Hillary Clinton's brother Tony Rodham dies

Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton's youngest brother Tony Rodham died Friday night, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate announced Saturday on Twitter.

"We lost my brother Tony last night. It's hard to find words, my mind is flooded with memories of him today," she tweeted. "When he walked into a room he'd light it up with laughter."

Clinton went on to describe her brother, who was born in 1954, as "kind" and "generous" in the tweet. "We'll miss him very much," she said.

The cause of death is not immediately known.

Rodham is survived by wife Megan Madden and his three children: Zachary, Simon and Fiona. He was previously married to former Sen. Barbara Boxer's daughter, Nicole Boxer.

Rodham did not appear to play a major public role in sister Hillary's 2016 run for the presidency but did campaign with her during some stops in Pennsylvania.



https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/08/politics/hillary-clinton-brother-tony-rodham-dies/index.html

2 former state senators found dead in Arkansas and Oklahoma within days

(CNN)Lawmakers in Arkansas and Oklahoma are mourning the loss of two former state senators who were found dead in their homes within a span of two days.

In Arkansas, this week's fatal shooting of former Republican state Sen. Linda Collins-Smith is being investigated as a homicide, authorities said.

In Oklahoma, former state Sen. Jonathan Nichols was found dead from a gunshot in his home in Norman, about 20 miles from Oklahoma City, according to police.

Authorities have not provided additional details on the apparently unrelated deaths. Investigations are under way in both states.


https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/08/us/senators-killed-oklahoma-arkansas/index.html

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Michigan secretary of state settles lawsuit and ends GOP's restrictions on college student voters

On Wednesday, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced that she had reached a settlement in a lawsuit over two Republican-backed laws that restrict how college students can vote. One law, passed in 1999, required voters to register at the address on their driver's license, even if that address doesn't match their residence at school. The other law, from 2004, required those who register by mail or through a third-party voter registration drive to cast their first ballot in person instead of by absentee mail ballot.

These measures effectively required students, including those from Michigan, to either go to the effort of making otherwise unnecessary updates on their licenses or travel home on Election Day to vote. Students are also disproportionately likely to register through the mail or via campus registration drives. Plaintiffs had contended that Republican legislators were well aware of the problems these provisions would cause for student voters when they passed them.

Last year, voters elected Benson as the first Democrat to be Michigan's chief election officer in 24 years, and they also passed a constitutional amendment with provisions that include same-day registration and excuse-free absentee voting. Benson had contended that this amendment invalidated the GOP's restriction that requires voters to cast an in-person ballot if they registered by mail or registration drive. She also says she'll initiate a voter outreach campaign to educate student voters by clarifying that registering to vote will automatically update their driver's license address.

This settlement will put an end to a restrictive system promoted by former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who passed the initial address-matching law in 1999 and then went on to win his 2000 congressional race by just 111 votes. Rogers' Lansing-based congressional district included Michigan State University, which at the time enrolled more than 43,000 students, 90 percent of whom were from Michigan, and his voter suppression law may have very well made the difference that year.



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/7/1863351/-Michigan-secretary-of-state-settles-lawsuit-and-ends-GOP-s-restrictions-on-college-student-voters

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Talks Census Case, Suggests 5-4 Supreme Court Rulings To Come

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested on Friday that the high court would soon be announcing several close rulings.

In prepared remarks delivered at the Second Circuit Judicial Conference, Ginsburg discussed several prominent cases argued this term in which decisions have yet to be released, including one on the hotly contested 2020 census.

The census case revolves around the Trump administration’s effort to add a question on the 2020 form asking every American household to identify the citizens and non-citizens among them. The administration has argued it needs to ask the question in order to compile better data to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act.



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ruth-bader-ginsburg-census-case_n_5cfabe57e4b04e90f1c9258d

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