we are honored to be joined tonight by justice scalia's beloved wife. [applause] >> books justice kennedy and justice scalia were appointed by a president who understood that the best defense of our liberty and a judicial branch, a man from political pressures, where judges that apply the constitution as written. happened to the ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement, we're joined by ronald reagan's attorney general. [applause] >> thank you for everything you have done to protect our nations great they will heritage. in keeping with president reagan's legacy, i did not ask about a nominees personal opinions. not a judge'ss political views but whether they can set aside those his to do what the law and the constitution required. say, i have to doubt, such a a person. tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brent kavanaugh. to the united states of in court. [applause] >> i know the people in this room very well, they do not stand and give applause very much. they have some respect. but wife ashley and their two

last year, i nominated judge neil gorsuch to replace the late, great, justice antonin scalia. i chose justice gorsuch because i knew that he, just like justice scalia, would be a faithful servant of our constitution. we are honored to be joined tonight by justice scalia's beloved wife, maureen. thank you, maureen. both justice kennedy and justice scalia were appointed by a president who understood that the best defense of our liberty - and a judicial branch immune from political prejudice - were judges that apply the constitution as written. that president happened to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement, we are joined by ronald reagan's attorney general, edwin meese. you have 4 free articles remaining. subscribe to the times and i speak for everyone, thank you for everything you have done to protect our nation's great legal heritage. in keeping with president reagan's legacy, i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions. what matters is not a judge's political views but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the constitution require. i

we are honored to be joined tonight by justice scalia's beloved wife, maureen. [applause] trump: thank you, maureen. both justice kennedy and justice scalia were appointed by a president who understood that the best defense of our liberty judicial branch immune prejudice --al were judges that apply the constitution as written. that president happened to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement, we are joined by ronald reagan's attorney general, edwin meese. [applause] >> thank you for everything you have done to protect our nation's great legal heritage. in keeping with president reagan's legacy, i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions. what matters is not a judge's political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the constitution require. i am pleased to say that i have found, without a doubt, such a person. tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce that i judge brettnominate kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. [applause] >> i know the people in this room very well. they do not stand in to gi

very powerful statement by judge scalia.ace jay sekulow, good to see yn this historic night in many ways. joining us now, fox news contributor of andy mccarthy, and the author of, "players, leakers and liberals." good friend of the program and gracious to fill in last week, judge jeanine's shapiro. democratic presidents never get it wrong, they always get the judicial activists. there is, i think -- i loved what i read, the words of judge kavanaugh, and i loved what i heard tonight. but there is always the fear that the originalist's in words only and it doesn't come out? >> you know, i'm not worried about that. here's a judge was 12 years on the bench, 300 opinions. he's very clear on what he thinks, and you know what's amazing about the left right now? for some reason they think that the united states supreme court is not about the constitution but instead, you know, they see it as a political court, where they are overreaching, or they are activist judges should be able to make the law that they think it should be. the am

bothjustice scalia both justice scalia and justice gorsuch were appointed because they knew that the our judicial branch in immune from political prejudice, judges that apply the constitution as written. that president happened to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement, were joined by ronald reagan's attorney general. and i speak for everyone for everything you have done to protect the nation's great legal heritage. in keeping with president reagan's legacy, i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions. what matters is not a judge's political views but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the constitution require. i am pleased to say that i have found, without doubt, such a person. tonight, it is my honour and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. applause. i know the people in this room very well. they do not stand and give applause like that very often so they have some respect and brett's wife ashley and two daughters, margaret and liza have joined us and congratulations to you a

we are honored to be joined tonight by justice scalia's beloved wife maureen. [applause] >> thank you, maureen. both justice kennedy and justice scalia were appointed by a president who understood that the best defense of our liberty and a judicial branch, immune from political prejudice, were judges that apply the constitution as written. that president happened to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement, we are joined by ronald reagan's attorney general, edwin meese. ed? [applause] >> and, ed, i speak for everyone, thank you for everything you've done to protect your nation's great legal heritage. in keeping with president reagan's legacy, i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions. what matters is not a judge's political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the constitution require. i am pleased to say that i have found, without doubt, such a person. tonight it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. [applause] [applause] >> i know

