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Democrats Skip Votes, Delaying Confirmation of Trump Nominees New York Times The Senate Finance Committee's room was empty after Democrats boycotted confirmation votes on Tuesday for Representative Tom Price as secretary of health and human services and Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for ... Senate Democrats Block Committee Votes On 2 Trump NomineesNPR Democrats boycott confirmation hearings for Price and Mnuchin, blocking votesWashington Post Senate Democrats boycotting HHS, Treasury nomineesCNN Chicago Tribune -ABC News -Bloomberg -Columbus Dispatch all 225 news articles »

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Democrats Skip Votes, Delaying Confirmation of Trump Nominees - New York Times

By Lawrence Hurley | WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump was set to unveil his pick for a lifetime job on the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday as Democrats, still fuming over the Republican-led Senate's refusal to act on former President Barack Obama's nominee last year, girded for a fight.

Trump has announced he would reveal his choice to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last February, at the White House at 8 p.m. (0100 GMT on Wednesday).

The court is ideologically split with four conservative justices and four liberals, and Trump's pick can restore its conservative majority.

A source involved in the selection process said Trump has made his choice between two conservative U.S. appeals court judges - Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman. Both were appointed to the bench by Republican former President George W. Bush.

CNN, citing an unnamed source, said Gorsuch, a judge on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has been told he is the likely nominee.

Adding an element of drama to what is normally a sober announcement, CNN said both Gorsuch and Hardiman, who serves on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, had been brought to Washington ahead of Tuesday's announcement.

A senior Senate Republican aide said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already been informed of Trump's pick, which the senator described as an "outstanding choice."

William Pryor, a judge on the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, had earlier been mentioned as a possible nominee.

Under the Constitution, a president's Supreme Court nomination requires Senate confirmation.

A Supreme Court justice can have influence for decades after the president who made the appointment has left office and Trump's appointee could be pivotal in cases involving abortion, gun, religious and transgender rights, the death penalty and other contentious matters.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said polls had shown that the composition of the Supreme Court was important for many voters at last year's presidential election.

I can assure you that this individual will make those voters and every American very, very proud," Spicer told reporters. "This particular choice is one the president takes very seriously."

CONSERVATIVE CREDENTIALS

William Pryor, a judge on the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, had earlier been mentioned as a possible Trump nominee.

All three men have strong conservative credentials.

Gorsuch, 49, joined an opinion in 2013 saying that owners of private companies can object on religious grounds to a provision of the Obamacare health insurance law requiring employers to provide coverage for birth control for women.

Hardiman, 51, has embraced a broad interpretation of the constitutional guarantee of the right to bear arms and has backed the right of schools to restrict student speech.

Pryor, 54, has been an outspoken critic of the court's 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion, calling it "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history."

Amid partisan tension since Trump took office, Democrats remain enraged because Republican Leader McConnell refused last year to allow the Senate to consider Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland for the vacant seat. That action has little precedent in U.S. history.

Gambling that Republicans would win the presidency in the Nov. 8 election, McConnell argued that Obama's successor should get to make the pick. The move paid off with Trump's victory, but the court has run shorthanded for nearly a full year.

Some Democrats have said the Republicans effectively stole a Supreme Court seat from Obama by refusing to confirm Garland.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley has vowed to pursue a procedural hurdle called a filibuster for Trump's nominee, meaning 60 votes would be needed in the 100-seat Senate unless its long-standing rules are changed. Trump's fellow Republicans hold a 52-48 majority, meaning some Democratic votes would be needed to confirm his pick.

"We need to fight this Constitution-shredding gambit with everything we've got," Merkley said in a statement.

McConnell on Monday warned Democrats that senators should respect Trump's election victory and give the nominee "careful consideration followed by an up-or-down vote," not a filibuster.

Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, said last week he would favor Senate Republicans eliminating the filibuster, a change dubbed the "nuclear option," for Supreme Court nominees if Democrats block his pick.

Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative legal advocacy group, said it would launch the first part of a $10 million media advertisement campaign on Tuesday night in favor of whomever Trump chooses. The effort will hold Senate Democrats who face election in 2018 "accountable for their choice" on the Supreme Court, the group said.

Since it had only eight members after Scalia's death, the court has steered clear of some controversial issues. The most high-profile case currently under consideration is that of a female-born transgender high school student named Gavin Grimm, who identifies as male. He sued in 2015 to win the right to use the school's boys' bathroom in Virginia.

