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      Ketanji Brown Jackson makes history as first Black woman confirmed to US supreme court

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      Ketanji Brown Jackson makes history as first Black woman confirmed to US supreme courtJackson confirmed 53 votes to 47, and will become first Black woman to serve in court’s more than 200-year history01:12Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal appeals court judge, was confirmed to the supreme court on Thursday, overcoming a rancorous Senate approval process and earning bipartisan approval to become the first Black woman to serve as a justice on the high court in its more than 200-year history.After weeks of private meetings and days of public testimony, marked by intense sparring over judicial philosophy and personal reflections on race in America, Jackson earned narrow – but notable – bipartisan support to become the 116th justice of the supreme court. The vote was 53 to 47, with all Democrats in favor. They were joined by three moderate Republicans, senators Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who defied deep opposition within their party to support Joe Biden’s nominee. Their support was a welcome result for the White House, which had been intent on securing a bipartisan confirmation.Ketanji Brown Jackson poised to make history as first Black female supreme court justice – liveRead moreJackson, who currently serves on the US court of appeals for the DC circuit, will replace Stephen Breyer, 83, the most senior member of the court’s liberal bloc. Breyer, for whom Jackson clerked early in her legal career, said he intends to retire from the court this summer.At 51, Jackson is young enough to serve on the court for decades. Her ascension, however, will do little to tilt the ideological balance of the high court, dominated by a 6-3 conservative majority. But it does mean for the first time in the court’s history that white men are in the minority.Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to serve as US vice-president, presided over the Senate vote as Jackson became the first Black woman to join the supreme court, underscoring the historic nature of her confirmation. Harris called for the final vote on Jackson’s nomination with a smile on her face, and the chamber broke into loud applause when the judge was confirmed.“Today, we are taking a giant, bold and important step on the well-trodden path to fulfilling our country’s founding promises,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said just before the final vote. “This is a great moment for Judge Jackson. But it is an even greater moment for America as we rise to a more perfect union.”The White House has announced that Biden, Harris and Jackson will deliver remarks on Friday to celebrate the confirmation. Jackson and Biden watched the final Senate vote together in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.Biden shared a photo taken with Jackson at the White House, saying on Twitter: “Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a historic moment for our nation. We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America. She will be an incredible justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her.”Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a historic moment for our nation. We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America. She will be an incredible Justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her. pic.twitter.com/K8SAh25NL5— President Biden (@POTUS) April 7, 2022
      Assailing Jackson’s record, but acknowledging Republicans did not have the votes to stop her confirmation, minority leader Mitch McConnell implored the judge to embrace the textualist approach of conservative justices.“The soon-to-be justice can either satisfy her radical fan club or help preserve the judiciary that Americans need, but not both,” McConnell said ahead of the vote on Thursday. “I’m afraid the nominee’s record tells us which is likely, but I hope judge Jackson proves me wrong.”Her confirmation to the lifetime post represents the fulfillment of a promise Biden made to his supporters at the nadir of his 2020 campaign for president, when he vowed to nominate the first Black woman to the supreme court, if elected president and a vacancy arose. The opportunity presented itself earlier this year, at another low point for Biden, with momentous domestic and foreign challenges weighing on his presidency.During the public hearings, Jackson vowed to be an independent justice who would seek to ensure that the words inscribed on the marbled supreme court building – Equal Justice Under the Law – were a “reality and not just an ideal”. With her parents and daughters present, Jackson recounted for the Senate judiciary committee her family’s generational journey, as the daughter of public school teachers raised in the segregated south who would rise to become a justice on a court that once denied Black Americans citizenship.Yet any hope by the White House that Jackson’s historic nomination might defuse some of the bitter partisanship that senators lament has turned the process into a “circus” quickly evaporated.With an eye to the November midterm elections, Republicans led an aggressive campaign against the judge during her confirmation hearings and in conservative media, raising questions about her record in an effort to paint her as an “activist judge” who is soft on crime. They used the confirmation proceedings to air conservative grievances about past supreme court nominations and to wage culture war battles over critical race theory, crime and transgender women in sports.Couched in thinly coded appeals to racism and the far-right fringes with nods to the QAnon conspiracy theory, some Republicans accused Jackson of being too lenient on child sexual abuse offenders, claims she forcefully rebutted “as a mother and a judge”. Legal experts have said her decisions in such criminal cases were within the mainstream while independent factcheckers concluded that the attacks were misleading and a distortion of her record.Democrats, and the handful of Republicans who supported her, praised her qualifications and demeanor, and in particular the restraint she showed during some stinging exchanges with conservative senators. They sought to defend her record, noting that her sentencing record was within the mainstream of the federal judiciary, while emphasizing the support she had earned from within the legal community, including among conservative justices, and her endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police, which cited her family’s law enforcement background.In a mark of just how polarizing the process of confirming a supreme court nominee has become, the Senate judiciary committee deadlocked along party lines over her nomination. The resulting tie prompted Democrats to execute a rare procedural maneuver to “discharge” her nomination from the committee to the floor, with a vote by the full Senate. The NAACP said the vote by 11 Republicans against Jackson’s nomination was a “stain” on the committee.The final Senate vote on her confirmation was among the closest in supreme court history.A graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, Jackson served on the independent US sentencing commission, an agency that develops sentencing guidelines, before becoming a federal judge.While she shares an elite background with the other justices, her work as a public defender sets her apart. The last justice with experience representing criminal defendants was Thurgood Marshall, the towering civil rights lawyer who became the first Black member of the supreme court.TopicsKetanji Brown JacksonUS supreme courtLaw (US)US politicsUS SenatenewsReuse this content More

