President Trump announces Neil Gorsuch as his nominee for Supreme Court

The hashtag #ResistTrumpTuesdays trended Tuesday, as protests against President Trump’s immigration policies and Cabinet nominees continued around the country. Protests took place in Brooklyn; Kansas City, Mo.; Miami; Minneapolis; New Brunswick, N.J.; Tucson; and Worcester, Mass., as well as outside of lawmakers’ offices in Washington, D.C.

In Brooklyn, thousands of protesters marched to the apartment building of U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to demand that he reject President Trump’s Cabinet picks.

In Minneapolis, protesters gathered to object to Trump’s ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries.

And in Tucson, a peaceful crowd outside John McCain’s office urged the senator, who had called Trump’s refugee ban a “self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism,” to take action against the executive order.

Judge Neil M. Gorsuch was resting midway down a Colorado ski slope last year when his cellphone rang with the news that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had died.

“I immediately lost what breath I had left,” Gorsuch recalled in an April speech, “and I am not embarrassed to admit that I couldn’t see the rest of the way down the mountain for the tears.”

Now, as President Trump’s pick to replace Scalia on the high court, Gorsuch is seen by many on the right as a fitting replacement for the iconic jurist that Gorsuch considered a “lion of the law.”

Like Scalia, Gorsuch, 49, who serves on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, is a well-respected conservative who believes judges should decide cases based on the law as it was understood when passed, not on how they think it should be. He’s a clear, impassioned writer, albeit without Scalia’s flare for biting sarcasm.

But Gorsuch also evokes the qualities of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, for whom Gorsuch worked as a law clerk. (If confirmed, Gorsuch would join three justices who previously clerked on the high court, but he would be the first ever to serve alongside the justice he or she worked for.)

Like Kennedy, 80, Gorsuch is a Westerner with a polite, congenial manner who at times has won praise from liberals. He may be more conservative than Kennedy when it comes to expanding individual rights, but he seems to lack Scalia’s fervor for overturning liberal precedents from decades past.

Which way Gorsuch skews could be pivotal for the future of the court. Conservatives clearly hope he’ll be more like Scalia than Kennedy, a centrist swing vote who has often joined liberals on issues such as gay marriage and abortion. Some conservatives have even expressed hope that Gorsuch’s personal history with Kennedy might enable him to draw the Reagan-appointee back toward the right.

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President Trump nominated federal Judge Neil M. Gorsuch on Tuesday to the Supreme Court to fill the seat of the late Antonin Scalia, choosing from his short list an appeals court judge from Denver seen as most likely to win Senate confirmation.

Because Scalia was a stalwart conservative, Trump’s choice is not likely to change the balance of the court. But it does set the stage for a bruising partisan fight over a man who could help determine law on gun rights, immigration, police use of force and transgender rights.

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(Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

As protests spread over policy announcements from the Trump administration, Democrats must work to encourage participation in politics, but face a danger of the party becoming too radicalized, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said Tuesday.

“The radical nature of this government is radicalizing Democrats, and that’s going to pose a real challenge to the Democratic Party, which is to draw on the energy and the activism and the passion that is out there, but not let it turn us into what we despised about the tea party,” Schiff said.

During a meeting with reporters and editors in the Los Angeles Times’ Washington bureau, Schiff also discussed his role as the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Select Intelligence Committee under a Trump administration and how Democrats will manage in the minority.

Ever since the election, party leaders have been debating: “Did we lose because we were too far to the left and we had too small a tent, or did we lose because we are too mainstream and didn’t energize the base?” Schiff asked.

“We are obviously having that debate, but there’s a whole new element, which is the reaction to the Trump administration that makes this different in kind, certainly different in intensity, than I think we’ve ever seen after an election,” he said.

“The more radical the administration is, the more radicalized our base becomes, which just feeds the Breitbart crowd, and who knows where that ends.”

Democratic leaders have to channel public reaction to Trump’s actions into progress, rather than deadlock, Schiff said.

Reaction to Democrats seen as working with the Trump administration has been strong. Monday night, for example, protesters marched on Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s home and office voicing fears she would back Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general. The senator from California announced Tuesday that she would oppose Sessions.

Several groups calling themselves “indivisible” have popped up in cities across the country as focal points for efforts to organize.

“We have two of the most capable strategists as the head of our House and Senate Democrats,” Schiff added, referring to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Senate Democratic leader Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York.

“If anybody can grapple with this, they can, but it’s going to be a challenging and moving target day to day.”

“I just hope that we can channel that energy in a way where we can provide a check on this administration because I’ve never been more worried about the country’s future than I am right now,” he said.

Schiff said part of his role as the ranking Democrat on the House Select Intelligence Committee will be pushing back when the Trump administration puts out inaccurate information about the intelligence community and its findings.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed or sought to minimize the intelligence community’s findings that Russia sought to intervene in the 2016 election to benefit him. Schiff said he’s concerned about what else the administration might be willing to dismiss.

