nightly brief

Top CNS stories for today including the Russian Federation, WikiLeaks and Donald J. Trump for President being named as defendants in a federal complaint that casts the trio as partners in the cyberattack that crippled the Democratic National Committee; a federal judge tells President Donald Trump’s personal attorney that he must declare in writing that his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination will be compromised unless there’s a delay in the Stormy Daniel lawsuit; federal regulators slam Wells Fargo with $1 billion in fines; a Seventh Circuit panel is highly skeptical of disability advocates’ claims that Wisconsin’s open-enrollment law discriminates against children with disabilities; a new poll finds that while registered voters are still concerned about gun control, the issue has cooled down some, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani joining President Donald Trump’s private legal team representing him in the  Russia investigation; the Seventh Circuit upheld a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ attempt to financially punish so-called sanctuary cities; President Donald Trump’s embattled attorney Michael Cohen dropped his defamation lawsuits against BuzzFeed, its editorial team and the intelligence firm that published what became known as the Russian dossier; a New York film company throws down the gauntlet in federal court over rights to footage of the Beatles’ first U.S. concert; one of the most pristine natural reserves in North America is in danger of being despoiled after the Trump administration initiated the process to allow oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including federal prosecutors proposing three retired magistrates to provide oversight for privileged records from the investigation of embattled Trump attorney Michael Cohen; the Supreme Court struggling to decipher exactly how much fish a group of Native American tribes in the Pacific northwest are entitled to under a series of century old treaties; the highest court in Massachusetts holds a state ban against stun guns violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; the Sixth Circuit rules an Ohio law that revokes funding from abortion providers for unrelated federal health care programs is unconstitutional; President Donald Trump confirms hat CIA director Mike Pompeo traveled to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong Un in anticipation of the potential summit between the two leaders, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the Supreme Court’s liberal minority managing to rein in the government’s deportation powers, with a concurring vote from Justice Neil Gorsuch; the Supreme Court appears divided over a decades-old precedent that lets online retailers ignore state sales tax requirements; adult film star Stormy Daniels releases a composite sketch Tuesday of the man she claims threatened her if she didn’t keep her alleged sexual affair with President Donald Trump under wraps; Hollywood producer Scott Rudin’s theater company files a $10 million countersuit against the estate of author Harper Lee for trying to block an upcoming stage adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird”; the European Union Court of Justice rules that German airline TUIfly must compensate passengers for flight cancellations or delays caused by striking workers, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including attorneys for embattled lawyer Michael Cohen telling a federal judge Monday afternoon that his so-called “secret client” was none other than conservative pundit Sean Hannity; the Government Accountability Office says Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt’s purchase of a $43,000 soundproof privacy booth violated federal law; the Fourth Circuit strikes down a Maryland law intended to prevent price gouging in the sale of prescription drugs; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said during his State of the City address Monday that the city hopes to eradicate homelessness with an ambitious plan that includes expanding emergency shelter space and hiring an army of outreach workers, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including federal prosecutors confirming for the first time that President Donald Trump’s private counsel, Michael Cohen, is the subject of a months-long criminal investigation; meanwhile, Cohen is said to be planning to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the Stormy Daniels case; the Rio Grande and parts of the mighty Mississippi made an environmental organization’s list of the nation’s most endangered rivers; Massachusetts’ highest court rules ExxonMobil must comply with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s investigation into whether it suppressed climate change research; the California Coastal Commission fines a Northern California apartment owner $1.45 million Thursday for blocking beach access; attorneys for the federal government urged a Ninth Circuit panel to uphold a federal judge’s finding that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is immune from prosecution for commanding a 2010 raid on a humanitarian flotilla, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a new report from Earthjustice claiming that since Inauguration Day 2017, the Trump administration and Congress have taken deliberate steps to limit or eliminate access to the nation’s courts; the president says he’s willing to rejoin the Trans Pacific Partnership; Missouri Governor Eric Greitens desperately tries to play damage control after a special investigative committee releases a report on his alleged blackmail of a former mistress; researchers say the most “charismatic” species have an elevated status in conservation biology and receive extra attention – often at the expense of other creatures; a magistrate with the European Court of Justice advises that EU grandparents should be able to seek court relief when it comes to child access, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg encountering far less good cheer from lawmakers on his second and final day of testimony on Capitol Hill as they subjected him to intense questioning; Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan announces he will not run for re-election; a new report from the Government Accountability Office says Congress needs to revise how coal companies are required to pay for reclamation of land; one of the largest water agencies in Southern California agrees to pay for the bulk of a $16 billion plan to build a pair of water tunnels that will send water from northern parts of the state south; analysis released by the Center for Biological Diversity says oil companies operating in coastal waters off California have violated environmental regulations hundreds of times in just the last three years, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologizing to a joint congressional committee Tuesday for his company’s allowing Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm affiliated with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, to gather the personal information from 87 million users; President Donald Trump nominates 20 to courts across the country; sixteen Democratic attorneys general intervene in Texas’ lawsuit to kill Obamacare; Eighth Circuit upholds a 2016 amendment to the Missouri Constitution banning PAC-to-PAC transfers; a new evaluation system could allow doctors to quickly determine levels of consciousness in people with head injuries; the European Court of Justice rules member states can punish Uber with criminal sanctions without notifying the European Commission first, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including federal agents carrying court-authorized search warrants seizing documents from President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen; a federal judge refuses to let