Nightly Brief

Your Tuesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including House Democrats published a turn-by-turn narrative of an unconstitutional political scheme they say was orchestrated by President Donald Trump and enabled by some of his closest confidantes; California Senator Kamala Harris announced she is dropping her presidential bid due to a lack of funding; The Second Circuit cleared the way for two House committees to access financial records Trump and his associates have stored in Deutsche Bank and Capital One, and more.

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National

1.) Detailing their case for impeaching President Donald Trump, House Democrats published a turn-by-turn narrative Tuesday of an unconstitutional political scheme they say was orchestrated by the 45th president of the United States and enabled by some of his closest confidantes.

In this Oct. 15, 2019, photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks in a Democratic presidential primary debate at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Harris and two of her Democratic Senate colleagues are trying to force the Trump administration to release documents related to the Ukraine investigation through the federal Freedom of Information Act. Harris, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island will file an information request Wednesday, Oct. 23 with the Department of Justice. It seeks documents related to Ukraine, China and justice department investigations into President Donald Trump’s political rivals. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

2.) Floundering in the polls and hindered by infighting and campaign missteps, California Senator Kamala Harris announced Tuesday she is dropping her upstart presidential bid due to a lack of funding.

President Donald Trump gestures after speaking at a campaign rally Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

3.) The Second Circuit cleared the way Tuesday for two House committees to access financial records that President Donald Trump and his associates have stored in Deutsche Bank and Capital One.

In this July 16, 2019, file photo, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos listens during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. The Trump administration is threatening to cut grant funding to a Middle East studies program at the University of North Carolina and Duke University, saying it’s misusing federal funding to advance “ideological priorities” and unfairly promotes “the positive aspects of Islam” but not Christianity or Judaism. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

4.) U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos forced more than 45,000 defrauded students to repay loans in violation of a court order – far more than the 16,000 originally estimated, the department revealed in a court filing Tuesday.

Regional

FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2018 file photo, people cast their ballots ahead of the Nov. 6, general election at Jim Miller Park in Marietta, Ga. Georgia election officials have little room for error as they work to replace thousands of outdated voting machines statewide in only a matter of months. The state is making a $106 million purchase of new voting machines. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

5.) An elections advocacy group urged a Sixth Circuit panel Tuesday to reinstate its case against the Tennessee Election Commission based on claims that one county’s electronic voting machines and software have created an inherently insecure system.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019 heard arguments on whether to overturn Mississippi laws that permanently strip people who have committed certain felonies of the right to vote and govern how those rights can be restored. Advocates pushing for the change held a news conference outside of the New Orleans-based court after the hearing. Pictured from left to right are Norris Henderson, who advocates for former prisoners in Louisiana; Jonathan K. Youngwood, center, a lawyer representing the felons; and Dennis Hopkins, right, in baseball cap, a Mississippi man who is trying to get his voting rights restored. (AP Photo/Rebecca Santana)

6.) The Fifth Circuit heard arguments Tuesday in a challenge to a Mississippi law that permanently blocks certain felons from voting unless they can get their rights restored through a process their attorney says is basically nonexistent.

International

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech while President Donald Trump looks on before a lunch at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, as part of the commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the 11 November 1918 armistice, ending World War I, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018. (Jacques Demarthon/Pool Photo via AP)

7.) With an attack on “nasty” France, President Donald Trump brought his “America First” foreign policy to a two-day NATO meeting on Tuesday. Europe is brewing up an antidote: A “Europe First” worldview known as “Euro-Gaullism.”

Members of the delegation of Qatar on Monday, Dec. 2, 2019, the first day of International Court of Justice hearings in a dispute between Qatar and Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (Photo via UN/ICJ-CIJ/Frank van Beek)

8.) Several Persian Gulf nations returned to the International Court of Justice on Tuesday for Qatar’s opening arguments in its challenge to an airspace blockade imposed by its neighbors.

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