Legislature to finish redistricting today
On Friday, both Houses of the Alabama Legislature will meet on redistricting. The federal appeals court in Atlanta has set Friday, July 21, as the deadline for the state to submit a new congressional redistricting for the court to consider in the state’s ongoing Voting Rights Act case concerning congressional redistricting. There are a lot of disagreements in the Legislature on what plan the legislators should pass. Legislative Democrats, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the state, and civil rights groups believe that to comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the state should pass a plan with two majority-minority districts. This would almost certainly mean a pickup of one House of Representatives seat for Democrats in the U.S. Congress as Alabamians overwhelmingly vote along racial lines, with over 90% of Black Alabamians preferring Democrats and over 80% of White Alabamians preferring Republicans in recent elections. Alabama’s Legislative Republicans have rejected calls by Democrats to turn Alabama’s Second Congressional District into a majority-minority district. Congressional District 2 is currently represented by Congressman Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) – who served two terms in the Alabama House of Representatives from 2010 to 2018. Moore is a Republican, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, and an ardent Donald Trump supporter. Currently, 30% of the voters of CD2 are Black. State Senator Rodger Smitherman (D-Birmingham) has introduced a plan that would turn Congressional District 2 into a majority-minority district with over 50% of the voters in the district being Black. Republicans rejected that map as well as others introduced by Sen. Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) and other Democrats. Republicans maintain that the court has not ruled on Milligan v. Allen that the state is in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Democrats look at the same U.S. Supreme Court ruling and the recent order by a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and say that the court did not provide the state with enough guidance to know what an “opportunity district” means. “That could be 42% (Black voters), that could be 38%, we just don’t know,” Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Reed (R-Jasper) told reporters. House Republicans have passed a plan by State Representative Chris Pringle (R-Mobile) they title the community of interest plan where Congressional District 2 is over 42% Black. Pringle maintains that that is close enough racially so that it is winnable by either party. Senate Republicans have passed a competing plan by State Sen. Steve Livingston (R-Scottsboro). The Livingston plan would only raise the Black voting age population of CD2 from 30% Black to 38% Black. Livingston said his plan kept communities of interest together and is the most compact while still providing an opportunity district for Black voters in Congressional District 2. More radical elements in the Legislature had called for turning Alabama’s Seventh Congressional District into an opportunity district that would be potentially winnable by Republicans. Congressional District 7 is represented by Terri Sewell – the only Democrat and the only Black representative in the congressional delegation. Both Pringle and Livingston, while deeply divided on the merits of their respective plans, did not go that far, and Congressional District 7 remains majority Black. Livingston said that his plan kept the Wiregrass whole and in the Second Congressional District, and it keeps the Gulf Coast and Mobile County whole. The House passed Pringle’s plan on Wednesday, but when he brought his bill to the Senate, Livingston motioned to substitute the Pringle plan for the Livingston plan. The Committee passed that motion. Pringle then stormed out of the room without continuing to present his bill. His bill, now the Livingston Bill, was passed by the Committee along party lines, with Democrats voting against it and Republicans voting for it. The one exception was State Senator Andrew Jones (D-Centre). His primary disagreement with the Livingston plan is that a small portion of northwest Etowah County would be in Congressional District 4, while 90% of Etowah County would switch to Congressional District 3. Jones told reporters he did not care whether Congressman Mike Rogers (R-AL03) or Robert Aderholt (R-AL04) represented Etowah County. “My issue is that historically Etowah County has not been divided,” Jones, who represents Etowah and Cherokee Counties, said. Smitherman told reporters that he and Sen. Singleton had brought their own federal lawsuit and joined Milligan and the other plaintiffs. Smitherman said that it is his understanding that the plaintiffs will be given the opportunity to tell the court whether the plan passed by the Legislature satisfies their concerns or not. “Right now, I can’t support either (Republican) plan,” Smitherman said. Smitherman has demanded that the Apportionment Committee prepare a report on the plans showing the likelihood of a Democrat or a Republican winning each of these. “They can get that, or they already know it and don’t want to release it,” Smitherman said, Since the GOP is wildly divided on which plan they will advance to federal court, there is uncertainty about what the Legislature will pass on Friday. “Obviously, there will be negotiations,” Reed said. A compromise plan can be substituted on the floor of either House. Failing that, any difference between the House and Senate plans would be settled by a conference committee. If that happens, then under the circumstances, both Houses will recess until the conference committee returns with a conference committee plan to vote on. If the state and the plaintiffs cannot agree on a redistricting plan that is acceptable to both sides, a trial will likely be held in the eleventh circuit. Whatever is ultimately decided by the federal appeals court in Atlanta will likely be appealed by whichever party is dissatisfied with the outcome meaning that the Milligan case could go back to the Supreme Court, where Justice Brett Kavanaugh appears to be the swing vote. There is even a possibility that this case may not be resolved until after the 2024 elections. