The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a Kansas man who argued his constitutional rights were violated when the state refused to allow him to bring an insanity defense.

Under the law in Kansas, a defendant can argue mental illness only to prove that he did not intend to commit the crime. Otherwise, mental illness cannot be used as a defense. Four other states have also abolished an insanity defense.

"Today's decision leaves much, if not most, of the scope of insanity defenses to individual states," said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

First lady Melania Trump has engaged in a larger social media presence highlighting the coronavirus pandemic over the last 48 hours after several days of relative silence, ramping up her participation by recording a pair of public service announcements.

"This is not how we will live forever," says Trump, standing in the Cross Hall of the White House State Floor. "I urge you to stay connected ... via safe technologies."

"Keep a positive attitude, and try to create some time for fun with your loved ones," the first lady says.

The Trump administration is appealing to countries around the world to give or sell the US items as basic as hand sanitizer and as complex as respirators to combat the surging coronavirus pandemic.

The requests come as President Donald Trump touts his domestic response and declines to deploy the full power of the federal government's Defense Production Act to produce and funnel crucial supplies to struggling states and hospitals. It's not clear how many countries the US has appealed to.

The administration is making these private appeals as Trump is striking a starkly different note in public. At Tuesday's daily coronavirus briefing from the White House, not long after he had called the South Korean leader, the President veered into campaign-style rhetoric, declaring that, "America will never be a supplicant nation."

As the tally of coronavirus cases and deaths in the US continues to rise, President Donald Trump and members of his coronavirus task force addressed questions Tuesday during a virtual town hall hosted by Fox News.

Facts First: Trump is exaggerating. Though estimates of the mortality rate for the 1918 flu pandemic vary widely since records from that period are incomplete, there are not any credible estimates as high as 50%. Scholars estimate the mortality rate is between about 2% and 20%. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 50 million people worldwide died from the H1N1 virus in 1918 and 1919, out of the approximately 500 million people who were infected.

"Net, net you can find credible death rate estimates from 2-10 percent," Dr. Brilliant said. "Either way that is a far cry from 50 percent."

Multiple health care workers on Thursday debunked a statement from a White House adviser that the media is overstating the need for personal protective equipment in hospitals amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Their comments come after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNN earlier Thursday the media should "not sensationalize this crisis" when asked about shortages in personal protective equipment.

"It's important for the American public to understand, and for the folks in politics to understand as well that we are already receiving guidance from the CDC on how to reuse our PPE. That is a deviation from the standard of care. Normally in what we would call conventional care, we would wear a different mask for every single patient," he said.

As America became the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump downplayed the escalating national crisis.

All the evidence of the virus's advance, seen in rising death tolls and infection figures, suggests the situation is getting worse and that normal life could be weeks or months away. Once, Trump minimized the looming impact of the crisis. Now his assessments conflict with the reality of its deadly march.

A week ago, there were a total of 8,800 confirmed infections in the United States and 149 deaths. On Thursday, that figure reached more than 82,000 with nearly 1,200 deaths. Were those figures the result of a hurricane or a terrorist attack, their human toll would be more obvious, and it would be more difficult for the President to spin the situation. But as people die unseen in hospital wards and emergency rooms, the emotional impact of the accelerating tragedy is less obvious than it would be during a natural disaster.

With traditional campaigning abandoned and the Democrats' presidential front-runner hunkered down at home, deep-pocketed Democratic groups are racing to hit President Donald Trump over his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"This crisis could be the defining issue of this election," Kyle Tharp, of the nonprofit group Acronym, said Wednesday. "Now more than ever, voters need to be made aware of how Trump's handling of this threat and downplaying of its impact has made it worse and has made Americans less safe."

"Crisis comes to every presidency. We don't blame them for that. What matters is how they handle it," the narrator says, before saying that Trump "let the virus spread unchecked across America."

oe Biden said Wednesday that Democrats have "had enough" debates, suggesting he is unwilling to have another one-on-one showdown with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"If there is a debate in April, he plans to be there," Sanders communications director Mike Casca said Tuesday.

"I think we need a good debate as to where we go, not only just now but in the future," Sanders told Cooper. "And to my mind, if there's anything that this unexpected moment in American history should teach us, we've got to rethink the basic structures of American society, and that is guaranteed health care to all as a human right, creating an economy that provides for all people not just the wealthy."

For California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the call that triggered state's full crisis response came in the middle of the night on March 6, and he was waiting for it.

The state's lab had been working through the night, and one of his cabinet secretaries was on the line telling him 21 of the 42 crewmembers and passengers tested for coronavirus aboard the Grand Princess Cruise Ship, which was idling in international waters off California's coast, had tested positive.

Newsom hung up and immediately called Donald Trump, his frequent adversary, reaching the President around 4 a.m. PT to discuss the alarming results and their next steps, according to California aides involved in the response. By 6 a.m., Newsom had fully activated the Golden State's emergency operations center in the outskirts of Sacramento and begun orchestrating the unloading of more than 2,000 passengers -- diverting them to hospitals, into quarantine and back to their home countries.

