WATCH: ‘Judges ought to be angry’ over Supreme Court ‘crisis of legitimacy,’ Blumenthal says

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said on Tuesday hearing that Americans increasingly see the Supreme Court justices as “politicians in robes,” and that it’s unfair that those justices may seem not to hold themselves to the same disclosure standards as other federal judges. During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing into Supreme Court ethics, the senator criticized Chief Justice John Roberts’ rejection of an invitation to testify as “judicial malpractice.” “It is a disservice to the courts, to his colleagues, who sit there every day – sometimes in danger, physically – and always under the microscope of public scrutiny,” Blumenthal said. He then asked retired Judge Jeremy Fogel if he agrees with Blumenthal’s assessment that other judges in lower courts should be “angry and fearful” about the ways that a “crisis of legitimacy” for the Supreme Court is affecting the judiciary overall. “I think that it would be… very good for public confidence – and for the confidence of the judicial rank and file that you were talking about – if the court were more assertive in standing for ethical compliance,” Fogel said. He added that he believes the court is capable of taking that task on, and that he thinks “some judges are frustrated that that hasn’t happened.” Blumenthal also called for the Department of Justice to conduct a “proper investigation” into whether Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas committed potential violations of disclosure laws. In the absence of that investigation, he said, Congress has a role to play.

RSN: FOCUS: Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski Propose Alternative Abortion Legislation After Leaked Roe Draft Opinion

 

08 May 22

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FOCUS: Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski Propose Alternative Abortion Legislation After Leaked Roe Draft Opinion
Eric Garcia, Independent
Garcia writes: "Republican US Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are proposing their own alternative legislation to codify abortion rights, in response to Democrats’ bill that comes in response to a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v Wade."

ALSO SEE: Top Democrat on Abortion Legislation
Blasts Collins-Murkowski Bill as Insufficient

Republican US Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are proposing their own alternative legislation to codify abortion rights, in response to Democrats’ bill that comes in response to a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v Wade.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats would stage another vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act as a means to get every senator on record about abortion rights. The Democrats’ legislation failed during a February vote, with Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia voting against it.

Ms Collins panned the new version of the legislation drafted by Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, saying he was superceding federal and state protections for decisions on whether to participate in an abortion.

“Which is very problematic,” she said. “And he has kept in language that supercedes laws that could impede the ability to get an abortion.”

Specifically, the Maine Republican said she worried that it could roll back the Hyde Amendment, which prevents the federal government from funding abortions.

“So, it seems to me that the better approach is the bill I approaced with Senator Murkowski,” she said.

A previous version of the Women’s Health Protection Act explicitly said that governments could not restrict an abortion provider’s ability to prescribe certain drugs, offer abortion services through telemedicine or immediately provide services when providers find think delays would harm the parent’s health.

Similarly, it would say governments could not force abortion providers from performing unnecessary medical procedures, provide medically inaccurate information, have credentials or regulations that do not apply to services that are similar to abortions, or carry out all services related to an abortion.

Conversely, Ms Collins and Ms Murkowski’s legislation, known as the Reproductive Choice Act, would essentially codify the language of Roe v Wade, which guaranteed the right to an abortion, and 1992’s Planned Parenthood v Casey, which upheld Roe’s“essential ruling” and prohibited “undue burden” on abortion access.

Ms Murkowski and Ms Collins’ legislation says a state cannot impose such an “undue burden” on a woman to terminate a pregnancy before fetal viability but that it could restrict a woman’s ability to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy post-viability unless the pregnancy would affect the mother’s health. The legislation would allow states to enact regulations to ensure a woman seeking an abortion’s health and safety.

The Independent asked Ms Murkowski, an Alaska Republican who voted for Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett but opposed Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, about whether she had spoken to Mr Manchin about her legislation.

“Not today,” she said. When asked about how optimistic she was that she could get Democrats on board, she jokingly brought pulled Senator Mark Warner of Virginia next to her and said “will you tell them how optimistic you are about” getting “a bipartisan plan,” he said.

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Senators call for investigation of Hertz after hundreds of rental car customers claim false arrest

KATIE WEDELL 

USA TODAY 

PUBLISHED March 31, 2022 

Two U.S. Senators are urging the federal government to investigate Hertz rental car company's business practices that have led customers to make hundreds of allegations of false arrest.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who chairs the Senate's Consumer Protection Subcommittee, wrote to the company this week about Hertz customers being arrested for driving rental vehicles the company incorrectly reported as stolen.

That currently is the focus of a lawsuit in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

Blumenthal requested information on the company's policies and practices and demanded that Hertz "swiftly correct course." 

Blumenthal cited USA TODAY's reporting on the false arrest claims in his letter calling Hertz practices "staggering in magnitude and devastating in impact."

"I write to express serious alarm over reports suggesting that Hertz has, for years, wrongly reported customers to law enforcement for vehicle theft," the letter addressed to Stephen Scherr, CEO of Hertz Global Holdings Inc. said.

