>> i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh... >> narrator: a supreme court face-off 30 years >> it is a system that has become toxic... >> when bo got taken down they promised never to forget. >> it was raw politics. and itas war. >> narrator: and behind the scenes one powerfurepublican senator.it >> m mcconnell is a tactical genius.t >> ...nogiving a lifetime appointment, to this president, on the way out the door... >> unprecedented. >> democrats are oraged... >> narrator: tonight on frontline... >> we're living in the era of the mcconnell court.e >> narrator: "suprvenge." >> frontline is made possible bu contons to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting.

major support is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdan and peaceful world more information at macfound.org. the ford foundation: working with visionaries on the frontlines of social changedw woe. at fordfoundation.org. additional support is prided by the abrams foundation, committed to excellence in journalism. the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the john and helen glener family trust. supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and. inspir and by the frontline journalism fund, ann hagler.upport from jon and and additional support from the charina endowment fund. ♪ >> it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the

united states supreme court. (applause) >> supreme cou showdown as democrats are promising to fight president trump... >> the battle is on-- supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh made the rounds... >> now is the time to fight. >> democrats have already come out in total opposition to... >> you don't belong in this a buildia justice. >> pay attention to this, guys. paattention. >> if he's confirmed, he'll be on the courtor 25 to 30 years. that's six presidential terms. ♪ >> people on both sides of the aisle very quickly took positions on judge kavanaugh him.am they knew anything about (cas clicking) >> i tell you, it was big drama. that room, there were more cameras, you could barely hear the judge would turn head or, make a motion that they wanted to capture.ck (cameras cg) >> good morning.

i welcome everyone to this confirmation hearing on the >> mr. chairman.dge... >> ...brett kavanaugh... >> mr. chairman. >> ...to serve as associate justice... >> mr. chairman... >> grassley is, like, 13 words into his remarks when they start badgering him. >> you are out... yoare out of order, i'll proceed. >> we cannot possibly move this hearing...airman, with >> i extend a very warm welcome... >> we have not been given an...d >> tocrats had agreed that weekend that they should do this. >> mr. chairman, ippeal to the chair to recognize myself or one of my colleagues... (gavel banging) >> you're out of order. >> mr. chairman, i, i appeal to be recognized on your sense decency and integrity.. >> mr. chairman, if, if we cannot be recognized, i move to adjourn. >> the american people... c >> mirman, i move to adjourn. (protesters shouting) >> ... travesty of justice. this is a traves of justice. we will not go back. cancel brett kavanaugh, adjourn the hearing. >> we're here to say to be a hero!

be a hero... (inaudible) (protesters continue shouting) aring.t's no way tconduct a i think that the process wasun not becoming of thed states senate. t >> bs is the first confirmation hearing for a supreme court justice i've seen basically according to mob rule.ha >> this isping up to be the hypocrisy hearing, and that's hard to do in the senate. rotesters shouting) >> narrator: it was only the first day of the kavanau hearings. >> it was the epitome of a totally broken system. if kennedy had been alive, or heflin, or specter had been watching the kavanaugh hearings, we would have puked. >> a circus of protesters welcomed into the hearing room by t democratic party... >> narrator: it looked like a product of the deep divisions in >> destroying civility sowing chaos...

>> narrator: but it had been decades in the making.up >> senators who disupreme court hearings? they might as well be in the audience with the protesters. >> narrator: and behind the scenes, one powerful republican senator, majity leader mitch mcconnell. >> mcconnell knows the game plan. one of theeasons he's as good at his job as it is is because he can play his own hand at cards and he can alsplay his opponent's hand at cards. he knows exactly what they're trying to do. >> narrator: out-maneuvering democrats, confirmin conservative judges were brett kavanaugh would be his crowning achvement. (camera clicks) >> it's moving the court to a tireally very, very conser court. that's mcconnell's dream from the time he was first in the senate, and maybe his dream when he went into politics. >> this is going to be a rough battle on capitol hill...c >> narrator: mitchnell's determination to transform the supreme court had been his life's work. >> ...the dismay of several senators, u.s. supreme courtho

nominee clarences managed to... >> potentially ensuring a conservative majority for decades... >> narrator: through bruising nfirmation battles... >> ...democrats to keep an open mind about kavanaugh... >> narrator: a struggle over ideology and power... >> ...white house has been packaging clarence thomas like a political candidate... . expected to be one of the most contentious confirmation hearings in memory... >> narrator: ignited by ade stating defeat... >> ...rejecting the nomination of judge bork... >> ...judge bork, the long public ordeal. >> narrator: and a promise to retaliate. >>he administration is marshaling all its resources for what may be the last great ideological battle of the reagan presidency... >> ...of what could be onehe great supreme court nomination fights of the century... >> narrator: it started at thehi reagan house. >> ...conservative judge robert bork... ite house counsel's officeom the called me and said, "it's happening now." so i jped in a cab and came rough security and into the get white house. it's very exciting, it was wonderful, i was, uh, uh... very proud of him. it was kind of, kind of moving to see that. >> it is with great pleasure and