Administration officials were still working Friday to finalize a list of options to present President Donald Trump concerning the next phase of national guidelines on coronavirus as he continues to push for reopening parts of the country.

Trump issued guidelines on social distancing meant to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus on March 16, but has said this week that he believes at least some Americans are ready to return to work amid a spike in jobless claims. The initial guidelines had a 15-day time frame, which will be reached early next week.

"We'll be sitting down on Monday or Tuesday, depending on which is best for everybody, and we'll be making that determination," Trump said, pointing to "brilliant" Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, and saying he'd hear out their options.

Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina and Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania are the latest members of Congress to test positive for Covid-19, their offices announced Friday.

In addition, more than two dozen lawmakers have also self-quarantined or taken other steps to isolate themselves as a precaution after interacting either directly or potentially with an infected individual.

Joe Biden during a CNN town hall Friday night detailed how he'd respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

But he offered an uplifting message -- one in tune with his campaign's core theme -- about the soul of the nation being on display in Americans' reaction to the crisis.

He left room for conditions, suggesting at one point that the freeze might not to apply to those whose income up to $75,000 is replaced by unemployment insurance. But he then said: "There should be a rent freeze. No one should be evicted during this period -- period."

As states scramble to delay their spring primaries, election professionals and voting experts are anxiously looking ahead to November and warning that the coronavirus pandemic is already threatening the safety and integrity of the next presidential election.

Congress took a step forward this week by approving $400 million in federal grants that states can use to make coronavirus-related adjustments for the general election. But the two parties couldn't reach a deal on the politically-charged question of how to overhaul the voting laws.

"At all costs, the election must go on," said CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. "This is not the NBA season or the Olympics. Come November, we've got to vote. If we can vote in the middle of the Civil War, and if Franklin D. Roosevelt can run for an unprecedented fourth term in the middle of World War II, then we can figure out how to make 2020 a free and fair election."

United States Postal Service workers, who are still delivering and sorting mail at distribution centers around the country even as millions of Americans telecommute, are worried that they may not have the protection -- or even the funding -- they will need to keep delivering mail for months longer.

Reports have popped up across the country where postal workers say they don't have hand sanitizer, gloves or masks, and are being told to work despite illnesses and are looking to community donations to address supply shortfalls.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said postal workers in her region have said they don't have hand sanitizer or materials needed to keep post offices disinfected.

The Fox Business Network announced on Friday that it had parted ways with Trish Regan, the conservative news host who ignited controversy earlier this month when she dismissed the coronavirus pandemic as a conspiracy to throw President Trump out of office.

Regan faced fierce criticism earlier this month when she described the coronavirus to her viewers as an "impeachment scam."

"This is impeachment all over again," Regan said at the time, claiming Trump's critics were using the pandemic to spark panic and destabilize the economy to harm his chances of being re-elected.

Several states are reporting spikes in coronavirus cases, raising fears more hot spots will emerge in the US beyond New York as soon as next week.

The state's health care system is already overwhelmed. One hospital was forced to create a makeshift morgue, and another reported 13 patient deaths in 24 hours. New York and its National Guard are now assembling four 1,000-bed temporary, overflow hospitals in existing buildings.

In Los Angeles County, cases more than tripled in six days, and one official says numbers will keep going up. Health Director Barbara Ferrer says she expects to see case counts in Los Angeles double every four days for the next two to three weeks.

Singapore has introduced new laws governing social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak that could see offenders serve six months in jail.

Those who do not keep at least one meter (3.2 feet) apart, or who meet in groups of more than 10 people outside of work or school, could face a fine of up to 10,000 Singapore dollars ($7,000) and/or up to six months' imprisonment, according to a Ministry of Health statement posted Thursday.

Most Europeans are currently living under severe restrictions, stuck at home, desperately hoping for the coronavirus pandemic to pass soon.

The huge decline in road traffic, air travel and other business activities across Europe has led to sharp reductions in pollution over several major cities, new images published by the European Space Agency show. A similar effect has been recorded across the United States and in China.

The impact of the pandemic-related restrictions on air quality is staggering. In some parts of Europe, the levels of toxic pollutants in the air have been slashed by a half.

Home is the safest place to be while a pandemic rages outside. Health officials have said as much for weeks now.

Self-isolation forces victims of domestic violence and their children into uncomfortable and dangerous circumstances: Riding out the Covid-19 crisis, shut in with their abusers.

And the deluge of stress and fear -- of unemployment, of sickness, of death -- is only intensifying the abuse they face.

President Donald Trump's approval now averages higher than his approval rating has been at any point in CNN's polling during his presidency, as 47% approve and 48% disapprove rating of his handling of the presidency, according to CNN's Poll of Polls.

Trump's handling of the coronavirus outbreak averages higher approval, standing at 52%, while disapproval stands at 45%.

His average approval for handling the coronavirus outbreak is sharply improved from CNN's first measure of that rating earlier this month, when 41% said they approved and 48% disapproved.