justices scalia, welcome. brian, welcome to you, too. >> thank you. >> the book is very much a template for the way that you conducted your legal life. you are a man that believes, fundamentally, that the law in america should be based rigidly on the letter of the constitution. that's what you believe, isn't it? fundamentally. >> yes, give or take a little. rigidly i would not say, but it should be based on the text of the constitution reasonably interpreted. >> people that criticize you for this say, a lot of the constitution was phrased in a deliberately vague way. they realize, when they framed it, that in generations to come things may change, which may put a different impression on a particular piece of text. >> sure. >> why are you not prepared to accept that that means you can move with the times, to evolve it? >> but i do accept that, with respect to those vague terms in the constitution such as "equal protection of the laws," "due process of law," "cruel and unusual punishments." i fully accept that t

justice scalia has said this.he said thomas does a very believe in stare decisis, and the role of presidents. he thinks we decide to overturn them all and that's a very different attitude than any of the other justices. roberts i think has an image of himself as someone who is more respectful of precedent that he actually is. i don't think he would actually come is like sitting there line, i'm going to call myself an umpire by mike the commissioner of baseball. but i think he's acted a lot more like the commissioner of baseball. >> what are some of the reasons you see as explaining the rush away from modern nation at the supreme court level or congress in this country? >> wow, that is a really great question, and that's really sort of a gun is as much political science as anything else. i think a big, a big factor is am i know, i don't want to sound too earthly about this, but the rise of computer redistricting strangely enough, that the members of congress, state legislatures have created congressional seats in t

i think justice scalia is a very good judge. justice kennedy.tice kennedy is obviously very good and justice roberts. justice sotomayor. there's -- i think they're very qualified people there who actually do -- >> scalia and sotomayor don't exactly -- >> that's the beauty of it being independent, david, you can actually -- >> if you had to pick one -- if you had to pick one -- >> listen, i don't need to pick one. we have plenty of justices up there and i'm proud of the ones we have. >> so do you like that slip and slide? he starts with -- he knew i made a big bonner there. he had a big problem so he goes well, he worked his way over to sotomayor. >> i know. it was like he was trying to remember the names of the seven dwarfs. and he was trying to balance it out. oh, i said scalia, now i have to say kennedy or sotomayor. >> he was heading left there, michael. he was skipping away as fast as he could from the most conservative guy around, scalia. >> that was an interesting moment. my takeaway was i wasn't sure if that was someone he genuinely admir

i said scalia, now i have to say kennedy or sotomayor.>> he was heading left there, michael. he was skipping away as fast as he could from the most conservative guy around, scalia. >> that was an interesting moment. my takeaway was i wasn't sure if that was someone he generallied a myers and likes his jurisprudence and his mind and intellect or was it the first person that popped into his head. then he started scrambling. look, if scalia is generally a guy that you admire, then state that and move on. don't be swayed by the boos in the crowd. again -- >> well, he was. >> if you're an independent -- he was. >> he didn't seem too independent there for a couple seconds. he didn't look too independent for a few seconds. he should have said i like scalia, i just don't agree with him. brown's tone, this is a little question of gender poll tase perhaps. drew some boos when he responded to her criticism of his record on jobs and the economy. look at this interesting moment that has two sides to it. >> she's obviously misstating the facts. these w

yes. >> justice scalia, i agree with that. you're going the merit -- i want to know whether or not you are asking us to -- said it would be good law for at least twenty five years. i know, that time flies, i think that only nine of those years have passed. and so are you and if so, why overrule a case in to which so many thought and effort went and so many people crossed the country and depended it on it. >> justice breyer, we said very carefully, we were not flying to change the course of dispositions of the issue could there be a legitimate a compelling interest in moving using race to establish a diverse class. what the problem we have encountered throughout the case, there are very understandings not of the legitimate sei of the interest, how you get there is it necessary to use race to achieve that interest what does a critical . >> the question is your point is does your case satisfy -- is that what you're arguing? why we litigated on that base. >> how do you want to argue it right now in the next ten minutes. i'm intere

i think justice scalia is a very good judge. >> his model is scalia? maybe the most conservative judge on the bench? but then senator brown hedged with this line. >> i think justice scalia is a very good judge, justice kennedy. just -- justice kennedy is obviously very good, and justice roberts. they're -- justice sotomayer. >> he was asked to name his model and he names half the court. >> well, justice scalia -- >> that's the buft being an independent, dave. >> if had you to pick one f you had to pick one. >> listen, i don't need to pick one. >> oh, he's an independent. interesting. we've been hearing that a lot lately. >> i have a history of working across the aisle. >> i've been an independent voter and thinker. >> the fact i'm working across party lines. >> doing my independent thinking. >> i've got some bad news for the senator. see that "r" next to his name? that means he's a republican. and his record shows it, too. he co-sponsored the blunt amendment which would have let employers deny women contraception coverage. he voted against the health c

