Alabama politicians react to Donald Trump’s SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch
Within minutes of President Donald Trump‘s official announcement naming federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch his U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Alabama politicians began to weigh-in as to what they thought of the decision. Here’s what they’re saying: U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby: After the untimely death of the conservative lion Justice Antonin Scalia, I strongly believed that the American people deserved a voice in filling this critical vacancy. President Trump has made an outstanding selection in nominating Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, and I am confident that he will preserve Scalia’s legacy on the bench for generations to come. Our next Supreme Court Justice must be a steadfast supporter of the rule of law with an unwavering commitment to the Constitution. There is no doubt that Judge Gorsuch meets these necessary qualifications. I look forward to supporting his nomination and urge my Senate colleagues to join me. Alabama 1st District U.S. Rep Bradley Byrne: I think Judge Gorsuch will be an excellent addition to the Supreme Court. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a deep understanding and appreciation for the law. I hope the Senate will act swiftly to confirm him. Alabama 2nd District U.S. Rep Martha Roby: I applaud President Trump for his selection of such a highly qualified and capable nominee. The addition of Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court would hasten our government’s return to Constitutional balance and our country’s return to following the rule of law. There is no question that Judge Gorsuch is qualified to serve on the Supreme Court, and I urge the Senate to quickly begin confirmation proceedings. Alabama 3rd District U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers: I am thrilled that President Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to replace Justice Antonin Scalia’s conservative voice. We need a Supreme Court Justice who will adhere to the Constitution and understand that power resides with the American people. Judge Gorsuch will do just that, and I look forward to a fair and timely confirmation process by the Senate. Alabama 4th District U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt: Judge Neil Gorsuch appears to be an excellent choice to serve on our nation’s highest court. The most important duty of a Supreme Court Justice is solely to interpret the United States Constitution as it is written. The court does not need activist judges who ignore our founding document and simply write new laws. Many are confident that Judge Gorsuch has the judicial temperament to let the letter of the law govern his decisions. Based on Gorsuch’s record, I believe he will follow the example of the late Justice Antonin Scalia and examine the law through the lens of the constitution. Alabama 5th District U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks: President Donald Trump has selected excellent cabinet and staff members and his Supreme Court nomination is no exception. Judge Neil Gorsuch will make a terrific U.S. Supreme Court justice. Too many of our justices have succumbed to the vanity and arrogance of creating new law through judicial edict. I have the utmost respect for Judge Gorsuch’s commitment and record of ruling on issues before his court based on rational interpretation of the original intent of the Constitution or law, regardless of his personal opinions. Judge Gorsuch’s commitment to this fundamental legal philosophy is absolutely essential to preserving the rule of law in our democratically elected representative government, and I look forward to his swift confirmation. Alabama 7th District U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell: In the coming days and weeks, I look forward to learning more about the judicial opinions and constitutional philosophy of Judge Gorsuch. Given the consequential nature of this nomination, it is imperative that my Senate colleagues rigorously vet his legal opinions and jurisprudence, and ensure his philosophies are consistent with our Constitution and values as a nation. At this critical juncture in our nation’s history, it is important that this nominee be a fair and impartial adjudicator of the laws that protect the rights of all Americans.
