Top Eight

Top eight stories for today including Europe’s top court delivered another blow to Poland’s attempts at overhauling its judiciary; FBI Director Christopher Wray said extremist militia groups played the biggest role in the Jan. 6 attempt to overthrow the U.S. government; President Joe Biden said the U.S. will have enough supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses to inoculate every American adult by the end of May, and more.

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National

1.) Arizona will likely be allowed to enforce election laws found to suppress minority votes after oral arguments Tuesday where the Supreme Court appeared split on party lines.

In Arizona, where early voting has been a way of life in some communities for a decade, voters see a manageable line to cast their ballot on Oct. 30, 2020. (Courthouse News photo / Brad Poole)

2.) Extremist militia groups played the biggest role in the Jan. 6 attempt to overthrow the U.S. government, FBI Director Christopher Wray noted in a nearly four-hour appearance Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies at a Tuesday, March 2, hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Image via Courthouse News)

3.) President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. will have enough supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses to inoculate every American adult by the end of May, two months earlier than previously expected.

President Joe Biden speaks about efforts to combat COVID-19, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 2, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Regional

4.) Pointing to progress on vaccines and a drop in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations over the past few weeks, Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday announced the state would end its mask mandate and allow all businesses to fully reopen after months of pandemic-related restrictions.

A customer exits a store with a mask required sign displayed, Tuesday, March 2, 2021, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

5.) The Tennessee Bar Association expressed “extreme concern” over a bill introduced in the Tennessee Legislature last week seeking the removal of a judge, warning Tuesday that the measure could weaken the independence of the state’s judiciary.

Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle presides over a hearing on June 3, 2020, about restrictions on absentee voting during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

International

6.) Europe’s top court delivered another blow to Poland’s attempts at overhauling its judiciary, this time questioning the lawfulness of changes to the way Supreme Court judges are appointed.

On Oct. 8, 2018, government opponents with signs reading "Constitution" protest an overhaul of the justice system and the forced early retirement of Supreme Court judges aged 65 and above, before the court's building in Warsaw, Poland. The European Union's top court ordered Poland on Oct. 19, 2018, to immediately suspend the politically charged legal change. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

7.) Personal cellphone data can be used only in the investigation of serious crimes, the EU’s high court found on Tuesday.

Women read a book and check their smartphones in a subway train as signs reading ' please do not seat here, respect social distances ' are written on seats in Milan, Italy, Monday, April 27, 2020. Italian factories, construction sites and wholesale supply businesses can resume activity as soon as they put safety measures into place aimed at containing contagion with COVID-19. This concession comes with partial easing of national lockdown restrictions announced Sunday night by Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)

8.) The European Court of Justice on Tuesday found that Italy’s rescue plan for a failing bank was legal and did not break European rules limiting government aid to private businesses.

FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015 file photo, euro coins and banknotes are shown by a salesclerk at a shop in Vilnius, Lithuania. Italy's economy minister says the new populist government isn't discussing any proposal to leave the eurozone. Minister Giovanni Tria, in an interview Sunday, June 10, 2018 in Corriere della Sera newspaper, said "not only do we not want to exit" the 19-member shared currency union, but the coalition is determined to act so conditions don't occur to "put our presence in the euro(zone) up for discussion." (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)

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