“I think that will be kind of a new frontier,” he said. “How do we contradict a president making representations about what the intelligence community has to say when the information is classified?”

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Trump’s orders put a greater emphasis on deporting those convicted of crimes and those in the country illegally who were charged with crimes not yet adjudicated

The Trump administration doubled down Tuesday on its commitment to transforming the nation’s border law enforcement, signaling that some of the temporary bans on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries are likely to be made permanent and elevating a deportations official to run the top immigration enforcement agency.

Administration officials, led by newly sworn-in Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, moved to allay the havoc that marked the roll-out of the ban and another on refugees. They briefed reporters and planned to head to Capitol Hill later today in an apparent effort to smooth relations after reports that lawmakers and other stakeholders were left out of the crafting of the executive order on toughened vetting at border entry points.

In a news conference, Kelly and other top Homeland Security officials conceded some problems, including poor communication. But they insisted that all court orders were followed over the weekend, rebutted reports that some legal residents were denied access to attorneys at airports and said they everyone detained by border agents was treated with “dignity and respect.”

“The vast majority of the 1.7 billion Muslims that live on this planet, the vast majority of them have, all other things being equal, have access to the United States,” Kelly told reporters. “And a relatively small number right now are being held up for a period of time until we can take a look at what their procedures are,” he said, seeming to acknowledge that mostly Muslims have been affected by the ban.

The moves signaled that the White House remained committed to remaking border law enforcement even in the face of widespread confusion and condemnation of President Trump’s order.

Kelly said for the first time that the some of the restrictions that caused confusion and sparked protests over the weekend could be extended well into the future.

“Some of those countries that are currently on the list may not be taken off the list anytime soon,” he said.

Trump also named a longtime deportation officer, Thomas D. Homan, as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Homan, who will oversee the execution of Trump’s immigration enforcement order, was most recently in charge of the agency’s 5,000 deportation officers, a force Trump said he would triple to 15,000.

Trump’s orders put a greater emphasis on deporting not only those convicted of crimes, but also people in the country illegally who were charged with crimes not yet adjudicated, those who receive an improper welfare benefit and even those who have not been charged but are believed to have committed “acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense.”

“This is not a ban,” spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters in a fiery news briefing.

(Alex Wong / Getty Images)

President Trump used the word “ban” in a tweet as recently as Monday to describe his new executive order suspending travel from seven Muslim-majority countries and halting the refugee program for several months.

But facing backlash from many directions, the White House adamantly insisted Tuesday that the word is verboten.

“This is not a ban,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters in a fiery news briefing.

“When we use words like ‘travel ban,’” he said later, “that misrepresents what it is. It’s seven countries previously identified by the Obama administration, where, frankly, we don’t get the information that we need for people coming into this country.”

In fact, people from the seven banned countries — Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Libya — cannot enter the United States under the order. Spicer appeared to be making a renewed effort to distinguish the order from the all-out ban on Muslims entering the country that Trump proposed during the campaign.

Many around the world see the newest policy as an outgrowth of that proposal.

Trump himself conceded a religious connection when he said in an interview on Friday that he wanted to make it easier for Syrian Christians to enter the country. And former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that the order sprang from a group he formed at Trump’s request to create a legal framework that would accomplish the campaign goal of a “Muslim ban.”

But amid confusion and worldwide criticism in recent days, the Trump administration has tried to temper some of the more incendiary rhetoric around the proposal.

Even the words “extreme vetting,” a favorite Trump slogan, were called into question by Spicer on Tuesday.

“Calling for tougher vetting [of] individual travelers from seven nations is not extreme,” he said. “It is reasonable and necessary to protect our country.”

But changing the ban branding around the program at this point will be difficult. Here’s Trump’s tweet from Monday:

And Spicer himself used the term ban as recently as Sunday:

Elaine Chao testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Jan. 11, 2017.

(Zach Gibson / AP)

The Senate has confirmed Elaine Chao to serve as Transportation secretary in the Trump administration. The vote was 93 to 6 on Tuesday.

Chao is an experienced Washington hand. She was Labor secretary under President George W. Bush and is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Chao would be a lead actor in pursuing Trump’s promise to invest $1 trillion to improve highways, rail service and other infrastructure projects.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday stood by President Trump’s temporary ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations and indicated that he was confident the administration could fix the “confusing” rollout without action from Congress.

“What is happening is something we support,” said Ryan, whose office was the target of a sit-in by protesters opposed to Trump’s order. “We need to pause and we need to make sure that the vetting standards are up to snuff so we can guarantee the safety and security of our country.”

Congress was blindsided by Trump’s executive action -- Ryan learned about it as the public did when the White House announced it Friday afternoon. Many GOP lawmakers have raised concerns.

During a private meeting in the Capitol basement Tuesday, Republican lawmakers were counseled on how to handle protesters and office sit-ins happening across the country.

“It’s regrettable that there was some confusion on the rollout of this,” Ryan said. “No one wanted to see people with green cards or special immigrant visas, like translators, get caught up in all of this.”

