The Federal Tap: October 16, 2021
Our weekly summary of federal news highlights the U.S. House’s approval of a short-term increase in the federal debt ceiling and House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth announcing his retirement. Read all about it in this week’s edition of the Federal Tap.
House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth (D) announces retirement
On Oct. 12, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth (D) announced he will not seek re-election in 2022. Yarmuth has represented Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District since assuming office in 2007 and is the only Democrat to represent the state in Congress.
Yarmuth has served as chairman of the House Budget Committee since 2019 and was involved in drafting the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. He is also a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
As of October 2021, 25 members of Congress—five members of the U.S. Senate and twenty members of the U.S. House—have announced they will not seek re-election. Fourteen members—five senators and nine representatives—have announced their retirement. All five retiring Senate members are Republicans, and of the retiring House members, six are Democrats and three are Republicans.
Eleven U.S. House members are running for other offices. Four Republicans and three Democrats are seeking seats in the U.S. Senate, one Republican and one Democrat are running for governor, one Republican is running for secretary of state, and one Democrat is running for mayor. No U.S. Senate members are running for other offices.
U.S. House approves short-term increase in federal debt ceiling
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a short-term increase in the federal debt ceiling by a party-line vote of 219-206 on Oct. 12. The measure raised the debt limit to $28.9 billion—an increase of $480 billion. The Senate had earlier passed the measure on Oct. 7 by a 50-48 vote. No Republican in either chamber supported the legislation.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the floor, “Let us remember: This should not be controversial. The debt limit has been a long-time bipartisan issue. Congress also has passed the debt limit 78 times since 1960 – 29 times with a Democratic president in the White House, and 49 times under a Republican president. Almost twice as many times under a Republican president. But it has always been bipartisan.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden (D), “I will not be a party to any future effort to mitigate the consequences of Democratic mismanagement. Your lieutenants on Capitol Hill now have the time they claimed they lacked to address the debt ceiling through standalone reconciliation, and all the tools to do it.”
Congress has until Dec. 3 to pass another bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown.
SCOTUS continues October sitting, hears four cases
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) concluded its first argument sitting of the 2021-2022 term this week. The court is hearing arguments in person for the first time since March 2020 and is providing a livestream of argument audio.
This week, the court heard arguments in four cases for a total of four hours and five minutes of oral argument. The case Thompson v. Clark was scheduled for 65 minutes of argument. Click the links below to learn more about these cases:
Oct. 12
- Cameron v. EMW Women’s Surgical Center, P.S.C. concerns whether a state official may intervene in a case to defend an invalidated state law. The Kentucky law generally banned the dilation and evacuation abortion method used in the second trimester of pregnancy. The law was struck down in U.S. district court.
- Thompson v. Clark concerns SCOTUS’ favorable termination rule established in Heck v. Humphrey (1994). The favorable termination rule established that before a plaintiff can sue alleging an unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the earlier criminal or appellate proceedings ultimately ended favorably for the plaintiff, indicating their innocence.
Oct. 13
- United States v. Tsarnaev concerns the death penalty convictions of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for 30 criminal offenses related to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.
- Babcock v. Kijakazi concerns the requirements and interpretation of uniformed service for civil service pension payment plans under the Social Security Act.
The court’s November argument sitting is scheduled to begin on Nov. 1 and conclude on Nov. 10. The court will hear five hours of oral argument during the first week and four during the second week.
To date, the court has agreed to hear 39 cases this term. Three cases were dismissed after they were granted. Eight cases have not yet been scheduled for argument.
Arkansas governor announces he won’t sign or veto congressional map
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said on Oct. 13 that he would neither sign nor veto the two identical congressional redistricting plans that the Arkansas General Assembly approved on Oct. 7. Hutchinson added that he was not vetoing the bills, but rather letting them go into effect in 90 days without his signature in order to "enable those who wish to challenge the redistricting plan in court to do so."
