Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including arguments over Texas’ near-total abortion ban showed the Supreme Court's two newest justices leaning in favor of providers; The First Circuit seemed highly doubtful that the Constitution requires teaching schoolchildren about the Constitution; President Biden offered the world an apology for the Trump administration's decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, and more.

National

Key justices critical of Texas abortion law

Focused not on the merits of what has become the country's toughest restriction on abortion but on how the law is enforced, through private citizens deputized to sue those who infringe its rules, the Supreme Court suggested Monday that the so-called Texas Heartbeat Act will have a short shelf life.

Amy Coney Barrett answers questions during the second day of her 2020 confirmation hearing for her U.S. Supreme Court appointment. (Susan Walsh/AP, Pool)

Students fighting for civics education unlikely to get 1st Circuit mandate

Against the backdrop of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a lawyer for 18 schoolchildren pushed the First Circuit on Monday to reinstate their lawsuit claiming that the U.S. Constitution requires public schools to offer basic civics classes.

(Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay via Courthouse News)

Regional

Woman fights Harvard over ownership of photos depicting enslaved ancestors

A woman who traced her ancestry to an enslaved figure used in a 19th century Harvard professor's racist study is appealing to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts to be named the owner of those photos.

A daguerreotype of Papa Renty, an enslaved man from South Carolina in 1850. A woman who says she is Renty's descendant attached this image to a brief filed with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that seeks to revive her suit after it was dismissed. (Image via Courthouse News)

Feds argue against giving pandemic relief money to strip clubs

The Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments Monday in a dispute over whether a group of strip clubs in Wisconsin can be excluded from federal pandemic relief funds meant for struggling businesses.

International

Biden can claim successes at G-20, but not on climate change

U.S. President Joe Biden came away from a summit of the world's wealthiest countries in Rome over the weekend with some wins, including agreement on a global minimum tax rate for corporations and an end to a trade war over steel and aluminum with the European Union, but it looks like a major deal on climate change will elude him.

President Joe Biden hosts an event about global supply chains during a G-20 summit in Rome on Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Curbing illicit firearms trade crucial to success of U.S.-Mexico security deal

In order to fulfill its promise of addressing the root causes of drug violence, addiction, and human trafficking, the proposed security deal between the United States and Mexico must create a more transparent and responsible firearms trade north of the border, according to Mexico’s foreign affairs ministry.

A variety of semi-automatic rifles. (Damian Dovarganes, Associated Press)

Biden apologizes for US pulling out of Paris accord under Trump

At a major United Nations summit on global warming in Glasgow, U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday pledged to make his country a leader on tackling climate change and he issued an apology for the United States' withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement by the Trump administration.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, greets U.S. President Joe Biden at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. (Alastair Grant/AP)

Trial over downing of MH17 resumes with clash over witness interviews

In a high-security courtroom near the Dutch airport where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 departed over seven years ago, defense lawyers on Monday continued to raise objections over issues with the investigation of the plane crash.