Steve Sadow, an attorney for former U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee at a Dec. 1 hearing for the 2020 election interference case . John David Mercer/Pool via Reuters A lawyer representing Donald Trump in the sweeping Fulton County election interference probe says that if the trial begins in August as requested by prosecutors, it would be one of the most egregious examples of election interference in United States history. During a Fulton County Superior Court hearing on Friday, prosecutors, defense attorneys and a judge worked through ..read more

Congresswoman Lucy McBath in the Georgia Capitol. McBath could be knocked out of power under a proposed Congressional district map. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder Georgia GOP lawmakers released a proposed Congressional map Friday afternoon that questionably complies with a federal judge’s order to create a new majority Black congressional district west of metro Atlanta, while maintaining the party’s current partisan balance and likely imperiling the seat of a prominent Black Democrat. Lawmakers will take a first look at the plan Monday morning at a meeting of the House Redistricting Committee ..read more

Gainesville Republican Sen. Shelly Echols, who chairs the Senate Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee, presents the Senate map. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder Proposed new legislative maps cleared a key vote Friday as Republican lawmakers race to push through remedial plans that they say comply with a federal judge’s ruling that struck down the state’s political maps. But Democrats argue the plans run afoul of the court-ordered fix and leave everyone at risk of having a special master redraw the maps for them. The GOP-controlled Senate and House punched the maps through their chamber o ..read more

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who died on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 25, 2012 in Washington, D.C. O’Connor spoke to the necessity for civics education in maintaining an independent judiciary. The former associate justice also expressed doubt about the process in some states of electing judges, and about the validity of asking Supreme Court nominees how they would vote in the future. T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images WASHINGTON — The first woman to serve on the nation’s highest court is dead at 93. Sandra Day O’Connor, a ground ..read more

George Santos is surrounded by journalists as he leaves the U.S. Capitol after his fellow members of Congress voted to expel the New York Republican from the House of Representatives on Dec. 1, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with 23 felonies in New York, including fraud and campaign finance violations, Santos, 35, was expelled from the House of Representatives by a vote of 311-114. Santos is only the sixth person in U.S. history to be expelled from the House of Representatives. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images WASHINGTON — New York Republican George Santos on Fri ..read more

Republican Sen. Shelly Echols, who chairs the Georgia Senate redistricting committee, has deflected criticism about how a GOP legislative map is proposing to add two new majority Black districts required under a federal court order. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder Georgia Republican lawmakers Thursday advanced through Senate and House committees new legislative district maps after rejecting proposed maps that Democratic legislators contend better comply with a federal court order to create seven new majority Black legislative districts. The pair of House and Senate district maps endorsed by st ..read more

Committee ranking member U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Republicans stormed out of a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Nov. 30, 2023, where members were voting on subpoenas in connection with an inquiry into U.S. Supreme Court justices’ ethics. Graham is shown speaking during a Nov. 9 meeting of the committee. Alex Wong/Getty Images WASHINGTON — South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Republican colleagues stormed out of a Democratic-led U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for two high-profile GOP operatives as part of an ethics probe into undisclose ..read more

At a Capitol press conference Wednesday, members of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus said the proposed maps do not meet the goal of protecting Black voters and giving them a fair chance to elect the candidate of their choice. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder The redrawn legislative maps floated by Georgia Republican leaders have quickly found pushback from Democrats and voting rights advocates as a special redistricting session – the second in two years – gets underway. A proposed state Senate map was released Monday, and a state House map was unveiled Tuesday afternoon, just one day b ..read more

A soldier looks at a tank near the border with the Gaza strip on November 28, 2023 in Southern Border, Israel. Israel and Hamas agreed to a two-day extension to their initial four-day truce, which promised the release of more Israeli hostages held in Gaza, as well as the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Amir Levy/Getty Images WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress are divided on whether to set guardrails on additional military aid to Israel as that country responds to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks with airstrikes and a ground war in Gaza. It’s not yet clear what those ..read more

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 29, 2023, the day he delivered a major speech condemning the rise of antisemitism in the United States. Ashley Murray/States Newsroom WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the nation’s highest-ranking Jewish official, spoke from the chamber on Wednesday about the rise of antisemitism in the United States since the attack by Hamas militants on Israel and that nation’s airstrikes on Gaza. Schumer, speaking to a mostly empty chamber, an unlikely setting for what he described as a “major address,” sought t ..read more