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He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;

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and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint...Judges of the supreme Court...

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Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated...

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He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors

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Thursday we read through the 1st paragraph of Article 2 Section 1 of the Constitution identifying the expressed powers and expanding on understanding them and the powers inherent with the role of President based on those powers. Today you will review those powers and then finish looking at and understanding the President's expressed powers.

You will first need to make a copy of this padlet to begin. For each column you will read the Constitution clause and then research online to find either a tweet or news article to provide as an example of that power. You will link to the tweet or article and write a brief explanation of the power and how the President is exercising it.

Commander-in-Chief is done for you as an example. Once you are done you will click on the share button and copy the url to post into the Canvas assignment. This assignment is to be completed individually.

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and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

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...he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices

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The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;

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The President as Commander, has the inherent power to order the military to carry out operations such as shooting down balloons or moving troops around the world.

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SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C., Feb 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it first entered U.S. airspace and triggered a dramatic -- and public -- spying saga that worsened Sino-U.S. relations.

President Joe Biden said he had issued an order on Wednesday to take down the balloon, but the Pentagon had recommended waiting until it could be done over open water to safeguard civilians from debris crashing to Earth from thousands of feet (meters) above commercial air traffic.

"They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it," Biden said.

Multiple fighter and refueling aircraft were involved in the mission, but only one -- an F-22 fighter jet from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia -- took the shot at 2:39 p.m. (1939 GMT), using a single AIM-9X supersonic, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile, a senior U.S. military official said.

China strongly condemned the military strike on an airship that it says was used for meteorological and other scientific purposes, and which it said had strayed into U.S. airspace "completely accidentally" -- claims flatly dismissed by U.S. officials.

"China had clearly asked the U.S. to handle this properly in a calm, professional and restrained manner," China's foreign ministry said in a statement. "The U.S. had insisted on using force, obviously overreacting."

The balloon was shot down about six nautical miles off the U.S. coast of the Atlantic Ocean, over relatively shallow water, potentially aiding efforts to recover elements of the Chinese surveillance equipment over the coming days, U.S. officials said.

One U.S. military official said the debris field was spread out over seven miles (11 km) of ocean, and multiple U.S. military vessels were on site.

The downing of the balloon came shortly after the U.S. government ordered a halt to flights in and out of three airports in South Carolina -- Wilmington, Myrtle Beach and Charleston -- due to what it said at the time was an undisclosed "national security effort." Flights resumed on Saturday afternoon.

While Saturday's shootdown concludes the military dimension to the spying saga, Biden is likely to continue to face intense political scrutiny from Republican opponents in Congress who argue he failed to act quickly enough.

A senior administration official said after shooting down the balloon, the U.S. government spoke directly with China about the action. The State Department also briefed allies and partners around the world, the official said.

Questions remain about how much information China may have gathered during the balloon's trek across the United States.

The balloon entered U.S. airspace in Alaska on Jan. 28 before moving into Canadian airspace on Jan 30. It then re-entered U.S. airspace over northern Idaho on Jan. 31, a U.S. defense official said. Once it crossed over U.S. land, it did not return to open waters, making a shootdown difficult.

U.S. officials did not publicly disclose the balloon's presence over the United States until Thursday.

"It's clear the Biden administration had hoped to hide this national security failure from Congress and the American people," said U.S. Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican who leads the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

Biden's emphasis on Saturday that -- days ago -- he ordered the balloon shot down as soon as possible could be an effort to respond to such critics.

Former President Donald Trump, Biden's potential rival in the 2024 election, called earlier this week for the balloon to be shot down, and has sought to portray himself as stronger than Biden on China. The U.S. relationship with China is likely to be a major theme of the 2024 presidential race.

Washington had called the balloon's appearance a "clear violation" of U.S. sovereignty and notified Beijing about the shootdown on Saturday, a U.S. official said.

Still, officials on Saturday appeared to play down the balloon's impact on U.S. national security.

