intention to vote to count. here again democrats want all the voits voices heard. go out and find the witnesses. don't give us a one week time limit. let the people who have called in on the tip line at the fbi, let them speak. let's go back to more of this. >> as a reminder to our guests in the gallery, expressions of approval or nonapproval are not permitted. where there any senators who wish to vote or change a vote? if not, on this vote, the ayes

are 50, the nays are 48. the nomination of brett m. kavanaugh of maryland to be an associate justice of the supreme court of the united states is confirmed. >> majority leader. >> i ask consent to reconsider being made and the president be immediately notified of the senate eye acti senate's action. >> without objection. >> sergeant of arms will restore order in the gallery. the clerk will call the role. >> mr. alexander. >> you know, when you listen to the vice president there as president of the senate, you often notice there a certain pause before he speaks. that is because he is being prompted. nothing wrong with that. they do that for a living. they are whispering from off camera there to them in the

chair telling them what for say next. in fact streek fact it is word . joining me is joy reid and rev re erend sharp ton. and i know you have passions on this subject and they are appropriately placed. so who is going to win as they say in baseball the bounce of the ball? because i think both sides are claiming new energy as a result of this whole episode. >> talking with republican strategist friends of mine, they essentially said that the fight over kavanaugh energized the republican base particularly white men and college educated white women. not sure that can last the next 30 days. but the next 30 days, the anger, the rage, the pure unadulter

rated anner of nonrepublican women i think is something that can carry over. and mitch mcconnell said we know the recent weeks have fanned the flames of partisan discords. my god, who has done that more than mitch mcconnell? mitch mcconnell broke the senate and urged people to come back from the dark n. he brought the darkness. he decided that the senate is the place where republicans have absolute power. where they rule over women and people of color. on behalf of donald trump and mitch mcconnell's own aims. this man brought the darkness. he succeeded in bringing the darkness and now he claims he is putting the man of the highest character on the court. the majority of americans disagree with that. they feel that kavanaugh has been imposed, forced on the majority of americans by a minority who wants to rule from the past. mitch mcconnell wants to rule from decades ago. but he is imposing order as you sees it on the majority of americans.

i have a feeling that the outrage over that will last longer than the sugar high of having gotten their man. >> and as we know in the constitution, the senate is not basically elected based on majority rule by the country. certainly not popular rule. states like montana, north dakota, they can collect a very conservative senator forever and not have to deal with the national passions at all. >> and i think that speaking of the so-called kavanaugh bump that strategists i've been speaking with are excited about, where you are really going to see impact are in these red states where you have democratic candidates who were in tight races with republicans, specifically look at the example of tennessee and how former governor's numbers have suffered since the start of this confirmation process. so in the suburban districts that are -- the house races that are under tough contests, you might not necessarily see any movement, but i'm looking at

senate races and how that balance of power is going to probably be solidified again by republicans. >> and who do you think will win now that -- or has a better chance of win position now than they had say two weeks ago? >> i think claire mccaskill has a tough race. i think marsha blackburn, this is a god send for her. this plays very differently in tennessee than it does in coa coastal america. but speaking of florida, i think that bill nelson actually his chances are a little bit strengthened there and you are thinking of how that race has turned a birt since the primariprimaries and the governor's race. >> i accept that. i think that you have some smart -- i think it looks good. nelson has amazing life in him coming back there. i have always thought blackburn was a voerng candidate. i don't think people are really thrilled about bringing back

somebody from the past in politics. i think generally speaking the idea of somebody in their later 70s who was out of the business for a while. bob kerry tried to come back. i don't think people want to bring people back. >> i actually -- i would have agreed with you prior to -- >> i thought i was agreeing with you. sorry. >> i was shocked that it was the first time that we've had focus groups where strong trump supporters went out of their way trying to justify voting for phil in tennessee. and as of lowering taxes and getting health care under control. >> being governor is an administrative job. senator is a philosophical job and i think people often distinguish those roles. let's bring in xin casey hunt. i'm in your fan club because you

