good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. you're looking at live pictures of the capitol and the stirring tribute to justice ruth bader ginsburg today. she is making history yet again as the first woman to lie in state at the capitol, the first person of jewish faith to have that honor. earlier house speaker nancy pelosi, another trailblazer,

offered her condolences at a solemn ceremony in statuary hall. >> it is with profound sorrow and deep sympathy to the ginsburg family that i have the high honor to welcome justice ruth bader ginsburg to lie in state in the capitol of the united states. she does so on the catafalque built for abraham lincoln. >> justice ginsburg lived her life according to the biblical command to pursue justice all the days of her life. >> she was our prophet, our north star, our strength for so very long. now she must be permitted to rest after toiling so hard for

every single one of us. >> joining me now, her very close friend and colleague, supreme court justice stephen breyer. justice breyer, first of all, our condolences to you, we have been experiencing this virtually through you and your colleagues and how you remembered her at the court, and it has been such a moving experience for all of us. first of all, how do you think justice ginsburg will be remembered? >> i think she'll be remembered as a very brilliant and great jurist and a person who did a lot, particularly for women and for others, for everyone, really. before she was a justice. and she was a great justice. and a very decent person, i might add. >> i want to ask you about that. your daughter nell shared with

the rabbi at central synagogue that you and your daughter exactly a week ago on rosh hashanah were reciting the mourner's kaddish, the ancient jewish prayer, together when you learned of justice ginsburg's death. can you tell me what that must have been like? >> well, you know, she was a very good friend. and my heart sank. we were watching -- not watching -- well, we were watching the service, and the marshal called in, it was right in the middle of the mourners' kaddish. then he called back on the other phone because i had said i'll call later. he said, no, it's an emergency. and i took it, and he said that ruth had died. oh, dear, oh, dear, there we are. i just thought -- you know, i thought right away -- i did

think the things i wrote down on a piece of paper, i said, a great justice, a woman of valor, a rock of righteousness, and my good, good friend. those are the things i thought she contributed. she made the world a better place for us to live in. so you think, oh, dear. and then you think, thank you, thank you. and it would be a different place. i know that. that's the human condition. but there we are. so i haven't felt too good. >> justice breyer, i should point out of course you and your daughter were saying the prayers, watching a virtual

streaming service. >> yes, we were watching the internet. and my grandchildren. >> it was such an overwhelming experience for those of us who knew her, even a little bit. she married us. but you worked side by side her for so many years and you knew her before you were both on the court. >> yeah, that's her profession, you know. her profession, she's intelligent, she's logical, she's hard working, she writes succinctly. when i want to know what she's thinking, i always want to know what she's thinking, you read what she wrote and there it is, laid out very clearly. and it's going to be true to the record and it's going to be true to the arguments and it's going to explain them, and it's going to be detailed.

and succinctly. obviously it's helpful to me and the other judges, what she thinks. that's her profession. and she's very good at it. and she has strong principles. and she holds them. but she is also, you know, on a personal level, she doesn't -- she's not a tremendously talkative small talker. i mean, joanna says to me, my wife says, you know, stephen, not every silence needs to be filled, because a more talky person. and ruth is more on joanna's side. and so -- but she's the kind of person that as a person you like her better the more you know her. i would go into her office sometimes and i would say something very -- that i thought

was extremely funny, and she usually thought, it was at least moderately funny. we would talk about it, whatever it was. and i knew i had a certain amount of time because she wanted to get back to work, and she would be standing behind her desk, reading something, or maybe thinking about something, probably what she was reading or thinking or whatever or talking or writing or something like that. i know she wanted to get back to it. so i knew how to time it pretty well. and oh, my goodness. i mean, ten minutes ago, okay, ten minutes ago i'm talking to my law clerks about something and for some reason we diverged and were talking about the salisberg music festival and i was trying to think, who was it, it was rhinehart, it was rhineha rhinehart strauss, they founded it. i looked it up on the internet. if i wanted to know the answer to something like that, i would

