justice alito explained the situation this way.vy, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from president-elect trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position. i agreed to discuss this matter with president-elect trump and he called me yesterday afternoon. so yesterday afternoon, samuel alito is on the phone with donald trump, recommending that he hire one of his former law clerks from the trump administration. that is a call that could have waited. samuel alito knew that donald trump was appealing his sentencing schedule and would very likely be appealing directly to the supreme court, any minute now, but the supreme court justice got on the phone with donald trump and asked donald trump for the favor of five hiring his former law clerk. there's absolutely no doubt that donald trump was going to hire samuel alito's former law clerk, with or without the call. the call accomplished nothing in that direction. it was purely donald trump's attempt to make samuel alito subservient and indebted to him b

alito asked him to do that.call but if he was going to do it, he could have done it next week. easily. there is no hiring deadline for any job in the trump administration. it is impossible for donald trump to hire anyone before january 20th. justice alito's statement said we did not discuss the emergency application he filed today and indeed, i was not even e at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed. we also did not discuss any other pending matter. he knows donald trump will take any legal steps possible to try to block jack smith's report. and samuel alito knows it is possible those attempts could end up in the supreme court. alito has never had a telephone conversation with a more active litigant before the supreme court than donald trump or a more predictable litigant before the supreme court than donald trump. i knew yesterday donald trump was going to appeal his sentencing to the united states supreme court. we discussed it on this program last night. there is no reason to be

alito did not recuse himself.perhaps like calling alito or alito was calling trump, and then they spoke about the case like, no, no, that's not the source of the corruption. we're talking about another source of corruption, which is like, i have a law clerk and i and i want to assure you that he's very loyal to you. he is worthy of a job in your administration. he is going to be a good guy and he will serve you well. that's the like that. he's coming out and saying that, not the other one. >> well, and also, alito hadn't employed this guy in 14 years. yes. so there were a number of other employers that he could have talked to, but he had to talk to his guy, alito. look, alito and thomas are basically trump's guys at this point. and i think this i mean, at least we know about this. at least we're getting the reporting to know that this stuff happens. >> what do you make of that? >> i'm deeply concerned about that. we have no longer the checks and balances of our constitution that were drafted to have that, where yo

alito reads the news. he doesn't live in a hole.ell aware when he got this phone call that it would look really bad at a minimum and raise a lot of questions about what he discussed and he still decided to have the conversation. and to do so, about someone who is going to be apparently a low level appointee in this administration. we are not talking about an appeals court judge or potential attorney general. we are talking someone who might be general council at a federal agency. the idea that trump needed alito to vouch for him and needed him to do so at this moment because it was so urgent, i mean, it really does not pass the sniff test and something was going on here. >> basically, alito has said middle finger to the optics of me being partisan whether it is my wife raising an insurrectionist flag or taking a call with important business before the court. do you think this signals the court will take this up and take up? >> it is likely we will hear from the court before friday. but it doesn't necessarily mean we will have the ou

alito knows that donald trump, for aexample, has alrea appealed multiple.th regard to his ongoing litigation. he had just done it days before this atphone call. donald trump has also filed a brief in the tiktok case that the supreme court is hearing tomorrow. sam alito, when donald trump called him, should have not taken that call. that is easy. because it's not just whether or not they discussed these matters, it's even the appearance of impropriety is damaging not only to the rule of law and the administration of justice, but rait's damaging to the court as an institution. justice alito's dismissal of the criticism is exactly the kind of problem why we have seen trust in the supreme court plummet in recent years. the problem isn't coming from outside criticism as the chief crjustice in his year-end repor. the problem is coming from inside the courthouse. >> we should remind folks, what is wis it that may go before t court, and that is that they want to delay, donald trump and his team, they want a delay in the sentencing on friday for the convictions in t

sam alito, donald trump.our thoughts. >> i think there is a zero percent chance that sam alito is telling the truth when he says he did not know that this emergency application would be filed. trump and his legal team have made it very clear that they would go to the united states supreme court to block this sentencing if necessary. alito reads the news. he doesn't live in a hole. and so i think that he was well aware when he got this phone call that it would look at a minimum really bad that it would raise a lot of questions about what exactly he discussed with the president-elect. yet he still decided to have the conversation. and to do so about someone who is going to be apparently a low level appointee in this administration. we're not talking about an appeals court judge or a potential attorney general. we're talking about someone who might be general counsel at a federal agency. the idea that trump needed alito to vouch for him and needed him to do so at this moment because it was so urgent. it really d

