Politics
Jackson supporters gear up to protect her historic Supreme Court bid from racist, sexist attacks
When Choose Ketanji Brown Jackson sits earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday to kick off her Supreme Courtroom affirmation hearings, Democrats and civil rights advocates need her to know — and see — they’re behind her.
They’ll begin by filling the room with a sea of supporters. However they’ll additionally dispatch allies to talk out about Jackson’s {qualifications} and counter her Republican critics throughout the airwaves and social media.
“We positively have to pack the room,” Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) mentioned. However she added: “We should be exterior. We should be sharing data on social media. We should be talking out in opposition to the lies and the misinformation that’ll come from these right-wing of us that don’t need to see her confirmed.”
Jackson’s hearings will start Monday morning with opening statements from Jackson and Judiciary Committee members. On Tuesday and Wednesday, every of the panel’s 22 members — evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans — may have as much as 50 minutes to query her.
The NAACP and a coalition of 187 organizations despatched separate letters in current days expressing help for Jackson’s affirmation, constructing on a wide-ranging and bipartisan group of leaders who’ve endorsed her.
Organizations led by Black girls are planning to host a rally Monday morning exterior the Supreme Courtroom, which sits throughout from the Capitol. The Black Ladies’s Management Collective will stream the hearings on its web site to create a web-based neighborhood for Black girls to look at the historic continuing collectively and provide real-time evaluation.
“It’s not simply to be on the market visibly cheering her on and wishing her nicely, but additionally being able to immediately reply to what we anticipate” to be “misogynistic, anti-woman [and] anti-Black feedback,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) mentioned. “It’s not ‘if.’ It’s ‘when.’ And I believe you’ll be shocked by how coordinated a few of these responses can be.”
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, described its function as being “the wind beneath her wings.” The group has arrange a warfare room for the affirmation and different points, however has declined to supply particulars about what it plans to do.
Senate Republicans have largely stopped speaking about race or gender in regard to the nomination since three of their very own — Ted Cruz of Texas, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and John Kennedy of Louisiana — have been criticized weeks in the past for his or her rhetoric round President Biden’s pledge to appoint a Black girl.
On Thursday, Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled what could also be an alternate GOP assault technique, questioning the empathy Democrats say she would convey to the bench resulting from her earlier work as a federal public defender.
“Her supporters have a look at her resume and deduce a particular empathy for criminals. I suppose that signifies that authorities prosecutors and harmless crime victims begin every trial at a drawback,” McConnell mentioned on the Senate flooring.
Democrats vigorously pushed again. Bush mentioned public defenders sometimes symbolize people who find themselves in want — typically probably the most marginalized neighborhood members.
“Are we saying that they aren’t folks that ought to have illustration?” she requested. “I completely, like, completely, 100%, unequivocally disagree with him.”
Whereas the Congressional Black Caucus might need probably the most seen presence within the affirmation course of exterior of the Senate, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus have additionally sought to assist.
“We can be selling her swift affirmation through the press on nationwide information in English and Spanish, radio, and social media in an effort to proceed to attract consideration to her impeccable life expertise {and professional} accolades that make her overqualified and really a lot appropriate to be our Supreme Courtroom justice,” mentioned Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Coachella), chairman of the Hispanic Caucus.
A number of racial justice and gender rights teams have additionally signaled plans to mobilize in help of Jackson.
UltraViolet, a girls’s rights advocacy group, is relaunching its Ladies’s Disinformation Protection Mission to counter racist and sexist narratives in mainstream and social media. The challenge began in 2020 as a coalition of progressive teams that sought to move off unfounded assaults in opposition to Kamala Harris forward of her choice as Biden’s operating mate.
On the time, they fought narratives that Harris, the primary Black girl and Asian American to be vice chairman, wasn’t certified, and shortly countered assaults that performed on racist and sexist stereotypes — together with claims by then-President Trump that Harris wasn’t “competent,” and his try to amplify the lie that she wasn’t born a U.S. citizen, much like the falsehoods he had pushed about Barack Obama earlier than and through the first Black president’s administration.