circuit to scalia when you should review one of these cases and that scalia not only listened but sometimes quoted him? >> the supreme court is always looking at kiey lower court judges for signals. brett kavanaugh certainly on environmental issues was scaling back the epa. >> before we get too far into the weeds when we talk about the environment, let's remember what side brett kavanaugh is on in those controversial cases. he is always in these -- not in every case, but in these controversial cases, on the side of industry. he is against the ability of the government to regulate. i mean this is one of the great -- you know, we talk about abortion, which is obviously a very important part of the conservative agenda at the supreme court. but just as important are the cases limiting the power of government to regulate the economy. that's a big part of it, and kavanaugh, even more than social issues, which tend not to come up a lot in the d.c. circuit, has been a powerful voice on limiting government's ability to regulate, especially in the environmental area. >> although not different from ju

we are honored to be joined tonight by justice scalia's beloved wife maureen. both justice kennedy is that justice scalia were appointed by a please understood the best defense of our liberty and a judicial branch immune from political prejudice were judges that fly constitution as written. that president happened to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement, we are joined by ronald reagan's attorney general, edwin meese. i speak for everyone, thank you for everything you've done to protect our nation's great legal heritage. and keeping with president reagan's legacy, i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions. what matters is not a judge's political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what is law and the constitution require. i am pleased to say that i have found without doubt such a person. tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. i know the people in this room very well. they do not stand and give applause like that very often. so they ha

i think that would be a question that would ignite debate and i know justice scalia, just as riordan used to have it -- justice breyer used to have a debate, and that was one thing they would talk about, how broadly you can look at some of these things. because of the certain point of ooe gets to broad -- two broad, then it can be an empty vessel. we don't elect supreme court justices at all. they are there to interpret and bring into effect the laws that are passed by elected representatives. so they are people putting areent in -- so if there people putting content into the law has to come from the legislature, not the bench. wouldt think liberals like justice thomas to be importing his view of how policies should be done into the court, any more than conservatives might want justice ginsburg putting her views in their. in there. i think that's a recipe for taking politics out of the system. unfortunately, this is what justice scalia talked about, if judges are becoming more like legislatures and if the words are just placeholders for whatever content the justices want to import, t

we are honored to be joined tonight by justice antonin scalia's lovely wife, maureen.applause] both justice kennedy and justice scalia were appointed by a president who understood that the best defense of our liberty and the judicial branch, immune from political prejudice, were judges that apply the constitution as written. that president happen to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement, we are joined by edwin meese. [applause] and i speak for everyone, thank you for everything you have done to protect our nations great legal heritage. in keeping with president reagan's legacy, i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions, what matters is not a judge's political views but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the constitution require. i am pleased to say that i have found without doubt such a person. tonight it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. [applause] >> president trump: i know the people in this room very well, they do not stand and give appla

gorsuch is different than scalia in decisions he has taken. the supreme court, 40% of the cases are unanimous. and of those remainder, i predict that this next justice like gorsuch would actually vote similarly to how justice kennedy would have voted. so there is going to be always a change anytime there is a new justice. it is in your court, but i think the shift has been dramatically overstated. greg: i want to ask a specific question about judge kavanaugh. back during the big fight on obamacare, he wrote an opinion that said we should throw out i'llchallenge to obamacare never grounds, didn't reach the big issues in the case. is that opinion going to be a concern for conservatives? carrie: i don't think it should be. some people have looked at that and said is this the same thing , oh my goodness. we were afraid we saw in chief justice roberts? i don't know the inside story. a lot of people, their conclusion was he looked to have the potential that he knew was legally correct but there were implications he did not think and he blinked and f

