Tag Archives: Senators

Ducking queries on Trump, Supreme Court nominee resumes U.S. Senate test

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies during the second day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 5, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will face a final barrage of questions on Thursday in a multi-day U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, as Democrats press him on his independence from the man who nominated him, President Donald Trump.

A conservative appeals court judge and former Republican White House aide, Kavanaugh has stressed his independence. But in a more than 12-hour session on Wednesday, he sidestepped questions about the scope of presidential power.

The hearing’s focus on that issue came amid a widening probe into Russian meddling in U.S. politics and turmoil within the White House, clouding the presidency of Trump, who is working to get more conservative judges appointed to the federal courts.

If confirmed to a lifetime appointment, Kavanaugh is seen as likely to tilt the nation’s highest court even further to the right. That prospect worries Democrats and heartens Republicans on volatile issues ranging from abortion to guns to business regulation.

Kavanaugh has been an appeals court judge for 12 years and earlier worked for former Republican President George W. Bush.

After more questions from senators on Thursday, his hearing is set to wrap up on Friday with testimony from outside witnesses. Republicans hope Kavanaugh will be confirmed by the Senate before the start of the next Supreme Court term on Oct 1.

Senate Democrats have vowed a fierce fight to block him. But Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a slim Senate majority and there are no clear signs of defections in their ranks. As a result, it is likely that Kavanaugh will be confirmed.

‘HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION’

On presidential power, Kavanaugh declined on Wednesday to pledge he would step aside from any cases that might come before the court involving Trump’s conduct.

Trump has often criticized the judiciary. Some liberals have expressed concern Kavanaugh could be a rubber stamp for Trump and protect him from lawsuits and investigations.

Asked if he would have any trouble ruling against Trump or the executive branch, Kavanaugh replied: “No one is above the law in our constitutional system.”

He dodged a question about whether a president must respond to a subpoena, an issue that could come into play as Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigates possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Moscow.

“I can’t give you an answer on that hypothetical question,” Kavanaugh said.

He also avoided clearly answering a question about whether a president could pardon himself or someone else in exchange for a promise not to testify against him.

On abortion, Kavanaugh signaled respect for the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling legalizing the procedure nationwide. He called it an important legal precedent reaffirmed by the justices over the decades.

Liberals are concerned Kavanaugh could provide a decisive fifth vote on the nine-justice court to overturn the 1973 abortion ruling.

Kavanaugh called the Roe decision “an important precedent of the Supreme Court that has been reaffirmed many times.” He highlighted the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling that reaffirmed Roe, calling it a “precedent on precedent.”

Trump picked Kavanaugh, 53, to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement in June.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

Senators accuse Yahoo of ‘unacceptable’ delay in hack discovery

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer delivers her keynote address at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada

By Dustin Volz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Six Democratic U.S. senators on Tuesday said it was “unacceptable” that Yahoo only last week announced a 2014 hack into 500 million user accounts and asked embattled CEO Marissa Mayer for more information about the company’s investigation into the data breach.

The lawmakers said they were “disturbed” the two-year-old intrusion was detected so long after the hack occurred.

“That means millions of Americans’ data may have been compromised for two years,” the senators wrote in a joint letter addressed to Mayer. “This is unacceptable.”

Yahoo did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter.

Yahoo has faced mounting questions about exactly when it knew about the 2014 cyber attack that exposed the email credentials of users, a critical issue for the company as it seeks to prevent the breach from affecting a pending takeover of its core business by Verizon Inc.

The internet firm has said it detected the breach this summer after conducting a security review prompted by an unrelated hack claim that turned out to be meritless. Yahoo has not given a precise timeline explaining when it was made aware of the 2014 attack, or if it knew of the breach before announcing the deal with Verizon in late July.

The senators requested a briefing from Yahoo to explain the company’s investigation into the breach, its cooperation with law enforcement and national security authorities, and plans to protect affected users.

The letter was signed by Senators Patrick Leahy, Al Franken, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Ron Wyden and Edward Markey.

The senators asked Mayer for a timeline of the hack and its discovery and how such a large breach went undetected for so long. They also asked what Yahoo was doing to prevent another breach in the future, if the company has changed its security protocols, and whether the U.S. government had warned of a possible hacking attempt.

The letter came a day after Democratic Senator Mark Warner asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Yahoo and its senior executives fulfilled obligations to inform investors and the public about the hacking attack, which Yahoo has blamed on a “state-sponsored actor.”

(Reporting by Dustin Volz; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrew Hay)

Senators Introduce Bill To Overturn Hobby Lobby Decision

Two Democratic senators have introduced a bill they say is aimed to overrule the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision and force Christian business owners to pay for abortion drugs.

Anti-life Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Mark Udall of Colorado have created what they titled the “Protect Women’s Health From Corporate Interference Act.”  Abortionists like Planned Parenthood have already praised the bill.

“After five justices decided last week that an employer’s personal views can interfere with women’s access to essential health services, we in Congress need to act quickly to right this wrong,” Murray said in a statement yesterday. “This bicameral legislation will ensure that no CEO or corporation can come between people and their guaranteed access to health care, period.”

“As the nation’s leading advocate for women’s reproductive health care, Planned Parenthood Action Fund is committed to making sure women can get the no-copay birth control benefit that we and others fought so hard to pass and protect,” Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards proclaimed. “No woman should lose access to birth control because her boss doesn’t approve of it.”

None of the Senators nor any of the groups speaking out in favor of the bill have mentioned that the Court’s decision only applies to 4 of the 20 contraceptives connected to the Affordable Care Act.  This means that no women working for these companies is denied contraception.