call her because we wanted to know and she would know it was max rhinehart. indeed i did ask her a question about opera about ten days ago. i said, what was the opera they had in boston? and i knew she would know that. she said, it's verdi, it's "masked ball." she says to me, it's in boston because it was really supposed to be i think this scandinavia but it was politically too difficult so they put it in boston, nobody had really heard of boston. and she wrote a card for my birthday, it said, to my younger colleague, and she thinks that's terribly funny. i rather liked it. she said, we'll get together when this disease is over, this plague, see an opera or see some visual thing, life will go on. just thinking about that cheers me up. and there we are. >> you received a card, you

received the card when you went back to your chambers just this week. >> yesterday. yesterday, day before yesterday, i was back in washington. i went down for a couple of days, then i came back up here. so there we are. >> let me ask you about something the rabbi said today. she said that she wrote her dissents as though they were blueprints for the future, knowing that some day they would be majority opinions, so she wrote her dissents as a roadmap for future justices. >> i don't know. i don't know what's in her mind. i know about that. i mean, what she does is say with an opinion, whether it's a majority or dissent. from my point of view, i'm not her, but i read them. i see what she's writing, i learn something. and none of us knows what will happen in the future. the future will decide the

future. and the historians will look back and say this or that was inevitable. but we don't know. she doesn't know. i don't know. you write what you think is the law and that's what she does, clearly, logically, and in detail with decent values. the law is there to help. the law is there to help people live their lives in communities. and she understood that, and she understood how really wrong it was to be discriminatory or unfair. that's what we're about. that's what judging is about. and she felt that strongly, and she expressed it clearly. >> and that's why she was so respected and admired, even by those who disagreed with her on the court, and that's why she was so loved by so many. thank you so much, stephen breyer. >> yes, and also it's her personal characteristics too. yeah, it's not just the law. i mean, she's an interesting

person to have around. you know, if you're sitting next to her at dinner she may not say very much. joanna says, stephen, you think when you're talking. but she thinks when she's thinking. and if she doesn't have something to say, she won't, that's fine. and as i say, i'll repeat it, the more you know her, the better you like her. >> so many people have gotten to know her better through all of these services and through your reminiscences indeed even more so. thank you very much. our condolences to you, to joanna breyer, your wife. thanks for sharing with us from your home in boston, we really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thanks again. and as we continue today,

the president is campaigning in battleground states, continuing to spread false information about mail-in balloting, following another string of deflating state polls for the president, showing him losing to joe biden not just in swing states like nevada and pennsylvania but falling behind in states he won in 2016 like ohio and iowa, but within the margin of error. joining me, "weekend today" co-host peter alexander, and jeremy bash. peter, people have given him opportunities every day this week since he first started explicitly talking about not following the constitution, a peaceful transfer of power, as it was laid out ever since 1792, but he persists. >> andrea, you're exactly right, he's reiterated this point that he may not honor the results of the election. i was on the south lawn of the

white house before he headed out of town before he's traveling today and i asked him very specifically, are the results of this election only legitimate if you win, as if he didn't hear the question, he just went right into his answer, which is a complaint about the ballots, saying that they are a scam once again, and saying that frankly he didn't have confidence that this vote could be honest. you've heard from the white house, from the press secretary yesterday, from the vice president, mike pence, late yesterday, that the president, that they will accept the results if they are the result of a free and fair election. but obviously that language gives a lot of wiggle room. and the president, by saying he didn't know if the election could be honest, is indicating he's not even convinced this election is fair at this point, his election, as ballots are already being sent out in places across the country right now. obviously this ties into the country you were having about the court just moments ago, because this is the reason the president believes it's important and imperative that he fill that ninth seat on the supreme court before election

day, because he's indicated that he thinks that this ultimately could be where it's determined, that the winner would, in effect, be determined by the supreme court, and if he's able to secure a conservative majority, obviously that would be advantageous to him. so the takeaway as we look to the weekend, we expect him -- the justices, this is a point the president wants to hit home, for the last several days his messaging, instead of being focused on the supreme court, has been focused on this continued refusal to commit to one of the fundamental tenets of our democracy, the peaceful transferal of power. >> peter, i want to play what the president said to you on the south lawn when asked about the election results. >> we have to be very careful with the ballots. the ballots, that's a whole big scam. we want to make sure the election is honest. and i'm not sure that it can be. i don't -- i don't know that it can be.

