Biden’s DOJ Picks Stir Controversy on Road to Confirmation
Three women are slated to serve top roles in the Department of Justice. Two of them have already faced conservative backlash.
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presidential appointments
Empty Board Hampers Effort to Release Records on Civil Rights-Era Killings
No one has been appointed to a board that is supposed to facilitate the federal government’s release of records about civil rights-era cold cases. The students who helped write the law establishing the board hope a new administration will change that.
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Trump Appointees Make Up 28% of Active Judiciary, but Not for Long
As President Joe Biden closes out his first month in office, a large gap remains in his administration: dozens of open seats in federal and appellate courts across the country, with more to come in the next few months.
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Turkey’s Erdogan Describes Student Protesters as Terrorists
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced student protesters as “terrorists” and vowed to crackdown on demonstrations opposing the appointment of a government loyalist to head Istanbul’s most prestigious university.
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Making History, Senate Confirms Biden Picks for Transportation, Homeland Security
The Senate continued its confirmation of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks Tuesday by approving Pete Buttigieg to serve as transportation secretary, while preparing to vote later in the day to confirm Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security.
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Agriculture Nominee Gets Warm Welcome at Senate Hearing
Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is on his way to bipartisan confirmation returning him to America’s top agricultural job.
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Senate Tees Up Vote to Confirm Biden Pick for Homeland Security
The Senate continued to advance President Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks Thursday, approving a procedural motion for his Department of Homeland Security nominee while wrapping up a confirmation hearing for two others.
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Biden Cabinet Nominees at Energy, UN on Track for Approval
It is a bonanza of confirmation hearings for President Joe Biden’s Cabinet, including hearings vetting his pick to lead the Energy Department.
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New Secretary of State Has Been Here Before
Antony Blinken will enter his fourth White House administration under President Joe Biden, having previously served every previous commander in chief but Trump in some capacity since 1994.
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Yellen Becomes First Woman to Lead Treasury Department
After making history as the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve seven years ago, Janet Yellen broke another glass ceiling Monday when she was confirmed as the first female treasury secretary.
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Senate Confirms First Black Defense Secretary
President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of defense overwhelmingly won confirmation in the Senate on Friday, making retired Army General Lloyd Austin the first Black head of the Pentagon.
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Biden Pick for Pentagon Chief Clears Senate Hurdle
The Senate voted 69-27 Thursday to approve a waiver allowing retired Army General Lloyd Austin to serve as Joe Biden’s secretary of defense, putting him one step closer to confirmation despite not meeting the usual requirement of being out of the military seven years or longer.
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‘Mayor Pete’ Poised for Promotion to Transportation Secretary
The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, could soon lead the beleaguered Department of Transportation as it faces challenges from a changing climate and a still-raging pandemic.
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Colorado sued the Trump administration Friday, claiming the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of a resource management plan is invalid because the bureau’s director — like many Trump appointees — assumed the position unlawfully because he wasn’t next in the line of succession.
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Judge Slams Feds Over Insistence Wolf Is Lawful Homeland Security Chief
Four federal judges and the Government Accountability Office have all found acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf’s occupation of the office is “the equivalent of a squatter in a rental building.”
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Senate Approves Trump’s Pick for California Federal Judge
Senators teed up the confirmation of Fernando Lazaro Allene-Rocha for a seat on the Central District of California bench Friday, by formally considering his nomination on the floor.
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Two Federal Judges Confirmed as Senators Scramble to Reach Funding Deals
The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm two federal judges nominated by President Donald Trump, continuing to fill judicial vacancies in the lame-duck session despite the urgency facing lawmakers as they hammer out virus relief and government funding packages.
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Biden Pick Would Be 1st Native American Leader at Interior
For the first time in the nation’s history, a Native American has been chosen to lead the department that oversees and manages America’s most cherished parks, waterways and tribal lands.
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Senate Confirms Two Federal Judges, Adding to Trump Judicial Legacy
The Senate confirmed another Trump appointee to the federal bench Wednesday in a final push to cement the lame-duck president’s reshaping of the judiciary.
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Senate Confirms Amy Coney Barrett Replacement on Seventh Circuit
The Senate on Tuesday approved Thomas Kirsch, 51-44, to serve on the Seventh Circuit, filling a vacancy left behind by Justice Amy Coney Barrett when she was elevated to the Supreme Court in October.
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