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The Senate narrowly confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday following a tempestuous confirmation battle in which the federal appeals judge strongly denied allegations of sexual assault.

The vote was 50-48 in favor of confirmation.

Loud shouting could be heard before and during the vote. During debate, hundreds of protesters gathered on the Supreme Court steps and rushed barricades around the Capitol, the New York Times reports. Dozens were arrested, according to Politico.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation was viewed as assured after three key senators said they would vote yes: Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona, and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The New York Times and the Washington Post covered the announcements.

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Two reports from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General released this week were highly critical of how the agency handled child and adult immigrants in custody in Texas and California.

One report report faulted DHS for poor planning and communication, violation of the law and indifference to the feelings of separated families, the Washington Post reports. The New York Times also has coverage.

In reviewing the agency’s behavior in June during unannounced visits in Texas, the IG’s report found that at least 860 minors were left in U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding cells for longer than the 72-hour maximum required by law. The holding areas are not the detention centers where immigrants are placed to await trial; they’re chain-link cells intended as temporary holding pens. They lack beds, showers and adequate food, and they’re air-conditioned to such low temperatures that Spanish-speaking immigrants call them hieleras, or “iceboxes.”

Continue reading “Major issues in carrying out family separation policy detailed in Homeland Security report”

The United States is likely to succeed in shutting down the World Trade Organization’s supreme court because other WTO members are powerless to stop it, diplomats, lawyers and officials said at a conference in Geneva on Friday.

The United States has blocked appointments of judges to the Appellate Body, throwing the WTO into crisis as it runs out of legal muscle to rule on international trade disputes.

The European Union has made proposals to reform the way the judges work, but U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea poured cold water on several of them on Thursday, saying appeals judges had “strayed” from what was agreed when the WTO was set up in 1995.

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A suspect believed to have shot seven South Carolina law enforcement officers on Wednesday, killing one of them, is a disbarred lawyer.

The suspect has been identified as 74-year-old Frederick Hopkins, report the Associated Press and the Greenville News. He was hospitalized with a head injury, according to Fox Carolina. NBC News reports that the suspect wasn’t shot, although he was unconscious, possibly because of a heart attack or other condition during the shootout.

The slain officer was identified as Terrence Carraway, 52, who recently marked 30 years with the Florence Police Department, report SCNow and WMBF.

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The top lenders of Toys ‘R’ Us have decided to cancel the bankruptcy auction of its brand name and other intellectual property assets and instead plan to revive the Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us brand names, a court filing on Monday showed.

The bankrupt retailer’s debtors aim to open a new Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us branding company that maintains existing global license agreements and can invest and develop new retail shops.

Continue reading “Toys ‘R’ Us lenders cancel auction, plan to revive brand”