whose name is -- merritt garland. who was nominated in the spring of 2016 to fill the supreme court seat vacated by the death of scalia. nominated by barack obama. because he was nominated by barack obama, republicans in the senate would not allow a hearing on the nomination. they cited the election coming later that year. close observers will note there is an election coming later this year but nobody knows if democrats will be able to apply the same standard this time to wait on the kavanaugh hearings the way republicans pushed the garland nomination to the horizon and ultimately off the edge. the democrats will apparently try to do that, but we don't know. after less than 18 months in office, donald trump is already making his second nomination to the supreme court. only nine people on the court. this comes at a time when the choice is fraught and consequential in ways that have never applied to any other u.s. president ever. the snapshot of what's going on right now includes the fact that the president's first nat

whose name is -- merritt garland. who was nominated in the spring of 2016 to fill the supreme court seat vacated by the death of scalia. nominated by barack obama. because he was nominated by barack obama, republicans in the senate would not allow a hearing on the nomination. they cited the election coming later that year. close observers will note there is an election coming later this year but nobody knows if democrats will be able to apply the same standard this time to wait on the kavanaugh hearings the way republicans pushed the garland nomination to the horizon and ultimately off the edge. the democrats will apparently try to do that, but we don't know. after less than 18 months in office, donald trump is already making his second nomination to the supreme court. only nine people on the court. this comes at a time when the choice is fraught and consequential in ways that have never applied to any other u.s. president ever. the snapshot of what's going on right now includes the fact that the president's first nat

. >> i ask that they confirm merritt garland to the supreme court. >> merritt garland, mr.oderate. democrats say he's an ideal choice, but not so fast. the grand old party has their game faces on and are ready to play hardball. >> it is clear president obama has made his nomination to politicize it for purposes of the election. >> that's right, leadership marks precedent vowing not to confirm a nominee until the next president is sworn into office. my oh, my, what a time to be alive! honey, this gig-speed internet is ridiculously fast. i know, right. we are seriously keeping up with the joneses. i know, right. we are seriously keeping with the anderson's. we are finally keeping up with the ford's. keeping up with the garcia's. keeping up with the harvey's. keeping up with the wahh-the-wahh the romeros. carters. patels. the allens. wah... wolanske's. right, them. no one is going to have internet like this. no one is going to have internet like this. gig to more homes than anyone. not just the joneses'. over here. xfinity. the largest gig-speed network. >>> mr. rosenstein, wh

senator mcconnell inadjuvanted this new ule and wouldn't consider a meeting with merritt garland and now says we have to hurry through dnd get thise before the election. totally inconsistent. the net result is he's trying to play to his political advantage. >> what did you guys do wrong in the merritt garland situation? if you could redo it, how would you redo it? >> i'm not sure we could have panged it. when it reached tnt where the senate republican leader refused to even meet with the nominee of president obama, a man extremely well qualified, it was clearhat the fix was in. they were going to keep thiste van hopes they could put a republican in the white house, it happened. now neil gorsuch, chosen b the federalist society as well, has gone to the bench, is voting in lockstep on the republican conservative side. and they want to fill this vacancy to give them an advantage in any >> i've got to ask you, though, now going backwards even before gaand. let's g to the harry reid decision back in 2013, when you decided tocrap it for everything but the supreme court. the filibuster.re t

he's saying go with merritt garland who president obama nominated in 2016. and you think for a moment the president is pretty unconventional. but is it because of mcconnell ' that not thinking of that option. >> he was thinking that he would stick to thi prescribed list of -- people. you heard the elective affairs director saying if there's a vacancy we will stick to that list because that list if youg recall dur the presidential campaign gave reassurance to enservative who is w initially a little bit skeptical about this donald trump who was a democrat who had proclaimed that he was pro-choice. it gave conservative voters ainsurances -- assurances that he would govern like a republican leader. that's why this list was so important. what was interesting to me that besides the sch er anecdote when i was speak to some key swing votes shortly after justice kennedy's announcement they were pushing the president to look off that list. this list didn't come from the white house solely. so why is it o there? robert: if not kavanaugh -- let's say the president moves

the president but the man you saw speaking there, the senate majority leader because he kept merritt garlandleft office to be that pick. he kept him from being -- any of the hearings to happen and that, therefore, led to president trump, led to neil gorsuch, the justice, which led to, for example, most recent decision on the supreme court, the upholding of the trump travel ban. keep that in mind, too. 9:00 eastern tonight the announcement from the east room of the white house. quick break. we'll back here in just a moment. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. it's about delivering a more comfortable shave every time. invented in boston, made and sold around the world. order now at gilletteondemand.com. gillette. the best a man can get. almost $800 when we switched our auto and home insurance. with liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual,

