Top 8 today

National

Tribe seeking Colorado River water rights spurned by high court

The Supreme Court absolved the federal government on Thursday of its responsibility to provide the Navajo Nation with water rights to the Colorado River. 

(William Dotinga/Courthouse News)

Santos bond backers revealed to be his father, aunt

Unsealing the names of the people who are backing bond for George Santos, a federal judge on Thursday revealed them to be the father and aunt of the indicted Republican representative.

(Nina Pullano/Courthouse News)

Click here to listen to the latest episode of Courthouse News’ podcast Sidebar, tackling the stories you need to know from the legal world.

Sanctions ordered for lawyers who relied on ChatGPT artificial intelligence to prepare court brief

Finding evidence of subjective bad faith, a federal judge ordered two attorneys Thursday to pay $5,000 fines after they submitted legal briefs using bogus case citations invented by the AI chatbot ChatGPT.

(Josh Russell/Courthouse News)

Regional

LA Times likely to prevail in libel case filed by celebrity attorney

A superior court judge said at a hearing Thursday she would likely throw out a libel lawsuit filed by celebrity attorney Mark Geragos against the Los Angeles Times.

(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Oklahoma professor gets over 2 years in prison for misusing federal research grants

A Chinese American chemistry professor at the University of Oklahoma was sentenced Thursday morning to 27 months in federal prison for putting millions of dollars in federal research grants towards personal credit card debt, a car and travel around the world.

(David Lee/Courthouse News)

International

Top EU court says data access rules apply to employers, too

Even at work, everyone is entitled to know why and when their personal data was accessed under the EU’s data protection rules, the bloc’s highest court said Thursday.

(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

France outlaws grassroots climate activists, declares them ‘eco-terrorists’

In a move decried by civil liberties groups, French President Emmanuel Macron has declared war on a nationwide grassroots climate movement that uses aggressive – and sometimes violent – tactics to stop progress on big infrastructure projects its supporters deem bad for the planet.

(AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

Norway allocates millions to counter decline in kids’ reading ability

Norwegian school libraries are getting a $2.3 million investment to counter the trend of declining reading skills, recorded as the steepest slump of all the Scandinavian countries.

(Kelsey Jukam/Courthouse News)

from Courthouse News

Top 8 today

National

Good corporate earnings help smooth path over poor GDP, inflationary data

Showing the best monthly gain since the beginning of the year, Wall Street polished off April in the black despite muddled corporate earnings and mixed inflationary data.

(Barbara Leonard/Courthouse News)

Innocence question cuts at Glossip’s death penalty appeal

The Supreme Court will consider if evidence that could prove Richard Glossip’s innocence is enough to prevent his execution.

(Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP)

Click here to listen to the latest episode of Courthouse News’ podcast Sidebar, tackling the stories you need to know from the legal world.

Regional

California pushes forward with landmark zero-emission mandate for trains and trucks

The California Air Resources Board has approved two new rules that will force freight movers to start phasing out the use of diesel trains and trucks and switch to zero-emission vehicles as part of the state’s ambitious plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions.

(California Air Resources Board)

No block for de facto ban on touting abortion ‘reversal’ medication in Colorado

A federal judge denied a preliminary injunction request by a Catholic health care clinic on Friday because the Colorado Attorney General’s Office has pledged not to enforce a new law until the state medical board has weighed in on whether abortion reversal treatment meets professional standards of practice.

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

International

Rights court orders Moscow to pay $142M for 2008 war in Georgia 

Russia must pay 130 million euros ($143 million) to Georgia for killing civilians, torture and looting during the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, Europe’s top rights court ruled Friday. 

(Wikipedia Commons image via Courthouse News)

BBC chairman resigns over Boris Johnson loan scandal

The chairman of the BBC, Richard Sharp, announced his resignation Friday morning after months of controversy that have brought the British national broadcaster’s neutrality into dispute.

(Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

UN tribunal divides contested ocean territory between Mauritius and Maldives

A United Nations maritime tribunal ruled Friday on a border dispute between two Indian Ocean neighbors, effectively splitting some 37,000 square miles between them. 

(Pixabay image via Courthouse News)

Op-ed

Not so easy after all

“Writing is easy,” Mark Twain said. “All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” But if you don’t even know what a word means, how can you tell if it’s wrong?

(Alvin Langdon Coburn via Courthouse News)

from Courthouse News

Top 8 today

National

For 10 tons of cocaine, witness says, Mexico’s top cop was paid $10M

A former member of a Mexican drug cartel testified in U.S. federal court Monday that he paid his country’s top security official millions of dollars to secure the transport of massive cocaine shipments and to protect traffickers from raids and arrests. 

(U.S. Department of Justice via Courthouse News)

‘Don’t leave’: Tarrio’s orders for Jan. 6 riot on display

Putting the social media of five Proud Boys front and center in their seditious conspiracy trial, prosecutors called an FBI agent to testify Monday in front of a series of poster boards with their activity on Parler.

