♪ >> tonight on kqed "newsroom." news from the high court, the fight to replace justice kennedy and the court's big rulings this week. political analysis from publicly confronting trump admincitration offials to turmoil in the democratic party following a stunning victory by a e. progress plus, how one nonprofit is bringing free legal help to some of calornia's poorest and most vulnerable residents. hello and welcome to kqed newsroom, i'm thuy vu. justice anthony kennedy announced his retirement this we the sacramento nativeast the swing vote on many momentous rulings. as the court ended thes term thi

week, kennedy sided with conservatives on two big cases affecting immigration and labor. iting for the majority, chief justice roberts rejected the otivated the ban was m by religious bias. also, the decision could have a big impact on california where fmore than half o union members where first responders and teachers work in the public seco sector. melissa murray is joining me now. welcome to you both. >> thanks for having us. >> thank you. >> professormurray let's begin with you. who was at the top of the list of potential nominees to replace jus kennedy. >> there's a list of about 25 potential nominees vetted by two conservative groups. fthe key words with allhese potential nominees is they're reliably conservative. at the top of the list are amy kony barrett, a judge from the

seventh circuit and brett kavanaugh. these are the front-runners right now. >> judge barrett has in the past expressed her catholi belief and her belief that life begins at conception. we have brett kavanaugh who was a toepdeputy to independent counsel starr during the clinton investigation. what was at the crux ofhis. seems they are trying to avoid a situation where george h.w. bush nominated someone who was more liberal than conservatives wanted. >> that's true. they want someone who will be a reliable vote on key issue they believe will come before the court in coming years. >> what are your hes and concerns about the next nomination and nomination process? b my biggest hope woulde that whoever is the next member tries to find a way tousuild consens on the ort. the court is in an increasingly positi where it is more

polarized and divided than ever before and they nd to stride to build consensus. it is difficult to see how that will happen. my greatest fear is the opposite of that, that itill continue to be more and more polarized and you will have a red and blue team on the court like you do in other branches of the c >> melissa? >> that's right. the court is polarized right now o sort of clea divisions. i'm not hopeful that the person who will be selected, given the prospective nominees who have been offered, will be someone to broker peace between these two factions. the thing aenbout justicenedy is that he -- although he was quite consertive, he had the ability to play in the joints a little bit. so he could be unprtable. i don't think we will get that kind of unpredictability in this nominee. >> it seems the most aggressive debate right now is over abortionju ice kennedy coauthored the decision up hold it seems to be a general cob consensus that won't be overturned but it might be

fwuted ovfwugut of ove gutted depending on who replaces justicey. kenn >> a number of pro life groups have been seeding legislation at the lower court level, so there's a ban on abortion at six keek goe weeks, a heart baw in iowa. they've been anticipating a new justice in a few years and seeding cases that will come up to frontally challenge roe. the idea thatin overrulg roe is off the table is fallacious. it is mor likely to be undermined but the idea of a lete overruling is not beyond the pale here. >> do you agree, josh? >> i wouldn't make any predictions on the future of abortion rights. >> there were major rulings this week.ou the issued decisions on the travel ban, labor unions. there was a decision that said california canequire

faith-based pregnancyenters to provide information on abortion. taken as a whole what to they yll about the court? ti it was a good term for consers at the court. each term is a little different, and most of the cases that were closely watched the conservatives prevailed and justice kennedy sided with them in contrast toea prior yrs where with some he sided with more liberal justices. >> it was alockbuster term for conservatives on really key issues that were important their base. so to the extent that ennservatives voted for the court when they to the polls in 2016, they got what they were laing for. >> and inhe travel ruling, chief justice roberts seized the ment to finally overturn the korematsu decision from 19 h44, the up holding of the japanese interment. justice sotomayor said there

