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 for president trump

tonight as he heads to a rally out in topeka, kansas tonight. let's bring in garrett haake up on the hill on capitol hill. give us a sense, if you will, you've been out there with people. we're here in a studio. what's the smell of the crowd? it seems to me they're not quitting. >> reporter: no, chris, they're not quitting. but there is a sense of at least a temporary defeat here among the folks i've talked to both democratic lawmaker who's thought perhaps in the last week long extension they might have found a way 0 derail the nomination and the protesters in much smaller numbers out there, more 160 arrested. they're fired up right now. i think we'll find out in a month or so if this nomination forced through by republicans on nearly a party line vote, one senator each in both parties swapping sides will be enough to change what has been an issue that and inated conservative voters so much more than it has liberal and progressive voters. democrats typically speaking

don't vote on judicial nominations in the same way that republicans do. now perhaps democrats will be fired up about this. you just heard from mitch mcconnell saying this has rallied his base in a way that nothing else that has been done during the trump administration has. more than the tax cuts, more than the obamacare fight. this is an issue now deeply polarized both parties. we've been hearing that up here for the last two weeks. aggressive and intense protests all the way around. the final vote ends that way too with a chorus of protesters calling out shame on the senators as they cast this vote, chris. >> garrett, i think you made the statement of the month there the perhaps of the year. the electoral year that republicans have always cared about the court going back to hamilton. they had the residual power after the party, the hamiltonian party federalists lost all power. they still had marshall running the court. i think you're right. if there's going to be a time that the liberal part of the

country, the left if you will, gets as excited about court appointments as the right has been for our history. let's bring in nbc's kristen welker at the white house. there's some new comments apparently. i can tell you've got new stuff from the president. what is it? >> reporter: we got ncomments from the president who is traveling to kansas right now where he will take a big victory lap this evening. that already starting. let me read the comments what he's telling reporters at this hour. he says of the confirmation we're very honored that he was able to withstand this horrible, horrible attack by the democrats so again, taking direct aim at democrats for holding up his confirmation. he also says, women were outraged at what happened to brett kavanaugh. outraged. echoing the comments by some republican women including susan collins who said that she believes it wasn't brett kavanaugh how sexually assaulted christine bylaws a ford despite

the fact ford testified she was 100% confidence it was kavanaugh. the president says he's 100% certain that christine blasey ford named the wrong person when she accused kavanaugh. so the president already speaking out about this major victory. of course, can he campaigned on a promise to put conservatives on the high court. and so far, chris, he's had two new supreme court justices that he last named, of course, judge neil gorsuch and now who soon become justice brett kavanaugh. he's going to be sworn in a little bit later on today. president trump also tweeting about this big win moments ago saying i applaud and congratulate the u.s. senate for confirming our great nominee, judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court later today. i will sign his commission of appointment and he will be officially sworn in. very excited. he's talking about this to "the washington post" if this gives you a sense how emboldened he is feeling saying that lisa

murkowski, the senator who voted no will effectively never live this down. he has said she will never recover from voting no. so speaking extensively about this big victory, chris, we've been spending so much time talking about the president's tone, he was at first very measured. when he started talking about this controversy several days ago saying he wanted to hear from dr. ford and then having heard from her saying she was credible and then his tone changed out on the campaign trail. he started to go after her, to mock her. that was something that energized his crowds. it is frankly enkerrizing the republican base. if you look at the polls, the enthusiasm gap, democrats were leading in the gap, it's narrowed quite a bit. that brings us to the question you've been debating, will that republican enthusiasm continue on through election day. we know that president trump's going to be campaigning on this. again, he's going to be taking a big victory lap in kansas.

