robert bork changed and clarence thomas confirmed it.nd with the clarence thomas nomination, everybody was tching. >> this vote, the yeas are 52 and the nays are 48. the nomination of clarence thomas of georgia is hereby confirmed. nd>> narrator: while biden most democrats voted no, clarence thomas prevailed. he was 43 years old. he vowed to stay on the court for 43 more years. in the years after thomas' confirmation, mcconnell watched as democratic and republican presidents tried to tip the balance of the court. >> president clinton nominated ruth bader ginsburg... >> narrator: with republicans in the minority, bill clintonba placed rutr ginsburg and stephen breyer on the bench. >> ...the president sent congress the name of his nominee to fill the seat... >> narrator: george w. bush,ca with a repubsenate, put john roberts and samuel alito on the court. >> barack obama is projected to be the next... >> narrator: with democrats back in control, barack obama anappointed sonia sotomayo elena kagan. >> still, many republicans are asking if s

all of the judicial wars that started with robert bork andom justice , the kavanaugh situation.as the moment that he finally got whate came for. >> he succeeded in establishing a conservative court for the next couple of decades, at least. that's an accomplishment, if you look at that alone. i think in the process, you know, we've damaged another institution, the senate. i don't think it's a good trade overall. but in the end, will it have been worth it? i don't know. >> narrator: senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has just won a seventh term...r: >> narran election day... >> mcconnell is the longest- serving republican senator... >> narrator: mitch mcconnell wot r six years in the senate. >> ...we've reached a historic moment in this election... >> nrator: he'll face joe biden as president, an old adversary from the judicial wars. states...sident of the united >> narrator: now, the supreme court that mitch mcconnell built. >> ...conservative majority on the court for the foreseeable future. new president...ooms or the >> meanwhile, democrats are worried about the country's

we could go back and look at what famous judges, legal scholars like robert bork and richard pozen are, go through and look at what they wrote, and it was doublespeak here in america and it was fantastically sophisticated. that's why we got suckered into this because they came up with something that was truly it was drafted in the most awesomely confusing package and we thought as they took off regulations that were making us free, we thought they were making us free and so here we are a generation later and we realize wait, we needed those rules and regulations. we needed to use those tools in that way. but the neoliberal revolution the only real thing that ever happened in the united states was they succeeded because they took it and made it an intellectual coup. they changed the terminology through which we understand the world. our challenge now is to awaken not just to the threat of google or facebook that to the real power that we have because we have more to do than just take care of google and facebook. >> so if you were to sit there and say the three, four or five things the n

i tide read robert bork's book, the tempting of america and when i got a clerkship at the supreme court the author was justice paul, who was then a retired justice. each retired justice gets one law clerk i was his one law quicker for that year, 1991-92 and you get to decide to perhaps work with another chambers, and i decided i wanted to work for justice scalia, which if you had known my past and background and my family that won't have been your first guess. so why is it that in 1991, i wanted to work for justice scalia? well, this if the thing i think most law students, understand, reading judicial opinions as i have toed a miss and the author is usually not a lot of fun. this is where lawyers acquire the habit of drinking more coffee then is good for them. those are not charles dickens novels. caffeine gets you through. how refreshing to come across a justice scalia majority opinion, dissent or concurrence. they stood out for the liveliness of the writing, the honest clerks -- the honesty, the quest for truth. so i could have cared list if he was a textualist, constitutionalist, he

did read robert bork's book, the tempting of america and i was fortunate enough to get a clerkship at the supreme court, the author was from justice powell who was then a retired justice. i'm retired justice the court gets one law clerk. was his one law clerk for that year, 18991-'92 and get to decide to work with another chamber, an active justice's chamber and i defend wanted would bork wore justice scalia and if you know my past that wouldn't haven't been your first guess. so why is it that in 1991 i wanted to work for justice scalia? well, this is the thing think most law students, understand. reading judicial opinion is usually not a lot of fun i. think this is where lawyers acquire the habit of drinking more coffee than is good for them. these innovator charles dickens novels. caffeine gets through you, how refreshing when you're doing this to come across a justice scalia majority opinion, dissent or concurrence, and it -- they stood out for the lively unless of the writing, the honesty, the quest for truth. i could have cared less whether justice school where was a textualist,

in the senate and we wouldn't win. >> so biden found himself running two campaigns, one against robert borkng him in different directions. >> my name is joe biden. i'd like to be the democratic nominee for president of the united states of america. >> in iowa, an early caucus state that mattered most, biden was bunched with others but his attention was split. >> there was a mismatch between the expectation of joe and what was going on in the campaign. the sort of basic stuff wasn't getting done. >> but that was nothing compared to what unfolded next. >> live from the iowa state fairgrounds in des moines. election '88. >> at the end of a key debate at the iowa state fair, biden used some of his stump speech which included quotes from british politician neil kinic, a pop list life story politically compelling but it wasn't biden's life and it was delivered without any attribution. >> why is it joe biden -- >> what am i? the first kinic in 1,000 generations. >> the first in his family. >> to be able to get to university. >> ever to go to a university. >> i mean, he had given that speech 25, 30

great admiration as he conducted himself as a member of the senate judiciary committee during the robert bork confirmation hearings. he had a certain commitment to the rule of law and to fundamental fairness that would be owed to anyone nominated to that or any other judicial position, and he was willing to make sure that the senate did its job and that it didn't get mired in the politics of the day. there is a great quote on this topic. politics must not undermine the principles and standards we apply to every judicial nomination. i watched over the years, in part because i had first seen him participate in the bork hearings. that got mid my interested -- tt got me interested in the senate. that got my interested as a teenager to be a senate page. i later became a senate page appointed by senator hatch. i saw him carry out his activities as a member of the senate judiciary committee. from then on i watched with careful attention when he was handling a judicial confirmation hearing. i watched through the years as he handled the hearings of individuals such as justice alito, my former boss. in