"Our assessment -- and we're going to learn more as we pick up the debris -- was that it was not likely to provide significant additive value over and above other (Chinese) intel capability, such as satellites in low-Earth orbit," the senior U.S. defense official said.

A Reuters photographer who witnessed the shootdown said a stream came from a jet and hit the balloon, but there was no explosion. It then began to fall.

The Pentagon assesses that the balloon was part of a fleet of Chinese spy balloons. On Friday, it said another Chinese balloon was flying over Latin America.

"Over the past several years, Chinese balloons have previously been spotted over countries across five continents, including in East Asia, South Asia and Europe," the U.S. official said.

The suspected spy balloon prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a visit to China this week that had been expected to start on Friday.

The postponement of Blinken's trip, which had been agreed to in November by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, was a blow to those who saw it as an overdue opportunity to stabilize an increasingly fractious relationship between the two countries.

China is keen for a stable U.S. relationship so it can focus on its economy, battered by the now-abandoned zero-COVID policy and neglected by foreign investors alarmed by what they see as a return of state intervention in the market.

Reporting by Randall Hill in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, and Phil Stewart, Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Ryan Woo in Beijing; Writing by Phil Stewart and Diane Bartz; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Marguerita Choy, Leslie Adler, Sandra Maler and William Mallard

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Phil Stewart

Thomson Reuters

Phil Stewart has reported from more than 60 countries, including Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China and South Sudan. An award-winning Washington-based national security reporter, Phil has appeared on NPR, PBS NewsHour, Fox News and other programs and moderated national security events, including at the Reagan National Defense Forum and the German Marshall Fund. He is a recipient of the Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence and the Joe Galloway Award.

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U.S. fighter jet shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon

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SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C., Feb 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it first entered U.S. airspace and triggered a dramatic -- and public -- spying saga that worsened Sino-U.S. relations.

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the president welcomes President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland for a joint meeting at the white house to discuss. their unwavering support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s brutal war of conquest.

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Remarks by President Biden at Roundtable Meeting with CEOs | The White House

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Office of the GovernmentHanoi, Vietnam 12:29 P.M. ICT THE PRESIDENT: I apologize to my friends, I’m going to repeat a little bit of what I said a moment ago in our private meeting. And, by the way, it’s worth the trip watching the press assemble, carrying those cameras. (Laughter.) I think we should have a…

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in the article the president uses his judicial power to make sure that women, and the same share are members of racial or ethnic minority groups, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of statistics from the Federal Judicial Center.

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Nearly two-thirds of the federal judges President Joe Biden has appointed so far are women, and the same share are members of racial or ethnic minority groups, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of statistics from the Federal Judicial Center.

This Pew Research Center analysis examines how U.S. President Joe Biden compares with other recent presidents in the number and characteristics of the federal judges he has appointed to date. It is based on data published by the Federal Judicial Center, the research and education arm of the federal judicial branch.

The analysis focuses on judges appointed to the 91 district courts and 13 appeals courts that are governed by Article III of the U.S. Constitution, as well as those appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. It excludes judges appointed to certain specialized courts, such as the U.S. Court of International Trade, as well as appointees to non-Article III territorial courts in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands.

To allow for an apples-to-apples comparison, the analysis looks at all judges confirmed by the U.S. Senate through the first 1,019 days of each president's administration. For most presidents in this analysis, that translates to Nov. 5 of their third year in office. The exceptions are former Presidents Gerald Ford and Lyndon B. Johnson, both of whom were inaugurated for the first time on a date other than Jan. 20 and therefore reached the 1,019-day mark on a date other than Nov. 5 of their third year. This analysis begins with Dwight D. Eisenhower because he was the first president to be sworn in to a first term on the modern inauguration date of Jan. 20.

White judges in this analysis include only those who identify as single-race non-Hispanic, as reported by the Federal Judicial Center. Non-White judges include those who identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Chaldean, Pakistani or Portuguese, as well as those who identify as multiracial or multiethnic.

Biden still has more than a year left in his term, so these patterns could change. But no president has ever appointed a slate of judges consisting mostly of women or racial and ethnic minorities.

