09/04/18 09/04/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democrcracy now! >> a judicial philosophy is straightforward. a judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. a judge must interpret statues as written in a judge must interpret the constitution as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent. amy: confirmation hearings begin today for judge brett kavanaugh, president trump's pick to fill

justice anthony kennedy's seat on the supreme court, even as the white house refuses to release more than 100,000 pages ofof documents about his time in the bush white house.. if he is confirmed, it would likely makake the supreme courtt the most conservative since the 193030's. we'll get response from kristen clarke of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law, who -- which released a damning report about kavanaugh's record cases including abortion rights. then in a major victory for indigenous groups and environmentalists, canada's federal court of appeals has rejected the government's approval to triple the capacity of the kinder morgan trans mountain pipeline. >> we are winning. the spirit of the e people i fel behind me was too big for candor martin -- kinder mororgan.

amy: we will g gto mexico city to speak with wiwinona laduke, native american activist with honor the earth. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. confirmation hearings begin today for president trump's pick to fill justice anthony kennedy seat as the supreme court swing vote. if judge brett kavanaugh is confirmed, it would create a block of five justices that would likely make the supreme court the most conservative since the 1930's. itics warnrn his confirmation could d lead to age or rollbackf civil rights, environmental regulations, gun-control measurures, voting rigight and reproductive righthts, including possibly overturning roe v. wade. just hours before the hearings were set to begin, a lawyer for former president george w. bush released more than 40,000 pages

of documents from his time in the white house counsel's office. to 2003. he was also staff secretary from 2003 to 2006. yet the trump administration is withholding more than 100,000 records kavanaugh's under the basasis of presesidenl privivilege.e. we will have more after the headlines.s. presesident trtrump has attacked attorney general jeff sessions again after the justice department filed charges against republican congress members christopher collins of new york and republican congress member duncan hunter of california. collins is accused of insider trading, hunter is accused of illegally using campaign funds for personal expenses. the two republicans were the first and second members of congress to endorse candidate donald trump in 2016.

jeff sessions as senator was the third. on monday, trump tweeted -- in response, republican senator ben sasse said -- "the united states is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice -- one for the majority party and one for the minority party." rebuking the president of the united states of his same party. in iowa, the father of murdered college student mollie tibbetts is demanding the trump's, politicians, and white supremacists stop appropriating his daughter's death to promote hate against immigrants. authorities have charged a

-- an undocumented farmworker from mexico for first-degree murder in her death. in an article for the des moines register, rob tibbetts wrote -- "do not appropriate mollie's soul in advancing views she believed were profoundly racist. the act grievously extends the crime that stole mollie from our family." the person who is accused of taking her life is no more a reflection of the hispanic community as white supremacists ."e of all white people tibbetts' column comes only one day after the register published a column by president trump's eldest son, donald trump, jr., in which he blamed democrats for tibbett's death. in syria, government forces are preparing for an imminent offensive against the northwestern province of idlib, the syrian opposition's last

major territory in syria. people currently live in idlib. 3 million on monday, president trump threatened syrian leader bashar al-assad, tweeting -- "president bashar al-assad of syria must not recklessly attack idlib province. the russians and iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. don't let that happen!" hours later, russia reportedly launched airstrikes against idlib. a burmese court sentenced two reuters journalists to seven years in prison for violating burma's colonial-era official secrets act. at the time of their arrest, kyaw soe oo and wa lone were investigating a massacre committed by the burmese military targeting rohingya muslims in the village of inn din nearly one year ago. human rights and press freedom groups have called for the journalists to be freed. this is u.n. human rights chief, michelle bachelet.

>> [indiscernible] i think the information they gave on the massacre was of interest also [indiscernible] government toe release them as soon as possible, immediately. amy: in yemen, the u.s. backcked saudi coalition has admitted its airstrike on a school bus that killed 51 peoplple, 41 schoolchildrenen, was unjustifi. children wased the made by lockheed martin and sold by the united states to saudi arabia. in germany, more than 50,000 people gathered monday for an antiracism concert wherere one

