memeorandum: GOP changes rules to push through nominees after Dem boycott (Peter Schroeder/The Hill)

1:25 PM ET, February 1, 2017

Top Items:

Neal K. Katyal / New York Times:

Why Liberals Should Back Neil Gorsuch — I am hard-pressed to think of one thing President Trump has done right in the last 11 days since his inauguration. Until Tuesday, when he nominated an extraordinary judge and man, Neil Gorsuch, to be a justice on the Supreme Court.

President Trump had the chance to select:

President Trump had the chance to select a consensus nominee to the Supreme Court. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, he failed that test. — Instead, he carried out his public promise to select a nominee from a list drawn up by far right activist groups that were financed by big business interests.

Discussion: Townhall.com, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley …, The Hill, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, NPR, ThinkProgress and The Week

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Make Republicans Nuke the Filibuster to Confirm Neil Gorsuch

Discussion: Infowars, electionlawblog.org, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Townhall.com, DCist, NBC News, Vox, The Week, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress and TheBlaze

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Trump to McConnell: Go nuclear if necessary

Discussion: CNN, Political Wire and Axios

New York Times:
Neil Gorsuch, the Nominee for a Stolen Seat

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Washington Monthly, TIME, FiveThirtyEight, RealClearPolitics, NPR, The Daily Signal, Infowars, CNN, The American Conservative, Politico, Associated Press, Hit & Run, USA Today and twitchy.com

Fox News:
Ted Cruz reportedly says nuclear option is on table in Supreme Court pick

Discussion: Politico, Instapundit and ABC News

Nikita Vladimirov / The Hill:
Warren says she'll oppose Trump's Supreme Court nominee

Discussion: American Greatness, The Week and Raw Story

Christina Cauterucci / Slate:
What Neil Gorsuch, Trump's SCOTUS Pick, Means for American Women

Discussion: Washington Post, Hot Air, Instapundit, Los Angeles Times, Politico, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, USA Today and Associated Press

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Trump picks Colo. appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court

Daniel Lippman / Politico:
THE BACKSTORY: How Trump got to yes on Gorusch …

Discussion: RedState

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Who is Neil Gorsuch?

Jason Sattler / USA Today:
Time for outrageous obstruction against Gorsuch: Jason Sattler

Discussion: alan.com, Axios, Daily Kos, SCOTUSblog and Washington Post

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:
The Note: Trump Goes With Gorsuch

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico and New York Times

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
How Trump kept Gorsuch nomination a secret until the clock struck 8

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Denver Post, USA Today, Bloomberg, Politico, NPR, New York Times, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Political Wire, Axios and ABC News

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

GOP changes rules to push through nominees after Dem boycott — Senate Republicans pushed through a pair of President Trump's Cabinet nominees Wednesday, upending standard committee rules to circumvent a Democratic boycott. — The Senate Finance Committee advanced a pair of Trump's nominees …

Discussion: Bloomberg, RedState, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Gateway Pundit, Common Dreams, Politicus USA, Discourse.net and Gothamist

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

‘Idiots’ — Senate tensions boil over — The Senate has become embroiled in bitterness and name-calling less than two weeks after Inauguration Day. — The usually genteel chamber of Congress has been anything but recently amid controversial directives from the White House …

Discussion: ABC News and alan.com

CNN:

Republicans vote to suspend committee rules, advance Mnuchin, Price nominations — (CNN)Senate Republicans took an extraordinary step Wednesday to move forward with two of President Donald Trump's top Cabinet nominees after confronting a boycott from Democrats across the aisle.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, TheBlaze, Lawyers, Guns & Money, KTLA and electionlawblog.org

Lydia Wheeler / The Hill:

Sessions approved by Senate committee — A Senate committee voted to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions — (R-Ala.) to be attorney general on Wednesday, two days after the growing controversy surrounding President Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim nations led to the firing of an acting attorney general for insubordination.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Joe.My.God.

