Nightly Brief

Your Tuesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including President Donald Trump announcing D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his pick to fill a soon-to-be vacant seat on the Supreme Court; a federal judge proposes that former national-security adviser Michael Flynn be sentenced in October for lying to the FBI; in Los Angeles, a federal judge blocks Trump Administration efforts to roll back a settlement agreement that limits the time the government can hold immigrant children separated from their families at the border; a California appeals court rules a conservation group can’t force San Francisco and other cities to stop taking water from a glacial reservoir in Yosemite National Park that serves 2.6 million Bay Area residents; an environmental group urges the California Supreme Court to erase a November ballot measure to divide the Golden State in three; a lawsuit accuses actor Johnny Depp of assaulting a man on the set of a crime thriller about the murder investigations of rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, and more.

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National

1.) President Donald Trump announced D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his pick Monday night to fill a soon-to-be vacant seat on the Supreme Court, setting the stage for a contentious confirmation battle amid concerns that a more conservative court will hamper abortion rights.

2.) Critical of unexplained delays in the special prosecutor’s case, a federal judge proposed Tuesday that former national-security adviser Michael Flynn be sentenced in October for lying to the FBI.

3.) A federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday blocked the Trump Administration efforts to roll back a settlement agreement that limits the time the government can hold immigrant children separated from their families at the border.

4.) Delivering another key victory for California, a federal judge on Monday dismissed the heart of the Trump administration’s lawsuit against three 2017 state immigration laws.

5.) President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned two ranchers serving time in federal prison for setting fire to public land in a case that inflamed their supporters and gave rise to the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

Regional

6.) A conservation group can’t force San Francisco and other cities to stop taking water from a glacial reservoir in Yosemite National Park that serves 2.6 million Bay Area residents, a state appeals court ruled Monday.

7.) Accusing a Silicon Valley billionaire of abusing the initiative process, an environmental group urged the California Supreme Court to erase a November ballot measure to divide the Golden State in three.

8.) A world-famous heart surgeon who has performed more than 1,000 transplants turned his metaphorical scalpel on an investigative report questioning the ethics of his research by filing a defamation lawsuit against ProPublica and Texas’ biggest newspaper.

9.) A lawyer for a Bay Area man dying of cancer told a jury Monday that agrochemical giant Monsanto has known for 40 years its popular Roundup weed killer is carcinogenic, but didn’t warn users and “bullied” independent researchers to safeguard its flagship product.

Entertainment

10.) A recently filed lawsuit accuses actor Johnny Depp of assaulting a man on the set of a crime thriller about the murder investigations of rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.

International

11.) All 12 boys and their soccer coach have been rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand, the Thai navy SEALs said Tuesday, ending an 18-day ordeal that riveted people around the world.

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