[ cheers and applause ] this is "nightline." >> tonight, the final push. in tie thailand, the third wave of rescue operations to save the boys already in the cage. already, the boys saved. some suffering health complications. with divers racing against the clock to save the rest, guiding them through the treacherous 1 1/2-mile escape route. with a storm on the way, the latest from the cave site. plus, supreme decision. >> i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. >> what you need to know about president trump's nominee for

the supreme court and the confirmation battle ahead. democrats and republicans facing pressure to vote against their own parties. protests raging tonight with immigration policy, gun reform, and abortion rights potentially hanging in the balance. and -- ♪ don't you give up no, no, no just engaged. justin bieber asking hailey baldwin to let me love you forever. revealing their engagement in an emotional instagram announcement. but first, the "nightline" 5. ♪ let me love you number 1 in just 60 seconds.

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good evening. thanks for joining us. we begin tonight with breaking news at that cave site in thailand, where new hope and fear punctuate an exhaustive rescue effort. today will be the first day in weeks that some of the boys rescued will be reunited with their parents. but the world's attention still focused on those who remain trapped. and now another storm closing in. abc's matt gutman is there with the latest. rr e we just got world that the third part of the rescue is under way. and they are trying to extract their boys. hopefully they will me more in the coming ours.

and the health minister says the eight boys pulled out already are in good conditions, high spirits. four are eating solid food and two of them have lung infections. they are getting medication. first the search. now the rescue. a massive multinational operation to pluck those 12 thai boys and their coach from the belly of a mountain known as the sleeping princess. >> many people are coming. >> reporter: to defy odds and monsoon flooding rescuers freed eight of the trapped boys. what began as a playful rite of passage for members of the wild boars soccer team 18 days ago has become the trial of their lives. their survival miraculous. after trekking into the tham luang cave in northern thailand in a team-building exercise with their coach the boys found

themselves here, marooned by rising waters more than a mile and a half inside a labyrinth of dipping and rising passages. those treacherous monsoon rains choking off their exit, making their way out impassable without diving gear. and here's what the rescuers have had to navigate in every foray into the cave. reduced visibility inside the dark cave and under murky water. a current so strong it's ripped the masks right off of divers' faces. narrow passages, some as tight as 15 inches. and cave walls as sharp as broken glass. >> some of these passageways are so narrow you kind of just have to scoot on your butt or crawl to get through. imagine doing this underwater. >> reporter: for the rescuers physically hauling the boys through the cave it's exhausting work. and for the boys, who have had little or no swimming experience let alone cave diving experience, it's a monumentally difficult task, one they've got to undertake in their weakened and malnourished state. >> what's remarkable is that

you're crouching the whole time and you get tired very, very quickly because you're basically in a constant squat like this trying to get through here. imagine doing it -- i've got a backpack with a couple pounds on. but imagine doing it with 50, 60, 70 pounds of scuba gear. no wonder those rescue divers are completely exhausted. >> reporter: all the while oxygen levels in the cave have dropped, and at any moment heavy rains could fill up the already submerged caverns. you can only imagine the sense here in thailand that these boys who everybody thought were trapped and doomed in this nearly impenetrable cave with water filled to the brim all the way to the top, making it nearly impossible for rescuers to find them, that they've actually been rescued and now this is

possible. preparing for the mission, teams chipping away at the rock. expanding the tunnels. working to remove that dangerous water. hoping this dam will keep it out. they must move quickly to evacuate the remaining players and their coach. with time and elements working against them, rescuers took 11 hours getting the first four freed on sunday. four more came out on monday, more quickly than the first group. if you wonder why they can't pull everybody out at once, it's because the support team is so huge, about 100 divers, that they are going through all of their stockpile oxygen tasks. plus it is so arduous that they need those divers to get a rest. the entire effort, a carefully calibrated human relay. guidelines set up spanning the expanse of the cave all the way back to the kids and their coach. moving as a cohesive unit, the divers implemented a buddy system to escort each of the boys out. a lead diver tethered to each boy carries their oxygen tank. the rear diver helps navigate them through the twisting maze and tight underwater passages. in the meantime, divers supplying food and medical attention to the rest of the

group. the sheer workload would prove the greatest challenge of all. rescuers setting up oxygen tanks all along the route. at least 90 divers have been involved in the mission. one of them, former thai navy s.e.a.l. and volunteer saman gunan, died from lack of oxygen setting up tanks along that treacherous path. >> people can't survive in an ambient environment with low oxygen for very long. whether that's minutes or hours depends on the person and depends on the percentage of oxygen and how much there is. i don't think anyone was surprised to hear that the oxygen quality and supply in this chamber was deteriorating. >> reporter: once outside the cave they were first checked at a field hospital. then waiting ambulances and helicopters whisked them to a hospital 35 miles away, where an entire floor has been set aside to treat them.