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Michigan charges 16 fake electors for Donald Trump with election law and forgery felonies
Michigan’s attorney general filed felony charges Tuesday against 16 Republicans who acted as fake electors for then-President Donald Trump in 2020, accusing them of submitting false certificates confirming they were legitimate electors despite Joe Biden’s victory in the state. Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, announced Tuesday that all 16 people would face eight criminal charges, including forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery, which range from a potential five to 14 years in prison each. The group includes the head of the Republican National Committee’s chapter in Michigan, Kathy Berden, as well as the former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, Meshawn Maddock, and Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot. “The false electors’ actions undermined the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan,” Nessel said in a statement. Electors are people appointed to represent voters in presidential elections. The winner of the popular vote in each state determines which party’s electors are sent to the Electoral College, which meets in December after the election to certify the outcome. The group is alleged to have met inside the then-Michigan Republican Party headquarters on December 14, 2020, and signed their names to multiple certificates stating they were the qualified electors for Trump. These false documents were then transmitted to Congress and National Archives. In January of last year, Nessel asked federal prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into the 16 Republicans. In seven battleground states, including Michigan, supporters of Trump signed certificates that falsely stated he had won their states, not Biden. The fake certificates were ignored, but the attempt has been subject to investigations, including by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. False Electoral College certificates were also submitted declaring Trump the winner of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Steve Flowers: If Alabama loses Space Command, it is because we lost Richard Shelby
Make no mistake about it; the decision as to where the heralded National Space Command Headquarters will be located is political. If you think otherwise, you are politically naïve. Senator Richard Shelby is the reason, and only reason, that the federal military officials even considered moving Space Command from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama, in the first place, period. Folks, you are just beginning to see Senator Shelby’s retirement’s impact on the State of Alabama. Our freshman congressional members and even state and Huntsville leaders are continually referring to the results of a commission study that supposedly analyzed the qualifications and best locations for the Command Center, and Huntsville was the best choice. Commissions and studies like that are created every day of the week by Washington’s most powerful senators to justify what they want to accomplish. Guess what? Shelby wanted the study to say that Huntsville was the place. The bottom line is the only reason there was any consideration towards moving the facility from Colorado to Alabama was Richard Shelby, and the only reason that it might not be moving is because he is gone. I knew at the time of the announcement that Space Command Headquarters might move to Alabama, that if Shelby did not get it moved before he retired, it would probably never happen. Our two new senators, Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt, do not have the power to impact the final decision on Space Command’s location. Seniority is omnipotent in the U.S. Senate. Britt is 99th out of 100, and Tuberville is 93rd. They have a vote, and that is it. Huntsville even has a freshman congressman in Dale Strong. He is less than irrelevant as a new face in the 435-member House. It will be ten years before they know he is even there. Strong and Britt have been in the House and Senate less than six months. If truth be known, with us having this little clout in Washington, I doubt that Huntsville is even on the radar screen for the headquarters. Huntsville should not feel so badly about the Biden Administration leaving Space Command in Colorado; it was crumbs compared to what Shelby loaded Huntsville up with in the last decade, anyway. This Space Command deal is more for prestige than it is for jobs and dollars. Shelby brought most of the high-tech and aerospace dollars in the country to Huntsville, which is what matters. Much more importantly, he moved most of Washington to Huntsville, including the FBI Headquarters. Folks, that is real power. It is unlikely