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Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Dismisses Retirement Calls, Says Politics Just One Of ‘Many Factors’ – Forbes

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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer downplayed Democratic calls that he should step down now to ensure President Joe Biden can appoint a liberal successor, saying Sunday that while he understands their argument it’s only one of “many, many considerations” behind his decision to retire.

Key Facts

Upon being shown an interview of late Justice Antonin Scalia saying he doesn’t want to be replaced by a justice who tries to “[undo] everything I’ve tried to do,” Breyer said on Fox News Sunday he “see[s] the point” behind not wanting a conservative president to name his successor.

The left-leaning Breyer, 83, said “probably in the background there’s something there” to that consideration, gesturing to his mind, but stressed there are “many, many considerations” behind his retirement, including the role of the court and “institutional considerations.”

Asked about calls by Democratic politicians for Breyer to retire, the justice said they are “entitled to their opinion” and “understand the political world much better than I…and there we are.”

When asked why he didn’t retire at the end of this term, as many Democrats hoped he would, Breyer said only he didn’t retire “because I decided on balance I wouldn’t retire.”

Breyer also dismissed questions regarding former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refusing to confirm Merrick Garland to the court ahead of the 2016 election but letting the Senate confirm Justice Amy Coney Barrett just before the 2020 election, likening the question to “asking for the recipe to chicken a la king from the point of view of the chicken.”

The justice chalked up McConnell’s decision to “the political environment,” and said he believes that if enough of the public want that reality to change or be modified, “it will be.”

Crucial Quote

“I don’t intend to die on the court, I don’t think I’ll be there forever,” Breyer said.

Tangent

Breyer was also asked about potential reforms to the Supreme Court, which many progressives have pushed for in order to combat the high court’s conservative tilt and President Joe Biden has convened a commission to study. While Breyer pushed back against the idea of adding justices to the court, the justice signaled more openness to term limits, as some Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill to do. “I think you could do that,” Breyer said. “It should be a very long term, because you don’t want the judge who’s holding that term to start thinking about his next job. But it would make life easier for me.”

Key Background

Numerous Democrats have pushed for Breyer’s retirement from the Supreme Court in order to ensure his replacement can be confirmed while the party controls both the White House and Congress. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg declined to step down during Barack Obama’s presidency and was ultimately replaced by Trump nominee Barrett, and McConnell has suggested if the GOP retakes the Senate, he will likely be unwilling to confirm a Biden nominee to the court even if it’s a year before the 2024 election. The calls for Breyer’s retirement and sweeping reforms to the court have intensified in recent days after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold Texas’ near-total ban on abortion, arguing in a September 1 ruling it was too soon to take action against the law despite its extreme restrictions on the procedure. “If [Breyer is] going to retire, it should be sooner rather than later,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said last week on CNN, noting if the court’s abortion decision “doesn’t cry out for that, I don’t know what does.”

Further Reading

18 Legal Scholars Urge Justice Breyer To Retire: ‘Best For The Country’ (Forbes)

Supreme Court Refuses To Strike Down Texas Abortion Ban (Forbes)

McConnell: Biden Won’t Get Supreme Court Pick In 2024 If GOP Wins Back Senate (Forbes)

Stephen Breyer Has No Plan To Retire Yet From Supreme Court, He Says (Forbes)

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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Beyoncé channels Pamela Anderson in ‘Baywatch’ for Halloween video asking viewers to vote

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NEW YORK (AP) — In a new video posted early Election Day, Beyoncé channels Pamela Anderson in the television program “Baywatch” – red one-piece swimsuit and all – and asks viewers to vote.

In the two-and-a-half-minute clip, set to most of “Bodyguard,” a four-minute cut from her 2024 country album “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé cosplays as Anderson’s character before concluding with a simple message, written in white text: “Happy Beylloween,” followed by “Vote.”

At a rally for Donald Trump in Pittsburgh on Monday night, the former president spoke dismissively about Beyoncé’s appearance at a Kamala Harris rally in Houston in October, drawing boos for the megastar from his supporters.

“Beyoncé would come in. Everyone’s expecting a couple of songs. There were no songs. There was no happiness,” Trump said.

She did not perform — unlike in 2016, when she performed at a presidential campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland – but she endorsed Harris and gave a moving speech, initially joined onstage by her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland.

“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” Beyoncé said.

“A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we’re not divided,” she said at the rally in Houston, her hometown.

“Imagine our daughters growing up seeing what’s possible with no ceilings, no limitations,” she continued. “We must vote, and we need you.”

The Harris campaign has taken on Beyonce’s track “Freedom,” a cut from her landmark 2016 album “Lemonade,” as its anthem.

Harris used the song in July during her first official public appearance as a presidential candidate at her campaign headquarters in Delaware. That same month, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, publicly endorsed Harris for president.

Beyoncé gave permission to Harris to use the song, a campaign official who was granted anonymity to discuss private campaign operations confirmed to The Associated Press.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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