with respect to the pdo forces for 20 years in iraq, afghanistan has announced when forces are rotating etc. and we attempt to be transparent with you and congress and with theamerican people on the use and deployment of military forces . alerted based on direction from the president and secretary of defense increased the readiness data some of these forces so the forces have been told. and we think it's a better from a transparency standpoint better to inform you, the media and congress of the forces that are out there that are being alerted. in addition assuring and deterring with respect to our nato allies but it's important to be transparent with you and the american people about what we're doing . >> we have to get going, thank you so much.

>> we will have more live coverage this afternoon at 2 pm eastern president biting will be in pittsburgh to talk about the bipartisan infrastructure law. we will have that lifehere on c-span2 . >> comments from the event at the white house. the chief of justice stephen breyer making it official yesterday at the white house and we will show you some of that in just a bit .. the position was appointed by president biden, they wrapped up their report and the presidential commission on the supreme court of the united states and one of the things that they had been out there during early in the biden administration was the idea of adding justices to the supreme court that's been called court packing and here's what the commission found. they concluded, they said

article 3 of the constitution requires that there be one supreme court but does not specify the number of justices that shall serve on the court. the historical practice is the conclusion that congress has the authority to change the size. congress exercise that power on numerous occasions. the nation as a whole takes no position on the validity of strengths force expanding the supreme court mirroring the public debate there's profound disagreement among commissioners on this issue and this hour we will touch on some of the other findings of that supreme court commission and the conclusions they came to. 202-748-8000 allied to call for democrats. 202748 8001 for republicans and for all other steps 202 748-8000two . this is the washington post. biden pledges to pick a historic candidate, white

house is planning a fast aggressive effort to nominate the first black woman to the supreme court bythe end of february. and confirm her swiftly thereafter . reflecting the high stakes of the campaign and pressure to move quickly in today's polarized environment. speaking with justice breyer president biden renewed his pledge to put a black woman on the supreme court think it's long overdue and i will nominate a historic candidate, someone who is worthy of justice breyer's legacy. the post rights breyer's retirement wasexpected though the timing was uncertain . officials said the search for a replacement was already underway. biden has been reviewing the biographies of nomineesfor at least a month and eight have been in touch with outside groups that are assembling lists of perspective pics . vice president harris writes first woman of color to occupy her position is central to the process of selecting the nominee. press. jen psaki says a small group

in clinton including dana remus will also give the president some guidance. that's the washington post . and here's what it is what president biden had to say at the announcement . >> today justice breyer announced his intention to sit down with active service veterans for four decades on the federal bench and 20 years on the supreme court. his legacy includes his work as a s leading scholar and jurist and bringing his brilliance to bear to make government run more efficiently. it includes his stature as a beacon of wisdom on our constitution and what it means. and through it all justice breyer has worked tirelessly to give faith to the notion that the law exists to help the people. everyone knows stephen breyer has been exemplary. courteous to his colleagues, careful in his reasoning he

put landmarks opinions on topics ranging from reproductive rights to laws protecting our environment and laws to protect our religious practices. his opinions are practical, sensible and nuanced reflecting a belief that the job of the judge is notto lay down a rule but to get it right . justice breyer's law clerks and colleagues described him and his work ethic, his desire to learn more. his kindness to those around him and his optimism to the promise of our country . and he has patiently sought common ground and build consensus to keep the court together. i think he's a model public servant in a time of great division . justice breyer has been everything in this country and when he appeared before hathe judiciary committee three decades ago we all had high hopes on the history of the law and itthe constitution. he's exceeded those hopes in

every possible way. >> asking you about supreme court reforms that you would support, justice breyer was asked at an event last fall spoke about term limits. here's a headline uncovering that event from the hill . breyer says term limits would make life easier for me. justice breyer said the implementation of term limits for justice would make life easier. democratic lawmakers are pushing the 83-year-old to step down during an appearance on fox news this is back in the fall breyer expressed an openness term limits but warms and he should be set up for a very long term . on the issue of term limits the presidential commission found this, came to this conclusion that the united states is the only major constitutional democracy in the world that has neither a

retirement age nor a fixed term limit for its high court. currently the number of appointments available to a resident can vary greatly. voters of components of term limits argue the appointment process would address the arbitrary consequences of life tenure by making judicial appointments more predictable. the composition of the supreme court more rationally related to the outcome of democratic jelections over time. this standard 18 year terms would ensure all presidents have the opportunity to appoint two justices to the supreme court in each term they serve. let's get your thoughts and calls first from caroline in alexandria virginia , good morning. >> i really admire justice breyer's for stepping down to let joe biden's previous pick, not that i'm surprised as a black person but i'm glad he got the chance to pick somebody. that he wanted. second o, i think 20 years is good enough to be on the supremecourt . 20 years and retired like everybody else.

and i think that's what i said. >> gordon on the republican line. your thoughts on the supreme court. >> thank you, i think it should be taken down to five justices and we should use the five of the conservatives and joe biden is a racist for saying he was going to pick a black woman. that's racist, that's unconstitutional to say that. >> host: why is it racist to do that? >> because the supreme court has said you don't do things like that according to race, cr color or creed . it's unconstitutional and what they should be doing is giving every senior an extra check to get through this damn inflation. biden is a moron, thank you and goodbye.