deep respect for his exaordinary abilities that today announce my intention to nominate united states court of appeals judge robert h. bork to be an associate justice of the supreme court. >> i thought, "well, this man is an ideal person to be on the sueme court." >> judge bork, widely regarded as the most prominent and intellectually powerful advocate of judicial restrain.. >> bork was sort of the hallmark of ultra-conservative legal thought. this was going to dramatically change the court. init was going to change i far more conservative directiona >> narrator: rhad already successfully appointed conservatives to a court he considered too leral: sandra day o'connor, william rehnquisth elevated tf justice, antonin scalia. and now, with the retirement of lewipowell, reagan could secure conservative control of the court. >> so this was an opportunity to really change the direction, not just for the next four years,

but republicans were hoping for the next 40 years. >> narrator: reagan's attorney general made a phone call to capitohill. he wanted to alert one powerful democratic senator. >> senator kennedy got a notel that attorney geneese was calling for him. d stepped out of the hearing into a phone booth and took the call. and, and meese told him that it was going to be bork. >> narrator: kennedy headed for the sete chamber. to the liberal senator from massachusetts, bork was a dire threat. >> everything that bork had written and stood for meant that the civil rights and affirmative acti push of the civil right movement was in danger. >> ...and the senator from massachusetts is recognized... >> narrator: it d only been an hour since reagan's announcement. kennedy let the president and bork know ey were in for a fight. >> mr. president, i oppose the nomination of robert bork tohe

supreme court, and i urge the senate to reject it. >> and our staff said, "hey, gos hear what kennedaying." so i went over. >> roberbork's america is a land in which women would be forced into back-alleyor ons, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids. >> whoa, this sounds a little over the top. i knew robert rk, he'd been a professor of mine, and i liked the guy, but certainly myti journalistic it was, "okay, the fight's on, the fat'f in te. this is really going to be something." st >> no e would be better than this injustice. i yield back the balance of my time. >> when he finished, there was just silence. i said, "what is all this (bleep)? what, what are you doing?" s d, "just know that we'll

have to destroy him." >> and we were watching this on tv as were drinking champagne in the counsel's office. and i said, "are you guys ready for this?" and they said, "oh, yeah, don't worry about it." well, they weren't ready. nobody was ready. i don't think they had any clue what was coming. (protesters shouting) >> narrator: what s coming was a full-on political assault led by liberal democrats, with protests, phone banks, and attack ads. >> so you're using every disposal. and every tool at your and we'd never seen that before. >> thiis gregory peck. please, urge your senators to vote against the bork nomition, because if robert bork wins a seat on the supreme court, it will be for life-- his life and yours. t>> it was the first momet you saw all-out war over a supreme court nominee. it was the first example of thes polif destruction of the

modern era. >> the name and future of robert bork tops the agenda inin waon this morning. president reagan's... >> and nowhere is the debate hotter than at the confirmationr hearingsupreme court nominee robert bork... >> this is a nbc news special report... >> nartor: the judiciary committee hearings, led by the democrats, were broadcast on national television. >> it is a momentous day in washington d.c.... h>> judge robert bork beg battle for confirmation to the supreme court today. >> it was kind of tense. it was tense, it was tv lights-- very hot tv lights. there's a certain sense, when you're the family member, that there's absolutely nothing you can do. ca >> narrator: it was designed for classic television drama-- the attackers: biden, nnedy., metzenbaumleahy, and >> judge bork looks at senator recognizes him.ator kennedy now >> i was glued to the television like everybody else.

i was as smitten by all the television theatrical drama that, that everybody else was. >> nerator: and there were th defenders-- conservative republicans simpson and grassley. >> so the question was, "okay,ho is this guy going to present himself? what's going to be the drill?" >> ...many controversial statements he has made as a professor and a judge i've compiled... >> narrator: for five days they clashed. >> can you derive a right to an abortion from the constitution? >> narrator: they challenged bork's views on controversial issues.ay >> yesteou said women and blacks who know your record do fear you. >> it was epic. i mean, they were discussing very serious things. >> do we have a constitutional right to speak recklessly? >> busing and...e >> ...were m busing... >> ...law and order, privacy... >> would we allow the police to seah the sacred precincts of... >> ...abortion rights... >> ...the human rights bill, which wod have changed roe against wade... >> ...rights to determine all kinds of personal autonomy. >> you do not believe that there is a general right of privacy

that is in the conitution? >> not one derived in that... >> narrator: bork's advisers told him to be scinct, not lecture the senators. >> i'll be happy to answer the committee's estions. >> narrator: he did not follow their instructions. >> oh, no, oh, no, senator. >> well, let me, let me pick that strain up. >>ll right, but i... but i'd like to get on the record right now that i don't at congress decided, that the mere fact that a law is outrageous is not enough to make it unconstitutional. >> i didn't think it was going well. i just thoht it was torture. you want to tap your dad on the shoulder and say, "i would say it this way." um, can't do that. >> they have been hammering you with that thing for five days. >> narrator: near the end, in an effort to save him, borkom supporter g senator alan simpson asked him one last question. >> why do you want to be an associate justice of the united states supreme court? >> narrator: many believe bork's answer was the death knell of his nomination.

