Biden, Democrats back away from bill that would give Trump more federal judges to appoint
President Biden and key Democrats are now opposing a once bipartisan bill that would have authorized 63 new permanent district judgeships now that President-elect Donald Trump would be the one to fill 21 of those slots once he takes office. The Senate in August passed the “Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act” or the “JUDGES Act of 2024,” which staggers the 63 new permanent judgeships the president may choose over the next 10 years. Citing how courts are burdened by heavy caseloads, the bill says the president shall appoint 11 of those permanent judgeships in 2025 and 11 more in 2027. The president would tap another 10 judges in 2029, 11 in 2031, 10 in 2033 and 10 more in 2035, the bill says. Democrats are decrying how the bill did not come to a vote in the House before the election – when control of the next presidency, and therefore which party would choose those next 21 judges, still hung in the balance. The White House released a statement on Tuesday saying Biden would now veto the bill if it came to his desk. “While judicial staffing is important to the rule of law, S. 4199 is unnecessary to the efficient and effective administration of justice,” the White House said. “The bill would create new judgeships in states where Senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies. Those efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now.” TRUMP WILL APPOINT ‘DOZENS’ OF JUDGES, EXPERTS SAY, DESPITE DEMS RAMMING THROUGH NOMINEES IN LAME-DUCK SESSION “In addition, neither the House nor the Senate fully explored how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships,” the White House continued. “Further, the Senate passed this bill in August, but the House refused to take it up until after the election. Hastily adding judges with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress would fail to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the judges are allocated.” During a House Rules Committee hearing on Monday, Rep. Chip Roy, R-N.C., and House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, made the argument that a significant number of districts in states, regardless of their political make-up, have sounded the alarm about staffing shortages worsening the backlogs of cases. However, despite the significant need, they argued, the appointment process has become politicized. “We need the number of judges,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, admitted. “However, President Trump has shown, he bragged that by his three appointments, he overturned Roe v. Wade. He said he was going to do it. He did it. So don’t tell me it’s not political.” “Under this legislation, we all promised to give the next three unknown presidents a certain number of judges,” Nadler said. “Because no one can tell the future we were all at an equal disadvantage, but for this deal to work, the bill had to be passed before Election Day.” The bill text cites how as of March 31, 2023, there were 686,797 pending cases in the district courts across the country, with an average of 491 weighted case filings per judgeship over a 12-month period. Shortly before the White House released its statement signaling Biden would veto the bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., gave a speech noting how the JUDGES Act passed the Senate by unanimous consent in August. TRUMP NAMES ALINA HABBA AS COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT; REVEALS SEVERAL STATE DEPARTMENT PICKS The bipartisan support, McConnell argued, proved “that the right to a speedy trial still enjoys overwhelming popularity.” “I was particularly encouraged by the vocal endorsement of our friend, the Democratic leader, who recognized the measure as, quote, ‘very responsible, bipartisan and prudent bill that would lead to a better functioning judiciary.’ Soon, we expect the House to take up and pass the JUDGES Act with similar overwhelming support,” McConnell said. “And normally, we could rest assured that such popular action would be signed into law without further ado. But maybe not this time.” “Last week, the White House seemed to suggest, through anonymous comment that President Biden has concerns with the bill. I, for one, would be curious to hear the president’s rationale. It’s hard to imagine a justification for blocking the JUDGES Act that doesn’t smack of naked partisanship,” McConnell, who did lead the GOP effort to block former President Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, said. “It’s almost inconceivable that a lame duck president would consider vetoing such an obviously prudential step for any reason other than selfish spite.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Litigants across America deserve their day in court,” he said. “They deserve to know the federal judiciary has the bandwidth to carefully and thoroughly consider their cases. The president, former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is well equipped to appreciate this fact, and I hope he acts accordingly.”