lisa murkowski, you said this should not be done before a major election back when it was merritt garlandthis would be a political football. let's listen to that. we're talking about someone who could end roe v wade. could help to overturn the legislation that protects not just a woman's right to choose but health care. there are many cases right now. don't just trust that what somebody says in a conversation trying to get your vote is what will happen when they're on the supreme court. >> what did you think of susan collins? she doesn't think that chief justice roberts would vote to overturn roe v wade because he's assured her he respects precedent. >> he has voted against precedents just this week with the janice case. this president, this administration is allover turning precedents. let's get through the election. that's four months away. >> there's a lot of democrats from red states, states that trump won who are up for re-election this year. there's going to be a lot of pressure on this. some of them are opponents of abortion rights. what do you think. should they vote the way that

i did meet with merritt garland and likely would have supported him.nd nothing disxwal if iing in the record and might have disagreed with the decisions and he was certainty qualified. >> the government said it won't meet a court deadline set for tomorrow reunite young kids under 5 separated from their parents at the border. are you satisfied with the trump administration's efforts to get these families back together? >> no. i find it unbelievable that here we are a couple of weeks out and still cannot match these kids up with their parents. it just says how bad this policy was. how in the world we could separate these families in this way and not keep records about who they belong to, these kids. it's unbelievable. but obviously, they need to keep trying and it has to be accomplished but the fact that it's taken two weeks is unbelievable. >> you know, what's really unbelieve sbl that some of the parents now, the mothers deported to their home countries, el salvador or honduras and the kids under 5 years old are still here in the united states. why wer

circuit court where he sits now, judge kavanaugh has served under the chief judge of that court, merritt garland who was nominated in the spring of 2016 to fill the seat left by the death of antonin scalia. nominated by barack obama. because he was nominated by barack obama, republicans in the senate would not allow a hearing on the nomination. they cited the election coming later that year. close observers will note there is also an election coming later this year but nobody knows if democrats will be able to apply the same standard this time to wait on hearings on brett kavanaugh until after the election the way the republicansed my that standard last time. the democrats will apparently try that but they're not in power and we don't know if they'll be able to pull it off. we shouldn't lose sight of what a remarkable thing this is that just happened tonight. president trump, after less than 18 months in office, not yet halfway through one term as president, is already making his second nomination to the court. only nine people on the court. this comes at a time when the choice is fraught and co

because of two words -- merritt garland.mocrats are still furious he was never given the courtesy of a hearing. you are going to have a political fight a lot of political grand standing. but i think the sleeper issue is really going to be judge cav in a's view of presidential -- kavanaugh's view of presidential power, executive authority. if the democrats can persuade even one republican donald trump is trying to exempt himself from prosecution or criminal exposure, i think you could possibly, possibly sway one republican to break. >> harris: i want to get your thoughts on that. >> good luck with that. dick durbin on "meet the press" on sunday, his call was for democrats to sacrifice themselves, democrats running in red states, to sacrifice themselves to defeat this nominee. i don't see how they're going to do it. >> harris: i have to bring you back when we have more time. great to see you. we will be back. no matter who rides point, there are over 10,000 allstate agents riding sweep. call one today. are you in good hands? >

no republican paid a price at all at the polls for opposing merritt garland, president obama's moderate choice a. moderate nominee of a popular president. opposed him and nobody suffered. this will be a conservative choice from an unpopular president. so you're not going to gain a single vote supporting this nominee as a democrat in a red state. if you do support it, you lose the democrats. so i think it's actually an easy vote. not a difficult one and going. they should hear him out. i think terrific. the american way and the politics are not hard for the red state democrats. >> i want to ask you about the pressure faced by two women members, murkowski of alaska, collins of maine. both of them generally conservative voters but both of them support abortion rights. in the past, they have voted to confirm three of these four and the fourth was approved for the circuit court on voice vote meaning they approved of all four essentially. is there an argument to make, yes, i voted for them but opposing them on this judge for the supreme court? can they make that argument? >> my hope is the su

. >> i ask that they confirm merritt garland to the supreme court. >> merritt garland, mr.ate. democrats say he's an ideal choice, but not so fast. the grand old party has their game faces on and are ready to play hardball. >> it is clear president obama has made his nomination to politicize it for purposes of the election. >> that's right, leadership marks precedent vowing not to confirm a nominee until the next president is sworn into office. my oh, my, what a time to be alive! a single tap offerss to peace of mind.y, uber is giving you new ways to tell loved ones you're on your way. uber is moving in a new direction. forward. you finished preparing overhim for college.ou'v in 24 hours, you'll send him off thinking you've done everything for his well-being. but meningitis b progresses quickly and can be fatal, sometimes within 24 hours. while meningitis b is uncommon, about 1 in 10 infected will die. like millions of others, your teen may not be vaccinated against meningitis b. meningitis b strikes quickly. be quick to talk to your teen's doctor about a meningitis b vacci

it's not like replacing antonin scalia like we were with merritt garland where we sat there and waited nothing to happen. the democratic argument in order to build the coalition of republicans they nood to block this, the argument is we should find somebody everybody can vote for. i don't know why we ended up in a world in the present moment where the supreme court pick is assumed to be opposed to roe and in the tank for the president. i think that we skipped a few steps here in this process. >> john meacham, how did we get here? >> we got here because of david suitor basically. sorry. i think we did. george herbert walker bush chose david suitor who was a largely unknown figure, almost entirely unknown figure. suitor proved to be far more liberal in the vernacular of the way we talk about these things than president burn ever anticipated. he told me, president bush did, that was a huge mistake to have picked him. and every president since has not wanted to be suitored basically. appoint someone that they believe would -- it was likely in any way to fall out of line with their basic ph