>> i think it would ben intellectual feast. >> some more bad news for supreme court nominee judge robert bork... >> ...by telling the senators the first attraction of the supreme court is theas intellectual pleure of it. >> that seemed to be a big thing, "oh, intellectual feast. ll, what the hell, you know, but that's washington. >> and instead of saying, "i want to do justice and show mercy and protect the rights of individuals," he says, "it'll be an intellectual t." and most people said, "who's the dinner?" (chuckles) >> regular order will be followed. the clerk will continue calling the roll. >> mr. bumpersno. mr. burdick. become a liability...andor had >> mr. chaffee. >> narrator: ...for democrats and even somliberal republicans. it was a resounding defeat for bork and the conseative republicans, 42 to 58. >> mr. cranston, no. mr. kennedy.

. kennedy, no. >> the job was to cut this guy get bork. it's now in the dictionaries of the united states and, andhe world, it's called "getting borked." >> ...senator from kentucky.ar >>tor: it was a searing experience for first-term senator mitch mcconnell. enraged, he took to the senate floor. >> and so to robert bork, you happened to be the one who set the nesenate standard that will be applied, in my judgment, by a majory of the senate prospectively. unfortunately, it got set over your dead body, so to speak, politically. >> narrator: mcconnellen thre that he and his republican colleagues would use the same tactics when it mattered. >> we're going to do it when we want to. and when we want to is going to be when the president, whoever b

he m sends up somebody we don't like. da >> he'll bed if he's going to allow them to just get away with taking somebody out without paying a price for it later on down the road. >> and if we don't like the philosophical leaning of the nominee... >> narrator: it was a promise of revenge, a warning of what coule happen iblicans took >> the danger of that approach, of course... ♪ (crowd cheering and applauding) . narrator: the next year the sustained applause is from members of a new conservative f legal group, teralist society. it is for their hero, robert >> when bork got taken down, you know, their attitude, i think, became "never again." and this was something that they promised never to forget, never

to forgive. absolutely energizing. >> i have known less friendly gatherings. (audience laughs) w >> the forces for bo suffered that very painful defeat didn't gi up, didn't go home to sulk. buthey went underground ant an infrastructure to create a politics.ty for our judicial >> the battle's not over. i intend to be in it, and io, know youoo. thank you. (audience applauds) t >> narrato federalist society was started as a student group in 1981, with bork at yale and antonin scalia at the university of chicago as thelt faadvisers. ted olson spoke at their firstti conv. >> these were students that had been unhappy with e fact that they felt that their law schoolt edn was tilted so strongly to the left, that they were not hearing opposing views.

>> narrator: abortion. busing. protections for criminals. gay rights.ty the federalist socieounders thought the courts had gone too far to the left. >> for years, for decades, the left, as we call them, progressives, a lot in the democrat party, were getting a t of their agenda passed through the courts. >> narrator: what began as a student group quickly grew,ob first as a j network, then a pool of prospective judges,l supported by power conservative donors. >> the olin foundation in particular, the bradley foundation.ul there's this hanthis cluster of far-right foundations with tons of old money in them. and they start to nurture the federalist society. >> ...many members of the federalist society... >> narrator: during reagan's presidency, more than half the political appointees of e justice department had ties to the federalist society, as did

all 12 assistant attorney generals. >> i have an acronym that i use when i think about t federalist society. what's the main idea, m-a-i-n, right? money, access, ideas, and network. and they were very successful on all those fronts. (fife and drum music playing) >> narrator: within ten years, they had built 120 chapters, 3,000 members with a budget of $700,000. (music continues) >> thurgood marshall, a man who played a pivotal role in the redefinition of justice in america, ileaving... >> narrator: when the nation's first african-american justice, thurgood marshall, retired, itmo was a pivotant for senator mitch mcconnell anthe federalist society, an opportunity to repla a liberal justice with a conservative. >> ...washington rumor mill has gone into overdrive this morning...

>> narrator: members of theli fede society had gone to work searching for a nominee, scouring lists of conservative lawyers, judges... one name stood out: clarence thomas, an african-american appeals court judge. >> ...that i will nominate judge clarence thomas to serve as associate justice of the united states supreme court. >> narrator: the white house was determined that clarence thomas was not going to be borked. >> the individuals in the george h.w. bush administration knew what was coming. they remembered vividly at had happened with robert bork. >> clarence thomas could notar have been pr for the mob of still photographers... >> narrator: the republicans built a war room. they prepped thomas. >> senate hearings began on the supreme court nomination of... >> narrator: they warned him it could get ugly. >> clarence thomas, a blac conservative originally from... he>> narrator: once again, proceedings would be a television event, here in the room where the bork hearingsme captivatedcans.

