Attorney General’s Veiled Comments Suggest Communities Criticizing Police Brutality Could End Up Losing Protection
“The idea that the attorney general of the United States, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, is recommending abandoning communities as retribution for pushing for police reform or criticizing policing practices, is profoundly dangerous and irresponsible,” said Vanita Gupta, the president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Meanwhile, a new study found that police shootings of unarmed black Americans led to more infants who were born prematurely.
The New York Times:
Barr Says Communities That Protest The Police Risk Losing Protection
Attorney General William P. Barr warned that communities and critics of policing must display more deference or risk losing protection, a stark admonition that underscored the Trump administration’s support for law enforcement amid an ongoing national conversation about police brutality against minorities. “They have to start showing, more than they do, the respect and support that law enforcement deserves,” Mr. Barr said on Tuesday afternoon in comments at an awards ceremony for policing. “And if communities don’t give that support and respect, they may find themselves without the police protection they need.” (Benner, 12/4)
Stat:
How Police Shootings Of Unarmed Black Americans Could Harm Infant Health
Research published Wednesday in Science Advances finds that black mothers who were exposed to police shootings of unarmed black Americans during pregnancy were more likely to give birth to infants who were born prematurely or with low birth weight. Living within 1 kilometer of such incidents tended to have a greater effect on these indicators of infant health. The effect was also more pronounced among infants born to mothers who had previously had children without exposure to such events. (Chakradhar, 12/4)
In other news out of the administration —
Los Angeles Times:
He Wanted To Ban Feeding Homeless People. Now He’s About To Lead A Federal Homeless Agency
A consultant known for urging cities to stop “enabling” homeless people, in part by blocking charities from handing out food, has been tapped to lead the agency that coordinates the federal government’s response to homelessness. Robert Marbut, who has worked with several cities, including Fresno and several other California cities and counties, would succeed Matthew Doherty as executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. (Oreskes, 12/4)
The Washington Post:
Trump Nominee Who Is Anti-IVF And Surrogacy Was Deemed Unqualified. She Was Just Confirmed.
The latest of President Trump’s confirmed federal judges has been assailed by fellow lawyers for her lack of trial experience and has been lambasted by reproductive rights advocates for her vigorous opposition to abortion, surrogacy and in vitro fertilization. And in a near-party-line vote Tuesday, the Senate approved the nomination of Sarah Pitlyk, making the conservative lawyer the newest federal judge for the U.S. District Court in St. Louis. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined the Democrats to oppose Pitlyk. Every other Republican present voted for her. (Thebault, 12/4)
