Ted Cruz reportedly says nuclear option is on table in Supreme Court pick

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in an interview Tuesday that “all procedural   options are on the table” when it comes to confirming a strong conservative to replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court.
President Trump nominated federal Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, choosing a jurist widely seen by conservatives as a fitting successor to the late Scalia – and touching off what is sure to be a fierce confirmation battle with Senate Democrats already vowing resistance.
“The Democrats are not going to succeed in filibustering the Supreme Court nominee,” Cruz told Politico. “All procedural options are on the table. The bottom line is we will confirm a strong conservative to replace Justice Scalia.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will oppose any nominee outside the mainstream. He will likely decide whether to try to lead an effort to block, or filibuster, based on the nominee's performance in confirmation hearings and feedback from his Democratic caucus, including the 10 senators who are up for re-election in states that Trump won last year.
The advantages of trying a filibuster are clear - make Republicans work to find the 60 votes needed to end it, including at least eight Democrats, and as a result, delay or block the nomination. Republicans hold a 52-48 majority.
But there are also downsides. Democrats running for re-election next year in states Trump won in 2016 could face political consequences for their party's attempted obstruction. And if Republicans change the rules and eliminate the filibuster altogether, Democrats would have lost their most powerful weapon in future Supreme Court fights.
Republicans did not try to filibuster either of former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominees. The only filibuster attempt in the past few decades was by Democrats against Justice Samuel Alito, nominated by former President George W. Bush. The effort failed and Alito was confirmed.
If Republicans are unable to secure enough Democratic votes for Trump’s pick, they can change the rules and curb the filibuster.
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., did that for lower court nominees and other nominations in 2013.
Trump has called on McConnell to kill the filibuster if Democrats resist his pick, but McConnell said the decision is not up to Trump.
"That’s not a presidential decision. That’s a Senate decision," McConnell told Politico.

Schumer seeks 60-vote bar for Trump’s court pick, as Dems brace for fight

Anyone ever see the wizard of oz :-)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and his Democratic colleagues wasted no time Tuesday night voicing “serious doubts” about President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, signaling a tough battle ahead for Judge Neil Gorsuch as the New York senator insisted he garner 60 votes for confirmation.
“The Senate must insist upon 60 votes for any Supreme Court nominee,” Schumer said. “Make no mistake, Senate Democrats will not simply allow but require an exhaustive, robust and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch's fitness to be a Supreme Court justice.”
The statement raises the specter of a filibuster, though it’s not yet clear whether Schumer or any of his fellow Democrats would take the procedural step to force Gorsuch to clear the 60-vote hurdle.
If they do, Gorsuch would need at least eight Democrats to join Republicans in supporting him, unless GOP leaders take the potentially risky step of lowering the threshold for confirmation.
Republicans have 52 senators and Democrats have 48. If confirmed to the court, Gorsuch would restore the 5-4 conservative tilt that existed before Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in early 2016. The court has been split along ideological lines for nearly a year.
But after Republicans refused to consider then-President Barack Obama’s nominee, some Democrats are already vowing to oppose Gorsuch.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a statement that Trump “failed” to pick a “consensus nominee.”
“Based on the long and well-established record of Judge Gorsuch, I will oppose his nomination," she said.
The call by Schumer -- the top Democrat in the Republican-controlled Senate that will vote on Gorsuch’s nomination --  to insist on a 60-vote bar extends the rising backlash to what Trump critics consider his extreme policies, namely last week’s executive order on refugee and immigration policies.
“A little more than a week into the Trump presidency, the new administration has violated our core values, challenged the separation of powers and tested the very fabric of our Constitution in unprecedented fashion,” Schumer said. “It is clear that the Supreme Court will be tried in ways that few courts have been tested since the earliest days of the Republic.”
Gorsuch, an appeals judge in the Denver-based 10th Circuit, would fill the seat left open by Scalia’s death.
“The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch are beyond dispute,” Trump said in announcing his nominee.
The high-stakes Washington fight over a Trump pick began well before the Republican president announced Gorsuch.
The conservative group Judicial Crisis Network said Tuesday night that it has already started a $10 million, multi-media ad campaign in support of Gorsuch.
Meanwhile, several progressive groups, including People for the American Way, in the days and weeks ahead of Trump’s announcement touted campaigns to oppose any of his nominations.
“The burden is on Judge Neil Gorsuch to prove himself to be within the legal mainstream,” Schumer also said. “Given his record, I have very serious doubts about Judge Gorsuch's ability to meet this standard.”
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, who has already been critical of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, said the Gorsuch nomination “represents 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.”
He argued in part that Gorsuch’s opposition to so-called “right to die” or “death with dignity” laws suggests that his Supreme Court decisions will further erode Americans’ individual rights.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, though, joined numerous other GOP senators in hailing the president’s choice -- as he called on Democrats to treat him fairly.
“He has an impressive background and a long record of faithfully applying the law and the Constitution,” said McConnell, R-Ky. “I hope members of the Senate will … show him fair consideration … with an up-or-down vote on his nomination, just like the Senate treated the four first-term nominees of Presidents Clinton and Obama.”

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.