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      Senate judiciary committee nears vote on Ketanji Brown Jackson

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      Senate judiciary committee nears vote on Ketanji Brown JacksonCommittee vote expected to be evenly split, 11-11, forcing Democrats to ‘discharge’ the nomination The Senate judiciary committee on Monday neared a vote on the historic nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson, poised to be the first Black woman confirmed to the supreme court.Following days of interrogation and debate over Jackson’s qualifications, the committee vote was expected to be evenly split, 11-11. That would force Democrats to “discharge” the nomination, delaying but not denying confirmation.Before the vote could take place, the committee adjourned to await the arrival of its 22nd member, the California Democrat Alex Padilla, whose flight to Washington was delayed.A vote to discharge Jackson’s nomination was expected as early as Monday evening. That would set up hours of additional debate on the Senate floor.Democrats and the White House hope to confirm Jackson to the lifetime position on the court before Congress recesses for the Easter holiday on Friday. The 51-year-old was confirmed by the Senate to the US court of appeals for the DC circuit last year with the support of three Republicans.Ketanji Brown Jackson to receive rare Republican vote as Collins says yesRead moreOnly one of those Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, has committed to voting for her again.Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has said he will not support Jackson’s nomination to the supreme court​​, calling her an “activist to the core”, outside the judicial mainstream.Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has not said how she intends to vote, but is seen as one of only two more Republicans, along with Mitt Romney of Utah, who might support Jackson.If confirmed, Jackson will replace the retiring liberal justice Stephen Breyer, for whom she clerked, and would make history as the first Black woman and only the sixth woman to sit on the court in more than 200 years. Her confirmation would, however, do nothing to change the ideological balance of a court on which conservatives outnumber liberals 6-3.In his opening remarks on Monday, Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee’s Democratic chair, praised Jackson’s “impeccable qualifications” and said her experience as a public defender would bring a “missing perspective to the court”.“This committee’s action today in nothing less than making history,” Durbin said. “I’m honored to be a part of it. I will strongly and proudly support Judge Jackson’s nomination.”Durbin also lamented Republican hostility toward Jackson, accusing senators of leveraging “vile” and “discredited” attacks on her record and character.“She stayed calm and collected. She showed dignity, grace and poise,” Durbin said. “It is unfortunate that our hearing came to that, but if there is one positive to take away from these attacks, it is that the nation got to see the temperament of a good, strong person truly ready to serve on the highest court in the land.”Many Republicans used the hearing on Monday to rehash their attacks on Jackson, accusing her of handing down lenient sentences to child sex crime offenders when she was a federal trial court judge, a claim independent factcheckers have said is baseless and lacks context.During her hearings, Jackson forcefully defended her record, telling senators these were among the most traumatic and haunting cases she dealt with and that she did her “duty to hold the defendants accountable”.Republicans also sought to portray Jackson as “soft on crime”, a line of attack dismissed outright by the American Bar Association, which testified that she was strongly qualified for the position.Republicans on the committee appear uniformly opposed to Jackson’s nomination, starting with the ranking member, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who announced he would not vote to confirm Jackson because “she and I have fundamental, different views on the role of judges and the role that they should play in our system of government”.On Monday, Graham again used his time to decry Democrats’ treatment of nominees named by Republican presidents.“If we were in charge, she would not have been before this committee,” Graham said.His point was that Republican control of the Senate would have forced Democrats to put forward a more “moderate” – in his view – nominee. But Democrats saw the comment as a plain-spoken acknowledgment of Republicans’ hardball tactics when it comes to the supreme court, after the GOP refused to let Barack Obama fill a vacancy in 2016 – an act without precedent.Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, compared proceedings on Jackson’s nomination to Festivus, the holiday celebrated on the TV series, Seinfeld.“There’s been a lot of airing of grievances,” Booker said, adding: “I’ve heard things that are just ridiculous.”During more than 30 hours of hearings last month, Jackson pledged to be an independent justice who would decide cases from a “neutral position”. She defended her record while reflecting on her personal story as the daughter of public school teachers in the segregated south.As the 22-member panel convened on Monday, Joe Biden said Jackson would “bring extraordinary qualifications, deep experience and intellect, and a rigorous judicial record to the supreme court.“She deserves to be confirmed as the next justice.”TopicsKetanji Brown JacksonUS supreme courtUS SenateLaw (US)US politicsRepublicansDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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      Republican Senate hopeful overstated academic achievements for years