weweek earlier, a deadly s stabg of a german man led to violent, xenophobia, neo-nazi protest. in iraqi and syrian work arrested in connection with the syrian. this is a resident speaking at the antiracism concert. this is absolutely fantastic because of the people, we have to show that our city is colorful, open to everyone, and that we have no sympathy for what has happened here in recent days. amy: in brazil, a massive e fire at the national museueum has destroyed millions of pieces of art and history. the 200-year-old museum is brazil's oldest historical institution of the most , one important in latin america. museum officials say the damage is irreparable. in a major victory for inindigenous groups anand environmentalists, canada's federal court of appeals has rejected the government's approval to triple the capacity of the kinder morgan trans mountain pipeline. on thursday, justice eleanor

dawson nullified licensing for the $7.4 billion project and brought construction to a halt. her ruling cited inadequate consultations with indigenous peoples affected by the project. just minutes after the court's decision, kinderer morgan's shareholders agreed to sell the existi p pipeline e and the exexpansion project to the fedel government for $4.5 billion. we'll have more on the kinder morgan trans mountain pipeline later in the broadcast. meanwhile, a coalition of environmental and civil liberties groups are launching a new campaign called "protect the protest" to fight back against lawsuits aimed at limiting free speech. corporations often used so-called slapp suits, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, to try to silence activists. rallies launching the campaign are planned for today and totomorrow in new york city, san francisco, and dallas. the company that built the dakota access pipeline, energy transfer partners, is based in

dallas. energy transfer partners has sued greenpeace, earth first and banktrack for up to $1 billion for undermining with the tropical storm gordon is slated to hit the gulf coast as a hurricane later today, with parts of the gulf coast expected to receive up to eight inches of rain between today and thursday. the national hurricane center also issued a storm surge warning for parts of louisiana, mississippi, a and alabama. in florida, gubernatorial candidate andrew gillum is speaking out after he was targeted by a racist robocall paid for by a white supremacist group. gillum is aiming to be florida's first black governor. this is a clip of the robocall. a warning, it is extremely racist. >> hello there. i is andrew gillum.

and i be the mayor of tallahassee. amy: this is gubernatorial candidate andrew gillulum respondingng to the racist robocalllls in an interview with cnn. >> make sure we don't raracial lies and frankly weaponize race as part of this process, which is why i call on my opponent to really work to rise above some of these things. people are taking their cues from him, from his campaign coming from donald trump. we saw in charlottesville e that cacan lead to real, franco, dangerous outcomes. amy: in sports news, nike has chosen former san francisco 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick to be the face of its "just do it" campaign. in 2016, kaepernick began protesting police brutality and racism by taking a knee during the anthem before nfl games, sparking ongoioing league-wiwide protests. kaepernick was not r re-signed o the 49ers after the e 2016 seas, in what is widelely seen as reretaliation fofor his activiv. nor signed by any other team. on monday, he posted an image from the nike campaign, which

reads -- "believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #justdoit" "the new yorker" magazine editor david remnick says president trump's former chief strategist steve bannon will no longer be headlining the upcoming new yorker festival in after a slew october of celebrities and new yorker staff members protested bannon's participation. steve bannon was the longtime head of the far-right-wing news outlet breitbart news, which frequently publishes white nationalist propaganda. indicate -- he became a top adviser to president trump. in new york city, the award-winning newspaper "the village voice" is shutting down after 63 years. founded in 1955 by dan wolf, ed fancher and norman mailer, the left-leaning paper was the first alternative weekly in the united states. last year, it stopped its print publication, and on friday publisher peter barbey said he is shutting down the influential newspaper entirely. in recent days, the natation pad

tribute to the legendary singer aretha f franklin and senator jn mccain. on saturday, former presidents barack obama and george w. bush gave eulogies to mccain at his funeral at the washington national cathedral. president trump was not invited and spent the day golfing. speakers at aretha franklin's funeral in detroit included former president bill clinton, jesse jackson, and the reverend al sharpton who hailed her as "the soundtrack to the civil rights movement." and georgetown sociologist michael eric dyson. this orange apparition had the nerve to say she works for him. you doppelganger of deceit and deviance, you lethal liar, you dimwitted dictator, you bullish

fascist, she didn't work for you. she works above you. she worked the on you. get your preposition right. amy: and legendary pianist and composer randy weston has died at the age of 92 in his home in brooklyn, new york. for more than six decades, randy weston was a prime nearing jazz musician incorporating the vast rhythmic heritage of africa.. his 1960 album, "uhuru afrika," was a landmark recording that celebrated the independence movements in africa and the influence of traditional african music on jazz. in 2001, he was named a jazz master by the national endowment for the arts, considered to be the nation's highest honor in jazz. in 2012, the late randy weston appeared on democracy now! and talked about the making of "uhuru afrika" which featured lyrics and liner notes by langston hughes. >> i wanted to create a work of music, the freedom of africa.

