July 12

Written By DSEANTE PARKS

This week in MORE POWER:

Supreme Court Consequences
Voting Hurdles
Policing Prisons
Abortion Rights Blocked
American Samoa Constitution Bill
Green Light for Conservation

Supreme Court Consequences

This week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) fulfilled the vow she made last week to file articles of impeachment against the Supreme Court after it ruled in former President Donald Trump’s favor in his presidential immunity case. She filed articles of impeachment against Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito.

The justices’ alleged offenses include deciding on cases despite having preferences toward some of the people involved and not reporting expensive gifts given to them, as well as additional income. Thomas has an additional alleged offense of deciding on cases that involve his wife’s financial interests.

Voting Hurdles

The House narrowly passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, with every Republican voting for the bill, and nearly every Democrat voting against it. The SAVE Act is meant to prevent anyone who is not an American citizen from voting in a federal election. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. 

Opponents of the bill say that it will make voting more difficult for citizens. If the SAVE Act is signed into law, voters will have to provide documentation to prove that they are American citizens before they are allowed to vote. The bill heads to the Senate next but even if it makes it through, President Biden’s administration has said that it  “strongly opposes” the bill, so he may veto it. 

Policing Prisons

The Senate passed the Federal Prison Oversight Act to address the problems in prisons operated by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a federal agency. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) introduced the bill in response to reporting by The Associated Press (AP), a major news organization, that included claims such as sexual abuse, understaffing in the prisons, deaths and escapes.

This bill, which is heading to President Biden to either be signed into law or vetoed, would mandate increased supervision to promote higher standards. It requires the BOP to undergo both announced and unannounced inspections by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General. It would also establish an ombudsman, which is an official investigator, to handle complaints and recommend actions in the DOJ.

Abortion Rights Blocked

Senate Republicans blocked the Reproductive Freedom for Women Act, with only Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) breaking from the party to support the bill. The bill was meant to make the federal abortion protections established in the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade permanent. The Supreme Court overturned the decision two years ago, and states have been introducing abortion bans and restrictions since. The bill, if made law, would secure abortion rights for everyone at a federal level, meaning that Americans could get abortions no matter what state they lived in.

American Samoa Constitution Bill

The House passed a bill that would allow the people of American Samoa to approve changes to their territorial constitution by a majority vote, sponsored by Delegate Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, R-American Samoa. Currently, all changes require an approval process that involves both the U.S. Secretary of Interior and Congress.

American Samoa is an occupied territory, not a U.S. state, so the citizens there do not have senators or representatives. Radewagen is a delegate, meaning she can introduce bills like this one, serve and vote on committees and participate in caucuses. However, delegates do not have voting power like representatives.

Green Light for Conservation

It was a big week for environmental conservation efforts. The House passed the Alabama Underwater Forest National Marine Sanctuary and Protection Act to create a sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico to protect an ancient cypress forest and the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Reauthorization Act to extend the Environmental Protection Agency's Long Island Sound programs, which protect an estuary off the coast of New York and Connecticut. The Senate passed the Lake Tahoe Restoration Reauthorization Act to continue conservation and restoration efforts on Lake Tahoe, which is a freshwater lake in Nevada and California, and its surrounding basin.

What Congress Passed

That’s your weekly roundup! We know it was a lot.

DSEANTE PARKS
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