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US Senate Republicans push back against anti ‘judge shopping’ policy
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks during a press conference following the weekly Senate caucus luncheons on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 12, 2024. REUTERS/Craig Hudson/File Photo
By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) -U.S. Senate Republicans on Thursday pushed the federal judiciary to rethink a new policy designed to curb the practice of “judge shopping” used by conservative litigants to steer cases challenging President Joe Biden’s agenda to judges perceived as sympathetic.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor said he hoped the U.S. Judicial Conference, the judiciary’s policymaking body, would reconsider the “half-baked” policy it adopted on Tuesday designed to ensure that cases challenging federal and state laws are randomly assigned judges.
McConnell called it an “unforced error” by the 26-member Judicial Conference, which he said “took the bait” from Democrats who complained about lawsuits by conservative litigants in single-judge courthouses, or divisions, in Texas with Republican-appointed judges.
The Judicial Conference is presided over by conservative Chief U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.
Under the new policy, lawsuits seeking to block federal or state laws would not remain in such a single-judge division but instead be assigned a judge randomly throughout a larger federal district.
“This will have no practical effect in the venues favored by liberal activists, but Democrats are still salivating at the possibility of shutting down access to justice in the venues favored by conservatives,” McConnell said.
In letters sent to several chief judges of district courts affected by the policy, McConnell, of Kentucky, and Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina urged them to continue their existing practices, citing a statute they said gave the local courts sole discretion to decide how cases are assigned.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the judiciary’s administrative arm, did not respond to a request for comment.
Republican state attorneys general and activists had seized on local rules in Texas to sue in small courthouses in the state whose one or two judges were appointed by Republican presidents, enabling them to essentially choose judges who have reliably ruled in their favor on issues like abortion, immigration and gun control.
In one of those cases, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk – an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump – in the single-judge division of Amarillo, Texas, in April suspended approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the pill to remain on the market while it considers an appeal in the case, set for argument on March 26.
The Texas cases prompted calls from Democratic lawmakers, the Biden administration, the American Bar Association and others for the judiciary to ensure cases challenging national policies are heard by a random judge.
Judicial policymakers in announcing the new policy said it promotes public confidence in the courts by ensuring a litigant cannot pre-select a judge by filing in a one-judge division.
The chair of the Judicial Conference’s executive committee, conservative U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton, on Tuesday called the policy a “good idea.”
But some conservative judges have criticized the policy change, and McConnell on Thursday said it did not address the real issue, which he said is increasing instances of a single judge issuing injunctions blocking federal policies nationwide, rather than just the judge’s own jurisdiction.
That occurred frequently during Trump’s administration in cases that Democratic state attorneys general and others filed in venues like California’s Northern District, but those courthouses have multiple judges who could be randomly assigned cases.
McConnell said rather than working with Republicans to “eliminate a practice that gores the oxen of both parties,” Democrats convinced the Judicial Conference to adopt a policy that will “just restrict the access to conservative judges.”
McConnell will leave his leadership position following the November elections, in which Republicans hope to retake control of the Senate. In Thursday’s speech, he did not call for legislation to reverse the Judicial Conference’s policy.
But he warned that “if Republicans see a federal judiciary that is using its procedural independence to wade into political disputes, any incentive we may have to defend that procedural independence will vanish, as well.”
By Maggie Fick and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Members of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team are laying the groundwork for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization on the first day of his second term, according to a health law expert familiar with the discussions.
“I have it on good authority that he plans to withdraw, probably on Day One or very early in his administration,” said Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at Georgetown University in Washington and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health (NS:) Law.
The Financial Times was first to report on the plans, citing two experts. The second expert, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, was not immediately available for comment.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The plan, which aligns with Trump’s longstanding criticism of the U.N. health agency, would mark a dramatic shift in U.S. global health policy and further isolate Washington from international efforts to battle pandemics.
Trump has nominated several critics of the organization to top public health positions, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who is up for the post of secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees all major U.S. health agencies including the CDC and FDA.
Trump initiated the year-long withdrawal process from the WHO in 2020 but six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, reversed the decision.
Trump has argued that the agency failed to hold China accountable for the early spread of COVID-19. He has repeatedly called the WHO a puppet of Beijing and vowed to redirect U.S. contributions to domestic health initiatives.