Depending on how quickly Trump's nominee is confirmed by the Senate, he may be able to participate in some of the current terms cases. If not, the court may have to consider setting new oral arguments and deciding them at a later date.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Chung, Richard Cowan, Susan Heavey, Ayesha Rascoe and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Will Dunham and Alistair Bell; Editing by Susan Heavey and Bill Trott)

SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging President Donald Trump's executive order directing the U.S. government to withhold money from cities that have adopted sanctuary policies toward undocumented immigrants.

WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Democrats on Tuesday boycotted a planned committee vote on two of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees, Steve Mnuchin to be Treasury secretary and Tom Price to head the Health and Human Services department, postponing the vote.

WASHINGTON Nationals from the seven Muslim-majority countries temporarily blocked from entering the United States by President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration may not be granted admission any time soon, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said on Tuesday.

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Trump to name US high court pick on Tuesday as Democrats plan fight - Reuters

That is what an attorney general must be willing and able to do, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said of Sally Yates. | Getty

Democrats use the furor over Trump's dismissal of the acting attorney general to drag out committee vote for Sessions.

By Seung Min Kim

01/31/17 10:58 AM EST

Updated 01/31/17 02:07 PM EST

The already contentious battle over confirming Jeff Sessions as attorney general blew up further on Tuesday as Democrats used the surprise firing of Sally Yates as acting head of the Justice Department to argue that Sessions wont be sufficiently independent from President Donald Trump.

And Democrats successfully dragged out the Sessions debate long enough that his committee vote got kicked to Wednesday. His eventual confirmation is not in doubt given that he has support from all Republicans and at least one moderate Senate Democrat, but Democrats are using every lever they have to make his nomination fight as painful as possible.

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But for Democrats who, for weeks, have raised questions about Sessions ability to be an independent attorney general, Yates dramatic firing late Monday gave even more fodder on whether Sessions could be a check on a president who Democrats warn is already pushing the bounds of executive power.

That is what an attorney general must be willing and able to do, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said of Yates. I have no confidence Sen. Sessions will do that. Instead he has been the fiercest, most dedicated and most loyal promoter in Congress of the Trump agenda.

Despite requests from Republicans to keep their comments short, each Democrat on the Judiciary Committee launched into lengthy speeches criticizing Sessions' record and ties to Trump. The debate went on for so long that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said the panel vote would slip to Wednesday, as Democrats prepared to invoke a rarely-used rule that committees cannot meet beyond two hours after coming into session. The Senate came into session at noon on Tuesday.

The Sessions' committee vote will be Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, was unceremoniously fired Monday after she announced that she would instruct Justice Department lawyers not to defend Trumps controversial executive order barring immigrants from some Muslim-majority nations.

The directive has already triggered mass protests and confusion at airports, as well as a stream of legal challenges and court losses for the Trump administration. The executive order is also sure to play a starring role in the confirmation fight over Trumps Supreme Court nominee, who will be unveiled Tuesday.

Republicans sought to inoculate Sessions from the controversy brewing over Trumps executive order, noting at the outset of the hearing Tuesday that the Alabama Republican Trumps chief supporter from the Senate during the campaign had no fingerprints in the controversial directives.

Its not clear to me why it would be a problem even if he had been involved, Grassley said. But the fact of the matter is he wasnt.

In written responses to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sessions said neither he nor his current aides were involved in drafting the series of executive orders on immigration that were rolled out last week.

Leahy delivered a lengthy indictment of Trumps dismissal of Yates on Tuesday, slamming the president for firing an acting attorney general whom Leahy said was just doing her job.

His accusation that she betrayed the Department of Justice is dangerous, Leahy said. The attorney general is the peoples attorney. Not the presidents attorney. He or she does not wear two hats at once.

Leahy added: I have very serious doubts that Senator Sessions would be an independent attorney general.

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Sessions vote delayed as Democrats blast Yates firing - Politico

Democrats Vow To Fight Trump's Order On Immigration And Refugees NPR Democratic leaders held a protest Monday over President Trump's executive order on immigration. That's about as much as they can do to stop it, but it's not enough for some Democratic base voters. Facebook; Twitter. Google+. Email ...

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Democrats Vow To Fight Trump's Order On Immigration And Refugees - NPR

Democrats will seek to quickly pass legislation on Monday night to rescind President Trumps travel ban from certain countries a likely futile attempt theyre poised to use to justify prolonging consideration of several top Cabinet nominees.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday morning that he will be asking Senate Republicans to immediately consider legislation to rescind Trumps executive order signed Friday night that caused confusion at major airports nationwide and set off a wave of global reaction including a petition banning Trump from entering the United Kingdom and a limit on visas to Americans entering Iran.

[Trump defends executive order, says its not Muslim ban]

Criticizing Trumps order on Monday morning, Schumer told NBCs Today show, It was done in such a sloppy and careless way. ... It almost seems like back of the envelope.

