Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top eight stories for today including the EU’s top court ruled Germany has been violating the bloc’s pollution standards since 2010; More Chinese companies were added to a blacklist preventing Americans from investing in firms deemed national security threats; A Ninth Circuit panel blasted the Trump administration’s decision to remove the Pacific walrus from the Endangered Species Act list, and more.
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National
1.) American businesses will be prohibited from investing in Chinese companies that manufacture security and surveillance equipment, after President Joe Biden extended a ban Thursday first issued by former President Donald Trump.
2.) The Justice Department issued new guidance over how to investigate ransomware after a series of cyber-attacks rocked U.S. supply chains.
3.) A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday blasted the Trump administration’s decision to remove the Pacific walrus from the Endangered Species Act list in 2017.
4.) Laying the groundwork to distribute 25 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from U.S. reserves, the White House cemented plans Thursday to allocate around three-quarters of these doses through the worldwide vaccine initiative Covax.
Regional
5.) Ocean County, New Jersey, faced stiff arguments Thursday in its protest of a state directive that forbids officers at the municipal level from informing federal immigration officials when an inmate is an undocumented immigrant.
6.) A 2007 lawsuit over racial profiling continues to cause problems for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, with a federal judge signaling Thursday he will find Sheriff Paul Penzone in contempt for taking too long to investigate charges of misconduct among officers.
International
7.) Germany has been violating European Union pollution standards since 2010, the bloc’s top court ruled on Thursday.
8.) Europe’s top court on Thursday tossed out Hungary’s bid to overturn a 2018 vote by the European Parliament that triggered sanctions proceedings against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his government for allegedly operating like an undemocratic one-party state.
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