Federal judge who refuses mental evaluation at age 97 fights suspension
Judge Pauline Newman, the oldest federal judge in America at age 97, is continuing to fight against a suspension from the bench by her colleagues who found her mentally not fit enough to serve. Newman is appealing her suspension and has also filed a motion to unseal documents related to an investigation which ultimately led to her being temporarily removed from the bench. Newman, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, was barred from serving in September 2023 for a year by the Federal Circuit’s Judicial Council after the panel said she refused to cooperate with an investigation into “reasonable concerns” surrounding her mental fitness. The suspension was extended for another year by the panel in September. The Committee on Judicial Conduct conducted more than 20 interviews with court staff pointing to her “significant mental deterioration including memory loss, confusion, lack of comprehension, paranoia, anger, hostility and severe agitation,” per court documents. FEDERAL JUDGE, 96, BARRED FROM HEARING CASES AFTER PANEL CLAIMS LACK OF MENTAL FITNESS: ‘BASELESS ALLEGATIONS’ The suspension order also said Newman was slower than her colleagues in issuing opinions and had “amassed a troubling backlog of cases,” which her team has said is not accurate. The Federal Circuit Court on which Newman has served for nearly 40 years deals frequently with patent, intellectual property and copyright cases. Newman is considered a leading intellectual property jurist. The investigation into Newman led her to file a federal lawsuit against her fellow judges. U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, a President Obama appointee, threw out most of Newman’s lawsuit in February, then dismissed the entire case on the pleadings in July, per Law & Crime. In his 15-page ruling, Cooper rejected the legal challenges Newman had raised to the Judicial Conduct & Disability Act and did not focus on the factual allegations against Newman. Newman appealed the ruling Monday and argued via counsel to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that although advanced in age, she “retains her sharp intellect,” and both lay and expert witnesses have described her as an “unusually cognitively intact … woman” whose cognitive and physical abilities make her appear “20 or more years younger than her stated age,” per Law & Crime. She says she is physically and mentally fit enough to continue doing her job, and has obtained independent evaluations from doctors issuing the same opinion, court documents revealed. REAGAN-APPOINTED JUDGE, NOW 95, FACES PROBE INTO WHETHER SHE CAN STILL DO THE JOB In the appellate brief, cited by Law & Crime, Newman’s counsel said she was in sound mental and physical health, and argued that the only reason Newman was late in submitting written opinions is that “she takes extraordinary pains to ensure that her opinions fully reflect her views and remain consistent from case to case and year to year.” Newman is being represented in the lawsuit by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a nonprofit civil rights group that says it views the “administrative state” as an especially serious threat to constitutional freedoms. The group says that the suspension is illegal and that Newman was removed without due process. “Judge Newman’s indefinite, complete suspension is unprecedented in American judicial history, exceeding sanctions imposed on judges who committed serious misconduct and improprieties,” the group said in a statement. “Suspending an Article III judge from all judicial functions of her office is unconstitutional.” The group said that world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Aaron G. Filler recently directed a cutting-edge Perfusion Computed Tomography (PCT) scan of Newman’s brain and administered a full neurological examination that turned up “no relevant deficits, confirming that she is fully fit to perform the duties of the office.” On Thursday, Greg Dolin, who has represented Newman throughout the case, said via a statement that the entire disciplinary process against Judge Newman was “always factually baseless and legally meritless.” “But the issues are more important than Judge Newman,” said Dolin, a senior litigation counsel for the NCLA. “At stake is the very independence of American judiciary and our system of checks and balances. The D.C. Circuit should put a stop to the Federal Circuit Judicial Council’s unconstitutional and ultra vires actions against Judge Newman.” Newman also filed a motion to unseal documents related to the committee’s investigation and findings that are subject to a Dec. 4 gag order, per Law & Crime. Newman’s legal team said that Newman’s judicial colleagues have refused to abide by rules of judicial conduct and have “threatened Judge Newman and her counsel with unspecified sanctions” for making documents public. Her team also accused the defendants of seeking to “direct the process within their own forum” in an “entirely inappropriate effort” to contradict the law. Former senior U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown, was the oldest person to serve as a federal judge in the history of the United States, actively hearing cases until approximately one month before his death at age 104, according to the U.S. Courts. Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy and Elizabeth Pritchet contributed to this report.