were things in common. >> in my view the over viewing of korematsu was a sop to liberals. it kind of languageished on the court as a court decision that really never should have happened. as justice sotomayor said, there were parallels between the japanese interme and what has happened knew. certainly under all three iterations of the travel ban. it i a kind of hollow overruling because we overruled korematsu on one hand but reinstated the logic inother ways. >> your feelings on that, josh? >> obviously everybody hates korematsu and niceee to it overruled. the chief justice made the opinion for the courthat there are significant differences between this case and core maut is sue. korematsu dealt with citizens of the united states and here you pe talking aboutple who are not citizens and not in the united states and the president has greater disetion in that area. >> you clerked for justice kennedy. if we were to look back andk at his legacy, he has been

progressive on some issues such as gay marriage yet conservativh oners including gun rights. how would you describe his approach to the law? g >> that'sd question. he doesn't fit neatly into the boxes most of the other justice often find themselves in. i would say he has some libertarian instincts. examples you just gave are areas where bothn the right and left side he voted to up hold individual rights, and that's something certainly near and dear to his heart. >> he came from sacramento. he was a california native.hi do youk his california upbringing helped to shape how he views the law and the cou >> i think there are definitely seeds of it. a few years ago in the first same wex marriage cast up and the court sent it back on standing grounds, he talked about the idea of a plic referendum process. again, that's a sort of initiative process that's near and dear to people in the west, and he tked a lot aboutt and how to preserve it as part of this decision. so i think you see aspects ofat i would say he has been incredibly progressive on

certai individual rights, and that will clearly be part of his legacy. but he has a mixed record on individual rights insofar as it relates to race and to gender. so i mean he definitely has a libearian streak, but it doesn't necessarily cover all aspects of the individual rights spectrum. >> so given he is now stepping down, how different is this from the scenario w gorsuch replaced scalia? because it was a cservative replacing a conservative. now we have a swing vote stping down. how moment us ous is for what happens next on the supreme court? yo it is very momentous. in ne's estimation the next justice is likely to move the court to the right on a number of issues, and the chief justice will emerge as a swing vote in quite a few cases. it wl becomehe roberts court eople refer to because he will be at the center , literally as chief justice but also often as the swing vote>> let's not suggest gorsuch and

scalia were tit for tat. so we already have had some right ward drift on the cou and this next nominee will send the court further to the right. >> all roht. much watch in the months to come. professor melissa murray and also attorney josh patashnic. thanks to you both. >> thank you. >> on tuesday primary elections were held in five states including new york. there veteran democrat crowley suffered a stunning defeat to 28-year-old cortez. a former organizers for bernie sanders, her victory may mark a turning point for the democratic part. also, congresswoman waters generated conoversy when she told people at a rally to confront trump administration.

she was called a, quote, low iq person. joining me for a deeper look at the issues are democracy in color president amy alison and san francisco senior political writer joe garofolley. let's look at the politic fight over the supreme court. democrats want to hold off on the nominatio until aft the november elections, hoping a new crop of lawmakers can weigh in. today though president trump says he i going to name a nominee by july 9th. is there anything democrats cano t this point? >> pray because that's all they have to do. they don't have the numbers to ma happen. one option they have is to jam the process and just, you know,l call r call votes on everything, but i don't know if they have the stomach to do thatsa. they can we don't want to, you know,in feinste and kamala harris said we want to delay this, but they have no power to make it happen. they can try to swing a couple of republican senators like lisa murkowski. susan collins of maine. but they might lose a couple

because some democra are in tough reelection fights in states trump won big and they mi ht lose them. so there are not a lot of good options. >> i think we need to really think about the -- what the democrpatic party leaders is doing. what is pelosi and schumer's job? that is to whip up votes to support things. we need to remembe that the discipline with which the republicans mucked up the system and prevented the -- obama's last supreme court nominee,th e's the playbook right there. >> right. >> the democrats, like you said, mach tove to have the sto do that, they have to have the will and they have to hear from average peop that's what is expected. so much is at stake. >> but the republicans are in the majority now, so realistically what can the democrats do? >> filibuster, roll call votes, slow down the system. there's just a few months until the midterm election, and the whole issue with the supreme