have been of -- you are great at this. let me ask you this, the orchestrated protests during the voting made sense to me thp pe made hair point. shame, they called flake would be guy yelled a -of-a male voic yelled you are a coward. tell me how that reflects the emotions you have been curving. >> i have to say covering this for the past two weeks as just felt like one long primal scream. everyone is so emotional and so intense, so divided. that has gone for the protesters that have been in these hallways. the conversations have been raw, emotional. there have been screaming and crying, sometimes sobbing both in the hallways and behind closed doorses that as all unfolded. and i think that we really -- while yes this has come to a conclusion on the hill and now judge kavanaugh will be justice

kavanaugh, we are so far from any conclusion to what this has done to us as a country. it has really torn the fabric. and to a certain extent the rip was already there. but this took to another level. and my questions going forward, how is history going to judge this moment. how are they going to judge christine blasey ford, her role in history, and how hisser to will judge the senate. and sometimes they get it right, sometimes we look black and we fewe -- back and we think congress is on the right side of history, but sometimes it can be an institution that follows rather than leads. and to a certain september itex dined that way.

sometimes change is a slow process. but i'm standing here wondering what the long term impact of this is going to be and whether some of the senators who cast their votes today will look back on this in 20 or 30 years and regret what happened. >> let's talk about the president. when he came out this past week and really ripped the scab off if you will and just came out and attacked dr. ford, said she is crazy, she can't remember anything, she didn't knoesn't k she is talking about, anybody else would have said a disastro disastrous political move. but in a country that is ripped down the middle, trump always again fits by sharpening that distinction. he needs the country divided to get his half really engaged. your thinking. >> i think that is right. and the white house while many were cringing in private. and there was a "washington

post" story about this for in phenomenon, people arguing that this was a bad idea, kind of looking down about it, and senators on capitol hill all decried the president's comments. but i think in retrospect people are thinking that that may have solidified what we saw happen today a, that it may have made it easier for republicans to dig in around this. and remember how president tr. p he won by telling people that they didn't need to be politically correct. he was going tof be the 34ri9s pli correct ov -- least politically correct over and over again. and you remember george w. bush, a conservative, barack obama, hope, change, no red and blue. he explicitly donald trump ran on dividing people.

mi his support is not 50% of the country, but he needs more intense so that more of them show up temperature a sh show up. and i think that strategy worked. and i did talk to blasey ford's attorneys yesterday. and i put this question to them. i asked it dr. ford see what the president said about her and she did see the comments about her. and they said she felt as any woman would feel, to see their claims dismissed by the most power millipo powerful man in america. >> thank you. we're watching the protests, they won't quit, they will be here for the afternoon and programs through the election. joining us is senator richard blumenth blumenthal. thanks for joining us. what do you hear from back in connecticut about the impact in both directions of this victory?

you have to call it that for the president. >> what i'm hearing from connecticut is exactly the anguish and anger that you are seeing on the steps of the capitol. the republicans have succeeded in confirms this dangerous and deeply flawed nominee only by breaking augull the rules and n, damage done to the court and our country will be enduring. and that is a rec nipgs that i'm hearing from connecticut and frankly from many around at country. particularly survivors who feel so disregarded and demeaned by this process. they are paying, their anger is palpab palpable. and that picture is worth 1,000 of my words. >> i don't have to tell you, but the elect is november 6. today is october 6. the memory of the voter, is it a month long? >> it is more than a month long.