poemton wrote a freedom for me. the song was dedicated to our mothers, sisters, those african women who were always in the background, who always supported as. amy: can you play a little? >> sure. ♪ withto see the full hour , as he played and spoke, youou can go to democracynow.org. randy weston died on at the age saturday of 92. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. confirmation hearings begin this -- today for judge brett kavanaugh president trump's pick , to fill justice anthony kennedy's seat as the supreme court's swing vote. if he is confirmed, it would likely make the court the most conservative since the 1930's. kavanaugh is 53 years old and could serve on the supreme court for decades. critics warn his confirmation could lead to major rollbacks of civil rights, environmental regulations, gun control measures, voting rights and reproductive rights, including possibly overturning roe v. wade. just hours beforore the hearings were set t to begin, a lawyer fr former president george w. bush released more than pages of 40,000 documents from kavanaugh's time in the white house counsel's office from 2001 to 2003. he was also staff secretary from

2003 to 2006 before bush appointed him to the u.s. court of appeals of d.c. senate minority leader charles schumer tweeted monday that "not a single senator will be able to review these records before tomorrow" and called for the hearings to be delayed. this comes as the trump administration is withholding more than 100,000 pages of kavanaugh's records on the basis of presidential privilege. on sunday, senate judiciary committee member dick durbin joined in calls s to delay thehe hearings. >> assertion of executive privilege by the white house to take what hundred thousand documents as a gimmick and people will not get a chance to see them as they reflect on kavanaugh's background is the first time in history this denial of access to documents for laser r role that we thought was a tradition of the senate under senator sessions and senator leahy, time and again when it came to obama nominees. they are suppressing the

documents. if lucky, we will see 6% of all of the documents that have been produced or could be produced to reflect on cap must t true position on issues. amy: today's hearings begin with opening statements and introductions from witnesses, including former secretary of state condoleeza rice. democrats will call former president richard nixon's white house cocounsel, john dean, as a witness to testify about the limits of executive power. after the hearings, the full senate will vote on the committee's recommendation on kavanaugh's nomination. last year, majority leader mitch mcconnell used the "nuclear option" to confirm trump's other supreme court nominee, neil gorsuch, with just 51 votes instead of 60. meanwhile, cononservative groups like the national rifle association are spending millions on tv ads in the ststas from maine to alaska where key senators' votes are in play. we go to washington, d.c., where we are joined by

kristen clarke, president and executive director of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law, which also leads the non-partisan election protection coalition. last week they released a report on kavanaugh's record on cases and also issued a statement oppoposing his nomination to the supreme court. tristan clark will attend --kristen clarke will attend the senate confirmation hearings for kavanaugh this week, starting today. welcome backck to democracy non! can you talk about what is known at this point in a 100,000 documents the trump administration is still holding and yet you have done a comprehensive look at brett kavanaugh austria's record to the extent you can. talk about your concerns. >> this is a most extraordinary position, securing a lifetime seat on our nation's highest court, it really requiring that both the senate and public exercise the highest level of vigilance and understanding who brett kavanaugh is an understanding his record both on

and off the court. my organization, lawyers committee for civil rights under law, under the review we were able to, we look at his cases during his time on the d.c. circuit. we look at his cases and the areas of criminal justice, voting rights, environmental justice, economic justice, and more. we came to the very solid conclusion that he is summit who will turn the clock back when it comes to advancing civil rights protecting constitutional rights in our country. let me give one veryry powerful examplple that i think illustras his judicial philosophy. and the kind of judge that he would likely be of c confirmed o the court. in an incredibly important case called homer versus epa, brett kavanaugh struck down a critical role passed by the epa to deal with cross state air pollution. that case went up to the supreme

court and he was reversed. brett kavanaugh was reversed by a margin of 62 with both justice roberts and kennedy in the majority. the late justice scalia and justice clarence thomas were in the dissent in that case, but it shows he is somebody who squarely aligns with justice thomas when it comes to judicial philosophy. it shows that he is somebody who can see interest of industry over people, the industry of the powerful over the minority. he is somebody who would gut and undercut the important work that are federal agencies are undertaking right now to protect the american public when it .omes to environmental racism he is somebody who would absolutely shift the court to the right. justice kennedy was by no means a progressive on the court, but

