Tuesday morning news - March 22, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Senators begin confirmation questioning of Supreme Court nominee » AUDIO: This hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee will come to order.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are grilling Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson this morning on day-two of her confirmation hearing.

On Monday, Judge Jackson pledged to decide cases “without fear or favor.”

JACKSON: I decided cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts, and I interpret and I apply the law to the facts of the case before me.

The 51-year-old Jackson currently serves on the Washington D.C. US Circuit Court of Appeals, widely considered the second highest court in the land.

Lawmakers consumed most of Monday’s proceedings with opening statements.

Republicans promised to ask tough questions this week, with a special focus on her record on criminal matters. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley questioned her handling of cases involving sex offenders in the past.

HAWLEY: In every case, in each of these seven, Judge Jackson handed down a lenient sentence that was below what federal guidelines recommended and below what prosecutors requested.

Democrats, meanwhile, were full of praise for President Biden's Supreme Court pick. Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal told Judge Jackson…

BLUMENTHAL: You will be the first public defender on the court. You understand our justice system uniquely, through the eyes of people who couldn’t afford a lawyer.

Jackson, if confirmed, would replace outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer. And she would be the first black woman to serve on the high court.

High court rejects case of Christian mission, bisexual lawyer » The Supreme Court says it won't review the case of a Seattle-based Christian group that was sued after declining to hire a bisexual lawyer who applied for a job. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown reports.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The case involves Seattle's Union Gospel Mission. The group provides aid to the homeless and addiction recovery services, among other things.

In 2016, attorney Matthew Woods applied for a job but was turned away because the organization's “code of conduct excludes homosexual activity.”

Woods sued, arguing the group violated state discrimination laws.

A state trial court judge ruled in the mission’s favor and dismissed Woods' lawsuit. But the state supreme court reversed the decision.

At the U.S. Supreme Court this week, two conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, agreed with the decision not to hear the case right now. But they said “the day may soon come” when the court needs to confront the issue this case presents.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Justice Thomas hospitalized with infection, symptoms abating » And speaking of Justice Clarence Thomas, he remained hospitalized on Monday with an infection.

Doctors said he tested negative for COVID-19. The 73-year-old entered the hospital on Friday with “flu-like symptoms.” He has received intravenous antibiotics, and the court said “his symptoms were abating.”

Ukraine rejects Russian demands of surrender in Mariupol » In Ukraine on Monday, defenders in the port city of Mariupol held out against Russian demands that they surrender.

Ukrainian lawmaker Kira Rudik said giving up isn’t an option.

RUDIK: The only way, the only chance we have in this war is to fight and to continue fighting.

Ukrainian officials say the invading forces continue to shell the city, killing many civilians, but the death toll right now is anybody’s guess. With communications crippled and much of the rubble unexplored, the full extent of the horror is not yet known.

Russian forces recently shelled a theater where well over a thousand people were sheltering and an art school where more than 400 were taking refuge.

Even as Moscow’s forces continue attacks throughout the country, Russian diplomats continue talks about a possible ceasefire. But leaders in Kyiv and in Washington have expressed doubts that the Kremlin is interested in peace that doesn’t involve surrender.

U.S. says Myanmar repression of Muslim Rohingya is genocide » The U.S. government has declared Myanmar’s military to be guilty of crimes against humanity. Secretary of State Tony Blinken, speaking from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, had this to say on Monday:

BLINKEN: Beyond the Holocaust, the United States has concluded that genocide was committed seven times. Today marks the eighth.

Blinken said the country’s ruling military has systematically engaged in violent repression of the largely Muslim Rohingya population.

He cited the accounts of soldiers who took part in military abuses and later defected.

BLINKEN: Such as one who said he was told by his commanding officer to—and I quote—‘shoot at every sight of a person’—end quote; burn villiages, rape and kill women; orders that he and his unit carried out.

Blinken said the genocide declaration was intended to both generate global pressure and lay the groundwork for potential legal action.

The United States has already hit the government of Myanmar with multiple layers of sanctions since a military coup last year.

The military junta has imprisoned or killed thousands of civilians since that coup.

Chinese jet crashes with 132 aboard » A commercial jetliner crashed in a remote area of southern China Monday. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The China Eastern Boeing 737-800 went down in a mountainous region, likely killing everyone aboard. The jet was carrying 123 passengers and nine crew members.

The flight was traveling from Kunming in southwestern China to Yunnan along the east coast.

According to the flight tracking website, FlightRadar24, the jet was traveling around 30,000 feet when it entered a steep dive around 2:00 p.m. local time.

The crash did not involve the troubled Boeing 737-MAX involved in multiple accidents in 2018 and 2019.

The downed plane was a Boeing 737-800, which has a strong safety record over 24 years.

Monday’s crash set off a forest fire visible from space and was the country’s worst air disaster in nearly a decade.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I'm Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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