brian: i want to show you video of robert kagan. fred's wife kimberly, his father donald. lets see 42 seconds of robert kagan in this year 2018. >> we already see signs that democracy is not enjoying the kind of support that it once enjoyed around the world. we already see the return of geopolitics. in the united states we seen the return of protectionist dependencies. if the united states is not in the business of supporting that order, then all elements that we have enjoyed will gradually go away and the world rolled -- world will return to normal. we have the idea that what we have now is normal but that is not true. normal looks like the early part of the 20th century and the 19th century and all previous centuries. brian: i want to read from your book. kagan always struck me as kristol, meaning bill kristol, and that both were products of academia. the main difference was that kagan was dumber and less charming. he seem like an aging linebacker with a history of concussions. rather than make his case, kagan increased his volume. he yelled and stormed off. i always tho

laura: i spoke with robert kagan, a senior fellow at the brookings institution, and also of the new booke jungle grows back. the president says he isn't satisfied with saudi arabia's explanation of the death of jamal khashoggi, but he also says he doesn't want to lose investment from thkingdom. is that line going to be able to hold? guest: i think the administration is sort of going through a bit of a charade here, where the appropriate indignation is expressed, but great care is taken to make sure the relationship doesn't collapse.be i think many m of congress think this is an important relationship. laura: and yet congres whseem to be outraged abou has happened. could they force the admistration's hand? guest: of agurse it is ouus and of course we should understand that our policy is mistaken and our support for this crown prince is a mistake, but there is a lot of money involved. israel has interest in maintaining the relationship with saudi arabia and is able to have significant influence over the american congress. i think there's a lot of forces working against, no matter hows, muc

chief justice roberts, justice kagan, justice -- justice breyer. they don't like being perceived as republicans or democrats. to the extent this process which is inherently political has gotten more political than normal, that has to be something are very unhappy about. >> assuming judge kavanaugh does make it to the court and become adjusted, what have we learned from clarence thomas experience on what basis judge kavanaugh if he does become adjusted into the future. >> well, justice thomas is not the most conservative justice at least in the top two along with justice gorsuch. he may have been that anyway, but it certainly the case after his experience, his views are dim and solidify. that may have been impart an effective the confirmation process, which over the years he did allude to, suggesting that it is still had an effect on him. and they have an effect on justice kavanagh. really hard to say because it is a personal thing. other justices about more difficult. confirmation processes and not been affected in quite the same way. n of course v

. >> robert kagan is a senior fellow at brookings, wrote a piece saying the murder of khashoggi couldolizes something much bigger in this case. the withdrawal of american leadership in the world as giving cover for the world's most dangerous people to emergement what aemerge. what are your thoughts on that? >> i think there's something to it, don. i think our current proclivity for embracing autocrats, you know, kim jong-un, and our love affair with him, duterte in the philippines just to name a couple examples, or, of course, vladimir putin. and this would just be one more sort of reinforcement of this tendency to be supportive of or not critical of autocrats. that's what we have in saudi, muhammad bin salman who, you know, his objective to reform, which is good, but he's an autocrat. >> uh-huh. let's talk about this administration and their relationship with the saudi crown prince, because if it turns out the saudis are responsible for khashoggi's disappearance, do you think this administration's closeness to the crown prince made the saudis think they could get away with this, poss

roberts administering the oath. justices thomas, ginsburg, alito, kagan all in attendance. it caps what "the new york times" called the best week yet for the trump presidency. including a big new trade deal, the lowest unemployment rate since 1969 and signs that the political momentum has shifted for republicans ahead of the midterm elections. take a look at that from our colleagues at 538. just a week ago democrats had a 1-3 chance of taking back the senate. now it's scaled back to 1-5. at a rally last night in topeka, kansas president trump was in his element boasting about his accomplishments and touting kavanaugh's confirmation a victory that ensures the president's legacy will last long after his time is over. supreme court, but at what cost? >> reporter: protesters stormed washington this week determined to derail kavanaugh's nomination. bringing their anger right to the senators before the vote and continuing to shout their disapproval even as the gavel came down. >> the sergeant at arms will restore order in the gallery. >> reporter: it follows a messy and bitter co

