Welcome to the Thursday, Sept. 10, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Explore your ballot with the My Vote Ballotpedia app
2. President Trump announces eighth nominee to Court of Federal Claims
3. Comparing stances: Noteworthy presidential candidates on policing

Explore your ballot with the My Vote Ballotpedia app

We're less than two weeks from the start of early voting in Minnesota and South Dakota. With Election Day rapidly approaching (54 days, but who’s counting?), voters are already researching their ballots. Earlier this week, we shared our newest resource for voters with questions about voting processes. But what about questions about who or what will be on the ballot? 

Our app, My Vote Ballotpedia, is a simple but powerful tool that gives you a preview of your ballot and allows you to save your favorite candidates and ballot measures. You can also read candidates’ responses to questions designed to help you get to know them.

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President Trump announces eighth nominee to Court of Federal Claims

On Sept. 2, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Stephen A. Kubiatowski to a seat on the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Congress originally established the Court of Federal Claims in 1855 as the Court of Claims to hear cases involving a contract with the United States. Before that, Congress was responsible for resolving petitions challenging contractual disputes involving the federal government. In 1982, the court was reorganized as the United States Court of Federal Claims. Judgments of the court may be appealed to the Federal Circuit. There are 16 total positions on the court.

To date, there are eight pending nominees to the court for six current vacancies and two future ones. All eight were nominated between Oct. 2, 2019, and Sept. 2, 2020.

Following nomination by the president and after a review process, a Senate Judiciary Committee votes to approve or return the nominee. If approved, the nominee is reported to the full Senate for a vote. If returned, the president may renominate the person. If the Senate confirms the nomination, the individual receives commission to serve as a federal judge for a life term. 

If the current pending nominations are not approved by the end of the 116th Congress, they will be returned to the president.

Comparing stances: Noteworthy presidential candidates on policing

This year, nationwide demonstrations and protests have been held calling for changes to policing following the killing of George Floyd. In this week’s feature comparing the four noteworthy presidential candidates’ stances on key issues, we’re looking at policing.

Joe Biden (D)

Biden wrote in a June 10 op-ed, "While I do not believe federal dollars should go to police departments violating people’s rights or turning to violence as the first resort, I do not support defunding police. The better answer is to give police departments the resources they need to implement meaningful reforms, and to condition other federal dollars on completing those reforms."

Biden continued, "I’ve long been a firm believer in the power of community policing — getting cops out of their cruisers and building relationships with the people and the communities they are there to serve and protect. That’s why I’m proposing an additional $300 million to reinvigorate community policing in our country. Every single police department should have the money it needs to institute real reforms like adopting a national use of force standard, buying body cameras and recruiting more diverse police officers."

Howie Hawkins (G)

Hawkins' campaign website states, "People can now see that the policing system we have now undermines public safety, particularly for Black people. We must fundamentally rethink how we make communities safe. In order to stop the long-recurring cycle of police brutality toward Black people instigating community uprisings, we must create alternatives to policing for many problems. We must restructure the power relationship between communities and their police. We must examine questions like whether a trained counselor or a conflict resolution specialist would be more effective than a police officer in many situations, whether a mental health worker would be more effective at handling a mental health crisis. And, we must ask if our economy provided for the material needs of people for employment, income, food, housing, healthcare, and education, could we radically reduce the scope and scale of problems police need to respond to."

Jo Jorgensen (L)

Jorgensen's campaign website states, "In today’s America, nothing has done more to shine a light on inappropriate police behavior than smartphones.” Jorgensen says it should be up to people in affected communities to decide if police officers wear body cameras.

Donald Trump (R)

 Donald Trump said at a June 16 press conference, "I strongly oppose the radical and dangerous efforts to defund, dismantle, and dissolve our police departments, especially now when we’ve achieved the lowest recorded crime rates in recent history." His campaign website says that he signed an executive that "bans chokeholds except in situations where the use of deadly force is allowed by law, creates a national database of police misconduct, and provides supplemental funding for police departments which meet prescribed criteria."

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