if instead president bush had appointed edith jones and mike udig, the marriage laws would be on theooks. the republican presidential debate -- repugnant presidential primary debate. we want to hear -- the republican presidential primary debate. we want to hear your thoughts. jim calling in from california. thanks for getting up with us this morning. caller: thank you. i appreciate c-span for this forum. i wanted to say, i have given up on the supreme court when they came out with citizens divided -- citizens united. the original writers of the constitution meant to include everyone, not just the wealthy. i think they did irreparable harm when they passed that decision. that is really all i have to say. i think the democrats and bernie sanders it hillary clinton have the right idea and president obama has done a great job getting us out of wars that have done nothing but make people from abroad hate us and that does not do us much good. the decision by the supreme united to buyzens a vote is not what i think the original founders of the constitution meant. host: we showed a poll from

if instead the president bush has apoint edith jones and mike lewdic, obama care would have been struck down three years ago and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. these matter and i fought to defend the constitution my whole life. host: do you have anything to add to that? guest: it's really interesting. not always when a president apoints a supreme court justice, they're surprised at some of the rulings they've made. you can't say that the chief justice has been a liberal leaning justice in any way but sometimes there have been justices that have come out in a way that's different than anticipated, for example, retired justice suitor, the republican appointee. he aligned so close is with the liberal block of the court that he waited until after president obama was elected to retire to ensure that a democrat would replace him. so sometimes supreme court justices are surprises with the exception of the affordable care act rulings, chief justice roberts has been a pretty reliably conservative voice. maybe not conservative enough for ted cruz. host: first call for y

if, instead, president bush had appointed edith jones and mike ludig, obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. these matter, and i've fought to defend the constitution my whole life -- >> governor bush, i want -- >> host: anything to add to that? >> guest: you know, it's really interesting. it's not always when a president appoints a supreme court justice there's sometimes -- they're sometimes surprised at some of the rulings that they've made. look, i think by any measure you can't say that the chief justice has been a liberal-leaning justice in any way. but sometimes there have been justices that have come out in a way that's different than anticipated, for example, retired justice souter, the republican appointee. he aligned so closely with the liberal block of the court that he waited until after president obama was elected to retire to insure that a democrat would replace him. sometimes supreme court justices are surprises. i think with the exception of the affordable care act rulings, chief justice robert

let me focus on two moments in time. 1990, david souter and edith jones. george herbert walker bush appointed david souter. and then in 2005, john roberts utig.ike loo george w. bush appointed john roberts and these are the consequences of that. if the other judges had been appointed, obamacare would have been struck down and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. carrie severino, your thoughts on justice roberts? is he a conservative? guest: i think we have a right in talking about this issue for starters -- all of the candidates are talking about this and frankly they should. ands very happy to see bush cruz talking about it. i think roberts has been a focal point because of that recent decision, but that is not a unique decision for him. of decisions he makes that are very conservative. he also has a tendency of pulling his punches and trying to avoid deciding issues that would be really contentious. sometimes i think doing so in illegitimate ways. there was an abortion clinic hetest case recently -- really reinterpreted the law rathe

let me focus on two moments in time. 1990, david souter and edith jones.rge herbert walker bush appointed david souter. and then in 2005, john roberts utig.ike loo george w. bush appointed john roberts and these are the consequences of that. if the other judges had been appointed, obamacare would have been struck down and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. carrie severino, your thoughts on justice roberts? is he a conservative? guest: i think we have a right in talking about this issue for starters -- all of the candidates are talking about this and frankly they should. ands very happy to see bush cruz talking about it. i think roberts has been a focal point because of that recent decision, but that is not a unique decision for him. of decisions he makes that are very conservative. he also has a tendency of pulling his punches and trying to avoid deciding issues that would be really contentious. sometimes i think doing so in illegitimate ways. there was an abortion clinic hetest case recently -- really reinterpreted the law rather th

if the president bushes had appointed edith jones and mike ludwig, obamacare would have es been struck down three years ago and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books.is >> your thoughts on justice roberts? how would you describe him? is he a conservative on the court? >> i think we got it right here in talking about this issue. all the candidates are talking about this and frankly they should because this touches on every issue in our life. that's why i was very happy to see bush and cruz talking about it. we had a website on scotus. i think roberts has been a focal point of it because of that recent decision. bush is correct. there are a lotha of decisions that he makes that are very conservative. he has a tendency of pulling his punches in trying to avoid deciding issues that would be contentious. there was an abortion clinic lyi protest case ntrecently. there was a chemical weapons o a treaty case where he really reinterpreted the law rather than comeame to a hard decisio much in the same way he did in i the obamacare cases. it is not a one-off in his case. i thin