Ryan also said he was concerned the ban could be used as propaganda by terrorist groups.

“The rhetoric surrounding this could be used as a recruiting tool, and I think that’s dangerous,” he said.

Still, Republicans leaders as well as rank-and-file GOP lawmakers largely agreed with the president’s move to halt refugee admissions for 120 days, and to temporarily ban citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries, unless they are Christians or other religious minorities.

“The president was well within his right to issue an executive order,” said Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), chairman of the House Rules Committee.

“Do I feel let out? I feel like everybody was left out,” he said. “I wish they communicated it. I wish they had gotten more information to people. I wish they had measured three times and sawed once.”

Lawmakers have shown little appetite for Congress to get involved, and suggested the chaos that erupted at airports over the weekend was just part of a learning curve at the White House.

“I support the thrust of the executive order,” said Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), who nevertheless said the administration should have been better prepared and will need to “get your act together.”

Last year, Ryan had strongly condemned Trump’s campaign-trail call for a Muslim ban.

In recent days, Ryan, like other congressional leaders, was forced to dial up the administration with his questions and concerns about the order, conferring Monday with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

“I am very pleased and confident that he is, on a going-forward basis, going to make sure that things are done correctly,” Ryan said.

Pressed on whether Congress would have a role, Ryan did not indicate any immediate legislative action.

Senate Democrats speak with reporters after boycotting Finance Committee confirmation votes.

(JIM WATSON / AFP/Getty Images)

Senate Democrats on Tuesday boycotted a committee vote on two of President Trump’s top Cabinet nominees -- Tom Price to lead Health and Human Services and Steve Mnuchin to be Treasury secretary.

Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) blasted the Democratic move as he sat in a hearing room with only Republicans on the dais.

“They ought to be embarrassed. It’s the most pathetic treatment I’ve seen in my 40 years in the United States Senate,” Hatch said.

“I think they should stop posturing and acting like idiots,” he said.

At least one Democrat needs to be present for the committee to vote on the nominations, Hatch said. He recessed the hearing until further notice, saying he hoped a vote could take place later Tuesday.

But asked mid-afternoon if he thought the committee would be able to meet Tuesday, Hatch said it “doesn’t look like it.”

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the committee’s top Democrat, said Price and Mnuchin “have misled the public and held back important information about their backgrounds.”

“Until questions are answered, Democrats believe the committee should not move forward with either nomination,” Wyden said.

“This is about getting answers to questions, plain and simple,” he said. “Ethics laws are not optional, and nominees do not have a right to treat disclosure like a shell game.”

Liberal groups cheered the boycott while Senate Republican leaders decried it as Democratic obstructionism.

“They are manufacturing issues on a daily basis to drag this process out,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.) said of the confirmations of Trump’s nominees.

“I don’t see how they can explain to the American people how it is appropriate to prevent the administration from getting up and getting started,” he said.

Democrats have said Mnuchin, a wealthy Wall Street executive, misled the committee in his response to a written question about foreclosures at Pasadena’s OneWest Bank while he ran it from 2009-15.

Democrats pointed to a report Sunday by the Columbus Dispatch that Mnuchin denied that OneWest engaged in so-called robo-signing of mortgage documents.

The paper said its analysis of nearly four dozen foreclosure cases in Ohio’s Franklin County in 2010 showed that the bank “frequently used robo-signers.”

The Columbus Dispatch cited a foreclosure involving a mortgage signed by Erica Johnson-Seck, a OneWest vice president who said in a deposition in a 2009 Florida case that she signed an average of 750 documents a week.

Barney Keller, a spokesman for Mnuchin, said Monday that several courts had dismissed cases involving allegations of robo-signing by Johnson-Seck.

“The media is picking on a hardworking bank employee whose reputation has been maligned but whose work has been upheld by numerous courts all around the country in the face of scurrilous and false allegations,” Keller said.

Democrats also have problems with Price, a six-term congressman and former orthopedic surgeon who has distinguished himself in conservative circles for his staunch opposition to the Affordable Care Act and his plans to slash federal healthcare spending.

His nomination has become among Trump’s most controversial, in part because of his hostility to government safety net programs, including Medicaid and Medicare.

Democrats have also been increasingly critical of Price’s extensive trading in healthcare stocks while he has been in Congress, and in some cases while he has pushed legislation that would benefit his portfolio.

Price has denied any wrongdoing.

Also drawing criticism is Price’s purchase of discounted shares in an Australian biotech firm, Innate Immunotherapeutics, which he was offered through a private deal not available to general shareholders.

Price also denied that this was improper, and Senate Republicans have rallied to his side, saying he did not violate any ethics rules.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he and the other Democrats on the committee want Mnuchin and Price to explain their “lies” either in person before the committee or in new written answers.

“I want them to disclose this information that they seem not to want to disclose,” Brown said.

12:10 p.m.: This post was updated with additional comments from Hatch as well as from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Sherrod Brown.

8:00 a.m.: This post has been updated with additional information and background.

8:07 a.m.: This post has been updated with additional information.

(Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

Even as confusion, internal dissent and widespread condemnation greeted President Trump’s travel ban and crackdown on refugees this weekend, senior White House aides say they are only getting started.

Trump and his aides justified Friday’s executive order, which blocked travel from seven majority-Muslim countries for 90 days and halted refugees from around the world for 120, on security grounds — an issue that they say they take seriously. But their ultimate goal is far broader.

Trump’s top advisors on immigration, including chief strategist Steve Bannon and senior advisor Stephen Miller, see themselves as launching a radical experiment to fundamentally transform how the U.S. decides who is allowed into the country and to block a generation of people who, in their view, won’t assimilate into American society.

That project may live or die in the next three months, as the Trump administration reviews whether and how to expand the visa ban and alter vetting procedures. White House aides are considering new, onerous security checks that could effectively limit travel into the U.S. by people from majority-Muslim countries to a trickle.

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Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said the Seattle coffee company is developing plans to hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years.

(Richard Drew / Associated Press)

Corporate America generally prefers to stay quiet about partisan politics. Pick one side of a hot-button issue, the thinking goes, and you’ll risk losing customers on the other side.

But like so many norms before it, President Trump has turned this one on its head.

A growing number of companies are deciding it’s a bigger risk to their investors and bottom line to stay quiet than it is to protest Trump’s ban on refugees and travel from seven Muslim-majority nations, betting vocal opposition to the executive order scores them a moral and fiscal victory.

While it was possible for companies to take a wait-and-see approach leading up to Trump’s inauguration, many firms can no longer ignore the White House’s policy given the effect the order is already having on employees either stranded or fearful of traveling.

Only a week ago it seemed foolish to speak out against a president who has admonished individual companies on social media such as Carrier, Boeing and General Motors. Now the pendulum has swung the other way. Companies, mostly in technology but increasingly in other sectors, have decided that it’s not enough just to speak out against the immigration order. They believe that they must also take headline-grabbing action.

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(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

The White House says President Trump will leave intact a 2014 executive order that protects federal workers from anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

In a statement released early Tuesday, the White House said Trump “is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community” and that he “continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election.”

The Trump administration has vowed to roll back much of President Obama’s work from the last eight years and had been scrutinizing the 2014 order. The directive protects people from LGBTQ discrimination while working for federal contractors.

The recent statement says the protections will remain intact “at the direction” of Trump.

Here is the text of Obama’s executive order, signed on July 21, 2014:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including 40 U.S.C. 121, and in order to provide for a uniform policy for the Federal Government to prohibit discrimination and take further steps to promote economy and efficiency in Federal Government procurement by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Amending Executive Order 11478. The first sentence of section 1 of Executive Order 11478 of August 8, 1969, as amended, is revised by substituting “sexual orientation, gender identity” for “sexual orientation”.

Sec. 2. Amending Executive Order 11246. Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965, as amended, is hereby further amended as follows:

(a) The first sentence of numbered paragraph (1) of section 202 is revised by substituting “sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin” for “sex, or national origin”.

(b) The second sentence of numbered paragraph (1) of section 202 is revised by substituting “sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin” for “sex or national origin”.

(c) Numbered paragraph (2) of section 202 is revised by substituting “sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin” for “sex or national origin”.

(d) Paragraph (d) of section 203 is revised by substituting “sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin” for “sex or national origin”.

Sec. 3. Regulations. Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Labor shall prepare regulations to implement the requirements of section 2 of this order.

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an agency or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.Sec. 5. Effective Date. This order shall become effective immediately, and section 2 of this order shall apply to contracts entered into on or after the effective date of the rules promulgated by the Department of Labor under section 3 of this order.

Update

6:45 a.m.: This article was updated with the text of the 2014 executive order.

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On Monday evening, the White House released a statement saying acting Atty. Gen. Sally Yates had been fired for instructing Justice Department lawyers not to defend President Trump’s travel ban.

Yates has “betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States,” the White House said.

“Monday Night Massacre” was trending on Twitter within the hour.

In 1973, President Nixon ordered the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox because he wouldn’t obey Nixon’s order to stop looking into Watergate. Two of the Justice Department’s top leaders resigned in protest rather than following Nixon’s directive to fire Cox. It became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” an instance of the president using his power to punish political enemies within the Justice Department.

Though the Justice Department is part of the executive branch, it is traditionally largely independent from the office of the president in order to ensure the integrity of law enforcement and its investigations.

(Steve Brodner / For The Times)

Read more: An illustrated guide to the key figures in Nixon’s ‘Saturday Night Massacre’

Sally Yates.

(J. David Ake / Associated Press)

President Trump fired acting Atty. Gen. Sally Yates on Monday, just hours after she announced that the department would not defend his controversial executive order banning refugees and travelers from certain countries.

Yates has “betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States,” the White House said in a statement. “It is time to get serious about protecting our country.”

The move came after Yates sent a letter to Justice Department lawyers saying that she questioned the lawfulness of Trump’s executive order.

