Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Ukraine is being hailed as a winner on the battlefields of the war against Russia and on the stage of the Eurovision Song Contest; The Supreme Court sided with Senator Ted Cruz in a ruling that favors the First Amendment rights of political candidates over government anti-corruption laws; An appeals court vacated an injunction barring Iowa from enforcing a ban on mask mandates in school, and more.

National

Supreme Court backs Ted Cruz on campaign loan cutoff

The Supreme Court sided with Senator Ted Cruz on Monday morning in an ideological split on how much money political candidates can recoup from their campaigns.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, grills witnesses at a 2021 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Texas' near-total ban on abortion. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

As justices turn blind eye to federal flubs, Gorsuch sides with liberal wing

The Supreme Court ruled against an Indian immigrant facing deportation on Monday morning, finding that federal courts can’t review certain executive-branch findings to determine if a noncitizen should be deported.

The Hall of Registry at Ellis Island, once the busiest immigration inspection station in the United States. (William Dotinga/Courthouse News)

Supreme Court will study new effort to rein in SEC judges

Four years after the Supreme Court cracked down on how judges are appointed within the Securities and Exchange Commission, the justices took up a case Monday that says these agency decision-makers are unconstitutionally insulated from removal.

Visitors walk outside the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 21, 2022. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Regional

Appeals court lifts injunction against Iowa ban on school mask mandates

Citing waning coronavirus cases in the Hawkeye State, an appeals court on Monday vacated as moot a federal judge’s injunction barring Iowa from enforcing a ban on mask mandates in schools.

A school custodian moves a stack of chairs out of a classroom at Brubaker Elementary School in Des Moines, Iowa, in July 2020. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Police: Laguna Woods church shooter motivated by hatred of Taiwanese people

The man who walked into an Orange County, California, church on Sunday and shot six people, killing one of them, was motivated by a hatred of the Taiwanese people, according to law enforcement officials.

An Orange County Sheriff's Department officer guards the grounds at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, Calif., Sunday, May 15, 2022, after a fatal shooting. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

International

Ukraine relishes victories on the battlefield and a Eurovision triumph to boot

Ukraine was enjoying the taste of victory on Monday as its troops forced the retreat of Russian forces away from Kharkiv and a Ukrainian band won the Eurovision music contest, Europe’s hugely popular music competition.

Ukrainian servicemen squat during a patrol in a recently retaken village north of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, May 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

Toll of Ukraine invasion on inflation, GPD reflected in EU spring economic forecast

Just three months ago, the European Union’s economic forecast projected hope for post-pandemic production and spending. The organization’s spring forecast, published Monday, cautiously assessed risks associated with high energy prices and supply chain disruptions largely driven by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Paolo Gentiloni, EU Commissioner for Economy, presents the European Commission's Winter 2022 Economic Forecast at a press conference in Brussels on Feb. 10, 2022 (European Union).

Prosecution addresses Dutch court for last time in MH17 trial

The prosecution had its last chance Monday to convince a Dutch court that four men should be held guilty of downing a passenger jet over eastern Ukraine.

The reconstructed wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is seen at the Gilze-Rijen military airbase in the Netherlands in May 2021. (Molly Quell/Courthouse News)

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