that Alabama or any other state in the nation will ever see the power wielded by Richard Shelby in the nation’s history. King Shelby was more powerful than the President, whether it be Donald Trump or Joe Biden. As Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Armed Services Appropriations, he called the shots when it came to the U.S. Military. When he spoke, the generals listened. Unfortunately, when Britt and Tuberville speak, the military generals are cordial, but they could not care less what Britt and Tuberville say. In defense of Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, they are giving it their all as freshman senators. The liberal writers in Alabama have castigated Tommy Tuberville for losing Space Command because of his position on abortion. He is no more the reason than Katie Britt or Dale Strong. All three are representatives of Alabama’s conservative Republican policy towards abortion. The Biden administration is using this decision to win two political points. First of all, if you are a liberal Democratic president and Space Command is in a liberal Democratic state like Colorado, would you move it to one of the reddest Republican states in America? Secondly, Biden is promoting the notion that since conservative ruby-red Alabama has enacted a very restrictive anti-abortion law, he is going to keep Space Command in Colorado. Most Democrats are for abortion on demand. He wins approval and points from both sides of the deal. By the way, he is running for reelection as a Democrat. That is Politics 101. Politics prevails, especially in an election year. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Joe Biden says Tommy Tuberville should drop his ‘irresponsible’ protest and OK military nominees
President Joe Biden on Thursday said it is “irresponsible” of a Republican senator from Alabama to block confirmation of military officers in protest of a Defense Department policy that pays for travel when a service member has to go out of state to get an abortion or reproductive care. “He’s jeopardizing U.S. security by what he’s doing,” Biden said of Sen. Tommy Tuberville. “It’s just totally irresponsible in my view.” More than 260 nominations are stalled by Tuberville, including Biden’s pick for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, America’s top military officer. The U.S. Marine Corps is currently without a confirmed leader for the first time in a century because of the block. It also affects scores of one-, two- and three-star officers who are assigned to new base commands. “I’d be willing to talk to him if I thought there was any possibility of changing his ridiculous position,” Biden said during a press conference with the president of Finland. Biden traveled to Finland as a show of support for the new NATO member, following the NATO summit in Lithuania this week. “The idea that we’re injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions what, in fact, is a domestic social debate on social issues is bizarre,” Biden said. There were also efforts at the Pentagon to encourage Tuberville to drop his opposition. The senator told reporters later Thursday that he had just spoken with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and expected to speak with him again. The block also affects the families of nominees, who usually relocate over the summer to their new military communities so school-age children can get settled in before fall. And it stretches to hundreds more younger military personnel who don’t need Senate confirmation but are still affected by the hold because they are assigned to serve as staff or aides to the relocating generals. Those aides move their families as well. So they are essentially stuck, too. A proposal last month to hold a Senate debate over Pentagon abortion policies as part of the annual defense bill negotiations was seen by some senators as the best prospect for getting Tuberville to lift those holds, but he opposed it. The Alabama senator’s action bucks decades of precedent in which swaths of military officers and promotions are approved by voice vote and with no objections. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., has said that if the Senate were to vote individually on the 260 nominations, it would take 27 days with the Senate working “around the clock” or 84 days if the Senate worked eight hours a day. Tuberville has said he wants Democrats to solve the problem by introducing legislation on the abortion policy and then holding a vote on it. Tuberville does not have his own bill to change the policy. “I’m leaving it up to them,” Tuberville said Wednesday. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says that Republican leaders, most of whom have criticized Tuberville’s holds, should prevail on the senator to change his mind. Biden, too, said Tuberville’s fellow GOP senators should work to stop his block. “I’m confident the mainstream Republican party does not support what he’s doing, but they got to stand up and be counted. That’s how it ends,” Biden said. Republished with the permission of the Associate Press.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh seeks to dispel the notion that the Supreme Court is partisan
