The Senate Judiciary Committee is pushing Ketanji Brown Jackson closer to confirmation, setting up a vote next week to recommend her nomination to the full Senate and seat her as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. Jackson appears to be on a glidepath to confirmation by mid-April, even if she doesn’t receive the…
read moreFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Monday that forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, a policy that has drawn intense national scrutiny from critics who argue it marginalizes LGBTQ people. The legislation has pushed Florida and DeSantis, an ascending Republican and potential 2024 presidential…
read more“In a democracy, the number of voters you have should determine the number of representatives you can elect,” James Gilmore, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told VOA. “But that’s not the case in Louisiana and many other U.S. states. The latest redistricting maps are proof of that.” Redistricting is the decennial process in which congressional districts…
read morePresident Joe Biden intends to propose a spending plan for the 2023 budget year that would cut projected deficits by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, according to a fact sheet released Saturday by the White House budget office. In his proposal, expected Monday, the lower deficits reflect the economy’s resurgence as the…
read moreVirginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent weeks of text messages imploring White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to act to overturn the 2020 presidential election — furthering then-President Donald Trump’s lies that the free and fair vote was marred by nonexistent fraud, according to copies of the messages obtained by…
read moreIdaho on Wednesday became the first state to enact a law modeled after a Texas statute that bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and that can be enforced through lawsuits to avoid constitutional court challenges. Republican Governor Brad Little signed into law the measure that allows people who would have been family members…
read moreAn elected official from New Mexico has been found guilty of two misdemeanor charges for his role in the January 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol that allegedly attempted to disrupt certification of the 2020 election results. Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin was found guilty of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol but was acquitted…
read moreConfirmation hearings opened with Democrats largely praising nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, while Republicans telegraphed tough questioning ahead …
read moreThe U.S. Supreme Court is made up of nine justices. Like all federal judges, they are appointed for life. When a justice chooses to step down, or dies in office, the process begins to select a replacement. …
read moreIn the first of four days of scheduled hearings to discuss the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that their treatment of Jackson would break along partisan lines, with Democrats highlighting her qualifications and Republicans raising questions about her record. Currently a judge on…
read moreWASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee is beginning historic confirmation hearings Monday for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. Barring a significant misstep by the 51-year-old Jackson, a federal judge for the past nine years, Democrats who control the Senate by the slimmest of margins intend to…
read moreAlaska Rep. Don Young, who was the longest-serving Republican in the history of the U.S. House, has died. He was 88. His office announced Young’s death in a statement Friday night. “It’s with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we announce Congressman Don Young (R-AK), the Dean of the House and revered champion for Alaska,…
read moreUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, thanking President Joe Biden and the U.S. for their support while calling for more sanctions on Russian officials and additional military aid. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more. …
read moreThe Senate unanimously approved a measure Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States next year. The bipartisan bill, named the Sunshine Protection Act, would ensure Americans would no longer have to change their clocks twice a year. But the bill still needs approval from the House, and the signature of…
read moreUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will deliver a virtual address to the U.S. Congress as the Russian war on his country intensifies. Zelenskyy will speak Wednesday to members of the House and Senate, the Democratic leaders announced. The event will be livestreamed for the public. “It’s such a privilege to have this leader of this country,…
read moreRussia continues its unprovoked attack on neighboring Ukraine as the invasion rolls through a third week. On Sunday dozens of people were killed when Russia launched a missile attack on a military training base in western Ukraine near the country’s border with Poland. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. …
read moreU.S. local election officials are increasingly concerned about threats and political pressure fueled by baseless allegations of voter fraud in the last presidential race, and one in five say they are somewhat or very unlikely to stay in their jobs through the 2024 contest, a national survey showed on Thursday. In the poll of nearly…
read moreA plane carrying former U.S. President Donald Trump made an emergency landing in New Orleans on Saturday evening after experiencing engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico, a source familiar with the matter confirmed on Wednesday. The plane, a Dassault Falcon 900, had gone about 75 miles from a New Orleans airport before turning back…
read moreA bipartisan group of lawmakers has written a letter asking the Department of Justice to determine whether online retailer Amazon engaged in obstruction of Congress during an investigation of the company’s competitive practices. The letter said the company had “engaged in a pattern and practice of misleading conduct” that suggested it had sought to influence…
read moreU.S. lawmakers reached an agreement Tuesday to send as much as $14 billion in humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine. The bipartisan effort to confront Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the independent Eastern European nation follows congressional support for U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement he will ban Russian energy imports into the U.S. VOA’s congressional correspondent…
read moreVenezuela released at least two jailed U.S. citizens on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said, in an apparent goodwill gesture toward the Biden administration following a visit to Caracas by a high-level U.S. delegation. One of the freed prisoners was identified as Gustavo Cardenas, one of six Citgo oil executives arrested in 2017 and…
read moreRobert Palmer was arrested two months after participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection in Washington. He talked exclusively to VOA about the events leading up to the riot and its aftermath. Here’s a timeline from Election Day, 2020, to Palmer’s incarceration. …
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