he has a number of campaign events ahead between now and election day. so you can bet this is something he's going to mention each and every time he steps in front of the podium. >> let's do a little analysis here, kristin. it seems to me that trump has certain powers which are extraordinary in red states. i mean, if nine out of ten republicans support him right down the line on every issue, republican states are going to be more likely to vote for the republican candidate if he says so. so he has a lot of swag in north dakota. he made have more swag perhaps in missouri than he has say in the east somewhere. but in the end, he is picking his targets. as you look at his travel schedule, he's not going to connecticut. he's not going to new york. he's not going to massachusetts. so he is sort of recognizing his limitations in where he chooses to go. >> well, i think you're right about that, chris. that underscores a central question which is, will his very sharp rhetoric that we have seen in recent days including as it

relates to dr. ford, will that backfire when it comes to those all-important suburban women voters. >> right. >> will they be on board with ta type of language, iraqly in those races that may be in red states but in those races that are razor tight, what will that mean for the margins? of course, he's fighting to not only hold onto the senate but the house and the house looking very difficult. i was with him in minnesota earlier this week, of course, he lost minnesota. but i can tell you where we were, the crowd was incredibly energized and the stadium was packed. so he is still drawing very big crowds, chris. even when he isn't in the reddest of red places. will the sharp ret tick backfire for the president. >> i don't think we live in one country anymore. there's twos different countries right next to each other divided

right now. very clearly. thank you for joining us from the white house, kristen welker. betsy woodruff from "the daily beast." emp charlie savage, washington correspondent for "the new york times." i want to do a little division here. i don't think we know yet. eleanor, we've been through these. i just ask you, how do you decide who is going to have the most -- they're both leaving the starting gate right now. democrats and republicans. one month exactly to election day. who is coming off the fastest off the blocks? >> male rage versus female rage. there are more women in this country than there are men. more women registered to vote. we tend to go to the polls more regularly than men. i think democrats are cowed by trump's ability to tap into this grievance that white men feel. and i think one. >> it's not just white guys. skinny white guys who look nervous. like i don't know why. >> i don't know it has to do with weighting.

> who is that guy that used to be -- on andy griffith, the nervous deputy sheriff. >> you barney fife. it seems like the barney fife party. >> i don't think there are a lot of role models necessarily to tap into for this. but the president is clearly rewriting how this nomination unfolded. and is attributing it to a smear job by democrats and he's found an partial all these women who are now aggrieved over how brett kavanaugh has been treated. >> who are they. >> women like me who have sons, i have three. the message is if he's vulnerable, your sons are vulnerable. women will be coming out making all of these frad due lent accusations. it's a bizarre trap to draw but i think a lot of people are falling into it who tend to listen 0 this president anyway. that's today and tomorrow.

>> which of these accusations hasn't been true. >> stormy daniels he paid her off. he paid off mcdougal. these are real cases. there's nobody out there making up fortune cookie cases. >> the fact checks don't necessarily stop trump. >> the context important to remember is women certainly aren't a monolith when it comes to hot button issues. remember the majority of white women voted for donald trump even in the wake of the access hollywood tape. it's significant. even in the wake of that tape where he boasted about activity that constitutes sexual assault. in the same way, many conservative evangelical christian women will find a lot to like in kavanaugh. whether or not that involves cognitive dissonance is bob my pay grade to assess. >> i have been listening around my world including my family. and a lot of it is class. this upper middle class crowd around kavanaugh is protective. >> that's true. >> they are. >> especially the washington

community. trump campaigned on draining the swamp but you won't find someone who is more a creature of washington than judge soon to be justice kavanaugh is. spent much of his career here, grew up here. one of the most powerful figures in american politics before he became confirmed to be a justice on the supreme court. so very much it's important to remember your point is absolutely right. it is a class question as well as a gender question. >> remember christine blasey ford was a member of the same washington community. i think we can't discount how much this conversation changed when avenatti came in with the swetnick allegations of can you gang rape stuff that seems to have been much less taken as credit credible. >> do you think he gummed it up? >> if you listen to susan collins speech yesterday and the rhetoric on the right, they seized upon this much less credible looking set of allegations to taint the original ones by association.

this is the thing that hey, mothers your daughters -- your sons i'm sorry will be hit by frad due lent allegations where suddenly they were drugging and gang raping everyone and everyone what is like what is that. he did a huge favor to the trump white house. >> we get in our heads a scoring system. there's boundaries in football. there's a goal line here. it's 100 yards. there are certain things you think will work. when a president attacks a woman who is a victim have like he did this past week, made fun of her with that wonderful ability to ridicule he has, it's not nice but what he knows how to ridicule something. she can't remember, just had one beer. just had one beer. this ridicule worked. according to everybody. what happened here? why do people liking that? >> i don't know that it necessarily worked. >> that was a pivot point. >> so was lindsey graham. you can find a couple pivot points in this where the oh,