replacing justice scalia versus justice kennedy? his role as a key swing vote with the majority weather 90% of the cases. carrie: he was a swing vote that was still more conservative than not. particularly in this last term i think he voted almost 100% of the time when he was that swing vote with the conservative members of the court, and of the justices on the court, justice gorsuch was the one with whom he agreed the most, and vice a versa. it is interesting to me that for someone who everyone thought would be decidedly to the right nominated when he was it did not turn out to be the , case. i think people overestimate the distinctions here. there are major issues. any subsequent justice will different. gorsuch is different than scalia in certain's has taken. the supreme court, 40% of the cases are unanimous. i predict this next justice like gorsuch would actually vote similarly to how justice kennedy would have voted. there is always a change anytime there is a new justice. it is a new court but the shift has been dramatically ov

i knew that he, just like justice scalia, would be a faithful servant of our constitution. we are honored to be joined tonight by justice scalia's beloved wife, maureen. [ applause ] thank you, maureen. both justice kennedy and justice scalia were ain'tppointed by a president who understood that the best defense of our judicial branch were judges that apply the constitution as written. that president happened to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement, we are joined by ronald reagan's attorney general, edwin meece. ed? and i speak for everyone. thank you for everything you've done to protect our nation's great legal heritage. in keeping with president reagan's legacy, i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions. is not a judge's political views but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the constitution require. i am pleased to say that i have found, without doubt, such a person. tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. [ applause ] i know the people in this

scalia was there. two sons of mr. scalia and general niece, edwin meese from the reagan administration, former attorney general. what is you feel? i know what i felt. >> a tremendous sense of history going all the way back to the reagan administration. the idea of transforming the federal judiciary to respect the constitution at the law and seeing brett and his beautiful family, it was an electric evening, a magical evening. >> laura: 12 years on the circuit court of appeals. for people who aren't really into the legal organization of the courts, the d.c. circuit is the second highest court for all intents and purposes. there's a lot of administered of law cases decided there, kind of a lot of geeky cases. a lot of cases that come right out of the administrative law process. judge kavanaugh dealt with a lot of those cases. doesn't have a lot of judicial opinions on the first amendment that concerned some conservatives. should they be concerned? >> he's got a couple cases on religious freedom which is really important.

scalia was there. two of the sons of mrs. scalia, and of course general edwin meese from the reagan administration, former attorney general. what did you feel? i know what i felt when that was all going down. the idea of transforming that federal judiciary to respect the constitution and the law and then seeing brett and his beautiful family, it wasn't electric magical evening. >> 12 years on the circuit court of appeals, for people who aren't really into the legal organization of the courts. the d.c. court is the second-highest ports. there's a lot of administrative law cases, and a lot of cases, judge kavanaugh dealt with a lot of those cases, he doesn't have a lot of those. >> he has a couple of cases on religious freedom which is really important. he does have one really important finance case and he has all these cases involving the administrative state where he gets intont the whole issue f how the government needs to be accountable and transparent in the separation of powers needs to becr respected. that's almost 300 o

both justice kennedy and justice scalia were appointed by president who understood that the best defense of our liberty and the judicial branch immune from political prejudice, were from judges that apply the constitution as written. that president happened to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement we are joined by ronald reagan's attorney general, edwin meese. >> [ applause ] [ applause ] >> and ed, i speak for everyone, thank you for everything you've done to protect our nation's great legal heritage. in keeping with president reagan's legacy, i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions what matters is not a judges clinical views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the constitution require. i am pleased to say that i have found, without doubt, such a person. tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. >> [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] >> i know p

now, i do not consider that, and you did not want tocriticize justice scalia or justice thomas. i do not consider that necessarily a bad quality. senators sometimes criticize people. in fact, it is seldom when we do not. that seems to be a stock in trade by the united states senators, and perhaps most people in public office. maybe that is our calling really in connection with our oversight responsibilities. but let's take up the values behind your declination to criticize. as to what judge pickering is alleged to have done, never mind the hypothetical, would you ask lawyers to write letters for you? if you were a judge sitting on their cases, and you were under consideration for a higher court, would you do that? brett kavanaugh: no, mr. chairman. >> when you were asked about mr. manny miranda, the investigation is still ongoing, but there has been considerable information about his having invaded the democrats' computer system and downloaded and used it for partisan political purposes. now, without characterizing it as larceny, would you engage in that kind of a practice? bret