Justice Brett Kavanaugh pointed to the mixed U.S. Supreme Court decisions this term as he sought Thursday to dispel notions that it is partisan, even after conservatives brought about the end of affirmative action in college admissions and struck down President Joe Biden’s student loan debt relief program. “The court is an institution of law. It’s an institution of law, not of politics, not of partisanship,” Kavanaugh said at a judicial conference in Minnesota, in the first public remarks by a justice since the court recessed for the summer late last month. The Supreme Court has been reshaped by the three justices nominated by President Donald Trump, including Kavanaugh. Although Kavanaugh sided with the conservative majorities in the affirmative action and student loan rulings, as well as last summer’s ruling overturning the nationwide right to abortion, he was also part of the mixed conservative and liberal majorities this term that backed Black voters in Alabama and preserved a federal law aimed at keeping Native American children with Native families. And the term was marked by other notable surprises, rejecting conservative positions in a North Carolina redistricting case that could have reshaped elections across the country, while backing the Biden administration in a fight over deportation priorities. “We have lived up, in my estimation, to deciding cases based on law and not based on partisan affiliation and partisanship,” Kavanaugh said. “We don’t caucus in separate rooms. We don’t meet separately. We’re not sitting on different sides of the aisle at an oral argument. … We work as a group of nine.” Speaking to an audience of judges, attorneys, and court personnel from the 8th Circuit, which stretches from Minnesota and the Dakotas south to Arkansas, Kavanaugh said he didn’t fully appreciate until he joined the court how much time the nine justices spend alone with each other. He estimated that they eat lunch together around 65 times a year. “And the rule at lunch is you can’t talk about work,” he said. “It’s a good rule. … It builds relationships and friendships, and then when we have tough cases — and we only really have tough cases — you have a reservoir of goodwill toward each of the other people.” Kavanaugh said he was warmly welcomed in his first term in 2018 by then-Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, who were part of the court’s liberal wing. He also praised his working relationships with the two newest justices, conservative Amy Coney Barrett and liberal Ketanji Brown Jackson. Kavanaugh, who was the justice most often in the majority this term in divided cases, said the Supreme Court hears 60 to 70 cases a term and that only a relative few might get most of the attention. But he said there are lots of 9-0 decisions, and there can also be a lot of 7-2 and 6-3 decisions. “All sorts of different lineups,” he said. “And so I might be working with Sonia Sotomayor on the Andy Warhol case, while we disagree on a case on the competition clause. We’re not going to let our relationship where we’re working together on one suffer just because we disagree on the other. And that’s going on with all nine of us on a daily basis.” Kavanaugh only briefly mentioned the ethics issues that have dogged some justices — including conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and the liberal Sotomayor — and potentially undermined public confidence in the court. He noted that Chief Justice John Roberts said in May that the justices were continuing to work on that as a group. “That’s accurate,” he said. “I’m not going to add anything to what the chief justice has said on that topic.” Roberts offered no specifics at the time, and the justices have not adopted an ethics code. Kavanaugh said people getting upset when the high court makes difficult decisions comes with the territory. He said the best the justices can do is try to be consistent, clearly explain their reasoning, and try to show that they actually are working as a team of nine on difficult cases instead of caucusing on a partisan basis. “You shouldn’t be in this line of work if you don’t like criticism,” he said. “Because you’re going to get it. And you’re going to get a lot of it.” Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Chairman John Wahl named to 2024 Republican National Convention Committee
On Thursday, the Alabama Republican Party announced that Chairman John Wahl had been named to the Republican National Convention’s Committee on Arrangements (COA). The COA is in charge of organizing the 2024 Republican National Convention, overseeing and planning all aspects of the Convention. In 2016 Republican nominee for President Donald Trump carried Wisconsin. In 2020 Trump lost Wisconsin and the Presidency. Realizing the importance of Wisconsin, the Republican Party is holding their 2024 Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. More than 2,500 delegates from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories will gather in Milwaukee from July 15 to 18, 2024, to officially select the Party’s nominees for U.S. President and Vice President. “I am thrilled to have been selected to serve as a member of the Committee on Arrangements, and I am very excited about the opportunity to represent the State of Alabama as the COA prepares for the 2024 Republican National Convention,” Chairman Wahl said. “We desperately need strong conservative leadership that is willing to stand and fight for the average, hardworking people across this nation. It’s time to bring common sense back to government by defending our God-given rights and freedoms, protecting our children from woke policies, and working to put people first again. These are the kind of principles that made America great, and these are the principles that the Republican Party stands for.” “The Convention is going to be a world-class event, and I look forward to serving with the other committee members as we put our time and talents together to make sure this historic convention is unforgettable,” Wahl added. “The bottom line is that it’s time to take America back, and I will do all I can to ensure that message is on full display at the 2024 Republican National Convention.” “In the next two years, we look forward to working with the mayor and everyone in the community to make this an event that highlights not just our nominee … but the great city that Milwaukee is,” said Republican Party Chairman Ronna Romney McDaniel when the RNC chose Milwaukee to host the Convention. In addition to this new committee assignment, Chairman Wahl was elected as an RNC Vice Chairman representing the Southern Region earlier this year. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