Adam Cancryn / Politico:
GOP forces Mnuchin, Price vote to Senate floor

Discussion: Hot Air

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:
Dems boycott confirmation votes for Trump nominees

Discussion: RedState, Axios, Business Insider, taxpolicycenter.org, The Federalist, Politico, CNN, Reuters, TheBlaze, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Post, The Week and Common Dreams

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
“I don't care what they want at this point,” said Orrin Hatch.

Discussion: Power Line and Associated Press

Timothy Cama / The Hill:
Dems boycott committee vote on Trump's EPA pick

Discussion: Political Wire

Us Weekly:

First Lady Melania Trump May Stay in NYC Permanently and Never Move Into the White House — President Donald Trump may have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue all to himself. — Though Donald, 70, and his wife Melania announced in November that the first lady would relocate from New York City …

Discussion: alan.com, IJR, Althouse, Raw Story and AOL

J.D. Durkin / Mediaite:

REPORT: Melania Trump ‘Will Reevaluate’ Plans, May Not End Up Moving Into White House After All — We may soon be able to add yet another thing to the long list of broken presidential traditions. — US Weekly reported minutes ago that First Lady Melania Trump and her family are reconsidering leaving …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Joe.My.God.

Jake Sherman / Politico:

Poll: 1-in-4 voters believe Trump's vote-fraud claims — One in four voters believe President Donald Trump's unsupported claim that millions of votes were illegally cast in the 2016 election, but more people believe that Trump benefited from any electoral malfeasance instead of Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Political Wire and The Week

Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:
Poll: If There Was Voter Fraud, Trump Benefited Most

Discussion: Politicus USA and Washington Times

Bethany Mandel / The Federalist:

Facebook Dead At 12, A Victim Of 2016 — If I were to write an obituary for Facebook, it might look something like this: … The Facebook, known as Facebook or FB for short, was invented as a tool to connect users with friends, family, and occasionally brands.

Alan M. Dershowitz / The Hill:

Sally Yates was wrong and should have resigned — Sally Yates is neither a hero, nor a villain. She made an honest mistake when she instructed the entire Justice Department not to defend President Trump's wrong-headed executive order on immigration. The reasons she gave in her letter referred …

Discussion: Associated Press and twitchy.com

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:
Resistance from within: Federal workers push back against Trump

Discussion: Vox, TheBlaze and New York Times

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

DNC boots candidate from chairmanship race for criticizing Ellison's Islamic faith — The Democratic National Committee is kicking a candidate out of the chairmanship race after he told The Hill that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not be the party's next leader because he is a Muslim.

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Times and Instapundit

Amy Lange / WJBK-TV:

Detroit family caught in Iraq travel ban, mom dies waiting to come home — DETROIT (WJBK) - A local business owner flies to Iraq to bring his mother back home to the US for medical treatment. But under President Trump's ban on immigration and travel from seven predominately Muslim nations, he was forced to leave his family behind.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, The American Conservative, Salon, The Week, theGrio, Engadget and Daily Kos

Cameron Knight / USA Today:

Nation's bacon reserves hit 50-year low as prices rise — The country's bacon reserves are at the lowest levels in half a century. — In other words, pig farmers can't keep up with the world's sizzling appetite for those fatty, smoky strips of sheer eating pleasure.

Discussion: The Week, NBC News, The Daily Caller and WCCO | CBS Minnesota

Jennifer Calfas / The Hill:

Dem: Trump could be impeached over immigration order — Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) says Congress should consider impeaching President Trump if he orders federal agencies to ignore the a judge's stay on parts of his controversial immigration order. — If Trump orders the Customs …

Discussion: Raw Story, RedState and BuzzFeed

KFYR-TV:

Hoeven, Cramer say Acting Secretary of the Army has directed Corps to issue final easement for DAPL — WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator John Hoeven issued the following statement after speaking today with Vice President Pence and Acting Secretary of the Army Robert Speer: