Thus far, the Supreme Court has resisted efforts by the Senate Judiciary Committee to engage on ethics reform beginning with Chief Justice Roberts, who has rebuffed information requests and an invitation to discuss this important oversight matter. Now, Justice Alito is providing speculative public commentary on a bill that is still going through the legislative process.

Let’s be clear: Justice Alito is not the 101st member of the United States Senate.

His intervention in Article I activity is unwise and unwelcome.

I’m disappointed in the Supreme Court’s ruling effectively barring the use of race as a factor in college admissions.

A thread. The Court’s conservative majority just upended nearly 50 years of established precedent in a move that undermines the progress our country has made advancing racial justice.

What we heard today from Donald Trump’s lawyers is that he can no longer be held accountable for his actions to provoke a terrorist mob to violently overthrow a legitimate government process because he is no longer a sitting President. That’s wrong. To my colleagues who believe the First Amendment was designed to protect the efforts of a lame duck President to overthrow our government, you might as well create a recipe for a democracy to die of its own accord.

Last night, I had the honor of speaking with 100 Black Men of Chicago, the Chicago chapter of 100 Black Men of America, a 25,000-member volunteer organization that works to enhance quality of life and educational and economic opportunities for African Americans. I was originally asked to speak about gun violence and its impact on our youth, but the conversation naturally turned to Minneapolis and the death of Mr. George Floyd. His death was a reprehensible, heartbreaking moment.

Senate Republicans are doing untold damage to our federal judiciary by rubber-stamping so many of President Trump’s radical & unqualified judicial nominees. Today, it was Lawrence VanDyke. Here is some of what we know about Mr. VanDyke: The American Bar Association’s peer review process found Mr. VanDyke “not qualified” and described him as “arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice.” Americans deserve qualified, non-ideological judges with proper temperament.

Today, I am calling for the initiation of a formal impeachment inquiry by the House of Representatives of President Donald Trump. His admission that he solicited negative info from the Pres. of Ukraine concerning his potential opponent, Joe Biden, while withholding $250M in US security aid for Ukraine is beneath the dignity of any President & by any reasonable legal standard merits an impeachment inquiry.

Jeffrey Rosen does not have the qualifications to be Deputy AG. He has no experience working in the Justice Department or handling criminal cases. When I questioned him about core DOJ functions, he wasn’t familiar with them. For example, when I met with him and asked him about the landmark First Step Act, he said he had, “begun getting informed about it.” When I asked him about voting rights and voter suppression, he said he hadn’t had occasion to study the issue.

Here are some of the anti-immigrant provisions included in the Trump-McConnell bill to end the #TrumpShutdown: Excludes hundreds of thousands of DACA-eligible individuals and all TPS recipients from the African countries the President disparaged. Includes sweeping new restrictions that would bar many current DACA recipients.

The Trump Administration’s family separation policy is more than a bureaucratic lapse in judgment. It is and was a cruel policy inconsistent with the values of this nation. politico.com/story/2019/01/… It’s inconceivable that our government chose to secretly separate thousands of children from their parents, was unable or unwilling to reunite these families for months due to incompetent leadership and poor planning, and still doesn’t know how many children were separated.

Toby, a 6-year Air Force veteran from Aurora, is an air traffic controller who has gone without a paycheck since Dec. 31. I shared his story today on the Senate floor. Veterans are some of the hardest hit by the Trump shutdown. Today, as many as 250,000 veterans across the country – direct hire federal workers and contractors alike – are going without pay due to the #TrumpShutdown.

Fact check: DEA has found that Mexican cartels most commonly transport drugs through our Southwest border at legal ports of entry. A border wall does nothing to stop that from happening, sorry VP Pence. CBP Commissioner McAleenan told me in October 2017 that his top priority to secure the border was more drive-through inspection systems at ports of entry. He didn’t mention a border wall.

Let me be clear: Dems support strong, effective border security. The type of border security that Dems have long-supported, including increased funds for tech, is what experts have said is needed & actually works. What doesn’t work is an ineffective, expensive & medieval wall. But here’s what we should all agree on: large portions of the government shouldn’t be shut down while there’s a debate on border security.

Democrats have made it clear to the President that there are much more effective ways to secure our border than a wall – like more screening technology and personnel to stop drugs from flowing through our borders. Democrats support smart border security that works. For example, the DEA has found that the cartels transport the bulk of their illicit goods over the Southwest border through legal ports of entry using passenger vehicles or tractor trailers.

Today, we remember the 20 children and 6 staff members that were shot and killed at #SandyHook 6 years ago. Gun violence has taken far too many of our loved ones - young and old - far too soon. Our thoughts and prayers are not enough. We can help prevent these tragedies if Members of Congress have the courage to pass common sense gun reform laws that can help keep our communities safe.

The 1990 campaign for Jesse Helms in North Carolina engaged in deeply disturbing tactics aimed at suppressing the vote. Who was Helms’ legal counsel? Thomas Farr – now seeking Senate confirmation to be a federal judge in NC. The Helms campaign sent over 100,000 postcards to mostly African American voters warning that they might be ineligible to vote for residency reasons. The postcards warned that the recipients might be arrested for voter fraud if they came to the polls.

Today, America holds more prisoners, by far, than any other country in the world. Our overcrowded federal prisons consume one quarter of DOJ's discretionary budget. This undermines other important priorities, like preventing crime and treating drug addiction. The largest increase in the federal prison population is nonviolent drug offenders, and this is because of inflexible mandatory minimum sentences. These mandatory penalties don’t allow judges to distinguish between drug kingpins—who should be our focus—and lower-level offenders.

E-cigarette use among children and teenagers is an epidemic, just ask our federal health agencies or any school teacher in America. The FDA is finally moving in the right direction by cracking down on the sale of kid-friendly flavors in e-cigarettes and cigars.

https://twitter.com/axios/status/1063036390047268865

The bottom line is this: it’s ludicrous to think flavors like bubble gum, cotton candy, or tutti fruitti are meant for adults. E-cigarette companies want to hook another generation of Americans onto a deadly and addictive product so they have a customer for life.

One week ago, the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh revealed in heartbreaking detail the hate and latent violence that lives in the hearts of too many in this land. As I reached out to many of my Jewish friends I learned the stunning personal impact of this tragedy. Many characterize it as the worst incident of anti-Semitic violence in America they could ever recall.

The Rauner Administration’s delay on notifying residents in Lake County about cancer-emitting chemicals from two plants is simply outrageous. Day after day, the Rauner and Trump Admins continue to prioritize public relations over serious public health hazards.

https://twitter.com/chicagotribune/status/1058336048667942912

The U.S. EPA & Illinois EPA must immediately begin conducting ambient air monitoring and stack tests to identify all emissions from the Medline and Vantage facilities and determine whether these facilities are releasing harmful levels of ethylene oxide – cancer causing emissions

Today Senate Republicans are “plowing right through” with two controversial circuit court nominees who have worked to restrict voting rights and strip health coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. The White House announced it would nominate Chad Readler to the 6th Circuit on the same day Readler filed a brief arguing that the Affordable Care Act’s coverage of pre-existing conditions is unconstitutional.

I spoke to organizations tonight working to end violence against children. Together, we can break the cycle of violence and suffering, and I look forward to continuing to work towards making a difference for our children. The World Health Organization has estimated that globally, at least 1 billion children have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence or neglect in the past year.