“My responsibility is to ensure that the position of the Department of Justice is not only legally defensible, but is informed by our best view of what the law is after consideration of all the facts,” Yates wrote.

“At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful,” she wrote. “Consequently, for as long as I am the acting attorney general, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the executive order unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so.”

Yates was a holdover from the Obama administration. But because Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, has not been confirmed and no other senior Justice Department officials have been appointed, firing her was expected to cause significant problems within the department.

Among other issues, Yates is the only person in the department currently authorized to sign warrants for wiretapping in foreign espionage cases involving the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Trump replaced Yates with Dana J. Boente, a three-decade veteran of the Justice Department who was appointed in 2015 by former President Obama as U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia.

6:37 p.m.: The story was updated with Trump’s decision to fire Yates.

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A Navy SEAL from the Virginia-based elite unit known as SEAL Team 6 was killed Sunday during an unusual nighttime raid that put U.S. troops on the ground against Al Qaeda leaders in the middle of war-torn Yemen.

The fallen sailor was identified Monday as Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, 36, of Peoria, Ill..

Three other Americans were wounded in the raid and an MV-22 Osprey had to be destroyed after the aircraft suffered a “hard landing” and couldn’t fly. Another U.S. service member was injured in that crash.

The raid marked the first known counter-terrorism operation and first confirmed combat fatality under President Trump.

Steele writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Protesters rally at Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 29, demonstrating against the immigration ban imposed by President Trump.

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

After a weekend of turmoil at many of the nation’s airports following President Trump’s executive order to suspend the U.S. refugee program and temporarily prohibit entry to citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations, federal officials said all people being detained on arrival to the U.S. had been released. But that hasn’t put a stop to demands to lift the travel ban.

Protests continued to be held and organized throughout the country — incluidng in New York, New Orleans, Colorado and Connecticut. According to Ground Game, an online platform for organizing, at least a dozen demonstrations were planned for this week in what the group described as a “fight against Islamophobia and Fascism.”

Calls to rally, demonstrate and protest swept social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook.

In Louisville, Ky., a rally was planned for Monday evening at the Muhammad Ali Center, in what organizers said would be a gathering “for American values” and “to voice support for our nation and our city, which was founded and is strengthened by immigrants.” In Hattiesburg, Miss., there was call to join “a peaceful vigil in solidarity with refugees, immigrants, and Muslims” on the University of Southern Mississippi campus on Monday evening.

Declaring that “Jersey City stands with our Muslim and immigrant community,” organizers in that New Jersey city called on people to come to a pedestrian mall on Monday to stand “in solidarity and peace as we show our strength in diversity as one of the most diverse cities in the nation.”

Other demonstrations were planned for later in the week in cities nationwide, including Tuesday in Tuscon, where organizers encouraged people to “stand in solidarity with Senator (John) McCain’s strong public statement opposing the executive order banning refugees and Legal Permanent Residents from Muslim countries!”

Similar actions were planned on Tuesday at the South Carolina State House in Columbia and at the Worchester City Hall and Common in Massachusetts, while organizers in San Francisco, under the banner #NoBanNoWallSF, urged residents to join “the resistance against Donald Trump’s racist and exclusionary Executive Orders” on Saturday.

“We will not allow our country to be divided by hate and religious persecution,” read a statement from #NoBanNoWallSF posted on Facebook.

(Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images)

Former President Obama has offered his first public comment on the conduct of his successor, saying through a spokesman that he “is heartened” by public demonstrations against the Trump administration’s controversial move to temporarily ban refugees and block all admissions from seven countries.

“President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country,” Kevin Lewis, a spokesperson for the former president, said in a statement emailed to reporters Monday.

“In his final official speech as President, he spoke about the important role of citizen and how all Americans have a responsibility to be the guardians of our democracy--not just during an election but every day. Citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake.”

Lewis also said in the statement that Obama “fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.”

Trump aides deny that his executive order, released Friday, involves religious discrimination. The order temporarily blocked travel to the U.S. by residents of seven predominantly Muslim nations, but left many of the Islamic world’s largest population centers unaffected, they note. The order also included an exception for believers of “minority religions” in those countries, a provision that Trump explicitly said would help Christians.

Obama’s statement is notable less for its content than for the fact that it was issued at all. It reflected the delicate balance he feels he must strike between showing a degree of deference to the new president and speaking out on issues he sees as critically important.

The statement tiptoed around the content of the order, focusing more on the former president’s interest in citizen engagement.

Obama said before leaving office that he expected to choose carefully when to comment on the actions of his successor and would focus less on “normal functioning of politics” and more on “certain issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake,” as he put it in his final news conference.

Monday’s statement did point, though, to comments Obama made at a news conference in November 2015, when he called the idea of a religious test for immigration policy “shameful” and “not American.”

“We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,” he said at the time.

It’s what congressional Republicans had long dreamed about: a majority in both chambers to advance conservative policies and a president from the same party to sign them into law.

