November, 15 2018, 11:00pm EDT
Senators Must Reject McConnell's Attempt to Pack Court with Extreme Nominees
WASHINGTON
Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed cloture to advance the nominations of Thomas Farr to the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of North Carolina and Jonathan Kobes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit:
"At a moment when our courts are under attack, it is more important than ever that those who serve on the bench are fair and independent. By bringing the nominations of Thomas Farr and Jonathan Kobes to the Senate floor, Leader McConnell makes plain his agenda to pack the courts with right-wing ideologues.
"Farr's unrelenting pursuit of restricting voting rights and defending employment discrimination should be disqualifying. Instead, he is being rewarded with a lifetime appointment. Kobes, who was rated Not Qualified by the ABA, also possesses a demonstrated hostility toward the protection of civil and human rights, including reproductive freedom and LGBTQ equality.
"All senators must reject the confirmation of these extreme nominees and protect the integrity of our federal courts."
The Leadership Conference sent to the Senate letters of opposition to Jonathan Kobes and Thomas Farr.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. Through advocacy and outreach to targeted constituencies, The Leadership Conference works toward the goal of a more open and just society - an America as good as its ideals.
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Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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Multiple journalists were also killed in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine, according to the report, and hundreds more were detained and are now behind bars in countries including Israel, China, and Russia.
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