Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including the veteran who founded the far-right Oath Keepers group was sentenced to 18 years in prison; Courthouse News took on North Carolina over public access delays; The Supreme Court limited the government’s authority to regulate wetlands, and more.

National

Oath Keepers leader sentenced to 18 years in prison for mounting insurrection

The veteran who founded the far-right Oath Keepers group was sentenced to 18 years in prison Thursday for his role in planning a “bloody revolution” to keep former President Donald Trump in power after the 2020 election.

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally outside the White House in 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

In already tenuous debt talks, Republicans urge McCarthy to increase demands

As the nation hurtles closer to a national debt crisis, members of one of Congress’ more politically radical coalitions voiced hostility to compromise Thursday, instead insisting that Speaker Kevin McCarthy use his leverage to bring additional demands to the bargaining table.

President Joe Biden meets with congressional leaders on Nov. 29, 2022, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House to discuss legislative priorities for the rest of the year. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

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Republicans opposing EPA emissions rule invoke Supreme Court precedent

Keeping up a drumbeat of opposition to ambitious tailpipe emissions guidelines proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, Senate Republicans pointed Thursday to a recent Supreme Court decision that they say strips the administration of unilateral authority to impose such restrictions.

Lithium is a key element for the production of electric vehicle batteries. (Pixabay user bixusas via Courthouse News)

EPA authority to regulate wetlands clobbered by Supreme Court

Limiting the government’s authority to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act, the Supreme Court ended a nearly two-decade-old dispute Thursday

The U.S. Supreme Court on May 16, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

Regional

North Carolina slapped with First Amendment suit over access delays

Courthouse News took on North Carolina over public access delays in its latest First Amendment lawsuit aimed at getting state e-filing systems to provide immediate access to new complaints for the press and public.

North Carolina Court of Appeals. (NC Courts)

Justices slam Minnesota on seizure of grandma’s condo

A Minnesota county violated the rights of a 94-year-old woman when it took her property that was worth over double the tax debt she owed, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 14, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

International

Top EU court tells Austria to tighten rules for environmental review

Austria cannot exclude building projects from environmental impact assessments based on size alone, the European Union’s highest court said on Thursday, in the latest legal battle over a massive construction project in the country’s capital Vienna.

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, photographed on Oct. 5, 2015. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP)

Science

Over 5,000 species found in a seabed set for deep-sea mining, study says

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) is a richly biodiverse seabed that stretches across Hawaii, Kiribati and Mexico, measures at roughly the size of India, and is the future subject of corporate deep-sea mining, according to a study published Thursday in Current Biology.