The president-elect is looking for ways to reinvigorate his base, and the Supreme Court vacancy is an easy way to do that. The vice president announced last week that he would appoint 11 federal judges. As a candidate, Biden pledged to appoint a black woman to the court, a goal that has yet to be achieved. In addition to filling a vacant judicial post, he demonstrates his political strength by reinvigorating his base by appointing more judges, which is an important part of any campaign.
The nomination process is expected to be expedited as the president promised during the campaign to appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court. It would be a major victory for African Americans, and it could also lessen the frustration of Democratic lawmakers over the failure of the social spending program and voting rights legislation. While the vacancy isn’t guaranteed, Democrats hope to reinvigorate their base by staffing it with a black woman.
Another key benefit for the president is the ability to re-energize voters. The Supreme Court vacancy has become a symbol for Democrats, as the High Court vacancy provides respite from the deadly fighting of recent years. Appointing a black woman to the High Court would be a huge breakthrough for African Americans. What’s more, it could ease the frustrations of Democratic lawmakers, who are growing increasingly frustrated with the failure of the social spending package and the Voting Rights Act.
A Supreme Court vacancy could help Democrats regain control of the House. By appointing a black woman to court, Biden fulfilled one of his campaign promises. Plus, the nomination of the first black woman to the Supreme Court will help them reinvigorate their discouraged base. Also, it will provide respite from deadly political battles.
By filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court, Biden could reinvigorate voters. The appointment of a black woman to court would be a historic achievement for African Americans. It would also lessen the frustrations of Democratic lawmakers who voted against the social spending package and failed to pass voting rights legislation. But it may be too little too late for a political boost.
A Supreme Court nominee would be an unlikely choice had the GOP been against a pro-abortion, anti-gun, or anti-religious candidate. If a black woman was the first to serve on the Supreme Court since the 17th century, it is a symbol of the progress made under the former president. While the GOP was wary of the nomination, Democrats remained hopeful.
Nominating a black woman to the Supreme Court is a way for Biden to re-energize voters and energize the Democratic Party. Electing a black woman can help offset political and political losses the party suffered under the former president. But the vacancy on the Supreme Court could still be filled by a white man. With a black woman on the Supremes, the vacancy will be a major factor in the Senate majority race, and Biden’s upcoming nomination is crucial to his re-election campaign.
A black woman on the Supreme Court would be a historic milestone for African Americans. It would also help ease the frustrations of Democratic senators who voted against Obama’s social spending bill and voting rights legislation. While Biden cannot reinvigorate the Democratic base with a black woman on the court, the nomination process is a complex and partisan affair.
The Supreme Court vacancy is a huge opportunity for Biden to re-energize voters after the failed legislative agenda. He has promised to appoint a black woman to the field if there is a vacancy. While this is a historic victory for the African-American community, it will also help ease the frustrations of Democratic lawmakers over the failure of the social spending program and voting rights legislation.
By Elvia Limon, Amy Hubbard and Laura Blasey
Hello, it’s Thursday January 27th and before we move on to today’s main stories, we’d like to take note of a sad anniversary. Yesterday marked two years since the helicopter crash that killed Lakers star Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others. The morning of the accident is something we will not soon, if ever, forget. The shock that reverberated in Los Angeles and beyond also rocked the Times newsroom. Tears are inevitable when working to deliver local, national and international news. It was among those times when co-workers fell silent in disbelief.
Among the touching stories we wrote was that of sports columnist Bill Plaschke on the one-year anniversary of the accident: Bryant is “still here. He still lives among us. It is in our daily struggles. It is in our personal triumphs. He’s in our last-second defensive saves or our buzzer shots or wherever we need that Mamba mentality. Even in the midst of a pandemic in which no one is supposed to be anywhere, Kobe is everywhere.
A mural, shown Tuesday, commemorates Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and others at El Toro Bravo Carniceria in Costa Mesa. On January 26, 2020, a Sikorsky S-76B helicopter crashed in Calabasas, killing Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Now here are the stories not to be missed today:
Contents
TOP STORIES
Supreme Court vacancy offers Biden and Democrats chance to energize voters after setbacks
The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer presents President Biden and Democrats with a golden opportunity to overcome recent setbacks and re-energize black and progressive voters ahead of the midterms. In other words, if all goes well.
Although the White House has been tight-lipped about its shortlist of Supreme Court nominees, U.S. Court of Appeals Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger are consensus favorites .