>> here's what the process looks like, this is the washington post with what's ahead for this nominee and what's been in the past the nomination process getting underway with betting . thathas in the judiciary committee, the nominee has to prbe made by the president . the first committee vote on the judiciary committee tand look here on the right on the timeline for the current justices on the supreme court and the time it takes to get confirmed. the shortest on the timeline is the most recent justice, justice any ceconey barrett, 20 four days after her nomination. the average day to confirm was 72 and the longest of the sittingjustices on the supreme court , justice clarence thomas from the time of his nomination to his swearing in an appearance on the bench at 99 days.

tom is in west columbia south carolina,democrats line talking about reforms on the supreme court . good morning. >> good morning. i just wanted to say i watched on tv yesterday our esteemed representative jim clyburn and representative clyburn is supporting judge childs from south carolina to be named this next supreme court justice. i would say that judge childs because of jim clyburn's support and i support him strongly. i like jim clyburn and i like what he stands for. and everything but i would say that judge childs because of the support from jim clyburn has better than the 50 50 chance that biden will nominate her for this open position. i don't know that much about her but i don't have any

problem whatsoever in having a female, black or whatever. i think we miss out on a lot of talent and time when we say we have to have a certain demographic to fill a position. so i just wanted to mention that across the united states of america and i hope you feel great today. >> to stand on staten island, new york. >> basically i feel things should be kept the way they are. bottom line is the supreme court justice should be able to serve forever. why? because if you do term limits than the bottom line is it puts pressure on the judge to make decisions a certain way.

second thing is breyer, i feel breyer was good. i i didn't agree with everything but basically he served the courts and it worked out well. and just one last thing. the pandemic, i would love it if c-span could find somebody who lived during the depression to share their experience of what it's like now with the pandemic . thank you, thank you. >> this is the washington times this morning the headline. mcconnell urges biden to avoid radical left in picking justices. part of the statement from the senate republican leader says this, the american people selected a senate that is evenly split at 50-50 to the degree that president biden received a mandate to govern from the middle to secure our institutions and unite america. the president must not outsource this decision to the radical left.

the people deserve a nominee with a demonstratedreverence for the written text of our laws and our constitution. let's hear from maryland in columbus ohio on the republican line , go ahead turn down your volume and go ahead with your comments. >> i'm from columbus ohio and i think we should add age limits on the supreme court. the age limit in ohio i believe is 72. no one can run for office once their 72 and we should use the same principle for congress . >> this is a report from the hill, a poll that they did last spring most in a new poll want to end justices lifetime appointments. only two thirds of all us adults believe supreme court justices should face term limits and leave the supreme court after a certain amount

of time on the bench. a poll last year found just 22 percent of respondents reported lifetime appointments for supreme court while 63 percent reported term limits. the raiment remainder of responders had no opinion or was unsure. justice breyer serving at the end of this term will have served 20years on the supreme court. here's some of what he had to say yesterday at the white house . >> they run almost i don't know how many but what i say is i sit there on the bench and i hear lots of cases. and after a while, the impression is it takes a while. i have to say the impression you get is as you well know this is a complicated process. there are more than 330 million people and my wife used to say every race, every religion and she would emphasize this and it's every point of view possible .

and it's a kind of miracle. when you sit there and see all those people in front of you. people that are so different in what they think. and yet they've decided to help solve their major differences under law. and when the students get to s senegal i say look at what happens in countries that don't do that. people have come to accept it in this country and they come to accept the importanceof the rule of law . >> were talking about the retirement of justice breyer focusing on reforms, changes you'd like to see at the supreme court. the lines are for democrats 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8000 one and all others 202748 8002 and we've been sharing some of the findings of the president's commission on the supreme court finished their work in december.

we will get back to that as well but let's hear from tony in santa fe new mexico, independent line. >> that morning. i'd like to see it start in the senate where if they don't have a majority of all senators, of two thirds majority, the person doesn't get in. that way we resolve what we've got now with the radical right getting their way and getting these people in their that have basically changed it back to catechism. >> host: for supreme court justices they came to an agreement and that agreement is not necessary. the supreme court justice has to be passed by a simple majority so it's a 50-50 set .

