Author: chicagoinquirer

by Mark Sherman WASHINGTON  — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomasacknowledged Thursday that he took three trips last year aboard a private plane owned by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow even as he rejected criticism over his failure to report trips in previous years. It’s the first time in years that Thomas has reported receiving hospitality from Crow. In a filing posted on the federal judiciary’s website, the 75-year-old justice said he was complying with new guidelines from the federal judiciary for reporting travel, but did not include any earlier travel at Crow’s expense, including a 2019 trip in Indonesia aboard the…

by Nicholas Riccardi As former President Donald Trump dominates the Republican presidential primary, some liberal groups and legal experts contend that a rarely used clause of the Constitution prevents him from being president after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The 14th Amendment bars from office anyone who once took an oath to uphold the Constitution but then “engaged” in “insurrection or rebellion” against it. A growing number of legal scholars say the post-Civil War clause applies to Trump after his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and encouraging his backers to storm the…

by Sam Mednick DAKAR, Senegal  — The ouster of Gabon’s president by mutinous soldiers appears to have been well organized and capitalized on the population’s grievances against the government as an excuse to seize power, analysts said. Soldiers on Wednesday ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled the oil-rich country in Central Africa for more than five decades. The coup leaders accused Bongo of irresponsible governance that risked leading the country into chaos and said they put him under house arrest and detained several Cabinet members. The head of Gabon’s elite republican guard, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema,…

by Yves Laurent Coma and Sam Mednick LIBREVILLE, Gabon  — Mutinous soldiers in Gabon proclaimed their republican guard chief as the country’s leader Wednesday after placing the just-reelected President Ali Bongo Ondimba under house arrest, alleging betrayal and massive embezzlement during his long-time rule over the oil-rich Central African nation. The coup leaders said in an announcement on Gabon’s state TV that Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema had been “unanimously” designated president of a transitional committee to lead the country. Oligui is a cousin of Bongo, who earlier Wednesday had been declared the winner of the country’s latest presidential election…

by Eric Tucker WASHINGTON  — A federal judge on Wednesday held Rudy Giuliani liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers who say they were falsely accused of fraud, ruling that the former New York city mayor gave “only lip service” to complying with his legal obligations while trying to portray himself as the victim in the case. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said the punishment was necessary because Giuliani had ignored his duty as a defendant to turn over information requested by election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea’ ArShaye Moss, as part of their lawsuit. The decision moves the case…

by Gene Chamberlain LAKE FOREST, Ill.  — The Chicago Bears have revamped their defense after finishing near the bottom of the league on that side of the ball last season. Coach Matt Eberflus believes those efforts were successful, but he needs to see his defensive starters playing together — or even practicing together — first. Injuries have prevented Chicago’s full first-team defense from taking the field since training camp began. “Every year is different,” Eberflus said. “Sometimes you get certain types of injuries one year and sometimes you don’t. But you’re still dealt with the job to get guys ready…

by Darlene Superville WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will observe next month’s 22nd anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil at an Alaska military base with service members and their families, the White House announced. Biden will not participate in any of the observances at 9/11 memorial sites in New York City, Virginia or Pennsylvania. Instead, the president will stop in Alaska for a Sept. 11 observance at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage on his way back to Washington after a trip to Asia. Biden is scheduled to travel to India from Sept. 7-10 to attend a…

by John Seewer TOLEDO, Ohio  — Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher, who was thrust into the political spotlight as “Joe the Plumber” after questioning Barack Obama about his economic proposals during the 2008 presidential campaign, and who later forayed into politics himself, has died, his son said Monday. He was 49. His oldest son, Joey Wurzelbacher, said his father died Sunday in Wisconsin after a long illness. His family announced this year on an online fundraising site that he had pancreatic cancer. “The only thing I have to say is that he was a true patriot,” Joey Wurzelbacher — whose father had…

by Steve Peoples and Brendan Farrington TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  — Ron DeSantis scoffed when the NAACP issued a travel advisory this spring warning Black people to use “extreme care” if traveling to Florida. The leading civil rights group argued that the state’s loose gun laws and the Republican governor’s “anti-woke” campaign to deny the existence of systemic racism created a culture of “open hostility towards African Americans and people of color.” Just three months later, DeSantis is leading his state through the aftermath of a racist attack that left three African Americans dead. Black leaders in Florida — and across the…

Kimberlee Kruesi and Jonathan Mattise NASHVILLE, Tenn.  — Republican lawmakers voted Monday to temporarily silence a Democratic member of the so-called Tennessee Three during an already tense House floor session after determining the young Black member violated newly enacted rules designed to punish disruptive members. The move directed at Rep. Justin Jones prohibited him from speaking on and debating bills for the remainder of the day, which came a week into a special session that Republican Gov. Bill Lee called in reaction to a deadly shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville in March. The House and Senate are…