"This is all the more concerning because arrests – even false ones – have life-changing and long-lasting consequences. To that end, I demand information about the policies and procedures Hertz has in place related to stolen vehicle reports and that Hertz take immediate steps to provide redress to customers who have suffered the profound and enduring harm of a false arrest."

► LAWSUIT:Hertz accused of falsely reporting that customers stole rental cars

► COULD RENTING A CAR LEAD TO JAIL?:If you’ve rented a car from Hertz, there could be a warrant out for your arrest

Hertz, in a response to the senator's comments, said in a statement: "Hertz cares deeply about our customers and successfully provides rental vehicles for tens of millions of travelers each year. As it relates to the claims made against the company, we are committed to doing what is right by our customers, while also continuing to protect and defend against activities intended to cause harm to Hertz."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to the White House Competition Council this week asking that it examine whether consolidation in the rental car industry has caused rising prices and diminished customer service. 

She cites the reports of Hertz customers being falsely arrested as one of the potentially fraudulent practices to be investigated. 

Warren called it a "disturbing pattern (that) has led to traumatic experiences, job losses and even jail time for customers."

In response to Warren’s letter, Hertz said: “We take these matters seriously and are reviewing the letters.” The company also has said the cases involve a small fraction of the number of vehicles it rents. 

Warren's letter said three companies claim to have over 90% of the rental car market share in the United States. Enterprise Holdings, composed of Enterprise, National, and Alamo, has a 33% market share; Hertz Global Holdings, made up of Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty, controls 36% of the market; and Avis Budget Group controls 26%, the letter said.

"Over the past year, these rental car companies have flourished," the letter said. "Avis reported new record net income and earnings in November 2021, and Hertz went from bankruptcy in May 2020 to a record-high profit margin in the third quarter of 2021. Enterprise Holdings is a private company that releases little information to the public, but it reportedly increased U.S. revenue by nearly $1.5 billion in 2021, up 10.5% from 2020."

More than 230 complainants have accused Hertz of falsely charging them with theft for cars they say they returned and paid for.

A Delaware bankruptcy judge has been deciding which claimants must be considered creditors under Hertz's reorganization plan. 

Hertz exited bankruptcy last June, but the false arrest claims are ongoing and demand approximately $530 million in damages from the company.

► Rental cars:Some Hertz customers face arrest. What are your rights?

Hertz has maintained that virtually all of the claims of false arrest are "meritless" and should not be allowed to proceed in bankruptcy court. 

"The vast majority of these cases involve renters who were many weeks or even months overdue returning vehicles and who stopped communicating with us well beyond the scheduled due date," Hertz said in a statement.

According to court documents, the current group of claimants has spent a total of 2,742 days in jail or prison because of false arrests. They’ve endured a collective 3,600 months of prosecution. Some took plea deals, admitting to stealing cars they didn’t steal, just to make the ordeal stop. 

Other cases are still pending in criminal court and at least one new potential claimant has come forward since USA TODAY reported on the cases in early March, according to an attorney on the case. 

In recently unsealed court documents, Hertz admitted it files an average of 3,365 police reports about stolen vehicles involving its customers each year.

Hertz argued against the unsealing of that information and said in a statement: "While we believe that the business numbers provided to the court under seal are commercially proprietary information, we will respect the ruling. We believe that a review of these business numbers reinforces what we have consistently stated that situations where vehicles are reported to the authorities are very rare and happen only after exhaustive attempts to reach the customer."

The company has repeatedly said that it handles more than 25 million rental transactions in the United States per year – and that .014% fall into the "rare situation where vehicles are reported to the authorities after exhaustive attempts to reach the customer." 

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When Does Summer Equal Safety?

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The summer heat in Washington, DC must be getting to us because we have some good news about Congress for once!

In the House of Representatives, the Motor Vehicle Safety Title we told you about last month was included in the infrastructure bill which passed! If these provisions pass the Senate and are signed into law, not only will every new vehicle include features like advanced driver assistance systems, these systems will have to meet stringent performance standards, ensuring that the technology will work as advertised. The Safety Title confronts the scourge of impaired driving by requiring advanced drunk driving prevention technology. It compels proven and affordable technology to help prevent children’s deaths in hot cars, recognizing that even the most conscientious, loving, parents and caregivers can get distracted or suffer from fatigue and unknowingly leave their child in a vehicle. Furthermore, it resolves the problems of carbon monoxide poisoning and roll-aways associated with keyless ignition systems, also known as push-button starts. In other words, this legislation could usher in changes capable of reducing crashes, injuries, and deaths. We are proud to have played a role in educating Members of Congress and their staffs about how important vehicle safety is for everyone on the road.

Read our op-ed with other auto safety advocates in The Hill.

In the Senate, Senators Edward Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced a package of four safety bills that taken all together would improve seatback safety, increase recall completion rates, help identify dangerous vehicles more quickly, and reduce the epidemic of distracted driving. To take but one example, the Modernizing Seatback Safety Act, could force automakers to finally address a preventable problem that maims and kills far too many each year.