court, so many things are at stake. abortion rights and the verturning of roe v. wade, redistricting and the effort of some states to suppress votes, particleularly of peo of color in places like texas. so much is at stake that the democrats nee -- it is a do-or-die moment for them. , ere are procedural issu procedural approaches they can have. >> andhat seat will behere for 30 years. >> or more, depending how young the judge is. on yes. but it know if they have the stomach for it. i think that they -- you know, they're kind of bringing a pencil to a knife fight. i don't know. they've not show the path to do it. they got rolled bef we'll see. they will take public pressure, is the only thing. >> and do they have the unity to do it, right? there's a lot of discord i the democratic party. we saw it in new york with the race between crowley and acosta cortez. we have a young progressive, she is just 28 yes old, a political newcomer, defeating

someone who is number four ithn e house on the democratic ide, and he was seen as the potential successor to nancy .elosi as house speak what does it say about the state of the democratic party, amy? >> exactly what we talked abouth voters are ready for more courageous type of leadership. by supporting aew ncomer who is unabashed progressive politics andng organizi, and, as she said on late night television just the other day, is that if -- you know, eemablishmentocrats typically look at who they believe votes and they ignore the full range of people who could vote, phoeople wren't motivated by traditional leadership or lack of courage, that's howhe won. that's the playbook we saw in other successful progressive campaigns in maryland and in georgia, for those gubernatorial races. for me, what that indicates iat a party that half people of erlor, a qua black are

looking for a new type of leadership and are not accepting the fact that the leaders who have been in pow for a long time should continue be status quohe, not in t age of trump. they want something new. >> what does the party leadersh have to say, including nancy pelosi? >> well, she was, you know, cord to her afterwards, said congratulations goes, but theyb her off. nobody gave her a chance. >> row conas the only congre congressman. it was interesting the read her tweets after winning.ai shed the establishment did not accept me except congressman connor. here are the independent efforts to help with strategy and on the ground organizing and others and that's how she got through. >> pelosi saidt , look,is a congressional race. it is one race in one district, new it is not necessarily representativef the nation, right? she kind of down played. >> this is the problem with the party.'r th still -- they're still

chasing the working class white voters who voted for trump. those folks aren't going to votr democrats. they're not coming back. >> i'm going to tell you, i heard some people talking behind closed doors.w you khat, nancy pelosi has gotten too comfortable, too. we're see sg in thetate of california where there's a challenge to dianne feinstein.e peoe saying, why aren't there more challenges amongst the democratic party for people who have been in power for a t longime. so it is starting this conversation and also showing peoplet is possible. >> and there's already a ripple effect. joe, you wrote about this. oakland congresswoman barbara lee is now interested in running f crowley's position as chair of the house democratic caucus. what are her chances >> we, she's making calls now. she is thinking about it and looks like she probablyill run. if she won, she would be the -- there's never been an african-american woman to have that high of a leadership inei er party. it would be a momentous occasion. now, barbara lee's cenge is she is the third most liberal,

according to onef the metcs, member of the house. she's going to have to prove to folks that, you c know, shean work across the aisle, and she has in some ways. she has, you ,know on hiv/aids funding over the years. she has actually worked with reblicans on that. that's going to be her biggest challenge, is going to be is she too far out there, is she too california, too oakland. >> i heard -- reject that characterization of barbara lee being too far out.in of this. african-american women have been -- it's been established are the highest vote turnout o any race and gender, democratic party voters. s i alreadyd one of four democrats are black. i think her politics represes e majority of the democratic party, the silent majority of the democratic party. i think it would be amazing, not only just historic but what the ndrty needs. i cannoterstate the fact that this kind of leadership is the only kind of leadersp the democrats can loo to do

actually prove to be a counter point to the republicans who are 90% of the time agreeing with trump, the ones in congress, and the fact that theupreme court may be pro trump policies means there is not a ntcounterp. so we're going to cross the aisle to me not as important as rpoint n important counte to the trump administration. >> how much is the democratic party being hurt by, you know, what w saw play out this week, which is sort of this lack of civility, right? then you hav congressw maxine waters over aho megap telling people to publicly confront trump officials. she was c pticized byty leaders, but there's also this generation of activists that are saying, no, this is exactly what eded. the democratic party has been wea right. there was a column the other day in "the chronicle" about how she represents -- alexandria represents anding up for something. like don't sort of do this sort of mealymouth move tohe middle.

