February 1, 2017 Open Thread

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1. jft says:

   February 1, 2017 at 8:51 am

   The university’s response is unsurprisingly cowardly and devoid of anything resembling compassion for its student body. Perhaps if Trump vows to ban godawful football teams, we’ll see Assanis begin to grow a spine.

2. puck says:

   February 1, 2017 at 9:44 am

   NPR interviews Chris Coons this morning on Gorsuch nomination:

   Q [Are you planning join a filibuster against Gorsuch?]

   COONS: Well let’s first be clear about what a filibuster means here. The two justices that were confirmed under President Obama’s term both had to clear a 60-vote bar. Both Justice Kagan and Justice Sotomayor were confirmed by a greater than 60 vote margin. And Senator Schumer has already said he will insist on a 60 vote margin for this vote. That is technically a “filbuster.” But I find that talking to folks at home in Delaware that they have an image in their head, perhaps from movies, that a filibuster means putting on a diaper, staying up all night, and talking for twelve hours. What I’m focused on is the first step, which is ensuring that Judge Gorsuch gets the full and thorough hearing and vetting in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee that DC Circuit Judge Merrick Garland, nominated by President Obama nearly a year ago, never received. I think the American people deserve to hear what Judge Gorsuch’s answers are to probing and tough and challenging questions about his views on a wide range of Constitutional issues.

   Q: Do you understand that instinct by some of your colleagues to do the same, to retaliate in response to what Republicans did to the Merrick Garland nomination?

   COONS: Of course. Judge Garland is a terrific man, is a balanced and thoughtful and capable jurist. When Justice Scalia passed away I and a number of other Democrats called on President Obama to nominate someone who is eminently qualified, and eminently confirmable, and Merrick Garland was that nominee. It was outrageous, it broke all precedent in the last hundred years in the Senate Judiciary Committee for Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans to deny him even a hearing or a vote on committee for most of a year.

   Q: What about Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks? Democrats have been walking out and boycotting votes, most recently on the nominations for Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin, HHS Secretary Tom Price… what do you make of that action?

   COONS: Well we have relatively few levers to challenge President Trump’s nominees, and we are using what tools we have. Yesterday for example Senator sessions was to be voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on which I serve, and each of us chose to speak long enough that we pushed the vote another day–

   Q: — which could be seen as obstructionist, which Donald Trump has suggested it is–

   COONS: — could be seen as obstructionist, or could be seen as making sure that we’ve made clear to everybody what our views are and why we are voting against him. So there are relatively few tools we have at our disposal, and we will use them, because frankly, the executive orders that President Trump has issued in recent days are cause for real alarm, and in the case of a number of these nominees, particularly the Attorney General nominee, the Secretary of State nominee, we don’t have an answer from them yet about their views on what I think is an unconstitutional ban on Muslims.

   Q: So you’re calling for people to come together to give Neil Gorsuch, the Supreme Court nominee, a hearing, but you see that somehow as fundamentally different from the Cabinet picks that you think need more consideration.

   COONS: We did give Senator Jeff Sessions a very full hearing – two full days in fact, and I commend the committee chairman for doing that, for letting us have a nine-hour hearing, where Senator Sessions answered virtually every question we put to him, and we then had a full second day. That’s the sort of hearing I’m envisioning also on the Senate Judiciary Commitee for Judge Gorsuch.

   Q: From what you know of Judge Gorsuch, could you see yourself supporting him?

   COONS: I’m going to keep an open mind. I’m going to dig into his record. I’ve already started reading into the background of a number of his cases. He is on the conservative end of the legal spectrum, and he supports a number of radical departures from settled law that concern me. But I’m going to dig into the details and the background, and look forward to meeting with him.

3. mouse says:

   February 1, 2017 at 11:04 am

   Coons’s diaper comment troubles me a bit. I hope he hasn’t been showered in gold at one of Trump’s pee pee parties. There’s no turning back after that.

4. Jason330 says:

   February 1, 2017 at 1:20 pm

   Anyone think that the Dems are going to filibuster this nomination? I doubt it because they are a bunch of pussies and weirdos how seem to enjoy being pushed around.

   If they do find the guts to fight trump, anyone think Coons will find the guts to stick with them?
   No way in hell.

   If Coons does and the Dems hold together, anyone think McConnell will think twice about nuking the filibuster? Of course he’ll nuke it.

   No matter how this plays out, the theft of Obsma’s nomination will stand.