Nominating the nation’s first black woman justice to the Supreme Court, as Biden has pledged to do, could ease the political headwinds Democrats face in the November election. But given the perilous nature of Democrats’ tenuous majority in the Senate and an already hectic legislative schedule, adding a Supreme Court confirmation process has the potential to exacerbate existing intraparty tensions and further complicate the drive to further enact Biden’s legislative agenda.
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US refuses to budge on Ukraine in response to Russian demands
As tensions mount over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration on Wednesday rejected Moscow’s demands for NATO to pledge never to admit the former Soviet republic into the transatlantic alliance and to suspend troop deployments in Eastern Europe.
While most experts agree that Ukraine’s membership of the transatlantic alliance is not imminent, the State Department says such a position will not be communicated publicly to Russia.
Moscow had demanded a written response to two sets of position statements it made in Washington more than a month ago regarding Ukraine’s entry into NATO and US troop drills near the Russian border. Initially, US officials hesitated but eventually agreed to provide it. The American letter drew an angry reaction from Moscow.
California surpasses 8 million coronavirus cases as new BA.2 subtype raises questions
California has now passed 8 million cumulative cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. The milestone, which equates to around 1 in 5 residents having been infected at some point, comes amid growing signs that Omicron has finally peaked – but not before tearing California communities apart.
And if anything, the recent sky-high numbers are likely an undercount, experts say, because many people who may be infected may not get tested because they have only mild or no symptoms. all, while others may use self-administered home tests.
But there could be another speed bump: the emergence of an Omicron subtype. The World Health Organization has said the occurrence of the subtype, called BA.2, is on the rise in many countries. Two cases were also discovered in Santa Clara County, the most populous county in Northern California.
Stay up to date on variant developments, case counts and vaccine news with Coronavirus Today.
Cannabis social equity programs leave many California entrepreneurs demoralized and burnt out
Five years after California voters legalized adult recreational cannabis, many cities and counties have yet to enact programs to increase the odds of success for hopeful Black and Latino cannabis entrepreneurs.
In places that have, these programs have been plagued by lack of funding, changing requirements, and severe delays in processing applications, often creating additional difficulties and barriers rather than removing them.
A review of state data by The Times found that equity seekers made up only a small fraction — less than 8% — of all people granted cannabis licenses through the end of 2020 in several of the state’s largest courts. Additionally, local authorities across the state have created different regulations for licensing cannabis businesses and meeting social equity criteria.
Los Angeles decides to end oil drilling in the city
The Los Angeles City Council voted to ban all new oil wells and commissioned a study to help city officials determine how to phase out existing wells over the next two decades. Under the motion approved Wednesday, the city will conduct a depreciation study to understand whether oil companies have recovered the value of their investments at each oil site. If the companies recouped those costs, city officials say it will be easier for the city to close the sites.
Environmental justice activists heralded the vote as a long-standing victory for low-income communities of color near wells and a turning point in city regulations that allow oil and gas extraction in residential neighborhoods .
Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Assn., said in a statement that “Shutting down household energy production not only puts Californians out of work and lowers taxes that pay for vital services, but it makes us more dependent on imported foreign oil”. from Saudi Arabia and Iraq being transported by tanker through the crowded port of Los Angeles. »
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
Freshen up: Old lanterns are replaced with new, larger ones in San Francisco’s Chinatown on January 14, ahead of the Chinese New Year on February 1.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
CALIFORNIA
San Jose passes the first law in the United States requiring gun owners to have insurance. The San Jose City Council overwhelmingly approved the measure despite opposition from some gun owners who said it would violate their 2nd Amendment rights.
A new bill would force courts to overturn cannabis convictions more quickly. The move comes two weeks after a Times investigation found tens of thousands of Californians still have felonies, misdemeanors and other cannabis convictions on their records. Despite a 2018 law that required the state to overturn cannabis convictions, many courts have been slow to process cases, the Times found.
CSU strongly indicates that it will permanently remove its SAT and ACT admission requirements. The council of students, faculty, and administrators found assessments less effective than high school grades in predicting college success, while producing disparate outcomes for underserved students and creating undue stress.
Martine Colette, founder of Wildlife Waystation who saved animals by the thousands, has died aged 79. For years, the 160-acre sanctuary served as a model for rescuing exotic animals abandoned by impetuous owners, traveling roadside attractions and research labs, while Colette was the only one. – tour de force woman, leading rescue missions and charming Hollywood celebrities to support her cause.
NATION-WORLD
Journalists across Mexico are saying enough about murders and crimes against the media. The trigger for the whistleblowers was the murder of two journalists in one week this month in the northern border city of Tijuana, long a bastion of organized crime, corruption and violence against the press. Protesters gathered in more than three dozen Mexican cities on Tuesday.
