WTF Just Happened Today

Monday, February 1, 2021

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1/ Trump Picks Neil Gorsuch, A Scalia Clone, For The Supreme Court. Ideologically, Gorsuch would almost certainly represent a reliably conservative vote and voice. Gorsuch would be the most conservative justice save for the silent stalwart Justice Clarence Thomas and would sit somewhere just to the right of the ideological space occupied by Scalia. (FiveThirtyEight)

UPDATE: What Gorsuch means for the Supreme Court. 13 top legal scholars weigh in. (Politico)

Related:

• Where Gorsuch would fit on the Supreme Court. Should he be confirmed, the court will return to a familiar dynamic, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy holding the decisive vote in many closely divided cases. (NY Times)

• Who Is Neil Gorsuch? Like Justice Antonin Scalia, Gorsuch has cultivated a reputation as a memorable and clear author of legal opinions. (NPR)

• Why Liberals should back Gorsuch. One basic criterion should be paramount: Is the nominee someone who will stand up for the rule of law and say no to a president or Congress that strays beyond the Constitution and laws? (NY Times)

• Why Democrats should oppose Gorsuch. The presumption should be that Gorsuch does not deserve confirmation, because the process that led to his nomination was illegitimate. (NY Times)

2/ Trump to McConnell: Go nuclear if necessary. But McConnell, a well-known institutionalist, has been noncommittal about whether he would invoke the so-called “nuclear option” to force Gorsuch through the upper chamber. (The Hill)

Related:

• Make Republicans nuke the filibuster to confirm Gorsuch. Once Mitch McConnell blockaded Barack Obama’s last Supreme Court nomination, and then Donald Trump carried the Electoral College, the chance that Republicans would fill the vacancy rose to 100 percent. McConnell already indicated that he does not respect Democrats’ right to filibuster, and that he would eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations if one is used. It is McConnell, his extraordinary blockade tactic, who has functionally changed the rules of the game. He should be forced to do it in name. (New York Magazine)

3/ Rex Tillerson is confirmed as Secretary of State amid record opposition. The votes against Mr. Tillerson’s confirmation were the most in Senate history (NY Times)

4/ Sessions approved by Senate committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Sessions 11-9 along party lines. His nomination now goes to the floor, where he is widely expected to be confirmed given the GOP’s 52-seat majority. (The Hill)

5/ Republicans suspend committee rules, advance Mnuchin, Price nominations...

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