C-11-1 Trump Set To Name Supreme Court Pick on Tuesday

President Trump stated today on Twitter that he will announce his nomination for Supreme Court Justice on Tuesday at 8pm ET. Once the nomination is announced, the Senate will debate and vote on the nomination. Trump said to Fox News on Thursday, "I have made my decision pretty much in my mind, yes. That's subject to change at the last moment, but I think this will be a great choice." Former President Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland, but Senate Republicans refused to hold a confirmation vote on the pivotal seat so close to a presidential election. Trump was said to have shortened his list to two federal appeals court judges, Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit and Thomas Hardiman of the Third Circuit.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/30/trump-set-to-name-supreme-court-pick-on-tuesday.html

C-10-3 Ethics Lawyers to Sue Trump Over Continuing Business Interests

Lawyers plan to sue President Trump in federal court Monday for continuing business and receiving money form foreign governments, which is in violation of the Constitution. The non-profit group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington will file a suit Monday morning in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The suit alleges that Trump violated the Constitution the moment he was sworn in as president because he had not divested his interests in the Trump Organization. Among the allegations is leases held by foreign government-owned entities in Trump Tower, bookings at Trump International Hotel, and payments from foreign government-owned broadcasters related to "The Apprentice" and other transactions and leases at a broad array of other establishments owned or licensed by Trump. Sherri Dillon, a prominent D.C lawyers who has represented Trump as a tax counsel since 2005 said at a news conference on January 11 that "no one would have thought when the Constitution was written that paying your hotel bill was an emolument." But Trump "wants to do more than what the Constitution requires. He'll voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotel to the United States Treasury. This way it is the American people who will profit." But the lawsuit alleges that's the problem. If there are foreign government profits at stake,  the president can't legally accept them in the first place. Ultimately, it is up to a federal judge whether the case goes forward. The first problem the CREW is facing is winning standing to bring the case to court. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ethics-lawyers-sue-trump-over-continuing-business-interests-n710621

C-10-2 Abortion Could Be Outlawed in 33 States if Roe v. Wade Overturned: Report

According to a new report form the Center for Reproductive Rights, abortion could become illegal in over half the states if a future Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. "More than 37 million women in 33 states are at risk of living in a state where abortion could become illegal," the group said. Based on an analysis of party control in state legislatures and governorships, as well as existing laws and constitutional provisions, 22 states are at the highest risk of banning abortion. Most are in the central and southern U.S. Four of these 22 states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota have laws in place that would automatically make abortion illegal if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned. President Trump has pledged to nominate a replacement promptly for Justice Scalia. Any nominee who opposed Roe v. Wade would have the same view Scalia did. Sen. Jeff Sessions said in his confirmation hearing that while he opposes abortion, "It is the law of the land, it has been so established and settled for quite a long time and it deserves respect. And i would respect it and follow it."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/report-abortion-could-be-outlawed-33-states-if-roe-v-n710816

C-10-1 Trump won't release his tax returns because people don't care, top adviser says

A senior aide to President Trump said Sunday that Trump has no plans to release his tax returns, which is a shirt from his pledge during the campaign to release them once an audit was completed. "People didn't care," said Kellyanne Conway. "They voted for him, and let me make this very clear: Most Americans are very focused on what their tax returns will look like while President Trump is in office, not what his look like."Presidents are not required to release their tax returns, but presidents dating to Richard Nixon have routinely done so voluntarily. A Washington Post-ABC poll last week showed that Trump's continued refusal to release his tax returns continues to be an unpopular decision, with 74% of Americans saying he should make documents public, including 53% of Republicans. As of Sunday evening,, a petition for Trump to immediately release his tax returns had received more than 228,000 signatures. At a press conference this month, Trump pointed to an ongoing audit as the reason he couldn't release his tax returns. 

