Michigan GOP Push Sparks Battle Over Voting Rights 2022
By Eric Bradner Michigan is emerging as the latest battleground in Republicans’ nationwide push to restrict voting rights, with GOP officials planning to end-run Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s all-but-certain veto of proposed restrictions and progressives beginning to mobilize to stop them. The GOP attempt to circumvent Whitmer relies on a quirk of Michigan law: If Republicans gather 340,000 signatures in a petition drive, the House and Senate can enact legislation without the governor having the power to veto it. It’s the latest escalation in a years-long and increasingly ugly effort to undercut Whitmer and two other Democratic women who are
Rep. Nikema Williams Champions Voting Rights in Congress
By Dana Bash It’s not often that a freshman member of Congress — in office barely two months — gets a shout out from the House Speaker during a congressional signing ceremony for a major piece of legislation. But that’s what happened to Rep. Nikema Williams. Speaker Nancy Pelosi even said that in some ways Williams made passing the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package, the first Biden administration priority, possible. Williams is not only a new House member, she is also the chairwoman of the Georgia Democratic Party, and was a key player in helping the formerly red state elect
Civil Rights Groups Sue Georgia Over New Voting Law
By Pamela Kirkland Several civil rights groups announced on Tuesday that they have filed a joint federal lawsuit over the Georgia election overhaul bill, the third federal lawsuit challenging the legislation since it was signed into law last week. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Georgia, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Southern Poverty Law Center, and law firms WilmerHale, and Davis Wright Tremaine brought the case on behalf of the Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Georgia Muslim Voter Project, Women Watch Afrika, Latino Community Fund Georgia, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. The lawsuit
Biden Nominates Diverse Slate of Federal Judges
By Ariane de Vogue and Betsy Klein President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a diverse slate of 11 judicial nominees, including three African American women for Circuit Court vacancies and a candidate who, if confirmed, would be the first Muslim federal judge in US history. The list, first reported by The Washington Post, is Biden’s first wave of judicial nominations, and also includes candidates who, if confirmed, would serve as the first AAPI woman to serve on the US District Court for the District of DC and the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge for the
Civil Rights Leaders’ Children Condemn Georgia Voting Law
By Nicole Chavez The children of three late civil rights movement leaders released a joint letter late Monday night to corporate leaders and lawmakers in response to the new voting law in Georgia. Bernice A. King, the daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; Al Vivian, the son of the Rev. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian; and John-Miles Lewis, the son of US Rep. John Lewis, said corporate leaders failed to live up to “their racial equity commitments” and disrespected their fathers’ tireless work. “Rather than sowing seeds to provide democracy the greatest chance to grow today and prevail tomorrow,
Biden Unveils $3T-$4T Infrastructure and Jobs Plan
By Phil Mattingly President Joe Biden will lay out the first of a sweeping two-pronged infrastructure and jobs proposal Wednesday, with the administration launching its expected months-long effort to pass proposals that will total between $3 trillion and $4 trillion, according to senior administration officials. Biden, who will detail the infrastructure and climate piece of the proposal in Pittsburgh, is set to focus on repairing the physical infrastructure of the country while pushing for significant investments in climate infrastructure and research and development. “The President has a plan to fix our infrastructure and a plan to pay for it,” White
Georgia Voting Law Echoes Slavery and Jim Crow Era
By Eva Rothenberg Georgia’s controversial sweeping elections bill has been signed into law. And historians and critics are likening the measures to the start of a new Jim Crow era, saying it’s a direct attack on the right to vote for Black Georgians in future elections. According to Adrienne Jones, a political science professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta, firsthand accounts of slavery and Jim Crow America are a reflection of where our democracy could be headed if voting restriction laws keep being passed in state legislatures around the country. “Reading slave narratives, you’re experiencing the lives of people who
Kamala Harris Awaits Move-In at Vice President’s Residence
By Kate Bennett It has been more than two months since Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president of the United States, a historic moment for the country, as Harris is the first woman and the first woman of color to hold the second highest office in the land. Yet, Harris — along with her husband, Georgetown Law professor Douglas Emhoff — is still, ostensibly, living out of suitcases, unable to move into the private residence reserved for the vice president because it’s still undergoing renovations. It’s unclear why the renovations are taking so long, said one administration official,
Warnock Urges Voting Rights, Biden Focuses on Infrastructure
By Devan Cole President Joe Biden and other Democrats could tackle both voting rights and infrastructure legislation at the same time, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock insisted Sunday, while White House shifts its focus to the country’s infrastructure as his home state of Georgia has enacted a strict new voting law. “We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We’ve got to work on the infrastructure of our country — our roads and our bridges — and we’ve got to work on the infrastructure of our democracy,” the Georgia senator told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union”
Biden’s Infrastructure, Georgia Law, Border & Covid Updates
Analysis by Paul LeBlanc With some wind in his sails from the massively popular Covid relief package, President Joe Biden’s next big legislative push — a sweeping infrastructure plan — is set to bring a far more challenging bipartisan test in the coming weeks. The “Build Back Better” infrastructure proposal that White House aides are putting together would be segmented into two separate parts — one focused on infrastructure and clean energy, and a second focused on what’s being termed the “care economy” with a focus zeroed in on key domestic economic issues. In full, it would mark a sweeping