A thwarted prison break brings a sense of deja vu – and fears of a resurgence of Islamic State. Ghweiran prison in northeast Syria houses more than 3,000 suspected Islamic State fighters and hundreds of boys, some as young as 10. The state freed more than 500 of its members in an assault that heralded the group’s rise to power.
The German offer to send 5,000 helmets to Ukraine becomes a punch. Responding to the offer, the mayor of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv – a former world heavyweight boxing champion who lived for years in Germany and is well known in the country – said he was “speechless”.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
Taylor Swift has slapped every woman who’s been told ‘you didn’t write that’. For Damon Albarn to casually assert that someone of Swift’s stature doesn’t write her own songs isn’t just an insult to her; it’s an insult to all the women who fought so that someone like Taylor Swift could exist, writes columnist and cultural critic Mary McNamara.
Unpaid dancers say they worked side-by-side with paid dancers during the 2021 Super Bowl halftime show. Watching the show, viewers were likely unaware that two different groups were at work — and being treated unequally . Only certain artists received compensation for this union concert, which operated under SAG-AFTRA rules.
Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney has pushed back the nude scenes with the director’s backing. The gritty teen drama stars Sweeney as Cassie Howard, a sensitive former figure skater navigating toxic relationships that are often seen as promiscuous. Throughout the show, Sweeney’s Cassie appeared partially nude in several sex scenes.
BUSINESS
Jimmy Fallon promoted his NFT Bored Ape on “The Tonight Show.” Is it a conflict of interest? Highlighting it on his show could well increase his asking price even further if he ever tries to resell it – this is where things get tricky.
Spotify chose Joe Rogan over Neil Young in its fight against misinformation. The Swedish music and podcast streaming giant has previously told news outlets that it prohibits “false or dangerous misleading content about COVID-19.” But unlike its peers, no such policy is listed in the company’s usage guidelines or its banned content summaries, which is remarkable given the controversies surrounding Spotify’s top podcast show,” The Joe Rogan Experience”.
SPORTS
UCLA gymnastics united against racial injustice, then was torn apart by it. The dispute began in early fall when several gymnasts heard a non-black teammate sing lyrics that included the N-word. As the university staged a response that some felt was insufficient, members of the team described cracks in the famous cheerful facade of one of the most visible and successful programs in the country.
Anthony Davis’ return has the Lakers feeling the worst may be behind them. Davis’ return to the lineup comes at a critical time. The star big man needs to prove that his presence can get the Lakers out of the rut they’re stuck in.
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OPINION
Justice Breyer’s retirement preserves the status quo of the Supreme Court, for better and for worse. His retirement will reverse neither the destructive partisanship that has plagued the court nor the court’s increasingly conservative political orientation. But at least for now, partisanship is unlikely to get any worse, writes the Times editorial board.
The term Latinx was not created by “woke” white people. Stop erasing its creators. In the early 2000s, queer Latinx people began using the term on message boards and blogs. Campaigns to ban it understandably alienate many LGBTQ, Indigenous, and black Latinx people the word was meant to represent.
ONLY IN L.A.
Susan and Juan Sanchez in front of their florist, Frida Pickles, in San Gabriel.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Their motto is “Thrive through flowers” – and they really mean it. Juan and Susan Sanchez have made it their mission to use Frida Pickles, their San Gabriel business, as a way to employ residents with special needs. Their 13-year-old daughter, Sofia, has autism. “Just like people, all flowers and plants are different,” Susan said. “And we all deserve a chance to thrive.”
Opened in May 2019, the lush display showcases a variety of plants, flowers, lawn ornaments and pickles. The couple work with community and school organizations to staff their shop: “We not only believe these partnerships are important in strengthening how and where we can help, but they also provide us with…onboarding and management.” And I have to say, all the employees are paid,” Susan said. “They are actually paid above minimum wage. So it’s very important to us. But really, we had no playbook or model to follow. More here.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
January 28, 1973, Los Angeles Times. Top half of first page.
Forty-nine years ago today, US involvement in the Vietnam War effectively ended. North Vietnam began releasing American prisoners of war, and in late March 1973 the last American combat troops left South Vietnam. In its edition of January 28, 1973, the Times speaks of the “fragile peace” obtained thanks to the pact. The fighting, of course, continued.
“To revisit Vietnam decades after the war is to confirm the tragedy and futility of it all,” Alvin Shuster, a former Times editor who was a war correspondent in South Vietnam, wrote in the newspaper in 2000. American involvement is rarely visible. And few, if any, will now dispute the conclusion that it was for nothing.
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