>> they have pretty good medical care there. and one of the biggest indications of that was the way in which they prepared their hospital for these patients. it reflected a pretty sophisticated degree of planning and anticipation for a variety of medical and clinical scenarios. >> reporter: the boys reportedly have been quarantined for a possible infection. >> people who work in infection control always like to quarantine people until they have a full understanding of not only what's going on with the patient but what's going on with the people who are interacting with that patient. but again, in all likelihood their medical condition infectiouswise is nothing that their family needs to be worried about. i think that, you know, the medical team there is just trying to be overly cautious. and that makes sense. >> fortunately, they had water that was seeping into the cave so they were able to stay

hydrated to a certain degree. but they were suffering from acute malnutrition. >> reporter: the boys are reportedly conscious, in good physical condition and eating soft foods and rice soup. but their ordeal may have other lasting effects. >> they'll be hypervigilant. they may have nightmares. they may be fearful. they may regress a bit in their behavior. some of them may actually get a little bit depressed. they'll avoid certain circumstances. they probably won't like enclosed spaces. and they'll need support through that. hopefully, in the long term they'll also come away with new strengths that they never had before. you can expect that some or all of these boys will be much better in a crisis. they'll be resilient. they'll have a new outlook on life that will be remarkable and hopefully very positive. >> reporter: one of the survivors turned 16 during his time in the cave.

his uncle tells us the family had gotten him a birthday cake and they hope to celebrate when the entire team is safe. the community that has hoped for a miracle for 18 days now has almost all their prayers answered. and the group of boys and their rescuers, the very picture of team spirit. for "nightline" i'm matt gutman in maysi thailand. >> our thanks to matt and the entire team. and tune in tomorrow to "20/20" for a special on the thailand cave rescue. and next, the president's supreme court nomination. who is judge brett kavanaugh? who is judge brett kavanaugh? le. if these packs have the same number of bladder leak pads, i bet you think bigger is better. actually, it's bulkier. always discreet doesn't need all that bulk to protect. because it's made differently. the super absorbent core quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection

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we turn now to the hotly anticipated announcement. president trump nominating judge brett kavanaugh to fill a supreme court seat that will be vacated by justice anthony kennedy. his confirmation promises to be an epic partisan battle with fierce debate over how a conservative majority on the high court could affect restrictions on everything from immigration and affirmative action to abortion rights. here's abc's terry moran. >> the president of the united states. >> reporter: it was straight out of a network playbook. a primetime announcement to an audience on the edge of its seats. president trump naming his supreme court nominee. >> it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. there is no one in america more

qualified for this position and no one more deserving. >> mr. president, i am grateful to you and i'm humbled by your confidence in me. >> reporter: kavanaugh, a solidly conservative choice with an impressive pedigree. >> my judicial philosophy is straightforward. a judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. >> reporter: tonight the courthouse steps already the front lines of long-standing culture war. kavanaugh, if confirmed, would replace justice anthony kennedy, who announced his retirement 12 days ago. >> supreme court justice anthony m. kennedy announcing he will retire. this leaves a major opening on the supreme court of the united states. >> reporter: sending shock waves through the nation and shivers down the spines of liberals, who had to rely on kennedy's swing vote on social issues. that decision opening up a second seat for president trump to fill on the bench, allowing him to help shape the country's

highest court for generations to come. from a political standpoint, purely political, what do you make of this nomination tonight? >> this is a very traditional pick. it's the kind of pick you could imagine a jeb bush or a marco rubio or a ted cruz picking. >> reporter: a maryland native, brett kavanaugh was raised roman catholic, attending the tony georgetown prep before going on to study at yale both as an undergrad and then again as a law student. he's served in the same court that produced supreme court justices ruth bader ginsburg, antonin scalia, clarence thomas, warren burger, and john roberts. kavanaugh has been reliably conservative throughout most of his career dating back to 1989 when he was a student writing for the yale law journal. >> he ultimately was one of the authors of the starr report to congress that recommended a number of grounds for impeaching president clinton including, you know, a number of misstatements, obstruction of justice, things of that nature.