gee, we're really hearing the victims should be heard. they were all on ha message but when they began to see that kavanaugh needed to fight back, everybody got off the original message. trump did it all. wlel he mocked the reporter who was disabled, you know, that has stuck in people's minds. i don't think that was a positive thing. i think his mocking of blasey ford will stick in a lot of women's minds, as well. i take betsy's point that a lot of women are saying okay, did he this. but i'm getting my supreme court justice and i'm pro-life and that's important to me. >> that explains pennsylvania i think last time in '16. my brother said he never saw so many people in walkers older catholics had shown up to vote. they knew trump's lifestyle. they weren't kidding. frank sinatra running for president. they still wanted that vote. they've got two of them now. >> history will note that this confirmation took place with

sexual assault allegations against the nominee. and a president who nominated him whom had 208 women come forward. >> what's the bet here? you're all report ers. will we have people come out of the woodwork writing books saying i was there. i was there with ramirez, with ford. do you think this is going to end? >> no. >> i would be surprised if that were to happen only because if you're in a situation where you were a witness to had kind of activity and you go public after the confirmation, you have nothing to gain politically. you're not contributing at all to the. >> you're not hurting anybody. >> you're putting yourself in the public limelight and you're going to face death threats and harassment that anyone who comes forward faces. >> or forever hold your piece. >> exactly. >> i know they moved up clarence thomas's swearing in because they were afraid more women would come forward. now, i'm sure that this whole thing has been a big hurry for fear there were more women out

there. >> coming up, protesters at the supreme court right now. they're not going away. we'll be right back. ght now. they're not going away we'll be right back. and my dad, adventure. they baptized me in mud and christened me on rock, so i got tougher. they fostered a love of learning, so i got smarter. taught me to appreciate the finer things in life, so i became more civilized and refined. thank you, freedom and adventure, for giving me this rugged, civilized, wandering soul.

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wow, look that the. the. arrests up there on capitol hill and the supreme court today. as people protest the confirmation of brett kavanaugh to the supreme court. nbc's mike viqueira is covering the protests in washington today. it's great to have you here today. have you back on this kind of front. maybe you brought this trouble with you. it's great. i think it's good for americans to see their fellow citizens out showing their passion. you have a right to petition congress in the first amendment to the constitution. what they're doing right now is their right. and i'm glad they're doing it. >> it's an extraordinary situation. you and i have been covering the capitol for a long time. i've never seen a situation like

i saw earlier today when it was almost an impromptu march. they sort of planned it beforehand. i was privy to a little bit of that watching them plan on east lawn of the capitol. they marched over and eluded the capitol police who sort of took over the east steps of the capitol. police revealing 150 people were arrested during that civic action. some of them are already out. we're here on the east front of the capitol. many people gathered to either cheer or jeer senators as they emerge from the capitol. chris coons the democrat, depends on how they voed. chris conns cheered, ted cruz was jeered. he waved to the crowd as in a mocking way. the discussion you were having earlier whether or not republicans feel like ultimately this is a politically, something that fires up their base one month out from the election. i got to tell you for the people

i've been talking to, the protesters that i've been reporting on over the course of the last week, they don't really care that there's a backlash. they're not so concerned that there's a backlash or purported backlash against what they've been doing. yes, ted cruz and mitch mcconnell need a foil. both sides need a foil. we've heard the president and mitch mcconnell and lind a graham use harsh language to try to portray some of the pro fest testers as being out of line. they like to cast the contrast. the people here in the halls who have been here in the halls some 300 of them arrested thursday in the hart atrium, their complaint is that these members of congress are inaccessible. they're not having town halls, not being responsive to their concerns. you called it an explosion of democracy. hey, that works. they've been talking, speaking

truth to power in their opinion, it's something they've undertaken. the question is, we're one month out what's the staying power an, two years out, what's the staying power. >> mike, i've been there myself back in the '60s. i've been to demonstrations. i went to one at the pentagon. i do think they make a difference. it takes awhile. but the voices are heard. mike viqueira from the steps of the u.s. capitol. with me right now, reverend al sharpton from politics nation and elise jordan. reverend al, thank you for joining us. give us a sense of your mood right now. you'll be back on the air tomorrow. what's the -- is there a complicated message here? is it one of outrage or one of self-satisfaction? and outrage? i don't know. >> i think it is outrage but it is towards sustained indignation. you can't just get angry and not drive that anger in a