Judge Neil Gorsuch: What you need to know about the SCOTUS nominee
President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gorsuch, 49, serves on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, where he has made a name for himself as a graceful writer. Gorsuch is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, and served as a law clerk to Justices Anthony Kennedy and fellow Coloradan Byron White. If chosen, he would be the first justice to serve with a colleague for whom he once worked. With a clear, colloquial writing style, Gorsuch has written in favor of courts’ second-guessing government regulations, in defense of religious freedom and skeptically about law enforcement. He has contended that courts give too much deference to government agencies’ interpretations of statutes. He sided with two groups that mounted religious objections to the Obama administration’s requirements that employers provide health insurance that includes contraception for women. He is the son of President Ronald Reagan’s Environmental Protection Agency chief, Anne Gorsuch. He worked for two years in Bush’s Justice Department before Bush appointed him to his appeals court seat. He was confirmed by a voice vote in 2006. Gorsuch has written 175 majority opinions and 65 concurrences or dissents in his decade on the 10th Circuit, according to Rebecca Love Kourlis, a former Colorado Supreme Court justice. Gorsuch also is a notable advocate for simplifying the justice system to make it more accessible, Kourlis said. Gorsuch is also an avid skier, fly fisherman and horseback rider, Kourlis said. He teaches at the University of Colorado’s law school in Boulder. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Donald Trump taps Neil Gorsuch for the US Supreme Court
President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch, a federal appeals court judge in Denver, to fill the U.S. Supreme Court seat left open by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016. Trump said he had promised to nominate a judge who respected the law and loved the Constitution. “Millions of voters said this was the single most important issue to them and I am a man of my word and will do what I say, something the American people have been asking of Washington for a very long time,” Trump said during the primetime announcement. A Denver native, the 49-year old would be among the youngest nominees for the court. Justice Clarence Thomas was 43 when nominated, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan were each 50 when confirmed. Gorsuch received degrees from Columbia University, Harvard Law School and the University of Oxford and was appointed to the appeals court in 2006 by former President George W. Bush. Prior to that he served as a law clerk for the late Justice Byron White and Justice Anthony Kennedy — which could make him the first Justice to serve alongside a fellow Justice he clerked for (Kennedy). “When we judges don our robes, it doesn’t make us any smarter,” Gorsuch said after Trump announced his nomination. “But it does serve as a reminder of what’s expected of us: Impartiality and independence. Collegiality and courage.” If confirmed, Gorsuch would restore the 5-to-4 split between liberals and conservatives in the land’s highest court. Justice Scalia and Judge Gorsuch photo obtained by @Arianedevogue pic.twitter.com/Tw1ydGczhq — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 31, 2017
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Senate Democrats escalate fight over Jeff Sessions after Donald Trump fires Sally Yates
Senate Democrats doubled-down on their opposition to President Donald Trump‘s pick for attorney general, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, questioning his independence following Trump’s Monday night dismissal of the acting attorney general Sally Yates for refusing to enforce his executive order on immigration. The vote on Sessions’ nomination has been delayed until Wednesday. Democratic senators spent several hours Tuesday morning detailing the reservations they have about Sessions’ ability to be an independent attorney general, serving as a power-check to Trump who already believe is already pushing the bounds of his executive powers. “That is what an attorney general must be willing and able to do,” said the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, California-Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein. “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.” “Will he support and defend these broad and disruptive executive orders? Will he carry out and enforce the president’s actions that may very well violate the Constitution? It’s not difficult to assess that he will,” Feinstein concluded. Vermont-Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy joined in voicing his opposition. “What we saw last night demonstrates what is at stake with this nomination,” said Leahy during the Tuesday morning meeting. “The attorney general is the people’s attorney. Not the president’s attorney. He or she does not wear two hats at once. I have very serious doubts that Senator Sessions would be an independent attorney general,” Leahy added. The Committee vote on Sessions’ nomination will now take place 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Robert Bentley: Alabama will not support sanctuary cities that shelter illegal immigrants
Gov. Robert Bentley on Tuesday announced Alabama will not support sanctuary cities in the wake of a resolution passed by the Birmingham City Council. “President Trump has already taken decisive and necessary action to enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” Bentley said in a news release. “Alabama will not support sanctuary cities or institutions that harbor or shelter illegal immigrants, and are in clear violation of the laws of the nation.” The Birmingham City Council approved a resolution on Tuesday expressing support for illegal immigrants but not officially declaring the city a sanctuary — an official designation given to cities that follow certain procedures that shelters undocumented immigrants.