But the Trump White House isn’t turning out exactly the way they envisioned.

The GOP establishment is experiencing whiplash after a week of President Trump bulldozing through the norms of policy and protocol — dashing off executive orders without warning, escalating a diplomatic crisis with the country’s closest southern neighbor, triggering global confusion with a new refugee policy and generally hijacking party leaders’ agenda and replacing it with his own.

Rather than the hoped-for collaborative new relationship between the White House and Congress, GOP officials complain that Trump is brushing aside their advice, failing to fully engage on drafting tough legislative packages like tax reform and Obamacare, and bypassing Congress by relying on executive actions, something they frequently complained about under President Obama.

At the same time, Trump’s unilateral moves continue to blindside Republicans and direct the national focus toward topics many in the party would rather avoid, whether that’s how to pay for building the border wall with Mexico, warming ties with Russia, investigating false claims about voter fraud or, most recently, implementing sweeping new policies on refugees and visas.

In the name of party unity, many Republicans so far have refrained from publicly attacking the new president. But for some, the new refugee policy crossed the line, signaling the first major rift in their already fraught partnership.

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President Trump signed an executive order Friday that suspends all immigration for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

Opening a new legal front, lawyers for the state of Washington filed suit Monday seeking to block President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning foreign refugees from entering the United States.

“No one is above the law, not even the president,” Atty. Gen. Bob Ferguson said in announcing the federal lawsuit. “And in the courtroom, it is not the loudest voice that prevails. It’s the Constitution.”

Over the weekend, a federal judge in Brooklyn issued an order curtailing portions of Trump’s executive order, issued Friday, which temporary halts migration from seven predominantly Muslim countries for at least 90 days and also closed the nation to refugees for at least the next four months. Other challenges are pending.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle was the first taken by a state attorney general, and its provenance was no surprise. Washington state and others along the West Coast voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Hillary Clinton in November and have emerged as a hotbed of anti-Trump sentiment.

“We will not yield,” said Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who joined Ferguson at a Seattle news conference. “We will not be leveraged. We will not be threatened. We will not be intimidated. We will not be bullied by this.”

Trump’s order, which has sparked demonstrations across the country, brought an outpouring of objection from Insley’s Democratic colleagues around the country.

“President Trump’s recent executive orders that divide and discriminate do not reflect the values enshrined in the U.S. Constitution or the principles we stand for as Oregonians,” said Gov. Kate Brown.

“A single executive order… does not define who we are as a country,” said Connecticut Gov. Daniel P. Malloy. “We are a nation of immigrants and must continue to fight for the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breath free.”

In Massachusetts, another state that voted overwhelmingly for Clinton, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker joined the chorus of Democratic criticism, saying the travel ban would undermine the international relations forged by the state’s business, academic and healthcare communities.

“The confusion for families is real. The unexpected disruption for law-abiding people is real,” Baker said. “…Thankfully, the federal courts will have an opportunity to straighten this out and it is my hope they do so, and do so quickly.”

Charlie Sykes, right, interviews Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) before Wisconsin’s 2016 primary

(Morry Gash/Associated Press)

For nearly 25 years, Charlie Sykes was one of the most powerful and influential voices in Wisconsin.

He cheer-led policies that turned this historically progressive state into a model of conservative governance. He made and destroyed political careers, using his perch on Milwaukee talk radio to help vault figures such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker to national prominence.

But for the moment Sykes was speechless. He sank into the brown leather banquette of a suburban steakhouse. He stammered. He sighed.

“When you’ve devoted your whole life to certain beliefs and you think now they have been undermined and that you might have been deluded about things,” he began. “So. So. Um...”

In 2016 Sykes emerged as one of Donald Trump’s most prominent critics, a stance that outraged listeners, strained longstanding friendships and left him questioning much of what he once held true.

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The Pentagon is compiling a list of Iraqi citizens who have worked with the U.S. military and is recommending that they be exempt from President Trump’s temporary ban on entry to the U.S. by people from Iraq and six other predominantly Muslim countries, according to the U.S. military.

The move could potentially shield tens of thousands of Iraqi interpreters, advisors, and others who have assisted the American military from the president’s controversial executive action that blocked visitors from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Monday that the list will include names of individuals who have “demonstrated their commitment” to helping the United States.

“Even people that are doing seemingly benign things in support of us — whether as a linguist, a driver, anything else — they often do that at great personal risk,” he said. “So people who take these risks are really making a tangible signal of support to the United States, and that’s something that will, and should be, recognized.”

The list would not require any changes to the president’s order, but rather serve as guidance to the Department of Homeland Security and the White House in implementing the new policy.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer later pushed back against blanket exemptions.

“We recognize that people have served this country, we should make sure that in those cases they’re helped out,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean that we just give them a pass.”

Trump, who signed the order at the Pentagon on Friday, did not consult Defense Secretary James N. Mattis or Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the temporary suspensions of entry to visitors from the seven nations, according to U.S. officials.