A WHO spokesperson declined to directly comment but referred Reuters to comments by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing on Dec. 10 in which he was asked whether he was concerned that the Trump administration would withdraw from the organization.
Tedros said at the time that the WHO needed to give the U.S. time and space for the transition. He also voiced confidence that states could finalize a pandemic agreement by May 2025.
Critics warn that a U.S. withdrawal could undermine global disease surveillance and emergency response systems.
“The U.S. would lose influence and clout in global health and China would fill the vacuum. I can’t imagine a world without a robust WHO. But U.S. withdrawal would severely weaken the agency,” Gostin said.
U.Today – MicroStrategy has made headlines again by purchasing 5,262 BTC for approximately $561 million at an average price of $106,662 per BTC. The company now holds a staggering 444,262 BTC, accumulated at a total cost of approximately $27.7 billion, with an average purchase price of $62,257 per BTC.
Despite impressive returns of 47.4% since the beginning of the quarter and 73.7% since the beginning of the year, skepticism about the company’s strategy is growing.
It is believed that to sustain its purchases, MicroStrategy raises capital through methods such as issuing convertible and corporate bonds, securing credit lines and selling shares.
This cycle appears to operate as follows: shares are sold to acquire the cryptocurrency, and the rising price per BTC increases asset value, enabling further loans, which are then reinvested in more purchases.
Some observers warn that a significant decline in Bitcoin’s price or MicroStrategy’s stock could trigger a cascade effect. A sharp fall in MSTR shares would weaken the collateral backing its loans, potentially leading to forced asset sales, including BTC.
This scenario could exert downward pressure on the broader cryptocurrency market, as the company holds 2.2% of the global Bitcoin supply now.
Thus, while some view Michael Saylor’s approach as a bold bid to cement the cryptocurrency’s role in the financial system, others see it as unsustainable. History offers a cautionary note: in 2000, MSTR shares surged to $333 before plummeting 99%, a collapse that took 24 years to recover from.
National homebuilder ranked No. 12 on inaugural list ranking companies based on trust
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — With a longstanding reputation for trust, national homebuilder and land developer Taylor Morrison (NYSE:) (NYSE: ™HC) has been recognized by Forbes on their inaugural list of the Most Trusted Companies in America. The homebuilder ranked No. 12 out of 300 companies across all industries.
“There are few things more powerful than trust and it’s something we strive to earn amongst all company stakeholders, from our customers to our team members, our shareholders, and our local communities,” said Taylor Morrison Chairman and CEO Sheryl Palmer. “To be included on this esteemed list in its inaugural year is especially meaningful and these awards are important reminders of the relationships we’re building across all aspects of our business.”
Fueled by hundreds of millions of data points, the Most Trusted Companies in America list combines data on a wide range of factors across four categories: employee trust, customer trust, investor trust and media sentiment. The ranking was created in partnership with research companies HundredX, Signal AI and Glassdoor.
Taylor Morrison also earned the No. 67 spot on Forbes’ inaugural America’s Best Companies list. The ranking is Forbes’ most comprehensive company ranking to date and factored in ratings for financial performance, customer and employee satisfaction, cybersecurity, sustainability, companies’ remote work policies, media coverage and more. Forbes’ America’s Best Companies list assessed more than 60 metrics across 11 primary categories to identify which organizations excel across the board. Of the more than 2,000 U.S.-based publicly traded companies that were eligible, only 300 qualified for each list.
In addition to being named among the Most Trusted and Best Companies in America by Forbes, Taylor Morrison holds several additional accolades including being named on Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies and America’s Greenest Companies lists, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Companies to Work For list, the American Opportunity (SO:) Index, America’s Most Trusted ® Home Builder for nine years, Hearthstone’s 2021 BUILDER Humanitarian Award, and inclusion on the Fortune 500 list since 2021.
About Taylor Morrison
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Taylor Morrison is one of the nation’s leading homebuilders and developers. We serve a wide array of consumers from coast to coast, including first-time, move-up, luxury and resort lifestyle homebuyers and renters under our family of brands”including Taylor Morrison, Esplanade and Yardly. From 2016-2024, Taylor Morrison has been recognized as America’s Most Trusted ® Builder by Lifestory Research. Our long-standing commitment to sustainable operations is highlighted in our annual Sustainability and Belonging Report.
For more information about Taylor Morrison, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.
CONTACT:
media@taylormorrison.com
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