trump called alito. it's ostensibly about a former clerk of alitos trying to get a job, who is the subject of a tug-of-war because he worked for barr, whether he's a true loyalist. alito could have said, sure, i'll talk to you on saturday. >> this guy worked for alito 14 years ago. it wasn't like his last job was for alito. what do we know about trump phone calls? we know from james comey when trump was trying to make the flynn case go away, he would apply maximum pressure. we know with president zelenskyy, can you do me a favor? trump knows how to make a phone call and do it under the auspices of something legit and make his case in another manner. >> how are you preparing yourself -- are you thinking differently, you were there for the first administration. you had several years in the majority where you passed a lot of legislation. a lot of it is very good legislation. i'm not sure how much it helped all of y'all politically. how are you thinking about this congress? >> be purposeful. don't chase ever

trump calls alito. it's about a former clerk of alito trying to get a job who according to the "new york times" is a subject of a tug-of- war in trump circles because he worked for bill barr, whether he is a true loyalist. alito could have said i will talk to you on saturday. >> this guy worked for alito 14 years ago and it wasn't like his last job was for alito. from james comey, when trump was trying to make the michael flynn case go away he applies maximum pressure. we know it president zelenskyy, can you do me a favor. trump knows how to make a phone call into it under the auspices of something legit and make his case in another matter. >> how are you preparing yourself? are you thinking differently? you were there for the first administration. you had several years in the majority and past a lot of legislation. a lot was good legislation. i'm not sure how much it helped you politically. how are you thinking about this congress? >> be purposeful. don't chase every ball that he throws. i was a junior

of alito. he was trying to give a positive recommendation to the former president and incoming presidents with to give him a job in this new incoming administration. and that is something that justices do from time to time on behalf of their clerks. however, it is quite rare for that conversation to go all the way to a president, and the timing of it has certainly raised eyebrows because, as you said, the day after donald trump asked the supreme court to intervene on his behalf to block a new york court from punishing him in response to his hush money case. now, alito says that he had no understanding that that was coming. telling cnn in a statement, quote, we did not discuss the emergency application he filed today. and indeed, i was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed. already we have seen some house republicans coming out in support of alito and trump. take a listen to what house republican tony gonzales told us yesterday. >> i do think it's

now, justice alito saying he had no idea that that petition was coming. let me read to you what he told cnn in a statement, quote, we did not discuss the emergency application he filed today. and indeed, i was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed. now, this comes at a time when there are already questions and concerns about the politicalization of the supreme court of late, especially some of the conservatives on the court. samuel alito, for example, was the subject of controversy in recent years for some of the flags that flowed out, flown outside of some of his properties in virginia and new jersey, including an upside down american flag that neighbors spotted outside of his virginia home around january 2021. kate. >> much more. i'm sure we will hear much more about this going forward. and also, donald trump is talking quite a bit about what the major breaking story, which is the wildfires out in southern california. but he's casting blame on california's governor for the wildfires that they're still bat

justice alito has been embroiled in many controversies. this wasn't great. and we know the chief justice though he wrote the immunity decision for donald trump. he went into a whole thing on how the american public has to have faith in the court. so i really do think there might have been a situation here where the justices felt that the optics were really are poor here. and maybe they just felt this was a dumb petition and it was. but i think the optics were terrible. and it reminds me of the census case. when the republicans were trying to put that citizenship question on the census. looked like the entire republican lineup was on board to side with the trump administration. the republican strategist documents detailing how it would change the maps across the country. the chief justice switched his vote it seemed and sided with those who had been opposeing the addition of the census question so it could be a situation like that. >> before we go, tim, your t thoughts on the 11th circuit. judge aileen cannon. i know you guys talked on your podcast. part of t

