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During Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksons confirmation hearing, Republicans reiterated many of the attack lines theyve been using on Democrats when it comes to the issue of crime.

The Biden administration is committed to these soft-on-crime policies, said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). Liberal judges who have more sympathy for the victimizers than for the victims are a big part of the problem.

[The best way to deter people viewing child porn] is to put their ass in jail, said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as he criticized Jacksons sentencing decisions in such cases.

Throughout the hearing and increasingly everywhere else in recent months many have embraced a tough on crime stance. That comes in response to an uptick in violent crime during the pandemic and corresponding voter concerns about it.

Under one-party Democrat rule in Washington, American families are facing a crime crisis, House Republicans posted in a March tweet. Crime is surging across the country, Senate Republicans emphasized in February. The results of Democrats soft-on-crime policies are clear.

The rhetoric in Jacksons hearing and in broader GOP messaging have seemed like a departure from the focus on criminal justice reform that the party had as recently as 2018, when the majority of Senate Republicans backed sentencing changes for nonviolent offenders in the First Step Act. The party back then was eager to show it had made progress on an issue that arose from Congresss efforts to crack down on crime decades ago. (Many of these efforts notably excluded violent offenders or sex offenders that Jackson was spuriously accused of going easy on.)

There are some Republicans who are reluctant to evangelize criminal justice reforms now, advocates say, since increases in crime have become a GOP talking point. According to a study from the Council on Criminal Justice, the homicide rate across 22 major cities was up 5 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, and up 44 percent compared to 2019.

I think your average conservative, or average Republican, may have supported the First Step Act, but I have the impression that the average conservative has backed off from where they were, says Clark Neily, a senior vice president of legal studies at the Cato Institute.

Experts emphasize, however, that the most aggressive moments in the hearing are not indicative of how open a segment of Republicans still is to important but limited criminal justice reforms.

Just last week, 10 Republicans signed on to cosponsor the Equal Act, legislation that would reduce the sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The legislation which would make penalties the same for the two substances has yet to be considered on the floor but could pass with the GOP support it has. Currently, sentencing standards are far more severe for crack cocaine, a disparity that disproportionately affects Black offenders.

The fact of the matter is that all who work in DC politics understand that congressional hearings basically exist for political grandstanding, and thats pretty much it, says Jason Pye, a director at the criminal justice reform group Due Process, who lobbied Republicans on the First Step Act. There are plenty of Republicans in the Senate who will vote for bills like this because they think its the right thing to do.

The rhetoric at Jacksons hearing revealed divides within the party on the issue and the subjects that Republicans arent interested in addressing via reforms.

For years, the party has been fractured on the subject with senators like Tom Cotton (R-AR) opposed to virtually any reforms, while others like Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Tim Scott (R-SC) have led efforts for sentencing reforms for nonviolent drug offenses and police reforms.

There are upwards of 20 Republicans who are gettable, but there are going to be the ones who always oppose you. You start with the list of the no votes on these bills, says Pye.

These differences were on full display at the hearing, with Cotton, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) among the most vocal critics of Jacksons sentencing record on child porn cases. (While Cruz voted for the First Step Act, it took key tweaks for him to ultimately do so.)

And even among those supportive of reforms, like Lee and Graham, a focus on child porn cases echoed where theyve stood on violent crimes and sex crimes related to children. Even though they back sentencing changes for nonviolent drug offenders, they take a very different approach to violent crimes.

Even in the First Step Act, you had a lot of carveouts, says Brett Tolman, the head of the conservative advocacy group Right on Crime. They spent a lot of time carving out crimes of violence, of child porn.

Reforms on drug sentencing that Republicans do back didnt come up as much, since they didnt relate to the chief line of attack from committee members on Jacksons sentencing. Notably, though, a sizable group of Republicans continues to support them. Those cosponsoring the Equal Act, for example, include Sens. Paul, Rob Portman (R-OH), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and Richard Burr (R-NC).

Republicans have been less vocal about reforms in general given the attention on crime rates, says Tolman. At the state and local level, many Republican officials have also pushed back on progressive prosecutors, policies like changes to cash bail, and reduced prosecutions for low-level offenses.