his vote was in play. in fact, in about 50 cases concerning civil rights matters, he and roberts were on opposite ends of the spectrum with brett kavanaugh we can expect 100% of the time will likely have five areervative justices who turning the clock back on incredibly important areas for minority communities in our country. juan: before we get more deeply into his actual record, this whole issue of the documents and the trump administration not wanting to release 100,000 documents from his time as a staffer in the white house, and the bush white house. i want to turn to then-senator jeff sessions speaking in 2010, when he was the senior republican on the senate judiciary committee. the same issue arose back then. he warned he would not allow confirmation hearings to go

forward for president obama's supreme court nominee elenena kagan until the release of 160,000 pages of documents relating to kagan's days in the clinton white house as solicitor general. >> we're heading to what could be a train wreck. i don't believe this committee can go forward with an adequate hearing when the public record of a nominee of ththis importane for such a lififetime position s justice on the supreme court, it can go forward without the documents in question. inn: that was jeff sessions 2010. and all of those documents were released by the obama administration. kristen clarke, your take on this? is total hypocrisy. there is a double standard in place. senatemodern era, the has insisted we have all transparency when it comes to evaluating the record underlying

supreme court nominees. as you heard jeff sessions, then elenar, threat to boycott kagan's nomination and ultimately every single document from her 10 year -- tenure in the white house was turned over. there's a gross double standard. in just hours, they will open hearings on kavanaugh, despite millions of documents from his time in the white house where he worked in both the white house secretary,ffice and working shoulder to shoulder with president bush, none of these materials have been turned over. chairman grassley made the inexplicable decision to only seek documents pertaining to his time in the white house counsel's office. and on friday night, we saw a memo come out from a private lawyer who has been retained to

review and screen this document saying they were not turning 100,000 of those documents over because of executive privilege. as far as we know, this is the first time a president or a white house has ever invoked , and wee in this way have to remember this is the trump white house invoking the privilege of documents from the bush era, from a period that predates him by over a decade. bush himself has said, i authorize these documents to be disclosed. i want this review process to be guided by the principle of transparency. but as we of seen throughout the trump administration, their role is to operate in secrecy and to keep information away from the american public. it is shameful, frankly, the senate is moving forwardrd with this confirmation process today. they should suspend those hearings until they have all of

those materials and can do their proper due diligence. i'm still waiting for a senator who is frankly strong enough to seek judicial relief because, frankly, we are in uncharted territory. we have never seen in modern era a process that has been so shrouded in secrecy as this one. it is important that we ask, what are they hiding in those materials? brett kavanaugh, one of the critical roles he played in the white house, was reviewing and vetting judicial nominees. perhaps we will see materials were he explicitly asked whether or a nominee would overturn roe v. wade, whether a nominee believes a discrimination was real and ongoing in our country. perhaps there are red flag indicators that would tell us decisively who brett kavanaugh truly is and what his judicial outlook is. i think the white house is

fearful of this, and it is why they have gone to extraordinary steps to hide this information from the american public. amy: this was all as he was staff secretary for george w. bush from 2003-2006. senate minority leader chuck schumer tweeted last week -- "senator grassley now admitting the senate will only receive half the documents that he requested, before the hearing starts. that means senators will have seen only 6% of kavanaugh's records, & the public will have seen 3%." he continued in a second tweet -- "further, these documents aren't the official national archives' curation of white house docs, but the ones that have been pre-screened by kavanaugh's former deputy and george bush's private lawyer. the senate will likely have zero records from the archives" in time for the hearing. and "the new york times" reported in fact mitch mcconnell said when the possibility of

another supreme court pick on the part of trump, do not go with brett kavanaugh because of his long paper trail. know, let me just take a moment to talk about his record on affirmative action. there are two incredibly important pieces that are moving through the courts right now. challenge to affirmative action efforts at harvard in the university of north carolina, and my organization has been involved in both of those cases for the past three years where we are defending a diverse group of students who believe that racial diversity on college campuses today is important. and we are standing by the ongoing efforts of higher education institutions working to promote diversity on campus. brett kavanaugh has espoused very troubling views in this area.