scalia and lugar. good morning from littleton, colorado, just outside of denver in the all-important denver suburbs. the swingiest part of the state. it's tuesday, october 2nd, 2012. i'm chloyce talbott. mitt romney landed in colorado last night and scored the endorsement of the big guy. the legendary quarterback and now executive vice president of football operations john elway. it was the only scheduled talk. it was a stealth bomber in the background there. romney tried to tamp down expectations in the back. >> people want to know who is going to win? who is going to score the punches and who is going to make the biggest difference in the arguments they make? in my view, it's not so much winning or losing or even the people themselves. it's about something bigger than that. these debates are an opportunity for each of us to describe the pathway forward for america that we would choose. >> playing off the enthusiastic crowd. romney had lines for the base. may even tested out a few zingers we might hea

." >> new at 11:00 anthony scalia may have opposite political views.ng that they co both agree on. this unlikely deal, believe it or not are hunting pals. scalia taught her how to shoot fowl. they will take a trip to wyoming this-week. we'll see what she drags back to d.c. >> community leaders got together for a great cause. i was asked to help with the black tie gala for the community foundation. it inspires charity giving from people and individuals. they were honored tonight. and some of the successes from some of the charities that they support. thank you very much for what you did. >> you did a costume change. >> a quick one. >> nice. all right. well weather-wise we've got a beautiful stretch ahead of us. >> we do. but those heavy showers kept forming and got stronger and possibly spawned a tornado in baltimore. hasn't been confirmed. when showers stopped dumping the rain many picked up an inch of rain. this started to clear. let's take you to our weather computer and show you our roof top camera. it was pretty impressive looking. it got dark, the

>> justice scalia, that is correct. and in addition, the courts didn't find whether a critical mass -- >> so could you tell me what a critical mass was? i'm looking at the number of blacks in the university of texas system. pre-grutter, when the state was indisputably still segregating, it was 4 percent. today, under the post-grutter system, it's 6 percent. the 2 percent increase is enough for you, even though the state population is at 12 percent? somehow, they've reached a critical mass with just the 2 percent increase? >> well, we don't believe that demographics are the key to underrepresentation of critical mass. >> no -- putting aside -- i don't -- i'm not going to quarrel with you that if demographics alone were being used, i would be somewhat concerned. but you can't seriously suggest that demographics aren't a factor to be looked at in combination with how isolated or not isolated your student body is actually reporting itself to feel? >> well, i think if you start to split out subgroups of minorities, you mista

came out and scalia came out and said that the laws against sodomy laws against gay sex are you know we're we're the law in the united states for two hundred years that's a no brainer of course you know that's not unconstitutional in other words for you again. marriage if you happen to be gay and have sex with somebody in school legal land you go to prison for the rest of your life or for a good long time and if we get romney we're going to get more schooling is is that is that really what if we get more obama's we're going to get more scholarly as you understand you know your problem is you're going to get more alina kagan and suddenly so i mean it's you know right now first off i mean how many people have been actually arrested as appear in court struck say on that one and so into texas but but if you began who's in jail for me no one if you will actually the probably still are people from the old left over laws but if you get more scalia's you are going to see that he proclaims it today there's nothing you know as i did was a lot of my aunts dahmus is less guilty as more clarence

i think justice scalia is a very good judge, justice kennedy, justice kennedy is obviously very good, and justice roberts. justice sotomayor. i think they're very kwqualifie people. >> scalia and sotomayor don't exactly -- >> that's the beauty of being an independent, david. >> if you had to pick one. if you had to pick one. >> listen, i don't need to pick one. we have plenty of justices up there, and i'm proud of the ones we have. >> ms. warren, who would be your model supreme court justice? >> i think it would probably be elena kagan. >> all right. >> warren later took to twitter where she retweeted a link to a news article highlighting senator brown's answer on the supreme court. as for the red sox, elizabeth warren said manager bobby valentine deserves another year. senator brown did not take a position, saying he would leave it up to red sox management. an important question in massachusetts. >>> this morning early in-person voting begins in ohio, one day ahead of the first presidential debate in denver. that's where mitt romney was last night where he made his last scheduled pub