The executive action put the U.S. military in a difficult position because it works closely with the Iraqi government on a range of issues, including the fight against Islamic State, which necessitates travel between the two countries.

For instance, Iraqi military pilots train to fly F-16 fighter jets at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. It’s not clear those pilots, who are active in the fight against Islamic State, could arrive in the U.S. for the training.

1:10 p.m.: This post was updated with White House response.

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

President Trump signed an executive order Monday designed to fulfill his campaign pledge reduce red tape for businesses.

The two-page order requires that when a federal agency proposes new regulations, “it shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed.”

“We want to make the life easier for small businesses” and big business, Trump said Monday from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, where he met with nine representatives of the small-business sector.

Trump said he hoped to see “up to 75%” of federal regulations eliminated during his presidency.

“Regulation has been horrible for big business, but it’s been worse for small business,” Trump said.

He also reiterated his promise to gut the Dodd-Frank Act, the financial regulatory overhaul that was passed after the financial crisis.

“Dodd-Frank is a disaster,” he said. “We’re going to be doing a big number on Dodd-Frank.”

Consumer advocates who backed the law say that eliminating it would help Wall Street and other players in the financial sector at the expense of consumers.

Protesters of President Trump’s immigration order block traffic at LAX.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

A number of U.S. diplomats are condemning President Trump’s ban on some Muslim immigrants and visitors, saying the abrupt order does not make the U.S. safer and will only stoke anti-American fervor overseas.

The complaint, being made through the State Department’s so-called dissent channel, echoes criticism coming from human rights attorneys, legal experts and lawmakers from both political parties, as well as world leaders.

It is significant because it represents the viewpoint of the men and women who must carry out Trump’s unconventional and often provocative foreign policy.

“A policy which closes our doors to over 200-million legitimate travelers in the hopes of preventing a small number of travelers who intend to harm Americans ... will not achieve its aim of making our country safer,” said a draft version of the memo that was circulating Monday and was reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. It was first reported by ABC News.

“Moreover, such a policy runs counter to core American values of non-discrimination, fair play and extending a warm welcome to foreign visitors and immigrants.”

The White House was quickly dismissive of the dissent and seemed to suggest the diplomats should quit if they disagree with a policy.

Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the diplomats’ raising of opposition “does call into question whether or not they should continue” to work in the State Department.

It was not clear how many officials would sign the memo.

Dissent channel memos are in theory not made public. The mechanism is designed to allow diplomats to offer an alternative policy without fear of retaliation.

Acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed the existence of the memo but declined to comment on its contents.

“The dissent channel is a longstanding official vehicle for State Department employees to convey alternative views and perspectives on policy issues,” he said. “... It allows State employees to express divergent policy views candidly and privately to senior leadership.”

The agency is still waiting for a boss. Trump’s pick for secretary of State, former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate this week.

The last time a dissent-channel memo was reported publicly was last year, when about 50 diplomats protested Obama administration policy in Syria, which they described as “inaction.”

12:20 p.m.: This story was updated with White House comment.

8:40 a.m.: This story was updated with comment from a State Department spokesman.

(Susan Walsh / Associated Press)

President Trump will announce his first Supreme Court nomination in prime time on Tuesday, he tweeted this morning.

The announcement was moved up two days amid the continued fallout from the executive action Trump signed temporarily banning refugee admissions from some countries. Trump had tweeted last week that he would announce his high-court decision Thursday.

In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday, Trump said his administration was doing some final vetting of his choice to replace the late Antonin Scalia, and that the pick would be from among the list of 20 names he issued during the election campaign.

“I think the person I pick will be big, big,” he said. “I think people are going to love it. I think evangelicals, Christians will love my pick. And will be represented very fairly.”

Times Supreme Court reporter David Savage profiled each of the leading contenders: Judge Thomas Hardiman of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and Judge William H. Pryor Jr. from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The move could prompt a major clash with Senate Democrats, who have warned the president against a choice outside what they consider the “mainstream.” Some are threatening to block any choice in retaliation for Senate Republicans’ refusal to even hold hearings on President Obama’s choice to replace Scalia, Merrick Garland.

Democrats’ 2013 change to Senate rules that allowed most nominations to advance with a simple majority vote exempted Supreme Court nominations, meaning that Democrats could potentially filibuster the choice.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared to rule out any further rule change in an interview last week, though Trump urged him to consider doing so.

At a rally at Los Angeles International Airport, police officers are confronting protesters, some of whom are blocking traffic.

Dr. Kamal Fadlalla

(Dr. Kamal Fadlalla / For The Times)

Dr. Kamal Fadlalla, a hospital resident who has been working in New York for the last 20 months, was stuck in Sudan on Sunday, having gone there to see his family earlier this month.

He had left Jan. 13, was due to return Feb. 4 but tried to return on Friday after hearing about President Trump’s executive order on immigration, which suspended entry for people from seven countries, including Sudan.

He made it past passport control, all the way to the gate at the airport in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

“One hour before departure they called my name,” he said, and summoned him to the ticket counter, along with other New York-bound Sudanese passengers. “When I got to the counter, they said there was a notice from Customs and Border Protection that ... they had to offload us from the flight. I was shocked.”