Dems force delays in votes on Jeff Sessions, Steve Mnuchin, Tom Price
Democrats forced delays Tuesday in planned Senate committee votes on President Donald Trump‘s picks for Health and Treasury secretaries and attorney general, amid growing Democratic surliness over the administration’s aggressive early moves against refugees and an expected bitter battle over filling the Supreme Court vacancy. Democrats abruptly boycotted a Senate Finance Committee meeting called to vote on Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the Health nominee and Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s Treasury selection, saying both had misled Congress about their financial backgrounds. The Democrats’ action prevented the Finance panel from acting because under committee rules, 13 of its members — including at least one Democrat — must be present for votes. It was unclear when the panel would reschedule to votes. At the Senate Judiciary Committee, a meeting considering Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to be attorney general lasted so long — chiefly because of lengthy Democratic speeches — that Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the panel would meet again Wednesday. The meeting on Sessions’ nomination was coming with Democrats and demonstrators around the country in an uproar over Trump’s executive order temporarily blocking refugees. Even some Republicans were warning it could hinder anti-terrorism efforts. Not everything ground to a halt. The Senate education committee voted 12-11 to send Trump’s pick to head the Education Department, Betsy DeVos, to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee quickly approved former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as Energy secretary by 16-7, and Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., to head Interior by 16-6. And the full Senate easily confirmed Elaine Chao to become transportation secretary by a 93-6 vote. Chao was labor secretary under President George W. Bush, and is wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Just before the Finance committee was scheduled to vote on Price and Mnuchin, Democrats called a briefing for reporters and announced their plan to force a delay. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Price and Mnuchin would hold positions “that directly affect peoples’ lives every day. The truth matters.” Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, accused Democrats of “a lack of desire to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities.” “They ought to stop posturing and acting like idiots,” he said. In 2013 when Democrats controlled the Senate, Republicans boycotted a committee vote on Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency, temporarily stalling it. Democrats cited one report in The Wall Street Journal that Price received a special, discounted offer to buy stock in a biomedical company, which contradicted his testimony to Congress. They said another report in The Columbus Dispatch showed documents revealing that Mnuchin had not been truthful with the Senate in the confirmation process in comments about how his bank OneWest had handled home foreclosures. Republicans have supported both men, and both have strongly defended their actions. Democrats have opposed Price, a seven-term congressional veteran, for his staunch backing of his party’s drive to scuttle Obama’s health care law and to reshape Medicare and Medicaid, which help older and low-income people afford medical care. They’ve also assailed Price for buying stocks of health care firms, accusing him of using insider information and conflicts of interest for backing legislation that could help his investments. Price says his trades were largely managed by brokers and that he’s followed congressional ethics rules. Democrats have criticized Mnuchin for not initially revealing nearly $100 million in assets, and were expected to vote against both nominees. They’ve also accused him of failing to protect homeowners from foreclosures and criticized him for not initially disclosing all his assets. DeVos, a wealthy GOP donor and conservative activist, has long supported charter schools and allowing school choice. That’s prompted opposition from Democrats and teachers’ unions who view her stance as a threat to federal dollars that support public education. Critics have also mocked her for suggesting that guns could be justified in schools to protect students from grizzly bears. Two prominent Republicans on the education committee, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, said they remained uncertain if they will vote for her on the Senate floor. Murkowski said DeVos has yet to prove that she deeply cares about America’s struggling schools and its children. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
White House says it won’t roll back LGBTQ protections
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he won’t roll back federal workplace protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people, giving a rare nod of approval to President Barack Obama‘s work on the issue. In a statement released early morning, the White House said Obama’s 2014 executive order prohibiting LGBTQ workplace discrimination would remain intact “at the direction” of Trump. The announcement came just hours before Trump was to announce his pick for the Supreme Court. That nominee, if confirmed by the Senate, would have a say in potential court challenges to gay marriage rights. The Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage in 2015, but efforts are underway in some states to try to restrict the scope of the decision. “President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election,” according to the White House statement. “The president is proud to have been the first ever GOP nominee to mention the LGBTQ community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression.” The Trump administration has vowed to gut much of President Barack Obama’s work from the past eight years and had been scrutinizing the 2014 order. Obama’s directive protects people from LGBTQ discrimination while working for federal contractors. Human Rights Campaign, an opponent of the Trump administration, said it isn’t convinced of the president’s commitment to LGBTQ rights. HRC President Chad Griffin said Trump “has left the key question unanswered — will he commit to opposing any executive actions that allow government employees, taxpayer-funded organizations or even companies to discriminate?” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
