Headlines for Monday, May 15, 2023
đ˝There is no greater power than a community discovering the truth and working together to make sure an injustice is not repeated
đ˝A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson
đ˝There is no greater power than a community discovering the truth and working together to make sure an injustice is not repeated
NEWS HEADLINES FOR MAY 15, 2023
CBS News: Special counsel John Durham's long-awaited report on FBI's Russia investigation released by DOJ: John Durham, the Trump-era special counsel tasked with scrutinizing the origins of the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, has concluded his sweeping examination into the bureau's conduct, finding the Justice Department and FBI "failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law" regarding the events during the 2016 campaign. The release of Durham's roughly 300-page report Monday comes four years after his investigation into the actions of the FBI in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election began. Attorney General Merrick Garland received the report from Durham on Friday, and it was transmitted to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on Monday.
AP News: Prosecutor ends probe of FBIâs Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges: A special prosecutor has ended his four-year investigation into possible FBI misconduct in its probe of ties between Russia and Donald Trumpâs 2016 campaign with withering criticism of the bureau but a meager court record that fell far short of the former presidentâs prediction he would uncover the âcrime of the century.â
VOX: A new Supreme Court case threatens to make gerrymandering even worse: The Supreme Court announced Monday it will hear a case that could give state lawmakers even more leeway than they already have to draw gerrymandered maps. In January, a federal court determined that South Carolina violated the Constitutionâs prohibition on racial gerrymandering when it drew one of its congressional districts in the 2021 redistricting cycle. This case, known as Alexander v. South Carolina Conference of the NAACP, tees up the question of whether state lawmakers may use race to identify Democratic voters, and then draw district lines intended to diminish these votersâ ability to elect a candidate of their choice.
Roll Call: Supreme Court to decide case on South Carolina congressional map: The Supreme Court announced Monday it will decide whether a three-judge panel was correct to throw out South Carolinaâs map for its 1st District. The case could decide the contours of the seat currently held by second-term Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, as well as changes to other districts in the state. The lower court panelâs decision has been stayed until after the Supreme Court decides the case.
The New York Times: Supreme Court to Consider South Carolina Voting Map Ruled a Racial Gerrymander:Â The Supreme Court said on Monday that it would decide whether a congressional voting district in South Carolina should be restored after a lower court struck it down as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Federal District Court in Columbia, S.C., ruled in January that the stateâs First Congressional District, drawn after the 2020 census, violated the Constitution by making race the predominant factor.
Ohio Capital Journal: Supermajority amendment opponents sue, arguing âno legal basisâ for August election: State lawmakers approved a measure to ask voters if Ohio should raise the threshold for approving constitutional amendments to 60%. But in an unusual move, they set the August date for that election through the resolution itself. They made no changes to state law which strictly limit such elections. Republican House and Senate leaders insist itâs all above board. But in an illustrative statement, House Minority Leader Allison Russo said it was at best âlegally questionable.â
NBC Montana: How the Montana GOP supermajority wielded its power: Senate Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, was ambling down a hallway on the third floor of the Montana Capitol late on May 2 when he crossed paths with a Montana Free Press reporter. The typically dry, straight-laced attorney looked remarkably at ease, given what had transpired in the preceding 87 days of the 68th Montana Legislature. âWe win,â he said. âYou can print that.â
Yahoo News: Timing set for votes to override Cooperâs abortion veto in NC legislature: New restrictions on abortions in North Carolina could pass as early as Tuesday night. The Republican-supermajority North Carolina General Assembly is planning to vote Tuesday on whether to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooperâs veto of Senate Bill 20. Cooper vetoed the bill, which restricts abortions after 12 weeks, at a rally on Saturday in downtown Raleigh. The House and Senate, which both have Republican supermajorities by one vote, passed the bill the first week of May.
The Washington Post: DeSantis signs bill to defund DEI programs at Floridaâs public colleges: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill into law Monday barring the stateâs colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and limiting how race can be discussed in many courses. The move comes amid a larger conservative attack on higher education DEI programs, which DeSantis and others say reinforce racial divisions and promote liberal orthodoxy. Supporters of the programs say they are critical to serving the nationâs increasingly diverse student populations.
NBC News: Justice Department secures court order blocking Trump deposition in Strzok and Page lawsuits: In a win for the Justice Department, a federal judge on Friday blocked a May 24 deposition of former President Donald Trump in connection with a pair lawsuits filed by former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The order from U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was in response to a Justice Department motion filed on Thursday urging her to reconsider an earlier ruling that said that Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray could be deposed in the lawsuits, without specifying the order of depositions. Government attorneys argued that Wray's deposition, which has not been scheduled, could make Trump's unnecessary.
Salon: A short guide to Donald Trump's many legal woes: Former President Donald Trump's tangled web of legal woes has grown more sticky in 2023. From the slowly building criminal inquiries in D.C. and Georgia to the mountain of fraud charges he already faces in New York -- a sprawl of investigations have trailed Trump since his departure from the White House. Now, it seems, the lawsuits are finally catching up to the not-so-Teflon Don.
