federal court

President Biden announced his first judicial nominations Tuesday, including Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Court of Appeals seat vacated by Merrick Garland when he became U.S. attorney general. Jackson is considered a potential Supreme Court contender.

Cody Levi Melby, 39, reportedly climbed over the temporary security fence erected this summer to keep racial justice protesters outside the federal courthouse before he opened fire on the building, the documents state. No one was injured in the attack.

The decision means about 127,000 ballots cast by drive-through voting in the Houston area will be counted. It follows a similar ruling by the Texas Supreme Court on Sunday.

The Democratic nominee has in recent days refused to answer questions on whether he would seek to increase the number of Supreme Court justices, if elected president.

Changes in Wisconsin and North Carolina mean absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day will count, if received within six and nine days of the election, respectively.

Roger Stone, a self-styled "dirty trickster" and longtime adviser to President Trump, is expected to appeal. The president, meanwhile, has left open the door to a possible pardon for Stone.

Donald Trump's former deputy campaign chairman, a protege of Paul Manafort, has provided important evidence to investigators and prosecutors in the Russia investigation and beyond.

A Michigan woman was engaging in constitutionally protected free speech when she made a crude hand gesture, a federal court ruled.