all democrats voting in favor and all republicans again, they need the vice president as a tie-breaking vote in the senate to do that so in the case of a supreme court justice they don't need that supermajority to meet that. >> for a lifetime appointment they should, itshould be required. that's rethe reform i would like to see . we get one side has an advantage or whoever's ngin the simple majority hasthe advantage of getting somebody on their . that is not agreeable to two thirds of the country. we hoshould have at least a super majority. to me a simple majority is two thirds. i don't care what they call it now. and the other thing i would like to see is that these people on the court right now that can't follow the law or the rules of court like congress didn't wouldn't recuse himself and couldn't follow simple average

judicial rules of conduct be kicked off.t that would be a good reform to have where they remove certain of these people. these people are lifetime. they should have to pass a simple majority. i think it's about 90 percent did. there's the last four didn't or last three didn't. >> host: tony, to denver next. keep on the democrats line good morning. i'm all for term limits on the supreme court and i'm also for rotating justices on the supreme court and expanding it. >> you say rotating justices?

yes. they would rotate on and off. and also be expanded. this important point i need to make. i don't know why it is. it seems to be part of the world you but the word black really offends them. that's kind of disturbing because a lot of the concerted base, conservative base is heavily concentrated in formerly jim crow states and confederate states. now, we know this and we think about all the segregation from the 60s just died or changed theirmind, they didn't . they've evolved into modern republicans. and right now on the supreme court, since the death of

thurgood marshall, there have been no black justices. there's a black man who is tossed out in every ruling due to the interests of the vast majority of african, we don't have any representation on the court. so thank you president biden for saying i hear you. elections haveconsequences . i will fix this injustice. white males do not represent as indicated by the supreme court history, what is it? 99.5 percent white males. they are not among us, they are the most privileged among us. >> thurgood marshall as he

said and of course clarence thomas and just five women on the bench, the latest justice amy coney barrett, the remaining justices have opened white men throughout history . this is a look at scotus blog. the headline, biden reiterates promise to nominate a black woman. >> .. biden said he had not chosen

menomini plans to do so by the end of february. this is reaction to the on twitter, rebecca says about the president decision, why not dj t donald trump capitalist from the federalist society, party leaders to make their pics, merely control to others people have been talking about the commission out about that looking at both sides, people who support term limits here's what they found about the argument against term limits in the supreme court, opponent of term limits further believe long nonrenewable terms would undermine independence by virtue of the fact that at least some justices would have to consider what they do after the term is expired. their plans for the future might affect their performance injustice or public perception

of that performance. let's hear from lisa on the democrats line in california. morning, lisa. >> that was a great part you just made, term limits. i also think term limits or age limit for the supreme court. it's ridiculous but also when i'm 80 years old, somebody out there representing me, living my reality also, that's the main reason i'm against term limits or age limits or any of that. >> republican line, rory and margarita, california. >> term limits are okay, i suppose but they always represent political parties that dominated the supreme court justices. i'm not thrilled about that.

you have a very political supreme court. if it's for life, they are not going to be as much as all that. for other things, there's one other thing that's coming up in california mainly in orange county here. they call voter fraud or voter repression, right now a lot of people hate the fact that you have the imbalance, they want to take it to supreme court and it's like in orange county, somebody mailed in ballot with my name on it, i tore up my mail and ballot and they mailed one anyway and then i voted and the computers invalidated the biden's ballots in support of the trip ballots. >> talking about the supreme court in the wake of the aftermath, stephen breyer, what

you would like to see him or. 748-8000. republican's (202)748-8001 and independence and all others 488002. this is the "wall street journal" this morning. retirement could reshape the liberal wing over his 27 year tenure justice breyer, the most moderate of the court's current role of justices in a pragmatic approach to the law and that stance was reinforced, a moderate conservative who retired in 2006 and one of his closest friends on the court. they right in the "wall street journal" article about justice breyer who's been the de facto leader of the liberal wing since the death of ruth bader ginsburg in 2020. now justice sort of mayor, the

longest-serving liberal member. a dozen years on the bench, a fire approached criticizing her conservative college and choosing at times not to joined compromised outside justices breyer and kagan, elena kagan supports other democratic appointees. the president yesterday the announcement at the white house talked about the type of justice he plans on appointing. >> i will select the nominee for justice breyer's legacy. while studying candidates backgrounds, i've made no decision except one. person i will nominate will be of extraordinary qualification, character, experience and integrity. i will be the first black woman ever nominated to the united states supreme court is long overdue in my book. i made that commitment in the campaign for president and i

will keep that commitment. i will fully do what i said, i will fulfill my duties despite the justice not only with the senate's consent but advice, another nominee process, seeking the advice as well as the senate i will invite senators from all parties to offer their point of view and advice. i am fortunate to have an advisor in this, vice president kamala harris. she's a lawyer, former representative of the judiciary committee. i listen carefully to all advice and given and i'll study the records and former cases carefully. i will meet with the potential nominees it is my intention to announce my decision before the end of february. i've made no choices. once i select a nominee, i will