To put Biden's judicial appointments into historical context, we examined how his appointed judges to date compare with those of other presidents at the same point in their tenures, going back to Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s. This analysis begins with Eisenhower because he was the first president to be sworn in to a first term on the modern inauguration date of Jan. 20.

As of Nov. 5 - exactly a year before the 2024 presidential election - Biden had appointed 145 judges to the three main tiers of the federal judicial system: the district courts, the appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Women accounted for just over 66% of those judges (95 of 145).

The 95 women judges Biden had appointed as of Nov. 5 far exceed both the number and share any other president had appointed at the same point in their term. For example, then-President Donald Trump had appointed 36 women judges by the same point four years ago (24% of his total at the time), while then-President Barack Obama had appointed 54 women judges (47% of his total at the time).

The pattern is similar when it comes to judges who are racial or ethnic minorities. Nearly two-thirds of the judges Biden had appointed as of Nov. 5 (96 of 145, or just over 66%) are Black, Hispanic, Asian American or members of another racial or ethnic minority group. That is far more than any other president had appointed at the same point in their tenure. Trump, for instance, had appointed 22 minority judges by the same stage (14% of his total at the time), while Obama had appointed 42 (37% of his total at the time).

Combining gender with race and ethnicity, women who are Black, Hispanic, Asian or part of another racial or ethnic minority group account for 42% of the judges Biden had appointed as of Nov. 5 (61 of 145). They include Biden's sole appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the nation's highest court.

How does Biden compare with other presidents in total judges appointed?

Biden does not especially stand out in terms of the overall number of federal judges he has appointed so far. He appointed 145 judges through Nov. 5 - fewer than Trump had appointed at the same point in his presidency (153), but more than Obama had (115).

Overall, Biden's appointed judges include one Supreme Court justice (Jackson), 36 appeals court judges and 111 district court judges. Trump, by comparison, had appointed two Supreme Court justices by the same point in his tenure (Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh), in addition to 43 appellate judges and 110 district judges.

Both Biden and Trump appointed some people to multiple judgeships. Biden, for example, appointed Jackson to an appeals court position before elevating her to the Supreme Court. In this analysis, these judges are counted separately for each position, but only once in each president's total.

How many active federal judges were appointed by Biden?

Another way of looking at the effect that each president has had on the federal judiciary is to evaluate the share of currently active judges who were appointed by that chief executive.

As of Nov. 5, there were 798 active federal judges serving in the 91 district courts and 13 appeals courts governed by Article III of the U.S. Constitution, as well as on the Supreme Court. Biden had appointed 18% of those judges.

Of the federal judges who were active as of Nov. 5, larger shares were appointed by other recent presidents. Trump appointed 28% of active judges, while Obama appointed 31% and George W. Bush appointed 16%. Not surprisingly, relatively few judges who are still active today were appointed by presidents who served more than two decades ago - including Bill Clinton (4%), George H.W. Bush (1%) and Ronald Reagan (1%).

How many active federal judges were appointed by Democratic versus Republican presidents?

The current federal judiciary is closely divided between appointees of Democratic presidents, who comprise 54% of all active judges, and those chosen by Republican presidents, who account for 46%.

However, the breakdown varies by type of court. More than half of active judges in district courts were appointed by Democratic presidents (56%), while a smaller share (44%) were appointed by GOP presidents. The reverse is true in the appeals courts, where 53% of active judges were appointed by Republican presidents and 47% were appointed by Democrats. The Supreme Court consists of six justices appointed by Republican presidents and three justices appointed by Democrats, a 67%-33% split.
CORRECTION (Dec. 4, 2023): An earlier version of the chart titled, "Biden's judge appointments to date: Fewer overall than Trump, but more than Obama" incorrectly identified former President George W. Bush as a Democrat.
Note: This is an update of a post originally published on Aug. 9, 2022.

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Most of Biden's appointed judges to date are women, racial or ethnic minorities - a first for any president

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Nearly two-thirds of the federal judges President Joe Biden has appointed so far are women, and the same share are members of racial or ethnic minority groups.

