Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including a federal judge in Washington ruling that special counsel Robert Mueller was working within his authority when he brought charges against President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman; Motown legend Smokey Robinson and a group of songwriters and music industry representatives urging senators to pass a sweeping update to music licensing laws; Gina Haspel secures enough support to win confirmation as President Donald Trump’s CIA director; an animal rights group filed a Freedom of Information Request with the Interior Department Tuesday in a bid to better understanding why it changed a long-standing policy restricting the import of trophies from hunted endangered species; two abortion providers represented by the American Civil Liberties Union sued Iowa claiming its newly enacted fetal-heartbeat law that outlaws abortion in all but the earliest stages of pregnancy is unconstitutional; the World Trade Organization’s highest court on rejects the bulk of a dispute filed by the United States against the European Union over EU states’ financial support of France-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus, 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.) A federal judge in Washington ruled Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller was working within his authority when he brought charges against President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman.

2.) Two years ago, the U.S. government won the right to keep information about its predator-drone program classified. It went to the Second Circuit on Tuesday to keep a portion of court’s secret ruling redacted.

3.) Motown legend Smokey Robinson and a group of songwriters and music industry representatives were in “Sweet Harmony” on Tuesday while urging senators to pass a sweeping update to music licensing laws.

4.) The Senate on Tuesday confirmed two of President Donald Trump’s nominees to seats on federal appellate courts, one narrowly to the Sixth Circuit and the other to the 10th Circuit by an overwhelming margin.

In this May 2, 2018, photo, CIA Director-nominee Gina Haspel attends the ceremonial swearing in for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department in Washington. Haspel is telling senators that she would stand firm against restarting the spy agency’s brutal interrogation program of terrorist suspects. Two administration officials said May 4 that Haspel is saying that if confirmed, she would be against resurrecting the program even though Trump has supported waterboarding and worse.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Elephants use their trunks to smell for possible danger on March 9, 2010, in the Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo, File)

**Regional **

8.) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals took Texas A&M University to federal court Monday, seeking an injunction to stop what it calls social media censorship of its campaign against the school’s research on dogs bred to develop muscular dystrophy.

9.) A group of energy-efficiency contractors brought a federal complaint Tuesday against Connecticut, accusing the state of illegally swiping $155 million in ratepayer funds to close last year’s budget deficit.

Pro-abortion protesters hold signs as anti-abortion activists rally in front of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in Denver on Feb. 11, 2017. On Wednesday, May 2, 2018, two major organizations that promote birth control, including Planned Parenthood, filed lawsuits in federal court seeking to block the Trump administration from shifting national family planning policy in a conservative direction that would stress abstinence and potentially limit counseling for adolescents. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

10.) Opening a new front in its war with the Trump administration, California joined Planned Parenthood’s fight against a plan that would strip millions in federal funding from family clinics that give advice about birth control.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland President and CEO Suzanna de Baca, left, and ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis look on during a news conference, Tuesday, May 15, 2018, in Des Moines, Iowa. Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday that they had filed a lawsuit challenging the nation's most restrictive abortion law, an Iowa provision that bans most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, around the sixth week of pregnancy. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

11.) Two abortion providers represented by the American Civil Liberties Union sued Iowa on Tuesday, claiming its newly enacted fetal-heartbeat law that outlaws abortion in all but the earliest stages of pregnancy is unconstitutional.

**International **

12.) The World Trade Organization’s highest court on Tuesday rejected the bulk of a dispute filed by the United States against the European Union over EU states’ financial support of France-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

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