NEWS WRAP

Biden announces Pacific Partnership strategy

• Biden announces Pacific Partnership strategy | Ramping up efforts with Pacific Islands' leaders amid concerns over China’s increased influence in the region, the White House unveiled its plan to assist Pacific Islands on matters like climate change, maritime security and preventing overfishing in its new Pacific Partnership Strategy. The administration pledged US$810 million in aid to the region over the next decade, including US$130 million for efforts to stymie the existential threat of climate change. READ MORE HERE
   

• Shangri-La cyber hack | A “sophisticated” cyberattack across eight Shangri-La Hotels from May to June this year may have compromised the data of several US and Australian defence officials who met at the Singapore Hotel for the Shangri-La Dialogue in June. This year’s annual dialogue hosted guests including Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. READ MORE HERE
   

• Clean-up after Hurricane Ian | Clean-up continues in Florida after Hurricane Ian battered the state last week, leaving thousands of residents stranded, homeless and without power. The death toll from the storm and subsequent flooding has risen to more than 100 casualties. With search and rescue operations expecting many more deaths, the rising numbers make Ian one of the deadliest Hurricanes in Florida’s history. READ MORE HERE
   

• Russia ramps up rhetoric | Amid several setbacks in his illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin increased threats of possible nuclear tactics. The US is due to send more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems in its latest US$625 million aid package to assist the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which this week has seen Russian troops concede significant territorial losses to Ukrainian forces. READ MORE HERE

PUBLIC FORUM

Blackness and China: Tensions and solidarity

During the Cold War, America’s ideological competition with authoritarian regimes compelled American leaders to address their country’s own longstanding racial inequities, a frequent source of criticism by communist nations. While the Chinese Communist Party expressed solidarity with ideas of equality for African Americans, tensions as well as tropes around African Americans persisted in China.

What do Sino-African American and Sino-Black relations look like today? What roles do ideas of race and ethnicity have in US-China relations? What does this mean for a multi-cultural Australia?

Please join us for an address on these issues by Dr Keisha Brown, an Associate Professor of History at Tennessee State University and expert on modern Chinese history and Sino-Black relations, and a conversation with USSC CEO Dr Michael Green.

WHEN
Wednesday, 12 October, 6-7.30pm

LOCATION
Lecture Theatre 1110, Abercrombie Building (H70), The University of Sydney Business School, Corner of Abercrombie and Codrington Streets

COST
Free, but registration is essential 

ANALYSIS

Who is Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson?

Victoria Cooper
Research Associate, United States Studies Centre

Of the 115 justices to serve on the US Supreme Court, all but seven have been white men. On 1 July 2022, when she was sworn in as retiring Justice Stephen Breyer's replacement, Ketanji Brown Jackson made history as the first black woman to serve on the US Supreme Court in the court's 232-year history.

Who is Ketanji Brown Jackson?

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has all the typical credentials of a Supreme Court justice, with elite postings in three highly sought-after federal clerkships, service as a federal judge, associateships at competitive private law firms and two stints at the US Sentencing Commission – a federal agency responsible for setting guidelines for criminal sentences. She even completed one of her federal clerkships under the retiring Justice Breyer between 1999 and 2000, where she oversaw contentious social issues cases from gay rights to public prayers at high school football events and even partial birth abortions.

In her eight years as a district judge in DC, Brown Jackson heard several high-profile cases including the 2019 case Committee on the Judiciary v. McGahn, which required the former White House counsel to Donald Trump, Don McGahn, to testify before the House Judiciary Committee as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In her ruling against the former president, Brown Jackson memorably handed down an unusually long 120-page opinion, which included a seething statement that “presidents are not kings. They do not have subjects, bound by loyalty or blood, whose destiny they are entitled to control.”

While these experiences are typical of a Supreme Court Justice, what sets Brown Jackson apart is her two years’ experience as a public defender and her experience at the Sentencing Commission. She is the only Judge on the current Supreme Court bench with experience in criminal defence, and the first since 1991.

The following is an excerpt from Finding the first Black woman for the US Supreme Court published 14 February, 2022.

BY THE NUMBERS

Should Japan join AUKUS?

Amid discussion of Japan joining the trilateral AUKUS partnership between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, exclusive USSC polling conducted in the United States, Australia and Japan found that a majority of Americans and Australians want Japan to join AUKUS. Japanese respondents themselves were less sure of the agreement, with 39 per cent in favour of it while the majority of the remaining expressed no opinion on it.

Want to find out what percentage of Americans, Australians and Japanese respondents are against Japan joining AUKUS? Or the surprising amount of Trump voters who want the United States to rejoin an agreement like the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Subscribe to USSC research alerts to be the first to receive our upcoming report on these issues.

VIDEO

Universal voting: Can Australia's experience work in Australia?

The simple act of voting – who can vote, how easy it is to vote, who counts the votes, who certifies the votes, and whether the people accept the legitimacy of the outcome of an election – is at the heart of the crisis of confidence in democracy in the United States. After studying voting practices in dozens of countries, E.J. Dionne Jr. and Miles Rapoport found Australia to be one of the most compelling and effective voting systems in the world. What will it take to begin to apply lessons from Australia of Universal Civic Duty Voting to the American experience? Are such fundamental reforms even remotely feasible?

To discuss these issues, the USSC hosted a webinar featuring co-authors of the new book, 100% Democracy: The case for universal voting, E.J. Dionne Jr., Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and syndicated columnist for The Washington Post and Miles Rapoport, Senior Practice Fellow at the Ash Centre at Harvard Kennedy School in conversation with USSC's Non-Resident Senior Fellow Bruce Wolpe and Research Associate Victoria Cooper.

Catch more podcast and video analysis on the United States here.

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

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