Asked what Democrats planned to do in response, Schumer said he would call later Monday for the immediate consideration of a bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to rescind the order.

But that request is likely to be fruitless, given that Republicans would object to immediately consider such a measure and because there doesnt appear to be sufficient GOP support to outright reverse Trumps ban.

While a handful of Republican senators have expressed concerns, just seven John McCain (Ariz.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Susan Collins (Maine), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Dean Heller (Nev.) have said theyre opposed to the ban. If those Republicans joined the chambers 48 Democrats in supporting the bill, thats still not enough to clear various procedural hurdles that require 60 votes to overcome.

[Whip count: Where Republicans stand on Trumps immigration order]

Even if Democrats fail to make their point on the Senate floor, they hope to galvanize growing public concern by holding a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday night. Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have organized a rally for 6 p.m., an event that aides say was hatched over the weekend in a series of conversations between House and Senate aides and some lawmakers.

Stephen Miller, a top domestic policy adviser to Trump, defended the administrations travel ban on Monday, describing it as efficient, orderly, enormously successful.

In a world in which hundreds of millions of people would like to make America their home, it only makes sense that we engage in some kind of selections process that prioritizes the entry of people who, as the order stated, dont hold bigotry, hatred or violence against any sexual orientation, against any race or against any particular class of people, Miller told CBS This Morning.

Asked about growing public concern with the policy change, Miller said: Anytime you do anything hugely successful that challenges a failed orthodoxy youre going to see protests.

(Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, unveiled her bill Sunday night. Several other Democratic senators, including Chris Murphy (Conn.), said theyre working on legislation to address Trumps measure, which prevents people from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days without a waiver.

The president should not be able to take this type of action unilaterally, given the severity of the consequences, Feinstein said in a statement announcing her legislation. Its one thing to screen people before they come to this country. We already do that. Its quite another to say that individuals who are from a particular country, belong to a particular faith, or are refugees fleeing conflict are banned from the United States.

Schumer said he would also seek to delay a scheduled vote to confirm Rex Tillerson as Trumps secretary of state. He told NBC that senators deserve to hear Tillersons views on the travel ban before holding a vote. The Senate is set to hold a procedural vote on the confirmation on Monday night before holding a final up-or-down vote on Tuesday.

Murphy told The Washington Post on Sunday that Democrats must slow the consideration of all of Trumps remaining Cabinet nominees in light of Trumps travel ban.

We should take every ounce of time that were allowed on these nominees, to talk about the disaster that has been the first week of this administration, especially when it comes to foreign policy, he said.

But again, Democrats would probably ultimately fail to derail confirmation of Trumps nominees. While they can use procedural tactics to slow down the length of time it takes to confirm a pick, just 51 senators are needed to confirm a nominee. Republicans enjoy a 52-seat majority in the Senate.

On a call organized by MoveOn.org last night, American Civil Liberties Union political director Faiz Shakir encouraged activists to demand a Senate slowdown until Trumps executive orders on immigration and refugees were tacked back.

Weve got [Justice Department and Alabama Sen.] Jeff Sessions, who were told was involved somehow in the drafting of these executive orders, Shakir said. If they want to press this through, say: You dont get an attorney general until you overturn the Muslim ban.

Currently, Sessionss nomination is scheduled for a Tuesday morning vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee and is expected to pass with every Republican voting in favor and every Democrat voting against. In the full Senate, only one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.V.), has suggested that he will vote for Sessions, whose nomination is being scored as a key vote by the National Rifle Association.

Even as they showed up at airports this weekend to join protests or attempt to free travelers subject to the travel ban from detention, senators were challenged on their votes for Trump nominees. When Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) arrived at Dulles International Airport and delivered a speech about fighting this administration, a protester yelled, Will you block his nominees?

I will be blocking; I will be fighting against many of their nominees, including an attorney general nominee who I believed was involved in this tonight, Booker said.

That drew applause at the time, but Bookers use of the word many led to criticism online. And the demands for rougher Democratic tactics are not limited to the partys activist base. Shakir is a veteran of the office of former Senate Democratic leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.); Adam Jentleson, who was Reids former deputy chief of staff, argued in The Washington Post on Friday that Democrats should deny unanimous consent on Trump nominees, forcing Republicans to spend extra days debating them.

With 48 senators in their caucus, [Democrats] have the votes to block most bills, Jentleson wrote. But even when Democrats dont have the votes, they can force McConnell to spend time jumping through procedural hoops. This is the insight McConnell deployed against Reid to manufacture the appearance of gridlock, forcing him to use the cloture process more than 600 times.

Read more at PowerPost

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Democrats will attempt to rescind Trump's travel ban - Washington Post