, one more scalia would result in a reversal of row v. wade, robert bjork heads his judicial collection selection fo for the campaign. robert bjork we know wrote the roadmap for how to overturn roe versus wade. he is sending maybe it's dog whistles but people getting the message. >> during this week vice-presidential debate the candidates were asked about their views on abortion. >> i do not believe that -- that we have a right to tell other people that, women that they can't control their body. it's a decision between them and their doctor. doctor, in my view, and the supreme court. i'm not going to interfere with that. >> i understand this is a difficult issue, and i respect people who don't agree with me on this, but the policy of a romney administration will be to oppose abortion with the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. >> congres congresswoman nortono you -- the election is now a month away. is there anything that the candidates can do at this point to change minds? >> oh, yeah. that's why i made the point that wo

the oldest is 79, justice scalia is 76.mportant swing vote kennedy is 75 and justice breyer is 74. mitt romney now thinks that conservative justice roberts might not be conservative enough to be appointed by a president romney. >> you say on your website that you would nominate justices in the mold of the chief justice john roberts. now that he's voted to uphold this law, would you still knowing what we know now, nominate a justice like john roberts? >> well, i certainly wouldn't nominate someone who i knew was going to come out with a decision that i rehemently disagreed with. >> joining me now is jeffrey toobin. voting for the united states senator is the number one reason to vote for them since they confirm these nominations. i just want to show you a moment that just occurred in the massachusetts senate debate tonight between scott brown and elizabeth warren. let's listen to that. >> who's your model supreme court justice? >> let me see here. that's a great question. i think justice scalia is a very good judge. justice

a claim scalia denied to cnn's piers morgan. >> no, i haven't had a falling-out with justice roberts.> foul words exchanged? >> no. >> slamming a door? >> no. nothing like that. >> reporter: the other big question, will the chief justice take the court in an aggressive new direction? liberals fear a more hard-line, dogmatic shift to the right. >> a lot of progressives are concerned that this might mean that chief justice roberts has built up some capital, some goodwill, and will now push the conservative agenda. >> reporter: tom goldstein, who has argued before the court, thinks roberts wants a more conservative court but that he'll do it gradually. >> he's not trying to move the law radically quickly. i think, justice scalia, or justice thomas really want to get to the end answer as quickly as possible, and make the law conform to what they really understand. whereas the chief justice is more incrementallist. >> reporter: but conservative court watcher carrie severino doesn't believe much will change any time soon. >> certainly this is not a crusading conservative court, until we hav

i think justice scalia or justice thomas really want to get to the end answer as quickly as possibleey really understand. whereas, the chief justice is more incrementalist. >> reporter: but conservative court watcher carrie severino doesn't think much will change any time soon. >> certainly this is not a are crusading conservative court until we have a shift i think in the membership of the court. it's impossible to call it a court that liens more to the left or to the right. >> joe johns joining us live. joe, want to talk, first of all, about this, know, fighting -- infighting within the court. i had a chance over the fall to meet with justice ginsberg and ask her a few questions in a sitdown, and she was very candid about her relationship with justice scalia, and she said that, you know, they got along well, that the kind of partisanship you see in politics doesn't necessarily spill into the court. do you think that's overstated? >> i don't know if it's overstated. i mean, you do see the justices together in noncourt settings. just yesterday at the red mass, which is held at the st

i think justice scalia is a very good judge, justice kennedy. kennedy is, obviously, very good and justice roberts. they are -- justice societomayo- >> scalia and sotomayor don't exactly -- >> that's the beauty of being end pent. >> joining us from capitol hill, my celebrity doppelganger the sage luke russert. some interesting high jinx last night there on the part of both scott brown and elizabeth warren. the fact that he did not want to be associated very clearly did not want to be associated with mitt romney was interesting and definitely trying to put sun light between him and the obstructionist congress he is a part of. what did you make of it? >> absolutely. that's one of his keys to victory to try to get that crossover vote, folks who will vote for barack obama for president but do not want to send an all democratic ticket to washington. but when he's saying well, he said to mitch mcconnell he wasn't satisfied with the direction in which congress was going and would he vote for him, mitch mcconnell is the only republican on the ballot for

i think justice scalia is a very good judge. judge kennedy.tice kennedy is, obviously, very good and justice roberts. justice so he hadmyier is qualified people there. >> can you name republicans in the senate today you can work with on big, substantive issues? >> i think probably richard lugar would come to mind. he's not going to be there. >> he's not going to be there. >> who else could you name, senator? >> that is a problem. >> other than they were uncomfortable once the audience reacted, what do we get out of the two situations? >> i think what you qualify them as kind of minor stumbles. neither one was a major mistake, but obvious ly scott brown immediately responding judge scalia chas a conservative fire brand. that doesn't jive with the image he's promoting. you saw him dial it back. he went on to name about half of the court, so i think there were probably -- it was probably a realization there that that was problematic for him. with her, you know, same thing. i think she realized that lugar was sort of a difficult answer, given that