>> ...see judge thomas now with the chrman of the judiciary committee... >> narrator: the cast was familiar-- biden, kennedy, simpson, metzenbaum, heflin. >> but we don't know how he's going to comportimself... >> narrator: this time, the republicans had an advantage. it would be hardor the democrats to forcefully take one an african-arican nominee. >> politically, they were in a very difficult position.er it'sdifficult to attack an african-american judge, and they wanted to befriend him, not attack him. (gavel banging) >> the heari will come to order. good morning, judge. welcome to the blinding lights. it's a pleasure to, to have you. here >> polls initially showed that most americans wanted clarence thomas on the supreme court, which caused some of the senators, particularly the g democrats, to try easy

initially. >> heck, you're six, seven years younger than... i'm 48. how old are you, judge, 42, 43? >> well, i've aged over the last ten weeks, but, uh... (audience laughing) i'm 43. >> 43 years old. >> narrator: thomas' white house handlers, sitting behind him, waited for the democrats' questions. >> he was advised-- i know this-- to be very careful, to be very modest. they're going to ask you aboutrs every control issue that has ever come before the supreme court. >> ...in the area of civil rights... >> narrator: unlike bork, thomas wouldn't be so candi >> ...i don't remember or recall participating... wall. was like a steady brick he just wasn't going to answer anything, and, and he didn't.>> think that to take a position would undermine my ability to be impartial. s as little as possible. disavow any idea that you ever had. present yourself as a blank slate, and that's the only way

to win. >> what i am trying to do, senator, is to respond to your question and at the same time not offer a particular view on this difficult issue of abortion... >> it was going to work. he was squeaking through. >> president bush said he has no doubt clarence thomas will be confirmed... >> confirmation hearings continue this morning in washingtonor clarence thomas... >> narrator: it had been eight days of hearings. the committee would soonote. >> if clarence thomas is confirmed to the supreme court, his nomination is certainly the mot controversial since rob bork's... >> narrator: but national public radio reporter nina totenberg heard something unusual. >> biden says something about, "peoplhave tried to smear you with personal allegations." >> i believe there are certainat things that are nossue at all. and that is his characr, or characterization of his chacter. >> narrator: totenberg was surprised. no issues of character had been raised during the hearings. >> and so i just started kicking

tires, and i managed to get stuff. n rator: she discovered a secret-- allegations of sexual harassment by clarence thoma >> and pretty soon, i had anital hill's name, and id her up. >> narrator: anita hill had worked with thomas at the equal employment opportunity commission.ll >> according to affidavit, thomas talked about pornographic materials depictinh individuals arge penises or breasts involved in various sex acts. >> here is a person who is in charge of protecting rights of women. he is also really violating the laws that he's there to enforce. >> it was just a giant explosion. i, i... (laughs) i mean, i walked up to capitollo hill... (makeson sound) it was like a mushroom cloud. >> good evening. begin tonight with the potential for political explosion on capitol hill.

ouble today...omas ran into >> questions are growing over charges of sexual harassment against thomas... >> narrator: as the story broke, senator mitch mcconnell rushed to the senate floor. >> as soon as the president announced his choi, the special interest groups lined up their firing squad and vowed to bork him and to kill him politically. the process is being hijacked... >> narrator: mcconnell saw the allegations against thomas as yet anotr liberal takedown. >> mcconnell understands implication and consequence tebetter than any united s senator. when you vote on legislation in the house and senate, you're playing for the next election. when you put in judge, you're playing for the next generation. >> the sexual harassment stormou clarence thomas is intensifying. >> narrator: now mcconnell woula watch as aill threatened to derail thomas' nomination. what everyone anticipates will be a brutal hearing. (gavel banging) o professor, do you swear tell the whole truth and

nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> i do. >> thank you. >> it was incredibly compelling televion. you know, she was gorgeous, comped, obviously projecting sincerity. >> on other occasions, he referred to the size of his own penis as being larger than normal and he also spoke on some hoccasions of the pleasur had given to women... with oral sex. >> you could not take your eyes off this thing. you couldn't believe that people were accusing each other of these things. and, and the senate had probably never heard language like this before. >> narrator: the republicans had watched bork attacked for hislo id. now it was thomas's character that was under assault, and they would go all out to defend their nominee. my purpose is to find o what happened. >> narrator: senator arlene specter led arge.

>> i find the references to the alleged sexual harassment not only unbelievable, but preposterous. >> narrator: he cast doubt on her memory.ia >> how re is your testimony on events that occurred eight, ten years ago... >> narrator: he suggested she was exaggerating. >> you took it to mean that judge thomas wand to have sex with you, but in fact, he never did ask you to have sex, correct? >> no, he did not ask me to have sex. >> but that was an infence that you drew? >> yes, yes. >> she stood between clarence thomas and the supreme court. they had to destroy her in order to get him confirmed. if what she was saying was true, he had lied under oath. >> without objection, it will be again, i thank your fa thank you.00 adjourned until 9: (gavel bangs) >> all america had its television sets tuneto the u.s. senate... >> nothing like what happened today has ever hapned before...

