Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Why was the United States last to make the call? “President Donald Trump announced an emergency order from the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday grounding Boeing 737 Max jets in the wake of an Ethiopian Airlines crash Sunday and a Lion Air accident in October that together killed 346 people.”
* Brexit: “British lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected leaving the European Union without a deal, paving the way for a vote to delay Brexit to seek a way out of Britain’s worst political crisis in generations.”
* The federal judiciary: “The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Brett Kavanaugh on a high-profile appeals court. Senators voted 53-46 on Wednesday to confirm White House official Neomi Rao for a seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.”
* On a related note, thanks to the ferocity of Senate Republicans’ efforts, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has flipped from having a majority of judges appointed by Democratic presidents to a majority of judges appointed by Republican presidents. As Lawrence Hurley noted, “This is the first of the circuits to flip since Trump took office.”
* Something to look out for: “The Trump administration is preparing to shutter all international offices of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a move that could slow the processing of family visa applications, foreign adoptions and citizenship petitions from members of the military stationed abroad.” * Remember the Hatch Act? “Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta’s tweets praising President Donald Trump have raised concerns inside the department about whether Acosta is violating a federal law that limits federal employees’ political activities, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg Law.” * This is a nice catch from TPM: “In letters sent to around 30 constituents on Monday, Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) incorrectly claimed he voted last month to block President Donald Trump’s declaration of emergency.” Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
