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Carter’s judicial picks reshaped the federal bench across the country

Carter’s judicial picks reshaped the federal bench across the country

Former President Jimmy Carter served just a single term in the White House, but it proved to be an impactful one for the federal courts, which saw the appointment of more than 260 federal judges across the country, including some who would go on to wield considerable influence in the nation’s top courts.  His appointments were barrier-breaking and diverse, helping reshape the federal bench and paving the way for women and minorities to serve on the Supreme Court.  Here are just some of the ways Carter helped reshape the federal judiciary during his four years in office. Diversifying the bench   Carter appointed a total of 262 federal judges during his four years in the White House, more than any single-term president in U.S. history. And despite never getting to appoint a Supreme Court nominee, Carter’s judicial appointments were history-making in their own right. That’s because he appointed a record number of minority and female jurists during his presidency, announcing 57 minority judges and 41 female jurists during his four years in office. This was aided in part by Carter’s creation of the Circuit Court Nominating Commissions during his first year as president, which he tasked with identifying potential judicial candidates as part of an overarching effort to make the U.S. courts look more like the populations they represented. These judges helped diversify the federal judiciary. More broadly, they also helped shape the hundreds of court opinions handed down at the district and appellate court level. Supreme Court impact Speaking to NBC News’s Brian Williams in 2005, Carter revealed that he had planned to nominate a woman to serve on the Supreme Court if a vacancy had opened up during his presidency.  In fact, Carter even had a name in mind: Judge Shirley Hufstedler, who in 1968 was appointed by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She was the first woman to serve as an appellate court judge.  “Had I had a vacancy,” he told Williams, Hufstedler was “the foremost candidate in my mind.” Carter did go on to choose Hufstedler for another role: the nation’s first secretary of education. “If I had had a Supreme Court appointment, she was the one in my mind that I had in store for the job,” Carter said.  It would instead be Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan, who would go on to nominate the nation’s first female Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, in 1981. JIMMY CARTER DEAD AT 100 Though Carter did not directly appoint any judges to the Supreme Court as president, two of his appellate court nominees would go on to serve on the nation’s highest court: Stephen Breyer, who he tapped for the U.S. Appeals Court, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who Carter appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Both were tapped by former President Bill Clinton to serve on the Supreme Court in the early 1990s and both were subsequently replaced by women jurists. Breyer retired in 2022, replaced by President Biden’s sole nominee to the court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Ginsburg died in September 2020 and was replaced by Justice Amy Coney Barrett. CARTER EXPECTED TO LIE IN CAPITOL ROTUNDA Ginsburg was praised for her trailblazing work on gender discrimination. In nominating her to the Supreme Court in 1993, Clinton lauded Ginsburg for being “to the women’s movement what Thurgood Marshall was to the movement for the rights of African Americans.” In public speeches, Ginsburg often credited Carter for his work in reshaping the judiciary. “Women weren’t on the bench in numbers, on the federal bench, until Jimmy Carter became president,” Ginsburg said in a 2015 speech at the American Constitution Society. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Carter “deserves tremendous credit for that,” she said.

Shampoo rules and immigrant care: A look at some ‘draconian’ state laws, tax hikes taking effect in 2025

Shampoo rules and immigrant care: A look at some ‘draconian’ state laws, tax hikes taking effect in 2025