and we are getting a statement from justice alito himself saying that it was at the recommendation of a former law clerk of his who wanted him to call the president elect on his behalf and recommend him for a job in the trump administration, in his government. now, it is not unusual for supreme court justices to call and make recommendations on behalf of their former clerks. that's why half of them go and clerk in the first place, so it can help them. of course, with job placement. but what makes all of this so unusual, wolf, is, of course, that call came one day before trump's legal team filed that emergency appeal to the u.s. supreme court to try to delay his sentencing that is scheduled in the new york manhattan hush money case this friday. so far, his appeals there have been unsuccessful, wolf, and i should note that in a statement from alito, he said that they did not discuss that emergency application that trump's attorneys filed today. and he said, i was not even aware at the time that such an application would be filed. i should note, wolf, we did have an idea generally that t

and samuel alito wanted to assure trump, hey, no, he's got your back.s a person you can trust. >> sketchy. >> it's troubling, to say the least. >> yeah. erick sermon, what's on your fallback list? >> siri. yeah. >> snooping. yeah. snooping. siri. snooping. yes. >> and it's scary because you see a couple of things that you saw on some people's, you know, on, on social media, how siri, you know, kind of taped them, not just, you know, with the vocals but also with the camera. >> so but the fact to know that it's a possibility that it's more being taken in by siri from the phone or from whatever that's siri's talking to you with the fact that there's all the information that's coming out could be detrimental. >> yeah, i have a serious response. and then i have my hip hop dad joke side, right? i could see siri wanting to snoop on you. you have a beautiful, mellifluous voice. i could see that happening. right? erick sermon saying, you know, hey, siri, put in this amazon order. and they're like, hey, check it, check it. one, two. like, let me hear it again. b

trump this week, discussing a former alito clerk who is now up for a position in the incoming trump administration. according to nbc news, alito and trump did not discuss trump's request, which had not yet been filed. but the supreme court was not the only conservative bench to deny trump a win tonight. moments after the high extort decision tecame down, the 11th circuit court of appeals handed trump another rebuke, rejecting trump's efforts to block the release of special council jack smith's report on trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. trump's legal team was attempting to stop the justice department from releasing that report, and it looked initially like they might succeed after a favorable ruling from trump's favorite district judge, aileen cannon. but tonight, again, the conservative 11th circuit ruled that that report can be released and may be released as soon as this sunday. we now have two significant judicial rebukes of president-elect donald trump from two conservative federal courts. and while these legal victories do not change the fact that donald trump wil

for justice alito, maybe the petition hadn't yet been filed.t this petition was coming to at this point, the optics of it just look incredibly poor, particularly for a justice who has been embroiled in a fair amount of controversy regarding two agents who have been before the court and donald trump is at least someone who now has business before the court and will likely as president have business before the court. >> this in many ways is a honey badger conservative majority. they don't seem to care how things look so i would just love you to walk us through the kind of court. >> [ inaudible ]. >> amen. i think that's a good way to put it. walk is how they are going to save us because it's very clear that john roberts and friends are going to figure out a way to make trump happy. making from happy apparently is their most important job as far as they are concerned. are they just going to stall and say we're going to need to do full arguments and that's going to take a month, and then it will push it past the point which he is nominated? what ar

justice thomas, justice alito, justice gorsuch and kavanaugh would grant the application.tice alito did not recuse himself as we knew he would not despite having a phone conversation with donald trump tuesday. joining our discussion now is andrew weismann. an msnbc legal analyst, andrew, 5-4, what do you make of the supreme court's decision? >> the first is to step back and realize that ten days from now, the new president of the united states will come into office, somebody who is convicted of 34 felony counts. after a trial by his peers with all the due process of any defendant, in terms of the history of this country. in terms of how we are seeing internationally, in terms of how we think of ourselves as a country, this is a monumental moment in our history. and that is something you will witness tomorrow. obviously the main event was the jury verdict. but this brings us this to conclusion in terms of the trial phase. in terms of the 5-4 decision. the most interesting part here is the chief justice. chief justice roberts essentially flip-flopping from his presidential i