Biden admin extends $10B Iran sanctions waiver 2 days after Trump election win
The Biden administration has renewed a controversial sanctions waiver that will allow Iran access to some $10 billion in payments from Iraq – an action that came just two days after President-elect Trump emerged victorious on Election Day. Secretary of State Antony Blinken again extended the waiver for humanitarian trade, which permits Iran to access accounts in Iraq and Oman. However, Republican critics have said that allowing the Iranian regime access to these funds frees up money Iran can use to support terrorism in the Middle East or advance its nuclear program. “On November 7th, the department did renew Iraq’s electricity waiver for the 23rd time since 2018. It was done so for an additional 120 days,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel confirmed last week. US NAVY DEFEATS HOUTHI ATTACKS IN GULF OF ADEN FOR SECOND TIME IN WEEKS “We remain committed to reducing Iran’s malign influence in the region. Our viewpoint is that a stable, sovereign and secure Iraq is critical to these efforts,” he added, pointing out that this sanctions waiver began in 2018 during the first Trump administration. Congress has passed several sanctions targeting Iran that give the president authority to temporarily suspend, or “waive” the sanctions if the president determines doing so is in the interests of U.S. national security. GOP SENATOR QUESTIONS FBI OVER REPORTED IRANIAN HACK ATTEMPT OF TRUMP PICK KASH PATEL The waiver is set to expire after Trump takes office in January. It is unclear whether the Trump administration would again extend the sanctions relief. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, argued Tuesday that the sanctions waiver allows Iran to fund proxy terror groups that have attacked U.S. forces in the Middle East. FALL OF SYRIA’S BASHAR ASSAD IS STRATEGIC BLOW TO IRAN AND RUSSIA, EXPERTS SAY “The House voted to eliminate these waiver authorities — twice. But the Biden administration is still waiving the sanctions, putting more money in the Iranian regime’s pockets to fund its terrorist proxies and nuclear weapons program,” McCaul posted on X. “The U.S. should not be subsidizing Iran’s malign activities.”
Centre urges states to make THIS disease notifiable due to…, know here
The Union Health Ministry has appealed to the state make snakebites a notifiable disease, i.e., both public and private hospitals will be required to report the disease to the government.
FlowForce Max Review [Official 2025]: Is Flow Force Max Prostate scam or legit?
![FlowForce Max Review [Official 2025]: Is Flow Force Max Prostate scam or legit?](https://www.texasweeklyonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2666272-flowforce-max-review-1-M16Way.jpeg "FlowForce Max Review [Official 2025]: Is Flow Force Max Prostate scam or legit?")
FlowForce Review: General Overview- An enlarged prostate is clearly an indicator of getting old with a series of health problems. The biggest contributing factor in prostate enlargement or prostatic hyperplasia is the aging factor.
San Antonio’s housing authority plans to “play defense” with new HUD administration
Former state Rep. Scott Turner’s nomination to lead the agency may offer a glimpse of what could be cut from San Antonio’s housing ecosystem.
State agency to ask lawmakers for $300 million to fix “significant neglect” in Texas’ Medicaid enrollment system
The request, which includes hiring more staff and updating the online application system, comes as applicants must wait for months to receive approval for benefits.
