Poli Alert Politics & Civics

AnnMarie Hilton, Maine Morning Star Former President Donald Trump is appealing the decision from Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to disqualify him from the Republican presidential primary ballot. On Dec. 28, Bellows ruled that Trump is ineligible under the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who took an oath to …

Dana DiFilippo, New Jersey Monitor Federal authorities issued a new superseding indictment against Sen. Bob Menendez Tuesday, accusing the former head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee of accepting bribes to benefit both the government of Qatar and a friend who was looking to hook a Qatari investor for …

Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to giving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government another $10 billion in unconditional aid to continue waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip. In a statement echoing his remarks on the Senate floor and a letter …

Jennifer Shutt, Georgia Recorder Congress is staring down a funding cliff in mid-January and a second one in early February, but neither of those deadlines have inspired House and Senate leaders to broker agreement on the dozen bills that were supposed to become law by Oct. 1. Appropriators are concerned …

Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune Federal regulations do not require emergency rooms to perform life-saving abortions if it would run afoul of state law, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. After the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent hospitals …

Elisha Brown, Michigan Advance With the general election in November, abortion rights are set to be directly on the ballot in Maryland and New York after Democratic-controlled legislatures approved those measures. While Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania and Virginia have proposed resolutions to protect abortion access, state rules require legislatures to …

Jimmy Williams Special counsel Jack Smith has strongly opposed former President Donald Trump’s bid to dismiss the federal election interference case against him, arguing that presidential immunity doesn’t shield Trump from criminal charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. In an extensive 80-page filing to the U.S. …

Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams Amid expectations that the U.S. Supreme Court will soon consider legal arguments that former President Donald Trump should be disqualified from 2024 Republican primary ballots, Democratic Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin on Sunday called for Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from any such cases. Raskin—a constitutional …

Abby Livingston and Pooja Salhotra, The Texas Tribune Retired U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson has died, her family said Sunday on social media. She was 88. A towering Dallas political figure — once a nurse, state legislator and congresswoman — Johnson was the dean of the Texas Congressional delegation before …

Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams A U.S. federal judge on Friday blocked key parts of what critics called a “sweeping Iowa law that seeks to silence LGBTQ+ students, erase any recognition of LGBTQ+ people from public schools, and bans books with sexual or LGBTQ+ content.” Judge Stephen Locher determined that none …

Jimmy Williams A federal appeals court has given the green light for a lawsuit filed by a group of U.S. Capitol Police officers against former President Donald Trump to move forward. The lawsuit centers on Trump’s alleged actions during the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. The three-judge …

Jimmy Williams In a move bypassing the usual congressional approval, the Biden administration has greenlit a second emergency weapons sale to Israel. This decision comes as Israel faces criticism for its actions in the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza. The State Department revealed on Friday that Secretary of State …

Quentin Young, Michigan Advance The Colorado Republican Party has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that blocks former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential ballot. The party, which filed its appeal Wednesday in Anderson v. Griswold, argues that a majority on the …

Joshua Fechter, The Texas Tribune The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened to sue to stop a new Texas law that allows state police to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the border — unless Gov. Greg Abbott backs off of enforcing the law. The new law, known as Senate …

Sarah Kallis, Georgia Recorder U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones approved Georgia’s new congressional and legislative voting districts drawn by the state legislature. Jones found Thursday that all three maps added majority-Black opportunity districts in the areas he identified in October, when he found that the maps drawn by the …