The Independent: Leaked Dominion texts show Tucker Carlson wanted to âstart threatening Fox News staffâ for criticising Trump: Tucker Carlson discussed trying to steer the overall direction of Fox News in a more pro-Trump direction and threatening colleagues who didnât go along with his vision following the 2020 election, according to text messages obtained as part of the now-settled Dominion Voting Systems defamation case against the network. In the 19 November 2020 messages, obtained by The Daily Beast, Carlson reportedly responds to a message from producer Justin Wells regarding a story viewed as critical of Mr Trump, which featured references to âthe growing number of coronavirus cases nationwide and the ongoing upheaval over President Trumpâs refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.â
The Washington Post: Inside the Tennessee legislature, where a GOP supermajority reigns: Two dozen people sat silently in the visitorsâ gallery overlooking the Tennessee Capitol of Representatives, holding signs that said, âOur children are watching you.â They were furious about a Nashville school shooting three weeks earlier in which a former student carrying an AR-15 assault-style rifle and other guns killed six people, including three 9-year-olds. Protests since then had been nearly nonstop, and polls showed that a large majority of people across this Republican-controlled state supported at least some new restrictions on guns.
POLITICO: How the Supreme Court might view the debt limit fight: If Joe Biden and House Republicans fail to reach a debt deal, the crisis could get tossed to the Supreme Court â where it would scramble the usual priorities of the courtâs conservatives. The courtâs current approach to most cases is overwhelmingly pro-market and business-friendly. The justices would be wary of stoking economic calamity. At the same time, the conservative majority has been highly skeptical of Bidenâs attempts to harness executive power and bypass Congress. If he invoked the 14th Amendment to avoid a default â an option the White House is weighing â it would be just the sort of unprecedented power grab that the conservative justices have condemned in other areas of Bidenâs economic platform.
The Hill: Student loan forgiveness: What to know as the Supreme Court mulls case: Within the next month or so â but likely sooner â millions of federal student loan borrowers will know whether or not theyâll see thousands of dollars in debt erased from their accounts. The Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling in two cases that sought to halt President Joe Bidenâs plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for over 44 million Americans.
POLITICO: The Supreme Court has an electoral âbombâ on its hands. Will it defuse it before 2024?: A controversial legal theory that could completely upend American elections may not be resolved by the Supreme Court this year. Some legal experts warn there will be chaos ahead of 2024 if the high court doesnât act. Some conservative legal scholars and attorneys have been advancing a once-fringe idea known as the independent state legislature theory, which gives state courts little â to no â role in interpreting election laws set by state legislatures.
PBS News: Illinois moves toward gender inclusivity as other states move away: Illinois bills that would update existing laws to be more gender inclusive and add protections for LGBTQ marriages are ready for action by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who said he will sign them. The trio of state bills passed last week are meant to move the state in the âopposite directionâ of those restricting LGBTQ youth, said Sen. Mike Simmons, the billsâ sponsor and the first and only current âoutâ LGBTQ lawmaker in the Illinois Senate. Illinois is one of several U.S. states that have moved to counteract a surge of anti-LGBTQ legislation in mostly Republican-led states.
The New York Times: Abortion Showdown in North Carolina May Hinge on a Single Vote: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, now in the waning years of his second term, has suddenly found himself back on a campaign trail. On Wednesday, flanked by supporters in a fifth-floor classroom at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, Mr. Cooper made a direct appeal to residents. But he was not looking for thousands of votes. Just one. North Carolinaâs Republican-dominated legislature has passed a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks. Mr. Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed the bill. But to prevent the legislature from using its razor-thin supermajority to override his veto, Mr. Cooper is asking voters to pressure Republican lawmakers. Convincing just one legislator will keep the stateâs current abortion law â allowing it up to 20 weeks â in place.
The Hill: How Florida became a conservative bastion: Florida has become the nerve center of the modern Republican Party. Once the nationâs largest and most volatile swing state, Florida has lurched to the right in recent years, becoming a mecca for the GOPâs most influential luminaries and wealthiest donors. Republicans now hold supermajorities in the state legislature, and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has solidified his grip on the reins of political power in the state, turning Florida into a laboratory for conservative policy experiments. For the first time since Reconstruction, thereâs not a single Democrat in statewide elected office.
The Guardian: âImpossible to hold him accountableâ: DeSantis signs laws to ease 2024 run: Â Ron DeSantis is using the final weeks before he reportedly launches a presidential campaign to modify Florida law to allow him to run while serving as governor and reduce transparency over political spending and his travel. DeSantis is poised to sign a bill that would exempt him from Floridaâs âresign-to-runâ law, so that he wonât have to give up his office in order to run for president. Under existing state law, if he were to run, DeSantis would have had to submit a resignation letter before Floridaâs qualifying deadline this year and step down by inauguration day in 2025. Last month, Republicans in the state legislature passed a measure that says the restriction does not apply to those running for president or vice-president.
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