First Draft on Politics: 'Demoralizing' and 'Disheartening'

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, February 9, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [President Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday.]( President Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Doug Mills/The New York Times Good Thursday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - President Trump called a federal court hearing on his travel ban “disgraceful” and said the judges failed to grasp concepts that “a bad high school student would understand.” But President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Neil M. Gorsuch, [said the president’s attack]( was “demoralizing” and “disheartening.” - Senator Jeff Sessions was confirmed as attorney general in a 52-to-47 vote that [ended a racially charged battle](. The debate was dominated by the Senate’s formal rebuke of Senator Elizabeth Warren. - Silenced on the Senate floor for condemning a peer, Ms. Warren emerged in a coveted role: the [avatar of liberal resistance]( in the age of Trump. - Mr. Trump [assailed Nordstrom]( for “unfairly” dropping his daughter Ivanka’s clothing line, once again raising questions about the relationship between Mr. Trump’s presidency and his family’s businesses. HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT What We’re Watching - All eyes remain on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which could rule as soon as Thursday in the travel ban case. An appeal to the Supreme Court is likely no matter the outcome. - Mr. Trump has a full day of meetings at the White House, starting with executives from the airline industry. He is also scheduled to call the leaders of Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar. - Over lunch, Mr. Trump will meet with several senators to discuss his Supreme Court nominee. Guests include several moderate Democrats up for re-election in states Mr. Trump won. - Senate Republicans and Democrats continue their tug of war over Mr. Trump’s cabinet picks. Next up: Representative Tom Price, Mr. Trump’s choice to lead health and human services. [The Morning Briefing. In Your Inbox.]( Sign up for the Morning Briefing. Get what you need to know to start your day, delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday. [• Sign Up »]( [Behind the Rule Used Against Warren]( By CARL HULSE [A statue of Thomas Jefferson at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2012.]( A statue of Thomas Jefferson at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2012. Andrew Councill for The New York Times Thomas Jefferson wrote the original rules of the Senate, and they have been tinkered with ever since. One such alteration came after an [indecorous fistfight]( in 1902 between two South Carolina Democrats — Ben (Pitchfork) Tillman and John L. McLaurin. The two exchanged blows after Mr. Tillman accused his colleague of corruption and Mr. McLaurin called his colleague a liar. The Times’s front-page story on the senators’ fistfight in 1902. [Read the story »]( As a result, the Senate expanded [Rule XIX]( on floor debate to prohibit senators from imputing “to another senator or to other senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a senator.” The idea was not to stop fistfights as much as to stop senators from saying things that lead to fistfights. That provision is suddenly famous after Senate Republicans [applied it]( Tuesday night to Senator Elizabeth Warren to prevent her from expounding on the floor against her colleague, Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, who was [confirmed as attorney general]( on Wednesday. Led by Senator Mitch McConnell, Republicans held her in violation of the rule for attempting to read [a letter Coretta Scott King wrote]( in 1986 condemning Mr. Sessions’s civil rights record. Ms. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, was forced to stop speaking, but the backlash greatly [magnified her message](. Democrats complained that the rule had been enforced subjectively over the years. Indeed, several of Ms. Warren’s Democratic colleagues subsequently read the letter on the Senate floor without objection. And there have been other contemporary incidents that seemed to rise more to the level of shutting down a floor speech. This week’s blowup is likely to focus more attention on the rule and lead to further attempts to apply it in an increasingly partisan upper chamber. Jefferson’s rules required members to refrain from indecent language as well as any “hissing, coughing, spitting” done in an attempt to disturb the speech of another. And he also had this requirement: “No one is to speak impertinently or beside the question, superfluous, or tediously.” No doubt some would like to see that provision more strictly enforced, particularly the tedious part. [Gorsuch Calls Trump’s Attacks on Judiciary ‘Demoralizing’]( By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS President Trump escalated his feud with the courts over his travel ban, saying the judges had failed to grasp concepts even “a bad high school student would understand.” [Jeff Sessions Confirmed as Attorney General, Capping Bitter Battle]( By ERIC LICHTBLAU AND MATT FLEGENHEIMER The Alabama senator survived a near-party-line vote after a racially charged nomination battle that crested with the procedural silencing of Senator Elizabeth Warren. [Trump’s Cabinet Picks Have Faced Record-Setting Opposition]( By ADAM PEARCE With less than half of the cabinet in place, President Trump’s confirmed nominees have already faced an unprecedented level of opposition. [Shutting Down Speech by Warren, G.O.P. Amplifies Her Message]( By MATT FLEGENHEIMER Senate Republicans halted her remarks after she criticized a colleague, Jeff Sessions, before his confirmation as attorney general, by reading a letter from Coretta Scott King. [Intel, in Show of Support