>> joining us as every sitting supreme court justice. , justicetice roberts ginsburg,stice , just as in -- justice alito. justice kaganand justice gorsuch. [applause} 6 i want to send our deep appreciation to maureen scalia. >> the wife of the late great anthony scalia. >> on the two are white house .anceled >> we are thrilled to rejoin this evening by justice anthony kennedy. i want to thank you very much for a life in the -- lifetime of service to this nation. i want to thank you very much. [applause} >> very special and treasure test tonight are just kavanaugh's wife ashley. [applause} and their two beautiful daughters, margaret and it like that. -- liza. [applause} >> we are joined by justice kavanaugh's mom and dad martha and edit. ed.artha and i want to apologize to brett mean tire f family for the pain and suffering you have been forced to enjoy. -- indoor. those who step forward to defend -- not ary are campaign of destruction based on lies where it what happened to -- cap not family dilates denies every notion of fairness and due process. in our country, a man or a woman, must always be presumed guilty unless

when he was in the white house he helped chief roberts get a nomination. elena kagan hired him to teach at harvard. he went to the same high school as gorsuch, and thomas has had a similar experience for his confirmation. you can expect he will be embraced by is there, and he hayes sent many clerks to work for them all. >>> we're waiting for a press conference from the he leadership. as we do, i want to circle back to the election 4 1/2 weeks away, which is kind of amazing. the republicans committee that's overseeing re-electing republicans in the house, i'm told by a source there that the small donations from people around the country is up over 1,000%, now compared to october of 2016, because they see -- this is just in the past week -- because of the fury that they are seeing and hearing about brett kavanaugh. again, the house doesn't have a vote on the supreme court nominee, but obviously that's the next game up. >> there's no question this has intensified republican base and voters to wear more about the court and the midterm elegislation. this really i think has

gorsuch is a schoolmate from georgetown prep and he helped get a supreme court justice roberts on the court. justice kagan hired him at harvard to be a professor. so, he is well known to the group, so that certainly helps a lot. but, it certainly seems as if the other justices are going out of their way to say, we are going to accept you. they were there for his quick swearing-in. on saturday, they were all there for the public, swearing- in at the white house. and, today on the court, it just seemed as if they went out of the way a little bit. justice kagan is now going to be sitting immediately to his side. went out of the way, to show that he is the new kid. and, she is going to show him around. >> seems like there is some good rapport for those two on that side of the bench. i was reading that justice kavanaugh has hired four female clerks. this is something that no other supreme court justice has done. what do you think the message is he might be trying to send there? >> it is the first time anybody has hired -- including justice ginsburg. it is common to have -- let's say, half are women. he has hir

justice roberts has said it, justice kagan said it. >> guess what? when it was 5-4, bush v gore, that's whenever robe became red and blue. >> and he's been dealing with the legacy of that. >> ramesh, i'm sorry. >> you know, the impeachment question, i think one of the things you've got to wonder about is, is the public really going to be clamoring for a prolongation of this argument, are people enjoying this that much? >> by the way, a bunch of republican and democratic senators, it's my understanding, if kavanaugh wasn't confirmed by tomorrow, it -- everybody just wanted it out, there were democrats that were just, confirm him already, and republicans were like, i'm tired of this. like, he only had another, i think, day to live had this not gone, because i think there's almost pure exhaustion. >> yeah, that's -- >> that's certainly what i detect and not just from senators. >> i want to play something that justice -- i am also curious about how justice kavanaugh is going to be treated on the court, perhaps by litigants and things like that. because t

it puts huge pressure on john roberts to avoid what justice kagan suggested.o it is striking that both she and sotomayor both expressed concern and shows the stakes that will face justice kavanaugh during his first weeks and months. >> so what can the chief justice do? is there is a sense that john roberts would want to stay away from questions where kavanaugh for example would have to weigh in on these issues of executive power and the trump administration right off the bat? is that something that you see as a possibility? >> it is a possibility. the main thing that the chief justice can do is assign the opinion when he is in the majority or give it to a colleague who best reflikts hec views. roberts wants to convince his colleagues to converge around narrow opinions and avoid sweeping constitutional questions. not overturn roe queen turturn disdistinguish it. he can try to persuade his cases let's not deal with affirmative action or abortion, this country is too guidivided. let's stick to the technical cases that they are more likely to be unanimous on in or