Finally, over the half century since the performance standard for seatback design was written, thousands of consumers have been killed or catastrophically injured by a standard so weak it could be passed by a lawn chair. After decades of delay by the auto industry which resulted in far too many preventable tragedies, particularly to children, the time has finally come to end the nightmare of seatback failures. The Modernizing Seatback Safety Act does exactly that.” - Jason Levine, Executive Director, Center for Auto Safety

Watch the CBS News story.

Meanwhile, Tesla has been at it again. CEO Elon Musk says that Tesla is "close" to developing level 5 autonomous vehicles, and it's giving us déjà vu. He said the same thing back in 2019, but Tesla still hasn't managed to master level 2, as evidenced when a Model 3 with "Autopilot" engaged slammed into an overturned truck last month, and a Model S slammed into an Arizona state trooper and ambulance last week. Despite the lack of transparency from automakers, NHTSA still hasn't created a set of AV standards or mandated that automakers share test and crash data. 

"To avoid this charade, and consumer and investor deception, NHTSA could have written performance standards for features like automatic emergency braking or forward collision warning, or even could have required driver monitoring systems for vehicles with ADAS features to avoid automation complacency. But of course that hasn’t happened. Instead, expect NHTSA to respond by making a feckless statement about potential after-the-fact safety enforcement that is as separated from reality as Musk’s statement about Tesla’s fully driverless capability arriving next year.” - Jason Levine, Executive Director, Center for Auto Safety

This last month shows vehicle safety progress is possible when the Center for Auto Safety community pulls together. We are so grateful for your help fighting for every driver, passenger, and pedestrian. Please help us get these bills across the finish line by continuing your support.

Wishing you a safe Sunday!

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Jason Levine

Executive Director

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Absolute betrayal of our constitutional obligations

Today, I voted to impeach President Trump for his brazen abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

As I sat in the Senate chamber, I could not help but watch in dismay as colleagues voted to acquit the President – betraying their constitutional obligation to uphold our democracy and the rule of law. This was a moment that challenged us to put country above party. Yet, Senate Republicans chose instead to follow a cult of personality that will further fuel corrupt behavior. I have no doubt that history will haunt them for failing to meet this challenge.

Here’s the bottom line: This vote wasn’t just about whether Trump solicited a political bribe from a foreign leader in a corrupt abuse of power for his own personal gain (which he undeniably did). It was also about what kind of country we want America to be. My Republican colleagues just sent a message to the American people that their President answers to no one – even when he invites foreign interference in our elections. This exact situation was our Founding Fathers’s worst nightmare and why they established impeachment powers in the first place.

I still believe that this President should be – and will be – accountable to those he was elected to serve. The facts will come out. The truth will matter. And it will be because of the bravery of dedicated public servants who had everything to lose and nothing to gain by coming forward – and because of the free press doing the investigative work that Senate Republicans were too cowardly to face.

I promise that the outcome of this White House cover-up and sham trial doesn’t change the facts. I will keep fighting to hold Trump accountable, and I need you all in this fight with me. We have the chance to secure justice at the ballot box this November, so we can’t let up right now. This is not the time to get discouraged. It’s time to get to work.

Thank you,

Dick

The Senate impeachment trial may be over, but I’m still fighting tirelessly in the Senate to hold President Trump accountable for his illegal and rampant abuse of power. As we enter a new stage of this fight to secure justice, I need to know if you’re with me.

Paid for by Blumenthal for Connecticut

A bubble of denial

The White House lawyers are arguing their case within a bubble of denial: While the country is fixated on John Bolton’s revealing book draft memoir, President Trump’s attorneys have completely ignored him. Not a single shred of evidence was produced to address Bolton’s bombshell claims on the Senate floor. Nothing. After the lightning bolt of Bolton’s memoir, revelation that the President tied Ukraine aid to political investigations, Republicans’ silence was surreal.

We shouldn’t have to wait to read it in the book.

There can be no more stonewalling. Donald Trump’s impeachment team has obsessed about an alleged lack of firsthand accounts into his behavior. Now that such a key witness has emerged, will Republican Senators have the moral backbone to pursue a fair trial with the full facts?

Our duty in this trial, as a democratic republic, is a momentous one – to secure the facts for the American people now. Not after Bolton’s book is released in March. That’s why we cannot wait. Bolton has made perfectly clear that he is willing to testify, and he and his book manuscript and notes should be subpoenaed immediately.

My Republican colleagues already voted, last week, against the necessary witnesses and documents to make this impeachment trial fair and open. Now is an opportunity to right their wrongs, for the good of the country. The key to justice lies with them. We will wait – as the eyes of a nation rest on a handful of Senators – and we will see.

I remain, as ever, committed to my part in delivering justice and illuminating the facts. This is a turning point in a history-making impeachment trial – one that cannot be met with silence from anyone. I’ll be in touch soon with further updates.

Thank you,

Dick

I’m fighting tirelessly in the Senate to hold President Trump accountable for his illegal and rampant abuse of power.

Paid for by Blumenthal for Connecticut