Poli Alert Politics & Civics

Smartmatic, on Tuesday, filed claims for defamation against Newsmax Media and One America News Network (OANN) owner Herring Networks. Smartmatic is seeking actual and punitive damages as a result of the disinformation campaigns conducted by Newsmax and OANN against Smartmatic following the 2020 US presidential election. The complaints were filed in …

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has received twenty fines totaling $48,000 due to violating House mask rules, according to a letter sent to the congresswoman by Sergeant at Arms William Walker and shared with CNN. Walker sent a letter to Greene dated Oct. 28 informing her that she had …

On Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas and the Texas Secretary of State over certain restrictive voting procedures imposed by Texas Senate Bill 1, which was signed into law in September. “Our democracy depends on the right of …

Two Ohio state representatives have introduced an abortion bill that would allow for civil lawsuits against people who “purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion.” House Bill 480 was introduced Tuesday by GOP Rep. Jena Powell and GOP Rep. Thomas Hall. The bill would allow for civil penalties of …

Michelle Wu has become the first woman and person of color to be elected as the mayor of Boston. In all of its 200 years of existence, the city of Boston has never had a woman or a person of color as its mayor, only white men. Just before Wu …

The Biden administration set a January 4 deadline on Thursday for employees at large companies to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or face weekly tests and mandatory mask-wearing on the job, a move that impacts 84 million private-sector workers. Seventeen million employees at health care facilities that receive federal funding …

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced 10 new judicial nominees, including 9 for the federal bench. This is President Biden’s ninth round of nominees for federal judicial positions, bringing the number of announced federal judicial nominees to 62. Biden has put forward more judicial candidates during his 287 days in …

Senate Republicans have once again blocked Democrats’ attempt to pass significant voting rights legislation, this time failing to allow debate on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bill failed, 50-49, marking the second time Republicans have filibustered voting rights legislation in the last two weeks, and the fourth …

D.C.’s permanent Black Lives Matter Plaza is complete, Mayor Muriel Bowser and the District’s Department of Transportation said in a statement last week. The monument is on 16th Street between K and H streets NW, directly across from the White House. “When we created Black Lives Matter Plaza in June …

Democrats and Republicans held onto one seat each in two U.S. House races in Ohio on Tuesday night — with the election of Shontel Brown and Mike Carey. Brown, 46, won her contest in the 11th District in the Cleveland area over Republican Laverne Gore. Brown is a member of …

On Tuesday, Congressional Democrats announced they had agreed on a plan to overhaul prescription drug pricing in the country. “Fixing prescription drug prices consistently has been a top issue for Americans year after year,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference. “We’ve heard this from people across …

Republican Glenn Youngkin has won the Virginia governor’s race, defeating Democrat Terry McAuliffe, and snapping a losing streak for GOP statewide candidates in the commonwealth. The Associated Press projected Youngkin as the race winner after midnight. “Together, we will change the trajectory of this commonwealth,” Youngkin told a crowd of …

On Tuesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky endorsed the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation that children 5 to 11 be vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric vaccine.  The move clears the way for shots to be administered as soon as tomorrow, though it may be a few days before the vaccine is widely …

Philadelphia is the first city in the US to stop police from pulling over motorists for minor traffic offenses. Later this week, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney will sign two bills into law that will track and end the type of policing that has unfairly affected Black drivers for years. After …

A majority on the US Supreme Court appeared to be leaning Monday towards blocking a Texas law that bans abortion after six weeks. The court fast-tracked two separate but related cases (Whole Women’s Health v. Jackson and United States v. Texas) to be heard Monday, and spent about three hours …