Under the proposed map, two of the state’s counties would be split between multiple congressional districts: Sebastian County, which is split into two districts, and Pulaski County—the state’s most populous county—which is split between three districts.
Opponents of the proposal said the division of Pulaski County, where less than 50% of the population identifies as white alone, was conducted along partisan and racial lines. Supporters of the proposal said the location in the center of the state necessitates its split so as to lower the total number of counties being split elsewhere.
On Oct. 9, Arkansans for a Unified Natural State announced they would attempt to place the proposed congressional district maps on the November 2022 general election ballot as a veto referendum. Veto referendums are a type of citizen-initiated ballot measure that ask voters whether to uphold or repeal a law passed by the state legislature. In order to qualify for the ballot, supporters of the veto referendums would need to gather 53,491 signatures from registered voters across at least 15 of the state's counties within 90 days after the end of the special legislative session during which the bills were passed.
Former Republican elected officials file lawsuit challenging Oregon’s congressional map
On Oct. 11, four former Oregon elected officials—former Oregon Secretary of State Bev Clarno (R), former Oregon House Republican leader Gary Wilhelms (R), former Mayor of The Dalles James Wilcox, and former Oregon House Speaker Larry Campbell (R)— filed a lawsuit with the Oregon Supreme Court challenging the validity of the state's enacted congressional map. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs said the map was "an unconstitutional partisan gerrymandered redistricting map, as the Democrats drew the map with impermissible partisan intent to favor the Democratic Party, and [the map] will have impermissible partisan effects" and requested the court declare the congressional map invalid and draw a different congressional map.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed the new congressional map into law on Sept. 27. It was approved by the Oregon House of Representatives 33-16, and approved in the Oregon State Senate 18-6.
U.S. announces plan to end restrictions on nonessential travel for vaccinated people at Mexican, Canadian borders
On Oct. 12, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced he would lift restrictions on nonessential travel at the Canadian and Mexican borders for fully vaccinated individuals in early November.
Mayorkas said travelers entering the United States would be required to show proof of vaccination. He did not specify a start date for the policy. Under the revised policy, the prohibition on nonessential travel remains in effect for unvaccinated people.
Mayorkas also announced that, beginning January 2022, all travelers entering the United States, including those doing so for essential purposes, would be required to show proof of vaccination.
The U.S., Canada, and Mexico agreed to close their borders to nonessential travel in March 2020. The Department of Homeland Security has extended the closures every 30 days since then.
Upcoming Article III Judicial Vacancies
According to the latest vacancy data from the U.S. Courts, there are 30 total announced upcoming vacancies for Article III judgeships. No new Article III judges have announced upcoming vacancies since our last report on Oct. 9. The earliest vacancy announcement was on Dec. 1, 2020, when U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas Judge Paul K. Holmes announced that he would assume senior status on Nov. 10, 2021. The most recent was on September 30, 2021, when U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Judge Henry Floyd announced that he would assume senior status on December 31, 2021. Thirteen vacancy effective dates have not been determined because the judges have not announced the dates on which they will leave the bench. The next upcoming vacancy will occur on Nov. 1 when U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. assumes senior status. As of Oct. 14, there were 31 total upcoming vacancies announced for the federal judiciary overall.
For historical comparison, the week of Oct. 12-Oct. 17, 2020, there were 64 federal judicial vacancies and four upcoming vacancies in the federal judiciary reported by the U.S. Courts.
Congress is in session
Both the House and Senate are in session next week. Click here to see the full calendar for the first session of the 117th Congress.
SCOTUS is out of session
The Supreme Court will not hear oral arguments next week. To learn about the 2021-2022 term, click here.
Where was the president last week?
On Monday, Biden returned to Washington, D.C., from Wilmington, Delaware.
On Tuesday through Thursday, Biden remained in Washington, D.C.
On Friday, Biden delivered remarks at the dedication of the Dodd Center for Human Rights at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut.
Federal Judiciary
- 85 federal judicial vacancies
- 32 pending nominations
- 31 future federal judicial vacancies
