Conservatives hail Trump's Supreme Court pick

Republican lawmakers and conservative groups hailed President Trump's nomination of federal appeals judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court Tuesday night, even as Democrats questioned whether the nominee has sufficient "respect for constitutional values of liberty, equality and justice for all."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who kept the late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat open through the presidential election, said Trump had made "an outstanding decision."
"Like Justice Scalia, [Gorsuch] understands the constitutional limits on the authority of a federal judge and that the duty of a judge is to apply the law even-handedly, without fear or favor, and not to rule based on one’s empathy with a party in a case," McConnell said in a statement.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Trump had "fulfilled his [campaign] pledge to nominate a judge who has a demonstrated loyalty to the Constitution and a strong commitment to life." Ryan added that Gorsuch was a "phemonenal" choice by the president.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the Republican nomination last year, echoed the speaker, saying that Trump had satisifed his promise, "and the rule of law will be all the better for it."
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a frequent critic of Trump, tweeted his approval of the nomination, calling Gorsuch "a tremendous pick."
By contrast, and in an apparent preview of the bitter confirmation fight ahead, the Democratic National Committee said Gorsuch's nomination "raises some very serious questions about whether he would be a Supreme Court Justice who believes the Constitution protects all of us, not just the wealthy, and whether he can approach each case with an open mind to make fair decisions based on the merits."
The DNC statement questioned whether the nominee has the "utmost respect" for constitutional values.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he was "skeptical that [Gorsuch] can be a strong, independent Justice on the Court." Schumer added that Gorsuch had previously "sided with corporations over working people [and] demonstrated a hostility toward women’s rights."
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., went even further, saying Gorsuch's nomination was "a breathtaking retreat from the notion that Americans have a fundamental right to Constitutional liberties, and harkens back to the days when politicians restricted a people’s rights on a whim.
"No Senator who believes that individual rights are reserved to the people, and not the government, can support this nomination," Wyden added.
The nomination of Gorsuch was also praised by several conservative groups. Marjorie Dannenfelser, the head of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, described the judge as "distinguished jurist with a strong record of protecting life and religious liberty, as evidenced by his opinions in the Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor cases."
Tea Party Patriots President Jenny Beth Martin added that Gorsuch "has a distinguished record that demonstrates he will be fair to all Americans, no matter their background or beliefs."

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Conway slams Democrats' vow to filibuster Trump Supreme Court pick

Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway said Monday that Democratic senators who have vowed to filibuster President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee are in the business of "permanent protest."
"They don’t even know the person’s name yet," Conway told Fox News' Martha MacCallum on "The First 100 Days." "They haven’t even met him or her and they’ve already committed themselves to obstructing, blocking and filibustering that person."
Trump is expected to announce his choice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia Tuesday evening. The seat has been vacant since Scalia's death this past February. Former President Barack Obama nominated federal judge Merrick Garland for the Court, but Senate Republicans prevented his nomination from being heard.
Conway declined to say whether she supported Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., using the so-called "nuclear option" to change filibuster rules and force Trump's nominee through the Senate with a simple 51-vote majority.
"We should take a look at all of our options and I think [former Democratic Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid probably regrets the day that he went so nuclear with the nuclear option because now his party is no longer in power," Conway said. "That’s up to Leader McConnell and his colleagues. I’m supportive of a fair and full process."
Conway also fired back at Obama's criticism of Trump's controversial executive order suspending refugee processing and immigration from certain countries.
"He’s welcome to say what he wants. It’s a free country, including for ex-Presidents," Conway said. "[But] this is temporary, it is 90 days and it is very narrowly restricted to seven countries that none other than President Obama’s administration identified as high risk for harboring, training, and exporting terrorists.

Trump names Thomas Homan acting director of ICE, replacing Obama holdover

President Donald Trump appointed Thomas Homan to be acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security announced late Monday.
Homan replaces Daniel Ragsdale, who had been the acting director of ICE since 2013. DHS did not provide an immediate explanation for the change.
DHS Secretary John Kelly said he was confident that Homan "will continue to serve as a strong, effective leader for the men and women of ICE. I look forward to working alongside him to ensure that we enforce our immigration laws in the interior of the United States consistent with the national interest."
A former NYPD officer and Border Patrol agent, Homan has served as ICE's executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations since 2013.
An April 2016 Washington Post profile of Homan lead with these two sentences: "Thomas Homan deports people. And he's really good at it."
Homan's appointment was announced shortly after Trump dismissed acting Attorney General Sally Yates, another Obama administration holdover, for telling Justice Department attorneys not to defend the president's refugee and travel ban.

