| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Ella Creamer, Rishika Dugyala, Natalie Fertig, Gloria Gonzalez and Teresa Wiltz
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Ketanji Brown Jackson meets with Sen. Mitt Romney in his office on Capitol Hill on March 29. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo | What up, Recast family! President Joe Biden calls for a war crimes trial of Russia's Vladimir Putin after haunting images surface from Bucha, Ukraine. Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama returns to the White House to tout the successes of the Affordable Care Act. First though, we're one step closer to high court history. Despite GOP senators dinging her as an activist jurist, painting her as lenient on child pornography offenders and complaining about her refusal to define "woman," Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the next Supreme Court justice. Her ascension to the high court got an added boost when two Republicans emerged Monday evening in support of her nomination: Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah. Along with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the first in the GOP to endorse Jackson, their votes ensure a nominally bipartisan approval in the final confirmation vote later this week. Of course, we can't get to that moment without a little drama.
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski, left, and Sen. Susan Collins walk together following a vote at the Capitol, Feb. 12, 2020. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo | The Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off their high stakes consideration of Jackson and other lower court nominees on Monday morning — knowing the evenly split panel would be deadlocked. The vote was held up for several hours as the committee awaited the arrival of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), who was delayed because of a passenger medical emergency aboard his flight from Los Angeles. Eventually, the committee's vote resulted in an 11-11 tie along party lines, prompting Democrats to utilize a procedural maneuver that's gone unused for 169 years for a Supreme Court nominee: the discharge petition. It's a fancy way of saying the full Senate must vote to dislodge her confirmation from the committee. "This procedural step should be entirely unnecessary," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said from the Senate floor ahead of the discharge vote. "Despite the judge's qualifications, not a single Republican on the committee voted to report her out of committee." The 53-47 vote to formally discharge Jackson's nomination to the full Senate will in all likelihood be far different from that of William Micou. As my colleagues Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine note, Micou's high court nomination was discharged from the committee in 1853, but the Senate never confirmed him because he was nominated during a lame duck period. The Judiciary Committee also deadlocked 7-7 in 1991 over the nomination of current associate justice Clarence Thomas. The issue was over whether to send his nomination to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation. A subsequent vote to send his nomination to the full Senate without a recommendation passed 13-1. Murkowski praised Jackson in a statement announcing her support. The judge, she said, will bring "a range of experience from the courtroom that few can match." She also said her endorsement was partly a "rejection of the corrosive politicization of the review process for Supreme Court nominees, which, on both sides of the aisle, is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year." Romney's support is perhaps most surprising. Unlike Collins and Murkowski, he opposed Jackson's nomination less than a year ago to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, considered to be the country's second-most powerful court.
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| While acknowledging he will likely not agree with all her rulings, Romney said of Jackson: "She more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity," before congratulating her on her expected confirmation, which could come as soon as Thursday. But Romney and Murkowski are out of step with their fellow Republicans, especially those on the Judiciary Committee. The committee theatrics reflect the deepening fissures in our current politics, particularly as the role of the federal courts takes on greater significance in these polarizing times. "Judge Jackson may be a fine woman, but she has built her career as a far-left activist and that didn't change when she put on a black robe 10 years ago," said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). "In fact, Judge Jackson remains more of a defense attorney for criminals from the bench than a judge." Watch: Graham: if GOP was in control, Jackson would not have had a hearing
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| Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a former chair of the Judiciary Committee who previously voted to confirm Jackson to the appeals court, used his final moments before the vote to air old grievances. Graham said if Republicans were in control, the committee wouldn't have considered Jackson's nomination. He said they would've gotten someone "more moderate." And when his party is back in power, which could happen after the midterms this fall, Graham vowed: "Then we'll talk about judges differently." That's a conversation for later. Right now, Jackson's supporters are focused on embracing history in the making. "You may trod me in the very dirt. But still, like dust, I'll rise," said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) who quoted from the poem "Still I Rise" by the late Maya Angelou, who was the poet for President Bill Clinton's first inauguration. "Rise, Judge Jackson, all the way to the highest court in the land." All the best,
The Recast Team
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| Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe to the newsletter here.
| | | THE EXCLUSIVE
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The Native American community of Picuris Pueblo, April 13, 2020. | Morgan Lee/AP Photo | In a high mountain valley near Taos, N.M., the 300-member Picuris Pueblo tribe can farm whatever they want — except for one lucrative crop that's legal to grow everywhere else in the state: marijuana, reports POLITICO'S Natalie Fertig. The Picuris are a poor pueblo in the nation's third-poorest state: The average household income in New Mexico is just under $50,000, and 68 percent of the tribe's households are below that line. The main industries of the Picuris are farming and bison ranching. A vibrant marijuana program could be an economic boon for the tribe. It's worked for others. The federal government has tacitly allowed states to legalize, regulate and tax medical and recreational cannabis programs since the late 1990s. But a lack of federal guidance for tribal marijuana programs has thwarted the Picuris' plans to get a piece of New Mexico's $200 million-plus marijuana market. In November 2017, Bureau of Indian Affairs drug officers entered Picuris land and pulled up the approximately 30 medical marijuana plants the tribe was growing, according to Picuris Gov. Craig Quanchello. At present day prices, that marijuana flower would be worth at least $100,000. Then, in December 2021, three BIA officers entered Picuris land again — according to a letter from the tribe detailing the raid — pulling up nine medical plants grown at the home of a medical card owner. (The BIA and Department of Justice declined to comment.) "It's like living with a rattlesnake," said Quanchello. "You don't know when they're gonna bite, but they're gonna bite." Read more here .