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in the article it states that the president's In last year’s State of the Union, Biden repeatedly declared that he would “finish the job” on critical parts of his agenda that remained incomplete, such as capping insulin costs for all Americans, taking more aggressive actions on climate change, banning so-called assault-style weapons and pushing for higher taxes on corporations and the rich.

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President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa., Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

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FILE - Speaker-elect Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., puts the gavel down before speaking at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Joe Biden will give his annual State of the Union address on March 7.

In a letter sent to the White House on Saturday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., extended the formal invitation for Biden to speak to a joint session of Congress. Johnson said he was inviting Biden "in this moment of great challenge for our country." On X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Biden accepted. "Looking forward to it, Mr. Speaker," the president said.

This will be the first State of the Union for Johnson as speaker, who traditionally sits behind the president and to his left during the address to Congress. This year's speech will offer an opportunity for Biden to detail his broader vision and policy priorities as he campaigns for reelection in November.

Notably, Biden's address is scheduled for after a pair of critical deadlines to avert a government shutdown.

Funding for federal agencies that oversee programs for veterans, and on transportation, housing, agriculture and energy, is set to expire Jan. 19. Funding for the rest of the federal government, including the Pentagon, State Department and Homeland Security, will run out Feb. 2.

The annual address from the president to Congress is usually scheduled for late January or February.

Biden's March 7 address would be the latest that a president has delivered the State of the Union since 1934, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt revived the practice of giving the annual speech in person. Before this year, the latest that a State of the Union had been given was in 2022, when Biden delivered it on March 1 of that year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

In last year's State of the Union, Biden repeatedly declared that he would "finish the job" on critical parts of his agenda that remained incomplete, such as capping insulin costs for all Americans, taking more aggressive actions on climate change, banning so-called assault-style weapons and pushing for higher taxes on corporations and the rich.

It was also his first State of the Union in front of a divided Congress, and some House Republicans interrupted and jeered at Biden, particularly when he spoke about efforts from some GOP lawmakers to cut Medicare and Social Security.

Seung Min is a White House reporter.

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Biden will address State of the Union in a moment the House speaker calls a great challenge for the US

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President Joe Biden will give his annual State of the Union address on March 7. The invitation came Saturday from House Speaker Mike Johnson for the president to speak to a joint session of Congress.

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the article talks about how the president has not went through the bills he promised he was going to pass such as the expanded child tax credit did not get extended, and the president's student loan relief program is tied up in courts with an uncertain future.

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Democrats are about to hand over the House to Republicans, and the dynamic for President Biden and his party is at a turning point.

Looking back at the last two years, there was plenty of infighting among Democrats, even as they held control of both chambers of Congress. Biden was not able to pass the full scope of his social spending plan, for example; the expanded child tax credit did not get extended, and the president's student loan relief program is tied up in courts with an uncertain future.

And yet, Democrats still managed to pass major pieces of legislation, several with bipartisan support.

"The problem is that they oversold and underdelivered, even though what they delivered by any normal metric would have been pretty impressive," NPR political correspondent Mara Liasson said on a recent episode of the NPR Politics Podcast.

Democrats' accomplishments don't seem to be registering with the public - at least not yet.

Most Americans disapprove of the job Biden is doing. But voters did give Democrats strong midterms results, driven in part by the Supreme Court's blow to abortion rights and an aversion to more extreme candidates on the right.

It's also true that much of the legislation will take time to take hold - investments in infrastructure, for example, are not immediately apparent.

Biden heads into the next two years with a Republican-controlled House vowing to investigate his administration and his family. As Liasson put it: expect more investigation than legislation in the next two years. ( Listen to the full conversation about Biden's agenda and how it's been received here.)