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      Republican Senate hopeful overstated academic achievements for yearsHerschel Walker, frontrunner for party nomination in Georgia, claimed to have graduated in top 1% – but never actually graduated A Republican Senate candidate in Georgia said for years that he graduated in the top 1% of his university’s class – but actually never graduated college at all.Herschel Walker, a former pro football player who is running as a Republican in Georgia’s US Senateprimary, has publicly stated multiple times that he graduated in the top 1% of his class at University of Georgia despite never completing his degree.Ex-NFL star Herschel Walker posts baffling video promoting US Senate runRead moreThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) first reported on Walker lying about his college degree in December 2021. Walker later deleted the claim from his campaign website and released a statement to AJC acknowledging that he never graduated.“I was majoring in Criminal Justice at [University of Georgia] when I left to play in the [United States Football League] my junior year,” said Walker in his statement. “After playing with the New Jersey Generals, I returned to Athens to complete my degree, but life and football got in the way.”But Walker has actually been misrepresenting his academic achievements for years in interviews and motivational speeches, as recently as 2017, according to an investigation by CNN.In a speech from that year, Walker said: “And all of sudden I started going to the library, getting books, standing in front of a mirror reading to myself. So that Herschel, that all the kids said was retarded, become valedictorian of his class. Graduated University of Georgia in the top 1% of his class.”Walker repeated those claims in a 2017 interview with Sirius XM radio: “I also was valedictorian of my class. I also was in the top 1% of my graduating class of college.”Walker never received a diploma from the University of Georgia. After maintaining a B average throughout college, as reported by the Christian-Science Monitor and the New York Times, Walker left to play professional football and never completed his degree.Walker’s campaign was not able to provide proof that he graduated from the University of Georgia to CNN, but did defend his athletic record.CNN found that Walker also repeated false claims about his academic achievements in high school. Walker has said on multiple occasions that he was valedictorian of his high school class. While Walker was a top student in his high school with an A average, CNN did not find proof that Walker was ever named valedictorian.CNN also found no evidence that his high school even named a valedictorian or salutatorian until 1994, after Walker had graduated.Walker’s campaign could not verify that Walker was his high school valedictorian, but did provide comment on Walker overstating his high school achievements to CNN.“There is not a single voter in Georgia who believes that whether Herschel graduated at the ‘top of his class’ or as valedictorian 40 years ago has any bearing on his ability to be a great United States senator,” said Mallory Blount, communications director for the campaign, in a statement.Walker has remained a contentious primary candidate, with some Georgia Republicans doubting he can win the GOP primary due to his personal baggage, reported Salon. Walker has admitted to past violent behavior against his ex-wife Cindy Grossman and faces other accusations of violence against women from incidents in 2002 and in 2012, which Walker denies.Grossman has publicly detailed domestic violence she suffered from Walker during their relationship. In divorce filings, Grossman said that Walker was physically abusive towards her, forcing her to obtain a protective order against him. In 2008 interview with ABC, Grossman also said that Walker pointed a gun at her head and threatened to kill her.Walker has spoken about his history with violence in an exclusive 2021 interview with Axios, saying that he is “accountable” to his past actions against Grossman and has pursued therapy to treat his mental health problems.Walker, who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump, is the expected Republican nominee against the Democratic senator Raphael Warnock in November.TopicsGeorgiaRepublicansUS politicsUS SenatenewsReuse this content More

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      Senate deal on drastically pared-down Covid aid package may be imminent