ask the senate to vote promptly on my choice. in the end i will nominate historic candidate, someone worthy of justice breyer's legacy someone, like justice breyer, provide incredible service on the united states supreme court. >> as you are probably aware, u.s. house has a role in particular in approving supreme court nominee they do weigh in with opinions on who the president might select or will eventually select. since jeffries, conference chair of the democratic caucus tweeting this morning president biden will make history with his first supreme court nomination, the scales of justice will be stronger as a result. we will go to john in new york on the republican line. >> i just wish president biden didn't bring up race and gender,

we can't go down that road if that becomes the norm, that's not going to be helpful for the american people to cave in to the prejudices of either party. the other thing is reformed the courts into what they call packing the court and stuff like that, the only way they have bipartisan support against objecting to the filibuster but if that went through, i'm wondering if they would have them say okay, there will be a republican committee set up in the congress of the senate democratic set up in the senate and they would pick, submit ten of their justices they'd like to see approved and pick four of those in the democrats would come up with ten choices and then they would vote for those. you just can't have democratic

president elected and all of a sudden you change the filibuster with no majority whatsoever that president biden is going to get to pick if he had what, five or six, you're going to add them from for the american people to have just that one party pick the justices, if they ever did come up with a reform, they would have to come up and make it a fair process. a simple suggestion would be republican committee would take a few choices in the pick four of those and democrat ten and then they vote on those. >> you think out slow down the process? the average time between nomination and confirmation of justice is 72 days, justice

thomas being the longest at 99. >> i'm looking at the health of our nation, i hope more than one term and if you got on the road, what stigma without leave on the american justices picked by one -- okay, why don't we postpone it to 2024 and that the american people digest that but when 2024 comes around they have time to think about it and then if they decide to vote for it, will let the next president and that will come into who we vote for and have an impact of our country and that the country think about it and present your candidate in 2024 so the america people have a chance to think about so when they vote, they take that into high

consideration and then the american people, the choice will be in their hands whether they want that reform so they moat vote heavily and say we want more democratic -- we don't feel we want more democrats in the supreme court making the decisions. >> you put a lot of ideas out there, appreciate that. dan next in bridgewater, new jersey, republican line. >> it doesn't matter, for example i heard the man of new york and the president of the bronx speaking and they were amazing. sixty years in new york city, i never heard such profound thinking. i didn't look at their race but when biden gets up and says it's going to be a black woman, he's making a statement not about the physical characteristics, he's making a statement about the closed mind format in which

these people are working and he is debasing the supreme court. since he's been president, joe biden has screwed up everything he has touched. i'm just hoping a massive republican majority that he creates in reaction to his stumbling and fumbling around, that he just won't run for a second term. >> survey on article we read that president reagan when he was a candidate in 1980 said he would appoint a woman to the supreme court his first chance came in july of 1981 when he selected sandra day o'connor. this is a quote from president ronald reagan on the announcement, july 7, 1981, the president says at that time needless to say, speculation has centered on the question of whether i would consider a woman to felt the first vacancy as the

process accurately pointed out during my campaign about the president i made a commitment one of my first appointment to the supreme court vacancy would be the most qualified woman i could possibly find. further about that, marcus and washington post this morning, opinion piece inaccurate hopping over biden supreme court pledge is the headline, he says it just justice claire's, president george h.w. bush felt compelled to name it black nominee to replace marshall, the fact that he's black and minority has nothing to do with the sense that he's the best qualified in his time, bush asserted when he announced the pick, i kept my word to the america people the senate by picking the best man for the job on the merit. this was literally incredible, thomas had 15 months of experience on the d.c. circuit when bush chose him. justice amy coney barrett have an attached because president donald trump clearly needed to pick a woman to replace justice

ruth bader ginsburg, i'm saving for ginsburg, trump reported to have set barrett when he passed her over in fair favor of nominating kavanaugh in 2018. the truth is politics, partisan, demographic, regional has long played a role in supreme court nominations. dwight eisenhower chose william in part because he thought a catholic democrat from the northeastward play well with votes in the election a few weeks away. reagan was so taken with the notion of naming the first battalion justice he opted for incidents going up over robert for 1986. in california, this is luis on the republican line. >> good morning. my first thought is if we get into the concept of a need for reform, that would mean something's wrong.

in general, there's nothing wrong with the supreme court. the supreme court is generational and we have to learn how to respect decisions and passage of time but while i was waiting to be called on, there are two things i would consider, we take the responsibility of the politics out of it. one, there should be a test for judges at the age of 80 or whatever age, i don't know the age but there should be a test because that's at sometimes we just don't function. two, there should be a pause for political perspective of an appointing a judge six months before presidential election this way we strip the politics out of it because what we are doing is by turning down this critical institution in america one of three branches of government should not be looked at from a political perspective, we should look at truth, upholding the constitution at the end of the day, we all abide by the rules they uphold the laws they impose be respectful so those are my thoughts and you

