***BREAKING THIS MORNING*** Three conservative groups — American Family Association, American Principles Project and Judicial Action Group — this morning will urge the president to nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett, 46 (she's on Trump's list of candidates) … The groups, in a letter, describe the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals judge as "tested" and "confirmable," and say she has a "compelling story that preempts the liberal playbook." SUPREME COURT: It's decision time for the president. Trump says he'll announce his pick to replace Kennedy next Monday, July 9. The president says he's narrowed it down to a group of five and will interview "six or seven," but Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — who will be a key swing vote in the confirmation process — says she believes she persuaded the president over the weekend to consider some candidates who were not on his list. The Associated Press: Chief Justice John Roberts may be key as Supreme Court moves right. Douglas W. Kmiec: Seeking a successor to Kennedy's complex legacy. Once the president names his pick, the partisan fight begins in earnest. Conservative groups have already pledged to spend millions of dollars to pressure Democratic senators — particularly the 10 who are up for reelection in states Trump carried in 2016 — to support the president's nominee. Maplight: The conservative group behind the GOP's Supreme Court push. The New York Times: Supreme Court defeat for unions upends liberal money base. But those senators will be under just as much pressure from liberals to do everything they can to block the nominee. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) offered this warning to her colleagues from both sides of the aisle during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press": "If they vote for somebody who's going to change precedent, it could be a career-ending move." The Hill: Left mounts pressure campaign on swing senators over Supreme Court vote. Paul Begala: Democrats are about to fight like crazy. Of course, if Republicans keep senators like Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in the fold — both support abortion rights — they will have the numbers to get to 51 votes. Matt Glassman: The Supreme Court nomination, Senate procedure and Democratic strategy. "Accepting that they cannot defeat the nominee on the merits, and that a procedural strategy has almost no chance of succeeding and high potential electoral and/or procedural costs, Democratic leaders will instead pursue a strategy of trying to shape the narrative around the nomination and confirmation, in an attempt to extract an electoral benefit in the November elections." — Glassman, senior fellow, Georgetown University's Government Affairs Institute. A large part of the Democratic strategy will focus on debating whether a conservative court will overturn Roe v. Wade. The president insists he's not asking prospective nominees about how they'd rule on a potential challenge to the landmark abortion case. His advisers, like Federalist Society President Leonard Leo, have echoed that sentiment. The Associated Press: Evangelical leaders downplay potential reversal of Roe. Still, the issue is likely to shape the nomination process, with Republican senators urging the president to nominate a justice who respects "stare decisis," or legal precedent. "You don't overturn precedent unless there's a good reason. I would tell my pro-life friends: you can be pro-life and conservative, but you can also believe in stare decisis." — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on NBC's "Meet the Press." The Los Angeles Times: Up to 17 states could move to outlaw abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. **** POLITICS: That didn't take long. The abolition of ICE has gone mainstream in the Democratic Party, with several potential 2020 presidential contenders — Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), among them — joining calls to disband the agency that launched in 2003 amid national security concerns at the border. The Hill: Abolishing ICE becomes new Dem litmus test. The politics here are fascinating, as it took almost no time at all for the issue to bubble up from the grass roots after Ocasio-Cortez toppled Crowley. The question is whether this stance will remain relegated to deep blue enclaves in California and New York, or if it will become an accepted position within the party as a whole. Some Democratic senators from the Midwest are calling on their colleagues to pump the brakes. "I think it's the future of the party in the Bronx, where [Ocasio-Cortez] is. I think that you can't win the White House without the Midwest and I don't think you can go too far to the left and still win the Midwest." — Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on CNN's "State of the Union." "We are always going to need immigration enforcement." — Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) on ABC's "This Week." Republicans, including the president, are gleeful, believing that Democrats have overreacted to the "zero tolerance" policy that resulted in the separation of migrant children from their parents. According to the spin from conservatives, the minority party wants "open borders," and will be rejected. "They're going to get beaten so badly," Trump predicted. The Washington Post: A bad week for Democrats give rise to a big problem — outrage could become an obstacle in the midterms. Over the weekend, a photo of Ocasio-Cortez's democratic socialist party went viral, with analysts warning that Democrats should be careful not to leap to the left following a single, surprising outcome in a House primary race. 
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Ocasio-Cortez says the solution is to run liberal candidates in liberal districts and moderate candidates in swing districts: 
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Ocasio-Cortez's victory has also reverberated through the House, where House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her allies are urging caution. The Hill: Senior Democrats tout achievements as party's generational divide widens. "This should not be a generational fight at all, this is about people being able to take care of their families. And people who want to make it into a generational fight are quite frankly people who don't like seniority because they want power." — Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), a Pelosi ally. But the new guard got a jolt of energy from the editorial board of the nation's largest and most influential newspaper over the weekend. The New York Times: Make way for young Democratic leaders. "For too long, this regime has clung to power at the expense of future leaders. Neither of Ms. Pelosi's two chief deputies, Steny Hoyer [D-Md.], the party whip, and Jim Clyburn [D-S.C.], the assistant leader, is a remotely viable successor. Like Ms. Pelosi, both men are just shy of 80 and have occupied top-tier posts for over a decade. At this point, the caucus leadership has gone from stale to downright ossified." The Washington Post: The story of Trump's grandfather, who came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor. | 