I think theyre often scared that if crime continues to increase, no one wants the blame placed on them, says Jillian Snider, the policy director for the criminal justice and civil liberties team at R Street Institute.

Theres also the Trump factor. During his presidency, Trumps support of the First Step Act helped to get Republicans who were on the fence on board. Without his advocacy on the issue now, some lawmakers are likely less open to this idea.

Its certainly true that President Trump, when he was in office and told McConnell to put it on the floor, that helped us out, and got us votes we otherwise wouldnt have had, says Pye.

Recent progress on criminal justice reform indicates that theres still bipartisan interest in narrower policies.

Republicans backing for the Equal Act a pretty limited bill is still significant. Its not yet clear if the legislation will move forward in the Senate, though it now has sufficient Republican support.

In the past, Republicans have similarly been open to very targeted policies.

The First Step Act, for example, enables just a subset of federal inmates to shorten their sentences. Other more ambitious reforms, meanwhile, have floundered.

Previous discussions on police reform collapsed because Democrats were pushing for a more expansive bill that eliminated qualified immunity, legal protections that police have that shield them from liability. Republicans, meanwhile, were not interested in removing these protections.

The Next Step Act, legislation sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) to reduce mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenses and provide more police training, has failed to get any traction, either.

Republicans openness to the Equal Act signals that theres enduring bipartisan potential for reforms, even though the partys overall rhetoric doesnt always reflect this support.

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What Ketanji Brown Jacksons hearings revealed about Republicans and criminal justice reform - Vox.com

A circuit judge on Thursday found the Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, in contempt of court for refusing to turn over documents relating to the state's recount of the 2020 presidential election.

"Robin Vos had delegated the search for contractors' records to an employee who did nothing more than send one vague email to one contractor," wrote Dane County Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn. "Putting aside for the moment the impropriety of making a contractor responsible for a records request Robin Vos did not tell [sic] that contractor which records to produce, did not ask any of the other contractors to produce records, and did not even review the records ultimately received. Still worse, the Assembly did nothing at all."

Bailey-Rihn has ordered Vos to release the materials within fourteen days or pay a daily fine of $1,000 any time after that, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Bailey-Rihn established that, if the documents aren't provided, Vos must provide an explanation.

RELATED: Trump campaign avoids $8M bill by limiting Wisconsin recount to cities with large Black populations

Wednesday's ruling stems from an inquiry Vos launched back in May off the back of Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud. According to The Washington Post, Vos' sham audit, which has a taxpayer-funded budget of $700,000, has enlisted the help of retired police officers and an attorney. Thus far, Vos has also subpoenaed scores of election officials across the state in metropolitan areas like Green Bay, Racine and Milwaukee.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

In October, nonpartisan watchdog American Oversight filed a lawsuit against Vos and the Wisconsin State Assembly demanding that the judge release records detailing the investigation a request that Bailey-Rihn has now affirmed.

"Speaker Vos and the Assembly have had ample opportunity to comply with the court's order and produce records," Bailey-Rihn wrote.

RELATED: Dear Wisconsin: If Trump wants a recount, make him pay up front

Still, Bailey-Rihn's ruling only deals with one of three suits filed by American Oversight.

Vos, for his part, has suggested that Bailey-Rihn's ruling is part of a politically-motivated smear campaign.

"It's a liberal judge in Dane County trying to make us look bad. I don't know about you, but when you have deleted emails, how do you get deleted emails back if they're from Gmail?" he said, according to Madison.com. "We already have an expert saying they can't be done. You have a judge who's focused on making a name for herself, and that's all she's doing."

Thus far, no substantive evidence has emerged to justify the Vos' recount, for which he is being paid $11,000 a month. President Biden defeated Trump by a margin of 21,000 votes in Wisconsin, a result that a conservative law firm confirmed in December after a ten-month review of the election.

RELATED: "Crazy conspiracy theory": Wisconsin GOP investigator pushes illegal effort to "decertify" election

The ruling against the GOP speaker comes amid another outrage over the Republican takeover of the state's Natural Resources Board, which, like Vos' sham audit, is benefiting from a highly partisan State Assembly willing to defy the norms of good government.