are right, the decisions and appointments are political on both sides of the aisle and they are entitled to do that because they want to get reelected but if you put six months probation in terms of replacing supreme court justice before presidential election, i think that will protect the court and our civics and those are my thoughts. >> louise in north carolina, democrat line, good morning. >> good morning, how are you? i just have a problem with the supreme court especially now that people are complaining about putting it back justice up there. biden has the right to put someone up there. i didn't hear that complaint on the trump era and i don't understand why they are complaining. it doesn't make any sense. i see a lot of bias in the

supreme court right now which is not what it should be doing, interpreting delay lost their way they want instead of going by what's actually there. thank you for taking my call. >> this network has argued for bringing parts into the cameras into the courtroom at the supreme court, we do bring you oral arguments and it's obviously changed over the course of the covid pandemic with oral arguments happening remotely and recover them all as the audio is available from the supreme court, oral arguments you can find at c-span.org/supreme court. on cameras in the courtroom, has part of the issues the commission on the supreme court tackled, commission appointed by president biden early in his term. the commission said this, proponents of cameras in the courtroom emphasized the

potential educational historical and civics benefits being able to see justices who work. several justices made clear disfavor video recording and streaming of the course proceeding given the court long-standing opposition to cameras to continuation of simultaneous audio would be a step toward enabling the media and interested members of the bar and public to better follow the work of the court. perhaps further experience with simultaneous audio would encourage the court to provide cameras as well. back to your calls and comments on the supreme court and reforms you'd like to see. our next collar is and in washington d.c. >> hello, how are you doing? i called because i've been listening to the callers about the supreme court selection and i just want to say republicans, at least i didn't hear a lot, 192 federal judges were elected

by trump, not one black person in 192 appointed by trump. and now because biden wants to appoint a black woman, we hear these conversations about why use the term black? why appoint a woman? the president has the right to appoint he wishes to appoint, the senate the senate concern is appointment. i hope biden selects a good person in the heart and justice for all, thank you for taking my call. >> next up sandy on the line, columbus, ohio. >> good morning, it's like representation for the american people, to me it like taxation

without representation like d.c. we need representation for all people in the country. biden, i applaud him for trying to make the court look more like america than what it does at this time. we've got three supreme court judges in there right now just nominated that are clearly political. they are going on the stance of their constituents and the people, the president who nominated them. i want to go back to garland because he was ruled out because it was too soon before an election for them to nominate him, it's got to be across the board did we've got to do this right and term limits are

exactly needed for these folks. i'm not going to say by one year, maybe ten years but term limits should be considered. thank you so much. >> this is a pole, one of the most recent on how people think about the supreme court approval. this was released last fall, u.s. supreme court down to 40%, a new low. americans opinions of the u.s. supreme court have worsened with 40% down from 49% in july saying they approve of high court is doing. this represents by two percentage points, a new low in trans dating back to 2000 the poll was conducted shortly after the supreme court declined controversial texas abortion law in august, college vaccine mandates received and rejected biden administration attempts to extend federal moratorium on evictions during the pandemic. talking about reforms, the would

like to see in the supreme court. we touched on the issue of expanding the courts, some people political call packing the court, deb fischer from nebraska spoke about that recently on the floor of the senate. >> as the commissions report details, court packing is often used as a political weapon in authoritarian regimes, not in the united states of america. take venezuela, hugo chavez, support for his socialist policies by expanding the countries supreme tribunal of justice, from 20 members 232 members in 2004.

look at all the affected was once the wealthiest country in south america. we need to leave this practice to dictatorship whereby monks. republics united states simply don't engage in this kind of behavior. as the commission's report says, stable democracies retained strong commitment to judicial. packing the supreme court take an ax to that tradition of judicial independence. the united states is the greatest country on earth because of respect for the civil of law, not in spite of it. in light of this report, a resolution i cosponsored earlier

this year that would fix the number of supreme court justices at nine is even more important. >> senator fisher, reacting to the report from the presidential commission on the supreme court of the united states. we've been talking about elements of that in the reforms you'd like to see you could read all of the report they posted at the white house.gov. comments this morning both on the selection and reforms from lizzie tweets the supreme court is not there to be for any particular race or gender, that's not who they are. people who question the choice of a black woman aren't conscious of voracious cleaning just as they didn't see races of asking if america was ready for a black president when barack obama ran for the president. promises made, promises kept, a black woman, says mimi. juanita says on reform, second

reform i would support would be to ask presidential candidates to stop making promises who they nominate for supreme court seat. the political aspect six of the court with politics. portland, oregon on the republican mind. good morning. >> can you hear me okay? >> short can, go ahead. >> i watched the show yesterday and it sounds like a good idea that this guys out of there because it sounded like you treated the constitution like a living document and that's garbage. what is joe biden doing?

they are lawsuits against him about him being a lawbreaker. anyway, all i am saying is he treated our document like a living instrument and that's not how you do it who knows how many other judges are doing the same thing. i just hope everybody hears this. that's not how you treat the constitution, it's not a living document. >> next up is lee in massachusetts, democrat line. >> i think the simplest thing to do is when you're democrat and party, you have to put in the republican. if you are republican, is putting democrat that way you get the best of the best, not the worst of the worst. thank you.