justice thomas, justice alito, justice gorsuch and justice kavanaugh would grant the application.lito is not recuse himself despite having had a phone conversation with donald trump on tuesday before donald trump filed an appeal in which samuel alito was trying to get a job with donald trump for his former clerk. joining our discussion, andrew weissmann, former chief of the criminal division of the eastern division of new york. andrew, 5-4. what do you make of the supreme court's ruling? >> i think the first is to step back and realize that ten days from now the new president of the united states will come into office somebody who is convicted of 34 felony counts. after a trial by his peers, with all of the due process of any defendant. in terms of the history of this country, in terms of how we are seen internationally, in terms of how we think of ourselves as a country, this is a monumental moment in our history. and that is something you will witness tomorrow. obviously, the main event was the jury verdict. this brings this to a conclusion in terms of the trial phase. in terms

it comes as justice samuel alito spoke with him tuesday.recommend a former law clerk for a job in the upcoming administration. he claims they did not discuss any other matters. >>> israeli soldiers recovered the body of a hostage abducted by hamas on october 7th. military says it found 53-year-old yosef al zayadni in an underground tunnel in southern gaza. it also says it's trying to determine if another set of remains are the man's 23-year-old son. both were thought to still be alive before yesterday's announcemnts. >>> and coming up on "cbs mornings," tony dokoupil is live in pacific palisades, california, with the latest on the deadly wildfires. >>> i'm michael george. this is "cbs news mornings." ldf. >>> i'm michael george. this is "cbs news mornings." for people who feel limited by the unpredictability of generalized myasthenia gravis, season to season, ultomiris is continuous symptom control, with improvement in activities of daily living and reduced muscle weakness. and ultomiris is the only long-acting gmg treatment with the freedo

justice alito was trying to get a job for one of his former law clerks in this white house. but that doesn't make it any less discouraging, any more of a strike against the ethical outlook of this supreme court. >> peter baker, let's talk about that for just a moment, because the justice system, the jury system was really at stake here with the sentencing, according to judge mershon, according to the prosecutor, that's why they wanted to proceed. what about the court's reputation? you know, one of the arguments here was that donald trump has damaged the judicial, the reputation of the judiciary. but the court system, by talking about witch hunts so much. and what about the reputation of the supreme court as this continuest few years. is that, rightly or wrongly, courts and judges and even specifically the supreme court, look increasingly like just another political body. we talk about who appointed the judge, which president appointed the judge as if that was a d or an r next to their name. that wasn't always the case. you know, the supreme court until not that long ago, had

alito, you know. and also with him talking about winning the cases in florida?e did not win anything. he was a corrupt trump judge who happens to be married to a friend of trump's who has connections to the mob. who dismissed those cases. those cases which happened to be him stealing top-secret nuclear documents. for lord knows what purpose. that's all. i'm just so tired of his lies and the public buying it. thank you. host: elizabeth, your reaction? guest: i think what we are hearing is frustration a lot of people are hearing on all sides of the ideological spectrum. there is this loss of confidence in the judiciary and coming out, we see it at the supreme court with a lot of the ethics scandals that have happened. the caller mentioned justice thomas and justice alito and that has really dampened public confidence in the courts. particularly the supreme court. i think there is greater confidence in the trial judges. particularly because they often work with a jury of everyday americans who are the ones who sit in judgment when people are brought before the cour

samuel alito confirmed he spoke to mr. trump the day before the emergency filing. alito says the president-elect wanted to discuss qualifications to serve in a government position and insisted that they did not talk about any pending cases. meanwhile, in a new filing, prosecutors say attorney general merrick garland intends to publicly release the report on mr. trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, but the classified documents case will stay under wraps for now, because there is still an active case against two co-defendants. president-elect trump returned to capitol hill wednesday where he met with senate republicans before confirmation hearings begin next week for his cabinet nominees. mr. trump also visited the capitol rotunda where he and melania trump paid respects to jimmy carter. president biden is set to deliver the eulogy for president carter this morning. every living president is expected to attend today's service. the funeral will take place at the washington national cathedral at 10:00 a.m. then president carter will return to h

this individual who they had this phone call about clerked for justice alito 14 years ago so there'sthat people would have within the last decade, him being a partner at a law firm, working the doj that would've been much more recent that donald trump's could have called upon to vet him. the appearance of impropriety here is significant but because we don't have any enforceable judicial code of ethics for the supreme court, it further erodes the integrity and the reputation that the supreme court has when it comes to donald trump's in particular. >> what's interesting about the supreme court is that they take -- we have president joe biden speaking right now about the fires. let's listen in. >> spare no expense to do what they need to do and contain these fires in their communities that have been really devastating and we are doing literally everything we can at a federal level. that's also why i call this group of folks around this table of all relevant federal departments and agencies together to discuss what more we can do and some of the folks around the screen as well. before we