Kellyanne Conway

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/22/trump-wont-release-his-tax-returns-because-people-dont-care-top-adviser-says/?utm_term=.b3bb079ff99f

C-9-4

Trump Tweets MLK Salute, Meets With Son

President-elect Donald Trump called on Americans on Monday to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day and "celebrate all of the many wonderful things he stood for." Trump met with Martin Luther King III at Trump Tower on Monday afternoon. Afterward, Mr. King said that the meeting was "constructive." When asked about the dispute between Trump and Rep. John Lewis, King defended the lawmaker, who Trump attacked saying he was all talk and no action. King addressed the matter saying that Lewis has "demonstrated that he is action. King also said, "I think that in the heat of emotion a lot of things get said on both sides." 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/16/politics/donald-trump-martin-luther-king-day/index.html

C-9-3

Americans Are Abandoning Political Parties

According to usnews.com, the latest Gallop Poll has found that loyalty to both the Democratic and Republican parties is at an all-time low. In 2015, for the 5th year in a row, "at least 4 in 10 U.S adults identify as political independents" a Gallop spokesperson said. 42% of Americans also said they are independents last year and 43% in 2014. 29% of U.S adults said they were Democrats and 26% identified as Republicans. The Democrats' share this year was the lowest in Gallup's 65 years of asking about party identification. The previous Democratic low was 30% in 2014. The 26% the identified as Republicans was only 1 percentage point higher than the historical Gallup low in 2013.

 

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/ken-walshs-washington/articles/2016-01-12/americans-are-abandoning-political-parties

C-9-2

Rep. Brooks: Dems'  'war on whites' behind some criticism of Sessions

         Alabama representative Mo Brooks said on a radio interview on Tuesday that the criticism of Alabama Senator, Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump's appointed Attorney General, is part of an ongoing "war on whites" by Democrats. "It's really about political power and racial division and what I've referred to on occasion as the 'war on whites.' They are trying to motivate the African-American vote to vote-bloc for Democrats by using every 'Republican is a racist' tool that they can envision, even if they have to lie about it." said Brooks on "The Morning Show With Toni and Gary". Brooks was responding to a question about criticism of Sessions' record on civil rights, which has come under new scrutiny as he seeks to confirm the Justice Department. Sessions was denied a federal judgeship in 1986 in part because of comments he allegedly made about organizations like the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union. Sessions, a Republican, also criticized the 1965 Voting Act as "intrusive" in the 1980's. In his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Sessions called charges of racism against him, "damnably false," saying that he had prosecuted a voter fraud case in response to "pleas from African American, incumbent, elected officials." Brooks, who said in the radio interview that he was under consideration by Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley to replace Sessions in the US Senate, was defending Sessions in regard to his position on voting rights. 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/11/politics/kfile-mo-brooks-war-on-whites/index.html

C-9-1

Jared Kushner to be President-elect Trump's Senior Advisor

       President-elect Donald Trump has appointed his son-in-law Jared Kushner to be his Senior advisor. This is the first time in decades a president-elect has appointed a member of his own familyl to his cabinet. This raised much controversy as to if Donald Trump is actually constitutionally capable of doing just that. To get Kushner in the white house, Trump is turning to a 1978 law arguing that it exempts the President from the anti-nepotism statute. Kushner is married to Trump's eldest daughter Ivanka, and invented a new generation of data analytics to micro-target voters for Trump's campaign. 

http://www.foxnews.com/live-coverage/transition-to-trump

Mexico:

The Federal Government of Mexico is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republic with the governments of the 32 individual Mexican states. Through the system of separation of powers each of these branches has some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches, and has some of its own authority regulated by the other branches.The executive power is exercised by the executive branch, which is headed by the president and his Cabinet, which, together, are independent of the legislature. Legislative power is vested upon the Congress of the Union, a two-chamber legislature comprising the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Judicial power is exercised by the judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, the Council of the Federal Judiciary, and the collegiate, unitary, and district tribunals.

Mexico has a multi-party system, which means that there are more than three dominant political parties.Nationally, there are three large political parties that dominate: the PRI (International Revolutionary Party), the PAN (National Action Party), and the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution). Other smaller political parties survive in isolation or by forming local coalitions with any of the big three. There are 10 total national parties, 5 local parties, and 6 other parties.All political parties must be registered before the National Electoral Institute (INE), the institution in charge of organizing and overseeing the federal electoral processes, and must obtain at least 2% of votes in the federal elections to keep their registry. Only 8 of the total 21 parties are registered with the IFE as political parties.

The PRI, which seemed to be the largest political party in Mexico, was the beginning of the PRD, which seemed to focus mainly on economic issues when it broke away from the PRI forming its own political party.

https://mexicoinstituteonelections.wordpress.com/the-parties/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Mexico

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_of_the_Democratic_Revolution