Today is Tuesday, February 23rd, and you're listening to The Morning Announcements.

I'm Sammy Sage.

Yesterday, President Biden's nominee for Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared for his Senate confirmation hearing.

At the hearing, Garland said that, if confirmed, his first order of business will be the investigation into the Capitol riot

as part of a broader attempt to stamp out the growing threat of domestic terrorism.

Garland also vowed to restore faith in the Justice Department and got emotional about his motivation for being in public service.

He said, I come from a family where my grandparents fled anti-Semitism and persecution.

The country took us in and protected us, and I feel an obligation to the country to pay back.

The hearing will continue today, featuring outside witnesses, and it's expected that Garland will be confirmed by the Senate after a vote on March 1st,

which is only about five years too late, but we'll take it.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected a final attempt by former President Trump to continue to shield his tax return.

After an 18-month battle to prevent this from happening, the court issued a brief order that allows prosecutors in Manhattan to access the returns immediately.

The Manhattan District Attorney, Sivance Jr., will now have access to eight years' worth of Trump's personal and corporate tax returns,

as well as other records that they find vital to their inquiry.

In case you forgot which crime this was about, I know it gets confusing.

The Manhattan DA needs the taxes for their inquiry into whether Trump and his company manipulated property values to obtain bank loans and pay less in taxes.

I'm sure somewhere in Palm Beach, an old Florida man, is screaming about why he even bothered nominating Amy Coney Barrett anyway.

Lastly, we have a story out of Virginia. Two bills to abolish the death penalty were passed in the state general assembly yesterday,

making Virginia the first southern state to abolish the death penalty.

The bill bads executions and establishes a maximum punishment of life and prison without the possibility of parole.

All of this is noteworthy because Virginia is historically one of the nation's most prolific death penalty states and has executed more people than any other state.

Is that the sound of progress I hear?

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