>> minneapolis minnesota, next up the independent mike, good morning. >> hi, bill. i like the idea of direct, i don't think a president be able to appoint a judge for a lifetime appointment. also maybe it would be a good idea to have a layman in their, a regular citizen. >> a layman serve on the supreme court? >> yes, regular citizen something like that or rotational thing for lawyers. i just don't think they should be appointed for a lifetime appointment. i just don't believe in that. >> certainly the political process is getting underway in terms of who the president will select in his nominee. he said yesterday his intention is to name them by the end of

next month, february, which is almost upon us. the liberal supreme court reform released this video about that. >> the opportunity to appoint someone to the courts, i will appoint the first black woman. >> after 231 years, 115 justices, it's long past time for a black woman to sit on the high court in the land. now is our chance to get that done. it's time to uplift one of the many qualified black women spent their careers championing civil rights and equal justice for all. were ready to answer calls free a more diverse set of experiences to our high court. but no matter who's nominated, we already know attacks are coming. to tear down her character her question her qualification, so we've got to have her back.

collateralize for what they are and fight for justice to uphold the rights of everyone. it's time for a black woman on the supreme court. >> back to your post on changes ahead in the supreme court with the nominee to be named by the president in february asking about reforms you would like to see on the court in myrtle beach, south carolina. were up on the republican line. >> i was just going to comment first of all, the president has the right to choose who he wants, i have no problem with the president choosing a woman or an african-american woman, that's fine but they should be someone qualified someone who's interested in the constitution because that's the supreme court job to make decisions whether they are constitutional or unconstitutional as far as reforms go, we need to stop trying to reform things this country. the more we reform the more we

mess things up. the supreme court has remained the only entity in all of this country that's not been taken over by politics. we see our politicians, they are not interested in their constituents, their interested in their ideology. we don't need to bring court justices were ideological. they should do their job based on how they interpret the constitution. let's just leave it alone because right now, a certain party pretty much controls every entity in our government but leave the supreme court the way it is. >> it fell off your, is franklin on the democrat line. >> good morning. i just wanted to say with respect to diversity on the supreme court, every one of the six conservative justices currently serving our roman

catholics. you have no protestants on the supreme court. this is probably a first in the history of the united states. the fact that six conservative roman catholic justices all came down or are about to come down on outlawing abortion certainly has something to do with their education and background. i would like to see biden diversity of the court by appointing a protestant. i don't mean protestant from one of these weird denominations that comes to the floor under trump but mainstream protestant because that lease will bring some moderation to the court that's currently missing that's all i have to say.

>> here's usa today on the issue of abortion, briar leaves abortion-rights legacy the headlights of the, associate justice stephen breyer wrote some of the supreme court most important decisions on abortion over the course of his tenure. a series of barriers erected in current state that have limited access to the procedure but as breyer prepares to step down this year, his legacy on abortion may cope with him. seniormost little on the supreme court announced he will retire three decades after president bill clinton nominated him in 1991. rise of to bridge the courts ideological provide led him to write opinions of the 1973 roe v. wade decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. let's go to jim pittsburgh on the independent line.

>> i'm not that concerned about who's appointed to the u.s. supreme court. however, i am very much concerned about whether executive branch of our government, be equal government enforced an unconstitutional opinion by the supreme court. >> okay. elizabeth and lutherville, maryland. democrat line. >> harrier? i would like to a third world woman get appointed from nominated to supreme court. we need more women on the court so badly to roe v. wade doesn't get overturned. there's so many women, i saw on cnn, online about the list of women biden is considering any one of them would be perfect for the job. we need a woman in a third world

woman on the court, that's all i have to say. >> alexandria, minnesota. >> good morning, thank you for taking my call. i do believe we should have term limits on our supreme court and also i wish all of the people on the supreme court would go by the constitution not the way they feel personally and that's all i have to say. thank you. >> next, john in wilson, north carolina. john, good morning. >> but money. i think the first thing about the supreme court, i'm surprised clarence thomas, it's all over the news and it's very important to the american people. she's so supportive of the big lie, she's a lobbyist as his wife. clarence thomas the only one who voted against having donald

trump's records released. he things are very important and that's why i don't understand why c-span doesn't have these things on. i wish one time we could have people to questioning because c-span is not looking at the important things but the supreme court, anita hill passed a lie detector when she said what clarence thomas did to her. hello? >> i am listening, we are here. >> okay. she passed a lie detector test for client thomas when even take. the got him on the court and people need to listen to that plan speak. democrats have not on after this guy. it was on the other side, republicans if you don't need to be on the court, we need to have