in reality they need to say, mitch mcconnell broke the rules with wait they treated, merritt garland. >> justice kagan. got to get off to the break. thank you. >> be right back. >> in a midterm election year. ahh... summer is coming. and it's time to get outside. pack in even more adventure with audible. with the largest selection of audiobooks. audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. or discover magic when you hit the open road. with the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. and for just $14.95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. if you don't like it exchange it any time. no questions asked. you can also roll your credits to the next month if you don't use them. so take audible with you this summer... on the road... on the trail... or to the beach. start a 30-day trial and your first audiobook is free. cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. no matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. text summer5 to 500500 to start listening today. pepsoriasis does that. it was tough getting out there on stage. i want

circuit, judge merritt garland who president clinton appointed to the d.c. circuit.that kind of experience has been seen as very valuable experience and valuable background. and of course, the question i think only four of the last 21 judges on the d.c. circuit have actually had prior judicial experience. so the norm -- in fact, the overwhelming norm is for the judges on the d.c. circuit since 1977 not to have had prior traditional experience. what they've had usually is government experience in the legislative branches or the executive branches. and your question really goes to how do you assess someone's record? and i think that's done going back in my case, 16 years of my career and looking at the kinds of things i've done in the staff secretary's office and now where i'm an honest broker and i have to be even-handed in some of the work i've done. i've worked with your office and senator boxer's office in the past on judges and worked closely on that. when i was in private practice working on -- on not just institutional clients but probono cases. i worked on a pr

merritt garland being a prime example. >> that didn't work. >> so we have so politicized the process now people see it as another version of what's broken inside the beltway. i will aanother priority is not stare decisis not hearing a case not to hear can essentially 81 mine rights and privileges that people have currently protected. take the death penalty, the court turned down two death penalty cases that will call in question the constitutionality. that's a part of the power of the majority that doesn't overrule the president but can impact literally people's lives. >> i'm going to you first, one of the front runners, amy coney barrett, religious conservative personally. this is how she responded when asked if roe v. wade can be overturned. >> i think the question is how much will the states allow in abortion. i don't think the core case that women have a right to abortion. i don't think that would change. the question of whether people can get late term abortions, how many restrictions can be put on clinic, i think that will change. >> does that make you believe as danny does, it

. >> merritt garland didn't excite the base of the democratic party.ecided to hold the seat empty. you had the senators on the republican side saying they would hold that seat for four years open if hillary clinton became president of the united states. they would never let her seat a supreme court justice. the two parties do not come at the supreme court in the same way. >> right. this is a false that republicans like to use comparing garland with -- i want to respectful respectfully -- they're pro-fetus. it's an error to call them pro life. what lindsey graham said when they had four lottery winners. that may be true. but if they're all lottery ticket winners, we're certainly the losers, the american public. should any of the justices get confirmed. i think this highlights the point that when mcconnell and when the republicans killed the filibuster, they changed the senate and that essentially says over 140 million people, we don't care about your thought or your perspective. i think that's a dangerous territory that we're in right now because we can

circuit, judge merritt garland who president clinton appointed to the d.c. circuit. that kind of experience has been seen as very valuable experience and valuable background. and of course, the question i think only four of the last 21 judges on the d.c. circuit have actually had prior judicial experience. so the norm -- in fact, the overwhelming norm is for the judges on the d.c. circuit since 1977 not to have had prior traditional experience. what they've had usually is government experience in the legislative branches or the executive branches. and your question really goes to how do you assess someone's record? and i think that's done going back in my case, 16 years of my career and looking at the kinds of things i've done in the staff secretary's office and now where i'm an honest broker and i have to be even-handed in some of the work i've done. i've worked with your office and senator boxer's office in the past on judges and worked closely on that. when i was in private practice working on -- on not just institutional clients but probono cases. i worked on a p

. >> he is much of a main stream conservative as merritt garland is a main stream, can't really callberal, a moderate, but still, mike, it is very intriguing that kavanaugh wrote a 2009 article that said, presidents should not be indicted and should not be tried, and that even the trump white house, i think it was maggie haberman said that the trump white house admitted that they had seen that and taken note of that in the process. >> even if that remains his strong view today, he would be only one of nine on the supreme court. so, i mean, he could be overruled internally on the supreme court. it could be a 5-4 decision but it's settled law. the democrats have to be very careful. >> yeah n. their approach to this guy. >> they really -- they really do. >> that's the only take away i feel. >> overkill could end up killing them. >> for instance, if they use -- what's doug jones going to do? i think -- doug jones will probably vote against him, but probably be very respectful. >> yes. >> you just can't call this guy a right wing lunatic. >> that's exactly the point. he is not dangerous i