Court nominee's meeting with GOP senator wraps up quickly
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s meeting with Sen. Lindsey Graham concluded after roughly 15 minutes, a strikingly brief sit-down with a key Republican a week before her confirmation hearings begin.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was one of three Republicans to support Jackson’s confirmation last year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a traditional launching pad to the Supreme Court.
But the senator appears less likely to support the judge’s elevation to the high court. Graham had publicly campaigned for Biden to select another judge for his historic pick to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, federal Judge J. Michelle Childs, a fellow South Carolinian, and last month criticized Jackson’s selection over Childs.
As Graham sat down with Jackson at his Washington office Tuesday, he did not respond to a reporter’s question on what he would need to hear from the judge to support her again. He instead joked with reporters not to take anything from his office as they were ushered out so he could begin his closed-door meeting with Jackson.
Jackson emerged from the office just 15 minutes later. For comparison, the judge’s meeting last week with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of the other Republicans who supported her for the D.C. Circuit, lasted more than 90 minutes.
Jackson did not respond to questions about the briefness of the meeting. Graham remained in his office after the judge’s exit and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
—McClatchy Washington Bureau
Assange denied US extradition appeal at UK’s highest court
Julian Assange was denied the right to appeal to the U.K.’s highest court his extradition to the U.S. where he would face criminal espionage charges.
The country’s Supreme Court refused Assange’s request to appeal his U.S. extradition because the application “does not raise an arguable point of law,” in a written statement Monday.
The decision is the latest blow to Assange after London judges ruled that the WikiLeaks chief could be extradited in December, overturning a lower court’s decision.
“We regret that the opportunity has not been taken to consider the troubling circumstances in which requesting states can provide caveatted guarantees after the conclusion of a full evidential hearing,” Assange’s lawyers, Birnberg Peirce, said in a statement.
The case will now be returned to a lower court that originally dealt with the United States' extradition request, and a judge will then decide if it should be referred to the U.K.’s home secretary Priti Patel.
—Bloomberg News
Merger of 6 Pa. state universities gets accreditor's OK
PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania’s state university system can proceed with plans to merge six of its 14 universities into two new entities under a decision announced Tuesday by its accrediting body.
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education announced on its website the decision, which was one of the last significant hurdles for the plan to clear, though schools continue to wait for word from the National Collegiate Athletic Association on whether each of the six campuses can maintain their individual sports teams.
Under the plan, Bloomsburg, Mansfield and Lock Haven universities in North Central Pennsylvania would become one entity, known as the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, though each campus would remain intact and continue to use their individual names, mascots and logos for most messaging, including the degrees students are awarded. The other merger involves California, Clarion and Edinboro, which will become Pennsylvania Western University.
The mergers, approved by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s board of governors last July, are scheduled to take effect for the 2022-23 academic year, though some of the curriculum integration will be phased in over a longer period. The campuses in both groups will report to a single leadership team and operate with one staff and budget.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Baby's skull fracture investigated after officer tackles suspect
LOS ANGELES — A 10-month-old baby was left with a skull fracture after an LAPD officer tackled his father to the ground last month following a hit-and-run crash and pursuit, and police are reviewing the use of force, authorities said this week.
The incident began around 11:21 p.m. Feb. 11 as gang enforcement officers with the Los Angeles Police Department's Newton Division were finishing a traffic stop near 55th Street and Long Beach Avenue, said Capt. Stacy Spell, a police spokesman.
The officers saw a silver Jeep Wrangler with tinted windows being driven erratically and moved toward the SUV to monitor it, Spell said.
The Jeep's driver, later identified as 25-year-old Los Angeles resident Josue Huerta, "became involved in a significant traffic collision with a large flatbed truck," the captain said.
Officers approached the crash site, but Huerta drove away, beginning an 11-minute chase, Spell said.
"Unbeknownst to any officer, the suspect was holding a 10-month-old infant," Spell said.
Huerta's baby can be heard in the body camera video crying after the officer tackled them.
"I'm sorry but I'm trying to take him home," Huerta cries out as an officer says, "Are you kidding me?"
"The child was transported to a local hospital where he was treated for a small skull fracture to the right side of his head," the captain said. "The child also tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl."
—Los Angeles Times