For a lot of Black girls, Jackson’s nomination is a landmark achievement rectifying 233 years of exclusion, and her coming affirmation battle a fraught reminder of the challenges and stereotypes girls of colour face in public boards.
In interviews, a number of Black feminine leaders mentioned they hope the method expands how the general public perceives Black girls in positions of energy, they usually stand able to advocate for a good and well timed affirmation.
“I promise you, when [Jackson] takes that seat in October ’22, you’re going to see folks really feel a sure form of means,” mentioned Fatima Goss Graves, president and chief government of the Nationwide Ladies’s Regulation Heart. “I believe folks can be excited to interrupt this barrier, and I refuse to let those that try to resort to an previous playbook disrupt my pleasure on this.”
Democrats are eyeing an Easter recess deadline to substantiate Jackson. The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on whether or not to advance her nomination to the ground, the place each senator will vote on whether or not to raise her to the Supreme Courtroom.
Democratic leaders and the White Home are hoping for a bipartisan vote within the Senate. Jackson was confirmed with Republican help to a few earlier appointments, together with three GOP votes final June to put her on the D.C. appellate courtroom.
However a united Democratic caucus may verify her with none Republican help by having Harris solid the tie-breaking vote.
However first Jackson and her allies need to get her via this week’s hearings unscathed.
“We’re prepared,” Omar mentioned. “This is a chance none of us thought would come.”
Instances workers author Arit John contributed to this report.
Landmark California environmental laws will be suspended for wildfire victims seeking to rebuild their homes and businesses, according to an executive order signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Requirements for building permits and reviews in the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act — often considered onerous by developers — will be eased for victims of the fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other communities, according to the order.
“California leads the nation in environmental stewardship. I’m not going to give that up,” Newsom told Jacob Soboroff on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But one thing I won’t give into is delay. Delay is denial for people: lives, traditions, places torn apart, torn asunder.”
Dan Dunmoyer, president and chief executive of the California Building Industry Assn., said the governor’s action represents an early and strong statement about the future of these areas. Newsom is making clear, Dunmoyer said, that the state will encourage homeowners to go back to their neighborhoods rather than deem development there too risky.
“He’s put a marker down to say we’re going to rebuild these communities,” Dunmoyer said.
Waivers of the environmental quality act, known as CEQA, and the Coastal Act could shave years off the process for homeowners in the Palisades, he said, but building permits issued by local governments represent another major hurdle.
“Those two banner ones are important,” Dunmoyer said, referring to the state laws, “but if the locals don’t come up with an expedited process, that’s where it could get stuck.”
Newsom’s order calls for the state housing department to work with affected cities and the county to develop new permitting rules that would allow for all approvals to be issued within 30 days.
In the wake of the fires, housing analysts have renewed calls for the city of Los Angeles to speed up its processes. A 2023 study found that the average unit in a multifamily property in the city took five years to complete, with a substantial portion of that time related to bureaucratic approval.
Mayor Karen Bass has acknowledged the problems and pledged that the city will accelerate permitting.
“We are going to clear the red tape and unnecessary delays and costs and headaches that people experience in ordinary times so that we can rebuild your homes quickly,” Bass said at a news conference Thursday.
Bass reiterated the promise at a news conference Sunday morning, applauding the governor’s action, and said she plans to release details on the effort this week. L.A. County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, similarly lauded the governor’s executive order.
“I want to thank the governor for hearing my request and taking swift action to ensure that our residents will not be burdened by unnecessary requirements as they begin the process of recovery and rebuilding,” said Barger, a Republican.
However, many GOP members across the state said Newsom’s order was too little, too late.