On Friday, the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board called on Fred Prehn to resign from the Natural Resources Board over his refusal to step down eleven months after his term expired. Prehn will theoretically be able to continue serving until his replacement is confirmed by the State Assembly, whose Republican caucus is indefinitely delaying the transition.

"Prehn seems to think he can serve for life, like an emperor," the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board wrote. "If that's true, then good government in Wisconsin is further eroded along with the public's ability to hold government officials accountable."

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The Republican takeover of Wisconsin: GOP officials defy the courts and the voters - Salon

FARGO Democrats are going to get wiped out this fall, according to the polls. Republicans are likely to take control of Congress and strengthen themselves in state legislatures. America continues its political whipsaw, throwing the bums out every couple of years no matter the tribe to which the bums belong. We are an angry, scared nation.

Despite the sense that we are careening toward the cliff of losing our democracy and nobody quite knows what to do about it, if they even care (Republicans think the end of attaining power is worth the means), the parties swapping power is normal. If gas and hamburger prices seem too high, the party in power gets blamed. Tale as old as time.

But one recent poll included a number that was double-take worthy, even if it wasn't completely surprising after further review.

59%.

That, according to a Harvard University/Harris poll, is the number of Republican voters who would support Donald Trump in a GOP primary for president.

Specific wording of the poll question: "If the Republican presidential primary for the 2024 election was held today, who would you vote for?"

Trump got 59%. His closest competitor was former Vice President Mike Pence, who received 11%. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got 10%. The rest of the field received low single-digits.

Six of 10 Republicans support the former president, who clearly helped instigate (if not orchestrate) the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol and continues to praise and favor Vladimir Putin above the current United States president.

What do you think that number would be among North Dakota Republicans? It would certainly be more than 59%, perhaps as high as 90%.

That's why when "moderate" Republicans or media pundits say it's time for the party to move on from Trump, or that Trumpism reflects only a shrinking sliver of the GOP, it is beyond laughable. The Former Guy is The Current Guy for Republicans.

He is the face, the voice, the conscience of the Republican Party.

Trumpism and all it entails is the bedrock of the GOP. There's no separating the two. North Dakota U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a longtime fanboy, recently dismissed the former president playing footsie with Putin as "Trump being Trump," as if that somehow excuses him.

That's the line Republicans have tried to walk with Trump, that his seditionist, pro-Russian tendencies are annoying glitches while his policies are the real substance. It allows GOPers to justify Trump's stench while supporting him.

As has been scribbled in this space before, multiple times: Trump is the Republican Party and the Republican Party is Trump. Period. There's no space between the two. The cult of personality is real.

And as we inch closer to 2024 and "moderate" Republicans and pundits who've been saying Trump no longer holds sway over the masses begin to realize he will win the GOP nomination for president, they'll change their tune.

Leading an insurrection? Big deal. Being besties with Putin? Meh. Trying to extort Ukraine? Yawn.

Trump remains the Republican Party. It can't quit him, nor does it want to.

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McFeely: To repeat, Trump is the Republican Party and the Republican Party is Trump - INFORUM

Sen. Tim Scott, a rising star in the Republican Party with broad popularity in his home state of South Carolina, is getting showered with drug industry money before facing voters this fall.

Scott was the top recipient of pharma campaign cash in Congress during the second half of 2021, receiving $99,000, KHNs Pharma Cash to Congress database shows, emerging as a new favorite of the industry. Though Scott has been a perennial recipient since arriving in Congress in 2011, the latest amount is nearly twice as much as his previous highest haul.

Why Tim Scott? South Carolinas junior senator is someone widely viewed as destined for greater things during his political career. And this is an existential moment for the American pharmaceutical industry when securing allies is critical.

Congress is under intense pressure to rein in the high prices of medicines in the U.S., which are often several times those in other developed countries. Roughly 1 in 4 adults report difficulty affording their prescription drugs, according to KFF polling. Further, 83 percent of Americans support the idea of Medicare negotiating with pharmaceutical firms to lower prices for both its beneficiaries as well those with private insurance thats 95 percent of Democrats, 82 percent of independents, and 71 percent of Republicans.