for Trump, Announces Factory in Arizona]( By VINDU GOEL The world’s largest chip manufacturer, which opposes President Trump’s immigration order but backs his tax and regulatory plans, will invest $7 billion to finish a factory conceived in 2011. [Yemen Backtracks on Suspending U.S. Raids After Civilian Casualties]( By ERIC SCHMITT Yemeni officials are caught between the public outrage at home over civilian deaths and fear of losing American counterterrorism assistance. [Trump’s Threat to Texas State Senator Angers Democrats]( By MANNY FERNANDEZ AND DAVID MONTGOMERY A comment by President Trump has cast a spotlight on the seizing of suspects’ property before they have been convicted of a crime. On Washington [McConnell Is Very Happy With Trump Presidency, So Far]( By CARL HULSE The Senate majority leader said President Trump’s decisions so far had been “right-of-center things that we would have hoped” a Republican president would make. [Melania Trump Names Anna Cristina Niceta Lloyd as Her Social Secretary]( By KATIE ROGERS Ms. Niceta Lloyd helped coordinate President Trump’s Inauguration Day celebrations and has ties to the Washington establishment. What We’re Reading - With the White House considering more actions on immigration, The Washington Post [took a deeper look]( at the capital’s illegal immigrants “who share streets, sidewalks and Metro trains with the very people making those decisions.” - Chris Kennedy, a Chicago businessman and the son of Robert F. Kennedy, [entered the race for the Illinois governorship]( on Wednesday and quickly began criticizing Bruce Rauner, the state’s Republican governor, The Chicago Tribune reported. - The race will probably turn on the growing fiscal problems in Illinois. As the race heats up, Reuters profiled Michael Madigan, the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and [“the man behind the fiscal fiasco.”]( ADVERTISEMENT [Harold T. Martin III’s house in Glen Burnie, Md., in October. He was indicted on Wednesday on charges of stealing highly classified information.]( [Government Contractor Indicted in Theft of Top-Secret Documents]( By ADAM GOLDMAN Prosecutors said Harold T. Martin III stole an array of information, including material on counterterrorism operations, a foreign intelligence target and the launch of a satellite. [Ivanka Trump during a meeting with business executives in the State Dining Room of the White House last week.]( [Ivanka Trump Reported to Have Stepped Down as Murdoch Trustee]( By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA Her role highlights the close ties between President Trump’s family and Rupert Murdoch’s family, which controls Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets. [The military aide responsible for carrying the briefcase of nuclear codes must be near President Trump at all times, including at his home at Trump Tower in Manhattan.]( [Why the Defense Dept. Is Looking to Lease Space in Trump Tower]( By HELENE COOPER The search for space follows a tradition of finding a place close to the commander in chief for his top military aides, including the ones who carry the nuclear codes. [Senator Elizabeth Warren at a protest against Betsy DeVos’s nomination as education secretary on Monday.]( [‘Nevertheless, She Persisted’: How Silencing of Warren Became a Meme]( By DANIEL VICTOR Mitch McConnell’s words regarding a Senate action against Elizabeth Warren became a rallying cry on social media. [Limits on Gov. Roy Cooper’s power were passed in the bitter aftermath of November’s election.]( [North Carolina Judges Suspend Limit on Governor’s Powers]( By MITCH SMITH A three-judge panel has temporarily halted part of a Republican-backed law that strips powers from the newly elected Democratic governor. [Golden State point guard Stephen Curry is one of Under Armour’s highest-paid endorsers.]( [Stephen Curry Takes Issue With Under Armour Leader on Trump]( By JACK WILLIAMS Curry, one of the company’s highest-paid endorsers, responded a day after Kevin Plank described the president as “a real asset” to the country.  [Bruce Jessen, left, and James Mitchell]( [Pentagon Unit Considered Setting Up a Secret Overseas Prison]( By JAMES RISEN AND SHERI FINK The proposal was presented in a 2002 memo written in part by one of the psychologists who eventually helped create the C.I.A.’s “enhanced interrogation” program. [Joseph R. Biden Jr. with his daughter, Ashley Biden, during a fashion event in New York unveiling Ms. Biden’s hoodies collection.]( [Joe Biden Drops by a Fashion Party. The Reason? His Daughter.]( By VALERIYA SAFRONOVA The former vice president celebrated Ashley Biden’s collection of cause-related hoodies at an event in TriBeCa. He turned out to be the star guest. [Ivan Fischer conducting a rehearsal of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.]( [An Orchestra Triumphs Over Trump’s Travel Ban]( By MICHAEL COOPER The Budapest Festival Orchestra has continued its American tour, intact, after finding one of its musicians temporarily barred from the United States. [John Gadzinski, an airline pilot and air safety consultant, said he worried about the confrontational style of the new administration.]( [Travel Ban Could Be Just the Beginning of Upheaval for Airlines]( By CHRISTINE NEGRONI The industry sees the new administration, which is considering privatizing air traffic control and reducing regulations, as having a disruptive influence on aviation. [Dont’a Hightower held the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the Patriots defeated the Falcons in Super Bowl LI on Sunday.]( [A Third New England Patriot Says He Will Skip a White House Visit]( By VICTOR MATHER Linebacker Dont’a Hightower on Wednesday became the latest Super Bowl champion to bow out of the traditional meeting with the president.  HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. 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