constructive way to vote to protect your interests. i think this is not just about one singular issue. this is about the last 50 or 60 years where this country became at least by law more inclusive of gender, of race, of lgbtq. we're talking about now the real possibility of a supreme court reversing many of those things. i think that's why the president came out and why mcconnell came out starting to go for the political fight, attacking certain senators and attacking certain interests that they claim were behind this rather than deal with what this will mean in the supreme court. we have, chris, in the pipeline cases that will determine the future of voting rights, of the affordable care act of affirmative action. many things that are in the pipeline to go before this court. and the sermons i think people have to preach tomorrow is

everything that we know we have known for the last half century is at stake now which is why we've got to vote. and for the first time in a long time, if ever, we see one party controlling the three branches of government. the right wing of the republican party more accurately the trump wing controls executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch. that is not what the founding fathers though we were not part of it, the founding fathers said we need checks and balances. there are no checks and balances. they've got to be collected in november. >> elise, why do the conservatives want the supreme court so much? >> why wouldn't you, chris? because it's power. it is -- gotten outsized power in the past couple decades because congress fails to do their job. so many major policy decisions have been outsourced to the court. by taking a more proactive

advance in grooming supreme court justices we've seen where conservatives have been successful in grooming and cultivating good candidates through the process so today they were able to realize their long-held goal of more conservative supreme court. >> i ask that because i do have some experience anecdotally in watching people showing up for trump who have nothing but contempt for his lifestyle. his marital history, the whole thing, who donald trump is. and yet are willing to put their only vote, the only vote they have on the line for him in places like pennsylvania. and i wonder if that's -- that is unique to the conservative side of the argument. it seems democrats wouldn't do that. they wouldn't give everything for the supreme court. >> well, during the 2016 election, there were plenty of evangelical voters who ended up voting reluctantly for trump and told me their vote was

specifically because of roe versus wade and they felt donald trump would the appoint justices who's were more likely to overturn roe versus wade. that was why they made their choice over hillary clinton. but this is an issue that will continue to always be important wherein conservatives and you can see where their voting choices are influenced by maintaining control of the supreme court. >> well, president trump will soon be taking a public victory lap over the confirmation. at a rally out in kansas. we'll take you there live. in fact, here we are. (burke) fender-biter.

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president trump aboard air force one moments ago, praising brent kavanaugh for withstanding what trump called this horrible attack by democrats. air force one is scheduled to land in topeka, kansas, later there hour where the president will hold a rally for republican candidates. geoff bennett is already there. jeff? >> reporter: hey, chris, if you can see behind me, there are two banners that flank the flag above the stage where trump is set to speak. it reads promises made, promises kept. i think it bes as a not subtle preview of what we expect to hear every president trump. the kavanaugh confirmation taps what has been one of the best weeks of the trump presidency. getting kavanaugh on the supreme court, the president realizes what has long been a gop dream of he now gets to consecrate a

right lean agmajority for a generation. if brett serves for as long as the justice he replaced did, he will be there till 2048. some of the best jobless numbers, the lowest point in years. and the trade deal between u.s., mexico and canada is a resonant issue here in kansas where people have been feeling the heat of his tariffs. back to the kavanaugh issue, i'm told the president has been on air force one calling senators who have championed the kavanaugh cause. he's been thanking them for their role in that. and the role he believes he played in helping keep this nomination on the rails. the president particularly after thursday's hearing felt fairly boxed in being a spectator since the ball was squarely in the senate's court. he did a role to play in shaping is public opinion. he will dispensed with public restraint and mocking christine

blasey ford, he painted the demonstrators some of whom say they are survivors of assault. he says no, they're soros paid professionals. he deployed one of the core features of tribalalism. he painted a binary choice for his supporters. he will says you're either with me or with those dastardly obstructionist democrats. that is something that has resonated with people here in kansas. our colleagues shaquille brewster caught up with some trump supporters outside of where i'm talking to you. >> i'm excited for that. that's great for our country and trump, as well. it will help in november with the election. >> i'm glad. it's a sigh of relief. i think it's good that he is finally getting his day. >>. >> reporter: so from here, the