a big discussion up is because corrupt. ever since clarence thomas has been that way when you've got george bush who nominated him in the place of marshall was terrible, a slap in the face for black people. i want everybody to understand that joe biden appointed a black woman, it's only right after what happened. myself on c-span? >> thanks, john. referring to an article that came out from the new yorker, jane mayer, the headline of the article thomas from a threat to the supreme court's mayor reports in december, chief justice john roberts released a report on the federal judiciary 22 a recent poll that we read from the supreme court has its lowest approval rating in history, it's viewed as overly politicized. resident joe biden price

recently established a bipartisan commission to consider reforms in the report and members of congress have introduced legislation that would require justices to adhere to the same ethics standards as other judges. roberts report defiantly want everyone to back off, judiciary power to manage internal affairs, insulate courts from inappropriate political influence. his statement followed defensive speeches for members of the court conservatively which now super majority to three, extensive piece that you can read at new yorker.com. a couple more calls and we will go to maryland. tom on the democrats line. >> i just wanted to comment on a few things from earlier, the representative republican representatives, we talked about how the supreme court would

interfere with the independent of fiduciary, i find it laughable considering the president they just had who had no regard to the rule of law or separation from justice of politics, basically told's department of justice to go after anyone he wants right after we learned he had the department of justice sees phone records of snl actors amongst other people. i find it laughable. i also want to comment on another person on here who said the constitution is not a living document. it is a living document, law 101, a living document where amendments can be added, laws

and such and i am correct, right? one, it's a living document? >> i haven't taken law 101 but you are right, the constitutional cash it obviously can be amended. >> i'm curious why you didn't correct him there. >> inks for pointing that out, who will go to emmanuel in washington d.c. >> thank you for giving me the opportunity. the supreme court -- none a lot the rule of law. [inaudible]

thank you for giving me the opportunity thanks for your call and appreciate all across the segment. it's been some week on wall street, economic news about, who better than robin public radio's disclosure program, welcome to "washington journal". >> thank you for having me don't know what you tell us a bit more, full disclosure. >> it's and i'm never program from prison subculture, order of business. creative media and technology, you name it, it's potluck. >> it's been quite a week as mentioned on wall street, the week ending these economic news from the headline from yesterday cnbc, ddp group to 6.9 the last quarter of last year. closing out 2021 stronger than 5.7% growth for the year, what

did you think when you saw that. >> that's great if you just took it in isolation but we are coming out of this greater of the pandemic where as said before, everything just shut down globally, economically within a matter of 48 hours there are enormous difficulties coming out of it, people have been saving cash and want was an order things on amazon in on my left and right and they are delayed supermarket shelves are bare and people are feeling inflation we haven't seen in 40 years so the best ddp number posted i think 1984 with ronald reagan in office, we are also seeing some of the worst inflationary pressures the early 1980s. >> reflected in the headline from the washington times, they have a story u.s. economy grew 2021, fastest since 1984. the sub headline says increase

again after massive government spending, as much of the spending petering out or has gone away but 2022. >> that's right, people forget i did an episode this week on business interruption insurance look like coming out of covid. if capitol hill didn't step up and cares from you would have seen such rampant business closures and bankruptcy, a situation i can't imagine not have been a depression and on top of that, you have another week of government and central bank coming out and saying there's ready for free money as long as possible. not only did powell take it down to zero, monetary tumulus and quantitative purchases, they are still doing asset purchases for another few weeks so what's going to be so difficult getting a sense for this economy, organic strength, non-

hydrogenated, nothing out of what we good for without extraordinary government and prevention? is a multi trillion dollar question. >> do you think the fed and the administration should have acted earlier when inflation started to rear its ugly head last year? >> it's so difficult because you put say we are three or 4 million jobs short of the pandemic, we are not at full employment and get to see much risk of asset bubbles if you look at the stock market, nonfungible tokens, bitcoin, arguably this is the one of the biggest, if you believe in a bubble, it could be the biggest bubbles we've ever had. but that would come back and say we don't necessarily target levels, we look at full employment and price about the dollars argued that's myopic, cap at zero for way too long and when you do that, you run the risk of potential runaway

inflation and now the fed will have to baby he more aggressive in hiking in that could hurt the entire economy. so nonscientific, look at the federal open market committee before 2007, it's not like anybody's office pandemic coming. i think on balance you try to over stimulate deal with the consequences later. >> let's go back to the growth number, gdp is up for the quarter the year from a good blunt question from the new york times, the challenge facing biden, if gdp is up from why do voters feel down? your thoughts on that question? >> omicron, inflation, bear shelves, annoyed parents, we are on the brink of having to mark the two-year anniversary of this cataclysm many believe back and

look at the administration that we were going to be back to work and back to play that summer of 2020, it's sobering for people on of the school year might be written off. the battle over mask mandate between governor youngkin various school districts. sobering this many people have died and suffered the pandemic is not under control two years into it. >> host a public radio's full disclosure, welcome your calls and comments, the lines are for democrats (202)748-8000. republicans (202)748-8001. independents and others, 2027488002. the stock market has been a bright area for people from abuse people have money in the market or 5o1c3 are 401ks,