GOP confidence in 2024 vote count low after years of false election claims, AP-NORC poll shows
Few Republicans have high confidence that votes will be tallied accurately in next year’s presidential contest, suggesting years of sustained attacks against elections by former President Donald Trump and his allies have taken a toll, according to a new poll. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds that only 22% of Republicans have high confidence that votes in the upcoming presidential election will be counted accurately compared to 71% of Democrats, underscoring a partisan divide fueled by a relentless campaign of lies related to the 2020 presidential election. Even as he runs for the White House a third time, Trump continues to promote the false claim that the election was stolen. Overall, the survey finds that fewer than half of Americans – 44% — have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence that the votes in the next presidential election will be counted accurately. While Democrats’ confidence in elections has risen in recent years, the opposite is true for Republicans. Ahead of the 2016 election, 32% of Republicans were highly confident votes would be counted accurately — a figure that jumped to 54% two years later after Trump won the presidency. That confidence level dropped to 28% a month before the 2020 election, as Trump signaled to voters that the voting would be rigged, and now sits at 22% less than 16 months before the next presidential election. “I just didn’t like the way the last election went,” said Lynn Jackson, a registered nurse from El Sobrante, California, who is a registered Republican. “I have questions about it. I can’t actually say it was stolen — only God knows that.” Trump’s claims were rejected by dozens of judges, including several he appointed. His own attorney general and an exhaustive review by The Associated Press found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the results. Multiple reviews, audits, and recounts in the battleground states where Trump disputed his loss confirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, including several overseen by Republican lawmakers. Even so, Trump’s attempts to explain his loss led to a wave of new laws in GOP-dominated states that added new voting restrictions, primarily by restricting mail voting and limiting or banning ballot drop boxes. Across the country, conspiracy theories related to voting machines have prompted many Republican-controlled local governments to explore banning machines from tallying votes in favor of hand counts. The AP-NORC poll suggests that the persistent messaging has sunk in among a wide swath of the American public. The survey found that independents — a group that has consistently had low confidence in elections — were also largely skeptical about the integrity of the 2024 elections. Just 24% have the highest levels of confidence that the votes will be counted accurately. Chris Ruff, a 46-year-old unaffiliated voter from Sanford, North Carolina, said he lost faith in elections years ago, believing they are rigged to favor certain candidates. He also sees no difference between the two major parties. “I don’t vote at all,” he said. “I think it only adds credibility to the system if you participate.” The conspiracy theories about voting machines, promoted through forums held around the country, also have taken a toll on confidence among Republicans even though there is no evidence to support them. About four in 10 U.S. adults are highly confident that scanning paper ballots into a machine provides accurate counts. Democrats are about twice as confident in the process as Republicans —63% compared to 29%. That marks a notable shift from a 2018 AP-NORC poll that found just 40% of Democrats were confident compared to 53% of Republicans. Gillian Nevers, a 79-year-old retiree from Madison, Wisconsin, has worked as a poll worker and said she has confidence — based on her experiences — in the people who oversee elections. “I have never seen any shenanigans,” said Nevers, who votes Democratic. “The claims are unfounded and ridiculous. Because they are being so widely projected, I think they have a lot of people worried who I don’t think should be.” The conspiracy theories have led to death threats against election officials and an exodus of experienced workers. The attacks against voting machines have been especially dispiriting for election officials because of the testing and audits they perform before and after elections to ensure votes are recorded accurately. All states except Alabama and Wisconsin reported using a method referred to as logic and accuracy testing to confirm that voting machines were tabulating votes correctly before the 2022 midterm elections, according to a report by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Senator Tommy Tuberville believes indictments have made his support for Donald Trump ‘even stronger’