The industry needs people like Scott, who has introduced several health-related bills in recent years and maintains drug industry-friendly positions, in its corner. He opposes proposals introduced in legislation backed by most Democrats in Congress to let Medicare negotiate prices. In 2019, when the Senate Finance Committee considered a drug pricing bill crafted by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Scott voted against a measure that would have amended the legislation to allow Medicare drug price negotiation. (Scott himself was absent but registered his opposition through a proxy vote.)

In September, as the top Republican on the Senates Special Committee on Aging, he released a report arguing that HR 3, a sweeping measure from House Democrats to tamp down prices, would result in shattered innovation and bankrupt businesses, echoing arguments made by pharma companies.

Democrats propose the federal government should be in charge of deciding the price of treatments, instead of a competitive free marketplace sustained by companies driving innovation, the report stated. The bill would have allowed the federal government to negotiate prices for certain costly medicines and penalize drug companies that dont cooperate, among other provisions.

Scott has also been a member of the Senate Finance Committee since 2015, an assignment that gives him significant influence over legislation affecting the sector as well as a prominent perch for fundraising. In total, 27 drug and biotech companies or their powerful lobbying organizations in Washington contributed to his campaign accounts in the latter half of last year. Amgen, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., AstraZeneca, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, and Genentech were his top donors, each giving between $5,000 and $10,500.

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He also is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which this year is set to consider an issue of great importance to pharma companies: reauthorization of user fees the industry pays to the FDA to help expedite the drug review and approval process. The law must be reauthorized by Congress every five years.

I didnt know until you told me, Scott said when stopped by a KHN reporter in the Capitol and asked what the message was to his constituents as the member of Congress who has received the most money from pharmaceutical PACs in the last two quarters of 2021.

Stephen Billet, an expert on political action committees and associate professor at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, points to factors beyond his stances on pharma issues that contribute to his fundraising haul. Many of Scotts positions are aligned with his fellow Republicans in Congress who shun greater government intervention in controlling costs. Instead, the contributions may reflect the industrys bet that Scott has a promising political future.

He is a prolific fundraiser. Federal Election Commission records show that Scott has raised $38 million the most of any GOP senator up for reelection in 2022 and the second highest among senators across both parties and had $21.5 million in his campaign account at the end of 2021, fueling speculation about a future presidential run. America, A Redemption Story, Scotts memoirs, is scheduled for release in August through Christian publisher Thomas Nelson.

Billet said pharmaceutical PACs will sit down at the beginning of a campaign cycle and take a close look at the upcoming races and what their budget is likely to be and then figure out who they want to help.

So theyll say, Tim Scott is up, hes an up-and-comer, hes been a pretty good guy, Billet said. Its a good idea to get out front and put some money in his pocket.

Pharmaceutical firms have a long tradition of strategic gift-giving to members to develop goodwill, the benefits of which typically emerge many years later.

Other Republican senators up for reelection didnt get nearly as much money from drug companies during the same period, KHNs analysis of Federal Election Commission data shows. For example, Sen. Michael Crapo (R-Idaho), the most senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, received $68,300. Fellow Finance panel member Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) took in $48,000. All three seats are considered safe for Republicans in November.

Scott has received money from drugmakers every year since coming to Congress as a member of the House in 2011, receiving $596,000 through the end of last year, according to the KHN analysis of FEC data. Scott joined the Senate in 2013 after then-Gov. Nikki Haley chose him to replace GOP senator Jim DeMint, who resigned from Congress to helm the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. But this is his banner year; previously, the most he received was $54,000 during the second half of 2019.

The following year, Scott co-founded the congressional Personalized Medicine Caucus with a handful of other lawmakers, including fellow pharma darling Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). Personalized medicine which is also referred to as precision medicine promises to use genetics and other traits to develop individualized treatments for patients, often at a very steep price.

We will take steps to nurture scientific advancements that may reverse the genetic and molecular causes of rare and common diseases, bringing new hope to American patients and lasting benefits to our health care system, Scotts prepared statement read at the time.