After Donald Trump’s immigration order, new scrutiny rises over Jeff Sessions AG confirmation
A news coverage roundup of Jeff Sessions’ upcoming attorney general confirmation hearing in the wake of Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning immigration from seven Middle East and African nations, The Alabama Senator faces a vote Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, a day after the president dismissed Acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she questioned the legality of his immigration directive. The Huffington Post — What was Jeff Sessions’ role in Donald Trump’s immigration order? Amid growing evidence that the Trump administration rushed into a legally- and constitutionally-shaky ban on immigration from seven Middle East and African nations, the U.S. Senate is about to rush to judgment on the president’s top legal adviser, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama. That would be a mistake. And thankfully, it’s one the Senate can still avoid. With a vote scheduled Tuesday morning in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sessions’ nomination, Chairman Charles Grassley should order a new hearing and a delay in voting so that senators can learn what role Sessions played in drafting the immigration ban and ascertain his views on its legality and constitutionality. The Washington Post — Donald Trump’s hard-line actions have an intellectual godfather: Jeff Sessions The early days of the Trump presidency have rushed a nationalist agenda long on the fringes of American life into action — and Sessions, the quiet Alabamian who long cultivated those ideas as a Senate backbencher, has become a singular power in this new Washington. Sessions’s ideology is driven by a visceral aversion to what he calls “soulless globalism,” a term used on the extreme right to convey a perceived threat to the United States from free trade, international alliances and the immigration of nonwhites. And despite many reservations among Republicans about that worldview, Sessions — whose 1986 nomination for a federal judgeship was doomed by accusations of racism that he denied — is finding little resistance in Congress to his proposed role as Trump’s attorney general. GQ — Senate Democrats should not vote to confirm Jeff Sessions While you were sitting down to dinner last night, President Trump ignited this country’s most significant constitutional crisis since Nixon‘s Saturday Night Massacre, firing Acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she issued a one-page letter opining that President Trump’s Muslim ban is unlawful and ordering Department of Justice attorneys not to defend it in court. This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on the nomination of the ban’s “intellectual godfather,” Alabama Senator and genteel racist Jeff Sessions, to the position of Attorney General — the very position from which Yates was fired for voicing her opinion on the ban less than 24 hours ago … With Sessions revealed as the ideological heavyweight behind the ban, Yates’s letter suddenly transformed Tuesday’s Judiciary Committee confirmation vote into a litmus test of just how much lawmakers who claim to oppose that ban actually mean it. AL.com — Will Jeff Sessions still be confirmed as Donald Trump AG despite outcry over immigration ban? Tuesday morning’s confirmation hearing for Jeff Sessions, President Donald’s nominee for U.S. Attorney General, will be the first time Sessions has spoken publicly since Trump issued an executive order last week that imposed sweeping restrictions on immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries. The nomination of the former U.S. Senator from Alabama is one of the most contentious of Trump’s cabinet picks, with Democrats, civil rights organizations and immigrant advocates lambasting his long history of policies and actions they describe as racist, divisive and unjust. Despite strong opposition from the left, there is something of a consensus among many political experts, professors, lawyers and pundits that the Sessions is all but guaranteed to ultimately be approved for America’s top law enforcement position. Observers will be watching Tuesday to see if and how Democratic senators — and the handful of Republicans who have publicly criticized the immigration moves — will speak out against the executive orders during the hearing, or even vote against Sessions. CNN — Monday night massacre is a wake-up call to Senate Democrats Frustrated with a President who seems to be running roughshod over American policy, Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, an Obama appointee, announced she would not defend the order. Yates said she would refuse to put the power of the Department of Justice behind this measure in the courts. Human rights, civil rights, and civil liberties supporters were bolstered by her defiance. Then Trump fired her by a hand-delivered letter, revealing the fragility of the opposition to this administration. Even with this blowup, it still does not seem that the Republican Senate, eager to secure this moment of unified government, will do anything to jeopardize Senator Jeff Sessions’ confirmation as Attorney General. And from everything we know, Sessions will be much more than merely willing to enforce this order and anything else that comes from the Trump White House involving immigration and refugees in the coming years. Daily Mail — Donald Trump bashes Democrats for slow-walking Jeff Sessions nomination after he fires rebel deputy attorney general leftover from Obama era Trump unleashed his fury on Democrats this morning for holding up the confirmation of his attorney general, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. ‘When will the Democrats give us our Attorney General and rest of Cabinet! They should be ashamed of themselves! No wonder D.C. doesn’t work!’ he tweeted. Another message nicknamed a leading Democrat Senator ‘Fake Tears Chuck Schumer,’ building on a riff Trump delivered Monday in the Oval Office. Democrats have been taking advantage of Senate rules to slow votes on Trump’s cabinet appointees. NBC News — Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions faces Senate committee vote amid DOJ turmoil Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions is poised to clear his first Senate hurdle Tuesday morning on his way to becoming head of the Department of Justice — a role thrown into sudden upheaval hours after the firing of the acting attorney general … Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the committee, is leading a vote to block
