by ending “sue and settle” practices.

2.) A federal jury returned a guilty verdict Monday against the New Jersey man who carried out a series of nonfatal bombings in New York and New Jersey last year.

3.)  American Express must head to the Supreme Court, the justices said Monday, to defend its policy of banning merchants from asking consumers to use lower-fee cards.

**5.) In Regional news California Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday vetoed a President Donald Trump-inspired proposal that would have required presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on the statewide ballot.

6.) The Supreme Court will take up the case of a Virginia man who says his conviction on a federal firearms charge was precluded by his acquittal on two related charges tried separately in the interest of protecting his right to a fair trial.

7.) Three liberal justices dissented Monday from the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of a challenge to Florida’s death-sentencing procedures, saying the high court should have decided whether jurors being told their verdict was merely advisory diminished their sense of responsibility.

**8.) From the world of Science  comes word that researchers may have confirmed a notion that’s central to Douglas Adams’ novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” — that dolphin are indeed smarter than humans.