Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top eight stories for today including a delay in redistricting data from the U.S. Census Bureau has thrown the constitutionality of Virginia’s House of Delegates races into question; The EU’s top court was urged by one of its magistrates to make Poland’s far-right government knock down what he called an illegal system for punishing judges; Colorado faces a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections driven by highly infectious variants and loosening restrictions, and more.
Sign up for the CNS Top Eight, a roundup of the day’s top stories delivered directly to your inbox Monday through Friday.
National
1.) An attorney representing former Alabama judge Roy Moore was AWOL from a Thursday morning court hearing on his effort to disqualify the federal judge presiding over Moore’s $95 million defamation suit against Sacha Baron Cohen.
2.) An assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s National Security Division expressed his concern over the rise of cybersecurity threats on Thursday afternoon, warning U.S. adversaries are ramping up online attacks.
Regional
3.) A delay in redistricting data from the U.S. Census Bureau has thrown the constitutionality of Virginia’s House of Delegates races into question.
4.) Colorado faces a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections driven by highly infectious variants and loosening restrictions.
5.) Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a controversial voting reform bill on Thursday, prompting an immediate lawsuit challenging the new regulations governing vote-by-mail eligibility and rules around ballot drop boxes.
6.) Opening another new front in a “drug war” that seeks to hold a growing variety of secondary businesses accountable for the addiction crisis, Massachusetts filed a lawsuit Thursday against an advertising and communications agency that helped drug maker Purdue Pharma to promote opioids.
International
7.) The European Union’s top court was urged Thursday by one of its magistrates to make Poland’s far-right government knock down what he called an illegal system for punishing judges.
8.) Marking the second-longest punishment it has ever given, the International Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced a Ugandan man who commanded the Lord’s Resistance Army to 25 years in prison.
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.