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville said in a recent interview that his support for President Donald Trump has gotten “even stronger” due to Trump’s recent indictments. Tuberville said that indicting the former President was like something that happens in third-world countries. Tuberville made the comments in response to questioning from Fox Business Channel’s Larry Kudlow, who asked if Sen. Tuberville’s support for Trump had moved at all in light of the indictments. “It makes it even stronger, Larry,” said Sen. Tuberville. “Are we living in a third world country now where the political opponents – basically the one in the White House now (Joe Biden) is going after somebody that he is going to run against in the next election?” Tuberville also referenced Biden’s own mishandling of classified documents as a U.S. Senator. “If you live in a glass house, you don’t throw rocks, and he has opened a can of worms now – the Justice Department has,” Tuberville added. “That’s really ignited the Republican Party, and I think even some of the Democrats. What kind of a world do we live in now?” “Every time I go in to read a classified document, they search you when you leave,” said Tuberville. “You are not allowed to carry classified documents out of what we call the skiff.” “It is just unfortunate that all of this is going on,” Tuberville added. “President Trump will be stronger from this. He can handle it. He knows adversity. He fights through it, but the American people need to see through all of this. Hopefully, this will clear up in a very short period of time, and we can get this behind us.” The bulk of the 37 charges against former President Trump in the 49-page indictment, unsealed last month, relate to allegations of willful retention of national defense information — a violation of the Espionage Act. The charges also include conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in an investigation, scheming to conceal, and false statements. Trump aide Walt Nauta also was indicted. Trump maintains his innocence. Despite his growing legal difficulties, the former President is the frontrunner to be the 2024 Republican nominee for President. Trump will speak in Alabama on August 4 as the featured Speaker at the Alabama Republican Party’s Summer Dinner in Montgomery. Tuberville was the first U.S. Senator to endorse President Trump ahead of the 2024 Republican primary. Tuberville was endorsed for U.S. Senate by Trump in the 2020 Republican primary, and Tuberville has remained steadfast in his support for President Trump. The Alabama Presidential primary will be on March 5. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Supreme Court rules that Joe Biden’s executive order forgiving student loan debt unconstitutional
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Joe Biden’s controversial executive order to forgive millions of student loans exceeded the powers of the President as enumerated by the Constitution. The Biden administration had argued before the Court that it had acted lawfully as the COVID-19 global pandemic meant that the President had the unilateral right to cancel student loans as part of its emergency response. They also cited a 2003 law called the HEROES Act, passed during the Iraq War. The Court rejected the administration’s arguments in a 6-to-3 ruling Friday in Biden vs. Nebraska. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “The HEROES Act allows the secretary to ‘waive or modify’ existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, but does not allow the secretary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal.” When President Biden was running for office in 2020, he promised student loan forgiveness to motivate young people to vote for him over then-incumbent President Donald Trump. Even though Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress for his first two years in power, Biden could not pass student loan forgiveness through Congress, so he opted for the legally dubious step of doing it by executive fiat. The Supreme Court, in Friday’s ruling, rejected that effort. Congresswoman Terri Sewell, a Biden loyalist, released a statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision. “Today, the Supreme Court has chosen to side with Republican state officials who would rather score political points against President Biden than help hard-working Americans being crushed by student loan debt. To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement,” Rep. Sewell said. “In light of this terrible decision, I am calling on my colleagues in Congress to take action to combat the student debt crisis and make higher education more affordable for our students.” U.S. Senator Katie Britt voiced her support for the Court’s decision. “Hard work and personal responsibility are at the heart of the American Dream,” Britt said on Twitter. “As we knew all along, the Biden Administration’s student loan debt transfer scheme was unfair, unjust, and unlawful. I was proud to join @SenateGOP colleagues on an amicus brief in this important case.” Congressman Barry Moore also released a statement in support of the Supreme Court ruling. “The Supreme Court just declared Biden’s student loan giveaway unconstitutional,” Rep. Moore said on Twitter. “Huge victory for American taxpayers, who would have been forced to foot the bill of $400 billion over the next 30 years.” To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Republicans expand their Hunter Biden investigation by seeking an interview with the lead prosecutor
