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☆ Supreme Court considers whether Twitter can be held liable for failing to remove terrorist content
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case that will help determine whether social media platforms can be held liable for aiding and abetting terrorism for failing to remove content and accounts promoting it. The case revolves around a specific international terrorist act, and contends that Twitter should be held accountable for not taking aggressive enough action against that content on its platform. Justice Elena Kagan at one point asked Waxman whether Twitter could be held liable if it actually didn't enforce any policy against terrorist content on its site. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked if it would be illegal to sell Osama bin Laden a phone without knowing it would be used for a terrorist specific terrorist act. Schnapper said it would not be necessary to prove the phone was used for a specific terrorist act, because it "aids the terrorist enterprise."

☆ Supreme Court justices aren't 'the 9 greatest experts on the internet,' Elena Kagan said as they heard a major tech case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Section 230 provides tech companies with legal immunity over the content shared on their sites. "We're a court," Justice Elena Kagan said during more than two-and-a-half hours of oral arguments on the major tech case. The family argued that Google should be held liable for its platform, YouTube, recommending ISIS videos to its interested users. Both Republicans and Democrats have attacked the provision, saying tech companies should be subject to some accountability for how they run their platforms. Despite the justices' skepticism, however, some of them did question the broad legal immunity granted to tech companies during arguments on Tuesday.

☆ Supreme Court justices in Google case express hesitation about upending Section 230
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Supreme Court Justices voiced hesitation on Tuesday about upending a key legal shield that protects tech companies from liability for their users' posts, and for how the companies moderate messages on their sites. The current case was brought by the family of an American killed in a 2015 terrorist attack in Paris. Lower courts sided with Google, saying Section 230 protects the company from being held liable for third-party content posted on its service. Even conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who has openly written that the court should take up a case around Section 230, seemed skeptical of the petitioners' line in the sand. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan suggested it's not necessary to agree completely with Google's assessment of the fallout from altering 230 to fear the potential consequences.

☆ Supreme Court set to hear Google case that could impact free speech online
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

John Roberts, chief justice of the US Supreme Court, from left, Elena Kagan, associate justice of the US Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, associate justice of the US Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, associate justice of the US Supreme Court, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, associate justice of the US Supreme Court, ahead of a State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday in a potentially groundbreaking case with the potential to alter the force of a key law the tech industry says has been critical to keeping the internet an open place that fosters free speech. That case is known as Gonzalez v. Google, brought by the family of an American who died in a 2015 terrorist attack in Paris. Now that shield is at stake as the petitioners argue it should not apply where Google actively promotes user-generated content, such as through its recommendation algorithms. The Supreme Court will also hear a separate tech case Wednesday that could have implications for how platforms promote and remove speech on their sites.

The Justice Department, in a Feb. 7 filing, told the Supreme Court: "The anticipated end of the public health emergency on May 11, and the resulting expiration of the operative Title 42 order, would render this case moot." The Supreme Court in December left in place the Title 42 policy, granting in a 5-4 vote the request by Republican state attorneys general to put on hold U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan's November decision invalidating the emergency public health order. Title 42 was first implemented in March 2020 under Trump, a Republican, when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Biden, a Democrat, kept Title 42 in place after taking office in January 2021 despite fierce criticism from within his own party. Biden's administration sought to lift the policy after U.S. health authorities said last year it was no longer needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

☆ Biden secures landmark 100th judge, outpacing Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Sahil Kapur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — The Democratic-led Senate confirmed President Joe Biden's 100th federal judge on Tuesday, marking a milestone for the president and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. On Monday, the Senate confirmed Cindy Chung to the 3rd U.S. She will be Biden's 69th confirmed district court judge. He has also secured Senate approval for 30 circuit court judges and one Supreme Court justice: Ketanji Brown Jackson. Biden and Democrats are outpacing former President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Senate — at this juncture, Trump had secured 85 judges.

☆ Kate Bedingfield to Step Down as White House Communications Director
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Andrew Restuccia | Ken Thomas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—President Biden is shaking up his White House communications team as he prepares to launch his re-election campaign in the coming months. White House communications director Kate Bedingfield is planning to leave the White House at the end of February, the White House said. She will be replaced by Ben LaBolt, a longtime Democratic operative and former Obama administration official who oversaw communications at the White House for the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson , Mr. Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court. Mr. LaBolt also served as a top press official on President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.

Kate Bedingfield, a top adviser for President Biden since 2015, will step down as White House communications director later this month, NBC News has learned. Among Biden’s tight-knit campaign team, she earned the monicker of captain of the “team of killers,” a reference to the assessment of Biden’s campaign team by then-President Donald Trump. LaBolt served as a spokesperson for then-Sen. Barack Obama in Congress and later joined his 2008 campaign team. After serving as a White House spokesperson during Obama’s first term, he served as chief spokesperson for Obama’s re-election campaign. LaBolt will be the first openly gay person to serve as White House communications director.