but i think on that quieter than scalia. the one thing that justice gorsuch seems to do is he will really press a point in the way that some of his colleagues don't. and he could be trying to make the point with the lawyer, trying to get the lawyer to concede something. and i'm thinking here about colloquy he had with the deputy solicitor general in the cell phone privacy case, trying to get, trying to press the point that carpenter, the criminal defendant can, had a property interest in the cell phone records that his service provider had. and if you've ever seen michael dreeben argue, you know that he is incredibly well prepared, and there was no way that justice gorsuch was going to get michael dreeben to back down. but the oh thing that could be going on -- the other thing that could be going on, he had some unique views on the law. and i've heard justice kagan talk about this when she was the junior justice. at the conferences they go around the table and vote, and as the junior justice, he's the last justice who gets t

gorsuch is different than scalia and decisions he has taken. the supreme court, 40% of the cases are unanimous. i predicted this next justice like gorsuch would actually vote similarly to how justice kennedy would have voted. there is always a change anytime there is a new justice. , but the shiftrt has been dramatically overstated. >> i want to ask about judge kavanaugh. during the fight on obamacare, he wrote an opinion that said we should throw out this challenge to obamacare. is that opinion going to be a concern for conservatives? carrie: i don't think it should be. some people have looked at that the same thing we were afraid we saw and chief justice roberts? i don't know the inside story. a lot of people, their conclusion was he looked to have the potential that was legally correct, but he blinked and found a sneaky way out with the tax penalty distinction there. with kavanaugh's opinion, he did clearly right about the problems underlying the law and the major issues. is question had to do with the anti-injunction act, an argument the su

on 9/11, thes is first call scalia makes is to see if ginsburg is ok in the courtroom. at the same time, we are hearing stories that neil gorsuch has perhaps hurt some of the other justices by his insistence by ents forto write diss each opinion. they are nine justices. they are who they are. they have well-developed legal theories and believes. it is not surprising that will be hard-fought conversations. but they manage to get along and get this stuff done. i cover congress -- congress can never make a deadline. it is amazing the supreme court makes that and of term deadline every year with large decisions. host: we want to go back to the caller's point about republicans and democrats. guest: this would go back to -- i would go back to this list in front of the president. the caller pointed out that democrats would drag the nominee may wellhe mud, which be. but the idea that some unknown piece of opposition research merge, as it has in the past, is less so now, because these are names we have seen for months and months. this is something that may be argued on the merit

both justice kennedy and justice ska lowa were appointed -- scalia were appointed by a president who understood stood the best appointment were judges that apply the constitution as written. that president happened to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement we are joined by ronald reagan's attorney general edwin meece. ed. and ed i speak for everyone thank for everything you've done to protect our nation's great legal heritage. in keeping with president reagan's legacy, i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions. what matters is not a judge's political views but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the constitution requires. i am pleased to say that i have found without doubt such a person. tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states supreme court. [ applause ] >> i know the people in this room very well. they do not stand and give applause like that very often. so, they have some respect. and brett's wife ashley and their two daughters margaret and liza have joined us and t

this means the next justice to come in is likely to be in the scalia road. and likely roberts which these cases will be -- that means the next case coming up with a course the pontiff to the punt the court will take that for next term and take it, that's where north carolina 5050 state after the lines worse found to be a racial gerrymander in a 5050 state they made ten of 13 districts majority republicans. when asked why they said because they couldn't pay -- this is what is coming. that is one of the cases. that's not even the law. the lawsuits came in one case out of ohio involving voter purchase. the case out of testatrix called paris versus abbott. both cases featured a 5 - 4 republican appointed. if they both featured a nasty back and forth between justices alito and soto moyer. they're now taken the lead. both of these cases are cases where you see the conservative majority pulling back on voting rights. their technical but the message seems to be, give states their breathing room to pass laws that might make it harder to register and vote. the texas r

