Headline
Biden Nominates First Black Woman On US Supreme Court
President Joe Biden picked Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday to be the first Black woman in US history to serve on the nation’s highest court.
“I’m proud to announce that I am nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court,” Biden said. “She is one of our nation’s brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional Justice.”
The president will officially unveil his decision later Friday at an appearance with Jackson, the White House said.
Jackson, 51, was appointed to the federal bench in 2013, and was backed by three Republican senators last year when she was elevated to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, seen as a staging ground for aspiring Supreme Court justices.
With one liberal justice replacing another the announcement will not reshape the ideological make-up of the court — but it is a huge moment for Biden personally and politically.
White House officials hope it will provide a few days of positive news coverage ahead of the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
The pick presents an opportunity for the administration to pivot from a spate of bad news in recent months, with Biden’s domestic agenda stalled amid runaway inflation and plummeting poll numbers.
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The announcement is a chance for Biden to show the Black voters who rescued his floundering 2020 primary campaign that he can deliver for them following the recent defeat of voting rights legislation.
“Ketanji Brown Jackson is an intellectual heavyweight and highly regarded jurist who has dedicated her life and career to the service of others,” said Mondaire Jones, one of the first Black openly gay congressmen.
– Political attacks –
Black Americans are among Biden’s strongest supporters, with two-thirds approving of his job performance, according to a CBS poll released last week.
His popularity among the key demographic however declined over the months following his inauguration and he has not recovered the lost ground.
In his first year in office, Biden nominated 62 women to the federal judiciary, including 24 Black women.
But there are still only a few dozen active Black female judges on the federal bench out of almost 800 total.
The president had promised during his successful 2020 White House run to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court for the first time in US history.
The pledge dismayed some Republicans who thought ruling out candidates of other backgrounds would further politicize the judiciary.
Dismissing the objections, Biden shortlisted a handful of top Black women to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, including southern jurists J. Michelle Childs and Leandra Kruger.
Reflecting Washington’s bitter political divisions, at least two top Republicans depicted his eventual nominee as the darling of what they called the American far left.
Lindsey Graham had argued that it was “about time” a Black woman sat on the bench but the senator went to bat for Childs, who is from his home state of South Carolina.
He complained that Biden’s choice of Jackson meant “the radical left has won President Biden over again.”
– Bumpy ride ahead? –
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell echoed Graham’s objection, saying Jackson was “the favoured choice of far-left dark-money groups that have spent years attacking the legitimacy and structure of the Court itself.”
But neither said outright they would oppose Jackson’s appointment.
Jackson will now go through weeks of hearings and meetings with senators before her nomination comes to the floor, likely in April.
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Republicans cannot block a Supreme Court nomination as long as all 50 Senate Democrats stick together, but the comments by Graham and McConnell signal a bumpier confirmation process than had been expected.
But the party has shown little appetite for a fight, which they fear could backfire, and are trying to keep the focus on kitchen-table issues such as spiralling fuel and food costs.
The announcement also represents another first in US history.
Biden presided over Breyer’s confirmation to the Supreme Court as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1994, and has now named Breyer’s replacement.
Headline
Ugandan President Ignores S’Court Ruling, Approves Law To Try Civilians In Military Courts
Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, on Monday, signed a new law allowing civilians to be tried in military courts that critics said could be used against opposition leaders ahead of next year’s election.
The new law comes despite a ruling by the Supreme Court in late January that it was unconstitutional for civilians to be tried in military courts as was the case for opposition leader, Kizza Besigye.
Besigye, 69, was abducted by armed men in Nairobi in November and re-emerged a few days later at a military court in Uganda, where he was charged with treason, which carries a potential death penalty.
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Following the Supreme Court ruling, his case was moved to a civilian court.
But the new law provides for “exceptional circumstances” under which civilians can be subjected to military law, including the “unlawful possession of arms, ammunition or equipment,” one of the other charges Besigye is facing.
The signing of the law was announced by Uganda’s parliament on X.
Besigye’s lawyer, Erias Lukwago, told AFP that the law was designed to facilitate the “illegal detention and trial of Besigye and others”.
Besigye has been in jail for more than the six-month legal limit for detention without trial.
Uganda’s other major opposition leader, Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, told AFP, “All of us in the opposition are being targeted by the Act.”
Human rights lawyer and activist, Eron Kiiza — who was jailed by a military court for six months for alleged misconduct while defending Besigye — said he would legally “challenge the Act”.
Rights groups said Besigye’s abduction and trial for treason were linked to the election in January when 80-year-old Museveni will seek to extend his 40 years in power.
AFP
Headline
Turkish President, Erdogan Calls Putin, Accused Israel Of Threatening Regional Security
…says “lawless attitude” of Netanyahu’s govt “poses threat to international system
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of threatening security in the Middle East during a phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, his office said.
“The spiral of violence that began with Israel’s attacks on Iran has put the security of the entire region at risk,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.
His office said he told Putin that the “lawless attitude” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “poses a clear threat to the international system”, adding that the Middle East “cannot tolerate a new war”.
READ ALSO: Netanyahu Says Israel’s Strikes On Iran Have ‘Clear Support’ Of Trump
The Kremlin said Putin and Erdogan used the conversation to call for an “immediate” end to fighting between Israel and Iran.
“The leaders called for an immediate end to hostilities and the settlement of contentious issues, including those related to Iran’s nuclear programme, exclusively through political and diplomatic means,” the Kremlin said in its readout of the call.
Turkey has stepped up its diplomacy since Israel launched aerial attacks on Iran last Friday and Tehran struck back on the weekend, in their most intense confrontation in history.
Headline
Iran, Israel Need ‘To Fight It Out’ To Reach Deal – Trump
US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Iran and Israel — who are locked in an exchange of military strikes — to “make a deal,” but suggested they might need to “fight it out” first.
“I think it’s time for a deal,” Trump told reporters, as Israel and Iran exchanged a fresh barrage of missile strikes and threatened more devastation in a conflict that appeared to be intensifying.
“But sometimes they have to fight it out, but we’re going to see what happens,” Trump said, speaking at the White House before heading to Canada to take part in a G7 summit.
READ ALSO: Netanyahu Says Israel’s Strikes On Iran Have ‘Clear Support’ Of Trump
After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war fought through proxies and covert operations, the latest conflict marks the first time arch-enemies Israel and Iran have traded fire with such intensity, triggering fears of a lengthy conflict that could engulf the entire Middle East.
It began Friday, when Israel launched attacks that have killed top military commanders and nuclear scientists, and struck military bases, nuclear sites and residential areas across the country.
Trump refused to answer a question about whether he had asked Israel to pause airstrikes on Iran.
Earlier, a senior US official told AFP that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to assassinate Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he believed the two sides “should make a deal, and will make a deal.”
There are “many calls and meetings now taking place” on the issue and peace could be achieved “soon” between the longtime adversaries, he said.
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