that's been up but axios has the headline here, it's official, stock market having its worst start ever. >> is a pinprick compared to how much a gone up as much of 2020. we had something like 29 or 30% decline in a few days. the fed signaled, there were convulsions at the bottom, nobody knew. you couldn't give it away but if there were tankers floating around about the oil price it seal and now you're talking oil in the triple digit. it's one of those moments of weightlessness, what we do? we consult 1918, playbook? stock market has been up enormously. if you told me even the pandemic snap up technology shares of netflix and tesla and used cars, they would have their biggest prices jump in history, i would say what are you talking about?

real estate prices are at record levels, nobody can seem to buy a starter home. the market is up from much more than 10% from a garden-variety, not even fair market. i think people have forgotten market can and do fall apart that the price of admission, they just can't return a guaranty. >> you mentioned the price of oil home heating oil cross, do you see any indication inflation pressure points will be anytime soon? >> i am worried what happened in 2008, the price went up to $140 a barrel and that was a big factor in knocking the global economy over. it seems like this economy such a surplus of dollars out there, people spending vacations and other various elements, commuting and everything are

flush with cash as we see people bid for too few products the supply chain can't handle. the oil market seems to be absorbing back quite well. he saw the numbers from chevron this morning, i think those are the best numbers since 2014. not too hot, not too cold, they love the world in triple digit oil. >> you mentioned empty shelves supply chain issues, what about that front in terms of both inflation although yesterday whose announced price increases for the month of march in many products, products people use all the time, is there any relief i had in terms of that? >> something supply chain so long to get back to the equilibrium who would have thought bubble chip shortage to the car industry? break sensors, you can't beg to

get a toyota wrap right now that's spillover into use car markets. your particular context you begging you to get something and people would entertain officers of newer cars to buy we've seen this across the board. i could go back, everybody remembers the first chakra toilet paper, chicken wings, pickles, orange juice. various parts do people realize it's not florida that provides overwhelming numbers of the largest, it's brazil. we realize taiwan and korea provided other countries have been off-line for various other products in the globalized chain are not getting on, back on very easily. it's very different in the developing world that even in developed europe, south america and when you enjoy literally the fruit of globalization, take avocado, it's become ubiquitous.

we devour avocado. we picked them up in the glop emily into partly. you have to depend on mexico and south america other parts for continuous year-long supply of avocados and when there's an interruption, people are mad at their grocers, the entire system. if you are a consumer good package company you have pricing power because there's so much money chasing too few goods and you are rethinking what your supply chain will look like. he used to be just in time to lead inventory, now everybody is suddenly overpricing warehouses and having backup into been tory kcc other shocks to the system sorts prompted a brought briefing across the board. >> have a question and you can't get through on the phone, you can text us at (202)748-8003. tell us morning where you are

texting from. we have plenty of calls about. robin, let's hear how people are doing in the economy and what they think of things going on. deborah in haleyville, alabama. the 23rd. >> but money. have you done any research or anything on people who go into different states to represent us in the house and senate, in the state of alabama your labs say 190 in the state and you can be a representative in the house or senate. it's sad to me because we have several representatives, one from florida, one in virginia they don't understand what's going on in our state but yet they are able to get a leg and and vote on our economics problems. have you done research on that? i don't know if other states are

the same as alabama one night out of the year they can become our state representative. >> i am not familiar with that actually. i am overdue to visit alabama, i don't think i'll be running for office but i should research that. >> let's hear from mike and new jersey. good morning. >> good morning i have a question, i know in this relates to jerome powell in his renomination. the argument that the fed is independent, i know that argument but the reality is let's not kid ourselves, he watches the political ways in feces where it's going. with that in mind, jerome powell is essentially not raising interest rates, essentially a bonus to the biden administration, not to address existing inflation until after

he was renominated as federal reserve chairman. question -- how much politics do you think were involved in essentially the timing interest rates increasing right now after selected for another term. >> i think it's brutally difficult and if you look at ronald reagan, you got inflation on my watch, dealing with the 82 midterms and 84 elections whether bond market shock in 1984 when bill clinton was bludgeoned in the midterm and race hike rates to stave off potentially runaway inflation. it's never easy. chairman powell was appointed by donald trump even after that, as much as donald trump tried to

jawbone the independent central bank they weren't exactly blowing kisses at him. with calling them out. you're in a damned if you do, damned if you don't position, you have to look at independent from a federal open market committee, settle, several who chime in on this and they've done about consensus it is not perfect science in december easy. yes, you want to hike rates and cannot kill the entire economy not have it on a contentious election year, of course but if the data is not there to support that and you can't get ahead of. on behalf of the entire community, it is my