How are executive and legislative branches involved in selecting supreme court justices

In proposing his judicial overhaul, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has said he was restoring the balance of power between elected lawmakers and unelected judges. “It is not the end of democracy, it is the strengthening of democracy,” Mr. Netanyahu said last week, before a huge wave of protest and civil unrest forced him to put his proposals on hold . But Mr. Netanyahu’s legalistic argument obscured what was at stake, and the outpouring on the streets has in part reflected the success of his opponents in persuading Israelis that his plan actually threatened to severely undercut their country’s democracy, not strengthen it. Key to making that case has been the example of other countries in which diminishing the judiciary has become a tool for fatally wounding democracy. “We have studied this dimension of so-called judicial reform in Hungary and Poland and Turkey, and we were aware of what was coming,” said Yaniv Roznai, a law professor at Reichman University in the … [Read more...] about Netanyahu Opponents Used Dangers of ‘Reform’ by Autocrats to Sound Alarm

By Casey Tolan , CNN Updated 1858 GMT (0258 HKT) February 27, 2023 (CNN) In the parking lot of New Jerusalem Church in Jackson, Mississippi, volunteers handed out free cases of bottled water to a line of arriving cars last week -- a new normal in a state capital that has struggled with the fallout of a failing water system . But inside the church, a parade of pastors and organizers addressing the crowd railed against another threat they described as dire to the city's future: their state legislature. Republican state lawmakers are pushing "a takeover of the city of Jackson and disenfranchising local voters," declared Danyelle Holmes, a local activist. "They're banking on us to be quiet. They're banking on us to back down." The T-shirt she wore underscored the political mood of the event -- and the siege mentality that city leaders say they're feeling: JACKSON VS. EVERYBODY. A proposal in the Mississippi legislature to reshape Jackson's criminal justice system has … [Read more...] about A proposed ‘takeover’ has sparked a battle for power in one of America’s Blackest big cities

Every Tuesday and Friday, Ezra Klein invites you into a conversation about something that matters, like today’s episode with David French. Listen wherever you get your podcasts . Transcripts of our episodes are made available as soon as possible. They are not fully edited for grammar or spelling. [MUSIC PLAYING] EZRA KLEIN: I’m Ezra Klein. This is “The Ezra Klein Show.” All right. Before we start today, we are taking questions for the upcoming “Ask Me Anything” episode. So if you’ve got anything, anything at all to ask me that you want to hear answered on the show, send that into [email protected] We are accepting questions until Sunday, April 2. So anything that comes in after that, we’re not going to consider. We just get a lot. And we got to start sorting through it. So send it in before Sunday, April 2, if you want it to be part of the show. Speaking of dates, I’m recording this on Monday, March 27. And it’s a Monday with a lot of uncertainty. We … [Read more...] about Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews David French

close Video The American people are tired of a two-tiered justice system: Mike Pence Former Vice President Mike Pence discusses the politicization of government entities and how Americans are tired of politicized justice on ‘Hannity.’ A federal judge has ordered former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before a grand jury about conversations he had with former President Donald Trump in which they allegedly talked about how to overturn the 2020 election, according to two sources familiar with the case. The sealed order from Chief Judge James Boasberg is another legal setback for Trump and his efforts to block an ongoing special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into events leading up to the January 6, 2021 riots in the U.S. Capitol. Pence was subpoenaed last month by the Justice Department special counsel as part of the probe into the Jan. 6 riot. Pence's team filed a motion to block that subpoena, claiming that as vice president, his … [Read more...] about Pence ordered to testify to grand jury on talks with Trump over 2020 election interference

Wyoming endangers essential medical care Re: “Governor signs measure banning abortion pills,” March 19 news story Wyoming’s Gov. Mark Gordon has signed the law banning the use of mifepristone and similar drugs for abortions in his state. While ostensibly leaving protections in the law for mifepristone’s use to treat miscarriages, the law establishes an ominous threat of government-controlled oversight of women’s medical care. That makes women second-class citizens and means doctors cannot freely render medical care without possibly violating the law. Because surgical procedures and medication pills for miscarriages are identical treatments to those used for abortions, patients can be denied miscarriage care or have care delayed because doctors and pharmacists fear running afoul of the law. Any law that creates hesitancy for doctors to uphold the standard of care for a patient represents a degradation of that care. One consequence of the law is that women may delay or avoid … [Read more...] about Letters: Banning abortion pills — Wyoming endangers essential medical care

For admission to Chief, a women’s leadership network, members pay up to $7,900. That gets them executive coaching, big-name speaker sessions, a Rolodex of female executives and, for an extra cost, access to five sleek clubhouses. Chief is essentially an “old boys’ club” — for the ladies. The venture capital-backed company has grown to over 20,000 members and over $1 billion in value since it started in 2019. This month, in social media battles, some of its members have begun to ask: What does their club of high-powered women stand for? On LinkedIn, some Chief members have criticized the community’s approach to racial diversity and its response to political issues like the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and some have announced plans to quit. Chief’s founders, Lindsay Kaplan and Carolyn Childers, say they’ve donated to abortion access groups, issued statements in the wake of racial violence and acted on their members’ feedback, while remaining focused on the company’s primary goal, which … [Read more...] about Is Empowering Corporate Women Enough?