| | | RACE & THE ENVIRONMENT Environmental injustice cannot be resolved by ignoring race. That's what advocates accuse the Biden administration of doing — despite its pledges to address environmental and public health harms in low-income communities and communities of color. The criticism stems from the administration's decision to forgo including race as a criterion in its new tool to help fulfill its Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure the areas that have suffered the worst from pollution receive at least 40 percent of the benefits from federal programs and spending. POLITICO's Gloria Gonzalez is just back from a Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Houston. She picks up the story here: Biden officials have cited potential legal challenges for its decision even though lawsuits have been launched against nearly every major energy and environmental regulation and guidance issued by the Biden administration.
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| "If we're honest with each other … it's not about that," Bryan Parras, Healthy Communities campaign organizer for the Sierra Club, said. "It's about the fear of having to own up to the history. It's about the fear of having a level playing field. And yeah, that's going to be hard for some people. But we have to go through that. We have to confront that." Advocates say not including race in the criteria ignores the role racial discrimination played in making these communities more vulnerable to climate change. And, they argue, it undermines the administration's stated goals of addressing environmental injustice and systemic racism. Mustafa Santiago Ali, a former EPA career staffer who now leads environmental justice efforts at the National Wildlife Federation, said race must be a criterion in the decision-making process because it was inherent in the housing, transportation, health care and other policies that created current inequities. "Racism is as American as apple pie," he said. "Racism, discrimination and biases are the things we have to continue to deal with. Some people get uncomfortable when you have conversations about this."
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Santiago Ali speaks at a press conference about climate change on July 28, 2021. | Cheriss May/Getty Images | A spokesperson for the White House Council on Environmental Quality stressed the tool was in a beta phase and the council was still soliciting feedback. "Without question, race and racism are factors that have contributed to where pollution has been concentrated in this country and in determining which communities have been left behind by government investment, enforcement, and help," the spokesperson said in a statement. Still, there's a narrow window of time to tackle climate change. The latest United Nations' climate report warned Monday that the planet is in a now-or-never phase to keep warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius. That requires countries to peak emissions within the next three years and reduce them by half of 2019 levels by 2030.
| | | TIME CAPSULE On this day five years ago, a giant beverage maker had to admit they got the flavor all wrong. On April 5, 2017, Pepsi pulled its ad starring supermodel and reality television royalty Kendall Jenner.
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| It was Pepsi's attempt to tap into the cultural zeitgeist. The plot featured Jenner, who is white, taking part in a high-end photo shoot when a Black Lives Matter-like demonstration passes nearby. The multi-ethnic protesters, armed with smiles and docile posters with slogans "join the conversation" painted on them, seem to be making their way to a line of police officers. Someone motions from the crowd for Jenner to join in. She rips off her blond wig, grabs an icy can, fist bumps an activist sporting cornrows and hands the beverage to a police officer. The crowd erupts in joy after said officer takes a sip. The ad was widely panned. Many accused Pepsi of cultural appropriation of the modern racial justice movement. Others, like Bernice King, the daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, argued it minimalized real-life activists' push for change.
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| Before the controversy fizzled, Pepsi apologized and acknowledged the ad "missed the mark."
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO Too little too late? — Florida Democrats are seeking to reverse Trump-era trends of Latino voters fleeing the party. POLITICO's Matt Dixon reports on the Democrats' blueprint to win back this key bloc — though many in the party say it could be too late. Empire State of Mind — Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade. To capitalize on its controversy … New York Mayor Eric Adams announced the placement of billboards in five Florida metropolitan areas to lure LGBTQ+ Sunshine state residents to the Big Apple. More from POLITICO's Deanna Garcia.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS It's Arab American heritage month. Here's a list of TV showscentered around the Arab experience, both here and abroad. "A Black Lady Sketch Show" is back for a third season. Expect all sorts of hijinks — and lots of celeb cameos, from Ava DuVernay to Wayne Brady to Jidenna to Bob the Drag Queen. In an interview with EW, show creator Robin Theade spills the tea.
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| Jerrod Carmichaelkilled with his opening monologue on "SNL" this past weekend, where he talked about that thing that happened a week ago that we really don't want to talk about anymore — and yet,we can't stop talking about . And while you're at it, check out Carmichael'sstand-up comedy special on HBO, "Rothaniel." Queer romance novels arehaving a moment. The fourth and final season of "Killing Eve"ends on Sunday. "Late Show" bandleader Jon Batiste's "We Are"won big at the Grammys, including album of the year, beating out Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish. So we're lettinghim take us out today with the title cut from his album.
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| TikTok of the day: Doja Cat almost missing her Grammy win — then making an emotional speech was everything.
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