ATLANTA – President Joe Biden has released two historic federal judgeship nominations in Georgia.
Biden nominated Victoria Marie Calvert and Sarah Elisabeth Geraghty late Wednesday for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Calvert would become the second Black female judge to serve that court, while Geraghty would be the first former federal defender to become a district court judge in Georgia.
Calvert has been a staff attorney in the Federal Defender Program in Atlanta since 2012. From 2006 to 2012, she was an associate at King & Spalding in Atlanta, where she represented clients in the special matters and government investigations group, and engaged in substantial pro bono work.
Calvert received her law degree from New York University Law School in 2006 and her bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 2003.
Geraghty is senior counsel at the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights. She has held a number of leadership positions, including managing attorney of the center’s impact litigation unit from 2015 to 2020.
Geraghty was previously a staff attorney with the Office of the Appellate Defender from 2002 to 2003 in New York. She served as a law clerk for Judge James B. Zagel on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 2000 to 2002.
She received her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1999, a master’s degree from the University of Michigan School of Social Work in 1998, and a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 1996.
Georgia Democratic U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Raphael Warnock both took credit for the nominations.
“I expect and am confident both of these historic nominees will impartially uphold and apply the law, without fear or favor, guided by their commitments to truth, integrity, and justice,” Ossoff said. “I look forward to meeting with them again ahead of the confirmation process and seeing them before the Senate Judiciary Committee.”
“These historic appointments would bring a rich diversity of professional experiences to the federal bench,” Warnock added. “I look forward to supporting them through the confirmation process.”
Earlier this year, Ossoff and Warnock formed a federal nominations advisory commission to review applicants for open federal judgeships, U.S. attorney and U.S. marshall positions in Georgia. The commission is composed of a diverse group of attorneys, judges, civil rights leaders and criminal justice reform advocates.
The 2021 Commission was led by Leah Ward Sears, a former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court and the first African American female state Supreme Court chief justice in the country.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is headlining the Georgia GOP’s 2021 Chairman’s Dinner next month.
Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer made the announcement Wednesday.
“McCarthy has worked tirelessly to elect Republicans across the country and to block the Pelosi agenda in Washington,” said Shafer, referring to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
McCarthy has represented California’s 23rd Congressional District since 2007, and he has served as the Republican leader of the House since 2019.
Shafer was one of several GOP officials and candidates who appeared at last weekend’s Perry rally headlined by former President Donald Trump.
McCarthy has been a relentless supporter of Trump, who reiterated claims of election fraud at his Saturday rally.
Currently, according to Ballotpedia, there are 220 Democrats in Congress and 212 Republicans, with three vacancies. McCarthy is leading the GOP congressional effort to retake the House next fall and replace Pelosi.
Pelosi and McCarthy have a deeply partisan, adversarial relationship, which includes virulent political spats over everything from Trump’s historic two impeachment trials, the Jan. 6 commission, and, most recently, President Joe Biden and Democratic efforts to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.
The event will take place Oct. 28 in Atlanta.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA — Georgia State University has partnered with the federal government to open the National Center for Sexual Violence Prevention.
The center was established after Amanda Gilmore and Shannon Self-Brown, both staff professors in the school’s Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences Department, received a second year of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Defense’s sexual assault prevention and response office.
The center hopes to establish a sexual assault prevention workforce within the military. The combined award totals $668,677.
“The center will continue to support sexual violence prevention research at Georgia State to reduce violence in high-risk populations like military, college students and adolescents,” said Gilmore. “This can have long-lasting impacts by reducing the mental health consequences of sexual assault including substance use, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
As the White House continues its efforts this week to pass President Joe Biden’s signature legislative packages, Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is urging that his solar tax credit legislation be included.
Ossoff and several of his Democratic colleagues held a press briefing Tuesday as negotiations between Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer continue working toward passing the president’s Build Back Better Act and his trillion-dollar infrastructure deal.
“We have a generational obligation, an historic obligation, to address climate change, and to move from our dependence on fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy,” Ossoff said. “The president has laid out an ambitious agenda to achieve a 40% solar mix by 2035. The solar tax credit inclusion will supercharge solar manufacturing in the U.S., because solar demand is skyrocketing in the nation.”
WATCH: Sen. @ossoff, colleagues call for inclusion of his solar legislation in budget reconciliation https://t.co/Yb5O2OqCRS
Ossoff said his Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Actis designed to provide tax credits for American manufacturers at every stage of the solar manufacturing supply chain, from production of polysilicon, to solar cells, to fully assembled solar modules. He said the legislation would help boost domestic solar production, create good-paying American jobs, and reduce solar panel purchasing from China.
Ossoff was joined by fellow Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, as well as Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. U.S. House Democrats participating in the news conference included Reps. Dan Kildee of Michigan and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey.
Warnock said Dalton – a city internationally known for its carpet manufacturing industry — is already home to QCell, “the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere.”
“It would be a monumental mistake to trade demand on foreign oil for demand on foreign solar energy manufacturing supplies,” Wyden said.
During a Monday press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president is facing “an inflection point” this week regarding his legislative packages.
Psaki said Biden’s packages include plans to lower prescription drug costs, invest in roads and bridges, cut taxes on middle-income families, replace lead-contaminated drinking water pipes, give every American access to high-speed internet, reduce the costs of child care and address the devastating impacts of climate change.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a stay on an appeal of Georgia’s controversial abortion law, pending the outcome of an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court abortion case.
The court made the announcement on SisterSong v Kemp Monday night.
The Supreme Court case in question is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which has the potential to challenge Roe v. Wade. The case involves a Mississippi abortion law and will be heard by the Supreme Court on Dec. 1.
Last Friday, the appellate court heard arguments appealing Georgia’s law, known as the Living Infants Fairness Equality Act, which seeks to prevent abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, typically six weeks into pregnancy, except in special situations.
During the arguments, the justices seemed inclined to stay the appeal until the Supreme Court decides on the Mississippi case.
Lawyers on both sides of the case had no objections to the court’s inclinations to stay the case.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