>> washingn, dc, a city disgusted by the gutter politics played out on capitol hill. >> narrator: but it wasn't over. inside the senate offices, answer anita hill's allegations. senator al simpson was in the room. >> we, we sat with thomas. h and i toldim my theory of political life: an attk unanswered is an attack believed. not only that, but agreed to. and he was teary. but i said, "you must have sothing to say." he said, "i do." he said, "i really do have something to say." >> this is a circus. it's a national disgrace.nc and as far as i'm ned, it is a high-tech lynching for pity blacks who in any w deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, toave different ideas. >> i remember sittg behind aar

senator and heing that and just feeling like a bomb had o go in the room. and it sucked all the oxygen ouof the room. >> and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an oldr, orhis is what will happen to you. you will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a cmittee of the u.s., u.s. senate rather than hung from a tree. >> the question is on the confirmation of the nomination e clerk will call the roll.ia. >> up to robert bork, there was a sense of civility to this, that you could disagree without destroying. clarence thomas confirmed it. and with the clarence thomas nomination, everybody was watching.te >> this the yeas are 52 and the nays are 48. the nomination of claren

thomas of georgia is hereby confirmed.>> arrator: clarence thomas was 43 years old. he vowed to stay on the court for 43 more years. ♪ in the years after thomas'co confirmationnnell watched democratic and republic presidents tried to tip the balance of the court. >> president clinton today nominated ruth bader ginsburg... >> narrator: with republicans in the minority, bill clion placed ruth bader ginsburg and stephen breyer on the bench.nt >> ...the president congress the name of his nominee to fill the seat... >> narrator: george w. bush, with a republican senate, put john roberts and samuel alito on the court.k >> barama is projected to be the next... >> narrator: with democrats back in control, barackbama appointed sonia sotomayor and elena kagan. >> still, many republicans are asking if she's the right person for the job... >> nrator: through it all, mcconnell had been climbing to power inside the senate.ma

rity whip. republican lear. and finally, majority leader. >> there's nobody who's more focused on political conquest than he is. there may t have been anybody who has spent his entire life calculating. he knows more thanverybody else. it was how much he could win and homuch power he could achieve. >> narrator: mcconnell had real power, and still holding on to that grievance about what happened to robert bork, he waited for the right moment to use it. >> this is cnn breaking news... >>reaking news just in to here at cnn. united states supreme court justice antonin scalia has dieds >> scaliound dead in his, in his bed one day. and what to do in this m. in thent of crisis becomes probably the defining moment of, of mitch mcconnell's career. . >>d breaking news, u.s. supreme court justice antonin... >> narrator: mcconnell immediately understood the political implications of scalia's death. >> the stakes are enormous,

because if you replace scalia with a... an obama appointee, then you probably have five justices on thcourt that are going to move the court in a much more progressive direction. >> with that vacancy, the question is, will a republican-controlled senate... >> narrator: president barack obama's replacement would give democrats a five-justice majority on the court. >> mitch mcconnell doesn't even wait for the day to end after antonin scalia dies to put out a e're not going to leteffect, president obama replace him."it >> majorleader mitch mcconnell just releasing a statement... >> ...this vacancy should not be filled until whave a new president. >> "it doesn't matter if you name anybody or not, i'm... we're not considering anybody because it's too close to the election." >> how shocking was that to you? >> it was amazing to me. i mean, they can say, "oh there's precedent." this was unprecedented.>>

our-and-a-half weeks after justice scalia died, today president obama...dl >> fricrowd in the rose garden there as president obama nominates merrick garland... >> nrator: undeterred by mcconnell, president obama would forge ahead. >> today, i am nominating chief judge merrick briagarland to join the supreme court. (audience applauds) >> president obama was trying to nominate somebody who was going thought, you know, how could members of the senate, with their bare faces hanging out stop this very appealing nominee about whom, really, not a bad word could be id? >> thank you, mr. president. this is the greatest honor of my life... (voice breaking): other than years ago.ing to marry me 28 >> here is a man of distinguished education, distinguished background. this is the kind of person thatu be on the supreme court. and if it's obama who's thpresident, i was thrille he was appointing someone like

merrick garland. >> five republican senators have agreed to talk... >> a handful of republicans to break ranks, including some idcing tough re-election b.. mini-revolt on his hands. >> i met with merrick garland. i liked him. he's a person who would haveen 98 votes or 100 votes ins, the 19ust a few years before. >> ...blasting his party's leadership for stonewalling the nomination process... >> to not even allow the judiciary committee to hold a hearing his nomination just did not sit right with me. >> mitch mcconnell joins us now from capitol hill.be senator, thanks fog here. >> narrator: he fought back, hitting the airwaves. >> the right-of-centerorld does not want this vacancy filled by this president. we're not giving a lifetime appointment to this president on the way out the door, tore change the s court for the next 25 or 30 years. >> senator moran from kansas said he thought maybe there should be a hearing. and mcconnell just said to him, "you keep talking like that, and

