Key takeaways: House Republicans are considering the possibility of impeaching President Joe Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has signaled an openness to the move, though…
Posts tagged as “Arizona Senate”
A coalition of Senate Democrats has urged Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to take action to ensure Associate Justice Samuel Alito recuses himself from cases involving regulation of the court. The request follows a report of an undisclosed luxury fishing trip with a Republican billionaire who later had cases before the court, as well as a column written by a former clerk of Alito's that raised further questions about the court's ethical standards. The Democrats are asking Roberts to ensure Alito recuses himself from any cases involving laws that regulate the High Court, and it remains to be seen how Roberts will respond.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, has been assigned to preside over former President Donald Trump's latest indictment. Despite Senate Republicans' attempts to undermine her credibility, they unanimously voted to confirm her in 2014. Chutkan has established a reputation for imposing tough penalties on rioters who participated in the 2021 attack on the Capitol, including handing down the longest sentence of just over five years.
U.S. Capitol Police locked down and evacuated the Russell Senate Office Building on Wednesday afternoon in response to a report of an active shooter. Videos posted to Twitter showed people evacuating the cluster of three Senate office buildings located on the north side of the Capitol complex. After a thorough search, no injuries and no shooter were located and the lockdown has since been lifted. Capitol Police are continuing to investigate the incident and are asking anyone with information to contact them.
Lawyers for Ken Paxton, the impeached Republican Texas Attorney General, have filed motions with the Senate to dismiss most of the charges against him, claiming they are based on alleged acts of corruption that occurred before his reelection in 2022. Paxton's attorneys also accused the GOP-dominated Texas House of Representatives of attempting to remove him for conduct that occurred before his most recent election, which state law bars. The impeachment charges include alleged conduct since 2014, which Paxton's attorneys argue "allege nothing that Texas voters have not heard from the Attorney General's political opponents for years". The trial is set to begin on September 5th, and the outcome could have major implications for the Texas Attorney General's office.
Democrats have pushed a Supreme Court ethics legislation through a Senate committee, which has been met with opposition from Justice Alito, who is the first member of the court to take a public stand against it. The legislation is in response to Justice Alito's interview with two Wall Street Journal writers, including one who is an attorney representing plaintiffs in a key case before the Supreme Court. Its prospects in the full Senate remain uncertain.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his state's new standards on how Black history is taught in middle school, which include instruction on how "slaves developed skills." Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) was compared to Vice President Kamala Harris for his criticism of the curriculum. Scott, the Senate's only Black Republican and presidential candidate, said that there is "no silver lining" in slavery and suggested Donalds should not "swing for the liberal media fences like Vice President Harris." The standards have been widely condemned by civil rights groups.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and GOP Representative Byron Donalds of Florida have both criticized Florida's new public school standards that teach that some Black people benefited from slavery. Scott said that there is no silver lining in slavery, while Donalds praised the new African-American standards in Florida, calling them "good, robust, and accurate." This controversy highlights the importance of teaching accurate and comprehensive history in public schools and serves as a reminder that slavery was a horrific institution.