and marcia coyle, who covers the supreme court for the "national law journal. we welcome both of you to the program. onick schifrin, i'm going start with you. the trump administration is saying the obama administration they are now rescinding what are -called seven policy guidances what were enacted prviously. what does that mean? >> well, what it means is that the federal government's pronouncements on the supreme court's pronouncements haveow changed. so you have to go back to the supreme court here, over a series of rulings over manye s, the supreme court has grappled with race in admissions and race in schools, and then, after they issue a ruling from time to time, the federalgo rnment will sift through that and try to advise school systems and colleges on what it means for them. so the obama administration did that over a period of years fro1 to 2016, issued somean statements today, the trump administration said, basically, we're getting rid of those statements, ty're not operable anymore. >> woodruff: and nick schifrin, what does that mean for these schoo

with us now, ahead of the announcement, are three seasoned court watchers: "newshour" regular marcia coyle, who covers the court for the "national law journal.ne katyal is a former acting solicitor general, wju clerked foice stephen breyer. and christopher landau, who hase also arguere the court and clerked for justices clarence thomas, as well asn he late antoalia. the pr'mram. harrisiaoing to start with you. before we talk about the people who we think are the finalists who theth's going to name, let's talk about what the departure of justice kennedy means. how much has this court changed as a result of justice kennedy? >> well, i think you do ha to start with justice kennedy in order to understand how the next justice can be so important. justice nnedy was that crucial fifth vote in a number of very high profile areas like same-sex marriage, voting rights,rs abortion, amendment, reling, i could keep going. it was his tendency at times to move to the left, even though he was a conservative, is a conservative, but it was his movement to the left that ocured certain victories the court's l