In the 1942 film “Holiday Inn,” legendary crooner Bing Crosby describes the stroke of midnight on New Year’s as “one minute to say goodbye before we say hello.” In 2025, Americans in several states around the country are “saying hello” to many new laws and changes in tax codes. In West Virginia, for example, residents saw an automatic 2% personal income tax cut taking effect on New Year’s Day. “If anybody says there’s something [else] that could drive more growth to West Virginia than that, you’re out of your mind,” outgoing Republican governor and Sen.-elect Jim Justice quipped of that particular policy change. However, other states’ residents may face more proverbially “draconian” policies and regulations. Here’s a look at some of them. “Congestion pricing” The Empire State’s heavily-debated congestion pricing law will take effect on Sunday, Jan. 5.  While Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA Chair Janno Lieber have been supportive of the change, which charges the average driver crossing or entering Manhattan below Central Park a photo-enforced $9 toll, many New Yorkers remain outraged. HOCHUL SPURS BIPARTISAN OUTRAGE OVER CONGESTION PRICING “Congestion pricing, the latest in a long string of tyrannical taxes, has been pressed forward through consistent opposition about the burden on New York families and workers,” several New York Republican federal lawmakers wrote in a December letter. Meanwhile, Democrats like State Sen. Andrew Gounardes of Bay Ridge had urged the congestion-pricing plan to begin “immediately, before [Donald] Trump can block it.” Lather up Visitors to one of the most popular tourism states in the country will no longer be welcomed by travel-sized shampoo and lotion bottles, as they will be prohibited come the New Year.  The Empire State’s ban took effect on Jan. 1, while a similar ban in Illinois goes into practice on July 1 for larger hotels and Jan. 1, 2026, for smaller ones. While many hotels across the country have transitioned to affixing bulk shampoo dispensers into shower walls, many tourists still prefer the tiny bottles. Tax hikes California’s SB-951 of 2022 stipulated that workers will have slightly more money withheld from their paychecks in 2025. The state’s disability insurance program rate is to increase from 1.1% to 1.2%. The average California worker will see $8 less per month in their net pay. Gas prices California Republicans estimated that new regulations taking effect in the New Year will cause “major sticker shock” for drivers in the Golden State. “I’m concerned Californians will … be unprepared for the rapid gas spike in 2025, which could be an additional 90 cents per gallon,” said state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones. CA LAWMAKERS SLAM ‘IVORY TOWER’ ENERGY ‘POLITBURO’ AS GAS PRICE HIKE LOOMS Jones estimated Californians will pay $900 more over the course of the year for gasoline. Parental rights AB-1955, or the SAFETY Act, took effect Jan. 1. The law prohibits schools from enacting policies that require parental notification if their child changes their gender identity. In December remarks to FOX-11, bill sponsor Assemblyman Chris Ward said “politically motivated attacks on the rights, safety, and dignity of transgender, nonbinary and other LGBTQ+ youth are on the rise nationwide, including in California.” Ward, D-San Diego, said school districts had wrongly adopted policies to “forcibly out” students and that parents should love their children unconditionally in all cases. Immigrant health insurance coverage requirements A 2022 bill relating to health insurance coverage for Coloradans regardless of immigration status will take effect next month, according to the Denver Post. CALIFORNIA VOTERS NARROWLY REJECT $18-PER-HOUR MINIMUM WAGE HB-1289 requires the state to provide “full health insurance coverage for Colorado pregnant people who would be eligible for Medicaid and the children’s basic health plan (CHIP) if not for their immigration status and continues that coverage for 12 months postpartum at the CHIP federal matching rate,” according to the bill text. Abortion As of July 2025, Delaware colleges will be required to provide emergency abortion access and contraception or direct the patient to an external facility, according to the Wilmington News-Journal. A law is also primed to take effect in the First State that mandates insurance coverage and eliminates deductibles for abortion procedures, according to multiple reports. State Sen. Bryant Richardson, R-Blades, ripped the new law after it passed the legislature earlier in 2024. “This is a procedure you want my tax dollars to pay for. I’m sorry, I think this is evil,” he said. Stop light Washington, D.C., will institute a ban on right-turns-on-red within District boundaries. The law is a rare regulation in a blanket context, with New York City being one of the few other major cities with a similar law. Signage denoting the otherwise tacit law is typically posted when entering New York City from highways like Major Deegan or one of the city’s many river crossings, but it is often lacking on the hundreds of small streets on the grid that traverse into Westchester or Nassau Counties. In the same vein, the District of Columbia reportedly lacks funding for signage on most of the streets entering the nation’s capital from Maryland or Virginia, which may or may not affect enforcement, according to reports. The $385,000 in district funds allocated to notifying residents and drivers of the law was never identified, a DDOT official told WTTG. Bird watch D.C.’s Migratory Local Wildlife Protection Act of 2023 imposes a new building restriction as of Jan. 1. Permit applications or glazing alterations will require bird-friendly materials on exterior walls and fenestration within 100 feet of grade level, according to WTTG. The district is also one of a handful of places where the sales tax will see an increase. In the capital’s case, it will rise to 6.5%. Firearms Minnesota will institute a ban on “binary triggers” on personally owned weapons, according to reports. That is, the function that allows a gun to fire multiple rounds with one press of the trigger. Vaping ban The Ocean State is set to enact a ban on sales of and possession-with-intent-to-sell flavored vape products in