president heads to iowa, to pennsylvania, ohio, to kentucky. all this coming week. these are states where he thinks he can be helpful to lawmakers on ballot but also states he won and wants to win again in 2020. >> you know, jeff, it's an old line. it's very good for politics. you attack the rot at the top. you say the intellectuals elitists are screwing you at the top. there's a mob at the gate trying to get through to hurt you. it's the rot at the top, the mob at the gate because after dr. ford and he goes after the protesters, it's perfect. thank you so much for joining us. i mean, great reporting from out there in topeka. joining me by phone is carol lenening, "washington post." an msnbc contributor. i understand you've got new reporting about judicial complaints about brett kavanaugh and his testimony before the senate. >> reporter: yeah, it was interesting they've been working on the story for the last 72 hours. and finally confirmed key pieces

of it. one, that a federal judge who is a peer of judge kavanaugh's and is a republican referred 156 different misconduct allegations against kavanaugh to the chief justice in the last three weeks. she decided that these were not frivolous cases although she rejected a few as frivolous. this set of 15 she said they are warranting additional investigation. but in that time, chief justice john roberts has not referred them for investigation. it's causing a lot of heartburn in the court community about why justice roberts would not move with some speed as he encourages others to do on these kinds of ethical misconduct cases. why would he not move forward. well, it happened to be during the fairly tense confirmation hearing. >> so the complaint concerns the what, intemperate language or

accusations partisan accusations of judge kavanaugh during the senate hearings? >> they all of the 15 complaints we are told, chris relate to comments and testimony that will judge kavanaugh made in the hearing. some of them involve allegations that he lied. that he lied about his role and knowledge in some key moments in the bush presidency when he worked in the white house counsel's office. that he did not tell the truth about his knowledge of torture policy. that he did not tell the truth and give honest answers about his knowledge of the theft of some democratic strategy memos at the time that had to do with senate nominations. there is also the claim that his commentary was ip temperate and does not reflect well on the judiciary, not reflect the bearing of a judge. but what's weird here is it's

unprecedented and totally new historical territory because there's never been a supreme court nominee who is facing misconduct allegations while he's about to become a justice and all of these investigations and complaints will be moot when he becomes a justice. >> okay. thank you so much, joining us from "the washington post" our analyst, carol leonnig. fra figure lewcy. what do you make of what's happening right now? we've got a new supreme court, tworg members thanks to this president. victory lap going on right now in topeka, kansas. and backlash that apparently will go in a couple directions. >> reporter: well, i think the report you just delivered here that there are pending allegations of judicial misconduct arising from the

hearings themselves is further corroboration as to why the rules need to be changed regarding background inquiries, the fbi and white house. why indeed this reopening of this inquiry was insufficient. we heard joe manchin yesterday after the vote saying he only had to deal with what was in front of him. right? and you can always do more. so the issue, chris, isn't that you could always do more. the question is whether you did enough in the investigation. senator collins similarly said you know, this is premised on a lack of corroboration. a lack from who? from how many interviews that were done? was it thorough or not and more specifically, what were the parameters? why was it focused only on sexual assault and allegations from certain people and not on lying and not on alcohol abuse? which i'm here to tell you is very typical material for any suitability inquiry. it goes toward your character, your reputation. your integrity, your associates.

and had this was too limited. i'm an advocate of changing the protocols. this notion of the white house being your client if you're in the fbi is unlike anything the fbi does where the american people are their client. we need to change that protocol. >> who get blamed if it turns out the guy has problems that are current? >> well, look, everything i'm hearing and it's consistent with what's publicly being reported is that the white house indeed coordinated the scope, limited scope of this investigation and who to interview with the fbi. so look, this has to go on the white house, it has to go on the senate gop who were allegedly feeding the questions and the witnesses to the white house although they deny that. we need to know more. here's what troubles me the most, chris. let's get down to the heart of it. i'm a career fbi guy. when i hear reports that walk-ins and call-ins to fbi field offices were not being

entertained, that is unheard of. fbi field offices every day take complaints and statements from people who say there are martians in their backyard. they document that and put it in the record. do we have a record of walk-ins and call-ins that were not documented? we need an answer to that. >> do you think they'll have a log of all those for future reference? will freedom of information requests be able to find out who these people are that brought the tips to the fbi. >> let me say this. if there is no documentation, then it is the first time in the history of the fbi those have not been recorded. my answer is, you bet they're recorded. the question is, will we get to see them. >> thank you so much, frank figliuzzi. coming up, more reaction from of senate democrats about today's decision when we return. senator ed markey of massachusetts will be live with us in a moment. y of massachusetts will be live with us in a moment a started here.