saying, this time, the election is even closer than when scalia died. what do you think about the chances of delaying, simply that that was the precedent set? >> it's hard to -- the difference is that the republicans held the majority when garland was nominated. all it took was mitch mcconnell wanting to delay. democrats are the minority. but the minority has a lot of power in the senate. there are a lot of things they can do to delay this process as much as possible. and one interesting thing about kavanaugh on that front, he has a massive paper trail. that deserves to be scrutinized very carefully. you mentioned the 300 decisions. making sure that all the proper paperwork is delivered to the judiciary committee, the review is completed before the committee holds its hearings, there are ample opportunities. that are legitimate, not just throwing sand in the gears. this is a man who has a massive, massive paper trail who is being nominated. and scrutinizing that will take some time. mcconnell said he wants to hold a vote by september or october. that is

he wanted someone more like justice scalia. that was his mold. you know, i think david's descrieion is nice of th justice that he would see, but that's not how trump described wthe justice that heas going to nonominate to the supreme court. he was very clear about issues like overturning the right to abortion and expanding gu rights and being willing to strike down the affordable care act and protections for ie-existing conditions an that sense he would have something in common with justice kennedy. but it does change the center of the court. now the center is pbaroy chief justice roberts which is very far to the right. >> woodruff: that's assuming he gets confirmed. i want to go to capitol hill correspondent lisa dsejardins for se, quickly, lisa, of what the reaction will be among republicans an democrats to judgean kavgh. >> no surprise, republicans by and large are ecstatic. there are some who say they're oking forward to the process but are warm still to the judge, in particularly, of course, senator mcconnell and house speaker paul ryan have

he was a finalist to replace justice antonin scalia two years ago when justice scalia died. he explained what he believes are the judge. >> a judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the a judge must interpret statutes as written. and interpret the constiby hist tradition and precedent. >> now the republicans hold a slim majority in the u.s. senate with 51 republicans, 47 comes, and two independents who usually vote with the democrats. now the president is looking to several democrats to help him win confirmation for judge kavanaugh. >> bay area congresswoman -- brett kavanaugh's nomination is a grave threat to our reproductive freedoms, civil liberties, and the well being of the american people. the senate must do everything possible to stop this pick. >> john mccain tweeted judge brett kavanaugh has impeccable credentials and a strong record of upholding the constitution. he is widely respected as a fair, independent, and mainstream judge. i look forward to the senate moving forward with a fair and thorough confirmation process. brian-- he will face q

come on. >> antonin scalia: would i lie?st, right? ( laughs ) >> clarence thomas: this is what we spent our time doing this, still got it. ( laughs ) >> kroft: scalia's fellow conservative, justice clarence thomas, grew up poor in georgia. indoor plumbing? >> thomas: no, goodness, no. there was an outhouse that we shared with some other families. >> welcome to your old neighborhood. >> sonia sotomayor: gracias. >> kroft: justice sonia sotomayor; her parents sh up in aublic hog projt in y >> pelou know, yr brother told us that, more than once in this neighborhood, he at up. >> sotomayor: alaughst)wi t >> why don't you just stop filming now? >> kroft: "60 minutes" has done its fair share of exposeÉs, lare and small. congressman! congressman! we blew the whistle on insider trading in congress. >> we'll make a deal, okay. >> kroft: and the never-ending parade of small-time cons, like turning back the odometers on used cars to get a better price. this is not exactly legal, right? >> bill whitlow: this is not exactly legal, no. (

saying, this time, the election is even closer than when scalia died. what do you think about the chances of delaying, simply that that was the precedent set? >> it's hard to -- the difference is that the republicans held the majority when garland was nominated. all it took was mitch mcconnell wanting to delay. democrats are the minority. but the minority has a lot of power in the senate. there are a lot of things they can do to delay this process as much as possible. and one interesting thing about kavanaugh on that front, he has a massive paper trail. that deserves to be scrutinized very carefully. you mentioned the 300 decisions. making sure that all the proper paperwork is delivered to the judiciary committee, the review is completed before the committee holds its hearings, there are ample opportunities. that are legitimate, not just throwing sand in the gears. this is a man who has a massive, massive paper trail who is being nominated. and scrutinizing that will take some time. mcconnell said he wants to hold a vote by september or october. that is