Whether or not Biden adds to his roster in the next half of his first term as president, he can already claim the following big ticket items:

The American Rescue Plan in response to COVID-19

One of Biden's first acts as president was to try to get the coronavirus pandemic under control by passing the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

The White House sent Americans in the low-to-medium income range a $1,400 payment to help fund basic necessities like rent and groceries. Biden also extended a $300 a week federal unemployment benefit for some 9.7 million people out of work at the time, temporarily expanded the child tax credit program, allotted $7.25 billion for small business loans and $128 billion in grants for state educational agencies.

Biden teamed up with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to administer and track COVID-19 vaccinations across the country.

The bill passed the Senate 50-49 and the House 220 to 211, both along party lines, before being signed into law by the president on March 11.

While the initiatives were broadly popular with voters, critics warned the rescue plan could actually make the country's economic outlook worse.

A bipartisan infrastructure bill

Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law in November 2021 that will repair the nation's roads, bridges and railways, bring high-speed internet to rural communities and more.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes: $284 billion for transportation needs, which includes repairing bridges and roadways, public transit and airports, electric vehicles and low emission public transportation; $65 billion for broadband internet; $73 billion for power infrastructure; and $55 billion for clean drinking water.

The legislation was a major bipartisan achievement, made possible by 32 Republicans - 13 in the House and 19 in the Senate - who crossed the aisle to ensure it passed. Former President Donald Trump had pressed conservatives to vote against the bill, but key GOP leaders Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky supported the legislation.

The first major gun-safety bill in decades

In wake of the mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y., - which together claimed the lives of 19 children and 12 adults - Biden signed into law the largest gun-safety bill to pass Congress in nearly 30 years. While historically significant, the bill was rather limited compared to what gun control advocates would have wanted.

Just before he signed the bill in June, Biden said that although the measure didn't achieve everything he had hoped for, the bipartisan piece of legislation would ultimately save lives.

"At a time when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential," Biden said.

Building semiconductors at home through the CHIPS Act

The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 passed in August, which allocated roughly $53 billion in federal funding to manufacture semiconductor chips in the U.S. instead of relying on China to produce them.

According to the White House, the bill will "boost American semiconductor research, development, and production, ensuring U.S. leadership in the technology that forms the foundation of everything from automobiles to household appliances to defense systems."

Cellphones, laptops, gaming consoles, washing machines, automobiles - nearly all modern electronic devices - require semiconductors to function. And though the United States is major semiconductor manufacturer ($5 billion in 2020), it imports more than double what it produces ($12.5 billion in 2020), according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Supply chain issues during the pandemic highlighted that heavy reliance, and Biden's bill aims to remedy that level of overseas dependence. It passed the Senate and the House through bipartisan efforts.

The Inflation Reduction Act

Not long after securing his seat in the Oval Office, Biden worked to pass the Build Back Better Act, a massive social spending bill to the tune of nearly $2 trillion. It included many promises Biden made on the 2020 campaign trail, such as major health care reform, universal pre-kindergarten and paid family leave, $550 billion dedicated to combatting climate change and more, paid for in part by increased taxes for corporations and the uber rich.

That original piece of legislature stalled, but after months of negotiations, resurfaced under a different name; the Inflation Reduction Act.

It took almost a year for Biden's ambitious package to pass through Congress, with Vice President Harris' vote breaking the Senate's 50-50 party line vote. It cleared the House in a 220-207 vote along party lines, without a single Republican voting in favor.

The bill aims to tackle inflation by reducing the federal deficit, promote production of certain goods and limit the cost of some prescription drugs, as NPR previously reported.

The package also includes:

$369 billion for a climate initiative to reduce greenhouse emissions and promote lean energy technologies.

$300 billion in new revenue through a corporate tax increase.

$80 billion for the Internal Revenue Service to hire new agents, modernize its technology, audit the wealthy and more.

A $2,000 annual cap for out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for those insured by Medicare.

Support for Ukraine's defense against a Russian invasion

The United States recently pledged another wave of support for Ukraine - over $44 billion - in its 2023 federal spending bill. When added to what the White House provided earlier in 2022, it brings America's total contribution to over $100 billion.