WASHINGTON — Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the Supreme Court is not as divided as members of the public might think, praising his liberal colleagues and highlighting rulings in which the justices were not divided on ideological lines during a recent public appearance. Kavanaugh had special praise for the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the recently retired liberal Justice Stephen Breyer and Breyer’s successor, liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, saying she “has hit the ground running" and is "thoroughly prepared." Ginsburg and Breyer "couldn't have been better at welcoming me to the court," Kavanaugh said, referring to his nomination by then-President Donald Trump in 2018. Kavanaugh this week appeared eager to counter any perceptions that the court is usually divided on ideological lines, pointing out several cases in which he had joined liberal justices in 5-4 decisions. Statistics compiled for the SCOTUSblog legal website showed, however, that in the previous court term only 29 percent of the decisions were unanimous, lower than at any time in the past two decades.

☆ Brett Kavanaugh praises newcomer Ketanji Brown Jackson as a 'thoroughly prepared' justice who's 'off to a great start'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Justice Brett Kavanaugh praised fellow Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. "She's off to a great start," Kavanaugh said of the newest member of the Supreme Court. "She's off to a great start," Kavanaugh continued, adding that Jackson "hit the ground running" and fits in well with the group. Jackson, who's seated next to Kavanaugh on the bench, has received widespread attention in the legal world less than four months into her tenure at the Supreme Court. I'm optimistic about the court, I'm optimistic about the country, I'm optimistic about my colleagues."

☆ Mitt Romney could face a 'divisive' re-election campaign in 2024 after backing both Trump impeachments and breaking with conservatives
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Mitt Romney is perhaps the most anti-Trump Republican senator and has often broken with the GOP. Romney voted to convict the former president during both of his impeachments, first on abuse of power charges in 2020 and then incitement of an insurrection in 2021. If Romney chooses to run again, he'll have to explain all of that to Republican primary voters back home. The Utah senator told Insider at the Capitol last month that he had not yet decided whether to run, but was "keeping my options open." In Washington, Romney can count on the backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who told Politico that it's "important for the Republican Party and the country" that the Utah Republican seek re-election.

The report said investigators interviewed 97 court employees but was silent on whether the nine justices who sat on the court at the time of the leak were interviewed, prompting calls from Democratic lawmakers and others for clarity. "During the course of the investigation, I spoke with each of the justices, several on multiple occasions," Curley said in the statement, released by the court. "I followed up on all credible leads, none of which implicated the justices or their spouses," Curley added. Curley said on that basis she decided it was not necessary to ask the justices to sign sworn affidavits affirming they did not leak the draft, something court employees were required to do. Gabe Roth, executive director of the court reform group Fix the Court, said the fact that the report initially omitted the fact that the justices were interviewed "smells fishy."

[1/2] U.S. Supreme Court police officers stand on the front steps of the Supreme Court building prior to the official investiture ceremony for the court's newest Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the start of the court's 2022-2023 term in Washington, U.S. September 30, 2022. The report said the Supreme Court's information security environment was "built fundamentally on trust with limited safeguards to regulate and constrain access to very sensitive information." But it called the court's information security policies "outdated" and recommended that it overhaul its platform for handling case-related documents and remedy "inadequate safeguards" for tracking who prints and copies documents. The Supreme Court's IT systems operate separately from the rest of the federal judiciary. U.S. judiciary officials have said the systems used by federal appellate and district courts also are outdated and need modernization.

☆ Biden and Kamala Harris pat themselves on the back before digging into burgers in a White House video celebrating 2 years in office
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are marking two years since being sworn into office. The White House released a video of the two of them eating a hamburger lunch, served by waiters. The two spend the nearly two-minute video rattling off their accomplishments in office. "I think we're off to a pretty good start," says Biden, as he sits down for lunch. She gives a nod to "the resilience, the determination" of Americans as motivation and then launches into praise for Biden.

☆ Biden: Americans should ‘pay attention’ to MLK’s legacy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

But with the election behind him and a full six-year term ahead, Warnock fully embraced Biden at the service. “That, my friends, is God’s work,” said Warnock, adding that Biden “had a little something to do with it.”As Biden begins to turn his attention toward an expected 2024 reelection effort, Georgia is going to get plenty of his attention. “But at this inflection point, we know a lot of work that has to continue on economic justice civil rights, voting rights, protecting our democracy. … Are we a people who will choose democracy over autocracy? "I’ve spoken before parliaments, kings, queens, leaders of the world ... but this is intimidating,” Biden said in opening his sermon.

☆ Justice Jackson working on a memoir, titled ‘Lovely One’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is working on a memoir. Jackson, the first Black woman appointed to the court, is calling the book “Lovely One.”“Mine has been an unlikely journey,” Jackson said in a statement released Thursday by Random House. This memoir marries the public record of my life with what is less known. Jackson joined the court last year after President Joe Biden named her to succeed the retiring Stephen Breyer. Justice Amy Coney Barrett has a deal with the Penguin Random House imprint Sentinel.