kagan. justice john roberts gave a brief welcome and all down to business. court heard two cases each dealing whether felons received prior prison sentences. kavanaugh jumped in after listening 220 minutes. asking five questions to both sides. he didn't inject any personal opinions and didn't give any hints as to how he might vote. in terms of protests, there has been a heavy police presence here throughout the day. but there were only a couple dozen protesters here this morning. a couple other small groups have been coming in and out throughout the day. the biggest crowd though was the long line of folks that were hoping to get in to view today's arguments. tomorrow, the court will hear two additional cases, including one dealing with a detention of undocumented immigrants. and that's the case where justice brett kavanaugh could cast his first deciding vote. shep? >> shepard: garrett tenney live at the court, thanks. a former top fbi lawyer says he has reason to believe that the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein was serious when he talked about secretl

kavanaugh was sporn in that evening by chief justice john roberts, two of the court's staunch liberals were there to witness. justices elaina kagan and ruth bader ginsburg joining samuel alito and clarence thomas for the ceremony. deep divisions remain. republican senator susan collins, whose vote proved decisive, told "60 minutes" that she now has a security detail because of threats she's received. and while she believes christine blasey ford is a victim of sexual assault, she says she's also not convinced kavanaugh was not her attacker. >> she was clearly terrified, traumatized, and i believed that a sexual assault had happened to her. what i think she is mistaken about is who the perpetrator was. i do not believe her assailant was brett kavanaugh. >> reporter: north dakota democrat heidi heitkamp, representing a state where president trump is popular, is poised to pay a political price for voting no, but she says it was a matter of conscience. >> do i have work that i want to continue to do? absolutely. do i want to compromise my principles and my conscience for that job? no. and do i want to compromise the supreme court for

kagan. >> do you buy that chief justice roberts is centrist in the court is this. >> he is the center of the court. he's no centrist. yes, i think he is the least conservative of the five republican appointees, but he's no liberal and he's no moderate. >> to what extent does chief justice roberts care about the institution to build consensus? one thing you've seen with gorsuch and thomas, it's a potential risk for justice kavanaugh, that he becomes a recluse and gets bitter by this process and doesn't engage. that's one thing you have to watch. >> you know what they call a recluse justice? justice. you still have your vote. and, you know, that's -- >> there's a lot more potential for any justice to engage and care about the institution. >> that's true. >> jeffrey toobin, david gregory, thank you. >>> college students debate the brett kavanaugh confirmation battle. does it mean it will help them head to the polls? that's next. ter a scratch so sml you could fix it with a pen. how about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead? for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual w

roberts wishing him a long and happy. care he is seated next to justice alana kagan. >>> as kavanaugh gets to work, it appears voter registration among young people is rising and pop star taylor swift may be to thank. we told you about swift's political message on instagram on monday. she said she'll be voting for democrats in her home state in tenness tennessee. told others they need to register soon if they want to vote. vote.org said 65,000 young people and 45,000 older people have registered. >> student activists are encouraging people to vote. >> students from marjorie stoneman douglas brought their message to american university. they called for tougher gun laws. they said that victims of mass shootings need a place to turn. >> we need concrete places to go to. >> the same group of students helped organize march for our lives rally in d.c. this past spring. take a look. this is video from that rally. you may recall hundreds of thousands of people participated. >>> turning now to news 4 your health, naps aren't just for preschoolers. the truth. >> a little extra sleep can help you make tough decisions. you know how they sa

as a result, i voted in favor of justices roberts and ali who o who were nominated by president bush. mayor andsought amontoam kagan, who was nominated by president obama. and just as gorsuch who was nominated by president trump. i began my evaluation of judge kavanaugh's nomination by reviewing his 12 year record on the d.c. circuit court of appeals, including his more than 300 opinions and his many speeches and many lot review articles. -- law review articles. 19 attorneys, including lawyers from the nonpartisan congressional research service, briefed me many times each week and assisted me in evaluating the judge's extensive record. i met with judge kavanaugh for more than two hours in my office. i listened carefully to the testimony at the committee hearing. i spoke with people who knew him personally, such as condoleezza rice and many others. and, i talked with the judge kavanaugh a second time by phone for another hour to ask him very specific additional questions. with thousands of my constituents, both advocates and many opponents, regarding judge kavanaugh. one concern that i frequently heard was that the

