Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including a federal judge ruling Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross may have added the citizenship question to the 2020 census for discriminatory reasons; records from the bankruptcy proceedings of Attorney Michael Avenatti will be sealed at his request; the world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise, often caught in gillnets by commercial fisherman, are given another chance at survival as a court orders the Trump administration ban seafood from countries where the net is still used; the first systemic analysis of global marine wilderness finds only a small fraction of the world’s oceans can still be classified as wilderness; a Pew survey finds Americans are generally supportive of gene editing; meanwhile, a new survey finds most voters in California care about the environment and want the same from their next governor, and more.

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National

FILE - In this June 22, 2018, file photo, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic lawmakers want Ross to clarify where a citizenship question on the 2020 census originated after newly released documents show he was seeking such a question early in Donald Trump’s presidency. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

1.) Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross may have added the citizenship question to the 2020 census for discriminatory reasons, a federal judge ruled Thursday, advancing a challenge by 18 states, several cities and nongovernmental groups.

2.) Kevin Patrick Mallory, a former CIA contractor convicted of selling defense secrets to a Chinese spy last month, will be acquitted on two counts, a federal judge has decided.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 21, 2017. Mueller’s team considers President Donald Trump a subject, not a criminal target, in the wide-ranging Russia investigation. The designation, first reported by The Washington Post and confirmed by The Associated Press, has raised questions about what legal threat Trump personally faces from the special counsel and whether it has any impact on his decision to sit for an interview with prosecutors. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

3.) This week’s change in former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s trial date in Virginia, prompted Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Thursday to renew his his request for blank subpoena sets for potential witnesses.

Michael Avenatti, an attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels, stands outside the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse on July 10, 2018. Avenatti is named as a defendant in a former Playboy model’s lawsuit against a top GOP fundraiser. (Martin Macias Jr./CNS)

4.) A federal judge agreed to seal court transcripts and bar media from attending a court hearing involving the bankruptcy proceedings of attorney Michael Avenatti at his request on Wednesday, according to multiple news outlets.

5.) The world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise, often caught in gillnets by commercial fisherman, were given another chance at survival Thursday after a court ordered the Trump administration ban seafood from countries where the net is still used.

Regional

6.) In over 100 pages of affidavits submitted Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union in the class action over the separation of immigrant families, attorneys said parents separated from their kids at the U.S.-Mexico border were coerced into waiving their rights to family reunification.

7.) The Seventh Circuit upheld an injunction Thursday against an Indiana law that makes women undergo an ultrasound at least 18 hours before an abortion, finding there is no medical justification for the rule.

Science

Sunset over the Pacific Ocean as seen from the International Space Station. Anvil tops of thunderclouds are also visible.

9.) Only a small fraction of the world’s oceans can still be classified as wilderness, according the first systemic analysis of global marine wilderness published Thursday.

Research & Polls

10.) Should gene editing be used to treat serious congenital diseases or boost a baby’s brainpower? According to a Pew survey published Thursday, Americans are generally supportive of gene editing but have clear boundaries and concerns about “going too far.”

German tourists Stephanie Schultz, left, photographs Kai Rudolph, right, along the Merced River in Yosemite Valley as smoke from the Ferguson Fire hangs in the air Tuesday, July 24, 2018, in Yosemite National Park, Calif. The heart of Yosemite National Park, where throngs of tourists are awe-struck by cascading waterfalls and towering granite features like El Capitan and Half Dome, will be closed as firefighters try to corral a huge wildfire just to the west that has cast a smoky pall and threatened the park's forest, officials said Tuesday. The closure is expected to last through Sunday. (Eric Paul Zamora/The Fresno Bee via AP)

11.) Most voters in California care about the environment and want the same from their next governor, according to the results of a new survey released Wednesday that asked voters how they feel about environmental issues.

12.) A majority of Americans feel that higher education is in a downward spiral, the Pew Research Center reported Thursday, but Republicans and Democrats disagree on why.

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