>> so he's drilling down on that, peter. is this a strategy, does he think this is helping him with the base? because republicans, they're not outspoken, but they are certainly uncomfortable, at least the elected republicans seem to be. >> it's clearly resonating with the base. as we speak to voters, at some of these events he holds around the country right now, they say it's the president who brought this to their attention, they weren't aware of what a big scam ballots were. we should reiterate here and hopefully we can say it once and for all, there is no evidence of widespread fraud, certainly due to mail-in voting. christopher wray, the fbi director, again making that point. and to that topic which i suspect you'll address as you speak to jeremy in this conversation, what was striking is christopher wray said yesterday historically they have not even widespread evidence of voting fraud, with mail-in ballots or otherwise. chief of staff mark meadows was

very critical of christopher wray, refusing to say whether the president had confidence in him. he wouldn't say, saying the president has varying degrees in confidence in many of the people who work for him, andrea. >> let's play that christopher wray comment, jeremy, i want to get your reaction to it. >> we have not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise. we have seen voter fraud at the local level from time to time. and so my comments should in no way be construed as minimizing how seriously we take our responsibility to investigate such incidents or the potential impact those things could have at the local level, so it's on our radar. >> but then, jeremy, there was this immediate white house criticism from chief of staff mark meadows on "cbs this

morning." >> your own fbi director says he has seen no evidence of widespread voting fraud by mail or otherwise. >> well, with all due respect to director wray, he has a hard time finding emails in his own fbi, let alone figuring out whether there's any kind of voter fraud. >> jeremy, what is going on here? this is donald trump's fbi director, chris wray. >> yeah, andrea, this is like an episode of "when partisans attack." here you have mark meadows obviously placating the audience of one, the president, and going after law enforcement, the rule of law, the fbi director, who is merely stating the facts that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. the voter fraud issue is a phony issue. but i think it also points up a larger tension that the president does not want to be bound by the rule of law. he does not want to be bound by the traditions of our democracy.

he certainly is not going to cede power if the election is in any way close, which of course it's going to be. i think we're headed for some very rocky times. i don't anticipate that we'll know the victor on election night. and the country is going to have to have a lot of patience and let the courts work its process to iron out the election results. i think trump is frankly laying the groundwork to stay in office until somebody removes him. >> how concerned are you about that eventuality, about that hypothetical? >> enormously concerned, andrea. because first of all, because of covid, we've got so many additional people voting other than in person. they're voting by mail, they're voting absentee. so it's going to take a while to count those ballots. you've already seen cases out of pennsylvania and michigan extending the deadline to allow mail-in ballots to be counted. there are going to be disputes over ballots. there are going to be disputes over the seating of electors. there are going to be disputes

over whether a state legislature or governor can change the electoral slate. there's going to be a dispute over electoral college results. if you read some of the laws, the statutes, even court decisions, they're pretty opaque. the thing we've adhered to in our nation since the 1700s is the tradition that the person who wins the election assumes the office on january 20. donald trump, singular in american history, seems like he's not into that, he's not going for that. he's telegraphing to his supporters he wants them to come out into the streets, rise up if necessary and prevent the peaceful transfer of power. that is just absolutely a recipe for the unraveling of american democracy. >> jeremy, if you know, i don't know the law on this, bart gelman wrote a really alarming story that there is even a discussion among some republican state leaders where they have republican legislators to take over the election of the

electors to the electoral college and replace some that were chosen by popular vote. is that legally possible? >> again, there's a lot of ambiguity in the law. the law basically says that if a state sends its electoral slate to congress by a certain date, then there can't be any challenge to that electoral slate. but if the slate of electors is somehow in doubt, for example let's say a state is recounting all the way into december and the state legislature then can meet and decide who the electors have to be. but the laws are not entirely clear, andrea, because it's unclear what the role of the governor is. we've got a couple of states where there's a republican legislature and a republican governor. and we've never had to go down this route before. so again, i think the president is trying to capitalize on this chaos. and the only thing in my view that's going to prevent this nightmare scenario from happening is a decisive win by joe biden. if he wins decisively in all the states and it's clear that no

