In news from Capitol Hill, New York Republican Rep. Peter King is facing scrutiny over his plans to hold a congressional hearing this week on the radicalization of the American Muslim community. Critics have described the hearings as a modern-day form of McCarthyism that are designed to stoke fear against American Muslims. King has refused calls to broaden the hearing to examine right-wing militias or any non-Muslim groups. On Sunday, 500 people demonstrated in Times Square in New York City against the hearing. Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota is scheduled to testify on Thursday, but he has been one of the hearings’ most vocal critics. In 2006, Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN): “I challenge the basic premise of the hearings, that I do agree that we should deal with radicalization and violent radicalization, but that singling out one community is the wrong thing to do.”