Justice Neil Gorsuch worries me

Quoted here:

"Originalism says the rights of the Constitution that were given in 1789 are the rights you enjoy today and they can never be taken -- and if you want to add to them, we the people add to them," Gorsuch told Bream.

Add rights? You mean like a right to healthcare? A home? A pony?

The original Bill of Rights enshrines the chartered rights of Englishmen which were perceived by the first Americans to have been abused by England's king. They are old rights, anciently memorialized in the long history of England's Christian civilization. While not exhaustive in an ideological sense, it is dubious to assert we can just invent new rights such as those out of thin air if we want to. The list is pretty complete as it is.

Amending the Constitution is not the same thing as "adding rights". If it is, we're all in trouble. 

The best news of the day is that the wife of the Supreme Court's Neil Gorsuch loves country music and rodeos

Louise Gorsuch: Why I became an American citizen:

I’m a country girl.

Coulter after The Oval: I don't think we're getting The Wall

Here:

COULTER: . . . I said you're not doing what you promised to do.

Where's the end of NAFTA? Where's the wall? Where are the deportations? What are you doing talking about the DREAMers?

CARR: To which he responded? 

COULTER: [Does Trump impersonation] I appointed Gorsuch.

That's all we're getting.

Spending bill is a giant FU to Trump, prevents him from using any of the new border wall prototypes

Reported here:

But, crucially, the bill specifically prevents the Trump administration from using any of the new wall designs it commissioned and tested in California last year. All money has to be spent on “operationally effective designs deployed as of the date of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017” — a bill Trump signed on May 5, 2017.

If President Trump cared less about his wall than about a wall, this wouldn’t be an issue. But everything we know about the president indicates that’s not the case, and that this is a blow to his ego — he reportedly upbraided congressional Republicans this week for not supporting it, claiming they “owed” him for his support for the tax bill and his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. The bullying tactics do not appear to have worked. ...

Trump wanted 1,000 new ICE agents; he’s getting barely 100, and none of them are the field agents responsible for arresting unauthorized immigrants. (Instead, ICE is getting more staff for investigations and mission support.)

And when it comes to immigration detention, Congress isn’t just refusing to give the White House the 20 percent increase in detention Trump asked for — it’s rebuking ICE for overspending and expecting Congress to bail it out. 

h/t Mickey Kaus

Gorsuch confirmed to Supreme Court 54-45

The roll call vote is here.

3 Democrats joined the Republicans in confirming despite the changing of the filibuster rule.

1 Republican did not vote.

The Tell: The RNC fundraised me today on the Gorsuch nomination . . .

. . . not on the American Health Care Act.

Always fundraise on the winner.