a lot of these primary ra that's who are winning, people taking more progressive positions and standing up for stuff. now, the whole civility thing is kind ofbs a pushback by republicans and by democrats. that's basical chilling the status quo because pelosi and schumer represent the status quo. trump -- for trump to talk about civility, this is auy who literally said, i ought to punch him in the face. so, i mean, you etknow, l's consider the sources, where it is coming from. >> yeah, i saw john legend said -- the singer john legend said, you know what? you can ask meiv about city after you tell me about the more than 2,000 kids taken from their parents at the border from the migrant families. so, you know, he is saying, okay, we can talk about sanders, huckabee-sanders dinner later. i think we're losing touch with what's most important, democracy. for democracto really work, it is messy, but that individual citizens have a right t o not

only have free speech but to do something the republicans and a the party knew how to do ery well, which is bird dogging. remember when president obama was trying to get health care passed they went to every single town hall that featured a congressman and yesterday and screamed and they protested and they marched and they got a lot of what they wanted. so for maxine waters t who, by way, incredibly brilliant, venerable senior congresswoman, black woman. she represents the base of the democratic party. a go back to her civil rights activist roo say, i want to remind you this is what you can do in a democracy is completely the right thing todo . for the party leadership to condemn her shows they don't understand the base ofho is in the party. >> i have to move on to immigration quickly as well because the republicans, of course, are facing their own issues, right? they couldn't get immigration legiation passed they twice delayed it. this week they still couldn't get it passed.s any republicans -- nearly as many republicans voted against

it as for it. so what does it say for the republicans, what do they need to do to bridge that divide? >>well, that'soing to be a big challenge, and it is going to be hurting people that we'go g to see in california, in districts like in the central valley, david valledavo. these are two congressman with 40% latino in district. they're feeling the heat. they know it is an issue they have to confrontve and resol. but most of the rest of the republicans live in these gerrymandered district so they don't deal with thet issue a also they're not into it. >> we have to leave it there for now. amy alison wit democracy in color and joegarofoley with "the san francisco chronicle." nice to have you guys in. >> good to be here. for more than a decade the usnprofit one jtice has provided free legal aid to thousands of low income californians. they regularly hit the road with justice bus, a program with brings attorneys and law suds to

parts of california where legal ca is out of reachor many. they help clients clear criminal records,io fight evins and submit paperwork to become citizens or get permanent red densy. the ceo o one justice, julia joins me in the studio. >> thank you for having me. >> one justice was among the organizationhat quickly mobilized at sfo and other cairports across thentry to help affected travelers, most of whom were mlims after the first version of the travel ban took effect in what is your reaction to the supreme court decision up holding the current travel ban? >> i think i can speak on the entire behalf of the legal aid and civil rights community in yi how disappointed we are. this decision will go town on istory. g side of >> disappointed why? >> well, we believe firmly still that the president's very public implementing a kble

ll ban on muslims hitting the country violates some of the core tenets of our justice system and our american values. wnow the supreme court has gotten these things wrong in the past around cil rights and race and lgbtq issues, and they got thisg, one wron too. i think that justice soyor's dissent makes clear our constitution and our countryrv deed a different outcome. >> on the issue of undocumented immigrants, president trump has said there should not be due process for pe who enter the u.s. illegally. what do you make of that statement? >> mean that is just antithetil to what we are as a country and to the values we have invibscribed in our constitution.g be country that believes in the rule of law means our constitution applies to everyone who is heron we pick and choose. there's no favoritism. the rule of law is there to rotect the human rights of everyone who has a foot in this country. >> there's a lot of focus on migrant famies separ at