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focus on single speech of tiktok, inc. >> justice tma justice alito? >> what i congress, if there were nothing in this act about content moderation or covert manipulation, what i was just about preventing what congress viewed as an enormously powerful, popular application from gathering an arsenal of information abo american citizend they said this is the worst offender and we're going to require divestiture by this offender? with to be a first amendment problems there, and if you think level of scrutiny be?with the >> yes, there would be first amendment problem you had a law like this that was only s on speakers from those who use you to generate content other than product traveler business. >> con concludes that this this is the worst offender and. it happens to an entity that is involved with speech. >> if all, i want to make dersnd the hypothetical. the only provision you have is that says this country has to shun because of data se. i would have a different set of arguments. it was stilllicate the first amendment, particu where you strong evidence

the reality here is that samuel alito, he there is no enforcement mechanism in this supreme court.even if they do something wrong or look like they do something wrong, there is no accountability here. that's the real problem. he shouldn't have done it. and we certainly should not take donald trump's words or samuel alito's words that they didn't talk about anything before the court. right. it's just i don't it doesn't it doesn't pass the smell test. >> is there even a separation between the judicial branch and the executive branch anymore? >> right. i mean, i think i agree this was improper. i mean, trump is a litigant before this court. he knew that. and instead he's on the phone basically asking the president for a favor. right, right, right. which is to hire his former clerk. >> and this is not for a cabinet position. this is this is a sub-cabinet position for somebody who has already served in trump's administration at the justice department. this guy's name is will levy. everybody knows in this town knows who levy is. it just it doesn't look right. it i smell, i smell a rat. >

justices thomas, alito, gorsuch and kavanaugh to proceed. the chief justice roberts, coney barrett, kagan, sotomayor and jackson. so one of donald trump's appointees, coney barrett, said, no, it should proceed along, of course, with the chief justice. >> so going forward, as we contemplate appeals, what they're focused on is the supreme court's recent immunity decision, where they said presidents cannot be charged for official acts. but you also can't use official acts as evidence. and that's what the trump team is focused on here. they argue that some of the evidence that came in during this trial, which was before this decision, constituted official acts. so conversations he had with hope hicks, other aspects, and they argue that based on that, this entire case should be tossed. and last night's decision, it was considered a long shot that he would prevail there. he got four justices. he only needs one more justice to agree with him on the interpretation of their immunity case. to have this entire conviction overturned. and that, to me, se

now, justice alito says this call was about a job recommendation from a former clerk of his who wantsto work in the trump administration, asked him to recommend him on his behalf. but alito said in his statement tonight, and i'm quoting him now, we did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, i was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed. cnn's former, former or current cnn legal analyst, former federal prosecutor elliot williams, is my legal source. tonight. elliot, it's obviously not pretty. pretty. it's not weird for a supreme court justice to recommend a former law clerk. that's what people go and clerk for them. but to have him be on the phone with trump a day before trump's attorneys are going to file this, which maybe he doesn't follow the trump cases closely. but it was very clear that trump's team was likely going to go to the supreme court. did they not get what they wanted? >> look, more than anything else, caitlin, the appearance of impropriety with the supreme court justice is really what matters here

now, justice alito says this call was about a job recommendation from a former clerk of his who wants to work in the trump administration, asked him to recommend him on his behalf. but alito said in his statement tonight, and i'm quoting him now, we did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, i was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed. cnn's former, former and current cnn legal analyst, former federal prosecutor elliot williams, is my legal source. tonight. elliot, it's obviously not pretty. pretty. it's not weird for a supreme court justice to recommend a former law clerk. that's what people go and clerk for them. but to have him be on the phone with trump a day before trump's attorneys are going to file this, which maybe he doesn't follow the trump cases closely. but it was very clear that trump's team was likely going to go to the supreme court. did they not get what they wanted? yeah. >> look, more than anything else, caitlin, the appearance of impropriety with the supreme court justice is really what matt

