Tennessee Lookout reports that on Wed., Nov. 30, House Democrats named Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, as their leader when the 118th Session of Congress opens next year. Jeffries, 52, will make history as the first Black lawmaker to lead any party in Congress. Katherine Clark, 59, of Massachusetts, was elected as whip, and Pete Aguilar, 43, of California, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as caucus chair. The trio will take over in January when Congress convenes for the next session and Democrats move into the minority.

The U.S. Senate has passed legislation codifying federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, The Hill reports. The “Respect for Marriage Act” was approved 61-36, with 12 Republicans joining forces with all Democrats present to send the bill back to the House of Representatives. The House previously had passed similar legislation, but the Senate added language to protect nonprofit religious organizations from having to provide services in support of same-sex marriages. The new language also ensures the federal government does not recognize polygamous marriage. Both of Tennessee's senators voted against the bill, the Times Free Press reports.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today announced she will step down from her post, The Hill reports. Her announcement came after news that control of the U.S. House had officially flipped to Republicans. Though she will cede her leadership seat at the end of the term, Pelosi will remain in Congress. She has led House Democrats since 2003. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, is widely viewed as the favorite to replace Pelosi, but Katherine Clark, D-MA, and Pete Aguilar, D-CA, are also expected to launch bids for higher leadership positions.

A group of U.S. Republican lawmakers recently issued a warning to corporate law firms over their work advising clients on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, Reuters reports. The Republicans wrote to 51 large U.S. and global law firms to say they would use their congressional oversight powers "to scrutinize the institutionalized antitrust violations being committed in the name of ESG.”

President Joe Biden yesterday promised to send Congress a bill codifying abortion rights in January if Democrats control the legislature next year. He said it will be the first bill he sends to Capitol Hill and promised to sign it, the Associated Press reports. As he has done in the past, Biden emphasized that only Congress can fully restore abortion access to what it was before the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade. If however, the Congress is in Republican hands, he vowed to reject any abortion restrictions that may come to his desk.

In what could be its final public hearing, the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol unanimously voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump, The Hill reports. Trump is expected to challenge the subpoena in the court, a process that would likely outlast the life of the special committee which is set to end later this year. If Trump declined to comply with the compulsory order to testify, the committee and then the House could vote on whether to send a contempt of Congress referral to the Justice Department. It’s not clear when the subpoena will be formally served or what response date deadline would be given to Trump.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation last week to bring greater transparency to the federal Bureau of Prisons following reporting from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that exposed gaps in oversight of the federal prison system. The Federal Prison Oversight Act would require the Justice Department to create an ombudsman to field complaints about prison conditions and direct the DOJ inspector general to evaluate risks and abuses at all 122 federal prison facilities. The inspector general also would provide recommendations to address deficiencies and report findings to Congress and the public, the Associated Press reports.

The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations says it has uncovered “shocking long-term gaps in federal oversight, including hundreds of uncounted deaths in 2021 alone.” Committee Chair Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, expounded on the findings, saying the investigation uncovered nearly 1,000 deaths in custody in 2021 that went uncounted by the Department of Justice. The committee reports that the Justice Department has been inconsistent with the publishing of data, despite the Death in Custody Act, which requires a count to be made each year. In 2000 and 2014, Congress again passed legislation directing the department to comply with the law but the committee says the department shows no sign it is about to restart reporting the data. Read more of the committee’s findings in a piece by Poynter (scroll to the last article).

Democratic lawmakers want to add 51 judges to the country's federal appeals courts, a move they say is necessary to reduce case backlogs but that would also give President Joe Biden a chance to appoint more judges, Reuters reports,. U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia on Wednesday led a group of seven Democrats in introducing the Circuit Court Judgeships Act of 2022, which they said would address understaffed appellate courts nationally. Under the bill, eight circuits would gain judges including the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit, which would get 10 more, and the conservative-leaning New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with 13 new ones for 30 total. Despite growing caseloads, the appeals courts have not gained any new judges in over three decades.

The U.S. Senate will not vote on legislation to codify same sex marriage rights until after the midterm elections, bipartisan negotiators announced last week. The move follows weeks of behind-the-scenes discussions among five U.S. senators from both political parties who have been drafting an amendment to the House-passed legislation that they hoped would secure more Republican votes. The U.S. House passed the Respect for Marriage Act in July by a bipartisan vote that received the backing of 47 Republican lawmakers. The legislation would also protect interracial marriages, Tennessee Lookout reports.