Embattled Vanita Gupta approved as Associate Attorney General for DOJ

Vanita Gupta is the new Associate Attorney Genereal.

One Republican Senator bucked her GOP colleagues and just like that, Vanita Gupta's appointment was approved to become the Associate Attorney General of the Department of Justice.

Alaska's Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the lone Republican to vote for the Indian American civil rights attorney

Gupta becomes the first woman of color and the first Asian American to hold the third-in-command for the Justice Department.

“Not only is Ms. Gupta the first woman of color to ever be nominated to the position, she is the first civil rights attorney ever to be nominated to the position — the third-ranking official in the Justice Department,” said Senate  Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY.

Vice President Kamala Harris was present in case her vote was needed to break a tie between the GOP and Democrats. 

As soon as Gupta was nominated, conservative groups and Senate Republicans have been attacking her as a "radical" in attempt to derail Biden's nomination, even though all the major law enforcement groups endorsed Gupta.

Gupta previously was the head of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division during the Obama administration. 

But Murkowski, who voted to convict Donald Trump in the former president's second impeachment trial, voted for the embattled Gupta.

According to Politico, among the issues Murkowski discussed with Gupta was domestic violence and sexual assault, particularly against Native women — a major priority for the Alaska Republican.

“I felt that I was speaking to a woman who had not only committed her professional life to try to get the base of these injustices, to try to not just direct a little bit of money, put a program in place, and walk away and call it a day,” Murkowski told Politico. “But to try to truly make a difference.”

Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said:
"Her confirmation could not come at a more significant time as our nation continues to grapple with a multitude of civil rights issues – from police brutality targeting Black and Brown communities to the surge in anti-Asian hate crimes we have seen throughout the pandemic. 

"We need a Department of Justice that understands the needs and experiences of communities of color and works to protect them from violence and disenfranchisement," said Chu.

Kavanaugh's emails reveals he questions constitutionality of aid to Hawaiians

THIS MORNING (Sept. 6), Senator Mazie Hirono released confidential emails from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that opined that government programs targeting Native Hawaiians "as a group" is "of questionable validity under the Constitution" and would be "subject to strict scrutiny."

"I think the testimony needs to make clear that any program targeting Native Hawaiians as a group is subject to strict scrutiny and of questionable validity under the Constitution," Kavanaugh wrote in a 2002 email in response to a Treasury Department official regarding federal assistance in "Indian Country."

READ Brett Kavanaugh's emails about Native Hawaiians.

Though the documents released in Hiriono's tweets were stamped "committee confidential," they were made public earlier by the office of Senate Judicial Committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley without the confidential markings minutes before Hirono's tweet.

The Judicial Committee is having several days of hearings to decide on whether or not Donald Trump's nominee is qualified to fill a seat on the nine-member Supreme Court bench.

Grassley's office released the additional documents from Kavanaugh's work in the White House on Thursday morning after requests from several committee Democrats yesterday.

Though the emails had previously been labeled "committee confidential," Grassley noted his staff worked through Wednesday night to tackle "last-minute" requests from Democrats to release the documents publicly, according to The Hill.

The senator from Hawaii said at Kavanaugh's hearing that she saw no reason for the paper to be confidential.

“I would defy anyone reading this document to conclude this document should be deemed confidential in any way shape or form,” she said. 

Yesterday (Sept. 5), Kavanaugh's sentiments on assistance to Native Hawaiians, who he doesn't consider to be indegenous people, were revealed under Hirono's grilling. 

By extension, Hirono said, Kavanaugh's positions would also cover the native people in Alaska, the home of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who Democrats hope will vote against Kavanuaugh.

Earlier documents that were deemed "committee confidential" were released after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) earlier threatened to go against committee rules that forbade their release. His trove of documents related to Kavanugh's race-related opinions that reflect his positions on affirmative action or racial justice. 

“The fundamental problem in this case is that these DOT (Dept. of Transportation) regulations use a lot of legalisms and disguises to mask what is a naked racial set-aside,” he wrote,

In another email he expressed that for security reasons,t racial profiling might be allowed. 

A 2003 email indicates that Kavanaugh's previous testimony that he would support the precedence set by Roe v. Wade giving women the right to make medical decisions, specifically around abortion.

"I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe v. Wade as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so," he wrote._______________________________________________________________________________

Heroic senators save healthcare for millions: Mazie Hirono, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins & John McCain

This week, the U.S. Senate's Republicans made several attempts to do away or weaken the Affordable Care Act.

UPDATED: July 29, added video of Sen. Mazie Hirono's speech.)

THERE WERE many heroes in the U.S. Senate's dramatic vote on health care that took place in the wee hours of Friday (July 28).

The 48 Democrats needed three GOP defections to keep the Republicans from repealing or weakening President Obama's Affordable Care Act.

The amendment fell, 51-49, to the consternation of the GOP majority and Trump administration. If it had passed up to 22 million people would lose their health insurance.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski stood firm against the public threats from the Trump administration that would withhold funds from Alaska initiatives. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke made it clear that her vote might affect the state's energy and mining industries

Sen. Susan Collins remained consistent in her opposition to Trumpcare (which basically is no-care) because of the negative impact it would have on hundreds of thousands of her Maine constituents and the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

In the most dramatic moment, Sen. John McCain, with a scar above his left eye from an operation just a few days ago, strode down the aisle and gave a thumbs down to the so-called "skinny repeal" of Obamacare, which would have kept The Affordable Care Act but do away with some objectionable portions of it. 

McCain cast the pivotal vote because up to the time he voted, it was not clear which way he would go. Tuesday he gave a strong emotional appeal for the Senate to return to "regular order" and let the senators come up a health plan through committees, public hearings and compromise. However his vote Wednesday to open debate on the Republican proposal puzzled pundits and Congress watchers, who began thinking his vote was up for grabs.  

RELATED: Profiles in Disappointment - Sen. John McCain

Hawaii's Sen. Mazie Hirono, like McCain, also left her sickbed in Honolulu to recover from cancer surgery in order to participate in this vote. Hirono said that both she and McCain are acutely aware of the advantages they have for the outstanding medical care that they received because they could afford it.

Standing before the Senate, minutes before the critical vote on the "skinny repeal," Hirono gave an emotional appeal shaming her Republican colleagues.

“Where is your compassion? Where is the care that you showed me when I was diagnosed with my illness?” she asked. “I find it hard to believe that we can sit here and vote on a bill that is going to hurt millions and millions of people in our country. We are better than that.”

She fought back tears as she recalled her family's immigrant journey from Japan to Hawaii. “And now, here I am a United States senator,” Hirono said. “I am fighting kidney cancer, and I’m just so grateful that I had health insurance so that I could concentrate on the care that I needed rather than how the heck I was going to afford the care that would probably save my life.”

It should also be mentioned the American people who for six months kept the pressure on the politicians by writing letters, calling their offices, attending their town halls to urge them to fix Obamacare or how the ACA helped them or their family. Democracy came alive.

After seven years, the Repubicans have failed to come up with a responsible option to Obamacare. The GOP might actually have to talk to Democrats in order to improve the ACA flaws that even President Obama says is needed.