Watch Vice President Kamala Harris deliver remarks to the congregation at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church remotely from Washington commemorating Martin Luther King Day. She called on the Senate to “do its job” and pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in order to secure the freedom to vote.
Sonceria “Ann” Berry was sworn in as the Senate’s new secretary Monday afternoon, becoming the first Black American and eighth woman to hold the appointed position.
A veteran Senate aide, Berry most recently served as deputy chief of staff for Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who swore her in for her new role.
“We begin this week on a joyful note welcoming an upstanding individual to serve as the new Secretary of the Senate,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said following Berry’s swearing in. Schumer named her to the position in February.
Schumer added that Berry’s elevation to the position was a “testament to her outstanding career as a public servant of the highest caliber over her 40 years in Washington.”
The Secretary of the Senate has existed since 1789, when Congress was still in its infancy. Per the Senate website, the upper chamber’s secretary is responsible for a wide array of “legislative, financial and administrative functions” in support of the legislative body’s “day-to-day operations.”
Sen. Tim Scott wants fellow Republicans to get smarter about judicial nominees — specifically, to stop nominating judges with questionable records on race.
The South Carolina Republican earlier this month was instrumental in blocking confirmation of a second judge in four months over concerns about how they’ve dealt with race issues in the past.
But fellow Republicans showed no immediate signs they would do anything, anytime soon, to take some of the pressure off Scott, the Senate’s only black Republican.
He is up against members of his party who don’t think any of their nominees are problematic. That includes fellow South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is poised next month to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which evaluates judges and recommends them for or against confirmation.
“I respect (Scott) very much. There’s nobody I respect more than Tim,” said Graham, before dismissing Scott’s concerns that Thomas Farr, a nominee for a judgeship in the Eastern District of North Carolina, might have been behind a voter suppression strategy in 1990 that involved sending purposefully misleading information to African-Americans.
“I don’t think he had a fraught record on race. I think the mail-out was disgusting in 1990, and (Farr) had nothing to do with it,” Graham insisted.
The conservative base that fuels much of the GOP’s political energy is equally dismissive. The day after Scott announced he would provide the decisive vote to kill the Farr nomination, the grassroots advocacy group FreedomWorks blasted out an email with the phone number for Scott’s office.
“Don’t let this strong conservative nominee crash and burn!” read the call to action from FreedomWorks president Adam Brandon. “Urge (Scott) to stand with President Trump and CONFIRM Thomas Farr.”
Meanwhile, Republican leaders have opted to pretend the debate never occurred, keeping Farr’s candidacy in limbo rather than formally withdrawing his nomination.
Fellow black Republicans, though, are concerned.
Read more: Tim Scott wants his party to get smarter on race. His colleagues are making it tough.
US Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) has released the following statement on the FBI investigating the Kavanaugh allegations:
I was encouraged by the good faith discussion with my judiciary colleagues earlier this afternoon, and Senator Jeff Flake in particular. It's my hope that the FBI will conduct a full, fair, and thorough investigation into the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.
At a minimum, the FBI investigation should include investigating Dr. Ford’s credible allegations in the following ways:
1. Interviewing each witness Ford identified as being present on the night of the assault – Dr. Ford, Judge Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, PJ Smyth, and Leland Keyser.
2. Investigating where and when this assault could’ve taken place and any other potential witnesses.
3. Interviewing Dr. Ford’s polygrapher and the witnesses she spoke to about the assault.
4. Investigating Kavanaugh’s claims regarding these allegations, including following up on the entries in his calendar and interviewing witnesses who have contradicted his statements about his drinking habits around the time of the assault.
This FBI investigation should also include investigating the other allegations that Ms. Ramirez and Ms. Swetnick have made.
