Top Eight

Your Monday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top eight CNS stories for today including the Senate held a partially virtual confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett; A federal judge in Washington became the latest to issue a nationwide injunction against policy shifts at the U.S. Postal Service; The coronavirus pandemic could wind up costing the U.S. over $16 trillion, and more.

Sign up for CNS Top Eight, a roundup of the day’s top stories delivered directly to your email Monday through Friday.

National

1.) President Donald Trump opted out of this week’s presidential debate, calling the virtual format a “waste of time,” but the Senate’s fervid work to confirm his Supreme Court pick, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, pushed forward Monday in a partially virtual hearing.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett arrives to her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

2.) Just over three weeks out from Election Day, a federal judge in Washington became the latest to issue a nationwide injunction against policy shifts at the U.S. Postal Service that have caused mail delays since July.

FILE - In this April 2, 2020 file photo, a United States Postal Service worker makes a delivery with gloves and a mask in Warren, Mich. A group of states suing over service cuts at the U.S. Postal Service is asking a federal judge to immediately undo some of them, saying the integrity of the upcoming election is at stake.(AP Photo/Paul Sancya,File)

3.) The coronavirus pandemic could wind up costing the U.S. more than $16 trillion, a toll that would be costlier than all the wars the nation has fought since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and on par with expected long-term losses from global climate change, Harvard University researchers said in an analysis released Monday.

People wearing protective masks during the coronavirus pandemic exit the Kew Gardens subway station Monday, Oct. 5, 2020, in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Regional

4.) Elections officials in California have launched an investigation into unofficial ballot drop boxes that popped up across the state, saying they do not comply with state law and may in fact constitute a felony.

A worker processes mail-in ballots at the Bucks County Board of Elections office in Doylestown, Pa., on May 27, 2020, prior to the primary election. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

5.) A federal judge upheld Minnesota’s extended vote-counting timeline Sunday night, denying Republicans’ request for an injunction disqualifying mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

FILE - In this July 29, 2020, file photo, Lisa Finander, right, checks that each ballot has the voter's name on the ballot and mailing envelope and Laurie Mattila, left, checked that it was correct at Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services in Minneapolis. A federal judge has upheld a state court agreement that extends Minnesota's deadline for counting absentee ballots by seven days. Republicans had asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel to block the seven-day extension that Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon agreed to in state court after a citizens’ rights group cited concerns about voter safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Brasel ruled late Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020, that the plaintiffs in the case — a pair of Republicans serving as electors in the presidential election — don't have standing and denied their motion for a preliminary injunction.(Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP, File)

6.) A federal judge on Sunday again rejected voting integrity activists’ efforts to force Georgia election officials to abandon the state’s new touchscreen voting machines in favor of hand-marked paper ballots for the November election in light of security concerns.

Voters make their selections as early voting starts in Decatur, Ga., Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (Ben Gray/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

7.) A Wisconsin judge left the state’s mask mandate in place Monday, ruling against conservatives who claimed the Democratic governor had violated state law by declaring another public health emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic.

City of Milwaukee Election Commission workers process absentee ballots Tuesday, April 7, 2020 in downtown Milwaukee, Wis. As of Tuesday, more than 860,000 absentee ballots have already been returned to Wisconsin election clerks. MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

International

8.) Belarus is again being rocked by violence, with masked black-clad security forces attacking peaceful protesters on Sunday with truncheons, rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons.

People clash with policemen during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020. Belarus' authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday visited a prison to talk to opposition activists, who have been jailed for challenging his re-election that was widely seen as manipulated and triggered two months of protests. (AP Photo)

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Top Eight

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Additional Reads