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Calista241's JournalSenate Confirms 37-Year-Old To Lifetime Seat On U.S. Circuit Court
Source: Huffington Post
WASHINGTON ― The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Allison Jones Rushing, 37, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, making her the youngest federal judge in the country.
The Senate voted 53-44 to put Rushing into the lifetime court seat. Every Republican present voted for her. Every Democrat present opposed her.
Democrats raised a number of concerns with Rushing, who is a partner at the D.C.-based law firm Williams & Connolly. She worked for Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian organization that has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. She has argued that there were “moral and practical” reasons for banning same-sex marriage. And some lawmakers said she simply lacks the experience or legal ability to be a federal judge.
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Trump is dramatically reshaping the nation’s federal courts. With Rushing’s confirmation, he has now gotten 32 circuit judges, 53 district judges and two Supreme Court justices confirmed. That’s so many circuit judges ― more than any other president confirmed by this point in his first term ― that 1 in 6 seats on U.S. circuit courts is now filled by a judge nominated by Trump.
Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/allison-jones-rushing-trump-judge_n_5c7ee103e4b0e62f69e74912
Accused Russian Troll Farm Literally Tells Mueller They Don't Know What 'Improper Foreign Influence'
Source: Law & Crime
Accused Russian Troll Farm Literally Tells Mueller They Don’t Know What ‘Improper Foreign Influence’ Means
Concord Management and Consulting, LLC, the Russian company accused of being involved in a complex election interference operation in 2016, wants to know exactly what Special Counsel Robert Mueller thinks they did. In a Monday court filing, the firm asked the court to order the Special Counsel’s Office to file a bill of particulars that specifies exactly what they think Concord did, who they believe did it, and explain key words and phrases in the indictment.
“While providing no details about what the Concord corporate entity actually did, the Indictment simply states over and over again that the ‘Defendants and their co-conspirators’ engaged in various acts, making it impossible to determine when and where the term ‘Defendants’ includes Concord and who the co-conspirators are,” Concord stated.
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Concord also claims that Mueller’s office was too vague with their language, and wants to know the meaning of key phrases like “political activities,” “interfere with elections and political processes,” and “improper foreign influence.”
“These terms have no legal meaning, and by virtue of their inclusion in the Indictment, they force Concord to speculate what their meaning might be,” the filing says.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/accused-russian-troll-farm-literally-tells-mueller-they-dont-know-what-improper-foreign-influence-means/
Rod Rosenstein says Justice Department should not release info on uncharged suspects
Source: Chicago Tribune
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Monday he believes the Justice Department should not reveal information about people it does not charge with crimes - an ominous sign for those hoping the department will soon disclose the closely held details of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of President Donald Trump and his campaign.
Speaking at an event about the rule of law at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Rosenstein said, "The guidance I always gave my prosecutors and the agents that I worked with during my tenure on the front lines of law enforcement were if we aren't prepared to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in court, then we have no business making allegations against American citizens."
Though he asserted his comments were not about any particular case, he noted the issue was one "that we'll be discussing nationally."
For days, lawmakers and pundits in Washington have debated what should become public about Mueller's probe once it ends. On Sunday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Democrats plan to subpoena Mueller's report and will go to court if necessary.
Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-rod-rosenstein-mueller-report-20190225-story.html
Should drug dealers be charged with murder? States ponder
Source: AP
Having lost his 29-year-old son to a fentanyl overdose, Dean Palozej believes dealers who peddle drugs that kill should be locked up for a very long time — for the rest of their life, in some cases.
A state representative who heard the story felt the same way. With a piece of legislation introduced this year, he joined lawmakers around the country who have been pushing for murder or manslaughter charges in a get-tough campaign against people who supply drugs that cause fatal overdoses, in efforts to curb the opioid overdose crisis.
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Lawmakers in Connecticut, Hawaii, Mississippi and Virginia have proposed murder and manslaughter charges for overdoses this year. Several states passed such laws over the past two years, while others have taken to charging drug deaths under murder and manslaughter statutes that don’t specifically mention overdoses.
Twenty states now have so-called “drug-induced homicide” laws that carry the same sentences as murder and manslaughter, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit drug policy organization based in New York.
Read more: https://www.apnews.com/a5deb83c79974ff3a40188043e5a6931
Microsoft workers again upset about US military work
Source: Axios
A group of Microsoft workers is once again calling on the company to pull out of a U.S. military contract, saying they never signed up to build tools for war-making.
The letter is signed simply "Microsoft workers." A representative of the group behind it says more than 50 employees are behind the effort, but all are choosing to remain anonymous at this point.
Letter writers: "We are a global coalition of Microsoft workers, and we refuse to create technology for warfare and oppression. We are alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the U.S. Military, helping one country's government "increase lethality" using tools we built. We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used."
Microsoft: "We’re committed to providing our technology to the U.S. Department of Defense, which includes the U.S. Army under this contract," a representative said in a statement. "As we’ve also said, we’ll remain engaged as an active corporate citizen in addressing the important ethical and public policy issues relating to AI and the military.”
