A federal judge on Thursday overturned a 2018 Trump administration directive that sought to speed up energy leases on public land by limiting the amount of time the public could comment.

Why it matters: U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush's decision voids almost a million acres of leases in the West, according to The Washington Post. It's a victory for environmentalists, who tried to block the change as part of an effort to protect the habitat of the at-risk greater sage grouse.

• The ruling invalidated five oil and gas leases in Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, and affected 104,688 square miles of greater sage-grouse habitat, per The Associated Press.
• Leases in greater sage-grouse habitat will return to allowing 30 days of public comment and administrative protest.

The big picture: From Axios' Amy Harder, this is the latest in a long and convoluted list of regulatory rollbacks the Trump administration is pursuing on environmental rules that courts are, more often than not, rebutting. With Congress gridlocked on these matters, expect the courts to be the default way Trump's agenda faces checks (unless, of course, a Democrat wins the White House this November).

There's mounting evidence that people put too much trust in driver-assistance features like Tesla Autopilot, but federal regulators aren't doing enough to ensure the systems are deployed safely, experts say.

Why it matters: Nearly 37,000 Americans die each year in highway accidents. As automated features become more common, the roads could get more dangerous — not safer — if drivers use the technology in unintended ways.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said he will no longer accept campaign donations from political action committees in a speech Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Why it matters: Pushback against super PACs has largely been concentrated on the left — with Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders serving as vocal critics of special interests on the 2020 campaign trail. But on Thursday, Gaetz painted himself as "a different kind of Republican" while linking his decision to President Trump's "America First movement."

Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh received a 3-year prison sentence for fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy on Thursday, the Washington Post reports.

The state of play: Pugh, 69, resigned in May 2019 as she faced state and federal investigations in a years-long scheme in which she sold her self-published "Healthy Holly" children’s books to nonprofits and foundations to promote her political career and fund her mayoral campaign. She apologized in a video submitted on Wednesday to U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow, per the Baltimore Sun.

The House voted 410-4 on Wednesday to pass legislation to designate lynching as a federal hate crime.

Why it matters: Congress has tried and failed for over 100 years to pass measures to make lynching a federal crime.

Community leaders are concerned that historically hard-to-count residents will be even harder to count in this year's census, thanks to technological hurdles and increased distrust in government.

Why it matters: The census — which will count more than 330 million people this year — determines how $1.5 trillion in federal funding gets allocated across state and local governments. Inaccurate counts mean that communities don't get their fair share of those dollars.

Former California Rep. Katie Hill, who resigned amid a House investigation into allegations that she engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a congressional staffer, plans to release a memoir this summer, according to Grand Central Publishing.

Details: The book, titled “She Will Rise,” will expand on Hill's message from her final floor speech in the House, in which she decried revenge porn and the "double standard" that men and women face surrounding sexual behavior.

Some climate and energy legislation could actually reach the finish line this year in a divided Congress, according to a new analysis from the think tank Third Way.

Driving the news: Third Way says that's not crazy, pointing to a series of modest measures where "priorities are aligned" on both sides of Capitol Hill.

The backlash against Big Tech has long flourished among pundits and policymakers, but a new survey suggests it's beginning to show up in popular opinion as well.

Driving the news: New data from Edelman out Tuesday finds that trust in tech companies is declining and that people trust cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence less than they do the industry overall.