Brown Jackson Confirmed to SCOTUS
Will She be Biden's Only Nominee?
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed confirmed to retiring Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat on the Supreme Court Thursday afternoon by the full Senate, 53-47, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Mitt Romney (UT) providing marginal bipartisanship.
In-pocket
Last year, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) voted to confirm Brown Jackson to a federal court seat, but he became increasingly heated-up – unhinged, some Democrats might say – in her Judiciary Committee hearings over the White House passing another lead candidate, J. Michelle Childs, a U.S. district court judge in his state.
Now Childs seems the obvious Biden administration choice if another SCOTUS seat opens, which will not happen through 2024 unless there’s a severe health issue. Looking at you, Justice Clarence Thomas.
Thomas, who was briefly hospitalized with flu-like symptoms last month just as a trove of texts between his wife Ginni Thomas and Trump administration Chief of Staff Mark Meadows surfaced, will not go quietly into retirement. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has made it clear he will garland any subsequent Biden nominee – doesn’t quite have the same sound as being borked, does it? – if the midterms make McConnell majority leader once again, as expected. A second SCOTUS vacancy would likely give the Biden White House the opportunity to shift its left-right makeup.
Best Democrats can expect is to use Graham’s angry words against him if he would vote against a potential Biden nomination of Childs to the bench.
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Trump wanted to march to the Capitol
Ex-President Donald J. Trump told The Washington Post he regrets the Secret Service kept him from marching to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, with his MAGA supporters and blamed House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and others for “not ending the deadly violence.” Trump explained the 457-minute gap in White House phone logs that day saying he didn’t remember getting many calls. He refused to say whether he would testify before the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection.
Want to read more of the same?:
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House wants contempt charges for Navarro, Scavino
But will the attorney general respond? The House voted 220-203 to recommend Merrick Garland hold in contempt of Congress failed San Diego politician turned UC Orange County professor turned Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro, and former deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino, per The Hill. Both have “blown us off completely,” ignoring “several” subpoenas from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection, says panel member Jamie Raskin (D-MD).
Reps. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, and Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois, the two Republicans on the panel, were the only of their party to join all Democrats in the House to vote to recommend the two be held in contempt. If there is a heaven of bipartisan comity, Cheney and Kinzinger are in.
In print: Navarro was subpoenaed back in February when his new book outlined exactly how he “advised” a group of Trump loyalists in attempting to delay the January 6, 2021 certification of Joe Biden as president.
Meanwhile, at the Justice Department
Garland brushed aside a reporter’s question Wednesday on whether his department’s failure to act on contempt of Congress recommendations would prove Congress ineffective in its investigations, according to The Hill.
“We will follow the facts and the law wherever they lead,” Garland said. “We don’t comment on any further negotiations.”
The Justice Department so far has acted on one of two previous contempt of Congress requests – for former Trump advisor Stephen Bannon, but not Trump’s ultimate chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Bannon goes on trial this summer and if convicted could face up to two years in prison and up to $200,000 in fines. Perhaps the Select committee will have to rely on evidence gleaned from Navarro’s book, Bannon’s radio show and Trump’s latest WaPo interview.
--Edited by Todd Lassa and Nic Woods
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Today is the Allegany County Library System’s (Maryland) Day of Civility. Tune in to https://thehustings.news Friday for a special center column feature on the Frostburg State University’s Leadership Lab podcast on civility in our current political discussion.