January 31 - Trump Announces His SCOTUS Choice of Neil Gorsuch; Gorsuch is More Reactionary Than Scalia; Will the Democrats Make a Stand Against a Stolen Seat?; Gorsuch as an Extreme Corporatist

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the announcement expected at any minute by President Trump of his nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left since the death of Antonin Scalia that President Obama attempted to fill but the Republicans played hardball and would not allow Obama’s choice of a moderate Merrick Garland even a hearing let alone a vote.

Part 2

We begin with an initial response to Trump’s choice from Lisa Graves who served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department, as Chief Counsel for Nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee and as a Deputy Chief for the U.S. Courts.

Then we speak with Paul S Ryan, the Vice President of Litigation and Policy at Common Cause about the highly-charged atmosphere in Washington as Democrats consider delaying a vote on Senator Jeff Sessions to head up the Justice Department, which has just had its acting Attorney General fired by the White House, after today boycotting key votes on two of Trump’s cabinet nominees, Stene Mnuchin at Treasury and Congressman Tom Price as the new head of H.H.S. We discuss the possibility of this just-announced nominee to the Supreme Court being filibustered in the Senate by Democrats, many of whom feel they should not vote to confirm any Trump nominee to the Supreme Court since the appointment to fill Scalia’s seat has already been “stolen” by the Republicans.

Part 3

Then we discuss Trump’s just-announced Supreme Court nominee’s qualifications, record and likelihood of confirmation with Caroline Fredrickson, the President of the American Constitution Society which is a progressive counterweight to the Federalist Society, a Koch brothers-funded group of conservative judicial activists who have been influential and successful in getting right wing judges in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas appointed to the federal bench.

Part 4

Then finally we discuss the chances of the confirmation of this nominee just put forward by President Trump being confirmed and whether and for how long the Supreme Court could function with an evenly divided court of eight justices. Daniel Goldberg, the Legal Director at the Alliance For Justice who served as Chief of Staff of the Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs, joins us to discuss whether the Democrat’s decision to stand up to the Trump train was sparked by the firing of the acting Attorney General or is the growing resistance to the Trump/Bannon presidency being fueled by a fury at the grassroots.