Good morning and thank you for checking out the DDHQ Morning News Spotlight. Today we’re watching President Biden’s trip to Europe on the one-month anniversary of the war in Ukraine, and the redistricting news mill keeps on turning. Let’s dive into the morning news.
Morning Headlines
- Day 3 of the hearings for the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court was another contentious day of questioning. She will be meeting individually with senators today. She seems to be on a very likely path towards confirmation. Politico explores the potential swings votes for her confirmation.
- President Biden is in Brussels today to meet with NATO, G-7, and European Union leaders on how to address the ongoing war in Ukraine. More sanctions, more aid, and more troops are all in discussion as the war passes the one-month mark. The US Senate may also vote on stripping Russia and Belarus their favored trade status today, which passed the House last week.
- The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Wisconsin state legislative maps created by Democratic Governor Tony Evers and narrowly enacted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court contain a racial gerrymander and must be redrawn. They however upheld Wisconsin’s Congressional maps.
- The Ohio Redistricting Committee met again yesterday and laid the ground rules for the outside mapmakers and mediators brought in for a fourth attempt to create a state legislative map that could pass the Ohio Supreme Court. Another legal challenge to the Congressional map and a request from Democrats to the Supreme Court to move the date of the election to June 28 has again prompted Republicans to ask a federal court to step in. The Secretary of State yesterday ordered county boards of election to remove all state legislative races from their ballots.
- A veteran prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office resigned yesterday out of frustration that new District Attorney Alvin Bragg has stalled the investigation into former President Trump’s finances and business practices. The investigation has been ongoing since 2019 when then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. held the office.
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