there was also an unusual phone call that donald trump had with samuel alito this week ostensibly to referral for a man that is being considered for a job in the trump administration. many government ethics experts say that to have a sitting supreme court justice on the phone with the president-elect on the very same week he is appealing to them to delay sentencing certainly raises eyebrows. again samuel alito said they did not talk about this whatsoever come it had not been filed at that point when they had this conversation. donald trump did not want this day to cokme because until it happen he was not considered a convicted felon and now he is and that is not a label and incoming president wants a fixed to him for entering the white house. the last thing the judge said to donald trump today was -- sir, i wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office and with that donald trump's video link disconnected from the courtroom and that was the end of the day today. amna: godspeed indeed. william brangham reporting from new york city. thank you. reporter: thank you. ♪ geoff:

alito said it had not been filed when he had this conversation. did not want today to come because until it actually happened, not legally considered a "convicted felon" and now he is. and that's certainly not any label that an incoming president wants affixed to him right before he enters the white house. the last thing that the judge said to donald trump today was sir, i wish you god speed as you assume your second term in office. and with that donald trump's video link disconnect from the courtroom and that was the end of the day today. amna: thank you. william: thanks, amna. ♪ geoff: in a matter of days one of the most popular storm media apps could be forced to pull the plug, that's if the supreme court doesn't assign a legal reprieve. it's looming deadline to cut its tie with china. >> geoff, while the justices heard arguments over the tiktok ban inside the court, outside some influencers gathered on the steps to live stream their support for the platform. there are more than 170 million tiktok users in the united states. that's about half o

alito admitted they talked. he said they did not discuss the emergency application he filed.ot even aware of the time at application such an application had been filed and i'm sure this conversation between donald trump in the spring court that might decide his fate on this was entirely aboveboard. there was nothing at all corrupt or weird about it and we can just take both of these men's words for it. that about does it. harry litman, thanks very much. >> less than that, abe fordyce kicked off the court, i'll just mention. >> thank you, harry. >> thank you. >> still ahead, donald trump said he would lower prices for americans. why is he talking about invading our allies instead? real danger behind trump's imperial posturing, next. peria rinvoq is a once-daily pill... that reduces the itch... and helps clear the rash of eczema— ...fast. some taking rinvoq felt significant itch relief as early as 2 days. and some achieved dramatic skin clearance... as early as 2 weeks. many saw clear or almost-clear skin. rinvoq can lower ability to fight infections. before treatment, test for

four conservative justices thomas, alito, gain of function research and kavanaugh say they would have granted a stay. the court said quote the burden impose on the president-elect's impose a sentence of unconditional discharge after a brief after a brief virtual hearing. >> they called for an appeal. they acknowledged what the judge said we are going to appeal because frankly it's a grace. a judge that shouldn't have been on the case. is he a highly conflicted judge. and they called for an appeal, so i read it and i thought it was a fair decision, actually. >> the president-elect will not be here in person. he will be convicted last may 34 counts of filing false business instruments for paying off stormy daniels so voters would not find out about their alleged tryst during the 2016 presidential election. the lawyers argue the presidential immunity decision also covers him before he takes office. but, manhattan district attorney alvin bragg countered that presidential immunity, he said, does not apply because trump was not president when he broke the law. our function right now primari

justice alito. reasons, one is many of declarations from my clients explain they've tried on other platforms to generate the of engagement and audiences they have on tiktok ask they -- >> yeah, know. i woerike someone's attachment to an old article of clothing. i re like this o srt but i could go out a b something exactly like that,ut no, i like t old shirt. is that we have with here but is there some reason to think that only bytedance has this magical algorithm that all othe companies at meta and other come up with this magicaluldn't thing. >> i think empeerically, the other comphave been trying for several years to catch up have been unsuccessful.te it but agine the noose of an office collection of editors, you could n a situation where that collection of genius that is on a particular floor cannot be replicated by another group of le a that's what you have here. >> ok, i understand that. >> any thing furth >> i'm intrigued by your underwood ce. maybe you're right. you're trying to get to an empl