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      Senate deal on drastically pared-down Covid aid package may be imminentThe $10bn in funds is half the amount the White House sought and slashes aid for global vaccine drives The US Senate is coming close to reaching agreement on a pared-down $10bn emergency aid package for Covid response, amid anger that the deal looks likely to ditch most funding for critical global vaccine efforts.Senate leaders were indicating to reporters on Friday that a deal was within reach, with a possible vote over the next week. But the package is a pale reflection of the original White House request for $22bn, cutting deep into even the most recent proposal set at $15.6bn.A large slice of the savings will probably be made at the expense of efforts to support vaccination drives around the world. The Biden administration had asked for $5bn, but as final talks continued it appeared that the amount for global aid could be slashed to as little as $1bn.Leading Democrats have expressed dismay at the reduction in planned global vaccine efforts. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, called the latest proposal “shameful”, pointing out that low vaccination rates in parts of the world run the risk of new Covid variants arising.“We have said, we have pronounced, everyone knows: none of us is safe, unless all of us are safe,” Pelosi said.Chris Coons, Democratic senator from Delaware, also decried the global cuts as shortsighted. “There are 2.5 billion people unvaccinated in the world, and that is an ongoing daily risk to the United states,” he told the Washington Post.Some top Republicans also expressed unease. Mitch McConnell, the minority leader in the Senate, told Punchbowl News that it would be “terribly unfortunate” if international vaccine support were removed from the final deal.Much of the funding currently earmarked in the proposals would go towards domestic treatments for people with Covid-19 in order to help outcomes and to reduce stress on hospitals. Another slice of the money would go towards research on new vaccines and treatments.One concern about the reduction in funds is that the US could become less prepared in the event of a renewed surge of infection. Average cases have plateaued in recent days, though there is still concern about BA 2, the new contagious Omicron subvariant that is now dominant in the US and that has seen a spike in Europe and the UK.The United Nations has repeatedly warned about low vaccination rates in parts of the world. Earlier this month the UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, lamented the “grim reality” that only 13% of people in low-income countries were vaccinated compared with almost 79% in high-income countries.“The result is more than 60,000 deaths per week, along with an increased risk of the emergence of new variants,” she said.TopicsCoronavirusUS SenateUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Pelosi says she ‘fears for democracy’ if Republicans retake Congress

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      Pelosi says she ‘fears for democracy’ if Republicans retake Congress‘It is absolutely essential for our democracy that we win,’ speaker of the House says in interview The Democratic speaker of the US House, Nancy Pelosi, said she “fears for democracy” if Republicans retake the chamber in November.‘Clank, into the hole’: Trump claims hole-in-one at Florida golf club Read more“It is absolutely essential for our democracy that we win,” Pelosi said in an interview during the 2022 Toner Prizes for political journalism on Monday night.“I fear for our democracy if the Republicans were ever to get the gavel. We can’t let that happen. Democracy is on the ballot in November.”Parties that control the White House usually receive a rebuke from voters in the first midterms after a presidential election. With Joe Biden’s poll numbers in the gutter and his administration facing strong economic headwinds and grappling with the crisis in Ukraine, Republicans are widely favored to win back the House and perhaps the Senate this year.Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, told Punchbowl News last week: “We’re going to win the majority, and it’s not going to be a five-seat majority.”In the Senate, Ron Johnson, from Wisconsin, has indicated how Republicans are looking forward to controlling committees and wielding subpoena power. The GOP, Johnson said, will be “like a mosquito in a nudist colony, it’s a target-rich environment”.Johnson indicated a desire to investigate the federal coronavirus response and the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the president’s son. Most observers expect House Republicans to scrap the committee investigating Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his election defeat and the Capitol attack that followed.But Pelosi said: “I don’t have any intention of the Democrats losing the Congress in November.”Rejecting “so-called conventional wisdom” about midterm elections, the speaker said: “There’s nothing conventional anymore, because of the way people communicate with social media and how they receive their information, how they are called to action, how they’re called to meetings and the rest is quite different. So any past assumptions about elections are obsolete.”“We do have a plan,” she added. “We have a vision of the victory. We will plan to get it done and we’re going to own the ground.”Pelosi also cast doubt on the accuracy of polling about Biden’s favourability and said redistricting, a process widely thought to favour Republicans, who control more state governments, would not necessarily leave Democrats at a disadvantage.“Everybody said redistricting was going to be horrible for the Democrats,” Pelosi said. “Remember that? Not so. Not so. If anything, we’ll pick up seats rather than lose 10 to 15, which conventional wisdom said that we would. There’s nothing conventional anymore, and it certainly ain’t wisdom.“And nobody’s going to be rejecting the president.”TopicsUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesUS SenateUS politicsDemocratsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More