nightly brief

Top CNS stories for today including the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that ambiguous contract terms do not pave the way to classwide arbitration; A federal judge declined to reconsider his ruling that bars the Trump administration from issuing offshore drilling permits without first conducting environmental review; Sea turtle populations in Pacific coral reefs are on the rise, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the justices of the Supreme Court appeared divided over whether the Trump administration should be stopped from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census; Admitted Russian agent Maria Butina claims a declaration from a former FBI official wrongfully accuses her of espionage activity that she was never charged with; Former Alabama judge Roy Moore is looking at running for a U.S. Senate seat again in 2020, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including President Donald Trump sued a top Democratic lawmaker to block the subpoena of his longtime accountants; The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to clarify federal civil rights law for millions of Americans who live in states where LGBT protections are murky; The Third Circuit ruled that Philadelphia officials can choose not to contract with a Catholic foster care agency that refuses to place children with same-sex couples, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler subpoenaed the Justice Department for an unredacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election; The en banc Ninth Circuit ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to decide by mid-July whether to ban a widely used pesticide that the agency’s own scientists have said is harmful to childhood development; A riot against police broke out in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry and a 29-year-old journalist covering the unrest was shot to death, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the Justice Department released Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump; The Trump administration suffered a legal defeat at the Ninth Circuit as a panel denied its attempt to prevent California from implementing sanctuary laws meant to protect residents from federal immigration enforcement officials; The Indiana Supreme Court heard oral arguments over whether police can force criminal suspects to unlock their cellphones, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including Attorney General William Barr is set to give the public its first look at the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election; Two new polls show most Americans believe President Donald Trump obstructed justice and he continues to suffer from low approval ratings; The FBI hunt for an 18-year-old woman obsessed with the 1999 Columbine school shooting who made threats against several Denver-area schools has ended with her death, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including two congressional committees in the control of Democrats crossed what President Donald Trump sees as a “red line” by subpoenaing his Deutsche Bank financial records; Conservative members of the U.S. Supreme Court showed skepticism as an oil-rig worker fought to have California overtime laws carry over to the outercontinental shelf; Foster kids filed a class action against Oregon Governor Kate Brown over the state’s dismal foster care system, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke made his first campaign stop in North Carolina and spoke about issues that resonate with Tar Heel State voters such as gerrymandering and LGBT rights; Five parents in an Orthodox Jewish enclave of Brooklyn brought a lawsuit over New York City’s mandatory vaccination order; Firefighters battled a massive blaze at the French capital’s iconic Notre Dame Cathedral that sent ash pouring onto tourists and flames shooting out of the world-famous 12th century monument, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the International Criminal Court rejected an investigation into alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan on the grounds that “lack of cooperation” limited its chance of success; The Justice Department is reportedly looking at making changes to the authority of appellate immigration judges that would give them power to issue decisions binding on the entire immigration system; The man who served as White House counsel under former President Barack Obama pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to the federal government about work he and his firm did for the Ukrainian government that was linked to former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including federal prosecutors indicted former President Barack Obama’s counsel Greg Craig with lying about his work on a secret Ukrainian government campaign linked to Paul Manafort; Pentagon officials faced an uphill battle in trying to get the Senate on board with spending $13.8 billion to launch the U.S. Space Force as a separate branch of the U.S. military; A London judge found Julian Assange guilty of breaching his bail conditions shortly after the WikiLeaks founder’s arrest, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including Attorney General William Barr told a Senate panel, without citing evidence, that he believes the government spied on the Trump campaign during its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election; The House passed a bill to reinstate net-neutrality rules, though it is expected to be defeated in the Senate; Scientists unveiled the first ever photograph taken of a black hole, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers he expects to be ready to release a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report within a week; Executives from Facebook and Google faced tough questions during a congressional hearing about efforts to stop the spread of hate on their platforms; The chairmen of five House committees fired off multiple demand letters on the government’s refusal to defend the federal health care law, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the Chinese woman accused of illegally entering President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club armed with malicious software allegedly had a signal detector, $7,500 in hundred-dollar bills and nine USB drives stashed in her hotel room; Senator Bernie Sanders, who has said he intends to run the first unionized presidential campaign in history, announced a policy proposal sure to resonate with that base: banning right-to-work laws; A New Jersey appeals court ruled that mail-in ballots must be printed in English and Spanish, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a coalition of 20 states asked a federal judge to block President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border; A federal judge in Maryland became the third to block the Trump administration’s decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census; Chicago said it will sue “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett to recover over $130,000 it spent investigating the alleged hate crime against him that the city maintains was a hoax, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the Senate Judiciary Committee approved two of President Donald Trump’s nominees to the Ninth Circuit, including one who sparked controversy over articles he wrote as an undergraduate on sexual misconduct, affirmative action and other issues; A group of young leaders and activists called on Congress to take a bipartisan stance against manmade climate change before time runs out; The California judge presiding over a trial on a couple’s claims that Roundup weed killer gave them cancer cited the First Amendment in her refusal to bar Monsanto from sending geo-targeted mobile phone ads to jurors and other members of the public, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including Senate Republicans invoked the “nuclear option” to begin the process of changing Senate rules to speed up consideration of some of President Donald Trump’s nominees, including those up for seats on federal district courts; The U.S. Secret Service has denied responsibility for an incident in which a Chinese woman gained unauthorized access to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club; The House Judiciary Committee gave its chairman subpoena authorization to push for the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report and underlying evidence from the Russia probe, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including Democrats blocked a Republican attempt to change Senate rules to speed up consideration of some of President Donald Trump’s nominees, but Republican leadership is expected to use procedural tools to push the measure through later this week; House Democrats and Republicans joined forces to tackle ways to rein in surprise medical bills that are fueling anxiety about health care costs; National-security experts warned lawmakers about how governments become vulnerable to terrorism as drought begets disease and otherwise cripples global economies, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including the House Judiciary Committee will vote this week on subpoenas to acquire special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report on his probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election; The D.C. Circuit upheld the Trump administration’s ban on rapid-fire gun attachments known as bump stocks; The Supreme Court cleared the way 5-4 for Missouri to execute a man whose rare medical condition could make lethal injection severely painful, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered another heavy blow when the House of Commons again rejected her divorce deal with the European Union, raising the prospect that new elections may be needed to break the impasse; Georgia’s Republican-controlled House sent a bill to the governor’s desk that would make it nearly impossible for women to get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy; A federal judge ruled the Army Corps of Engineers regularly violates the Freedom of Information Act when it comes to disclosing information about Clean Water Act permits, and more.

Top CNS stories for today including a federal judge struck down the work requirements for Medicaid recipients in Arkansas and Kentucky, effectively blocking the Trump administration’s plan to revamp the country’s health care program for the poor; Congressional Democrats said they are investigating the Texas interim election chief’s bungled announcement of 95,000 registered voters possibly not being citizens; There is still no clear separation plan on the day before the United Kingdom’s divorce from the European Union was supposed to be final, and more.