It's been over 300 days since Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Since then, President Biden and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have provided continued financial, military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which appears to have kept Putin's army from steamrolling across the country despite its superior military capabilities.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy traveled to Washington just before Christmas to thank Biden and Congress for continued support. "Your money is not charity," he said. "It's an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way."

In coordination with the trip, America promised nearly $2 billion in additional aid, as well as a Patriot surface-to-air missile defense system.

"The United States is committed to ensuring that the brave Ukrainian people can continue to defend their country against Russian aggression as long as it takes," Biden told Zelenskyy. "You will never stand alone."

There has been weakening support for Ukraine aid from some Republicans as the war creeps closer to the one-year mark, however, and getting more funding through could become increasingly difficult in the new year.

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Despite infighting, it's been a surprisingly productive 2 years for Democrats

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Despite more than a handful of setbacks, President Biden has delivered on several major promises since 2021, some with bipartisan support. Those compromises could be harder with the new Congress.

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in the article it focuses on how the presidentOn his first day in office, Biden signed a letter to reenter the United States into the Paris Agreement, the most significant global climate pact to date, which requires nearly all countries to set emissions-reduction pledges, though commitments are not legally binding.

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President Joe Biden has signaled that he will rejoin many of the various international treaties, agreements, and bodies that former President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from over the past four years.

These will be Biden's first steps in reversing Trump's foreign policy moves, which CFR President Richard N. Haass defined as the " Withdrawal Doctrine " after Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Iran nuclear agreement, and many other pacts and institutions.

Some of these will be harder to rejoin than others, particularly those that require congressional approval. Biden could also face hurdles diplomatically. "The major question is how much damage has been done to the credibility of U.S. leadership, especially in that the United States has shown that its policy can turn on a dime when administrations change," CFR's Stewart M. Patrick says.

What has Biden pledged to rejoin?

Paris Agreement

On his first day in office, Biden signed a letter to reenter the United States into the Paris Agreement, the most significant global climate pact to date, which requires nearly all countries to set emissions-reduction pledges, though commitments are not legally binding. Reentering the agreement requires only one month's notice, so the United States will be back in by March. After that, the United States could strengthen its commitments to cut emissions and serve as an example for other countries in the lead-up to a major conference on climate change, known as COP26, in November. Biden has released an ambitious climate plan, pledging to work toward achieving net-zero emissions in the United States by 2050, and some of his proposed actions would require congressional approval.

World Health Organization (WHO)

Also on day one, Biden rejoined the World Health Organization (WHO), a UN agency that coordinates international health efforts. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from and cut funding to the WHO, limiting U.S. engagement with the body over its failure to reduce Chinese influence. (The withdrawal wouldn't have taken effect until this July.) Already, Biden directed top U.S. medical expert Anthony Fauci to speak to the body. Fauci confirmed that the United States will also join COVAX, a WHO-led initiative to distribute two billion COVID-19 vaccine doses around the world by the end of the year.

Iran Nuclear Deal

Biden has promised to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but resurrecting the deal won't be easy. After exiting the JCPOA in 2018, the Trump administration ratcheted up sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded by exceeding limitations on its nuclear program set under the agreement. Biden has said that he will reenter the deal if Iran returns to compliance, which Iranian officials have indicated they're willing to do. But he has also signaled that he wants to negotiate a successor agreement that addresses Iran's missile program and support for regional armed partners, an idea Iranian officials have rejected so far. A renegotiated agreement could require congressional approval.

UN Human Rights Council

Biden said during his campaign that he would rejoin the UN Human Rights Council, a body the Trump administration pulled out of due to alleged anti-Israel bias and a membership that included human rights abusers, such as China and Venezuela. The United States is not eligible to run for a position on the council until later this year, so Biden will likely use the next few months to build the case that it is worth rejoining, CFR's Patrick says.

What are other areas of potential reengagement?

