Federal Update
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Federal UpdateMarch 10, 2022 6:48 pm | By 41734
USPS Finally Has a Fighting Chance
Politically motivated mismanagement over the last two years has put our long-suffering United States Postal Service under even greater strain. Thanks to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his disastrous tenure, USPS hasn't been able to hire enough workers, buy new…
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Federal UpdateApril 29, 2021 9:50 am | By 51279
The Filibuster No Longer Represents the People’s Voice
At the 100-day mark, as the Biden-Harris team embarks on an ambitious new economic agenda, addressing jobs and infrastructure and other relief that families need in order to survive and thrive, we can celebrate what’s already been achieved since they…
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Federal UpdateMarch 11, 2021 10:01 am | By 41734
Vanita Gupta’s Fight Is Our Fight
Vanita Gupta is one of the country’s most renowned and effective civil rights advocates. She has dedicated her career to fighting for justice. On March 9, she appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing regarding her nomination to…
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Federal UpdateMarch 4, 2021 6:39 pm | By 41734
President Biden: Include Democracy Reform in Your Upcoming Joint Session Address
A familiar refrain from John Lewis, the late congressman and voting rights champion, was this: The right to vote is precious, almost sacred. President Biden echoed these words in championing House passage of the For the People Act: The right…
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Federal UpdateJanuary 15, 2021 10:50 am | By 41734
John Lewis Left His Mark on the For the People Act, Let’s Honor Him by Passing It
Nearly 50 years after the Voting Rights Act became law, congressman and voting rights champion John Lewis, who nearly died on that bridge in Selma, watched as the Supreme Court "put a dagger in [its] heart" with the Shelby County…
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Federal UpdateSeptember 27, 2019 4:46 pm | By 44533
Denying D.C. Statehood is a “Denial of Our History”
On Thursday, September 19th, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing on H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act to establish Washington, D.C. as the 51st state. The hearing was historic in nature, as the last hearing…
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Federal UpdateJuly 26, 2019 5:50 pm | By 28186
House Judiciary Committee Lawsuit Confirms that Committee Has Undertaken Impeachment Inquiry
According to news reports and the filing itself, just two days after former special counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony, the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) has filed on July 26 a lawsuit in which it states that "articles of impeachment are…
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Federal UpdateJuly 2, 2019 12:15 pm | By 28186
Gorsuch and Kavanaugh Vote to Empower Trump Administration to Add Citizenship Question to Census and Almost Let It Do So Dishonestly
“Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. In a splintered June decision in Department of Commerce v. New York, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the…
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Federal UpdateJune 27, 2019 3:35 pm | By 28188
On Partisan Redistricting, Kavanaugh Closes the Door that Kennedy Had Left Open
“Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. The Supreme Court’s decision on partisan redistricting demonstrates the enormous impact on our democracy of replacing Anthony Kennedy with…
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Federal UpdateMay 23, 2019 11:10 am | By 44533
Rep. Raskin Joins the Mueller Book Club
PFAW has partnered with our allies in the Trump Is Not Above the Law coalition to organize a weekly internet broadcast featuring legal and political experts reviewing the Mueller report, section by section, providing insight, discussing its implications, and answering…
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Federal UpdateMay 21, 2019 11:55 am | By 28186
Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears: Kavanaugh and Gorsuch Cast Deciding Votes to Overrule Precedent and Further Endanger Roe v. Wade
"Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears" is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joined a 5-4 May decision in Franchise Tax Bd. of…
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Federal UpdateMay 2, 2019 3:30 pm | By 41753
Trump Administration Finalizes Religious Refusals Rule That Threatens Access to Health Care
On May 2, the Trump administration finalized a new rule that will threaten millions of Americans’ access to health care by creating expansive rights for health care providers to discriminate and refuse to provide care. The new rule violates the…
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Federal UpdateApril 22, 2019 1:53 pm | By 28188
SCOTUS Will Hear Major LGBTQ+ Workplace Discrimination Cases
On April 22, the Supreme Court announced that it will take up three cases having an enormous impact on workers’ rights and workplace discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. The cases give the justices a chance to affirm that Title VII’s existing…
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Federal UpdateApril 19, 2019 4:20 pm | By 44533
Democracy For All Amendment Builds Support in the House
Following the historic passage of the For the People Act (H.R. 1), the most extensive and powerful set of pro-democracy reforms to pass the House in decades, People For the American Way and our allies are working to build support…
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Federal UpdateApril 10, 2019 1:29 pm | By 28186
Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears: Trump Circuit Judge Casts Deciding Grand Jury Vote that Could Limit Mueller Report Release
In April 2019, Trump D.C. Circuit judge Greg Katsas cast the deciding vote to restrict judges’ ability to release grand jury material that could also limit release of some of the information in the report of special counsel Robert Mueller.…
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Federal UpdateApril 1, 2019 12:37 pm | By 28188
Mitch McConnell’s Dangerous Power Grab
The Republicans who control what was once called the “world’s greatest deliberative body” have a scheme to ban a huge chunk of deliberation. Using the pretext that the GOP can’t get judicial and other nominees confirmed because of Democratic use…
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Federal UpdateMarch 27, 2019 10:49 am | By 28188
Trump and Barr Ask Court to Kill the Entire Affordable Care Act
Republicans are at it again: They are trying to destroy Obamacare through the courts, since they fear the electoral consequences of actually repealing it through the legislative process (assuming they could). Even worse, their legal argument is pitiful. Several GOP-controlled…
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Federal UpdateMarch 21, 2019 5:06 pm | By 28186
Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears: Trump Supreme Court Justices Vote to Authorize Indefinite Detention of Immigrants Years After Release for Minor Crimes
“Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. Trump Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch cast the deciding votes and voted with the majority in a 5-4…
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Federal UpdateMarch 19, 2019 6:12 pm | By 28188
Holding Senators Accountable for Voting to Confirm Bad Judicial Nominees
“Everyone should have their day in court.” This common metaphor is a powerful one, because it brings to mind our ideals of fairness and justice. In a court of law, anyone—poor or wealthy, popular or reviled, powerful or powerless—who believes…
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Federal UpdateFebruary 28, 2019 5:08 pm | By 44533
Michael Cohen Testimony Provides Further Evidence of Trump’s Crimes
This week former personal lawyer and longtime “fixer” to President Trump Michael Cohen appeared in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The highly-anticipated testimony provided both corroborating evidence of existing allegations and new bombshell revelations of criminal…