In the return of the Street Roots podcast, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden joined host DeVon Pouncey to discuss the historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to become a Supreme Court Justice.
“It was a wonderful moment. It should’ve happened a long time before that, as we remember Thurgood Marshall and his wonderful work on the bench. I think the juvenile antics from some of these far-right senators was just way over the line.”
Wyden continued to discuss the moment he knew Judge Brown’s nomination would lead to this special moment after sitting down and meeting with her.
“We just had a wonderful conversation and it was about real substance… I’ve always been concerned about the role of the other branches of government and checking the whole idea that the executives’ power is unlimited. And the judge and I walked through a couple of the cases that really relates to a host of issues, particularly in terms of national security, economic policy on trade, the budget and I just walked away from the discussion saying this is really a special person.”
Wyden also discussed the current standing of the CAHOOTS bill, which had $1 billion worth of funding allotted to it last year, in alignment with the recent expansion of Portland Street Response going citywide.
“Oregon is now just getting in the position of securing the funding to be able to apply. We’ve gotten some help with planning grants and Oregon received planning grant money so that the state can look at ways to build on this message that originally came from Eugene (Cahoots).”
Other topics discussed in this episode were Wyden’s current work on mental health as the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, ways he is trying to offset the economic impact for Oregonians via Russia’s attack against Ukraine, and the Portland Trailblazers.
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This article appears in April 20, 2022.