5: Nominating Neil Gorsuch Is the Most Important Thing Trump Has Done So Far
The conservative judge could shape the country for a generation. No wonder the Supreme Court nomination process has become a battleground.
In his first two weeks in office, President Donald Trump has governed like a cable news junkie who’s surrounded himself with ideologues, issuing sometimes vague and sloppily worded executive orders, beefing with the media, and pushing forward policies that stirred up dissent and unease within the federal government. His executive order banning (at least temporarily) all refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US is being challenged in court, and the lasting results of several of his other actions remains to be seen—so the most important, enduring move of his presidency can probably be said to have happened on Tuesday night, when he announced he was nominating Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
The nomination itself was steeped in the sort of ratings-maximizing showbiz moves Trump favors—he announced he would do the announcing at 8 PM EST (primetime, of course), then said he was bringing two finalists to Washington, DC, in advance of the nomination. This was building suspense where there really didn’t need to be any—everyone already knew this pick was hugely important, since it would break a 4–4 tie between Democratic- and Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices. Before the election, many conservatives said that they would vote for Trump solely to keep the country’s highest court out of liberal hands; whatever happens in the next four years, they got their wish on Tuesday.
Even most liberals agree that Gorsuch is qualified for a spot on the highest court. But his qualifications, and even to an extent his personal beliefs, are almost beside the point. In recent years, the Supreme Court has become not so much politicized as weaponized in the culture wars over issues like gay marriage, guns, and abortion, and both the right and the left see him not so much as an individual but as part of a five-justice arsenal poised to make America as a whole more like its red states.
Vice News
4: Israel evacuates settlers from illegal Amona outpost
Israeli border police have clashed with Jewish settlers resisting the eviction of a hardline Jewish settlement outpost in the occupied West Bank after a court ruled the homes were built on private Palestinian land.
Police said on Wednesday they were “attacked by anarchists with materials that made their eyes burn,” adding that more than a dozen officers were “lightly wounded by stones and the liquids thrown at them”.
Youths confronted the forces with chants such as “How will you feel tomorrow after you evacuate a Jew from his home?” and “Today it’s me, tomorrow it will be you,” as police began evacuating them from the area.
At least four protesters were arrested.
Aljazeera
President Donald Trump has announced his pick for the Supreme Court to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia: Judge Neil Gorsuch. He’s a member of the Federalist Society and is widely seen as conservative jurist. As a judge on the Tenth Circuit, Neil Gorsuch ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby in the case deciding whether the company could refuse to provide birth control coverage to employees as required by Obamacare. Judge Gorsuch also has a long history of ruling against employees in cases involving federal race, sex, age, disability and political discrimination and retaliation claims. Senate Democrats have vowed to filibuster his nomination. For more, we speak with Ian Millhiser, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and justice editor of ThinkProgress. We also speak with Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice.
Democracy Now
2: Eight-year-old American girl ‘killed in Yemen raid approved by Trump’
President Donald Trump personally approved a US commando raid in Yemen that left one elite serviceman dead and may have killed an eight-year-old American girl, the US military has told the Guardian.
At least 14 people died in Sunday’s raid by the elite Joint Special Operations Command, which is now the subject of a preliminary inquiry to determine if allegations of civilian deaths are sufficiently credible to merit a full investigation.
The operation was launched to gather intelligence on suspected operations by al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula (AQAP), according to Colonel John Thomas, a spokesman for US Central Command. Planning for the raid “started months before”, under Barack Obama’s administration, but was “not previously approved”, he said.
The Guardian
1: BILLIONAIRE TRUMP ADVISER PETER THIEL BOUGHT HIS NEW ZEALAND CITIZENSHIP, DOCUMENTS SHOW
IN 2011, BEFORE Peter Thiel became a household name for his covert campaign against a free press or his loud support for Donald Trump, he was engaged in another covert plan: secretly securing citizenship in New Zealand, where according to a recent New Yorker article, he hopes to safely ride out the apocalypse. As part of his purchase, the new adviser to Trump’s “America First” administration swore an oath to Queen Elizabeth.
A 145-page set of documents released by the New Zealand government in the wake of public outrage in that country shows that Thiel would have been denied citizenship on the self-admitted fact that he has never lived in the country and has no plans to do so:
The Intercept