matter what trump tries to pull he can't catch up, then i think the election will be settled. but short of that, andrea, i worry we are in for some very rocky legal and constitutional controversies. >> jeremy bash, peter alexander, thank you both so much. and joining us now, senator mark warner. this morning virginia's governor ralph northam became the second governor this week to test positive for the coronavirus. this as virginia public health officials are raising red flags about another large trump rally where 4,000 people are expected in newport news, virginia this evening. senator mark warner, who is a former virginia governor, joins us now. a lot on everyone's plate today. the ceremonies for ruth bader ginsburg and now, importantly, the election possibly in doubt, given what the president is saying. what are your concerns? >> well, first of all, andrea, i want to add my voice to all the

voices that have commended justice ginsburg. i've got three daughters, between 25 and 30. they were all heartbroken friday night. they live in an america that gives them a fair chance and fair opportunities because of her leadership. the fact that justice ginsburg is not even -- we've not even finished mourning her and the president is already trying to jam through another nominee is -- i guess we shouldn't be surprised but it's so undignified. we then have the case in virgini virginia, where the governor and the first lady, i've reached out to them, they're doing all right. we have the only governor in the country who is a doctor, he's allowed the medical science to drive virginia's response. i think we've had a good

response, but even taking all the precautions, he and his wife have been exposed. and the idea that the president is coming in against the public health warnings that have been laid out in virginia and basically flaunting the law is one more example of his irresponsibility. but again, i'm not sure we should be surprised when we now know that the president as early as the spring was misleading the american public about the seriousness of the virus. and here we are seven months in, we don't have still a national testing plan. we still are -- i've got nursing homes in virginia, they're still buying masks off the black market in china. we've undermined the credibility of the cdc and the fda. and that will take a long time to recover. and frankly, people are getting sick and dying because we're not following the science. you add those two items to the question about the elections, and it's kind of a wild trifecta

in a friday in september. the intelligence community, the bureau which deals with our welcomes machinery, the director of national intelligence, the nn nsa, briefed us this week. the good news is the election security is much safer than in 2016. i give the folks at dhs and the administration credit for raising their game. but what the clear message was from the intelligence community, the real time that we should expect foreign meddling, is that day or two before the election, and particularly the two or three days afterwards. and at the end of the day, russia, china, iran, they want to undermine americans' confidence in the process. and donald trump is playing directly into that foreign narrative about undermining confidence in our democracy. how that will strengthen our

economy, i don't know. this man has never listened to his own intelligence professionals. it's pretty chilling, considering the potential, just the foreign interference in those immediate aftermath, and then added to that, as all of your guests have said, for the first time in our country's history, we've been doing this for over 200 years, for the first time in our country's history, a sitting president trying to undermine the results of an election, as votes are being cast. we're already early voting in virginia. to say somehow those votes aren't valid is just plain endem endemien democrat -- un-democratic. >> your constituents hear that covid has spread to, as you point out, the governor and his wife, and he's a doctor and is taking precautions. >> we have -- the governor has put forward i think appropriate restrictions, that says gatherings should not be above 250.

he's been trying to work through it. and our numbers are still running about a thousand new cases a day. they've come down a bit the last couple of days. i'm not sure if that's a trend yet. but if we see upwards of 4,000 people at the newport news airport this evening for the president's rally, and we've seen for most of the trump rallies no social distancing and no masks, and we then see a surge a week or ten days from now in hampton roads in virginia, i think you can see a direct connection. and i just -- i think it's just disrespectful to the people of virginia who want to reopen our economy. i want to reopen our economy. the president, president trump even put me, with my business background, on his reopening the economy task force. i want kids back in school. but to do that, we've got to follow the science. we've got to have testing. we've got to do the kind of

challenges of wearing masks. and when the president wants those rules, you know, the president particularly flaunting the rules where he's acknowledged he undersold the seriousness of the virus to the american public, to me those are disqualifying signs of leadership. and again, i hope virginia is going to be one of those states that early reports. i hope we come out with a big, big margin for joe biden so that the kind of mischief that the president seems to be advocating will not come to pass. but i think it's very irresponsible for him to hold his rally tonight. >> senator warner, thank you very much. thanks for being with us today. and right now on capitol hill, as the women of congress prepare to pay their respects to ruth bader ginsburg, we remember the late supreme court justice with her own words about her mother from the day she was nominated by bill clinton to the high court in june 1993.