this vote is really a moment of historic note. it is a dividing line. it is a cultural moment that will last. and i think that it will be expressed in a month from now and two years from now in 2020. and what i'm saying to friends who are angry and anguished is vote and take three people to the polls. >> what do you think about heidi heitkamp of north dakota? a long way from connecticut. she will have to deal wrets ith rest of her life with this decision. she said it is not the right time for this guy. she said even though he may be a good guy personally from her view, he sends a signal of dismissal of people concerned about sexual misconduct. >> and she is right. the nominee in this ca kais ca b

demonstrated a demeanor of anger, bitter nness, rage, arrogance. buts to demean and degrade dr. ford who was so powerful. he was blaming her testimony suppo -- testimony on a supposedly left wing conspiracy when she came forth voluntarily knowing the nightmare of public shaming and assassination that she would have to endure. heitkamp and connelly also a tough decision. these kind of decisions are really proceed files in courage. rarely seen around here, but so admirable. and i think that they will make a decision that they can tell their grandchildren that they

were plowroud of doing. their conviction standing up and strong for principle are something truly to admire. and even voters who disagree should respect them. >> you are a romantic, sir. thank you, richard blumenthal of connecticut with a little advise and could be contennsent there. reverend sharpton, thank you for coming on. you got two big stories today, one out of chicago with qthe police officer to getting the shooting of the young plaman. how do you put the messages together of how our country is doing. >> >> i think the message is very clear. and that is that there is more at stake than just this nomination is what it means. when you hear senator schumer

very eloquently talk about we are talking about civil rights, we are talking about labor rights, women rights, break existing withins can health care, this is what it means to you. and i think if that message goes, that it will not only further the energy of the democrats, it will start situation some of the independents. those feelings when it comes down to your house and mine are going to be what will drive voters. and i think that that anger and concern will outrun the republicans. when you see a man sitting there and have the kind of demeanor that ca that kavanaugh had when he started talking about left wing interest groups aund the

conspiracy groups and clinton, this is a man that wants to go back pre-lgbt rights, the jurors in chug, a mostly white jury said let's look at the facts and that the senate gave a week and they didn't even take the whole week to look at serious allegations that was made against a man that will sit on the supreme court for the rest of his life. i think that that kind of imbalance is what will drive people to want to balance it out at the polls. i think that what the unsaid story of chicago, a mostly white jury, was fairer than the mostly white senate. >> i think we do have-of-occasionally having really good trial decisions by jurors. and let's me ask you about the

last whites man standing image a a. standing for all the poor people of new york. what do you make of this lindsey graham image of it is just me, loan oig si lone single guy from the south, i think it has something to do with trump winning. tell me how you look at that sort of victim i'ding of the lone white mail. >> i think that you are right. that is how trump won. i think they are looking at the country true those ey country through those eyes and that sdntd exi

that sdchbtd exist. by ramming kavanaugh down the throat of americans, we will choke. we now you have four justices on the supreme court that were sli selected by two presidents who sloths t lost the popular vote. so this is not the will of the people, this is the will of people that has played on nrpg guiding a minority to have the tyranny in many ways, not tyranny in the definite nigsz of the dictionary, but in the sense of will imposed of people that gave the majority to people that opposed them. >> and one of the other things that i picked out yesterday, i watched the vote, the key vote and every single republican senator who was endorsed by the republican party in their election to the senate voted down the line. this is cohesion.

they vote as they are told right down to senator collins. only one that didn't, lisa murkowski. let's bring in haley jackson. >> and the president is announcing that he will sign the commission of appoint for judge cath kavanaugh in a matter of hours and then kavanaugh will be officially sworn in, that is now echoed by the white house spokesman, the president says very exciting. he has been watching this go down from 30,000 feet. he is on his way to to topeka,

kansas. we know that he has been watching it. not an unexpected result. but here is the bottom line. this is a massive win for donald trump. he has put 50 plus people on the federal bench. this is now the second supreme court justice he is putting on the court. the last closest vote that we had seen was clarence thomas and he has been on the court for nearly three decades. this is a generational shirt. he will no longer be the swing vote. for the president this is-46 we simply cannot say it enough, this is what he campaigned on and i can guarantee you we will be herring about it from him tonight in kansas. he talked with reporter as bit about how he was feeling 20, 30 minutes before the vote happened. watch. >> we're really looking forward to the vote. he will be a great justice of

the supreme court. people have thought that for ten years. they thought that he is just an extraordinary person, a greattal lep great talent. and i feel very strongly that in the end maybe the process, it was really unattractive, but the extra week was something that i think was really good. i think a lot of very positive things happen in the last week. it didn't look that way, but in the end that is what happened. it was unkrob blacorroborated, different things. i'll there further comment later. i want to watch the vote. i'm heading out to kansas. we have a big crowd. and i look forward to it. we'll bei watching on televisio

the vote. and -- this is a very exciting time. anytime you have a chance to put a supreme court justice in position and in this case i think that he will be a great, great supreme court justice for many years. so we're going to kansas, but we'll see you after the vote. >> this is also an extra ordinary comeback for brett kavanaugh. there was a point where people were very, very concerned about what this week long delay would mean for brett kavanaugh, how that would affect public opinion, how you it would impact senators on the fence. but there is a real sense inside the white house that the president going on attack against christine blasey ford,

while that may have horrified some, it also energized others. especially people in the tari conservative base. this idea of the lone white male, the person who feels victimized here. president trump touched a nerve with his remarks and there is credit being given too him. >> and last question. new does he do both, how does he do a dance in the end zone. great show, got to watch the vote. and then he will do the victory lap. how does he do a victory lap and at the same time get people out there is a angry enough to go vote? because if they are fat and happy, they won't vote. how do you do both. >> number one, there is still three week plus untimg tl the m

term. people tochbt show don't show u they are happy. >> they show up because they are angry. so for the president to keep this high going, you have to continue to fight the fight and talk about the next one to come. what other court battles could come down, what else could happen, there is talk now of sort of in different progressive circles of impeaching kavanaugh watch for the president to use that to his advantage. anger drives people to vote. democrats are angry. their intensity is couldsky hig. will the republicans match it or is the intensity a spike that then dissipates. >> we'll see. if the did thats want temocrats they have to go out and do it.

we have a month. you might say this election has just begun. hallie jackson, thank you. we'll be right back after this to hear mitch mcconnell's if he can take it, victory lap. oh, milk. another breakfast, another dilemma. am i willing to pay the price for loving you? you'll make my morning, but ruin my day. complicated relationship with milk? pour on the lactaid. it's delicious 100% real milk, just without that annoying lactose. mmm, that's good. lactaid. the real milk that doesn't mess with you. and for chocolate lovers, try rich, creamy lactaid chocolate milk. on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. and now, during our fall sale weekend special, the queen sleep number 360 c2 smart bed is only $899.

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1

. the ayes are 50, flai 50, n 48. the nomination of bhk rett kavanaugh is confirmed.

>> you are looking at power right there. the vladimir putin is tice prese of the senate. and mike viqueira is covering the supreme court. and you have a great post today. you will listen to the people. what have you heard that we can't hear on tv in. >> reporter: the message is just raw anger and frustration. i mean, we have all witnessed what has been going on in the senate office on buildings. the day before yesterday, more than 300 of them arrested. there is a coordinated effort. these people came out because they wanted to be a part of it. there is a lot of anger.

whether this translates a month from now for the causes that they support, may, i've given up trying to make a prediction about all of in stuff. but the moment that they are keeping real time track of what is happening in the senate, when that vote was made known, you heard boos, yeajeers, anger. the capitol is right across from the supreme court. i'm looking across the ralawn a there are people running over there now because the senators are being driven away. you see the people running across the lawn. senators are being driven away and you may be able to hear the crowd screaming and jeering at them. everybody out here is against the nomination. and when they rushed the kacapil

steps, pretty much ran around the police who ran up to try to stop them, you saw the pictures up on the capitol steps, it was a moment of raw passion. a moment as you put it, at least the people very angry on this day. >> and we'll go to senate leader mcconnell. here he is. >> sorry to interrupt, but we have seen both sides of the senate during the same period. we passed an oipoid bill, we jut completed the best job on appropriations in 20 years. so a big robust fight and still work together on other issues at

