Democrats opposing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination are seizing on remarks he made in 2016 saying he would like to put the “final nail” in a Supreme Court precedent upholding an independent counsel law as constitutional. Republicans are pushing back, saying Kavanaugh’s comment is being distorted.
National Intelligence director Dan Coats’ drumbeat of criticism against Russia is clashing loudly with President Donald Trump’s pro-Kremlin remarks, leaving the soft-spoken spy chief in an uncomfortable — and perhaps perilous — place in the administration. Coats was an Indiana senator until January 2017.
A constitutional challenge to Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson’s reelection bid failed Tuesday after the Indiana Election Commission agreed with a holistic reading of the state constitution. The challenge had argued Lawson is not eligible to run because, if reelected, she will be prohibited from completing a full term under Article 6, Section 2 of the Indiana Constitution.
The heated debate over how Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would vote on the Affordable Care Act might not matter. As long as five past defenders of the health care law remain on the nation’s highest court, the odds tilt in favor of it being allowed to stand. Some Democrats are warning that President Donald Trump’s designee could spell doom for the statute, even as some conservatives are portraying Kavanaugh as sympathetic to former President Barack Obama’s landmark legislation.
The special counsel in the Russia investigation is seeking immunity for five potential witnesses in the upcoming trial of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. The five individuals have indicated they won’t testify or provide other information “on the basis of their privilege against self-incrimination,” special counsel Robert Mueller’s office told a federal judge in Virginia in a court filing Tuesday.
Blistered by bipartisan condemnation of his embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, President Donald Trump on Tuesday backed away from his public undermining of American intelligence agencies, saying he simply misspoke when he said he saw no reason to believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.
In an extraordinary embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, President Donald Trump on Monday openly questioned his own intelligence agencies’ firm finding that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to his benefit, seeming to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insistence that Moscow’s hands were clean.
To steal politically sensitive information, prosecutors say Russian hackers exploited some of the United States’ own computer infrastructure against it, using servers they leased in Arizona and Illinois. The details were included in an indictment released Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller, who accused the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, of taking part in a wide-ranging conspiracy to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s opponents are digging through documents at President George W. Bush’s library in Texas and other repositories around the country looking for anything that could help derail his nomination. The trail of documents is extensive, as Kavanaugh spent five years in the Bush White House and 12 years as a federal judge.
A federal judge on Monday ordered a temporary halt to any deportations of immigrant families who were reunited after being separated by the Trump administration at the border. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw imposed a delay of at least a week after a request from the American Civil Liberties Union, which cited “persistent and increasing rumors … that mass deportations may be carried out imminently and immediately upon reunification.”
Damon R. Leichty, partner in the South Bend office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, has been nominated to serve as a judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, potentially filling the last empty seat in the federal judiciary in Indiana. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Leichty will fill the vacancy created when Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr., took senior status in January 2016.
The Indiana Supreme Court has remanded two cases that it previously granted transfer to back to the Indiana Court of Appeals for reconsideration in light of a new statute addressing permissible sentence modifications. The cases of State v. Stafford and Rodriguez v. State were sent back to the lower appellate court on Thursday after the 2018 version of Senate Enrolled Act 64 took effect on July 1.
Before his Senate confirmation hearing, President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court will need to provide information about his past experience investigating President Bill Clinton and working for President George W. Bush. Requests for that information are included in questionnaires sent to Brett Kavanaugh by the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, who will lead the confirmation hearing.
Lawyers for Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill have filed court papers challenging the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate whether he drunkenly groped a lawmaker and three legislative staffers. A document filed in Marion Superior Court also challenges the authority of the state’s Inspector General to build a case against him.
The collapse of an oil company linked to the Pence family in 2004 was widely publicized. Less known is that the state of Indiana — and, to a smaller extent, Kentucky and Illinois — are still on the hook for millions of dollars to clean up more than 85 of the company’s contaminated sites, including underground tanks that leaked toxic chemicals into soil, streams and wells.
A Marion Superior judge has approved Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry’s request to appoint a special prosecutor to assist the Indiana Inspector General with an ongoing investigation into groping allegations made against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill.
Dozens of immigrant children under the age of 5 will be released from government custody and reunited with their parents Tuesday after being separated at the border under President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy. A government lawyer said Monday at least 54 children under the age of 5 would join their parents by a court-ordered deadline, only about half the 100 or so children covered by the order.
President Donald Trump has pardoned two ranchers whose case sparked the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday that justice for Dwight and Steven Hammond was "overdue."
Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, has sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2006. Here are summaries of some of his notable opinions:
The next Supreme Court justice will join the bench at a time when the public has more confidence in the high court than in Congress or the presidency. A Gallup survey in June found 37 percent of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the court, while another 42 percent have “some” confidence. Only 18 percent have little or no confidence in the court.