Lake Mead could soon benefit from the nation’s largest desalination plant thanks to an agreement that would allow water agencies in Nevada, Arizona, and California to explore ways to exchange water supplies across the drought-challenged Colorado River Basin.

(Subscription required) The controversial rule, General Order 6.4(c), automatically blocks the deportation of undocumented immigrants pending appeal of removal orders. The full court approved the rule nearly 25 years ago—but an immigration case involving a Peruvian family brought the practice into the headlines this year.

(Subscription required) The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to limit the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s power to force white collar defendants to pay back ill-gotten gains, ruling 9-0 that the SEC can seek disgorgement orders in cases where regulators cannot clearly identify a victim of a fraud scheme, or quantify how much money was lost.

Stanislaus County Superior Court Presiding Judge Sonny Sandhu, a Modesto native who became the county’s first Asian American judge in 2018, has been nominated by Gov. Gavin Newsom to serve on California’s Fifth District Court of Appeal.