Neil Gorsuch is SCOTUS Nominee, A Non-Veteran Leads the VA, Transgender Boy Scouts

On today’s show:

• Donald Trump nominates Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States. Gorsuch, the youngest nominee in a quarter century, is a great admirer of the late Antonin Scalia and shares his legal philosophy. Eric Citron, a partner at Goldstein & Russell and a former clerk to justices O’Connor and Kagan, gives legal analysis on the nomination.

• Despite the widespread criticism of Trump’s immigration ban among politicians and protesters, polls indicate that a majority of Americans support the measure. Norm Crider is one of them. He is a Marine Corps veteran, a Trump supporter and in favor of the ban. He explains why in this segment.

• Dr. David Shulkin is favored to become the next Secretary of Veteran Affairs. If confirmed, he will be the first Obama holdover in the Trump White House and the first non-veteran to lead the VA. Bobbie O’Brien, a reporter/producer covering veterans and military affairs for WUSF, talks about the unique challenges he will face. 

• As part of the #100Days100Qs series with our partner PRI, listeners are tweeting us their suggested questions and we’re asking the president. Donald Trump hasn’t answered yet but Todd Zwillich joins to tell us what he might say.

• The Boy Scouts of America have faced heavy criticism in recent years for what civil rights advocates says is a lack of inclusiveness. In 2013 they opened their doors to gay scouts for the first time and in 2015 they began to allow gay scout leaders. On Monday, the Boy Scouts took it one step further announcing that transgender boy scouts are now welcome in their ranks. Scott Leadingham, a journalist and editor at Quill Magazine at the Society of Professional Journalists and a longtime Eagle Scout is joined by Kristie Maldonado, a New Jersey mother who filed a complaint on behalf of her 8-year-old son Joe Maldonado.

• Author Paul Beatty imagined a world where segregation is reintroduced into society. Today, that vision doesn’t seem quite as far off as when he published “The Sellout” in 2015. The book became the first by an American author to receive the U.K. Man Booker Prize.