i think justice scalia is a very good judge. justice kennedy.> mass mistakes. fireworks during last night's showdown between elizabeth warren and scott brown. the stumbles, the highlights and who won the night? ♪ these are... [ male announcer ] marie callender's puts everything you've grown to love about sunday dinner into each of her pot pies. tender white meat chicken and vegetables in a crust made from scratch. marie callender's. it's time to savor. >>> welcome back. we are following this breaking news out of arizona. a border patrol agent has been shot and killed in naco along the border near tucson. both were patrolling on horseback in an area known as a drug-smuggling corridor. the wounded agent was air-lifted by helicopter to a hospital and is expected to recover. we'll work on more details and bring them to you. >>> we have a look at some of the other stories topping the news. senate leaders are said to be close to a deal that would tackle the fiscal cliff facing the country. the combination of tax hikes and spending cuts that are set to

i think justice scalia is a very good judge, justice kennedy.ice kennedy is, obviously, very good and justice roberts. justice sew mow meyer. >> what was your impression being there, kelly, as to his strange response there? >> it was really unexpected and i think it was influenced if you will, by the murmurs in the audience. david had urged the audience not to get involved during the debate and by and large they didn't. in these two instances you could almost feel the embarrassment sweep over the candidates and they are under a lot of pressure, certainly. greg gri wasn't asking if it was a current member. you could imagine brown might have gone back to some historical figure but he struggled a bit. republicans today are saying that both ted kennedy and john kerry voted to confirm scalia and it was a 98-0 vote. democrats are seizing on it and talking about some of the positions that scalia has take than they feel are too conservative. too conservative is not what scott brown wants to be associated with in trying to appeal to especially democrats

but then i got up to my podium and i believe it was just as scalia -- justice scalia has the first question. i like his questions. their blunt and straightforward and put them to you. i answered it and i said look at that, words coming out of my mouth. [laughter] and that it was all right and i quite enjoyed it. it's a real challenge to be up there. the court is a very active court. there are questions coming from all over. it's very hard to be at the podium. if you think the things they're the most fun are the things that are the most challenging, which i basically do, it's a ton of fun. >> is a very active court, which means for lawyers doing the argument, it's not uncommon for the lawyer to get one or two sentences out and then the party begins. >> that's right. every once in awhile, we don't even let you get one sentence out. [laughter] someone goes out and says mr. chief justice -- >> having been on both side of the podium, does that work as a way of getting at the argument, or the lawyer doesn't have the chance to deliver prepared remarks but is just having to respond so quickly? >> h

>> justice scalia, that is correct.mass was? i'm looking at the number of blacks in the university of texas system. pre-grutter, when the state was indisputably still segregating, it was 4 percent. today, under the post-grutter system, it's 6 percent. the 2 percent increase is enough for you, even though the state population is at 12 percent? somehow, they've reached a critical mass with just the 2 percent increase? >> well, we don't believe that demographics are the key to underrepresentation of critical mass. >> no -- putting aside -- i don't -- i'm not going to quarrel with you that if demographics alone were being used, i would be somewhat concerned. but you can't seriously suggest that demographics aren't a factor to be looked at in combination with how isolated or not isolated your student body is actually reporting itself to feel? >> well, i think if you start to split out subgroups of minorities, you mistake i think what i think is the proper thrust of grutter, or at least ought to be. >> it might be -- it might

seventy nine years old justice stephen brier seventy four years old on the right justice antonin scalia seventy six years old as is justice anthony kennedy one two maybe all four of these justices will be retiring during the next presidential administration and it will be up to either barack obama or mitt romney to pick their successors the president is reelected will get more justices like alina kagan and sonia sotomayor who still believe the progressive reforms like social security and medicare are constitutional they still believe the child labor laws and the minimum wage are constitutional they still believe in a woman's right to choose if mitt romney is elected we'll get justices like clarence thomas and antonin scalia who both believe that all those progressive reforms just mentioned are unconstitutional and should be overturned immediately worse we'll get justices recommended by robert bork bork was reagan's nominee to the supreme court in one thousand nine hundred seventy but he was rejected by the senate because of his radical beliefs today bork is mitt romney's constitutional