House Republicans on Thursday requested voluntary testimony from nearly a dozen Justice Department officials involved in the investigation of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden as GOP lawmakers widen their scrutiny into what they claim is improper interference by the agency. Leaders of the Republican-controlled House Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means committees asked in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland for nine officials from the Justice Department and two from the FBI to appear for the interviews to address recent allegations made by two IRS employees who worked on the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes and foreign business dealings. “Recent startling testimony from Internal Revenue Services whistleblowers raises serious questions about the Department’s commitment to evenhanded justice and the veracity of assertions made to the Committee on the Judiciary,” Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, James Comer of Kentucky, and Jason Smith of Missouri wrote in the letter obtained by The Associated Press. The individuals named in the letter include David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware in charge of the investigation, as well Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf of Delaware and the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves. Garland said last week that the Justice Department will not object to Weiss testifying to Congress. A department spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter but declined further comment. The request comes about a week after Biden, 53, reached an agreement with the government to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses. The plea deal would also avert prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as Biden adheres to conditions agreed to in court. Days later, the House Ways and Means Committee, led by Smith, voted to publicly disclose congressional testimony from the IRS employees. The testimony from Greg Shapley and an unidentified agent detailed what they called a pattern of “slow-walking investigative steps” and delaying enforcement actions in the months before the 2020 election won by Joe Biden. It is unclear whether the conflict they describe amounts to internal disagreement about how to pursue the investigation or a pattern of interference and preferential treatment. Department policy has long warned prosecutors to take care in charging cases with potential political overtones around the time of an election, to avoid influencing the outcome. The Justice Department has denied the claims and said Weiss, appointed to his job when Donald Trump was president, had full authority over the case. The letter provided a deadline of July 13 for the department to begin scheduling the individuals for transcribed interviews. It said that if the deadline is not met, the committee chairmen will resort to using a congressional subpoena to force cooperation. Beyond Hunter Biden, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee led by Comer has undertaken a broader review of the Biden family’s finances and foreign dealings, issuing dozens of subpoenas to business associates and financial institutions. Republicans have focused much attention on an unverified tip to the FBI that alleged a bribery scheme involving Joe Biden when he was vice president. The unsubstantiated claim, which first emerged in 2019, was that Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor in order to stop an investigation into Burisma, an oil-and-gas company where Hunter Biden was on the board. Democrats said in a letter Thursday to Comer that the Justice Department investigated the claim when Trump was president and closed the matter after eight months, finding “insufficient evidence” that it was true. Democrats highlighted the transcript of an interview with Mykola Zlochevsky, Burisma’s co-founder, in which he denied having any contact with Joe Biden while Hunter Biden worked for the company. “Mr. Zlochevsky’s statements are just one of the many that have debunked the corruption allegations,” said the committee’s top Democrat, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action in college admissions and says race cannot be a factor
The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies. The court’s conservative majority overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively. Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long, universities have “concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.” Justice Clarence Thomas, the nation’s second Black justice who had long called for an end to affirmative action, wrote separately that the decision “sees the universities’ admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the decision “rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.” Both Thomas and Sotomayor took the unusual step of reading a summary of their opinions aloud in the courtroom. In a separate dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — the court’s first Black female justice — called the decision “truly a tragedy for us all.” The vote was 6-3 in the North Carolina case and 6-2 in the Harvard case. Jackson sat out the Harvard case because she had been a member of an advisory governing board there. The Supreme Court had twice upheld race-conscious college admissions programs in the past 20 years, including as recently as 2016. But that was before