(Justice Department via Courthouse News)

Regional

Winter storm brings icy conditions to south-central US

Winter weather has begun to settle in on large parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky as southerners prepare for days of potentially icy conditions.

(National Weather Service via Courthouse News)

Chicago jury hears opening arguments in billion-dollar fraud trial

The three heads of pharmaceutical advertising company Outcome Health were in Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Monday to face trial on a collective 26 counts of wire, mail and bank fraud.

(U.S. General Services Administration via Courthouse News)

Minnesota appeals court upholds stricter emissions standards

The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the state’s adoption of California car emissions standards Monday, finding that state pollution regulators had the authority to do so despite the objections of car dealers. 

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

International

Czechs vote for pro-EU retired NATO general for president

The Czech Republic’s turn toward a pro-NATO and pro-Western stance was consolidated over the weekend with the election of a retired NATO general as the next president.

(AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Lawyer admits to plagiarism of Mexico Supreme Court justice’s undergrad thesis

A plagiarism scandal involving the undergraduate thesis of a justice on Mexico’s Supreme Court has taken a surprising turn. 

(Twitter via Courthouse News)

Armenia calls Azerbaijan blockade an act of ‘ethnic cleansing’

Amidst rising tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the United Nations’ highest court opened two days of hearings Monday for the Caucasus neighbors. 

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

from Courthouse News

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National

Supreme Court digs into redistricting play that would usurp judicial checks

Giving a major elections case intensely even debate, the Supreme Court appeared split on partisan lines Wednesday as it considered a redistricting theory that advocates say could trample a core tenet of democracy. 

(AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Sixth Circuit hears bid to dismantle horse racing authority

Regulatory authority for the horse racing industry should be left to states or the federal government, not a private entity with unfettered power, according to arguments made by Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana before the Sixth Circuit on Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Regional

‘Racial balancing’ in top Boston public schools troubles 1st Circuit

The Supreme Court’s pending case on affirmative action at Harvard weighed heavily on the First Circuit Wednesday as it tried to decide the constitutionality of a plan that changed the racial balance of Boston’s prestigious public exam schools.

(Michelle Raponi/Pixabay via Courthouse News)

South Carolina private schools argue for access to Covid relief funds

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston and a private college association asked a Fourth Circuit panel on Wednesday to strike down a provision of the South Carolina Constitution that prohibits public funds from being diverted to private and religious schools, arguing they are being unfairly deprived of Covid-19 pandemic relief aid.

(Wokandapix/Pixabay via Courthouse News)

Indiana defends charitable bail law at Seventh Circuit

The ACLU argued before the Seventh Circuit on Wednesday that an Indiana bail law unfairly targets charitable organizations and violates their free speech rights, while an attorney for the state countered that paying bail is not expressive conduct.

(Massimo Catarinella/Wikipedia Commons via Courthouse News)

International

GDP, employment growth up but slowing in EU

Despite a slower third quarter, the EU’s statistics agency reports Europe’s economy is growing at a faster annual rate than the U.S., driven by investments in fixed assets and the purchase of household goods.

(AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Mexico lawmakers approve López Obrador’s ‘Plan B’ to tanked electoral reform

The Mexico Chamber of Deputies pushed through a batch of reforms to the country’s federal electoral system early Wednesday morning after the president’s controversial original amendment failed to pass.

(Chamber of Deputies via Courthouse News)

Science

Asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs struck them down in their prime, study says

Dinosaurs were supremely well-adapted to their environment when the asteroid that wiped them out hit, scientists say.

(Henry Sharpe)

from Courthouse News

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National

Oath Keepers push back at trial: No plan, no smoking gun

Defense attorneys for five Oath Keepers associates charged with seditious conspiracy fought Wednesday to poke holes in the government’s core claim that they had a plan ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, to breach the Capitol building.

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Right-wing challenge to student debt forgiveness plan heads to Supreme Court

A conservative law firm appealed to the Supreme Court on Wednesday to halt President Joe Biden’s forgiveness plan for student loan debt. 

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Air Force urges panel to lift block on Covid vaccine mandate

Air Force members who won a preliminary injunction to prevent being disciplined for their refusal to get the Covid-19 vaccine were not entitled to relief and threaten to impair the military mission, the federal government argued Wednesday before an appeals court panel.

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Star witness in 1-800-GET-THIN fraud trial sentenced to probation

The government’s star witness in the trial that led to the conviction of the mastermind of the 1-800-GET-THIN fraud scheme was sentenced to probation for his role in the conspiracy.

(Edvard Pettersson/Courthouse News)

Mentally ill man will be executed after high court denies stay

Despite warnings from attorneys that their client is not competent, the Supreme Court refused Wednesday to block the execution of a man who snapped the spine of his 9-month-old child after she interrupted him playing video games.