meanwhile, justice samuel alito, confirming reports that he spoke to trump by phone on tuesday, the daybefore trump asked the court to intervene. but alito says he only discussed a former law clerk of his who is seeking a job with the incoming trump administration. today, the senate holds a procedural vote on the first bill in the new congress, the laken riley act. the gop led immigration bill would require detention for undocumented migrants charged with theft or burglary. it has gained traction among some senate democrats, but it's unclear if it's enough for final passage. the bill is named after a georgia student killed by an undocumented migrant last year. in just hours, a funeral service will be held at the washington national cathedral for america's 39th president, jimmy carter. there he is live, lying in state at the united states capitol. he will then be transported to plains georgia for a private service. five current and former presidents bill clinton, george w bush, barack obama, donald trump and joe biden will attend. special coverage of the state funeral of jimmy carter beg

he does what he's told samuel alito he and his wife are flying pro-trump flags, and he's on the phone with trump trying to get his ex aide a sweet deal, a gig at the justice department, making sure. oh, no, sir, he's he's loyal. you should hire him. that's the kind of sort of corruption he's used to. the only shock here is that john roberts decided to have a little dignity. and maybe he was just cornered by judge merchan, who was like, yeah, i'm not going to sanction him to any jail time. john roberts, you got anything for that? >> but that's the problem, though, right? because there was that notation in the decision from scotus. joy, that because donald trump wasn't looking at a sentence. >> i've told people donald trump didn't get a sentence right. >> he may be a convicted felon, but there was no teeth to what happened. >> and so that's the reason why you saw amy coney barrett and john roberts decide to join with the liberal side of the scotus bench. there was no consequence. it kind of makes you wonder if there had been the very real threat that he, as in donald trump, would have b

but how broadly how expansive, how when you begin fall into the trap that alito sets in in dobbs when he says and the judges are just what they think is good for the society instead of law. you don't want to do that either. and that's that's difficult cases. and when have a difficult that's the job that's the job in instances how well this book one thing among many that discusses that and why is that personally it becomes important if you want to ask me what is the most serious risk in the job of a supreme court justice, particularly the president told me he this. he said, you'll discover something. you will discover that the applause dies away very fast, very fast, much faster than you think. and you're left the job. so you better like. and what it does would it gives the privilege. having it is you have to devote your best to each that comes up and you get older. that's a more privilege it is a privilege and that's what it is i learned that i a reception where there were some young lawyers and one comes up with this friend and he says, oh justice breyer i think your opinions are so

alito admitted they talked. he said they did not discuss the emergency application he filed. not even aware of the time at application such an application had been filed and i'm sure this conversation between donald trump in the spring court that might decide his fate on this was entirely aboveboard. there was nothing at all corrupt or weird about it and we can just take both of these men's words for it. that about does it. harry litman, thanks very much. >> less than that, abe fordyce kicked off the court, i'll just mention. >> thank you, harry. >> thank you. >>> still ahead, donald trump said he would lower prices for americans. why is he talking about invading our allies instead? real danger behind trump's imperial posturing, next. sales stacking champion of checkouts. businesses that want to win, win with shopify. for imprint for certain. is your shower trying to tell you something is getting in and out of the bathtub becoming a safety concern? are you worried about the cost of a bathroom remodel that could go on for weeks and weeks? well, now you can have a gorgeous new

you had thomas and alito and kagan and sotomayor on the same page here., you know, ketanji brown jackson agreeing with amy coney barrett, who's agreeing with elena kagan, you don't see that very often. and that does not bode well for tiktok now, just because tiktok goes away on january 19th, as the law requires, i don't think that means it's going away forever. i think that there was enough kind of interest on the supreme court for, for, for different strategies. you know, if chinese owned bytedance divests from tiktok, tiktok can come back as an american owned company. and if it does well, then, well, at that point, tiktok gets all of those free speech rights that me and a lot of other people want to defend, right? so it's kind of like all all they got to do is not do what i told them not to do and they can come back. it's a very mr. blond from reservoir dogs situation for tiktok right now. >> donald trump will be sworn in in the day after tiktok could be banned. he has voiced his objection to the ban. do you think tiktok was also making its arguments to

