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National

Nazi-looted art, Ted Cruz and Christian flags top new cases headed to Supreme Court

The Supreme Court kickstarted its fall term Thursday with certiorari grants for four new cases, including one on the Nazi art theft during the Holocaust.

The U.S. Supreme Court. (Jack Rodgers/Courthouse News)

Supreme Court to hear Senator Cruz’s objection to campaign loan rules

Senator Ted Cruz wants the nation’s high court to find that limiting how much of a personal loan to his own campaign may be repaid from money raised after an election would violate the First Amendment.

In this image from Senate Television video, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 25, 2020. (Senate Television via AP)

Biden picks 10 new federal judges

President Joe Biden nominated 10 candidates to federal benches Thursday, furthering his push for more diversity in the judiciary.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on Covid-19 during an event in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Biden administration declares 23 species extinct

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that 23 species are extinct and should be removed from the endangered species list because no one has seen them for decades.

An ivory-billed woodpecker specimen is on a display at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The Biden administration declared the species extinct in September 2021. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

Regional

Ninth Circuit refreshes fight over city’s chromium 6-tainted water

Reviving a fight over tap water, a Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday found a Northern California city must face claims it’s breaking hazardous waste laws by selling drinking water tainted with an infamous carcinogen featured in the film “Erin Brockovich.”

(Karolina Grabowska/Pixabay via Courthouse News)

California water situation bleak as new rainfall year begins

Thursday marks the final day of a water year in California that proved to be the second driest on record as reservoirs have plunged to record lows and several communities are relying on deliveries of bottled water to provide drinking water to residents.

California's persistent drought has Shasta Lake — the cornerstone of the state's water infrastructure — with rings like a draining bathtub. (Wayne Gungl from Pixabay via Courthouse News)

International

EU magistrate sees discrimination in unemployment insurance exclusion of cleaners

Keeping domestic workers from a national unemployment system amounts to gender discrimination, since most are women, a magistrate for the European Union’s highest court said Thursday.

The European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg, is the European Union’s supreme court in matters concerning EU law. (Molly Quell/Courthouse News)

Sarkozy sentenced for illegal campaign spending

Nicolas Sarkozy, embattled former president of France, was sentenced Thursday to a one-year term that likely will be served from home after he was found guilty of illegally financing his failed 2012 glitzy, American-style reelection campaign.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives at the courtroom Monday, March 1, 2021, in Paris. (Michel Euler/AP)

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