roberts. thank you. justice thomas. thank you. ginsburg. thank you. breyer. justice alito. justice sotomayor. thank you. justice kagan. thank you. justice gorsuch. would also like to send our eep appreciation to maureen, the wife of the late, great and also to our mcgahn.use counsel done thank you. we are thrilled to be joined justice justice anthony kennedy. justice kennedy, america owes you a profound debt of gratitude for a lifetime of novel service our nation, and i want to thank you very much. thank you. a very special and treasured tsh e have very special and treasured guests are justice kavanaugh's amazing wife ashley. thank you, ashley. and their two beautiful margaret and liza. (applause). >> and we are also joined by [applause]vanaugh's mom and dad, i would like to begin tonight's preceding differently than perhaps ever any event of such magnitude. on behalf of our nation, i want to apologize to britain and the entire cavanaugh family for the terrible pain in suffering you have been forced to endure. those who stepped forward to serve our country deserve a fair not agnified evaluation, campaign of political and persona

court nominations as a result i voted in favor of justices roberts and alito who were nominated by president bush justices seldom by or end kagan who were nominated by president obama and justice gore set who was nominated by president truman. so i began my valuation of judge cavanagh's nomination by reviewing his twelve year record on the d.c. circuit court of appeals including his more than three hundred of canyons and his many speeches and law review articles nineteen attorneys including lawyers from the nonpartisan congressional research service briefed me many times each week and his says to me in the value of waiting the judge's extensive record i met with judge have enough for more than two hours in my office i've listened carefully to the testimony at the committee hearing since i spoke with people who knew him personally such as condom lease of rights and many others and i talked with judge kavanagh a second time by phone for another hour or two as him very specific additional questions i also have met with thousands of my constituents both the advocates and many opponents regarding judge have a no. one concern that i

every sitting supreme court justice, chief justice roberts, justice thomas justice ginsburg justice breyer justice alito, justice sotomayor, justice kagan, justice gorsuch. (applause). i would also like to send our deep appreciation to maureen scalia the wife of the late justice scalia and to our white house counsel. thank you. we are thrilled to be join this evening by justice anthony kennedy. justice kennedy, america owes you a profound debt of gratitude for a lifetime of noble service to our nation and i want to thank you very much. thank you. (applause). very special and treasured guests are justice kavanaugh's amazing wife ashley. thank you, ashley. (applause). their two beautiful daughters margaret and liza. (applause). and we are also joined by justice kavanaugh's mom and dad. thank you. (applause). i would like to begin tonight's proceedings differently than any other event of such magnitude. i want to apologize to brett and the entire kavanaugh family for the pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. those who stepped forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and

scrutiny he never faced these kind of accusations john roberts never faced these kind of accusations and on the other side of the aisle neither did elana kagan or sonia sotomayor i mean the fact of the matter is we've had three different justices in the past ten years placed on the supreme court two democrats one republican none of them faced these allegations of you know settling that since you don't think. i don't i don't think the evidence they are to conclude that that brett kavanaugh is a serial sex predator i think there's more than enough evidence to suggest that it was a little bit of a wild child and the reason why these allegations are coming out and they didn't come out on so many you'll gorsuch is because there are none of these allegations against you all right chris or so i can just to kind of condense what brian just said there then then allegation is conviction ok but i don't understand that that's the that's the leap of faith i don't agree with don't understand think it is wrong ok just says he just because other people want to accuse doesn't mean cavanagh is guilty go ahead chris. or i mean first i mean i agree with with ro

he helped put chief justice john roberts on the bench when he was in the white house. he was hired by kagant harvard. justice thomas had similar problems during his confirmation hearing. he's going to embrace him. so the justices themselves may not be the problem, but we saw something really interesting yesterday, and that was retired justice stevens. that was unprecedented. justice stevens came out and he said because of his judicial temperament that he saw during that confirmation process, he thought he was unqualified for the bench. that doesn't happen very often, and that is very interesting. >> very important, indeed. everybody stand by. there's a lot more. we're working on how will the current supreme court justices receive brett kavanaugh's confirmation as all but assured. we want our panel to stand by. we will talk about that. lots of news right after this. a, the difference between excellence and mastery, is all the difference in the world. introducing the all-new lexus es. a product of mastery. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. all the tools you need for every step of the w

as a result, i voted in favor of justices roberts and alito who were nominated by president bush. justices sotomayor and kaganho were nominated by president obama. and justice gorsuch who was nominated by president trump. so i began my evaluation of judge kavanaugh's nomination by reviewing his 12-year record on the d.c. circuit court of appeals, including his more than 300 opinions and his many speeches and law review articles. 19 attorneys, including lawyers from the nonpartisan congressional research service briefed me many times each week and assists me in evaluating the judge's extensive record. i met with judge kavanaugh for more than two hours in my office. i listened carefully to the testimony at the committee hearing. i spoke with people who knew him personally such as condoleezza rice and many others. and i talked with judge kavanaugh a second time by phone for another hour to ask him very specific additional questions. i also have met with thousands of my constituents, both advocates and many opponents regarding judge kavanaugh. one concern that i frequently heard is that the judge would be likely

