‘The court-packers' pick’: McConnell a ‘no’ on Ketanji Brown Jackson for Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday he would vote against Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is set to become the first Black woman ever to sit on the nation’s highest bench.
McConnell revealed his decision on the Senate floor following the conclusion of a week of Judiciary Committee hearings in which Jackson fielded pointed questions from Republican lawmakers on gender identity and sentences for child pornography.
“After studying the nominee’s record and watching her performance this week, I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court,” McConnell said.
His reasoning stemmed from Jackson’s refusal to reject a plan to expand the Supreme Court, a plan supported by many Senate Democrats.
“I assumed this would be an easy softball for Judge Jackson, but it wasn’t,” McConnell said. “The nominee suggested there are two legitimate sides to the issue. She testified she has a view on the matter but would not share it.”
—McClatchy Washington Bureau
Permit-less carry of handguns clears panel, heads to Georgia Senate floor
ATLANTA — The state Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday quickly passed legislation that would let Georgians carry a concealed handgun without first getting a license from the state.
House Bill 1358, which passed the House earlier this month, was amended to instead mirror Senate Bill 319, which was approved on the Senate floor last month. Both bills aim to rid the state of the requirement to first apply and pay for a license before being able to legally carry a concealed handgun.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Brian Strickland, a Republican, declined to take public testimony, saying the panel had already heard comments about the Senate legislation in committee and it had been debated on the floor.
Supporters of the measure said it would remove an unnecessary barrier to their constitutional right to carry handguns.
Opponents said Republicans are pushing legislation to remove the handgun licensing process to play to the GOP base this election year. But doing that, they said, would also make it easier for those who don’t have a legal right to possess and carry handguns to do so — leading to an increase in gun violence.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Idaho House Republicans kill libraries budget, citing ‘harmful’ materials, pornography
BOISE, Idaho — On what was slated to be the second-to-last day of the legislative session, Idaho House Republicans killed the budget for the Idaho Commission for Libraries after debate over controversial materials in libraries.
The bill died Thursday in a 33-36 vote. The budget before the House included a cut of about $300,000 that had been used for a statewide e-book collection for K-12 students.
Assistant Minority Leader Lauren Necochea, a Democrat, in a statement called the vote “senseless retribution” against librarians who spoke out against a previous bill that would have removed legal protections for schools, colleges, universities and libraries to disseminate “harmful” materials to minors. That bill passed the House but didn’t get a hearing in the Senate.
“The revised budget already punished Idaho students, reducing their access to books so that House GOP legislators could make a political statement,” Necochea said. “Ultimately, Idaho’s children are paying the price with diminished access to books, especially in schools with limited resources.”
Lawmakers who debated against the bill raised concerns about the materials in libraries and whether they could be harmful to children.
—Idaho Statesman
China crash mystery deepens as evidence suggests midair breakup
At least one piece of the Boeing Co. 737-800 that crashed in China appears to have broken loose well before impact, a finding that adds mystery to the plane’s fatal dive.
The piece suspected to have come from the China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. jet was found about 6 miles from the main wreckage area, Chinese officials said at a briefing Thursday.
If investigators confirm that the part came from the jet, it would indicate the plane suffered some kind of midair breakup, which could offer clues about what led to Monday’s crash or at least shed light on the flight’s final seconds.
“The questions are: Exactly what piece was it and when did it come off?” said Jeff Guzzetti, the former chief of accident investigations at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Flight 5735 from Kunming to Guangzhou went down without an emergency radio call from pilots, slamming into a forested hillside about 100 miles from its destination, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. There were 132 people aboard.
—Bloomberg News