“Wildfire victims deserve much more from Gavin Newsom. When his track record includes lying about and underfunding wildfire prevention efforts, he owes Angelenos answers on how he and local Democrat leaders could have been so unprepared for these devastating wildfires,” said California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson. “No more blame game and excuses. We need accountability from this governor, and we need it now.”
Environmentalists also noted that the governor’s executive order restates an existing provision in the Coastal Act that provides exemptions for fire rebuilds.
The California Coastal Commission, which is tasked with coordinating with local officials in enforcing the Coastal Act, noted last week that the state law already clearly lays out that reconstruction of homes, businesses and most other structures destroyed by a disaster are exempt from typical coastal development permits — as long as the new building is sited in the same location and not more than 10% larger or taller than the destroyed structure.
In the 2018 Woolsey fire, which devastated areas in and around Malibu, the commission coordinated with city and county officials to help homeowners rebuild. Coastal officials also noted that over the years, following other devastating natural disasters, the commission has processed hundreds of “disaster rebuild waivers” in other coastal areas that are directly regulated by the commission.
“When the time comes to rebuild, both the Coastal Act and the Governor’s Executive Order provide a clear pathway for replacing lost structures quickly and easily,” Kate Huckelbridge, the commission’s executive director, said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to all the residents of the L.A. area whose homes and communities have been destroyed by these horrific fires.”
President-elect Donald Trump and other conservatives have castigated Newsom and other Democratic leaders in California for embracing environmental policies that they argue laid the groundwork for this month’s historic destruction. Calling Newsom “incompetent,” Trump said he should resign, and made false statements about water being redirected to protect small fish and about Federal Emergency Management Agency policy.
“The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out,” Trump wrote Saturday night on Truth Social, his social media platform. “Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?”
Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
Newsom, during the NBC interview, said he had asked the incoming president to come view the devastation in person, as Barger did Saturday.
“We want to do it in the spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist. He’s the president-elect,” Newsom said. “I respect the office.”
While noting that many of the buildings that survived the fires were more likely to be built under modern building codes, Newsom said he was worried about the amount of time it would take to rebuild. So his executive order eliminates some CEQA requirements, modifies Coastal Act provisions and ensures property tax assessments are not increased for those who rebuild.
CEQA was signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1970 amid the burgeoning environmental movement. The Coastal Act was created after a landmark voter proposition in 1972 that was led by a fervent statewide effort to save the coast from unchecked development and devastating oil spills like the 1969 disaster in Santa Barbara that was considered the “environmental shot heard round the world.”
Both have faced challenges for decades, and governors of both parties have argued for more than 40 years that CEQA needs to be reformed. Several of the act’s requirements were temporarily suspended by an executive order issued by Newsom during the pandemic. He argues that now is the time again.
Asked on the news program whether this month’s wildfires are the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history, Newsom noted that recent fires had resulted in a greater loss of life but said, “I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it in terms of the scale and scope.”
He called for a California version of the Marshall Plan, the American effort to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.
“We already have a team looking at reimagining L.A. 2.0,” he said, “and we are making sure everyone’s included, not just the folks on the coast, people here that were ravaged by this disaster.”
Plains has no major hotel, a single small gas station and only a couple of restaurants, neither of which is usually open for dinner. Still, for the longest time, the tiny town had something that no other place in Georgia did: Jimmy Carter making it his home.
Especially as Mr. Carter withdrew from public life, the town has had years to prepare for life after him. But now that he is gone — Mr. Carter died last month at 100 — the town is hoping that its prospects as a tourism destination have not been buried along with its most famous son.
The optimism in Plains is grounded in the experience of other small towns known almost exclusively for their ties to a former president, which history has shown can still attract a crowd decades or centuries after that president has died.
Hyde Park, which borders the Hudson River in New York, has a steady stream of tourists coming to visit Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidential library, home and gravesite. Tampico, Ill., has erected signs advertising itself as the birthplace of Ronald Reagan, trying to encourage people to take a brief detour on the way to Chicago to see the apartment where Mr. Reagan was born.
