Mike Pence news - live: Ex-VP contradicts himself on Trump charges at CNN town hall launching 2024 campaign
Former US vice president Mike Pence officially announced that he is running for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election, pitting him against Donald Trump. In a speech in Iowa on his 64th birthday, Mr Pence trod a fine line between embracing the record of the Trump administration and attacking Mr Trump for his role in the deadly Capitol riot of 6 January 2021. In a CNN town hall on Wednesday evening, Mr Pence reasserted his conservative culture war credentials on abortion, gun rights, crime, school choice, and climate change. When asked about his estranged former boss, he called on the Department of Justice not to prosecute Mr Trump for his alleged mishandling of classified documents, immediately after saying that everyone should be treated equally under the law. Significantly, he refused to say he would pardon the ex-president if he won the White House. In an increasingly crowded GOP field, Mr Pence faces competition from the likes of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, senator Tim Scott and ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley. On Thursday, Mike and Karen Pence celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary on the campaign trail. Read More Mike Pence isn’t even a contender for 2024. Why are we pretending? Mike Pence suffered the wrath of Trump. Now the ex-vice president wants his old boss’s job in 2024 The Republican presidential field is largely set. Here are takeaways on where the contest stands.
2023-06-09 05:17
Presley gets Mississippi Democratic nod for governor without party primary, after court ruling
Utility regulator Brandon Presley is now uncontested for the Democratic nomination for Mississippi governor this year
2023-06-09 04:53
Ohio lawmakers want to abolish slavery as punishment for crimes
Ohio lawmakers have introduced a joint resolution that would remove slavery and involuntary servitude from the state's Constitution as a punishment for crimes.
2023-06-09 04:15
Supreme Court rules in favor of Black Alabama voters in unexpected defense of Voting Rights Act
The Supreme Court has issued a surprising ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case, rejecting a Republican-led effort to weaken a landmark voting rights law
2023-06-09 02:29
Expulsions, walkouts, filibusters: Lawmakers grapple with acrimonious legislative sessions
Lawmakers this year kicked rival colleagues out of office in Tennessee and off the chamber floor in Montana
2023-06-09 01:00
Analysis-Mexico president puts unity first to broker compromise in succession race
By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador this week intervened in the increasingly fractious race
2023-06-09 00:49
Supreme Court rules Alabama discriminated against Black voters in major victory for voting rights
In a victory for voting rights and Alabama voters, the US Supreme Court has ruled that the state likely violated the Voting Rights Act with a congressional redistricting plan that diluted the voting power of Black voters. The state likely discriminated against Black voters with a Republican-drawn map that packs most of the state’s Black residents into a single district, out of seven, despite Black residents making up 27 per cent of the state’s population. A key ruling in the case of Allen v Milligan on 8 June means that the state will have to re-draw its congressional map to include a second majority-Black district. The surprise 5-4 decision on the conservative-majority panel was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by liberal Justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, with partial but crucial concurrence from conservative Brett Kavanaugh. Consertive justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented. Last year, a lower court ordered the state to draw new political boundaries that would create at least two districts in which Black voters would be more likely to elect a representative to Congress that more closely resembles the state’s demographics. The Voting Rights Act was drafted to prevent that kind of race-based dilution of Black voters. But attorneys for the state argued the opposite – that considering race to redraw political boundaries would mark an unconstitutional consideration of “racial targets” and “race-based sorting”, in violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. The justices rejected that argument. A decision that sided with Alabama attorneys would have radically reduced Black voters’ political power and landed a critical blow to a state with a long history of racist violence and discrimination. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting laws and election policies from discriminating on the basis of race. The state’s suggestion that “race should play no role whatsoever” to determine whether redistricting plans violate Section 2 would “rewrite” the law and “overturn decades of settled precedent,” according to the map’s challengers. Attorneys for President Joe Biden’s administration argued that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act should be considered when “pervasive racial politics would otherwise deny minority voters equal electoral opportunities.” The map’s challengers argued that is precisely what is at stake in Alabama. The case stems from a lawsuit filed on behalf of Greater Birmingham Ministries, Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, and a group of voters represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, among others. A group of Black voters filed a similar lawsuit in 2018 and lost. The state’s sole majority-Black district – currently represented by Democratic US Rep Terri Sewell – has a voting population that is 60 per cent Black, roughly one-third of the state’s Black population. The state’s remaining Black population is “cracked” across the First, Second and Third congressional districts – all represented by white Republicans. “This decision is a crucial win against the continued onslaught of attacks on voting rights,” according to a statement from NAACP Legal Defense and Educational senior counsel Deuel Ross, who argued the case before the court last October. “Alabama attempted to rewrite federal law by saying race had no place in redistricting. But because of the state’s sordid and well-documented history of racial discrimination, race must be used to remedy that past and ensure communities of color are not boxed out of the electoral process,” he added. This is a developing story Read More Supreme Court to review South Carolina congressional map for discrimination against Black voters Supreme Court rules in favor of Black voters in Alabama redistricting case Main suspect in 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway due to be extradited to US Alabama senator says Space Command prefers Huntsville for HQ, but command has no comment
2023-06-08 23:26
US Supreme Court backs Black voters in challenge to Alabama electoral map
By John Kruzel WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday handed a major victory to Black voters who challenged
2023-06-08 23:26
Supreme Court orders voting maps redrawn in Alabama
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Alabama officials to redraw the state's congressional map to allow an additional Black majority district to account for the fact that the state is 27% Black.
2023-06-08 22:17
Supreme Court rules in favor of Black voters in Alabama redistricting case
The Supreme Court has issued a surprising ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case, ordering the creation of a second district with a large Black population
2023-06-08 22:15
Finland's popular foreign minister announces bid to run in 2024 presidential election
Finland’s popular outgoing foreign minister, who was one of the key negotiators of his country’s recent membership in NATO, says he will run as a candidate in the presidential election early next year
2023-06-08 20:24
Hollywood actor becomes latest arrested in Jan 6 Capitol assault
LOS ANGELES A Hollywood actor who has appeared on such TV shows as "Arrested Development" and the cartoon
2023-06-08 19:25