Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including arguments from the Biden administration to broaden the definition of obstruction of justice left the Supreme Court searching for more neutral territory; A court battle has broken out in the Italian Alps over whether to put down a female brown bear that killed a 26-year-old outdoor enthusiast; A Ninth Circuit panel closed the valve on Berkeley’s ban on natural gas piping in new buildings, and more.

National

Pushed to define obstruction as an offense, justices look for middle ground

Arguments from the Biden administration to broaden the definition of obstruction of justice left the Supreme Court searching for more neutral territory on Monday.

The Supreme Court building in Washington on Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

House Republicans journey up to NY for rebuke of Trump probe

Drawing a sizable crowd to a conference room not far from the offices of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, House Republicans dialed in on the prosecutor Monday in a raucous hearing that its critics portrayed as political retribution.

House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan delivers opening remarks at a committee field hearing in Manhattan on April 17, 2023. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

A media circus of his own making: Judge pushes civil rape case to trial

Donald Trump can’t use his criminal prosecution nor self-invited news coverage to delay the civil rape trial against him scheduled to start next week, a judge ruled Monday, spiking the second of two last-minute attempts by the ex-president to put off the proceedings.

New York City street performer The Naked Cowboy poses with a protester in the park outside of the Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump was arraigned on criminal charges on April 4, 2023. (Nina Pullano/Courthouse News Service)

McCarthy promises Wall Street a House vote on debt ceiling measure

Speaking before an audience of New York stockbrokers, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy blasted the White House on Monday for refusing to negotiate on a plan that would raise the government’s debt limit.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks at the New York Stock Exchange on April 17, 2023. McCarthy said Monday that House Republicans would soon vote on a bill to extend the federal debt ceiling by one year alongside a package of federal spending cuts. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

High court turns away challenge to long-term solitary confinement

The Supreme Court turned down an opportunity Monday to determine whether long-term solitary confinement counts as a cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment, rejecting the case of an inmate who was held in isolation for 27 years.

A solitary confinement cell known all as “the bing,” at New York’s Rikers Island jail on Jan. 28, 2016. (Bebeto Matthews/AP)

Regional

Berkeley natural gas ban tossed by Ninth Circuit

A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday closed the valve on Berkeley’s ban on natural gas piping in new buildings, finding it's preempted by federal conservation law.

A pot being heated by the blue flame of a gas stove. (Pixabay image via Courthouse News)

Appeals court upholds Chauvin conviction for Floyd killing

Minnesota’s appeals court roundly panned former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s appeal of his murder conviction Monday morning, rejecting several procedural challenges to his widely viewed trial for the murder of George Floyd.

In this image taken from video, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin addresses the court as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides over Chauvin's sentencing, Friday, June 25, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis. (Court TV via AP, Pool)

International

Fatal attack on jogger rekindles fights over saving Italy’s Alpine bears

A court battle has broken out in the Italian Alps over whether to put down a female brown bear that killed a 26-year-old outdoor enthusiast near his home in the mountains.

A bear with two cubs in Alaska. (National Park Service/Tim Rains via Courthouse News)

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