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white house. sarah huckabee sanders saying instead of a 6-3 liberal court under hillary clinton, we now have a 5-4 conservative court under president trump. let's bring in senator ed markey of massachusetts. tell, you know, this is one of those days there's a little bit of anti-climax because the decisions were made yesterday especially by senator collins of maine. this is a real history day. it may be a bad day for progressives but it's real. >> it's a huge day. it the republicans stole the democratic seat, merrick garland. and now they've completed their assigned goal which is to have two new seats. the stolen obama seat. now they have the real trump seat and now they have the 5-4 majority just as that tweet

said. but it is something that happened by a complete compromise of the senate rules in 2016 by denying even a hearing on merrick garland. so they've won but our base the democratic base is going to be up and remember this november. there's going to be a huge political price the republicans are going to pay. >> do you think one of the unexpected consequences will be that liberals and progressives, democrats generally care as much about the supreme court as conservatives republicans do? they clearly focus on the court. republicans. >> i have never seen anything like what has happened in the last year and a half. we had 180,000 women on boston common just a week after donald trump was sworn in and it has continued right through the demonstration out on the supreme court steps this afternoon. women across this country are outraged at the donald trump administration. and about his promise that he

was going to nominate people to the supreme court who would overturn roe versus wade, overturn the affordable care act. so he has put the activating fluid on. he has sowed the wind and going to reap a political whirlwind this november. >> two conservative judges you replaced. scalia was a true believer all the way on the right, original intent the whole thing. then a guy who is hard to figure, anthony kennedy who was very good i think you would say on social issues same sex, things like that. the rights of gay people, whatever. this guy kavanaugh, is he going to be a replacement for scalia or for kennedy? is he going to be a hard right. >> they already got their replacement for scalia. this is somebody who is going to sit in the kennedy seat. remember, during the roberts court so far, kennedy cast the deciding vote inch 92% of all

5-4 decisions during the entire roberts era. so this new supreme court justice brett kavanaugh is a hard right guy. his judicial record makes it very clear he's no kennedy. he should not be confused with a kennedy. this guy is going to side almost reflexively with the right wing perspective in every decision and going to fundamentally change this court. >> let's talk roe versus wade. that's a major concern of most people who are concerned about the court. both sides pro-life, pro choice. when do you think would be the first opportunity for this 5-4 court, hard right, right now to act on roe versus wade? when would the next turning point come? >> i can't pinpoint obviously the exact state that they'll use as their laboratory to try to have a case percolate up towards the supreme court. but it's pretty clear that

sometime during 201 and 2020, in order to fulfill his promise to conservative voters in america that they'll find some state most likely a red state which will have a statute which will be brought before the supreme court and they'll pick their best case because they now have their best court. >> let's talk about how this is going to hit the tires hit the road. pennsylvania, the case of casey which refined roe versus wade which said no undue burden. in other words, a woman or girl who wants to end the pregnancy can do so without any undue burden being put on. she can doing it. what would they do? say you have to do it at a hospital? you have to have this done -- what would they do to make it cut into the right to choose? >>. >> what they would do is they would say we're going to allow the states to determine what an undue burden is.

we'll allow 50 different states meaning of course, massachusetts, new york, california they'll keep it strong. if you're in mississippi, tennessee, you're in south carolina, it will be a much lower standard. with deference given by a gorsuch kavanaugh court to the states able to determine what that burden is. and that is where we're going to wind up with real problems for tens of millions of women all across the country. >> okay. senator ed markey, thank you for coming on. great to have you on. a great person to explain the whole thing. protesters reached the front doors of the supreme court. making their anger known over the confirmation of brett kavanaugh. it's live. that's america right now tonight right now. it's live. that's america right now tonight right now.