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

In 2017, Trump removed the U.S. signature to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive trade agreement that was the centerpiece of former President Barack Obama's policy toward Asia but was never approved by Congress. After the United States left, the eleven other countries forged ahead with a new version of the pact, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). As vice president, Biden backed the TPP and told CFR in 2019 that "the idea behind it was a good one." During the Democratic primaries, he said he would potentially try to renegotiate the TPP and address concerns raised by some Democrats, including by adding protections for workers and the environment.

New START

Biden will likely pursue efforts to revive the last remaining arms control agreement with Russia: the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as New START. U.S. officials could negotiate with Moscow to extend the treaty, which expires in February. The Trump administration was in talks with Russia to extend the treaty but never reached an agreement. (Trump did withdraw from another arms control agreement with Russia, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.)

Treaty on Open Skies

The United States withdrew from the Treaty on Open Skies, which allows signatories to fly unarmed aircraft over each others' territory for surveillance. Russia followed the United States in pulling out of the pact. The Biden administration would likely have to seek Senate approval to re-ratify the treaty, though there could be legal shortcuts.

Arms Trade Treaty

Trump also removed the U.S. signature to the Arms Trade Treaty, a pact that sets global standards for the international trade of conventional weapons. Trump's announcement didn't actually change much. Obama signed the treaty in 2013, but the Senate never voted to approve it, making the United States one of a handful of countries to sign but not ratify the treaty. Biden could re-sign it but would likely face Senate pushback against ratification.

UNESCO

The United States has not provided funding to the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)-the agency best known for designating World Heritage sites-since 2011 over the body's recognition of the Palestinian territories. Citing similar concerns, Trump fully withdrew the United States' membership. Biden would need congressional approval to resume funding UNESCO.

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Biden's First Foreign Policy Move: Reentering International Agreements

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Biden has moved to rejoin the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization. They likely won't be the last international agreements and institutions that the United States reenters.

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in this article it talks about who the president nominated-state that Biden nominated Nicole Berner, the general counsel of the Service Employees International Union, for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. If confirmed by the Senate, Berner would be that court’s first openly LGBTQ judge.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - President on Wednesday announced five nominees to federal judgeships, including the first Muslim-American on any circuit court, looking to add to more than 150 of his judicial selections who have already been confirmed to the bench.

The announcements by the Democratic president are part of the White House's push to nominate diverse judges, especially those from a wide variety of professional backgrounds, and to do so even in states with Republican senators.

Biden nominated Nicole Berner, the general counsel of the Service Employees International Union, for the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. If confirmed by the Senate, Berner would be that court's first openly LGBTQ judge.

Adeel Mangi, Biden's nominee for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, would be the first Muslim-American circuit court judge, if confirmed.

Biden nominated Judge Cristal Brisco, who would be the first Black woman and the first woman of color to serve as U.S. District Court judge in the Northern District of Indiana. He also nominated Judge Gretchen Lund, who has served on the bench for 15 years, for that district, which has multiple vacancies.

Judge Amy Baggio, a former assistant federal public defender, was the president's nominee for the District of Oregon.

White House counsel Ed Siskel noted that the nominees include "four women, two nominees from a state represented by Senate Republicans, and three historic first nominees."

They continue "the president's drive to bring professional and demographic diversity to the federal judiciary, and his commitment to working with senators on both sides of the aisle," Siskel said in a statement.

The White House said Biden has "set records when it comes to professional diversity, appointing more civil rights lawyers and public defenders than any previous president."

Biden has appointed 154 life-tenured judicial nominees who have been confirmed by the Senate. Of those, the White House says that two-thirds are women and two-thirds are people of color, including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the high court's first Black female justice.

The White House says that it is just getting started and that more judicial appointments are in the works. But the process of moving nominations through the Senate - even one controlled by Democrats - is slow enough that Biden may struggle to match in four years the 230-plus judges appointed to the federal bench by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.

Trump, who lost to Biden in 2020 and has built a commanding early lead in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, also appointed three justices to the Supreme Court compared with Biden's one.

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Biden announces 5 federal judicial nominees and stresses their varied professional backgrounds

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President Joe Biden has announced five nominees to federal judgeships, including the first Muslim-American on any circuit court.