Free Republic

Danielle Hunsaker, a former clerk for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, got a step closer Wednesday to filling the seat left open on the court when O’Scannlain took senior status in 2016. Hunsaker said in her prepared remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that being confirmed as O’Scannlain’s successor would be “a highlight for me in my life,” although she said “the prospect of filling his shoes is daunting.” Hunsaker, whose father worked in Oregon’s timber and construction industry, and whose mother homeschooled her, answered largely friendly questions about her...

An Army investigator has recommended the death penalty for four soldiers accused of murder during a raid in Iraq. Lt. Col. James P. Daniel Jr. made the recommendation in report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press. Daniel found several aggravating factors that warrant a sentence of death in the case of four soldiers accused of killing three men during the May raid in the Salahuddin province. Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, Spc. William B. Hunsaker, Pfc. Corey R. Clagett, and Spc. Juston R. Graber, all of the Fort Campbell, Ky.- based 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, were...