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>> whose court. >> our court. that's the incredible scene tonight at the united states supreme court. a shot looking down from the steps of the supreme court on the campus of the u.s. capitol. the protesters have reached the front door as the anger continues following the confirmation of brett kavanaugh. i'm joined by lisa graves, former judiciary committee staffer and assistant attorney general. also christine lewtious,

executive haven't for policy. thank you all. christine first. >> what do you think? is this rally coming a little late just to be a little sarcastic here? it's great to see active people. maybe that would have been better two, three weeks ago. >> there have been rallies almost every day. i was in a rally too two days ago. i kept thinking i could see the front and couldn't see it. this rally is still going after the vote. what i think that shows is people are not forgetting there, people are not done being heard. and demanding that our courts be protected. >> from your point of view, and from are the passionate activist point of view, what went wrong. >> if you can delineate it for the history books, what could have been done to stop this confirmation? >> what went wrong is we had a few senators that didn't listen to their constituents. what i observed about all the people from maine coming down to d.c. to try and get meetings with susan collins, all the

different events i saw happening up in maine, all the different editorials and op-eds i think what you saw here was party over country, party over listening to your stuns. >> protesters got up on the statue there. that will be in the paper tomorrow. >> that will. >> but this protest means something. this means people are not done. women are tired of not being listened to. they're tired of being silenced. there's a real feeling this process was messed up from the very beginning. > what's been clever, you could say nastily true on the other side, their ability to say, dr. ford's a wonderful person. dr. ford is a credible person. i believe she did have the experience of some hard time, some kind of sexual assault. i believe everything she says except i will not believe she mentioned the name of brett kavanaugh. i don't know where they came up with that, but they did. they're all using it including susan collins. >> it's a real pivot on their part. it reminds me of justice

marshall's statement about being against gross forms of discrimination and sophisticated ones. this is trying to erase the testimony of dr. ford that was so compelling. > would they say that about a man? i'm not a super feminist. you can argue the word confusing is almost like saying ditzy and going back to the days of i love lucy where you could love her but don't think she knows what she's talking about. let's go to mike. how does it feel right there in the middle? chris, i mean, we're on the front steps of the supreme court. that's the front step of the supreme court. these protesters stormed up the steps, an hour and a half old the vote. they're not giving it up. the police around the supreme court are just standing at the door. there's been no move yet for political intervention. i don't need to tell you, these

people are angry. it's carrying over into the evening after two, three weeks of civic actions. chris, i don't know what to say. a man turned to me a minute ago up on these steps and said, we just took over the supreme court. we just liberated the supreme court he said. and you hear the chants now. >> no justice no peace. no justice, no peace. >> reporter: an extraordinary scene. i don't know what else to tell you that we haven't talked about all day. this is kicking it up to another level. >> the new justice of the supreme court, the new associate justice brett kavanaugh is being sworn in tonight. he'll be sworn in thanks to the president who the chief justice john roberts and the man he's replacing anthony kennedy. he takes two oaths of office. i wonder if this is -- it's not going to stop it, but clearly that's what he they're directing their protest toward. they don't want this happening but it is.

>> reporter: you're absolutely right, chris. you know, it remains to be seen whether this is going to be counterproductive. i can tell you one thing after spending hours and days with some of the protesters and organizers, they don't really care. that's a distinction they don't care about. you get the sense you're in a moment here. you're in a moment here that is very rare. >> thank you so much for the great coverage on the ground. if those protesters want to really protest the voting booth is starting to open. that's all for this hour of coverage of the confirmation of supreme court justice brett kavanaugh. i'm chris matthews. join me monday night 7:00 p.m. eastern time for "hardball." our coverage continues next with joy reid. >> now to our journey across america. good evening from the shadow of the u.s., mexico border. >> what's your concern? , mexico. >> what's your concern your mornings were made for better things

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i'm joy reid. today after weeks of testimony, anguish and drama, we witnessed the confirmation of the most divisive supreme court nominee in a generation. this is the remarkable scene at the senate late this afternoon as protests are screamed in outrage as the vice president of the united states as he garvels in the final vote for brett kavanaugh. >> sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. >> the 50-48 vote for kavanaugh is the