>> i pray that i may be all that she would have been had she lived in an age when women could aspire and achieve and daughters are cherished as much as sons.

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and right now the doors of the capitol are opening. we're going to be seeing the women of congress gathering. they're going to be processing down the steps of the capitol to oversee the departure ceremony for justice ruth bader ginsburg as her casket is brought out from those doors. and coming down from the second floor to the ground level. what you're looking at is the east front of the capitol. that is where inaugural ceremonies end, when you see the president of the united states and his successor coming down the steps, the farewell, the helicopter taking off. that's what you'll be seeing. it's actually the side of the capitol on that east front that of course faces the supreme court where the memorial service was held the other day. so as we await that, we want to go to nbc's capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt and the host of course of "way too early."

and justice ginsburg's former law clerk, one of the law clerks who stood somberly on the steps of the court the other day and was an honorary pallbearer in that very moving ceremony. kasie, first to you, this means a lot to the women of capitol hill. there were so few of them back in 1993 when justice ginsburg first joined the court. and of course then the members of the house and senate, the female members, really grew in numbers. take me through what -- >> reporter: so few -- >> -- what today -- >> reporter: -- andrea, while in 2018, we call it the year of the woman, there are still only 25% of members of congress who are women. so still an incredibly long way to go. but the women here at the capitol recognize and have been the focus of these tributes to ruth bader ginsburg, because there is a deep recognition,

that how far they've come is in large part on the trail that she blazed. it's one all of us, i certainly personally feel gratitude to her and all of the advances, simple in many cases, that she made, things that we now take for granted. so the house speaker, nancy pelosi, the first woman to hold that post and the most powerful woman in washington, putting those women members at the center of all of this. as you pointed out, it's actually just behind me over my shoulder, the center steps of the capitol is where women members will stand to watch her casket process out of the statuary hall to the rotunda and

come to eventual burial at arlington national ceremony. we've seen many people get emotional throughout the course of the day today. of course kamala harris also in attendance, now the nominee to be the democratic vice president if she and joe biden win the election coming up in november, one of a handful of women to be on the vice presidential candidate. that of course would be another historic breaking of a barrier should she actually take that position. a lot of reflecting here at the capitol, especially, as we have mentioned, of course, ruth bader ginsburg, the first woman to ever lie in state in the history of our republic, andrea. >> and the first jewish woman at that. the rabbi at the service said

today, reading from the injunction from the 16th chapter of dutie duty eeuteronomy. lisa, you must have seen that plaque. >> andrea, thank you for having me. yes, justice, justice, you must pursue, is exactly what she did always until the very end. >> one of the other things the rabbi mentioned, the rabbi who is her rabbi, mentioned, is that she was so careful in her dissents in later years when of course she was then in the minority and that she viewed the dissents as important blueprints for the future, that she always thought that some day they would

become -- that those views would become the majority view again, and that they would become incorporated into what would eventually become the prevailing wisdom of the law. >> andrea, i thought her dissents were very important, both in the way that they spoke to -- they spoke to congress, for example, in the lily ledbetter case and congress responded. and they spoke to the general public. they were written for everybody, i think. and that is in part what prompted her, you know, notorious rbg. people really responded to the power of those dissents. i think we have seen through history times when the court has looked back to dissents like in the plessy v. ferguson dissent, when the court was writing brown

v. board of education, they looked back to that dissent. so there are times when the court really has done what she suggested. they can serve, i think, as a blueprint in the court's reconsideration of cases in the future. >> many of us learned a lot more detail from the documentary, the wonderful documentary about her life several years ago, about her work ethic when she was in law school. when marty got cancer, she was taking care of the baby, she had her own law school challenges as one of only nine women at harvard then, and all of the challenges of being a law student, although she was so superb at all of that, and still would get the notes from his classmates, he was a year ahead of her, and help him as he was going through radiation treatment for the cancer and help him keep up so they didn't lose a year, all of that, and

