Politics isn’t going on vacation. Just like the flood of overly ambitious, resume-padding Northwestern students, American politics will be working full-time this summer. There’s no way of predicting which exact revelations will unfold while we’re on break, but fear not! Here’s a sneak peak at headlines you might see in the paper this summer before heading back to Evanston next fall.
“Senate confirms Sotomayor as Supreme Court Justice”
After being announced the Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, currently a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, is likely to be confirmed by the Senate with ease this summer. President Barack Obama announced his intention to fill the ninth spot on the bench of the Supreme Court, vacated by Justice David Souter, before the congressional recess on August 3. This deadline, coupled with Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Robert Leahy’s praise for Sotomayor, makes her confirmation seem inevitable. Sotomayor has more experience prior to being nominated than any justice currently on the bench, she adds diversity by being the first Latina in the court, and Obama himself contacted every member of the Judiciary committee before announcing his decision, making for a nominee that is likely to be a bipartisan choice.
Nonetheless, the GOP faithful have fired back, promising to take on the Democratic Senate majority. They are likely to argue that Sotomayor’s political ideologies and views of the job conflict with American interests — opponents, as expected, fear she is too liberal and that she also views the Supreme Court appointment as more of a policy-making position. As Republican Senator David Vitter put it, “Justices should be umpires, not legislators.” Despite these obligatory objections, Sotomayor’s impressive record stands out and her Hispanic heritage is hard to turn down.
“Gay marriage extends to New York and New Jersey”
Same-sex marriage may be legalized in New York and New Jersey this summer. In New York, the State Assembly passed a bill on May 12 to legalize gay marriage, which is now being considered by the New York State Senate. Democrats who are pushing for the bill’s passage have a very slight majority in the New York Senate which does not guarantee the bill’s success, though Governor David Paterson has committed to sign full-marriage equality into law. Similarly, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has promised to sign such a law if it were presented to him by the New Jersey legislature. The state, which already allows civil unions, had a special state commission investigate legalizing same-sex marriage and they ultimately recommended that New Jersey take efforts to legalize it. The legislature, however, has yet to act.
New Hampshire recently became the latest state to legalize same-sex marriage, and many other states are also in the process of addressing the topic. Notable among them is California, whose recent passage of Proposition 8 was a setback to the gay community as the Golden State was originally the second state to allow same-sex marriage. Prop 8 was challenged earlier this month, but the California high court ruled on May 26 to uphold the law. Despite this outcome, there still remains a strong movement to re-establish gay marriage in California.
“North Korea to face consequences of missile testing from United Nations”
On Monday, May 25, North Korea conducted a nuclear weapons test, followed by a short-range missile firing. The following day, the communist nation fired two more short-range missiles. The acts were immediately condemned by the United Nations Security Council as an intentional violation of international law. It is important to remember that China is North Korea’s largest ally and a member of the U.N. Security Council. The United Nations, a group North Korea refuses to join, could capitalize on China’s relationship with North Korea by controlling the amount of economic aid North Korea receives, in an attempt to leverage Chinese influence. The U.S., prior to the weapons testing, had planned on resuming the six-party talks that include China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States. North Korea halted the talks, which were created to address Korean nuclear threats, in April of this year and said it would continue working on its nuclear operations. This summer, expect the United Nations to take major action on this international threat.
“Obama completes eventful visits to Russia, Italy, Ghana”
The White House announced that the president, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, will be traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev from July 6-8. He plans to discuss nuclear proliferation and the United States’ desire to create a missile defense system in Eastern Europe to protect against potential Iranian attacks. In L’Aquila, Italy, the president will attend the G8 summit from July 8-10 where he will chair a meeting on energy and climate change. Lastly, Obama will make his first presidential visit to Africa when he visits Accra, Ghana to meet with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills. Because he is the first president to break the race barrier, the trip to Africa is highly symbolic and expected to draw large crowds from across the continent.
“American Clean Energy and Security Act passed along party lines”
The American Clean Energy and Security Act is a climate change and energy bill that was introduced in mid-May. At a lengthy 900 pages, the legislation is a comprehensive variant of cap-and-trade policies that exceeds the climate change goals set by President Obama. In committee, Republicans tried delaying the bill by having it read in its entirety, a process which could have taken nearly twenty hours. In a rather humorous exchange, the Democrats hired a speed-reader to zip through the bill to thwart the GOP plan. Ultimately, the Republicans bailed immediately after the speed-reader began.
The bill passed committee 6 days later, and will now head to the House and Senate for approval. Because this bill was passed in committee on party lines, expect it to do the same in the House and the Senate — this session of Congress is just starting out and many members, especially new ones, must prove party loyalty early on and vote along party lines on such legislation. Because Democrats have such a commanding majority, this bill will most likely become law by late summer.
“D.C. voting rights remain unresolved”
An age-old struggle, the District of Columbia voting rights issue will remain at a standstill if history has a say. The capital has no voting members in Congress and has tried since the 1970s to be represented. The most recent attempt, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2009, would bring the current total of 435 Representatives in the U.S. House to 437, adding one member for D.C. and another for the next state who deserves a representative based on the U.S. Census (Utah is currently the expected winner of this extra seat). The 2009 bill was the exact same text as the proposition submitted last year, an effort that never turned into law. Currently, the bill is going through amendments before going through the House and Senate yet again.
As if the issue was not complicated enough, some Republicans fear that the act is unconstitutional, thus prompting a proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution, as authored by Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, to give D.C. one voting House member, but no role in the constitutional amendment process. When Republicans held the majority in Congress, the proposed bills would almost always die in committee because many conservatives were not comfortable with restructuring the setup of Congress. Although the Democrats are now in power, granting D.C. representation is no guarantee. Because of all these kinks in the system and the bills unsuccessful history, it looks like the magic number will stay at 435, at least for this summer.
“__________ announces candidacy for __________”
Calm down, guys. It’s a bit too early to announce Presidential candidates for 2012 (though you never know…) but the 2010 midterm election season is getting close. In 2010, a third of the U.S. Senate, and some special add-ons, will be up for re-election along with every member of the House of Representatives. If any of your local elected officials has done anything remotely questionable since last November, expect them to face some contenders. Hopeful politicians are starting earlier than ever to force primary elections and steal their party’s nomination. Especially in Senate races, where incumbents have historically had less success, lesser-known names will be popping out to challenge longtime office-holders in their own party to win a spot on the general election ballot. No matter how much they deny it, politicians only have one thing on their minds at all times: re-election. The cycle never ends.
While you could put money on some of these headlines, they are by no means meant to be taken to Vegas. The political world is always changing and is bound to throw some curveballs this summer, but you may very well see these stories making the front pages. Before you leave for whatever adventures you may have this summer, take a second to look around. The world’s going to be a different place when Evanston welcomes us back in September.