Page 8 - James Arkin News Today

A bill to protect federal judges' privacy and security by shielding their personal information online was included in a final agreement on major defense policy legislation released this week, giving the bill a clear path to becoming law by the end of this year.

The Senate on Monday confirmed U.S. Magistrate Judge Doris L. Pryor to the Seventh Circuit in a bipartisan vote, making her the first judge of color from Indiana to serve on the Seventh Circuit bench and the 26th circuit court pick to win Senate approval since last year.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed landmark legislation to enshrine into law protections for same-sex and interracial marriage, ending months of bipartisan negotiations and putting the bill one step closer to being signed by President Joe Biden.

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced 11 circuit and district court nominees Thursday, but deadlocked on the nomination of abortion rights attorney Julie Rikelman, who is President Joe Biden's pick for a vacancy on the First Circuit.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed landmark legislation to enshrine into law protections for same-sex and interracial marriage, ending months of bipartisan negotiations and putting the bill one step closer to being signed by President Joe Biden.

Lawmakers and ethics experts this week renewed calls for a binding code of conduct for U.S. Supreme Court justices in response to a New York Times report describing a secret lobbying campaign by evangelical leaders to influence conservative justices, which linked Justice Samuel Alito Jr. to an alleged confidentiality breach in 2014.

House Republicans sent the first major signal of their Biden administration oversight targets Friday, sending letters to the White House chief of staff and top officials at the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security seeking to jump-start inquiries ahead of next year.

A South Carolina judge nominated to the Fourth Circuit touted her significant state court experience and defended against Republican criticisms of her handling of a particular criminal case in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an emergency request from the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party seeking to block a subpoena for her phone records issued by the House Jan. 6 committee to T-Mobile, with only Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Jr. noting their dissents.

The midterm elections will dictate the next two years of President Joe Biden's impact on the federal bench, but there are still dozens of judicial nominees awaiting confirmation this year who could be approved regardless of which party wins control of the Senate.