then do her own homework in the middle of the night. that's kind of the way she worked her whole life, always compartmentalizing, raising the children, not cooking, she left that to marty, he was a gourmet, but taking the time to raise jane and her son and then getting back to work and working until the wee hours of the morning. >> right. she had an extraordinary work ethic and an incredible commitment to, you know, today you often see people sort of thinking, they want instant gratification, one and done. she had this tremendous dedication and commitment and then understanding of the importance of incremental change toward establishing lasting change. in her shachambers she worked extremely hard. the court hears all the

last-minute appeals in death penalty cases. as a clerk you review those, the paperwork that comes in, then you call your justice often in the middle of the night. and i remember calling her in the wee hours of the morning to make a recommendation on a case. and she was wide-eyed and right on the ball. and, you know, i don't know how much sleep she got. she worked extraordinarily hard. and she accomplished a tremendous amount. >> talk to us about the vmi decision, when you went back to vmi with her, that must have been so moving, because she was the person who wrote the 7-1 majority decision. it wasn't initially 7-1, apparently, but she persuaded others to her point of view, that state subsidies, taxpayer subsidies for an institution in

virginia that was a military academy supported by the people, should not only be for men. and when you went back, there were women among the cadets. >> that's right. andrea, it was a landmark decision, just a wonderfully crafted one. and she was quite persuasive in gently elevating that standard for gender classification. so now it will be very difficult for any state to keep women out. when we went back to vmi, it was an extraordinary experience. we toward the barracks. we met with some of the first women cadets and the current women cadets who are just thriving. they were studying physics, they were looking at how to solve water crises, they were excited

about embarking on their lives. and they specifically thanked the justice for opening the doors and allowing them to pursue their dreams. it was extremely moving to see that. you know, also it touched -- >> also chief justice roberts -- go ahead. >> i was going to say, it touched on her ability to both understand these constitutional concepts of equality and understand what it meant for the individuals involved in the case. and it was exciting for her to see how those individuals had been affected by her decision. >> i was going to say that you and your fellow clerks, women clerks, are another tangible example, because as people have been saying, when she went to law school, it was so hard to

get into law school, first of all, such a small number of women, and then so hard to get a job, for ruth bader ginsburg, for sandra day o'connor, they were tops in their classes at stanford and columbia, and they couldn't get jobs in law firms. what was said today, sandra day o'connor once said to ruth ginsburg, if we had had an easier time of it, we might be retired law partners at a big firm right now, but now we're sitting on the supreme court. so the obstacles to overcome were part of the dynamic that led to their successes. i just want to bring in pete williams, our colleague who has covered the justice department and the court for decades and knows more than anybody what this means. pete, such a meaningful day, this transition. we've seen ruth bader ginsburg so many times at state of the union speeches.

and now she's leaving the capitol for the last time. >> the last time, andrea, for the burial next week at arlingt ngton national se arlington national cemetery. they had to keep the lights on and the lines open last night at the supreme court where she had been for the last two days so people could come by and pay their respects. i was listening to lynn talk about her time clerking for the justice and how justice ginsburg worked late into the night. it struck me as somewhat appropriate that they kept the lights on at the court so the lying in repose could go later into the night. then literally across the street from the view, if you were to stand at the top of the capitol, of those stairs, and look directly out, you would see the supreme court, you would see where justice ginsburg had been. so today, literally across the

street for this extraordinary honor of being the first woman, the first person of jewish faith, and only the second person in the history, only the second supreme court justice to now lie in state at the capitol. such an extraordinary honor, such a tribute to her. she sometimes wrote decisions with an eye across the street to the u.s. capitol. i suppose the best example that have is one of the cases that made her a cultural icon, her decision in a case in which the supreme court ruled against a woman that had found out that her male colleagues on the job were getting paid more than she was. and the supreme court said, well, sorry, you've sued too late, you should have sued as soon as the pay disparity began. and justice ginsburg explained in her dissent that most people don't know that, that it should begin when they find out about it. and she basically said to congress, the ball is in your

court. and congress responded, passed what's called the lily ledbetter fair pay act, named for the plaintiff in that case. and so, you know, she was well aware of all the different branches of government and what their role was. >> let's, pete and lisa, let's listen for a moment, and kasie, kasie, you probably have a wonderful view as the casket is being brought down the steps by the military guard of honor.