if i go to justice alito's point. it's about data control and assume for the sake of argument i believe thens different, dn't they. they would be other arguments. no, ii wouldn't, we will runout of time. we will needo figure out what inrmiate scrutiny m none of our cases suggested we have to use the least restricted means. means.s.e have to use reasonable >> i completely agree it's not leastel restrictive means we hae hereonsider alternatives. it's the concern. >> i know youant to keep going on. i can't monopolize the argument. let me get to the bottom of that suggesting congress has to look all of the alternatives. we don't have a cas that says that. from thed it's clear alternatives won't be adequateit for whatever set of reasons.et isn't that enough. >> if thehe recorde clear. we go to if they said what you suggestion guested on the most lesss restrictive alternative. a law prohibitingtok from sharing any data withytedance or anything else. there is nothing they would consider it. >> we have a different problem sho

at one point justice alito asked why tiktok users couldn't simply move on to a different platform. just wondering whether this is like. >> some of these attachment to and old article of clothing i really love this old shirt, but i could go out and buy. something exactly like that. the justices repeatedly pointed to the federal law in question. >> it states tiktok chinese parent company bytedance poses a national security threat. we supposed to ignore the fact that the ultimate parent is in fact, subject. >> to doing intelligence work for the chinese government did talk asked the court to delay the ban until president elect donald trump takes office on january. 20th trump campaign to save the app. the biden administration urged the justices to uphold the law forcing tiktok to sell to an american company or go dark january 19th in washington, raquel martin. >> still ahead, the area's joining in to help angelenos who lost everything and fires down there. >> and more people in the bay area being left without a job to department stores closing their doors next. >> several department sto

justice alito today asking why users can't just take to a different app. >> i'm just wondering whetherlike some of these attachment to an old article of clothing, i really love this old shirt because i've been wearing this old shirt but i could go out and buy something exactly like that. but, no, i like the old shirt. is that what we have here. >> reporter: the supreme court could issue a preliminary block on the deadline looming nine days from now ahead of the final ruling on the arguments today. word from the court could come at any time. lester. >> savannah sellers, thank you. >>> up next, an inside look at the trump administration's plans to crack down on undocumented migrants, what his border czar is planning. if it's covid, paxlovid. paxlovid is an oral treatment for adults... with mild-to- moderate covid-19 and a high-risk factor for it becoming severe. it does not prevent covid-19. my symptoms are mild now, but i'm not risking it. if it's covid, paxlovid. paxlovid must be taken within the first 5 days of symptoms... and helps stop the virus from multiplying in your body. taking

if i get past and go to justice alito's point which don't think is just about speech. it's about dataol. if it's about data control and assume for the sake of argument that i believe intermediate scrutiny applies to the data control provision, th yr arguments would be different. they would be under inclusiveness, other arguments. >> i think tuld be very similar because the nature of our guments work just as well under intermediate and strict scrutiny. >> we are going to run out of time. i don't thin any of our cases have ever ted that we have to use the least restrictive means under intermediate scrutiny of -- they have said we have to of reasonable means. >> i completely agree it's not a least reive means alternative, but you have to at consider alternatives. if the concern, let's take the data security concern. >> i know you want to keep going on because i can't you because i can't mono the let me geto the bottom of it. you seemsuggest that congress has to actually look at all the alternatives and say -- i'm not sure we have a case that says that. if from the record

and i think it's because justice alito, who was generous with me and i was able to interview him in his chambers. he thinks that mcconnell's had the guiding hand in shaping the federal judiciary from the district court to the appellate court to the supreme court. and he gave him credit by calling it the mcconnell court. he sees a lasting legacy there for mitch mcconnell. there's no question. i mean, he he knows that he and senator mcconnell sort of view the world the same way from a legal perspective on most issues. and so this was something, of course, that he embraced because it's the outcome he preferred. we're talking about the legacy and career of senator mitch mcconnell, who has said that he will step down as the majority leader at the end of 2024. and joining us for that conversation is michael tackett, who has written a new biography of the of the senate leader the price of power how mitch mcconnell mastered the senate, changed america and lost his party. what kind of access did you have to the senator? well, much more than i would have thought. i didn't really know senator mcco