he is someone who espouses a colorblind outlook on the world. he is somebody who believes america, there is only one race, which is -- does not comport with the work that we do that my organization where we see discrimination outright on the basis of race every day. it is important that we have access to these documents and materials so we can really understand who he is before we move forward with this confirmation process. my hope is that when the senate goes in today, they will realize thatis a sham hearing, they have the right to access all of this materials and away we have done for each and every now many in the modern era. i want to underscore one point because there are lots of big numbers being thrown around about the volume of materials that have been received to date. it is quality over quantity.

remarkably about 42,000 duplicate copies of a heritage foundation flyer were turned over to the senate. this was an event organized by justice thomas' wife in conjunction with the heritage foundation, and those 42,000 documents do nothing to aid the senate in carrying out its important constitutional obligation of providing advice and consent when it comes to reviewing supreme court nominees. i hope at the end of today, if it goes as awful as i expect it will, that they will move to suspend these hearings and give themselves the time they need to do proper due diligence on brett kavanaugh. amy: we're going to go to break and come back. we want to talk about issues of labor and the pregnant immigrant young woman who brett kavanaugh tried to stop having an abortrtn

, , despite a judge's ruling. in thehe end, she got the abortn that is legal in this country. this is democracy now! kristen clarke's president and executive of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law. we will continue with her in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: the legendary guinness and composer randy weston died saturday at the age of 92. to see our full hour with him as we sat at the piano the tribeca performing arts center, go to democracynow.org. juan: confirmation hearings begin today for judge brett kavanaugh president trump's pick to fill justice anthony kennedy's seat on the supreme court. amy: and we're getting response from kristen clarke, who released a demo report on kavanaugh's record on a number of different cases. juan: kristen clarke, i would ask about an aspect of kavanaugh's record that has not got much attention. his record when it comes to

working people and labor -- yesterday on labor day, hillary clinton tweeted out -- hillary clinton pointed to a few cases he was involved and d alsa case of verizon 2010 case, verizon new england versus the nlrb where kavanaugh wrote the majority of test opinion in that case the d c circuit court, basically saying verizon workers wrote union to host signs on their cars if the cars were parked in a verizon lot while they were working. >> there is also a case involving a woman who was killed tragically in an accident at sea world. in that case, osha, the agency

that imposes safety regulations on employers, found basis and cause for essentially findings the world did not do enough to make known the hazards tied with this work. kavanaugh, again, is somebody who puts the interests of employers and industry over the interests of little people. the ruling in that case was not a favorable one. it is consistent with all of the cases that we as seen in the economic justice context which show a predisposition to side with employers over the interests of employees. amy: i want to ask you abobout e undocumented teenager who was at the center of the lawsuit with e trump adadministration over her right to have an abortion, and specifically the role of judge kavanaugh. the 17-year-old was detained in a refugee resettlement shelter,

and only had the abortion after a u.s. appeals court ruled in her favor. she was referred to in court documents as jane doe. in an interview with hbo's vice news, jane doe described deciding to have an ortition. >> when i first arrived at the decided to do it because i did not feel capable of being a mature woman or being ststrong world enough to be able to take care of it. and d i don't fefeel sure about having a child. amy: thatt was chainined arrow. last year democracy now! spokeke about h herher lawyers case. >> she went to that texas court and she got judicial permimissin to get an abortion. but since then, every step of the way, the trump administration has to to block her frfrom exercising her decision.

instead of taking her to her appointment, what they have done is taken her to a religious crisis pregnancy center where folks tried to stop her, convince her not to have an abortion, forced h her to look t sonograms, and they would not let her go to her procedure. from month, they have been trying to stop her. amy: in 2017 while on the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit, judge kavanaugh halted a district court order that would've allowed jane doe to get her abortion while in federal custody. when his decision was reversed, judge kavanaugh wrote a dissent that argued the decision was "ultimately based on a constitutional principle as novel as it is wrong -- a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in u.s. government detention to obtain immediate abortion on demand." he went on to write -- "the government has permissible interests in favoring fetal life and refraining from facilitating abortion." kristen clarke, this addresses a

number of issues, but two major ones, the rights of immigrants in this country -- ultimately, she got the abortion. and also this key issue of his stand on abortion post of willie overturn roe v. wade? >> so let's put this in context. president trump has said over and over again that his goal, that he intends to put judges on the court who will overturn roe v. wade. that was his solemn how. and with judge kavanaugh, brett kavanaugh, we see a number of indicators which suggest he is poised to carry out president trump's agenda. this case involving the undocumented teenager was a remarkable one. with the brett kavanaugh making every -- taking every step possible to make a harder for this young girl to get access to an abortion while the clock is ticking away. at some point it would have been impossible for her to exercise her choice to have an abortion.