Outgoing Rep. Jamaal Bowman issues ‘Dear White People’ thread following Daniel Penny acquittal
On the heels of Marine veteran Daniel Penny’s acquittal, outgoing Rep. Jamaal Bowman issued a “Dear White People” thread on X which he started by saying he did not know why he felt the need to keep talking to white people. “Dear White People, I don’t know why I feel the need to keep talking to you. I don’t know why part of me still has hope for you and for us. Some of you are too far gone. But maybe enough of you aren’t and will join us in fighting to end white supremacy,” Bowman declared in the first post of his thread. Bowman, who decisively lost the Democratic primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District earlier this year, will soon depart from Congress because his term ends in less than a month. JAMAAL BOWMAN LOSS ENRAGES LIBERALS, LEFT-WING COMMENTATORS: ‘WILLING TO BUY OUR DEMOCRACY’ “I just wanna call out the hypocrisy and evil of it all and just continue to hope. I won’t rely completely on you because I know what’s most important is to work with my community and other like minded allies in the fight for justice. But I guess I’ll just offer this,” Bowman wrote. “I am 48 years old and I have seen countless incidents of brutal police violence and killings in my lifetime,” he declared before going on to mention individuals including Rodney King, George Floyd, and others. “Jordan Neely is the latest. He was sick. He was not a threat. He was subdued. Still not a threat. Daniel Penny choked him for 6 minutes. And killed him. We all watched it on camera, and he was still acquitted,” the lawmaker asserted. The congressman made the posts after Marine veteran Daniel Penny was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely. DANIEL PENNY SAYS HE COULDN’T LIVE WITH GUILT IF JORDAN NEELY HURT SUBWAY PASSENGERS “I’ve left out probably another hundred instances of this trauma in my life. For comparison, I ask white people, how many times have you seen a white man killed in cold blood on camera on your newsfeed? How many times have you even heard about this?” Bowman asked. “The answer is never. You never have. And whenever you feel discomfort from your whiteness, Black people are harmed or killed. And there is never accountability or justice. This is the evil of white supremacy. It spans across geography and political parties and sickens us all,” he declared. “I wish I didn’t have to live with all of this trauma deep in my bones. I wish I could just be free to be me. I marvel at the beauty and greatness of my people in spite of white supremacy. It’s extraordinary. That is what I will continue to lean on.” NEW YORK GOP LEADER CELEBRATES BOWMAN’S DOUBLE-DIGIT DEFEAT TO PRO-ISRAEL DEMOCRAT: ‘GOOD RIDDANCE, JAMAAL’ Bowman retweeted his “Dear White People” post, the first part of his multi-post thread, and commented, “Seems like I hit a nerve. White people on X going crazy on this one. Must’ve been a lot of truth in what I posted.” “Wow. This has been so triggering for so many of you. Do you realize you’re actually proving my point? If you are that triggered by this, imagine how I must feel when Black people are murdered consistently and there is no Justice. Y’all can’t handle a tweet. Fascinating,” Bowman wrote in another post.
Top DOGE senator demands answers on plan to exhaust CHIPs Act funds before Trump arrives
EXCLUSIVE: A top U.S. senator is expected to demand that Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo explain her reported plans to exhaust the remainder of the CHIPs and Science Act’s multibillion-dollar appropriations before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. “Your recent mandate to the Department of Commerce staff to work overtime–including weekends–spending billions of dollars in funding provided by the CHIPs and Science Act as quickly as possible before President-elect Trump takes office in January is extremely concerning,” Senate DOGE Caucus leader Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, writes in a letter that’s to be given to Raimondo on Wednesday. Ernst called on Raimondo, the previous Rhode Island governor, to immediately halt all last-minute spending plans. Raimondo recently told Politico she’d “like to have really almost all of the money obligated” from what is one of President Biden’s major government spending initiatives “by the time we leave.” ‘DOGE’-MEETS-CONGRESS: GOP LAWMAKER AARON BEAN LAUNCHES CAUCUS TO HELP MUSK ‘TAKE ON CRAZYTOWN’ The CHIPs Act, sponsored by then-Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, sought to invest in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research, development and other related endeavors. In her letter, Ernst said microchips and other “essential goods” strengthen the U.S. economy and supply chain. She said that the success of the CHIPs Act hinges on careful planning and execution, which, according to her interpretation, are not reflected in Raimondo’s remarks regarding the upcoming final rounds of spending. “[B]inge buying shopping sprees by bureaucrats shoveling billions out the door before your term expires” are unwise, she said. “This is not a time to let the CHIPs fall where they may,” she said, pointing