i am an old originalist. i am aging, and i am an originalist. it could also have another set of references. i have been interested in the subject of originalist them ever since i was a graduate in harvard in 1970. i started thinking about the issues we call originalist issues when i was working on my dissertation. i was not interested in the jurer's financial aspect, but the impeachment of richard nixon. i come from a family of longtime nixon haters. so i have a natural interest in that subject. i am interested in war policy resolution. what role the congress places on the president's of authority. i was also a member of the committee against the war. an obscure group which filed a very interesting suit against defense secretary james schlessinger. arguing that all those members of congress who also held commissions in rotary -- military reserves should resign. under the provisions of the constitution which prevents members of congress from holding office under the executive branch. as you start -- i am an old originalist. i've been thinking of

not to sound like an originalist like scalia. that would leave it up to their political judgment. i think their political adjustment judgment is wrong. i think they are making the divide in america worse by applying it to the supreme court of the united states. just between you and me, most of the lower courts are dominated by democratic appointees. so be refusing to put another justice on the supreme court, what the republican senators are doing is handing the governance of the nation off to predominantly democrat k lower courts. >> host: what about their spouses? were they supportive? they have both passed now but were they supportive of their wive's career? >> guest: apparently so. marty is the legendary husband who learned how to cook and was using his web of connections to advance his wife's career. she could not have done it without him and i believe it. o'connor was less visiblely ad van vancing his wife's career. she stayed in phoenix with she could have governor to washington. john o'connor left a lucrative practice in phoenix and went to washington where he never again h

. >> and you would appoint originalist justices? >> i appointed them now in ohio and the question is are they conservative. i appointed a woman to the ohio supreme court. she's conservative. >> is isis and radical islam evil in our time, the worst? >> it's one of the worst things in history. you have to get the arab muslim countries like in the first gulf war when we kicked out saddam, you have to get western europe, you go in the air and on the ground. you destroy isis. destroy them. when it settles down, you let them leave. let them draw the map in the middle east. look, i wouldn't have gone to a baseball game with castro. i would have flown home after brussels. >> you wouldn't have done the tango? >> i would have come home and met with my military and intelligence officials. call all the intelligence people in europe. because what we need is the civilized world, all of the civilized world, against these barbarians. these are a cult of death. what amazes me, sean, is how can these people sit in an apartment in europe and plan to t

this country needs to have a constitutionalist, an originalist, a tectulist on the supreme court that will reflect the meaning of this constitution at its time of ratification and that's why our founders gave us a means to amend the constitution. they didn't intend for the supreme court to be taking on the trappings of a super legislature and legislating on one day by adding words to obamacare and then the very next day create the new command in the constitution that the states shall conduct same-sex marriages and honor same-sex plargees -- marriages in other states. that's over the top. that's beyond the pale. 23 you can imagine what our founding fathers would say, how about the signs of the declaration of independence? if we could bring them to life today and walk them out here into statuary hall and say, take a look at this painting up here where you're all signing this declaration of independence, or better yet, go over to the ar dive where they pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor and you can still see john hancock's signature there almost as clearly as the day he may w

. >> and you would appoint originalist justices?ppointed them now in ohio and the question is are they conservative. i appointed a woman to the ohio supreme court. she's conservative. >> is isis and radical islam evil in our time, the worst? >> it's one of the worst things in history. you have to get the arab muslim countries like in the first gulf war when we kicked out saddam, you have to get western europe, you go in the air and on the ground. you destroy isis. destroy them. when it settles down, you let them leave. let them draw the map in the middle east. look, i wouldn't have gone to a baseball game with castro. i would have flown home after brussels. >> you wouldn't have done the tango? >> i would have come home and met with my military and intelligence officials. call all the intelligence people in europe. because what we need is the civilized world, all of the civilized world, against these barbarians. these are a cult of death. what amazes me, sean, is how can these people sit in an apartment in europe and plan to take a b

. >> you would appoint originalist justices?t over 100 now in ohio and the first question is are they conservative? >> right. >> and that's -- they've -- i pointed a woman to the ohio supreme court. fantastic. conservative. common sense. yeah. of course you want -- you don't want judges making laws. >> isis and radical islam knievel our time? >> the worst. one of the worst in history. so what do you have to do? you got to get the arab muslim countries that we had in the first gulf war, kicked out saddam, that means egypt, it means saudi arabia, it means jordan, the gulf states, you got to get western europe, you go in the air, on the ground. destroy isis. destroy them. when it settles down, when it settles down you then leave. let them draw the map in the middle east and then we need -- i mean, america -- look. i wouldn't have gone to a baseball game with castro. i would have flown home after brussels. i then would have -- let me fin sh. >> you wouldn't do the tango. >> no. i would have met with the military and intelligence off

this was a problem for originalist because if you really think what matters, then it's hard to justify as an interpretation. they did a great job in explaining why. >> i'm at a stop there because we will run out of time. we'll get back to that later in the program. >> good evening. >> yes do you think that after hundreds of years of segregation did they deserve some sort? >> the question has been debated by a lot of people and they think there are certainly good arguments. i think most people come to the conclusion that there are two problems. one of which is a politics and the other of which is a concern about how one would actually assess the damages if one could convince the right people that they were appropriate. how does one actually go about figuring out what was owed. one might say just give it a shot. it's a question that has been debated a lot, but really the problem is a political problem. >> hi robert. >> good evening. how are you doing? yes ma'am, i'm a vietnam veteran. one of the things that has just devastated me is democracy has never lost. [inaudible] last century it w

you described yourself as an originalist much as justice scalia did. and you've described yourself as looking -- and you do in your opinions -- looking at the text of the constitution and at the statutes and putting those to the forefront of your analysis. where do you think originalism stands right now in our jurisprudence after justice scalia's tenure on the court? has it made advances, or is this going to be with justice scalia a relatively short detour? >> well, let me say first about justice scalia, that he was a hero to me and so many others in how he went about his job in his courage, his principle, his passion, his humor, his clarity. all those things are models and have been molds for all of us -- models for all of us. and he has been, as justice kagan said last fall at the scalia lecture at harvard, he's been one of the most consequential jurists in american history, no doubt about it. and his basic idea was pay attention to the words of the constitution and pay attention to the words of the statutes that congress passes. a very simple and ea

justice scalia was what was sometimes called an originalist. he believed that the court had an obligation to apply the constitution and the law as written, not based on some substituted value judgment for what perhaps the unelected lifetime tenured judges would have preferred in terms of policy. that's not their role. that he don't stand for election. -- they don't stand for election. it is our role as the policy-makers who do stand for election and, thus, give the american people to voice their pleasure or displeasure, as the case may be, with the direction that we perhaps take the country when it comes to policy. but teas not a role that the -- but that's not a role that the supreme court should play. so we need to approach filling this seat with great care. the administration and their liberal allies are now trying to basically throw everything but the kitchen sink to try to get -- to stop the american people from getting a voice in this matter. in other words, they're trying to force congress' hand or the senate's hand to confirm the presid