i'm running a primary opponent against you," and moran backed off. mcconnell was ruthless and brilliant. >> narrator: mcconnell kept the republicans in line. there would be no hearings, no jvotes, no consideration ge garland. ne >> thehing that i've learned about mitch is, if he says this is the way it is, that's the way it . >> (chuckles) i don't ever question i mean, i worked with you don't want to mess with mcconnell. >> democrats are outraged byor senate my leader... >> narrator: mitch mcconnell had done what had never been done--y he'd blockedonsideration of a supreme court nominee. >> ...said he didn't want to waste garland's time, quote,wi unnecessary political routines... >> narrator: in the years since bork, mcconnell's ally, the federalist society, had becomeon e of the most powerful forces in whington. >> the scale and scopeas

fantastic.et they gnto more and more law schools until they have a chapter in every law school in the country. they have a lawyers' chapter in all the major cities. they're vetting all the nominees for federal judgeships. >> narrator: their revenue had grown to more than $26 million. there were now over 60,000 members. >> the numbers are enormous. the money is enormous. and ery important conservative jurist is a member, all the conservative members of the supreme court and the rest of the courts on down through america. 16 >> narrator: but in as mcconnell blocked merrick garland, the federalist society and the republicans had a problem. >> we are led by very, very stupid people. >> narrator: they were worried about the republican esidential nominee, dona trump. >> drain the swamp! drain the swamp! >> but donald trump came out of nowhere to win the primary.

t he was not a republican ine. the sense that most of us unrstand the word to be. bottom line, his judicial philosophy, what he saw to be a conservative judge, was unknown. >> narrator: mcconnell had a plan. he knew a lawyer, don mcgahn, who was in the federalist society and worked for the trump campaign. >> he's known don for many years. and they had a mutual trust. they understand where each other e on issues that they are extremely concerned about. >> narrator: they told trump that promising to appoint federalist judges would help him win over conservatives. >> leader mcconnell asked thepr ident at that point, and i think don mcgahn was part of those coersations, to begin putting out a list that he would make public. (horn honks) >> narrator: candidate trump liked the idea of a list. he attended a meeting with the heads of theederalist society and the coervative heritage foundation.

>> he was very open about what wanted to do. and he said he wanted a list. he said, "can anyone get one?" and i just raised my hand.r. "yes, and he said, "can you have it by thursday?" we got the president a lt of judges, and that's the federalist society's business. >> he outsourced this, essentially, to these two he had no understandin who these people were. but when presented with it and, when made clear thhis will help you politically, this will shore up your base," he said,t "we do it." >> a lot of people are, like, a judges.bit worried about whi i'm going to submit a list of justices of the unitedat supreme court that i will appoint from the list. ha >>list, that was a massive seller, which is, hey, you may hate trump, you may not truste him, but it's got tois ten. and i don't think he'd be president without that list. >> narrator: mcconnell had 'd held open scalia's seat,d paving the way for the

iemination of federalist s favorite neil gorsuch. then, a year later, another opportunity. >> ...monumental moment... >> narrator: veteran justice anthony kennedy unexpectedly resied. >> kennedy really was the middle of the court. so it' it's a really serious in the balance of the us moment really, since even before bork. >> narrator: mitch mcc understood the stakes. kennedy's replacement could lock up conservative control of the court. >> president trump's pick is in for the next supreme cou nominee... >> brett kavanaugh to replace retiring... >> narrator: mcconnell, trump, and the federalist society again swung into aion. the president nominated judge brett kavanaugh, who had joined the federalist society at yale law school >> kavanaugh is the perfect mcconnell nominee. he's very conservative onn economic issues,ecutive

power issues. he's the perfect blending of establishment and sort of red-state-based politics. (gavel banging) >> narrator: at the confirmation hearings, the democrats immediely put up a fight. >> mr. chairman, i'd like to be recognized to ask a question. >> mr. chairman, it's a pending motion... >> if we don't even know what the rules are, how can we... >> i'd like to respond to... >>r. chairman... >> mr. chairman, we waited for more than a year with a vacancy the treatment wasurt. shabby of merrick garland, president obama's nominee... >> democrats are really mad about garland that happened in 2016, very recent history. republicans are still mad. about bork. >> to my friends on the otherlo side, you can' the election and pick judges. if you want to pick judges, you better win. i >> this stuff is nensely

polarized and super-partisan. (gavel banging) >> narrator: and as the republican-led hearings got under way, brett kavanaugh would follow the clarence thomas playbook. >> i can't give you an answer on that hypothetical question. senator, that sounds like a hypothical, i... >> narrator: he wouldn'ten gage. >> ...that's the hypothetical that you're asking me... senator, i think that hypothetical that you're asking is. ...a hypothetical that, uh, about any statute that you're asking me... >> narrator: from his office, mcconnell watched the hearings. it all seemed to be going smoothly.fe >> what yo is the unknown. you don't know what you don't know. and if there is something out there, some bombshell to drop,or ome way of captivating media attention, then you could have prlems. >> dropping a bombshell exactly one week before the committee is set to vote... newspapers' vague references the to anonymous allegations that had been lodged against brett kavanaugh about his conduct. >> an allegation from his...

