US Domestic News Roundup: Ketanji Brown Jackson to be sworn in as first Black woman on U.S. Supreme Court; Liz Cheney calls Trump's election actions more chilling than imagined and more

Her swearing in as President Joe Biden's replacement for retiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer comes six days after the court overturned the 1973 Roe v.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 30-06-2022 18:36 IST | Created: 30-06-2022 18:30 IST
US Domestic News Roundup: Ketanji Brown Jackson to be sworn in as first Black woman on U.S. Supreme Court; Liz Cheney calls Trump's election actions more chilling than imagined and more
Liz Cheney Image Credit: Wikipedia

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

As Jan. 6 hearings portray an enraged Trump, DeSantis may be biggest winner

This week's testimony at congressional hearings on the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol assault portrayed an enraged Donald Trump throwing food against a White House wall, voicing support for threats against his vice president, and dismissing the news that some of his supporters had come armed with rifles. Democrats hope the revelations will remind voters why they didn't reelect the former president in 2020. But the biggest political beneficiary may be Trump's fellow Republican, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his top potential rival for the 2024 presidential nomination.

Ketanji Brown Jackson to be sworn in as first Black woman on U.S. Supreme Court

Ketanji Brown Jackson is set to be sworn in on Thursday as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, making history as the first Black woman on the nation's top judicial body while joining it at a time when its conservative majority has been flexing its muscles in major rulings. Jackson, 51, will become part of the liberal bloc of a court with a 6-3 conservative majority. Her swearing in as President Joe Biden's replacement for retiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer comes six days after the court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade landmark that legalized abortion nationwide. Breyer, at 83 the court's oldest member, officially retires at noon (1600 GMT), when Jackson's swearing-in ceremony is scheduled.

Democrats' lose grip on Senate while Leahy recovers from fall

Vermont U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, 81, will undergo emergency hip surgery after falling Wednesday night, depriving his fellow Democrats of any majority in the chamber until he returns. Leahy, who is third in line to the U.S. presidency given his role as Senate president pro tempore, broke his hip at his house in the northern Virginia suburbs outside Washington, his office said on Thursday, adding that he is expected to make a full recovery.

Liz Cheney calls Trump's election actions more chilling than imagined

Republican U.S. Representative Liz Cheney said on Wednesday that Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election were "more chilling and more threatening" than first imagined, while calling on Republicans to choose between loyalty to Trump and the Constitution. Cheney, a commanding presence on the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by Trump supporters, warned against descending into vitriolic partisan attacks that could tear the political fabric of the country apart and urged her audience to rise above politics.

Explainer-What charges might Trump face for trying to overturn 2020 election?

A U.S. congressional committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol has sought to build a case that then-President Donald Trump behaved illegally when he sought to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat, but what charges might prosecutors bring against Trump and how might he defend himself?

Here are some ideas being floated now:

Jan. 6 committee may make criminal referral on witness tampering -Cheney

The congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack may make a criminal referral to the Justice Department recommending that anybody who tried to influence testimony be prosecuted, Representative Liz Cheney told ABC News in a report broadcast on Thursday. The witness-tampering issue emerged during the Jan. 6 select committee's sixth hearing on Tuesday, when Cheney revealed that some witnesses reported receiving veiled threats from allies of former President Donald Trump to do "the right thing."

Biden unlikely to meet bold Democrat demands after abortion ruling -sources

The White House is unlikely to take up the bold steps to protect women's right to have an abortion that Democratic lawmakers have called for in recent days, interviews with officials show. In a speech after the rollback of the Roe vs. Wade decision on Friday, President Joe Biden slammed the "extreme ideology" of the conservative-leaning Supreme Court, but said then there are few things he could do by executive order to protect women's reproductive rights.

Explainer-How would U.S. corporate abortion travel benefits work?

Major companies including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Amazon.com Inc and Walt Disney Co have said they would pay travel costs for employees seeking abortions out-of-state after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. Here is what you need to know about how corporate abortion-related travel policies might work:

At finish line, U.S. Supreme Court readies climate, immigration rulings

The U.S. Supreme Court is set on Thursday to issue its final two rulings of its current term, one on federal agency power to tackle climate change and the other on President Joe Biden's ability to end a hardline immigration policy begun under his predecessor Donald Trump. Thursday also will mark liberal Justice Stephen Breyer's last day as a member of the top U.S. judicial body. Breyer, who announced in January plans to retire after serving since 1994, will officially step down and his replacement, Biden's appointee Ketanji Brown Jackson, will be sworn in at noon (1600 GMT), the court said.

U.S. to provide $1 billion to reconnect neighborhoods divided by highways, rail

The U.S. government will provide $1 billion to neighborhoods that have been divided by highways, rail lines or other transportation infrastructure, officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation said on Thursday. The money aims to help repair the harm done from decades of road and rail construction that disproportionately displaced minority and low-income communities, officials said.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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