Top of the Fold

• Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court: She may not know what a woman is, but Ketanji Brown Jackson knows that she is now a Supreme Court justice, precisely because she’s a woman of a certain color. On Thursday, the Senate voted to confirm Jackson as the first black woman to sit on the nation’s highest court. The 53-47 vote was bipartisan thanks to three Republican senators — Susan Collins (ME), Mitt Romney (UT), and Lisa Murkowski (AK) — joining all 50 Democrats in giving the controversial nominee a thumbs up. While Republican leadership publicly rejected Jackson over her extremist views and questionable sentencing record of pedophiles, the fear of being labeled racist likely motived Collins, Romney, and Murkowski to break with their party. Jackson will take over the seat of Justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring following the end of the Court’s current session at the end of June. Meanwhile, even as leftists celebrate the confirmation of the first black woman Supreme Court justice, they still refuse to define what a woman is.

• UN suspends Russia from Human Rights Council: The shocking footage of the Russian military’s war crimes against Ukrainian civilians has ignited a fresh round of sanctions against Vladimir Putin and members of his regime, as well as widespread condemnation from world leaders. The war atrocities have been so appalling that the United Nations General Assembly voted on Thursday to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council. Two-thirds of the member states had to approve, a threshold that was met — 93 members voted in favor, with 24 voting against and 58 abstaining. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield argued, “Russia’s participation on the Human Rights Council is a farce.” Since the HRC was created in 2006, Russia is just the second nation-state to be expelled, with Libya being the other. The vote is more of a virtue signal or a public rebuke, as it holds no real teeth.

• Judge acquits J6 protester, dealing blow to Justice Department’s additional cases: On Thursday, DC District Court Judge Trevor McFadden found Matthew Martin not guilty on all four counts the Justice Department had raised against him for his involvement in the Capitol riot last January 6. The charges included entering a restricted building, violent entry, and disorderly conduct. Martin refused to enter a guilty plea and instead chose a bench trial where he represented himself. During the trial, Martin claimed that he had been waved into the Capitol by police who simply stood by as people entered. The prosecution admitted Martin was in the Capitol for approximately 10 minutes. Furthermore, the trial resulted in government witnesses under oath stating that police did indeed stand by allowing people to freely enter the Capitol. That testimony will likely have immense impact for the 800 other J6 protesters awaiting trial, as will the impact of Martin’s acquittal.

• Two men arrested for impersonating federal agents got close to Secret Service: Two men were recently arrested by the FBI in Washington, DC, and charged with impersonating federal agents. For approximately two years, Arian Taherzadeh and Haider Ali impersonated Department of Homeland Security agents and were able to successfully get close to several Secret Service agents who were assigned to the White House and on protection detail for the first lady. The two in question plied several agents with gifts such as a rent-free apartment, an iPhone, a flat screen TV, and money. Four Secret Service agents have been put on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Headlines

• Congress votes to strip Russia and Belarus of “most favored nation” trade status (NY Post)

• GOP demands “experts” who dismissed Hunter Biden laptop fess up — or face subpoenas (NY Post)

• Here’s a dozen times Joe Biden played a role in son Hunter’s business dealings (NY Post)

• Biden administration giving cell phones to illegal immigrants (Fox News)

• Biden voted for actual “Don’t Say Gay” amendment in 1994 (Townhall)

• Speaker Pelosi and Senator Collins test positive for COVID as outbreak spreads among officials in DC (USA Today)

• Vaccine effectiveness is fading (Power Line)

• Jen Psaki insists “gender-affirming healthcare” for kids is a “best practice” (Daily Wire)

• Disney networks will air PSA featuring “transgender” child (Townhall)

• “Shooting themselves in the foot”: LA County Board of Supervisors bans official travel to Florida and Texas (Daily Wire)

• Policy: A new study looks at ways to boost police presence in high-crime areas without stoking community backlash (City Journal)

• Humor: In historic moment, Senate confirms first-ever non-biologist to Supreme Court (Babylon Bee)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.

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