Civil Rights and Social Justice

On Tuesday, while much of Washington, DC's political class was consumed by President-elect Donald Trump's first press conference, the only Democrat with a computer science degree was named to the House Judiciary Committee. The House of Representatives has three other members who hold computer science degrees (all Republicans), but none of them sit on the Judiciary Committee.

South Bay Rep. Ted Lieu was named assistant whip Tuesday for the House Democratic caucus, an organizational role aimed at helping mobilize the minority party.

Lieu, president of the freshman Democratic class in the last Congress, will assist Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, who has served in the post since 2002.

It's a scene that continues to unfold in Washington state: A helicopter hovers low over the trees, deep inside a park in the Cascade Mountains; a SWAT team dressed in Kevlar rappels from the chopper to the ground; other officers, federal agents and state environmental officials move toward the site on foot, alert for armed guards, booby traps and razor fencing.

The targets of these taxpayer-funded efforts aren't terrorism suspects or dangerous fugitives — they are marijuana plants.

California has a long-standing legal medical marijuana industry with a legal recreational industry on the way. It's therefore understandable that members of our state's congressional delegation have been asking tough questions about why the federal Drug Enforcement Administration devotes millions of dollars a year to uprooting cannabis plants in California.