to reports that nearly $280 billion in COVID-19 response funding was wasted or subject to fraud. RAMASWAMY OUTLINES DOGE’S VISION “Shoveling out heaps of taxpayer dollars as fast as possible, with little to no oversight, is part of the reason the United States government is nearly $36 trillion in debt today,” Ernst wrote. In exclusive comments to Fox News Digital, Ernst quipped that while “Black Friday might have come-and-gone, the Biden administration is on a spending spree, convinced every tax dollar must go.” “We’ve never seen bureaucrats work this hard, and you can be sure they made a list and aren’t checking it twice to find out who is naughty and nice. This is backwards and underscores the need for DOGE to shake up Washington and bring some much-needed Iowa common sense to the capital,” she said. In her letter, Ernst wrote that with $25 billion of $53 billion in available appropriations already earmarked, it is difficult to believe the same level of oversight will be given to the last-minute expenditures as there likely was for the first two years’ worth. In addition to her criticisms and demands that the spending be halted, Ernst asked Raimondo to inform her on several related fronts before the day the new Congress is seated next year. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Ernst is requesting the total number of ongoing negotiations between Commerce and CHIPs Act fund applicants, the duration of planned CHIPs projects and the amount of money spent via the CHIPs Act both prior to and after Trump’s election win. She will also ask Raimondo how her team is coordinating with the Trump transition on this matter. Trump has chosen Cantor-Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to succeed Raimondo on Jan. 20. Fox News Digital reached out to Raimondo on the general subject of her remarks to Politico. A Raimondo representative directed Fox News Digital to a portion of her interview: “You know, there’s a deadline, there’s a clear deadline with a change of administration. So, certainly, a deadline focuses the mind. But this was the plan we were on all along to complete this mission. I don’t worry terribly about any of the CHIPs money being rolled back, as you say. I mean, the Commerce Department is somewhat unique in so far as everything we’ve done and are doing is bipartisan,” Raimondo said.
Florida lawmaker introduces bill to require DACA students to pay out-of-state tuition
Florida state Sen. Randy Fine, a Republican, proposed a bill to require high school graduates with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, status to pay out-of-state tuition for college. Fine claims the state cannot afford to subsidize tuition for students who are not in the country legally and says the policy passed in 2014 offering them in-state tuition costs Florida $45 million a year. Under S.B. 90, DACA students would no longer qualify for in-state tuition, which costs an average of $6,143 for the 2024-2025 academic year, according to the State University System of Florida. The University of Florida, for example, is $6,381 for in-state tuition but $28,658 for out-of-state tuition, according to US News & World Report. DESANTIS WELCOMES FLORIDA STATE LAWMAKER TO REPUBLICAN PARTY AS SHE DITCHES DEMOCRATS “While blue-collar Floridians are struggling to make ends meet, it is not fair to require them to pay $45 million a year to subsidize sweetheart deals for college degrees to those who should not even be here,” Fine said in a statement. “This is a no-brainer way to reduce the size of government and free up resources to help Floridians in need,” he continued. “We must put Floridians first, and I am proud to do my part to rebalance the scales for our citizens.” The bill would not modify the admission policies of Florida’s 12 state universities and 28 state colleges. State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat, has expressed strong opposition to the bill, arguing that the proposed change would create significant financial barriers for students who have lived in Florida most of their lives. “These are students who have only known the United States as home,” Eskamani said, according to Fox 13. Eskamani also noted that many DACA students do not qualify for scholarships and are already at a financial disadvantage. The legislation, Fine argues, is about “ensuring people who shouldn’t be in the country aren’t getting discounted educations,” according to Fox 13. TRUMP PRESSING DESANTIS TO NAME LARA TRUMP AS RUBIO’S SENATE SUCCESSOR: SOURCE CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fine’s previous attempts to pass similar legislation have come up short, but Democrats worry that increased national focus on immigration issues, such as President-elect Trump promising mass deportations in his second term, could give the bill momentum this time around. “I am concerned this policy may have legs this year,” Eskamani said. Fine, who joined the state Senate last month, is resigning from the legislature, effective March 31, so he can run for the U.S. House seat that is expected to be vacated by U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., who was nominated by Trump to be his White House national security advisor.