the border. how is one justice involved in this broader nwork of gro seeking to help them and other immigrants? >> we're part of a national coalition of lawyers and law firms and civil rights and immigration fwrups tryi immigration groups trying to make sure the families are reunited. the court order out of san francisco makes it clear they have to do it in fairly short order. the question is now tse children have been part of a national shell game. d in disappeared and appeare hundreds of shelters around the country. now that they are getting legal representation, how do we make sure as they're reunified we don't loseight of the children again. >> what are you doing to assist? do you have cases you are handling right now? >we are startg to see the children separated from their parents showing up in the regular ieunaccompd minor case loads in california. one of our core partners, esperanza in los angeles, they have a six year old separated from her parents as a result ofe tolerance. we sent out yesterday an e-mail blast statewide tryining to fd

representation for her. >> i want to talk about your jue bus program as well. it is rather innovative. it helps to brie thategal -- that gap in legal aid for people who are in remote areas, rural areas of california. how does that work and what kinds of serviceso you provide? >> yeah, when you map the state there are these high concentrations of poverty in rural areas, and tn all of the concentration of lawyers is in the metropolitan centers. so we literally put lawyers and law students on buses, t them, get them out to rural areas and do pop-up mobile legal clinics ita75% of the s where there are pockets of need. those folks focus on immigration, anything to do with folks becing citizens or daca assistance or general immigration screeni for folks who don't know their status or what their possible remedies are. also, folks with some criminal history preventing them from accessing jobs or housing, how do they clean up that record and

be able to move on with their lives. >> we heard about how the criminal justiceystem disproportionately impacts poor people and people of color. how does the civil justice system have a silar disproportionate impact on those populations? >> yeah, we know thalow income folks and particularly communities of color are dispropoionately regulated included in the civil justice system. ofething like three-quarte the people who need to access help through the civil justice system are peoplen of color i addition to being low income. so it is incredibly important at we understand how these interlocking ments of discrimination impacthese populations. >> and there's a cascading effect, right? what percentage of your clients are close to the verge of homelessness? and because you have said for many of these problems, one legal problem leads to many others. >> yeah, so all of our clients e living at 125% of the federal poverty level or lower. these are folks living paycheck to paycheck. they are at extreme risk.

what happes if you are working at a job and your employer won't pay your overtime and you have a disagreemtd widisagreemtd -- disagreement with your a landlond you can't pay the rent and you can't get access for food to your ds, you send up experiences three to seven civil justice problems all a ce. >> that's how the problems accumulate and it becomes a bigger and bigger problem. you were onc legal aid attorney for children with disabilities. >>heeah. >> and parents. what did that experience show you about the justice system for disabled and low inc peeople? >> yeah. the thing i think i learned so much from my clients was that there is this incredible barrier to accessing help, and thatwi thout a lawyer sitting shoulder by shoulder with them, are these parents who fierce advocates for their children, they needed the voicea awyer to amplify their efforts. but when wog workedether with their advocacy and their understanding and my access to the legal system, we could literally tnsform the liv of

their children. >> and that's the experience that you bring now to your work at one justice. julia wilson, thank you so much. >> thank you. and that will d for us. next week please tune in for a kqci newsroom speal. we will bring you the best interviews from our archives wi innovative and influential figures in modern art, theater and comedy.d you can fin more of our coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. i'm thuy vu. thank you for joining us. ♪ ♪ ♪

captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday, july 1: the political debate sfts toward the immigration and customs enforcement agency. the voices of sexual assault survors on the comedy stage. and, looking back at some tense, violent times on campus... >> it's almost as though every conversation was focused on, have we as a nation, learned anything in 50 years? >> sreenivasan: next on pbs newshour weekend. >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible an: bernarirene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein the sue and edgarfoachenheim dation. the cheryl and philip milstein family.

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