Scotts press secretary, Caroline Anderegg, shared that the senator has long held an interest in sickle cell disease, which is the most commonly inherited blood disorder in the U.S. and disproportionately strikes Black people. The disease, which affects roughly 100,000 Americans, is one that could benefit from the development of gene-based therapies, a form of precision medicine, she said.

The caucuss formation was hailed by the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a pharma-friendly group whose members consist of drugmakers donating to Scott AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck, to name a few. The organization estimated that personalized medicines accounted for more than a quarter of new therapies the FDA had approved since 2015, underscoring the pharmaceutical industrys widespread work in the field.

Since 2019, Scott has introduced 17 health-related bills or resolutions about everything from food allergens and sickle cell disease to health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities. Last year, he sponsored a bill that would create tax incentives for drug and medical device companies to manufacture more of their products in the U.S. The legislations framework loosely aligns with ideas from the Association for Accessible Medicines, which lobbies for generic drug companies.

Overall, from June to December, members of Congress received $3.5 million in their campaign coffers from pharmaceutical companies and their trade associations, according to the KHN analysis of industry contributions.

There is kind of a cycle to giving and so the off year, 2021, is likely going to have less money than 2022, since its an election year, said Paul Jorgensen, an associate professor at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley who studies campaign finance. But there was a lot of money put into lobbying this cycle because of all of the initiatives that were being pushed in the House and with the Build Back Better plan, so in some ways your numbers just kind of mirror what one would expect.

Other top recipients of drug industry money in the second half of 2021 include Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who was second behind Scott in contributions, receiving $97,300. McMorris Rodgers is the top Republican on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which has significant sway over pharmaceutical issues, and could become chair of the powerful panel should Republicans retake the House majority in November as expected. Over the entirety of 2021, she received the most money from the sector of any lawmaker.

The pharmaceutical PACs are cognizant of who is up for committee leadership roles, said Billet: They are 100 percent aware of who the next person in line is, making McMorris Rodgers an obviously easy target.

Sinema posted the third-highest haul $74,800 despite not being up for reelection until 2024. It was a big gain over the first half of 2021, when she received $8,000. KHN reported in 2020 on Sinemas connections to the pharmaceutical industry.

Data analyst Elizabeth Lucas contributed to this report. KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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Heres the Republican senator that Big Pharma is betting on - Tampa Bay Times

Seven candidates are running in the Republican primary forOhios 13th Congressional DistrictonMay 3, 2022. Incumbent Rep.Tim Ryan(D) announced on April 26, 2021, that he wasnot seeking re-electionand instead running forU.S. Senate.

Under the congressional district maps most recently approved during Ohiosredistrictingprocess, the 13th Districtwhich race forecastersratedasSolid Democraticin 2020will lean more Republican in 2022. According toFiveThirtyEight, the new 9th District had an R+2 lean, while the old district was even, meaning neither party had an advantage.These congressional district lines are currently subject to a state lawsuit. Learn morehere.

As of March 2022,Madison Gesiotto Gilbert,Shay Hawkins, andJanet Folger Porterhave received the most media coverage. Gilbert works as a small business owner, attorney, and television commentator. She also worked onDonald Trumps (R)2016and2020election campaigns. A Gilbert campaign ad said, Ohioans are fed up with the incompetence in Washington. Only Madison Gesiotto Gilbert can take on the woke mob.

Hawkins works as president and chief executive officer of the Opportunity Funds Association and as an adjunct professor. He worked as a lead policy advisor for U.S. Sen.Tim Scott(R-S.C.). In an interview withCleveland.com, Hawkins said I am in this race because I am the best candidate to represent this area who can hit the ground running with experience the first day, and, I think Ive got a lot to offer Republicans across the spectrum.

Porter works as the founder and president of Faith2Action. She also worked as the legislative director for Ohio Right to Life, where she advocated for anti-abortion legislation. In her campaign announcement video, she said: I have more than 40 years of actions and results on issues of life and liberty and family. That is the distinguishing factor between me and everybody else in the race.

Santana F. King,Dante Sabatucci,Ryan Saylor, andGregory Wheelerare also running.

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Seven candidates are running in the Republican primary for Ohio's 13th Congressional District Ballotpedia News - Ballotpedia News