roberts, thank you. justice thomas, thank you. justice ginsberg, thank you. justice ali, thank you justice. justice alito. justice kagantice gorsuch. cutback. justice alito. justice kagan, thank you. andjustice gorsuch. cutback. i would also like to send our deep appreciation to maureen skelly, the wife of the late great anthony scully. and also to our white house counsel, don began. —— scalia. we are thrilled to be joined this evening byjustice andrew kennedy. justice kennedy, america owes you a profound debt of gratitude for a lifetime of noble service to our nation and i want to thank you very much. applause. very special and treasured tests tonight are justice kavanagh‘s treasured tests tonight are justice kava nagh's amazing wife, treasured tests tonight are justice kavanagh‘s amazing wife, ashley, thank you ashley. applause. and their two beautiful daughters, margaret and liza. applause. and we are alsojoined by margaret and liza. applause. and we are also joined byjustice kavanagh‘s mum and dad, martha and ed. thank you. commentator:. -- applause. i would like to begin tonight ‘s proceeding, differently perhaps,

roberts. thank you. justice thomas. thank you. justice ginsburg. thank you. justice breyer. thank you. justice alito. justice sotomayor. thank you. justice kagan. thank you., justice gorsuch. [applause] i would also like to send our deep appreciation to maureen, scalia, the wife of the late, great anthony scalia, and also to our white house counsel done mcgahn. thank you. [applause] we are thrilled to be joined this evening by justice anthony kennedy. justice kennedy, america owes you a profound debt of gratitude for a lifetime of novel service -- of noble service to our nation, and i want to thank you very much. thank you. [applause] very special and treasured guests tonight. we have very special and treasured guests are justice kavanaugh's amazing wife, ashley. thank you, ashley. [applause] and their two beautiful daughters, margaret and liza. [applause] and we're also joined by justice kavanaugh's mom and dad, martha and ed, thank you. [applause] pres. trump: i would like to begin tonight's preceding differently than perhaps ever -- perhaps any other event of such magnitude. on behalf of our nation, i want to apologize to brett and the entire kavanaugh

as a result, i voted in favor of justices roberts and alito, who were nominated by president bush. justices sotomayor and kagan, who were nominated by president obama. and justice gorsuch, who was nominated by president trump. so i began my evaluation of judge kavanaugh's nomination by reviewing his 12-year record on the d.c. circuit court of appeals, including his more than 300 opinions and his many speeches and law review articles. 19 attorneys, including lawyers from the nonpartisan congressional research service, briefed me many times each week and assisted me in evaluating the judge's extensive record. i met with judge kavanaugh for more than two hours in my office. i listened carefully to the testimony at the committee hearing. i spoke with people who knew him personally such as condoleezza rice and many others, and i have talked with judge kavanaugh a second time by phone for another hour, to ask him very specific additional questions. i also have met with thousands of my constituents, both advocates and many opponents regarding judge kavanaugh. one concern that i frequently heard was that the judge wou

tonight's ceremony is every sitting supreme court justice, chief ,ustice roberts, justice thomas breyer ginsburg, justice , justice alito kagan, andjustice justice gorsuch. [applause] >> i would also like to send our deeper appreciation to maureen scalia, the wife of the late, and alsotonin scalia to our white house counsel, don mcgann. thank you. [applause] >> we are thrilled to be joined this evening by justice anthony kennedy. justice kennedy, america owes profound debt of gratitude for a lifetime of noble service to our nation and i want to thank you very much. [applause] very special and treasured are justice kavanagh's amazing wife, ashley. thank you. [applause] and their beautiful daughters, margaret and liza. liza. [applause] we're also joined by justice marta ans mom and dad, d ed. thank you. i would like to begin tonight differently than any other event ofsuch magnitude on behalf our nation, i want to apologize to brett and the entire family for the pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. step forward to serve our country deserve a fair and , not aed evaluation campaign of political and personal destructi