former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort out of home confinement; the en banc Ninth Circuit rules that employers can’t justify different pay grades for male and female employees by using salary history alone; the Center for Reproductive Rights suing Mississippi officials to block a new set of laws the group says are designed to cut off a woman’s constitutionally protected right to abortion care; a recently discovered 205 million-year-old jawbone belongs to one of the largest animals ever and resolves a long-standing mystery, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including word that the U.S. House of Representatives will hold a vote on a balanced budget amendment when it returns from recess next week; chemical makers claim in court the Marine Fisheries Service relied on faulty science when it concluded their products “jeopardize the continued existence” of 38 marine species; Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy nominates the first African-American to lead the state’s highest court; incumbent Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-San Pedro, is the last Democrat standing in the race to represent her Congressional district; a new test can help people determine the critical question of whether food products are safe to eat or must be thrown out; a new survey shows the social and political viewpoints of residents of Orange County, historically southern California’s base of conservative politics, have recently shifted to more progressive positions, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including an attorney for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort abruptly shifting gears in the defense of his client to conspiracy charges, demanding a harness Wednesday on the investigative power of special prosecutor Robert Mueller; the Trump administration announcing it plans to send National Guard troops to the southern border; an international advocacy group claims the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could place wild mustangs at risk of extinction by refusing to list the species as endangered; mayors from cities across Orange County and members of the Board of Supervisors met at Ronald Reagan Courthouse in Santa Ana to “proportionally” distribute the work of creating short-term and long-term housing for the county’s homeless; the European Court of Human Rights rules a disbarred lawyer who was ordered to hire a lawyer in criminal proceedings rather than being allowed to represent himself did not suffer infringement of his right to a fair trial, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including President Donald Trump announcing he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his promised border wall is built; a court filing revealing that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave Special Counsel Robert Mueller the authority to investigate allegations of collusion between President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and the Russian government; Alex van der Zwaan, the attorney who pleaded guilty to lying to investigators in Mueller’s Russia probe, being sentenced to 30 days in federal prison; the Ninth Circuit ruling that the government was not doing enough to protect endangered salmon and steelhead trout in the Columbia River; California lawmakers and civil rights groups on Tuesday called for sweeping reforms to the state’s “reasonable force” rule; a new detection system aims to protect endangered species from poachers by incorporating software and techniques designed to detect and study stars and galaxies, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announcing his agency is rolling back fuel emission standards for cars and trucks; Special Counsel Robert Mueller asking a federal judge to uphold a provision of a plea agreement that limits public access to the records; the Supreme Court rules that an Arizona campus policeman who shot a mentally ill woman four times in her driveway is entitled to qualified immunity; Georgia reignites a simmering feud with Tennessee over a one-mile strip of land that would give the Peach State access the Tennessee River; a federal judge rules the Republican Party of Virginia has a right to bar individuals from voting at its meetings or conventions who have supported nonparty candidates; scientists say limiting climate change-induced warming to just 1 degree Fahrenheit could prevent the Arctic from becoming ice-free in future summers, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a federal judge calling Exxon’s scorched-earth legal offensive of its climate change denials a “huge waste” of time and money; a conservative voter-fraud watchdog claims Texas’ most populous county is violating federal law by refusing to let it inspect the county’s voter rolls for people who aren’t U.S. citizens; a Florida jury acquits Noor Salman of charges she that she helped her husband prepare for his 2016 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando; a new study finds that a newly designed surface inspired by rice leaves and pitcher plants outperforms cutting-edge liquid-repellent surfaces in water-harvesting applications; in his latest dispatch, Courthouse News’ western bureau chief ruminates on the supposed healing power of vortices in breathtaking Sedona, Arizona, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a federal judge ruling the Trump administration’s challenge of California’s new sanctuary laws will remain in Sacramento despite related cases pending in San Francisco; a federal judge putting the brakes on adult film star Stormy Daniels’ request to depose President Donald Trump; former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort asks the government to speed up its response to his request for unredacted versions of the search and seizure affidavits; federal prosecutors charge a 26-year-old man in connection with a fire in Joshua Tree National Park that burned a historic California landmark; a new poll finds that despite an ever growing optimism about the future of the economy, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have declined since December, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the Supreme Court appearing highly conflicted over whether Maryland violated the First Amendment rights of Republicans by shifting the political makeup of their congressional district; one of several emoluments clause challenges faced by President Donald Trump received lift-off with a federal judge finding that Maryland and Washington, D.C., have standing to sue; in a stunning reversal, the Federal Circuit revived Oracle’s $9 billion copyright infringement lawsuit over Google’s Android smartphone platform; a NASA spacecraft that will be heading to the sun in July gets a final going over at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland before being shipped to Florida; a federal judge rules that descendants of Holocaust victims accusing France’s national railway of looting property from tens of thousands of Jews bound for concentration camps must bring their case before a French commission before suing in U.S. court, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort making another attempt have criminal charges brought against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller thrown out by a federal court; the Supreme Court will dive into partisan gerrymandering Wednesday for the second time in less than six months; fisherman reeled in a temporary victory after a federal court agreed to lift a 10-month stay on a lawsuit seeking to reverse Obama-era protections for the first national marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean; the Seventh Circuit appears unmoved by a conservative challenge to labor laws in Illinois; attorneys ask a federal judge for leniency in sentencing the Turk who flouted sanctions against Iran through a series of multibillion-dollar bank trades, and more.