>> reporter: kavanaugh went on to serve as counsel under the bush administration and is considered an establishment choice for the nomination. >> you'll find him to be a very calm and thoughtful man. >> reporter: tom bossert, former homeland security adviser under president trump, knows brett kavanaugh well from his time at the bush white house. >> what people will be most surprised about over the coming days and weeks will probably be the human side of judge kavanaugh. he is a very soft, very kind, very smart individual. >> reporter: despite overwhelming support tonight, his record has raised red flags for some conservatives. >> in a couple of cases he voted either to uphold or to decline to decide cases involving challenges to obamacare, the affordable care act. and those are viewed by some on the right as a signal that he might not be as solid a conservative as the president should select. >> reporter: but one of the biggest questions is how fully he would fulfill this campaign promise. >> i am putting pro-life justices on the court. >> he did say tonight that he did believe in interpreting laws and the constitution as they are written but also as history and precedent has determined. so that leaves him a lot of

wiggle room there. >> and roe versus wade is now precedent that's two generations or more old. >> yes. i think the most likely thing is an erosion. >> reporter: but in these deeply divided times the road to confirmation for any of the candidates would be a partisan fight. >> this is the most important supreme court vacancy for this country in at least a generation. >> reporter: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is already vowing to confirm kennedy's successor by fall before the midterm elections. >> the senate stands ready to fulfill its constitutional role by offering advice and consent on president trump's nominee to fill this vacancy. >> reporter: but democrats are still seething over the last

time there was a supreme court opening in 2016 when justice antonin scalia died suddenly. it was mcconnell who blocked a vote on barack obama's nominee merrick garland until after the presidential election and then implemented the so-called nuclear option to get president trump's pick neil gorsuch confirmed with a simple majority vote after democrats triggered that move. going forward, then, can the democrats find a way to stall until after the midterm elections? >> the big question for democrats is how much to py out the process. and they're going to demand every document. they're going to demand all of the records, everything that he said or has done. they'll do their best to stretch this out. >> reporter: kavanaugh will need 50 votes plus the vice president for confirmation, which could come a number of ways, with 51 republicans in the senate. all eyes are on the conservatives who have voted against the party line. and these democrats who defied their party too when they voted for gorsuch. earlier today other senate democrats warning the president's pick would have a serious impact on the direction

of the country. >> it is near impossible to imagine that president trump would select a nominee who isn't hostile to our health care law and health care for millions and millions and millions of americans. who isn't hostile to a woman's freedom to make her own health care decisions. >> reporter: kennedy was the man in the middle, often the swing vote who sided with conservatives plenty but surprised people on social issues from race and civil rights to abortion and also on environmental law. >> what's at stake here at the supreme court? >> decades of jurisprudence. and brett kavanaugh is 53 years old. given life terms these days he could easily be there for 40 years. now this court is decidedly on the right. >> reporter: outside the court that ballot line already drawn. demonstrations on both sides of the abortion debate. >> we have a supreme court that is going to be stacked to a side

of respecting life and law who will give us an opportunity to even have a place at the table. >> there's a lot at stake here. and like i said, access to safe and legal abortion is on the line right now. that's why we're out here. because we know that there's too much at stake to stay home. >> reporter: in the end it is this key issue that could sway two republican senators who have made it clear they want roe versus wade upheld. as voices quiet outside the courthouse tonight, many see a fight coming, a battle not just for the bench but for the direction of the country. for "nightline" i'm terry moran in washington. ♪ it's too late to say sorry now ♪ and up next, sorry, ladies. justin bieber announcing an insta engagement. the heartfelt post about his new fiance. ment. the heartfelt post about his new fiance. discover our largest variety of crab and crab dishes all year!

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and finally tonight, do you belieb in happy endings? from friends to forever.

pop star justin bieber announcing on instagram he's asked his girlfriend, 21-year-old hailey baldwin, to marry him. writing "hailey, i am so in love with everything about you. my heart is completely and fully yours. and i will always put you first." the pair first met in 2009 and now almost a decade later hailey giving the singer of "let me love you" the chance to do just that. ♪ since i left ♪ wondering if you think about me ♪ >> ah, young love. congratulations to the happy couple. thanks for watching "nightline." and as always, we're online at our "nightline" facebook page. good night, america.