roberts. justice thomas. justice ginsburg. justice breyer. justice alito. justice sotomayor war. justice kagan. and justice gorsuch. [applause] i would also like to send our deep appreciation to marine scalia, the wife of the late, great antonin scalia, and also to our white house counsel, don mcgann. [applause] we are thrilled to be joined this evening by justice anthony kennedy. justice kennedy, america owes you a profound debt of gratitude for a lifetime of noble service to our nation. and i want to thank you very much. [applause] very special and treasured guests tonight are justice kavanaugh's amazing wife, ashley. thank you, ashley. [applause] and their two beautiful daughters, margaret and liza. [applause] and we are also joined by justice kavanaugh's mom and dad to come up ed. thank you. [applause] i would like to begin for knights proceeding differently than perhaps any other event of magnitude. on behalf of the nation, i'd like to apologize to brad and the entire a kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you've been forced to endure. those who stepped forward to to serve our country deserve a

favor oflt, i voted in whoices roberts and alito were nominated by president bush. kaganes were nominated by president obama. who wasice gorsuch nominated by president trump. i began my evaluation of judge kavanaugh by reviewing his 12 year record on the d.c. circuit court of appeals. including his more than 300 opinions and his many speeches and law review articles. attorneys including lawyers from the nonpartisan congressional research service briefed me many times each week and assisted me in evaluating the judges extensive record. kavanaugh forge more than two hours in my office. thestened carefully to testimony of the committee hearing area i spoke with people who knew him personally such as condoleezza rice and many others. kavanaugh ah judge second time by phone for another hour to ask him very specific additional questions. thousandse met with of my constituents both advocates and opponents regarding judge kavanaugh. one concern that i frequently heard, was that the judge would be likely to eliminate the affordable care act vital protections for people with pre-exis

kagan with 63. now republican nominees by bush 43 and now president trump. from robertsith 78 to brett kavanaugh with 50.senate democrats have been much less likely to cross the aisle and vote for a republican nominee the republicans have been to vote for democratic nominees. >> let me also point out some of those were below 60. the filibuster was not used until neil gorsuch to change the number from 60-50. so the change senator mcconnell made to the rules on the supreme court, really caused us to be much more partisan in this. >>chris: but in fairness, you did it first in 2013. not for the supreme court but lower court judges. >> i agree. - - we go back and forth here. my point is this, we need to have a president that will consult with congress, the united states senate before he makes thosedominations and have an open process. not restrict himself . >>chris: how big and issue will this be in the midterms if democrats have already been mobilized. republicans are saying you gave them a political gift by your opposition and this will energize republicans. >> i think it w

he also exchanged a couple of jokes with justice elena kagan, with kavanaugh breaking out into a big smile. the chief justice john robertshappy career in our calling." meantime, a few blocks away at the white house president trump kept on insisting that some of the protesters against kavanaugh during the confirmation hearings were paid to be there and hadn't yet received any money. >> you know, a lot of those were paid protesters. you saw that. they were all unhappy because they haven't been paid yet. i've been calling it. they were paid protesters. that was professionals. that was orchestrated. when you look in the halls of congress and you see screaming like that and it's like chimes. one goes, the next goes. these are paid protesters. i don't know that their energy's great. i can tell you the energy on the republican side i don't think it's ever been greater. >> north dakota democratic senator heidi heitkamp voted against kavanaugh's confirmation knowing it could be political peril for her re-election bid. i spoke with her just before air time. >> senator highlight kamp, the president has called the protesters last we

he was sworn in last night by justice roberts and former justice kennedy, several of the other justices were on hand, including ruth bader ginsburg, and elena kagan. now brett kavanaugh is officially one of the nine justices of the supreme court. he will take his seat on the bench when the court resumes hearing cases tuesday. dan? >> we know trump may get the chance to nominate more folks to the supreme court given the age of some of the existing justices. we know also that kavanaugh will change the ideological makeup of the court, shifting it to the right. what is that going to mean for hot-button issues like abortion rights, gun rights, and environmental protection? >> well, there's no doubt it will shift the court to the right on all of those issues. the biggest question, though, dan, is on abortion. remember, candidate trump promised he would nominate pro-life justices. neither gorsuch or kavanaugh said how they would rule, obviously, on roe v. wade. there's no question that that is the big issue here. now susan collins who put him on the court with her yes vote has said she got assurances from kavanaugh that he will respect so called starry