the very same time. >> senators are angry. both sides. >> these things always blow over. and i think even though there may have been some anger expressed during this particular fight as i just said at the very same time, not news worthy for you guys, but we were doing important things together that hadn't been done in a long time. >> mr. leader, two questions. how do on you view what impact this will have on -- >> i called on the woman behind you. >> are concerned about the democrats controlling the white house? is. >> a little history lesson. i've given this to you before.

but the executive was always done on a simple majority basis until bush 43 got elected. so this notice of filibustering appointments is a relatively new thing. and invented ironically by my counterpart currently the democratic leader of the senate who began to encourage the democrats to use filibusters against circuit court appointments during bush 43's first term. and you saw this evolve through several different phases over the next 15 years. leading us right back to where we were before. and there were plenty of c contentious nominations when the filibuster was still possible. claire r clarence thomas came out of

committee with a negative vote, went to the form, floor-was confirm confirmed. it just takes 60 votes and nobody did. so we are back to a simple majority basis as we did to 230 years or so. a and it will advantage the other side at some point. as it always did. >> what do you think the impact will be on fall midterm elections? >> it certainly had a good impact for us. our base is fired up. we finally discovered the one thing that would fire up the republican base that we didn't think of, the other side did it. the tactics could have been

34r employed by democratic senators and by the virtual mob that has assaulted all of us in the course of this process has turned our base on fire. i was talking to two of my political advisers yesterday about the advantage that these guys have given to us going into these red state competitive races. and we're pretty excited. they managed to deliver the only thing we had not been able to figure out how do which is to get our folks fired up. the other side has been fired up, they have been all year. >> any long term ramifications in the way women voou tiew the ? >> you mean women like senator collins and fisher and hide smith and esht

this is about treating someone fairly. >> the country needs to heal. do you think that the country and senate needs to heal after this and what are you going to do to make that happen? >> i just finished jon meacham's latest book which is kind of a trip through american history and some of the more challenging periods we've had. this is nowhere near as challenges as some of the experiences we've had in the past throughout our history. the senate as nd the country wi get past this. we always do. the gheeniuses who put together this constitution knew what they were doing and we've had plenty of low points in our history and this is nowhere near the lowest points we've experienced. the mccarp athy era and the risf

the clan after woodrow wilson premiered birth of a nation in the white house. we've had other low points. we always get past them. that is the majority leader speaking and referring to histon born in virginia, birth of a nation which celebrated the creation of the clan in the white house to like a claiming of the country. like one of those things i can't believe that is the way we were. let me ask you whyou about what said. he said democrats have been fired up all year. and they are. but he said now these guys, what fired up our republican party was the look of the mob. the mob of the gate, image that scares republicans, the mob at

the gate. tell me what you think. >> and the mob are women. mitch mcconnell first of all is breath taking hypocrisy. almost sort of creepilyed ed admirab admirable. this is the man who said that they would make president obama a one term president who said that you will not fill this supreme court seat, who claimed for positihimself the sole righ decide president gets to fill a supreme court seat. he wouldn't allow the president to fill the supreme court seat. merrick garland still on appeal not everyone spoken to. his members wouldn't even meet with garland.

i cannot believe that there is a figure in american politics who can break the united states senate, deploy the nuclear option to force through neil gorsuch and claim that -- >> got rid of the filibuster role. but you know history. not just him, but certainly real demagogues know that rye cheigh indignation is a brilliant useful reliable tactic. just say your marparty is the v. let's bring in a man who is fantastic. he is one hell of a movie critic. have you seen a star is born yet? >> i'm seeing it tonight. >> richly interested in what you have to say. anyway, i've seen the other

once. i like the james mason ones too. let's me ask you about this sense evfever of righteous indignati indignation. the entire history of the last part of the 19th century oond most of the 20th secentury was basically living out the civil war. is this confirmation of brett kavanaugh going to have that kind of resonance at least for a month? >> i kind of doubt it, but i think mcconnell was describing a phenomenon that surprised him rarn a force that he is trying to lead. last thursday when in the hours that christine blasey ford's testimony ended, i didn't know a single person on the right who thought thbrett kavanaugh would end up on the supreme court.