(Oklahoma Department of Corrections via Courthouse News)

Regional

Appeals court hears dispute over change to Ohio clean air standards

Environmental watchdogs challenging the removal of a critical air pollution control standard first implemented in Ohio in 1974 told an appeals court panel Wednesday the decision was based largely on lobbying by an energy industry law firm.

(Ralf Vetterl/Pixabay via Courthouse News)

International

Eurozone inflation inches toward double digits

Year-over-year inflation in the 19-nation eurozone stood at 9.9% in September, one point below the 10.9% annual inflation rate experienced in the broader 27-member European Union, according to a report released Wednesday by the EU statistics agency.

(Eurostat via Courthouse News)

López Obrador refuses to let defense secretary address army hack

Claiming it would “stain” his morning press conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Wednesday refused to allow Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval to address reporters’ questions about a recent leak of army documents. 

(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

from Courthouse News

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National

Don’t be so sure that Republicans will win the Senate 

Expectations that Republicans will win control of the U.S. Senate in November, like the apocryphal reports of Mark Twain’s death, may have been greatly exaggerated.  

(AP Photo/Joe Maiorana)

High court expands state power over tribes

Limiting a watershed ruling on tribal authority, the Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated a state court conviction related to the abuse of a child who is part Cherokee by her stepfather who has no Native American heritage. 

(Library of Congress via Courthouse News)

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire Thursday

Justice Stephen Breyer sent a letter to the White House on Wednesday announcing his retirement from the Supreme Court will be effective Thursday at noon. 

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Giuliani crony Lev Parnas sentenced to nearly 2 years in prison

Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani while the latter was the personal attorney for then-President Donald Trump, was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Regional

New York wields new nuisance law against manufacturers of ghost guns

The New York attorney general and New York City doubled down Wednesday on the quest to outlaw “ghost guns,” bringing municipal and federal litigation against gun manufacturers and distributors that sell weapons by the part.

(AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Gun-wielding Senate hopeful accuses Missouri congresswoman of inciting threats  

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the Missouri couple who parlayed their armed resistance to a group of Black Lives Matter protesters into a U.S. Senate run, have sued Congresswoman Cori Bush and state Representative Rasheen Aldridge for their roles in the 2020 protest.

(Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

Clinics urge Ohio Supreme Court to block six-week abortion ban

Ohio abortion providers fighting to block enforcement of legislation passed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade sued the Republican attorney general in the state’s high court, claiming the law “has now decimated abortion access” in the Buckeye State.

(Gabriel Tynes/Courthouse News)

International

NATO invites Sweden and Finland to join alliance

NATO will start its process of incorporating Sweden and Finland into the military alliance after it officially invited both countries to join, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Madrid on Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

from Courthouse News

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National

‘Straightforward terrorism,’ Biden says of Buffalo shooting

Grieving the loss of life in the aftermath of a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, President Joe Biden delivered an emotional address on Tuesday in which he labeled the supermarket massacre a terrorist attack motivated by white supremacy.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Feds accused of dragging feet on threatened whitetip shark review

The National Marine Fisheries Service has for years failed to complete its legally required consultation regarding the effects authorized fisheries in Hawaii and Samoa have on the threatened whitetip shark population, according to a new lawsuit.

(NOAA Fisheries via Courthouse News)

Armed bank robber asks panel to toss sentence in light of high court ruling

The 11th Circuit heard arguments Tuesday in an appeal seeking to vacate a sentence for conspiracy to rob a bank by force and using a firearm during a crime of violence.

(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Regional

Michigan judge blocks enforcement of 1931 abortion ban if Roe is overturned

A Michigan judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction suspending enforcement of a state law from 1931 that would ban abortion, amid the build-up to a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could wipe out the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

(Daniel Shular/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

Legislative watchdog has qualms about $300 billion California budget

The revised $300 billion state budget announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday is the largest spending plan in state history. And while it may look good on paper or sound nice in a speech talking about more public school funding, the state’s legislative analyst has concerns. 

(Screenshot via Courthouse News)

Exploration of sunken slave ship reveals charred timbers, other artifacts

The last ship to bring slaves to the United States from Africa in 1860 was set ablaze near the mouth of the Mobile River following the illegal voyage, and a recent archaeological assessment of the sunken vessel revealed the charred timber and other parts that remain.

(Daniel Fiore/Alabama Historical Commission via Courthouse News)

Seventh Circuit hears racketeering case against Illinois energy giant

A class action against Illinois energy corporation Commonwealth Edison came before the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday, with an attorney for the class arguing that the company owes a debt to potentially millions of state residents.

(Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register via AP)

Oklahoma officer who shot nude teenager lobbies 10th Circuit for immunity

An Oklahoma police officer asked the 10th Circuit on Tuesday to reverse a federal judge’s denial of qualified immunity after he shot a nude mentally disturbed teenager who had broken into a stranger’s home while fleeing police.

(Nyttend via Wikipedia)

from Courthouse News