On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing about recent state election reforms across the country. The title of the hearing itself was an offensive and insensitive characterization of the reforms, saying they are a repeat of the discriminatory voting laws in the Jim Crow South.

RM @ChuckGrassley: "The title of this hearing is offensive. . . This title diminishes the very real challenges and unfairness that minorities endured in the Jim Crow South at the hands of Southern Democrats. . . Polarizing rhetoric that distorts history is not helpful."

— RNLA ⚖️ (@TheRepLawyer) April 20, 2021

Earlier today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed anti-riot legislation into law. HB 1 was proposed in response to the civil unrest experienced across the country over the past year. The legislation was a top priority of Senate President Wilton Simpson and House Speaker Chris Sprowls for the 2021 Legislative Session.

Today, surrounded by our state’s law enforcement community, I proudly signed HB 1 into law, which makes clear that rioting and violence have absolutely no place in Florida and provides protections for the brave men and women who keep our communities safe. pic.twitter.com/ULs6cx8xzy

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 19, 2021

After the Senate Judiciary Committee was tied on whether to advance Vanita Gupta's nomination as Associate Attorney General last month, Senate Democrats have begun the process to advance Gupta's nomination to the floor despite remaining questions about her record in several key areas including her position on defunding the police and her relationship with the drug company Aventor. Senator Cornyn has warned that she may be the Biden Administration's "most dangerous" nominee to the Department of Justice.

Earlier today, Democrat members of Congress announced the introduction of legislation that would expand the number of members on the U.S. Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices. Liberals claimed that Republicans were alarmist when they suggested this would happen with Democrat control of Congress and the White House, but here we are. Just last week, President Joe Biden announced the formation of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States which many see as a vehicle for making the idea of packing the Supreme Court mainstream. 

Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Kristen Clarke to be Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. Clarke is one of the more controversial individuals that President Joe Biden has nominated to hold high-ranking positions in the Administration as RNLA previously noted here and here. At issue most prominently during today's hearing was Clarke's positions on defunding the police, religious liberty, race, and voting rights.

On Monday, a trial began before the North Carolina Superior Court to determine whether a 2018 law to implement North Carolina's voter ID amendment is constitutional. Emory University professor Carol Anderson was called to testify to the link between the law and racially biased voting restrictions of the past. The only problem? She hadn't read the law being challenged before writing a report about it and didn't even know who sponsored the bill that enacted the law.

After Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg poured $350 million into the “nonpartisan” Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) to help election administration in cities and counties nationwide during the 2020 election, states like Arizona are pushing back against private overreach in elections.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed HB 2569 into law on Friday, banning election officials at every level from accepting outside funding to administer elections. In signing the bill, Governor Ducey said:

 With public confidence in our elections in peril, it’s clear that elections must be pristine and above reproach — and the sole purview of government.

Earlier today, the White House announced that it will be forming the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. The move fulfills a promise that then-presidential candidate Joe Biden made last October during an interview with "60 Minutes" in the wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death. The press release announcing the Commission explains:

President Biden will today issue an executive order forming the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, comprised of a bipartisan group of experts on the Court and the Court reform debate. In addition to legal and other scholars, the Commissioners includes former federal judges and practitioners who have appeared before the Court, as well as advocates for the reform of democratic institutions and of the administration of justice. The expertise represented on the Commission includes constitutional law, history and political science.

As part of the Scalia Lecture series to Harvard Law School, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer cautioned against structural changes to the Court on Tuesday. As reported by USA Today:

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer warned Americans to think "long and hard" about structural changes to the nation's highest court, such as adding justices through "court-packing," in a wide-ranging address Tuesday.

Major League Baseball's decision to move the 2021 All-Star Game from Georgia to Colorado in response to Georgia's new election law has caused many to scratch their heads considering the reality of election laws in other states with close connections to the League. As an editorial from the Washington Examiner points out, the move was a "cheap and easy way of getting credit for being socially responsible."