and then kavanaugh started to talk and we saw the polling shifts in key states. and i've heard from privately republican consultants and fundraisers and candidates all of whom were startled by the glee degree to which there was a flocking toward kavanaugh. it was a surprise. and he is describing a phenomen phenomenon. and i think that dissipates when kavanaugh years. for 40 years republicans are been organizing around the principle that american judiciary needed to be taken over by the right. on once roe v. wade happened, and the question is now that there is a conservative majority on

the supreme court, will the judge rallying cry be taken up by liberals. will this become the thing that somebody like donald trump was able to unite his party behind him buyer promi him by promising that he was going to appoint conservative judges. so even people that didn't like him said that he will do better on judges than hillary. if democrats can harness that same feeling, we there will a very different politics in america over the next decade. >> let's talk about the call to arms here. i used to think pete wilson won because he looked like the scared gs whiest white man in california. what happened to the republican image of john wayne? now everybody seems to want to be lindsey graham or brett

kavanaugh. why are they becoming the leaders of the republican party? >> if i had told you last year that lindsey graham would become an idle off the republican right you would have said i was crazy. lindsey graham was the least liked senator among right wing conservatives for the last five or six years. susan collins detested by conservatives on the grounds of per moderation and pro-choiceness. mitch mcconnell was primary in 2014 by now the governor of kentucky with support from conservative talk radio hosts. and these three are now the masters of the right and people who will be cheered everywhere they go. polt tick politics is very complicated. >> why is weakness and crying, why is scarediness, why is is

that turning the republican army on to the offensive? >> i think that is not the description of what cath orfuri graham said you are railroading this guy, this is horrible, how dare you. that wassing aggression. and that aggressive red meat throwing made a huge difference in american politiitics aunts t supreme court. all right. joining us over the phone is phil rucker. he just spoke with president trump. >> and the president is pretty excited about this confirmation of brett kavanaugh. we had a telephone conversation

today before he headed to ckanss and he told me that he thinks lisa murkowski who voted no on kavanaugh will never recover politically. he talked about a primary challenge for her and he said, quote, i think that she will never recover from this, i think that people from alaska will never forgive her for what she did. >> will he alrea . >> she already lost a primary fight and got reelected to the senate, so she is not afraid of this kind of threat. >> that is wright and importais context. he did not bring up that 2010 -- >> he didn't know probably. >> no, r, but he singled out he and he also praised susan collins that she is positive and thought that the two week delay 46-or the one week delay rather

turned out to be a disguise. >> willin-he endorse joe manchin now? >> he hasn't spoken out that just yet, but manchin speaks somewhat regularly on the president. i know they are on different sides of the aisle, but there is a relationship there. >> was he on the plane when you talked to him? >> no, he was at the white house residence. he call immediate this afternoon. this was shortly before the vote in the senate and before he head the out to kansas. >> so what are you holding for the paper tomorrow? >> this is it, chris. commentses on murkowski. so a real threat and he could be using this moment to try to heal the divisions in washington

which has been on extraordinary display the last week, but this is a president who sometimes holds grudges, who remembers when people slight him and he takes this vote no on kavanaugh from murkowski personally and i don't think that he will let it go. >> thank you so much for the insight on your conversation with the president. we'll be right back and continue, we'll spend the next couple hours figuring out what this whole vote means. i think it is an up for women especially, in the suburbs women will be out in force. i think there will be more out in force now that they have been shut down in this thing. plof professor ford was basically ignored. professor ford was basically ignored. fidelity is redefining value.