These towns and others are banking on the country’s enduring fascination with its presidents. particularly among the collection of history buffs who find the insights they can offer irresistible.
“I recognized that there was something about getting to experience what they experienced and getting to see the world through their eyes,” said Joe Faykosh, a history professor at Central Arizona College.
He has visited all the available presidential birthplaces and homes and has interned at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio. He met the Carters in 2017 after the former president taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.
There is no guarantee that the appeal will last forever, though. More than 100 presidential sites in big cities and backcountry towns attract thousands of visitors each year, but interest can fade as a president drifts further into history. In recent years, the reappraisal of historical figures and the sins of the past that has toppled monuments and renamed schools has also affected the appeal of historic sites.
Charlottesville, Va., has seen a decline in visitors to Monticello, the plantation that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson. Tourism officials there have adapted, broadening what had once been a largely generous interpretation of Jefferson’s history to a more complex portrayal, including his role in upholding slavery as an institution. They have also tried to market Charlottesville as an emerging wine region — an identity Jefferson had also worked to establish around 250 years ago.
“Leisure trips have focused in the past on kind of historical discovery, and now people — because of their relationship with history, because of the politicizing of history — have a different relationship with the past,” said Courtney Cacatian, the executive director of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau. “A lot of people don’t seek it out as part of their vacation experience anymore.”
Plains isn’t so worried about the judgment of history. Many in the community believe that people’s perceptions of Mr. Carter’s legacy will continue to be favorable. Americans remain divided about his performance as president. But the week of funeral events highlighted a widespread admiration for his character and the extensive work he did after leaving office to protect democracy, fight ailments like Guinea worm disease and provide support to impoverished people worldwide.
Plains has become somewhat stuck in time — a capsule capturing the lives that Mr. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, had lived there, even while they were still alive.
There are no drive-throughs or supermarkets. The Dollar General downtown has a brick facade that makes it look like it has been there forever. Plains High School no longer has students — it is a site maintained by the National Park Service, just like the Carter family farm outside town and even the Carters’s home off Main Street.
It is a transformation the Carters have been deeply involved in. They created an exhibition at the high school about segregation. Visitors walking around the president’s boyhood home and farm can hear recordings of Mr. Carter sharing memories of his childhood, such as visiting his Black neighbors who lived in a ramshackle home nearby and the absolute joy he felt when he received a pony for Christmas.
“There’s just so many things that President Carter had his hands in,” said AB Jackson, a councilwoman in Plains.
Sarah Wollenweber and her 17-year-old son, London, said that the amount of documentation of Mr. Carter’s life and where he grew up set Plains apart from other presidential sites they had visited across the country.
“He’s one of the last great presidents we’ve seen who is genuine and actually kind, so it’s been really great to experience this,” London said. He and his mother drove 12 hours from Bloomington, Ill., to see Mr. Carter’s coffin being carried through Plains last week.
“They dedicated the whole town to him and his wife,” he added.
Many residents believe the Carters were keenly aware of how much their presence attracted tourists and positively impacted the town’s economy.
From 2014 to 2019, when Mr. Carter was still routinely teaching Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church, at least 50,000 tourists a year came to Plains. Beginning in 2020, the number of sightseers dropped significantly, as the pandemic stymied tourism and the Carters’ health declined. But visitorship picked up again last year, with approximately 45,000 people coming through the town. That does not include the hundreds of people per day who descended on Plains after Mr. Carter died on Dec. 29.
Over many years, Mr. Carter encouraged improvements to increase the appeal for tourists. He founded the Friends of Jimmy Carter, a nonprofit that owns the Plains Historic Inn, with its seven suites, as well as the antique mall below it. He was also instrumental in opening one of the town’s two restaurants: the Buffalo Café, which serves cheeseburgers, salads and pimento cheese sandwiches. And he convinced legislators to fund a train that would drop visitors off at his former campaign headquarters.