☆ Nonprofit financed by billionaire George Soros quietly donated $140 million to political causes in 2021
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty ImagesA nonprofit financed by billionaire George Soros quietly donated $140 million to advocacy organizations and ballot initiatives in 2021, plus another $60 million to likeminded charities. The Open Society Policy Center also doled out $138 million to advocacy groups and causes in 2020. All of the nonprofits fall under Soros' Open Society Foundations network, which spans the globe. Both of those groups are run by the billionaire's son Alexander Soros, who also sits on the boards of the Open Society Institute and Open Society Policy Center. Emerson Morrow, a spokesman for America Votes told CNBC that funding from the Open Society Policy Center "has provided critical support for America Votes' mission."

☆ Five states will have politically-split Senate delegations in the new Congress, reflecting the nation's continued partisan polarization
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The new Congress, which begins this week, will have five politically-split Senate delegations. But in the new Congress, which begins this week, only five states will have split Senate delegations: Maine, Montana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. AP Photo/Matthew BrownMontanaDemocratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican Sen. Steve DainesTester was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and secured reelection in both 2012 and 2018. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagesWest VirginiaDemocratic Sen. Joe Manchin and Republican Sen. Shelley Moore CapitoManchin is perhaps the nation's most recognizable moderate Democrat, having single-handedly scuttled Biden's Build Back Better agenda in December 2021. WisconsinRepublican Sen. Ron Johnson and Democratic Sen. Tammy BaldwinThe Badger State is often home to some of the closest races in the entire country.

☆ Joe Biden's biggest successes and failures in his second year in office
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

His second year in office was marked by historic legislative achievements despite Democrats' razor-thin majority in Congress. Here are some of the highs and lows from Biden's second year:Success: UkrainePresident Joe Biden talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outside the White House. Conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens in September called the "staggering gains" by Ukrainian forces "a victory for Joe Biden, too." Universal pre-K was included in a sweeping spending plan passed by House Democrats until their Senate colleagues cut that out too. Failure: InflationPresident Joe Biden arrives for an event focused on inflation and the supply chain at the Port of Los Angeles in June.

Dec 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday left in place for now a pandemic-era policy allowing U.S. officials to rapidly expel migrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border. The court said it would hear arguments on whether the states could intervene to defend Title 42 in its February session. Enrique Lucero, director of migration affairs in Tijuana, said it was "absurd" that Title 42 remained in place, noting the city had a large backlog of U.S. asylum seekers. It also failed to weigh the harm asylum seekers would face from Title 42, he said. When a federal appeals court on Dec. 16 declined to allow them to intervene and put Sullivan's order on hold, they took the matter to the Supreme Court.

The Title 42 order was first implemented in March 2020 under Republican former President Donald Trump at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Close to half of those arrested were rapidly expelled under the Title 42 policy. In that case, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., sided with the migrants on Nov. 15 and ruled Title 42 was unlawful. He said the government also failed to weigh the harm asylum seekers would face from the Title 42 order. When a federal appeals court on Dec. 16 declined to allow them to intervene and put Sullivan's order on hold, they took the matter to the Supreme Court.

☆ Supreme Court keeps Trump-era immigration policy in place, with Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch dissenting: 'We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

SCOTUS on Tuesday kept a controversial immigration policy implemented under former President Donald Trump in place. The policy enables the United States to quickly expel asylum seekers at the border on the basis of public health concerns. "We are a court of law, not policymakers of last resort," conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote. The justices voted 5-4 to grant the Republican-led states' request, with conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joining the three liberal members in voting against the plea. The policy enables the United States to quickly expel asylum seekers at the border on the basis of public health concerns.

☆ Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dominated oral arguments and challenged conservative thinking in her first months on the Supreme Court, observers say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has sat on the Supreme Court for a little more than two months. The Supreme Court of the United States on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022 in Washington, DC. Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court during a formal group photograph at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Some court observers say oral arguments can potentially be an opportunity for justices to sway their colleagues' thinking – though that doesn't happen often. During the three hours of oral arguments, Jackson frequently threw cold water on the idea.

☆ The enduring career of Chuck Schumer, who rose from the House of Representatives in the early 1980s to become the powerful Senate majority leader
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is one of the most powerful lawmakers in Washington, DC. He was elected to a Brooklyn- and Queens-anchored House seat in 1980 when he was just 29 years old. Schumer won his first Senate race in 1998 and became the leader of the Democratic caucus in 2017. He also served as chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and vice chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus before succeeding Harry Reid of Nevada in 2017 as leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus. And last November, Democrats flipped the open US Senate seat in Pennsylvania being vacated by GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, securing a 51-49 majority headed into the new Congress.

☆ Top talkers: These 20 lawmakers spoke the most on the House and Senate floors during the 117th Congress, including Rep. Buddy Carter and Sen. Marsha Blackburn
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Some lawmakers delivered dozens of floor speeches during the 117th Congress, C-SPAN's tracking showed. Most members don't usually hang out on the House or Senate floor to hear their colleagues' speeches. These House members spoke the most on the House floor during the 117th Congress. "It is my duty to use the House Floor as a vehicle to share their views, needs, and successes. That's because the Senate floor is typically where leaders make announcements to their members on legislation and nominations, among other topics.

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