Former AG Lynch once praised Trump's pick Boente as 'consummate utility' player

Dana J. Boente, a longtime federal prosecutor who was thrust into the middle of President Trump’s controversial immigration order when he was named new acting attorney general Monday night, was once praised by former Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch as the department’s “consummate utility” player.
“He is that reliable middle child, Lynch said of the Eagle Scout, according to The Washington Post, “the one you could always count on to be there for you.”
Boente was nominated in 2015 by President Obama and confirmed as the 60^th U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He has spent his entire 31-year career working in public service.
One of his most high-profile cases was the corruption trial of Virginia’s former Gov. Bob McDonnell. The former governor was given a two-year prison sentence for an alleged public corruption scheme, but the conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.
Newsweek reported that he was born in the Midwest and raised by a single mother. He is a graduate of St. Louis University and its School of Law and has lived in Northern Virginia for 29 years.
Boente was named to the job Monday night after Trump fired Sally Yates, a Democratic appointee who had publicly questioned the constitutionality of the executive order and directed Justice Department attorneys not to defend it in court. Yates said she was not convinced it was lawful or consistent with the agency's obligation "to stand for what is right."
He's expected to serve only a few days, until Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump's pick for the position, is confirmed.
Boente says in a statement issued by the Justice Department that Trump's executive order is "both lawful on its face and properly drafted."

Sessions once asked Yates about AG's responsibility to say 'no' to a president

Sally Yates

President Trump’s selection for attorney general once questioned Sally Yates during a confirmation hearing in 2015 about whether the role of an attorney general was simply follow marching orders from the sitting president.
“If the views the president wants to execute is unlawful, should the attorney general or deputy attorney general say no?” Sessions asked.
“Senator, I believe the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has the obligation to follow the law and the Consitution and to give their independent legal advice to the president,” she responded.
Trump relieved acting Attorney General Yates of her duties Monday night after she directed Justice Department attorneys not to defend Trump's controversial executive refugee and immigration ban.
Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, was replaced by Dana Boente, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Boente, 62, was sworn in Monday evening. He will lead the Justice Department pending the confirmation of Sessions, Trump's nominee for attorney general, by the Senate.
Yates said in a memo earlier Monday that she was "not convinced" that Trump's order was lawful, nor that its defense was consistent with what she described as the department's obligation to "always seek justice and stand for what is right."
An unsigned White House statement said Yates had "betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States." The executive order, which Trump signed Friday, temporarily halted the entire U.S. refugee program and banned all entries from seven Muslim-majority nations for 90 days.
The March 24, 2015 confirmation hearing video was posted on C-SPAN. It contained footage from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing to consider Yates for deputy attorney general, the department’s second-highest position.

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Democrats

Rob O'Neill: We Must Be Smart About Who We Let Immigrate to US

Rob O'Neill, the former Navy SEAL who killed Usama bin Laden

Rob O'Neill, the former Navy SEAL who killed Usama bin Laden, reacted to criticism of President Trump's executive order placing a moratorium on immigration from several Middle Eastern and North African countries.
"[Authorities] need to look at certain things: a diabetic grandma probably isn't a threat, [but] the military-aged male could be a threat," he said, "It's when you get a bunch of the males that are coming in, that's where you... profile a little bit as far as the way they are acting."
O'Neill said key questions of prospective immigrants should be their view on Sharia Law versus the U.S. Constitution.
"This is a different war," he said, "we're not fighting Nazis."
He said that Trump's order is not a flat "Muslim ban" as some critics have characterized, but rather an order encompassing several countries on the "watch" for terrorism and violent ideologies.
"My ancestors are from Ireland: If we have a lot of problems with the Irish, I would expect the same thing," O'Neill said.