Medicaid commissioner: Alabama at ‘crossroads’ on Medicaid managed care switch
Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar said Monday that the state is at a “crossroads” over whether to continue a proposed switch to managed care. Since 2013, Alabama has been working on a plan to shift some of the state’s 1 million Medicaid patients to managed care provided by Regional Care Organizations. The state pushed back implementation until Oct. 1 because of uncertainty over funding. Azar said federal Medicaid officials will withdraw the waiver if the state does not implement the regional care program by October. “We are at crossroads at the program. We can’t implement it any farther than Oct. 1. and funding, obviously, remains an issue for the program and our Medicaid program in general,” Azar said. Lawmakers approved the shift to managed care in the hopes that it would slow the growth of Medicaid expenses. She said the state Medicaid program will need an increase of about $44 million in the budget lawmakers will begin writing in the session that begins next week. Azar said she did not know what changes the Trump administration will being to Medicaid. “We don’t know what we don’t know,” she said. However, Azar cautioned that the state needs to play a role in any block grant design to make sure the state doesn’t end off “worse off.” Lawmakers used oil spill settlement funds to patch together Medicaid’s budget in 2017 and 2018. Azar said the money was a “god send” for the program. However, she said Medicaid faces a “train wreck” in 2019 without new revenue. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
GOP moves to undo Barack Obama coal rules
Congressional Republicans are moving swiftly to repeal Obama administration regulations aimed at better protecting streams from coal mining debris. Coal country lawmakers unveiled legislation Monday to block the rules, which they say would kill jobs in the coal industry, which is reeling from competition from cleaner-burning natural gas. The legislation unveiled Monday would overturn December regulations through a process that permits Congress to revoke recently-issued rules in a manner that is immune to filibusters by Senate Democrats. The repeal measure is set for a House vote Wednesday and a Senate vote shortly thereafter. “The Stream Protection Rule is the latest in a series of overreaching and misguided Obama-era regulations that have targeted America’s coal industry,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. “If this rule were allowed to stay in place, it would add to the economic devastation for people in coal communities.” The stream protection rules would be the first of several recent Obama administration regulations to be targeted by using the fast-track procedures. Former President Barack Obama easily repelled such moves with vetoes. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the “‘stream buffer’ rule is a harmful regulation that unfairly targets coal jobs.” The regulations would have tightened exceptions to a rule that requires a 100-foot buffer between coal mining and streams. It also would require coal companies to restore streams and return mined areas to conditions similar to those before mining took place. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club support the rules, saying they would protect people in coal country from health risks from pollutants like mercury. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Breaking silence, Barack Obama speaks out on Donald Trump immigrants order
Former President Barack Obama praised protesters who amassed across the country in opposition to President Donald Trump‘s immigration orders, breaking his silence on political issues for the first time since leaving office. “The president fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion,” Obama’s spokesman, Kevin Lewis, said. In his first statement on behalf of the former president, Lewis said Obama was “heartened” by the amount of engagement taking place in U.S. communities. Lewis, a former White House official, pointed out that Obama used his last official speech as president to talk about Americans’ responsibility to be “guardians of our democracy,” even in nonelection years. “Citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake,” Lewis said. Lewis didn’t specifically invoke Trump’s immigration order. But he rejected comparisons between Trump’s recent actions and Obama’s foreign policy decisions. Trump said he took cues from Obama by temporarily banning travel to the U.S. from citizens of seven countries that Obama’s administration identified as places of terrorism concern. But Obama’s designation related strictly to eligibility to enter the U.S. without a visa; he never considered a travel ban. Obama’s office also circulated excerpts from a speech the former president gave in November 2015, in which he called the idea of a ban on Muslims “shameful.” “That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,” Obama said in the aftermath of attacks in Paris that prompted calls for the U.S. to restrict Syrian refugees from entering the United States. Trump and the White House have vigorously disputed the notion that Trump’s order is a “Muslim ban.” Trump’s halts all refugee admissions for 120 days, suspends the Syrian refugee program indefinitely and also suspends entry to the U.S. from seven majority-Muslim countries for 90 days. But the White House has stressed that dozens of other Muslim-majority countries aren’t included. Lewis’ comments mark the first time Obama has weighed in on Trump’s actions since Obama left office on Jan. 20. In his final weeks as president, Obama said he planned to follow George W. Bush‘s example by giving his successor room to govern without being second-guessed. Yet Obama pointedly reserved the right to speak out if Trump violated what Obama called basic American values. He suggested a ban on Muslims or a move by Trump to deport immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children would cross that threshold. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