the three appointees of former President Donald Trump joined the court. At arguments in late October, all six conservative justices expressed doubts about the practice, which had been upheld under Supreme Court decisions reaching back to 1978. Lower courts also had upheld the programs at both UNC and Harvard, rejecting claims that the schools discriminated against white and Asian American applicants. The college admissions disputes are among several high-profile cases focused on race in America, and were weighed by the conservative-dominated, but most diverse court ever. Among the nine justices are four women, two Black people, and a Latina. The justices earlier in June decided a voting rights case in favor of Black voters in Alabama and rejected a race-based challenge to a Native American child protection law. The affirmative action cases were brought by conservative activist Edward Blum, who also was behind an earlier affirmative action challenge against the University of Texas as well as the case that led the court in 2013 to end the use of a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act. Blum formed Students for Fair Admissions, which filed the lawsuits against both schools in 2014. The group argued that the Constitution forbids the use of race in college admissions and called for overturning earlier Supreme Court decisions that said otherwise. Blum’s group also contended that colleges and universities can use other, race-neutral ways to assemble a diverse student body, including by focusing on socioeconomic status and eliminating the preference for children of alumni and major donors. The schools said that they use race in a limited way, but that eliminating it as a factor altogether would make it much harder to achieve a student body that looks like America. At the eight Ivy League universities, the number of nonwhite students increased by 55% from 2010 to 2021, according to federal data. That group, which includes, Native American, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and biracial students, accounted for 35% of students on those campuses in 2021, up from 27% in 2010. The end of affirmative action in higher education in California, Michigan, Washington state, and elsewhere led to a steep drop in minority enrollment in the states’ leading public universities. They are among nine states that already prohibit any consideration of race in admissions to their public colleges and universities. The others are Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma. In 2020, California voters easily rejected a ballot measure to bring back affirmative action. A poll last month by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed 63% of U.S. adults say the court should allow colleges to consider race as part of the admissions process, yet few believe students’ race should ultimately play a major role in decisions. A Pew Research Center survey released last week found that half of Americans disapprove of considerations of applicants’ race, while a third approve. The chief justice and Jackson received their undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard. Two other justices, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch, went to law school there, and Kagan was the first woman to serve as the law school’s dean. Every U.S. college and university the justices attended, save one, urged the court to preserve race-conscious admissions. Those schools — Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Notre Dame, and Holy Cross — joined briefs in defense of Harvard’s and UNC’s admissions plans. Only Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s undergraduate alma mater, Rhodes College, in Memphis, Tennessee, was not involved in the cases. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Florida woman pleads guilty to participating in U.S. Capitol attack
A Florida woman has pleaded guilty to participating in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol following a rally held by then-President Donald Trump. Corinne Montoni, 33, of Lakeland, pleaded guilty Monday to felony civil disorder in District of Columbia federal court, according to court records. She faces up to five years in prison at a sentencing hearing scheduled for September 28. Montoni was arrested in March 2021. According to court documents, Montoni joined with others objecting to Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory over the Republican Trump. A mob attacked the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying election results, authorities said. Five people died in the violence. Montoni unlawfully entered the Capitol through a broken door next to the Senate wing door on the west side of the building, prosecutors said. She made her way to the Capitol crypt, where she took several videos with her cell phone, including one video posted to her Instagram account in which she states, “We’re in the Capitol cuz this is our house – we paid for this, and they’re trying to steal it from us. Let’s go!” According to court documents, Montoni posted on social media throughout the day about her experiences at the Capitol. On her Parler account, she wrote, “WE BREACHED THE CAPITOL OMG“; On her Facebook account, she wrote, “We are DONE with these traitors. Today, we showed them how done we are. The Capitol building belongs to Us, we the people. This is our house.” More than 1,000 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for alleged crimes related to the Capitol breach, officials said. More than 350 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