Fadlalla, 33, hoped for a reprieve as other passengers gathered, all stuck.

“One family, they came back from Dubai, she was a mother of three or four kids. She was waiting overnight at the Dubai airport. There were also two passengers turned back from New York,” he said. “It was a very tough night on me,”

He stayed for several hours, then returned to his mother’s home in Madani, two hours south.

Fadlalla is a second-year resident in internal medicine at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn. He is hoping to specialize in hematology and oncology.

The Committee for Interns and Residents found an attorney to represent him, he said, but he had not received any news about how a New York federal judge’s ruling late Saturday, which halted the deportations of people who had arrived in the U.S. with valid visas, could affect him.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. My vacation is going to end and I have to join the hospital next week. It’s going to be tough on me,” Fadlalla said. “I don’t know for how long I’m going to stay here. I don’t know what I’m going to do. My visa is valid for three months. I’m really stuck. I have my house there, my utilities, my work, my patients, my colleagues. It was my life for the past 20 months. And I’m stuck here.”

Fadlalla is from northern Sudan, and describes himself as a “moderate Muslim.” He said the executive order won’t make the U.S. safer by barring valid visa holders like him because, “I’ve been through the whole process of visa interviews.”

He had planned to take board exams next year, and if he misses them, his schooling will be delayed. He had wanted to stay and work in New York, too.

“All my life is there. Now I’m stuck here. I don’t know what to do,” he said. “It’s going to really affect my life, my patients, my colleagues and their work schedule.”

He said the executive order has shocked others in Sudan, too.

“They’re talking about human rights. Everybody knows the United States is about freedom,” he said. “Everybody knows America is a free country, a country of chances for everybody. Still, people have hope in those protesting at airports all over the United States” and attorneys who have volunteered to help immigrants and refugees, he said.

He said the order is especially worrying for aspiring Sudanese medical residents who have been preparing to “match” with a hospital in March to study in the United States.

“A lot of my colleagues who are preparing for exams are really, really worried about this,” Fadlalla said. “I’m really worried about the future of these young people. They study a lot and spend a lot of money, a lot of effort to enter the United States. I’m concerned about my future and my colleagues’ future.”

Only a few of the state’s 14 Republican representatives have publicly commented on an executive order signed by President Trump on Friday that barred refugees and green card holders from seven countries from entering the country.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) released a statement Sunday night saying that some tweaks are needed, but that his background as chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee leads him to support the executive order.

“In light of attempts by jihadist groups to infiltrate fighters into refugee flows to the West, along with Europe’s tragic experience coping with this problem, the Trump administration’s executive order on refugees is a common-sense security measure to prevent terror attacks on the homeland,” Nunes said. “While accommodations should be made for green card holders and those who’ve assisted the U.S. armed forces, this is a useful temporary measure on seven nations of concern until we can verify who is entering the United States.”

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) told the Washington Post that the executive order is “the right call to keep America safe,” but he hopes the cases of people traveling on visas who were prevented from reentering the country are resolved quickly.

Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) said Sunday on Twitter that the rollout has created confusion, and that executive orders aren’t the way to fix the country’s long-term problems.

Several of California’s 38 Democratic congressional representatives and the state’s two senators were out in force over the weekend demanding the release of refugees and green card holders as well as an end to the executive order.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced she would file two pieces of legislation in response. One would immediately rescind the president’s order. The second would limit executive authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to prevent a president from unilaterally banning groups of immigrants.

“It’s clear that the president gave little consideration to the chaos and heartbreak that would result from this order,” she said in a statement.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) joined protesters outside the White House on Sunday afternoon.

In Los Angeles, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) joined protesters at Los Angeles International Airport. On Saturday, Reps. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), Nanette Barragán (D-San Pedro) and Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) joined the initial protests at the airport, and worked to get some of those being held released.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) accompanied protesters at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday.

Ali Vayeghan arrived at 7:15 p.m. Friday from Tehran. He was going to stay with relatives, then go to Indiana, to join his wife, who arrived in the U.S. four months ahead of him, and his son.

But he never emerged from customs. His niece said he was put on a plane to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at 3:15 p.m. Saturday.

The ACLU was trying to prevent his deportation but arrived with paperwork 45 minutes too late.

The family spoke to him by phone after he landed in Dubai, where he was waiting to be put on a flight to Tehran.

“He’s literally crying in the airport in Dubai,” Ali Vayeghan’s niece, Marjan Vayghan, said.

On Sunday afternoon, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered authorities to transport Vayeghan back to the U.S. and admit him under the terms of his visa, which is set to expire Feb. 14.

U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee said in her order that Vayeghan had demonstrated “a strong likelihood of success in establishing that removal violates the Establishment Clause, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and his rights to Equal Protection guaranteed by the United States Constitution.”

But by the time the order came down, Vayeghan was on a plane bound for Tehran.