Read more: https://www.axios.com/microsoft-workers-again-upset-about-us-military-work-1550872713-f7332f7d-e59d-42bb-b18e-21e277e78494.html
Former Trump lawyer slams Mueller probe, maintains president will be cleared: 'Knock it off and get
Source: ABC News
Former Trump lawyer slams Mueller probe, maintains president will be cleared: 'Knock it off and get it done'
The veteran criminal defense attorney who headed President Donald Trump's legal team during a crucial stretch of the special counsel investigation believes the entire affair will end in silence from special counsel Robert Mueller, and called the massive two-year probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign “a terrible waste of time.”
“I don't think there'll be a report,” John Dowd told ABC News in a wide-ranging interview for the premiere episode of "The Investigation," a new podcast focused on the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller. “I will be shocked if anything regarding the president is made public, other than ‘We're done.’”
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“I know exactly what [Mueller] has,” Dowd said. “I know exactly what every witness said, what every document said. I know exactly what he asked. And I know what the conclusion or the result is,” he said, describing the sweeping efforts by Trump’s legal team to assess the case by speaking to dozens of witnesses. Based on that knowledge, Dowd said, “there's no basis. There's no exposure. It's been a terrible waste of time.”
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Dowd told ABC News that the president cooperated with the investigation, even producing communications with the White House Counsel that Mueller requested.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-lawyer-slams-mueller-probe-maintains-president-cleared/story?id=60967234
I snipped the most important comments from the article and posted them.
White House names 3 nominees for 9th Circuit after conservative attacks
Source: CNN
After a day of attacks from commentators on the right, the White House announced Wednesday night that it planned to nominate three judges for the California seats on the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The left-leaning 9th Circuit has been a frequent target of President Donald Trump, but when the White House last week announced its plans to renominate dozens of judges who had not received a hearing during the last Congress, those who had been previously nominated for the 9th Circuit weren't on the list.
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Carrie Severino of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network referenced Feinstein and California's other US senator, Democrat Kamala Harris, in a morning tweet: "why on earth would the WH agree to tarnish its sterling legacy of circuit court judges &abandon the opportunity to improve the notorious 9th Cir to help Sens (and a would-be POTUS challenger) who are shafting him every chance they get?"
In a release Wednesday evening, the White House press office announced that Daniel P. Collins, Kenneth Kiyul Lee and Daniel A. Bress had been nominated for the 9th Circuit. But Patrick Bumatay, who had been slated for the 9th Circuit last time around, was listed to serve as a judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of California, instead of the 9th Circuit.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/30/politics/9th-circuit-court-appeals-nominees-white-house-judges/index.html
Useless Senator From Louisiana Takes To The Floor To Moan About The Saints Game
Source: Deadspin
The U.S. government entered day 35 of its shutdown today. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have not been paid in over a month, the airline industry is on the brink of total collapse, and the lines outside food banks get longer every day. Meanwhile, Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who is getting paid despite the shutdown, arrived on the Senate floor today to whinge about the blown call from last weekend’s NFC title game:
This dork went on for over five minutes, stiffly making his way through an explanation of the play before coming to his point, which is that... referees should receive letter grades after each game? This is what sports radio rants would sound like if everyone who called into sports radio shows did so from outside the steam room at their country club.
The country may be being held hostage by a President and Republican party whose only goal is to erect an entirely useless monument to racism in the middle of the American desert, but at least this guy is enjoying his Friday sillies.
Read more: https://deadspin.com/useless-senator-from-louisiana-takes-to-the-floor-to-mo-1832059518
Exclusive: U.S. to begin returning asylum seekers to Mexico on Friday - official
Source: Reuters
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United States will return the first group of migrants seeking asylum in the United States to the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Friday, a spokesman for Mexico’s president said on Thursday.
In a major policy change, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said on Dec. 20 it would send non-Mexican migrants who cross the U.S. southern border back to wait in Mexico while their U.S. asylum requests are processed.
The spokesman for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s office did not specify the nationalities of those to be returned to Mexico, although the policy was aimed at helping cope with rising numbers of Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States.
The two countries have held two meetings to work out details of the plan to return migrants seeking U.S. asylum across the shared border. Mexico has said it will not accept anybody facing a credible threat in Mexican territory.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-mexico-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-to-begin-returning-asylum-seekers-to-mexico-on-friday-official-idUSKCN1PI2VV
Supreme Court agrees to review NYC gun restrictions
Source: The Hill
The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear a challenge to a New York City law banning residents from transporting a handgun to a second home or shooting range outside the city limits even if the gun is licensed, locked and unloaded.
The challenge was brought by The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. and three licensed gun owners in the city, Romolo Colantone, Efrain Alvarez and Jose Anthony Irizarry.
Colantone argued that he wants to be able to transport his handgun to his second home in Hancock, N.Y., to protect himself and his family. Colantone, along with Alvarez, Irizarry and the Rifle & Pistol Association, said they want to be able to transport handguns to target ranges and shooting competitions outside New York City to hone their shooting skills.
They claim the city’s ban violates the Second Amendment, the Commerce Clause of the Constitution and the constitutional right to travel.
Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/426408-supreme-court-agrees-to-review-nyc-gun-restrictions
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