Mike Johnson’s speakership to be put to another test in 1st vote of new Congress

Mike Johnson’s speakership to be put to another test in 1st vote of new Congress

House Speaker Mike Johnson stares down a difficult battle to retain the gavel on Friday, even despite an endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump.  Despite narrowly hanging on to the GOP majority, Johnson’s speakership hangs in the balance after a series of moves to fund the government that angered conservatives over the effort’s failure to cut spending.  On the opening day of the 119th Congress, the House will vote on a measure to elect a new speaker, and Americans will catch a rare glimpse of the drama that breaks out on the House floor. C-SPAN has been granted permission to run cameras inside the chamber.  If every member votes, Johnson can only afford one Republican defection and still hold on to his job. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has already said he will not vote for Johnson. While other Republicans have refused to affirm their support for Johnson, none have joined Massie in vowing publicly not to vote for him.  “I’m going to talk to Mike and raise my concerns. As of right now, I’m still undecided,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. Trump this week gave Johnson his “complete and total endorsement,” and the speaker vote will test the hold he has on the new Congress.  Compounding the pressure is the uncertainty about what a drawn-out speaker race would mean for the incoming president. Congress has never certified a presidential election without a speaker at the helm.  TRUMP GIVES JOHNSON ‘COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT’ AHEAD OF SPEAKERSHIP FIGHT Rep. Chip Roy said on X that he is also “still undecided” on Johnson for speaker. “But something MUST change,” he added. “We cannot allow what happened right before Christmas, where a 1500+ page bill was attempted to be jammed through over our objections … all of which could have been avoided with any serious planning & communication.” Johnson, however, said that he is confident he will attain enough votes. “We’re going to get this done,” Johnson told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” on Thursday. “We’re shifting into a brand-new paradigm. We have unified government that begins tomorrow. We have the White House, the Senate, and the House. A totally different situation than we dealt with over the last 14 months since I’ve been speaker. So, we’re excited to deliver on the America first agenda. It begins on day one, and all that begins right here tomorrow.” Johnson met with several potential GOP holdouts in the speaker’s office on Thursday, such as Reps. Victoria Spartz, Chip Roy, Ralph Norman, Andy Harris, Andy Ogles, Michael Cloud and Eli Crane. Last month, Johnson scrambled to pass legislation to avert a government shutdown and once again kick the funding deadline down the road to March. Though he was ultimately successful, the House went through three iterations of a continuing resolution and ultimately settled on one that could pass with the help of Democrats, who made up for the 34 angry GOP defectors.  Congress balked at the original 1,500-page spending bill then defeated a narrow, 116-page bill – which Trump endorsed. Things got worse when the House only mustered a scant 174 yeas for the Trump-supported bill, with 38 Republicans voting nay.  JOHNSON ALLIES URGE TRUMP TO INTERVENE AS MESSY SPEAKER BATTLE THREATENS TO DELAY 2024 CERTIFICATION Circumstances grew even more dire when the House actually voted to avert a holiday government shutdown but passed the bill with more Democrats (196) than Republicans (170). Thirty-four Republicans voted nay. Around a dozen House Republicans have not committed to voting for Johnson, and Fox News projected this week anywhere from four to 10 could ultimately end up voting no.  “The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday. “He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!” Johnson survived a test to his speakership in May when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., launched a motion to vacate, forcing a vote to reaffirm him as the House’s leader. Eleven Republicans voted against him at that time, with another 10 not voting at all.  However, Democrats came to his rescue at that time, a prospect that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has ruled out this time around.  Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report. 

Anchored in Strength: India’s shipbuilding industry rises

Anchored in Strength: India’s shipbuilding industry rises

India reached a significant milestone in its indigenous shipbuilding journey last week when Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) achieved a rare feat: delivering two frontline combatants to the Indian Navy on the same day. The ships-INS Surat, the last of the Visakhapatnam-class destroyers, and INS Nilgiri, the first Type 17A stealth frigates-mark a turning point in India’s warship-building trajectory. Adding to this momentum, MDL is poised to deliver INS Vagsheer, the last of six Kalvari-class submarines, in the near future. Such achievements highlight a broader narrative: India’s warship-building industry has matured into a world-class enterprise.