>> narrator: the allegation-- sexu assault. >> word of her leaks out without her name at first, and then when there's, the news breaks, just like with anita hill, her name is leaked. >> her name is christine blasey ford.om >> the's name is christine blasey ford. >> christine blasey ford... >> narrator: mcconnell wouldn't back down from the coming fight. >> i think he was furious. you ow, this was the torpedo that he dreaded. >> christine blasey ford mbdescribed kavanaugh as sng drunk... >> narrator: he was worried t about losi senate in the upcoming midterms. he had to get kavanaugh confirmed fast. >> you know, those words of mcconnell, "you will rue the day," back in the bork fight? those equally applied to himlo if h the kavanaugh fight, because the democrats, if theyen controlled thee after this election, he would rue the day of what he'd done in garland.

>> narrator: mcconnell launched a unterattack. >> senate democrats and their allies are trying to destroy a man's personal and professional life on the basis of decades-old allegations... >> narrator: bork. thomas. now kavanaugh. the fight for the court had become personal. d mcconnell blamed tocrats. >> democrats wouldn't let a few eeconvenient things get be them and a good smear. it's despicable. >> he's never faced a fight like this he never faced one where he could go, go down like this. anit was right there on th razor's edge. ♪ >> just moments away now from the historic testimony of christine blasey ford before the senate. >> dr. ford has arrived here on capitol hillo testify in public for the first time. >> it will certainly be historic day on capitol hill. >> remember, nobody had seen her

and nobody had heard from her. not even the senators. so it was a total surprise. >> (voice shaking): i am here today not because i want to be. i am terrifi. i am here because i believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while brett kavanaugh and i were in high school. >> when you realized how genuinely terrified she was to be there, it shocked a lot ofe der, longer-serving senators, that once again, this issue was being broughinto the public sphere.ea >> (voice ng): i believed he was going to rape me. i tried to yell for help. when i did, brett put his hand over my mouth to stop from yelling. this is what terrified me the, mod has had the most lasting impact on my life. it was hard for me to breathe, and i thought that brett was accidentally going to kill me.

>> it was, of course, a larger-than-life moment. christine blasey ford had to go before the eyes of a nation and the world. >> i thought she was enormously urageous, enormously persuasive. >> she was very polite and just looked deahonest. >> it was a huge burden on her to come forward.t >>s impossible not to be riveted with her testimony. she was compelling. >> narrator: some of the senators that day had also been at the crence thomas hearings. patrick leahy was one. >> when dr. ford testified, i asked her, "what do you remember of that incident?" and i think everybodyre in that hearinmbers her answer. >> the laughter, the laugh-- the uproarious laughter between the two, and they're having fun atxp myse. i was, you know, underneath one

of them ile the two laughed, two friends having a really good time with one another. >> narrator: ilooked bad for brett kavanaugh and the republicans. >> this is over, this was devastating. >> i believe those who wanted to believe her did. >> the mood among republicans on the hill was one of gloom. >> we had a meeting right after her testimony. and i could tell that my colleagues were moved and they were saying, you know, "he'd better be good. he'd better have an answer,ca e she sounds very credible.">> he worst-case scenario for kavanaugh and his defenders was what just transpired. >> narrator: at the white house, the president of the united states had also been watching. >> both the president and leader mcconnell found her testimony to be incredibly compelling. >> i was in the white house the entire day, including watchingy the testim both ford and

kavanaugh. thpresident watched it liv and the president and i have both said, each of us have saidh publicly, she gave rendered compelling testimony. >> narrator: the president picked up the phone. on the other end-- mitch mcconnell. >> both of them are kind of testing each other a little bit. "where are you at on this?" you know"how strong are you?" and mcconnell basically says to the president, "you don't worry about me. i'm strong as mule piss." "i'm strong as mule piss." in other words, he's not going to let up,e's not going to give up, he's not going to surrender. ♪ >> to say that everything that could have gone wrong for brett kavanaugh has is an understatement. >> t impetus is on judge kavanaugh. they did not have the vos in the senate... >> do not underestimate the importance of the next few hours for brett kanaugh. >> at some point, if you poke a stick and you tormt that person and you attack that person, at some point, that g