the full d.c. circuit came behind by brett kavanaugh, intervened and provided relief for the minor -- she was ultimately able to go and have the abortion -- and observed a few things. observed brett kavanaugh never stayed the hearing to allow the woman to explore other options. observed that brett kavanaugh kept asking kind of repetitive questions come almost to allow the clock to continue running. it was clear that brett kavanaugh really was obstructing this minor's effort and desire to get an abortion. but let's also look at his speech, his speeches. he is somebody who lifts up and celebrate the late justice rehnquist who was in the dissent in roe. he also has another case were he essentially allowed in the player to use religion as a basis to deny employees access

to contraceptive care. there are a number of cases in the court right now that are making their way up to the supreme court that seek to chip away at roe's premise. i firmly believe all of the evidence -- brett kavanaugh's record made clear he will gut roe is the question comes before the court. again, he is not summit he prepared to uphold the court's precedents in this area and this could have dangerous implications for women, but most especially for women of color and low income women in our country who really are the ones who face the greatest barriers when it comes to accessing reproductively health services in our country. amy: and of course president trump famously declared repeatedly during his campaign that he would only appoint antiabortion justices to the supreme court. he was questioned about his views by chris wallace.

>> do you want to see the court overturned? you just said you want to see the corporate tech? the second amendment. you want to see them overturn roe v. wade? pres. trump: we put another two or perhaps three justices on, that is really what is going to be does this will happen. that will happen automatically, in my opinion because i'm putting pro-life justices on the court. i will say this, it will go back to the statates and the statess will then make a determination. amy: that was president trump, at the time candidate from, being questioned by chris wallace in a debatee with hillay clinton. juan: kristen clarke, going back to the discussion you started earlier about the racial policies, in 1999, brett kavanaugh wrote an op-ed piece in "the wall street journal" having to do with the situation in a wife. this was jenna clinton administration and there was an office of one affairs and the clinton administration tried to redress the theft of the land of

the native hawaiians when the hawaiian kingdom was annexed. kavanaugh called the agency an unconstitutional "naked racial-spoils system." "any racialthat group with creative reasoning qualify as an indian tribe." erasing the history, ultimately. i am wondering what you think of this? >> this is a very important piece of kavanaugh's record that i hope gets proper attention. he is somebody recently did not sympathize with the struggles of indigenous populations in hawaii who were seeking political autonomy, who were seeking political power because they are so marginalized. but more importantly, his views

expressed in an amicus brief you filed in that case and in a subsequent "wall street journal" article made clear he is summit who subscribes to a colorblind outlook of the world, which is just not a realistic perspective for any judge to have in our country today, a country where we have civil rights laws on the books and where we have parts of our constitution that recognize that discrimination is something that we are struggling with and something that we need tools to fight. i will note that he filed an amicus brief in that case you described on behalf of an organization called the center for equal opportunity. this is a think tank organization that has as part of its mission tearing down affirmative action. there are strong indicators in kavanaugh's record that he is somebody who does not see race,

choseny who shows -- has a colorblind outlook, and he is somebody who would likely not adhere to supreme court's precedent in cases like fisher that recognize schools, that colleges and universities in our country, have grounds in the right to use race as one among a number of factors when pulling together their student bodies. that he is not somebody who sees that racial diversity in our country is something that is valuable, important, and worth fighting for. i hope that we will see the senate really act hard in probing questions that make clear brett kavanaugh's dangerous views when it comes to race and recognition of racial discrimination in our country today. amy: kristen clarke, thank you for being with us. we will cover these hearings all week. they begin today.

kristen clarke is president and executive director of the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law, which also leads the non-partisan election protection coalition. we will link to this reporort yu kavanaugh'sbrett record on cases concerning civil rights, criminal justice, voting rights fair housing, education, , reproductive rights, environmental justice and access to justice, and also issued a desk the group -- the group issued a statement opposing kavanaugh's s nomination to the supreme court. when we come back, a major decision around the transcananda pipelines and oil politics on this continent. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: randy weston. he performed this song in 2012 on democracy now! he died at home this week in a brooklyn, new york. to see our interview, you can go to democracynow.org. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: in a major victory for indigenous groups and environmentalists, canada's federal court of appeals has rejected the government's approval to triple the capacity of the kinder morgan trans

mountain pipeline. on thursday, justice eleanor dawson nullified licensing for the $7.4 billion project and brought construction to a halt until the national energy board and the federal government complete court-ordered fixes. her ruling cited inadequate consultations with indigenous peoples affected by the project, and found the national energy board's assessment of the expansion was so flawed that the federal cabinet should not have relied on it during the approval process. the report failed to address the impact the project could have on the marine environment near a shipping terminal at the end of the expanded line or the impact of 7-fold increase in tankerer affic on e endangered killer whales in the area. hours after the court decision, indigenous groups celebrated the ruling. this is tsleil-waututh chief rueben george responding to the court decision thursday.

