Nightly Brief

Your Wednesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including President Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary Alex Acosta ceded no ground to critics of the secret plea deal he struck over a decade ago with wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; The Fourth Circuit dismissed a lawsuit accusing President Trump of violating clauses in the Constitution that bar him from receiving gifts from foreign or state governments while in office without congressional consent; The European Court of Justice ruled Amazon need not comply with a German law requiring retailers to make its phone number clearly available to customers, and more.

Sign up for CNS Nightly Brief, a roundup of the day’s top stories delivered directly to your email Monday through Friday.

National

1.) At a House hearing where federal officials called for more money to combat the scourge of Russian influence, lawmakers grappled Wednesday with equally harrowing testimony about failures in the U.S. strategy.

2.) Unrepentant and unapologetic, President Trump’s Labor Secretary Alex Acosta ceded no ground to critics of the secret plea deal he struck over a decade ago with Jeffrey Epstein, one that a federal judge ruled earlier this year had broken a law meant to defend the girls on whose behalf Acosta was supposed to seek justice.

3.) Yazmin Juarez’s 19-month-old daughter died after getting sick following her stay at an unsanitary immigration detention center in Texas. She told lawmakers her story Wednesday to shed light on the human toll behind the Trump administration’s immigration policy, leaving few dry eyes in the room.

4.) Finding that attorneys general for Maryland and the District of Columbia lack standing, the Fourth Circuit on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of violating clauses in the Constitution that bar him from receiving gifts from foreign or state governments while in office without congressional consent.

Regional

5.) California lawmakers approved a sweeping employment law bill Wednesday that would force a variety of industries – including the gig economy and trucking companies – to provide benefits to independent contractors.

6.) Washington state Governor Jay Inslee revealed his opposition Wednesday to the Trump administration’s plan to remove gray wolves from the federal Endangered Species List – contradicting the position of the state’s Fish & Wildlife director, who also Wednesday announced the state will kill two federally protected wolves because they hunted cattle grazing on public land.

International

7.) Amazon need not comply with a German law requiring retailers to make its phone number clearly available to customers, the European Court of Justice ruled Wednesday.

8.) Europe’s highest court dealt a blow to holiday travelers Wednesday, ruling that passengers on a canceled flight to Greece must look to their booking agent, not the airline, for reimbursement.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit