SUPREME COURT // President Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. CatholicVote President Brian Burch: “Gorsuch is an absolutely superb choice. He has an outstanding track record of faithfully applying the law and defending the Constitution — including in two cases where he ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby and the Little Sisters of the Poor — upholding religious liberty for all.” Read CV’s support of Gorsuch: http://cvote.it/2jTnm9b
SUPREME COURT // Pro-life leaders celebrate news of Gorsuch nomination. http://cvote.it/2jTpfTt
SUPREME COURT // The Advocates of religious liberty also cheered the Gorsuch selection. “Judge Gorsuch wrote an eloquent opinion in the Hobby Lobby case. While the majority opinion focused on whether Hobby Lobby was protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” said Hannah Smith of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “Gorsuch focused on the Green family.” http://cvote.it/2jTsLwV
SUPREME COURT // This article highlights the opposition of Senate Democrats to the Gorsuch nomination. But deep down in the article it admits that seven Senate Democrats have already said that they will NOT filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination. http://cvote.it/2jTvl66
MILITARY // The National Catholic Register notes that many of President Trump’s highest-ranking military leaders are Catholic. http://cvote.it/2jTsbPO
SECURITY // Homeland Security Secretary Kelly to tour southern border and will receive briefings from border officials on the Department’s southwest border capabilities and operations. http://cvote.it/2jTngOY
CABINET // Democrats refused to show up at confirmation hearings for Trump’s selection for the Secretary of the Treasury and for Health and Human Services. Without them showing up, there was no quorum, and the voting was delayed. http://cvote.it/2jTtP47
CABINET // Senate committees gave approvals to Betsy DeVos (Education), Rick Perry (Energy), Ryan Zinke (Interior) and Linda McMahon (Small Business Administration). http://cvote.it/2jTpM7S
WORD OF THE DAY // Nuclear option – When the presiding officer of the U.S. Senate disregards a rule or precedent. This most commonly refers to an effort to end a filibuster in the Senate by a simple majority, even though rules specify that ending a filibuster requires the consent of at least 60 senators. According to politicaldictionary.com: “An opinion written by Vice President Richard Nixon in 1957 concluded that the U.S. Constitution grants the presiding officer the authority to override Senate rules in this way. If a majority vote to uphold the presiding officer, his interpretation of the rules becomes a precedent.” It was Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) who first dubbed this option “nuclear” in March 2003, using the metaphor of a nuclear strike.
SAINT // Saint Ansgar – http://cvote.it/dailysaint
DAILY MASS // “The Lord’s kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.” (Ps 103:17) – http://cvote.it/Daily-Readings
SUPREME COURT // As you know, Judge Neil Gorsuch was selected to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Scalia. Here is a picture of Gorsuch and Scalia from a fishing trip in Colorado. The other picture is from last night and shows Judge Gorsuch meeting with Father Paul Scalia and Maureen Scalia, wife of the late Justice Scalia.