roberts, thank you. justice thomas. thank you. justice ginsberg. thank you. justice breyer. thank you, justice. justice alito. justice sotomayor. thank you. justice kagan. thank you. and justice gorsuch. [applause] >> i would always like to send our deep appreciation to scalia, the wife of the late great antonin scalia and also to our white house counsel don mcgahn. thank you, don. [applause] >> we are thrilled to be joined this evening by justice anthony kennedy. justice kennedy, america owes you a profound debt of gratitude for a lifetime of noble service to our nation and i want to thank you very much. [applause] >> very special and treasured guests tonight are justice kavanaugh's amazing wife ashley. thank you, ashley. [cheers and applause] >> and their two beautiful daughters, margaret and liza. [cheers and applause] >> and we are also joined by justice kavanaugh's mom and dad, martha and ed. thank you. [applause] >> i would like to begin tonight's proceeding differently than perhaps any other event of such magnitude. on behalf of our nation, i want to apologize to brett and the entire kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have b

. >> justice roberts has a lot that he's going to have to deal with to restore trust in that institutio institution. >> and we say elana kagan talki about this. >> justice kavanaugh, justice kennedy, people found a center where people couldn't predict in that sort of way and that's enabled the court to look as though it was not owned by one side or another. and was, indeed, impartial. that sort of middle position, it's not so clear whether we'll have it. >> some people, jackie, saying maybe chief justice roberts would take that role as being the swing voter there, the independent voice. he particularly is concerned about the reputation of the court. >> he was the key vote on health care and enraged conservatives for being the key vote. this smash mouth, bare knuckle, no holds bar fighting we're seeing permeating the united states senate. out there you probably don't know, it's not the house. the house, they really hate each other. in the senate, they really do sort of -- there's been a tradition to lay down arms and get stuff done. >> cooler heads usually prevail. >> yes. so to see that kind of rage permeate that body for th

roberts, thank you. justice thomas, thank you. justice ginsberg, thank you. justice breyer, thank you. justice alito. justice sotomayor, thank you. justice kagan, thank you. and justice gorsuch. i would also like to send our deep appreciation to maureen scalia, the wife of the late great antonin scalia, and also to our white house counsel don mcgahn, thank you, don. we are thrilled to be joined this evening by justice anthony kennedy. justice kennedy, america owes you a profound debt of gratitude for a lifetime of noble service to our nation. and i want to thank you very much. very special and treasured guests tonight are justice kavanaugh's amazing wife ashley. thank you, ashley. and their two beautiful daughters, margaret and liza. and we are also joined by justice kavanaugh's mom and dad, martha and ed. thank you. i would like to begin tonight's proceeding differently than perhaps any other event of such magnitude. on behalf of our nation, i want to apologize to brett and the entire kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. those who step forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation. no

kagan knows that that spot has essentially disappeared. in terms of a median justice, it's now chief justice john roberts, just based on ideology, kate.l a pretty consistent conservative, but he probably would be the one conservative who had -- would be most likely, again, out of this current group to inch a little bit to the left. and when i say inch, i mean inch and i don't mean anything like the fluid flexible justice that anthony kennedy was. so, what i think was happening there is that elena kagan was voicing what all of the justices feel about the integrity of the court and wanting it to not look so polarized but you really do need someone or two to sort of find some common ground there, and so far, in his tenure, chief justice john roberts, who came on in 2005, hasn't really done that except for in the health care case of 2012, but going forward, kate, it would fall to him. >> wendy, she's not saying his name, but she sure doesn't seem to think that if you kind of read between -- read through her words that she thinks the judge kavanaugh potentially likely soon to be justice kavanaugh is the contender for that middle swing vote

roberts. thank you. justice thomas. thank you. justice ginsberg. thank you. justice pryor. thank you, justice. justice alito. justice sotomayor. thank you. justice kagan. thank you. and justice gorsuch. i would also like to send out deep appreciation to maureen scalia, the wife of the late great antonin scalia, and also to our white house counsel don mcgahn. thank you, don. thank you. we are thrilled to be joined this evening by justice anthony kennedy. justice kennedy, america owes you a profound debt of gratitude for a lifetime of noble service to our nation, and i want to thank you very much. thank you. very special and treasured guests tonight are justice kavanaugh's amazing wife ashley. thank you, ashley. and their two beautiful daughters, margaret and liza. thank you. and we are also joined by justice kavanaugh's mom and dad, martha and ed. thank you. i would like to begin tonight's proceeding differently than perhaps any other event of such magnitude. on behalf of our nation, i want to apologize to brett and the entire kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. those who step forward to serve our country