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i'm joined by barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney and msnbc contributor and greg brower, partner at brownstein,

hyatt, farber and shrek. barbara, is there any way you can imagine the new court of nine and here's this guy in his black robes, i can imagine the first portrait taken of these people. is he going to join roberts and become his extra extra roberts? >> i don't know how the justices on the supreme court will take him. i think for a very long time, kavanaugh is going to have an asterisk next to his name and any decision he participates in, anytime he casts an important vote i think there will be an asterisk after that. the statements he made accusing the democrats of partisan witch hunting, what goes around comes around, revenge for the clintons i think is going to cause any opinion he writes to be viewsed with skepticism by those he affects. >> would he have to recuse himself on a bush v gore case where you have to make a

decision who gets to be from rez? >> anytime someone's objectivity comes into question, a judge ought to recuse himself. supreme court justices, it is up to them to decide whether to recuse themselves. elena kagan recused herself in opinions that involved matters before the justice department when she worked there as solicitor general. it's entirely up to brett kavanaugh to decide whether to recuse himself. if he fails to do so, i think any decision he makes will lack legitimacy. >> some people believe that clarence thomas spent the last x many years getting even with the democrats that he wouldn't have been so forceful conservative had he not been beaten up as he felt he was by the democrats when he came up for confirmat n confirmation. >> he was a conservative nominee. he's been a conservative justice. he's been exactly what those who supported him expected him to be. >> happy with about this guy? do you think he's going to show

bitterness toward the way he was treated as he sees it. >> i wouldn't expect him, too. he's going to be a conservative justice. that's why he was nominated. we're never going to see a republican nominee who is not conservative. on the other hand, he was a kennedy clerk. that doesn't mean anything necessarily. but he does have a relationship with justice kennedy. he has expressed a strong respect for precedent and that was a big part as you know of senator collins decision to vote yes. as a d.c. circuit court judge he sided with judge garland over 90% of the time. so yes, he will be a conservative justice. i don't think that's going to be a surprise to anybody. >> kennedy was a florn california republican. i know what they're like. they're different than other conservatives. they basically live and let live on social issues, sexual issues. he did account lawrence case, the same-sex marriage case. would this new guy have that value added as a conservative, the willingness to see tolerance

and liberty as essential to the constitution? >> i don't think either his supporters or his detractors think so but you never know. we've seen justices over the years be very different in a few cases than what everybody thought we were going to be like. >> right. >> we don't know. >> barbara, you're thinking about that, is there any hope for him to be -- we've spent our lives with felix frankfurt and warren and so many of these and salt areas. so many of these judges just come out of nowhere like butterflies out of a caterpillar and totally different personalities. is that will still possible in the age of the federalist society. >> possible but not probable. whether he it comes to kavanaugh, we know from his track order on the bench, he's been a judge for 12 years, he's done writing that demonstrates he has a strong conservative viewpoint. he uses phrases like abortion on demand that reflect the language of the republican party and the

federalist society. so the i don't see any reason to expect he will be anything other than a very strong conservative. >> abortion on demand is definitely fighting words. our coverage of brett kavanaugh's confirmation continues at the top of the hour with reaction from the white house and from capitol hill. these people are still talking and still protesting in fact, more so. look at the crowd. l protesting more so. look at the crowd. what would it look like... ...if we listened more?

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welcome back. i'm chris matthews. after weeks of controversy and a brutal political debate, a short time ago the u.s. senate voted to confirm brett kavanaugh to become the next associate justice of the united states supreme court. >> on this vote, the ayes are 50, the nays are 48. the nomination of brett m. kavanaugh of maryland to be an associate justice of the supreme court of the united states is confirme confirmed. >> you think elections don't matter, keep that picture of mike pence there at the senate president's desk there. deep in your mind. it does matter. this all happening by the way just ahead of what will be a big victory lap