Nightly Brief

Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including Republican senators concluding an FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh exonerates the nominee, paving the way for a critical vote Friday; a federal judge blocks the Trump administration from canceling temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Sudanese who face dangers in their home countries; the Seventh Circuit upholds a Wisconsin law that requires all butter sold in the state to be graded; a group of protesters removed from a country ham breakfast at the 2015 Kentucky State Fair challenge their arrests as unconstitutional before the Sixth Circuit; former employees accuse the Milton Hershey School of barely disguising its sectarian activities; the political fortunes of French President Emmanuel Macron are in trouble, and more.

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National

1.) Senators on Thursday started reviewing the confidential results of an FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, with Republicans saying it includes no new information about the claims against the judge and Democrats saying the probe was not thorough enough.

2.) Several hundred protestors had a message for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday as they gathered before the nation’s highest court: we won’t be quiet.

3.) The Justice Department on Thursday announced charges against seven Russian military intelligence officials for their role in a massive cyberattack aimed at U.S. and international organizations that exposed a Kremlin-sponsored doping conspiracy tied to Russian athletes.

4.) Citing racist comments from the president, a federal judge Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from canceling temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Sudanese who face dangers in their home countries.

Regional

5.) The Seventh Circuit upheld a Wisconsin law that requires all butter sold in the state to be graded, rejecting an artisanal dairy maker’s claim that the government has no business setting flavor standards for butter.

6.) Can a butter knife qualify as a deadly weapon? That’s the question taken up by California’s high court Wednesday, and the justices appeared unconvinced.

7.) A group of protesters removed from a country ham breakfast at the 2015 Kentucky State Fair challenged their arrests as unconstitutional before the Sixth Circuit on Thursday.

8.)  Accusing the Milton Hershey School of barely disguising its sectarian activities, two former employees claim in a federal complaint that the philanthropic boarding school threatens its nonevangelical staff and students with “isolation, death, hell, and demonic possession.”

International

9.) He was compared to Barack Obama – a young and optimistic political star bringing hope and big ideas to France, a nation suffering through years of political pessimism. Now, the political fortunes of French President Emmanuel Macron are in trouble.

10.) The European Court of Justice signed off Thursday on the certification scheme by which Italy regulates companies that use bioliquids for thermal energy plants.

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