individualng to fight back. i categorically and unequivocally deny the allegation against me by dr. ford. i nevehad any sexual or physical encounter of any kind with dr. ford. >> it was like watching clarence thomas all over again. this was another version of the "high-tech lynching." >> this confirmation process has become a nional disgrace. but you have replaced advice and consent with search and destroy. >> narrator: clarence thomas had invoked race. now brett kavanaugh launched art paan attack on the democrats. >> this whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about president trump, revenge on behalf of the clintons, and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups. >> it has come this completely

politicized drama. he took the algations away from christine blasey ford and turned it into a huge fightan between democrat republicans. he's trying to rally all the republicans to his side. >> narrator: kavanaugh h become a combatant in the war between republicans and democrats. >> does this reflect what you are? does this yearbook reflect youru on... >> narrator: they squared off over his high school yearbook. >>hat's easy, yes or no, y don't have to filibuster... >> narrator: and his drinking. >> oh, no, no,o, no, no, you got this up, i'm going to, i'm going to talk about my high school. no, no, i'm going to talk... >> let him answer! >> i'm going to talk about my high school record if you're going to sit here and mock me.te >> did it reo alcohol? you haven't answered that. >> i like beer, i like beer. i don't know if u do...do you like beer, senato? >> the quote that jumped out at me was, "brett was a sloppybe drunk, and i knouse i drank with him." >> that july 1 reference to s "skis," "went over fs," that's "brewskis," correct? >> and after tobin... s

, sir, i just need a yes or no-- that, "brewskis," right? >> well, i need to explain context. >> you just said, sir, that you that's all i was looking for. >> you're saying there's never been a case where you drank so r much that you didnember what happened the night before or part of what happened. >> it's, you're asng about, yeah, blackout, i don't know, have you? >> could you answer the question, judge? i just... so, you... that's not happened. is that your answer? >>ueah, and i'm curious if have. >> i have no drinking problem, judge. >> yeah, nor do i. >> okay, thank you. >> senator graham. >> narrator: on the republicaned side, lindsey grahamhe fight. >> this is the most unethical sham since i've been in politics. boy, you all want power. god, i hope you never get it. anhope the american people see through this sham. god, i hate to say it cause these have been my friends, but let me tell you, when it comes to this, you're looking for a

fair process? you came to the wrong town at the wrong time, my friend. this is not a job interview. this is hell. >> is this...st >> this is going to y the forward because of thi.to come your high school yearbook! >> it serves to rally republicanand make it an us- versus-them kind of issue. and if it's an us-versus-themf kindsue, when you have the majority, that's what you want. >> the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. cruz. mrs.rnst. mr. flake. mr. ganer. ms. duckworth. >> narrator: with mcconnels republicans almost entirely in line... >> mr. toomey. >> narrator: brett kavanaughme was conf >> mr. udall. >> our friends in the united states senate, on both sides,

created at environment. >> mr. warner. >> and now we have to live with it. >> ms. warren. >> and the problem is, we can't. >> mr. whitehouse. >> and the biggest tragedy is that we are now hopelessly divided onhe last thing that used unite us, which is our judicial system. now there's nothing that pulls us together. nothing. >> narrator: kavanaugh, gorsuch, thomas, alo, roberts-- the federalist society and mitch mcconnell now dominate the supreme court. >> you talk about the warren orcourt or the burger courhe roberts court, we're living in the era of the mcconnell court now because he did what heid. and it very well could be the decades to come.for several >> clarence thomas doesn't want to serve on the high court anymore. >> clarence thomas comfortable retiring now, and there's aot couple ors... >> surgeons today removed two

malignant nodules from supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg's left lung.he >>5 year old is said to have fractured three ribs... >> rbg's health has become the subject of much attention in recent years... >> go pbs.org/frontline for frontline's latest transparency oject, and explore the dozens of interviews in "supreme revenge." >> imean walked up to capitol hill... (makes explosion sound) >> it was theepitome of a totallybroken sysm. >> i'm going to submit a list of justices... >> that list wasa massive seller. and idon't think he'dbe president without thatlist. >> connecto the frontline community on facebook andtw itter, and pbs.org/frontline. >> narrator: "sex trafficking in america." >> what happened to me could happen to anyone. >> narrator:onor over two years ine embedded with a special police unit. >> without customers there's girls out there. our work is constantly evolving.

>> technology has given a superhighway for traffickers toe vulnerab victims. >>narrator: from the streets to the courts... >> it's difficult to think of somethingore despicable than that. you and your co-defendants preyed on a child. >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs statn from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation forg. public broadcast major support is provided by the john d. and catherine t. building a more just, verdantd and peaceful world. more information a macfound.org. the ford foundation: working with visionaries on e frontlines of social change worldwide. at fordfoundation.org. additional support is provided by the abrams foundation, committed to excellence in journalism. the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. the john and helen glessner family trust. suppting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. and by the

frontline journali fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. and additial support from the charina endowment fund. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> for more on this and other "frontline" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline. ♪ to order "frontline's" "supreme revenge" on dvd visit shoppbs,ay or call 1-800-bs. this program is also available on amazon prime video. ♪

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