>> we are winning. at the beginning, i remember people saying this is a david and goliath fight. and it is true. the spirit of the people that i feel behind me was too big for candor morgan. it was too big. amy: in an interesting twist just minutes after the court decision kinder morgan's , shareholders agreed to sell the existing pipeline and the expansion project to the federal government for $4.5 billion. prime minister trudeau had announced in may that canada would purchase the pipeline. this means the government now owns the project as its expansion faces years of further review. canada's finance minister bill morneau responded to the developments thursday. >> we are committed to moving forward with thihis project. what thehe decision n to they ad us to do was respond p probably,

gave us direction on how wewe cn dodo that in a way that would be efficient from a timee standpoint, so we willll be considering our next steps in light of that. what wee really saw today y wasa coconfirmation that our governmements decision to o buys pipeline, because of p political right was absolutely the conclusion. amy: kinder morgan has confirmed its work on the pipeline will now stop, saying in a statement -- "trans mountain is currently taking measures to suspend construction related activities on the project in a safe and orderly manner." all of this prompted alberta's premier, rachel notley, to announce alber i is pullining ot of canada's federal climatate plplan. >> until t the federal g governt gets its act together, upward is pulling ouout of the federalal climatate plan. and lelet's belelear. without alberta, that plan is that worth the paper it is written on. for more we're joined by winona amy:for more w we're joined by winonana laduke, native american activist and executive director of the group honor the earth. she lives and works on the white earth reservation in northern minnesota. and joining us from alberta via

-- by phone is eriel deranger, founder and executive director of the group indigenous climate action. welcome to democracy now! let's go north first two eriel deranger. your response to the judge crutchfield decision and what this means for first nations opposition to this pipeline? >> i think first of all, we have to consider the fact that this is not the first time the federal court has ruled in favor of first nations. in 2016, we saw with respect to pipeline, the previous ministration had failed to adequately consult with first nations. this is another case were consultation is flawed. we have to consider what this means. the consultation process in this country is fundamentally broken and doesn't actually uphold international standards that are outlined within the u.n. declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples. that is the fundamental thing

that we need to be achieving confirmed consent we a not gettingg that to t c consultatan process. we havave to look k at whawewe'e doing wrong in this country and take m measures toto create the- corrected. that means giving communities the rightt to o say no, and thas not happening here. juan: in terms of prime minister trudeau, on the one hand he claims he is a leading fighter trying to hold climate change and on the other hand he is considering does continue to consider the exultation of also feels in canada. can you talk about his situation right now? >> this is exactly yet. the fact of the matter is, we're not talking about moving the stepsor taking aggressive to take action on climate change, but we're talking about building a giant construct pipeline that will carry alberta's does extract it my peoples territory -- that increases climate change.

we're talking about a government that is doing whatever it takes to get this pipeline built so that we can continue to create emissions rather than decreasing emissions like the rest of the world. amy: can you talk about what it means the shareholders just voted trans mountain, yes, the governmement can buy it for $4.5 billion? so that means you all own it now and yet the judges ruled against it moving forward. >> this is just it. we are out $4.5 billion in this of the because government's lack of ability to look at the fact that indigenous rights actually pulled weight. they hold her weight in this country. the court has continued to rule on our side that the government is faililing to do thihis, and w we are out 4.5 million dollars. i think of is the reason why trudeau in the government is try to save face by saying where going to do whatever takes to build a because now they're on the hook for the $4.5 billion bill.