“He wanted to make sure that the town stays viable,” said Kim Carter Fuller, the president’s niece. “Whatever he could do within reason, he did.”
But Plains could only accommodate so much. The town is less than one square mile in size and has little public land to sell for development. There is also tension between wanting to attract more tourists and not wanting to disturb the town’s traditional way of life.
“We don’t really want to change Plains,” said Ellen Harris, a councilwoman. “That’s what makes us unique.”
Locals were grateful that the Carters chose to be buried at their home instead of at their presidential library in Atlanta, a decision they hope will help to maintain a steady stream of visitors. In the coming months, the gravesites of the Carters will be opened to the public. The modest ranch home the president and the first lady built in 1961 — where they raised their children and returned to after leaving the White House — will be made accessible to the public for the first time shortly after.
Events with historical ties — like the city’s yearly peanut festival in September that pays homage to Mr. Carter’s roots as a farmer — will continue to be a draw, some say. There are also newer attractions. The latest, Apt. 9A, which opened for private tours in October, is the government-subsidized home Mr. Carter moved his wife and three sons into after his father’s death in 1953.
After a 2001 walk-through with Ms. Carter in the apartment, Annette Wise, who led the project, received donations and searched through thrift stores to find items to recreate the family’s modest furnishings at a time when they had almost no income. Paint chips in a closet helped her to track down the precise shade of dark green the Carters had painted their living room and later used in campaign signs.
Ms. Wise said she believes all the time and effort will ultimately be worthwhile.
“Plains is headed in the right direction,” said Ms. Wise, who is a member of the Plains Historical Preservation Trust and a founder and the president of the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail. “They’ve left us big shoes to fill. But they’ve given us plenty of time to learn what to do.”
Rick Rojas contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Politics
Trump says Jack Smith is a 'disgrace' after special counsel resigned from DOJ: 'He left town empty handed!'
President-elect Trump blasted special counsel Jack Smith as a “disgrace” to himself and the country following Smith’s resignation from the Justice Department.
Smith’s resignation was announced in a court filing Saturday.
“The Special Counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the Department on January 10,” a footnote in the filing said.
Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday to criticize Smith for his investigations into the incoming president.
SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH RESIGNS AFTER 2-YEAR STINT AT DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at a news conference at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“Deranged Jack Smith was fired today by the DOJ. He is a disgrace to himself, his family, and his Country. After spending over $100,000,000 on the Witch Hunt against TRUMP, he left town empty handed!” Trump wrote.
Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his mishandling of classified documents.
Smith previously served as acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee in 2017 during Trump’s first administration.
The resignation comes ahead of the release of Smith’s report on the case related to Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol. A recent court filing revealed that Garland plans to release the report soon, possibly before Trump takes office next week.
Jack Smith, US special counsel, speaks during a news conference in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“As I have made clear regarding every Special Counsel who has served since I took office, I am committed to making as much of the Special Counsel’s report public as possible, consistent with legal requirements and Department policy,” Garland wrote in a recent letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
A judge from a federal appeals court ruled on Friday against blocking the release of Smith’s report.
After Trump’s presidential election victory in November, Smith filed motions to bring his cases against the president-elect to a close.
Smith asked a judge in late November to drop the charges against Trump in the case related to the Capitol riot. Prior to that request, Smith filed a motion to vacate all deadlines in that case, which was anticipated after Trump’s electoral win.
TRUMP PRESSES GOP TO SWIFTLY SEND ‘ONE POWERFUL BILL’ FOR HIS SIGNATURE ASAP
Special Counsel Jack Smith announces an indictment of former President Donald Trump during a press conference on August 1, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)
Trump said after the cases were dropped that they “should never have been brought.”
“These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “It was a political hijacking, and a low point in the History of our Country that such a thing could have happened, and yet, I persevered, against all odds, and WON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Fox News’ Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.
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