EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt resigns

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt walks during an Independence Day picnic for military families on the South Lawn of the White House July 4, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump tweeted that he had accepted Pruitt's resignation but added that "within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this."

Connecticut environmentalists hail Pruitt’s fall

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on April 26. President Trump tweeted Thursday, July 5, he accepted the resignation of Pruitt. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on April 26. President Trump tweeted Thursday, July 5, he accepted the resignation of Pruitt.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster). President Donald Trump boards Air Force…

California can limit police cooperation with immigration officials and require inspections of detention facilities but can't enforce a key part of a third state sanctuary law barring private employers from allowing immigration officials on their premises without a warrant, a U.S. judge ruled Thursday. The decision came in a lawsuit filed against the state by the Trump administration seeking to block all three laws.

Scott Pruitt’s replacement expected to carry on Trump’s anti-regulatory agenda at EPA

With a top coal lobbyist stepping in to serve as acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency , few people are expecting Scott Pruitt's resignation to slow down the Trump administration's efforts to deal a knock-out blow to the agency's ability to protect the environment. President Trump on Thursday named EPA deputy administrator Andrew Wheeler - whose beliefs on environmental protection are as radical as Pruitt's - to serve as acting administrator of the agency.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans join hands to celebrate Scott Pruitt resignation

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Environment Subcommittee in this April 26, 2018, file photo. CREDIT: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Democrats and Republicans in Congress joined virtual hands Thursday to celebrate the resignation of Scott Pruitt, the embattled administrator of President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency.

Breaking Now: Embattled Epa chief Pruitt quits amid numerous ethics scandals

After months of controversy and ethical questions, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned from the agency, President Trump tweeted on Thursday. Over the several months, Pruitt has increasingly come under fire for multiple allegations of abusing his power from spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on first-class travel to a sweetheart real estate deal tied to a lobbyist with EPA business and attempting to secure a private business deal for his wife among numerous allegations.

Credit Suisse pays US$77 million to settle US probes ‘after it…

Credit Suisse Group has agreed to pay about US$77 million to settle US criminal and civil probes into its Asia-Pacific hiring practices, including efforts to win banking business by awarding jobs to friends and family of Chinese government officials. The Swiss bank agreed to a US$47.03 million criminal fine and to enter a non-prosecution agreement under a settlement with the US Department of Justice announced on Thursday.

DoJ intervenes against Clean Water Act frequent filer

The citizen-suit provision of the Clean Water Act "allows any individual or organization that can establish standing to bring litigation against both private parties and the Environmental Protection Agency ," and incentivizes such suits by allowing filers to collect attorney's fees. While some valuable enforcement actions may result, writes Marc Robertson for the Washington Legal Foundation , it is not difficult for shakedown litigators to identify targets.

HHS claims lawmaker visits could slow down family reunifications

The Department of Health and Human Services is suggesting that arrangements necessary to accommodate members of Congress who want to visit holding facilities at the border could drain resources that would otherwise be used to reunite immigrant families that were separated. In a letter dated Monday to the House and Senate chairmen of the judiciary committees, HHS Assistant Secretary for Legislation Matthew Bassett wrote that an uptick in congressional interest in the facilities has "created resource constraints that are threatening to impact ability to quickly reunite the children in our care with a parent or safely place them with a sponsor."

Reviewing Justice Kennedy’s contributions to sentencing and…

The University of California Press Blog has this new posting titled "Justice Kennedy's Contributions to Sentencing and Corrections Reform: An Appreciation." The piece is authored by Margaret Colgate Love, and here are extended excerpts: In 2003, Justice Anthony Kennedy made a dramatic and surprising presentation to the American Bar Association's Annual Meeting in San Francisco in which he raised fundamental questions about the fairness and efficacy of criminal punishment in the United States.

Why Michael Cohen should flip and the damage he will do to Donald Trump

After federal agents' search of Cohen's New York properties earlier this year, Trump described the actions as a break-in - "attack on our country, in a true sense." But Cohen told Stephanopoulos in an off-camera interview over the weekend that he didn't agree with "those who demonise or vilify the FBI," according to a story posted Monday by ABC News.

Benefit cuts announced following Medicaid ruling

Gov. Matt Bevin's administration is cutting dental and vision coverage for nearly a half-million Kentuckians after his Medicaid overhaul plan was rejected in court. The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services calls the cuts an "unfortunate consequence" of Friday's ruling by a federal judge who said Kentucky can't require poor people to get jobs to keep their Medicaid benefits.

Morning Bits: The biggest court fight in a generation

Nominating Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court just got more complicated. "Kavanaugh's position that presidents should be free of such legal inquiries until after they leave office puts him on the record regarding a topic of intense interest to Trump - and could be a central focus of his confirmation hearing if Kavanaugh were nominated to succeed [Justice Anthony M.] Kennedy, legal experts said."

WesternGeco v. ION Geophysical

It is an act of infringement under U.S. patent law to supply "in or from the United States" certain components of a patented invention with the intent that they "will be combined outside of the United States in a manner that would infringe the patent if such combination occurred within the United States." 35 U.S.C. 271 .

Op-Ed Columnist: The Millennial Socialists Are Coming

Illustration by Selman Design; Photographs by Tammy Bradshaw, Seth Wenig/Associated Press, Mark Makela for The New York Times, and Jeff Swensen for The New York Times. In May, three young progressive women running for the state Legislature in Pennsylvania, each endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, won decisive primary victories over men heavily favored by the political establishment.

Special prosecutor named in probe of Greitens investigator

A special prosecutor has been appointed to assist St. Louis police looking into whether an investigator for the prosecutor's office committed perjury in his investigation of then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens. Democratic Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner hired Tisaby, a former FBI agent, to assist in investigating whether Greitens took an unauthorized cellphone photo of a woman during a sexual encounter in 2015.