juan: i want to bring in winona laduke. your reaction to the decision of the canadian federal courtrt? >> first, otis a candida has a problem. they don't have a plan b for their economy. canada is the tar since producer and they're trying to figure out how to note the tar sands in the face of everything is burning from california to the arctic. is, they are 75% of the world mining is canadian. the economy is preredicated on let'mimine it anand ship it to somemeplace. canadada needs an e economic restructuring. that is what itt n nds in order to deal with some of thehe problems w we're facing g acrose board. wewe are pleas witith t this bee the fact is, these are i illegal and d immoral pipepelines. eriel i is talking ababout iss the united nations statandard fr

relations betetween statate governrnments and indigigenous nations s or first natations. that is not being upheld by canada and that is suddenly not being upheld by the united rates. canada's approach is the same as the u.s. we will starve you until you come to an agreement to host a pipeline or mine. that is how canada and the u.s. operate. this report has said we're not going to do that. you're going to have to get consent from these people. it is a very important decision problem is. , you're in laduke mexico city, but you are arrested last week in minnesota as you are opposing the enbridge line three oil pipeline, the pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from operative, canada, to a terminal in superior, wisconsin. in june, the minnesota public utilities commission approved that pipeline. can you talk about why you were arrested and how that pipeline links to this canadian decision? the state of minnesota has

had this long process. for six years i've been facing down the barrel of the enbridge pipelines. every agency in the state of minnesota and the administrative logic after reviewing 72,000 comments of which 68,000 comments were opposing the additionalnd as much testimony, recommended against issuing a certificate of need and against issuing a permit for the route. in a robe decision, unprecedented in minnesota history, the public utilities commission, five members, said they felt like that a gun to their head by enbridge. the gun meaning enbridge would just let line three collapse and break and legal over northern minnesota. therefore, they felt that issue this permit. we all know that is wrong. one, you should remove the gun because you're the regulatory agency and should not buckle to a canadian pipeline corporation the now wants a seventh pipeline across your territory. yes, you're right, i got cited last week. we call it a rest-like.

the nation andof the church people, as well as the board chair of the sierra club, for opposing this line. what we're trying to point out also is in the final days of the final negotiations on the pipeline right in front of us at the public utilities commission, one of the few commissioners turns to emergence has, will you pay for the police required to put in this pipeline? in other words, will you finance the brutalization of minnesotans in order to get your private linene? enbridge said yes. we have a multiagency task force that is preparing to launch -- we saw a long-range acoustic device. what we're pointing out is thousands of people are going to get arrested in minnesota if they proceed with the pipeline

which is immoral and illegal and goes across our territory. i also want to say, amy, you might remember two years ago on this day, known as the day of the dogs, that is the day on standing rock when you were charged in the dogs were released on our people as the energy transfer partners moved ahead and bulldozed sacred sites for the dakota access pipeline. i think you also know the ofridge corporation owns 20% that energy transfer partners pipeline from the dakota access pipeline. so we're fully aware of how brutal enbridge can be. that is what we stood there to get arrested to say you should not do that to our people. , i wouldel deranger ask about the debate among the peoples of the first nations in alberta in terms of the pipeline. obviously, the energy i industry employs a lot of folks in that area. your sense of how the debate is

going on among the first nations? >> i think winona hit the nail on the head with her explanation. people feel as though they have a gun to their head. choiceot making the best for your people. it is making the best choice out of a slew of options that are going to really undermine your people's rights, destroy the environment, they're going to impede peoples health and safety , or you have a roof over your head andnd food on your table ad you can put c clothes on the e s of your r children. as ouris the r reality communities are put it e econoc hostage siatations. our communitities are forced ino a cornrner to makeke really hahd decicisions. i have a lot of relatives, family members, that are employed by this industry that also support the opposition to the transmountain pipeline, that suppt t the opposisition tthe continued expansision of the alberta tatar sands s in our

backckyard. but when it comes down to leadership, our leadership has bribery,ced through throrough coercion by ththe govementnt, coercion by the big companies themselves, to make deals. and what we're looking to do in this region, r rather than lookg for the cononsent of indigenous communities, is we looking for what it is going to take monetarily to get communities to finally buckle under the pressure, the financial within ourhat exist terrrritories. as far as the debate goes, it is really, really mimixed. pepeople don't know what to do anymore. they feel realally locked into this economy. they f feel forced to mamake decisions that they don't necessarily agree wiwith. we're not really being given any other options, like we're hearing about line three in the region here, saying we need these pipelines in order to make transportation of oil safer. it is one or the other, not a good decision for our

community's to be making. amy: we want to thank you both for being there. we will do as posted online at democracynow.org. eriel deranger and winona laduke . democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to