and as the military guard places the casket in the hurse, ruth bader-ginsburg leaving the capital momentarily. the women standing in honor with their hands on their hearts, a

record number of women. you referred to the yeah of the woman in 2018 because of of how many women house members were elected. i remember in 1992, and the year after the clarence thomas hearings. they so disrupted life on the hill. that's when a lot of women were elected. and in the wake of those hearings in 1991 there was a senate lunch in the senate side. and the senate committee was refusing to reopen the hearings and more evidence had come in about aknee ta hill and the charges and the women house members marched from the house tide to the senate side. went up the steps, and marched into the senate and crashed that luncheon demanding action from the senators. i don't think i have ever seen

them before or since. >> there was not a single woman on the judiciary committee. it goes against ruth bader-ginsburg's dieing wish. to have the next president of the united states, whoever it may be, choose her successor, just 40 some odd days before this election. and andrea, i have to tell you i'm struck here. it is impossible not to be moved at ceremonies like this. i was here for john mccain's ceremony as well. and this one, of course, means so much for women. myself included. i was struck by how there are

many cars driving by, gates being opened and shut, but instead just that sound of ready, step as they carried her down these capital steps. it's hard not to reflect on the military honor guard representing our troops at this important moment carrying ruth bader-ginsburg. there is so much uncertainty about what is going to happen with the future of our branch. and you were talking about the things that are at stake coming up in the november election. it's hard not to be struck by the history and the reality that we have done this transfer year and year out every four years. and i think that reality is

really weighing on members of congress. i had a number of personal conversations with people who frankly feel a little despairing that this is something that happened so close to this election. this sense of foreboding that we have going into the november election. a day of some ber reflection, celebration of her life, but also i think a lot of concern about what happens next for our country, andrea. >> and lisa, you were watching yard hand over your heart as you were watching the flag draped coffin coming down the steps. such a small casket reflecting the great lady. what are your thoughts on her dieing wish. >> i have been very moved by the

ceremonies so far. i think they were quite fitting for somebody who has made our country a much better place. i will say that standing vigil with her during the night, when she was in the casket, the clerk stood vigil, it was really something to see hundreds and hundreds of people passing by the steps of the court to pay their respects. some holding signs saying thank you for protecting my rights, and also to be standing up there with all love and admiration, it was a serine moment and one that i found myself filled with

immense gratitude for. for all that she has done. >> pete williams, all of us cover a lot of history and we're privileged to be a witness to history. this is personal, i know, it is an emotional time for you as well. having watched her all of these years, some of your reflections today? >> my thought is that this is all happening so far the. it was just a week ago that we got the word that justice ginsburg had died after very suddenly, you heard from justice brier at the beginning about how he was still getting letters from her, and then her health just rapidly declined. all of these ceremonies, and tomorrow an announcement on who he will choose to succeed her. but you're right, her confer nation was one of the first big

stories that i covered in jug of 1993. and at the time the chairman was joe biden who was at the ceremony. but it just all seems like it is happening so fast and we're moving so quickly here. >> moving in a way that is less partisan. i covered the board hearings and clarence thomas. now you're facing, now, an 8 person court and potentially very likely given the schedule that they're talking about, is a schedule that will start the week of october 12th with the hearings and confirmation by the end of october. >> the court will have had it's first argument session, and then

if a new justice is confirmed, before the election, or around the election, that new justice could be sitting on the bench when the supreme court hears one of the first big cases of the term. so a very compressed timeline. >> and pete, as you well know, all of this, as you say, happening so quickly. our thanks to you, lisa, and at peter eluded to earlier, i talked to justice steven brier. i asked him about his thoughts and the fact that he was saying the traditional mourner's cotta cottage, when he got word from the marshal, and he said he wrote down his thoughts. he shared with us, i thought a

great woman of honor, a rock of righteousness. i thought she made the world a better place for us to live in, so you think oh, dear, and then you think thank you, thank you. it will be a different place, but that is the human condition. i have not felt too good, i felt oh, dear. now the rain is coming down in washington dc as she leaves the capital for the last time "meet the press daily" with chuck todd is next. thank you for being with us. >> welcome to friday. it is "meet the press daily." we have been watching the final moments of the capitol hill ceremonies honoring and remembering ruth