Nightly Brief

Your Wednesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including an attorney for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort abruptly shifting gears in the defense of his client to conspiracy charges, demanding a harness Wednesday on the investigative power of special prosecutor Robert Mueller; the Trump administration announcing it plans to send National Guard troops to the southern border; an international advocacy group claims the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could place wild mustangs at risk of extinction by refusing to list the species as endangered; mayors from cities across Orange County and members of the Board of Supervisors met at Ronald Reagan Courthouse in Santa Ana to “proportionally” distribute the work of creating short-term and long-term housing for the county’s homeless; the European Court of Human Rights rules a disbarred lawyer who was ordered to hire a lawyer in criminal proceedings rather than being allowed to represent himself did not suffer infringement of his right to a fair trial, and more.

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**National **

FILE - In this Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, file photo, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves Federal District Court, in Washington. Manafort is scheduled for arraignment on Friday, March 2, 2018, in a northern Virginia courthouse on charges including tax evasion and bank fraud. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

1.) Abruptly shifting gears in their defense to conspiracy charges, an attorney for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort demanded a harness Wednesday on the investigative power of special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

FILE - In this June 20, 2008 file photo, members of the 200th Red Horse Air National Guard Civil Engineering Squadron from Camp Perry in Ohio, including Tech Sgt. David Hughes, right, and Tech Sgt. William Bunker, second from right, work on building a road at the border in Nogales, Ariz. President Donald Trump said April 3, 2018, he wants to use the military to secure the U.S.-Mexico border until his promised border wall is built. The Department of Homeland Security and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. At the Pentagon, officials were struggling to answer questions about the plan, including rudimentary details on whether it would involve National Guard members, as similar programs in the past have done. But officials appeared to be considering a model similar to a 2006 operation in which former President George W. Bush deployed National Guard troops to the southern border in an effort to increase security and surveillance. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)

2.) In an effort to cut down on illegal immigration, the Trump administration plans to send National Guard troops to the southern border, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said Wednesday.

FILE - In this June. 1, 2017, file photo, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge and Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate, Rebecca Dallet poses for a photo in Madison, Wis. The battle for a supposedly nonpartisan seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court is a partisan-driven slugfest that both sides see as a possible harbinger of voter attitudes heading into the fall midterms. Sensing that a victory in Tuesday's election could be a momentum-builder, a bevy of national Democrats has endorsed Rebecca Dallet, a Milwaukee County judge, over her opponent Michael Screnock, a judge appointed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer, File)

3.) Bringing an end to a costly, partisan race, Wisconsin voters on Tuesday elected the preferred Democratic candidate to serve a 10-year term on the state’s highest court.

4.) An international advocacy group claimed in federal court Tuesday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could place wild mustangs at risk of extinction by refusing to issue a 90-day finding on the group’s petition to list the wild mustang population as endangered.

5.) Texas failed to comply with national voting-rights laws by not automatically registering voters who renewed their driver’s licenses on a state website, a federal judge found in a one-page order made public Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions addresses the California Peace Officers' Association at the 26th Annual Law Enforcement Legislative Day, Wednesday, March 7, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Sessions told law enforcement officers at the conference Wednesday that the Justice Department sued California because state laws are preventing federal immigration agents from doing their jobs. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

6.) The Justice Department lobbied two federal courts Wednesday to strip citizenship from people it says committed war crimes as former members of the Bosnian army.

**Regional **

7.) Mayors from cities across Orange County and members of the Board of Supervisors met at Ronald Reagan Courthouse in Santa Ana Tuesday under a federal judge’s invitation to “proportionally” distribute the work of creating short-term and long-term housing for the county’s homeless.

8.) The attorney for neo-Nazi web publisher Andrew Anglin said Tuesday that although he abhors the comments his client launched last year against a Jewish real estate agent in Montana, defending the ability to make such racist comments is a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution.

**Science **

9.) A new study supports the prevailing theory of where some of the universe’s most mysterious inhabitants – black holes – reside.

**10.) ** ** Giving some airtime to an often-overlooked arctic crooner, oceanography research published online Wednesday breaks down for the first time the diversity of the bowhead whale’s song catalog.

**International **

11.) A disbarred lawyer who was ordered to hire a lawyer in criminal proceedings rather than being allowed to represent himself did not suffer infringement of his right to a fair trial, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Wednesday.

Mehmet Atilla, right, testifies on Dec. 15, 2017, during his trial on corruption charges in New York. The Turkish banker accused of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions has been convicted by a jury in New York after a trial that sowed distrust between the two nations. Atilla was convicted of five counts, including conspiracy. He was acquitted of one money-laundering charge. (Elizabeth Williams via AP, File)

12.) Demanding more than 15 years in prison for Turkish national Hakan Atilla, U.S. prosecutors blasted the banker’s sanctions-busting scheme Wednesday as “without parallel.”

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