a former scalia clerk. she's a devout catholic and questions about whether that would influence her judging have galvanized her supporters, especially after a question from senator dianne feinstein. she's been an appeals court judge for eight months. has no government experience and that could count against her this time. >> and kristen welker, when we look at the white house, what is the mood there today? any hints as to what the president might be doing? and how do they explain this primetime decision, the announcement which is quite different from what prior presidents -- previous presidents have done. >> it is quite different, andrea, but we know this president likes to build the suspense. and the drama. and so it fits into that pattern that we've seen from this president. of course, he announced neil gorsuch in primetime as well. in terms of what the president is doing today, he's preparing for this announcement. and so is the white house. the war room getting ready to really roll out their campaign to

scalia was the same thing, a hard edge, heart conservative, let's overturn. kennedy was a different person. he's a conservative guy. he came up in the reagan administration when reagan was governor. he's a catholic, conservative, pro-court, but he had none of that passion that says i'm going to come in and sweep aside the 1960's and 1970's and overturn. he was much more of a temperamental moderate, status quo conservative. it was a great thing. there are not a lot of moderate republicans left in washington. that's what we're losing, the last of the sort of moderate republicans. i think the really great likelihood is the trump administration is not going to seek out a moderate republican of the anthony kennedy mold. they're going to seek out somebody who is a much more committed conservative, and much more willing to go back and say these earlier decisions were wrong. roe is certainly in that category, and we ought to the constitution right and overturn them, so i think that is where they are headed. arthur: is anyone willing to hazard a guess? if they do that

that's what it means to be an originalist, that is what antonin scalia, clarence thomas, samuel alito clearly understand who they are and what it is they revere. their friends the left-wing media, none of this matters. judge kavanaugh's impressive track record and resume doesn't seem to matter at all. the left in this country they want what's called a judicial activist. someone who will throw the constitution to the wind and write laws and legislate from the bench. someone who will use international law, not our constitution as a basis for their findings. most of all, democrats want everybody not staffed by president trump who you the american people elected. they are attacking us in trump's take before they even knew who it was and they would've attacked anybody that he chose. take a look at how members of the left are already sharpening their spears before the president's announcement last night, take a look. >> you have to remember how extensive the conservative agenda is here for the supreme court. it's not rolling back abortion rights, is not willing back gay rights, is not elimi

justice kennedy and justice scalia were appointed by a president to understood that the best defense of our liberty and a judicial branch immune from political prejudice were judges that apply the constitution as written that president happened to be ronald reagan. for this evening's announcement we are joined by ronald reagan's attorney general edwin meese was and then i speak for everyone thank you for everything you've done to protect our nation's great legal heritage in keeping with president reagan's legacy i do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions what matters is not a judge's political views but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the constitution require i am pleased to say that i have found without doubt such a person. tonight it is my honor and privilege to announce that i will nominate judge brett kavanaugh to the united states for the i know the people in this room very well they do not stand in give applause like that so they have some respect and. rhett's wife ashley and their two daughters margaret and allies have joined us on the podiu

the way they forced mcconnell to trigger the nuclear option for that nominee who replaced justice scalia. essentially, a conservative for a conservative, by going to on that nominee, they have are ready paved the way to be able to confirm this nominee without having to clear a 60 vote threshold for a filibuster this time around. it is probable that if democrats originalted that nominee, gorsuch, without forcing mcconnell to go nuclear, they would have a better argument this time around. if they had allowed trump to go through and then said because this person is going to replace kennedy and said -- instead of the skill yet seat -- scalia seat, there would have a better argument. would mcconnell still go nuclear on this? it is possible, but the arguments would need different. beonnell has said there will a vote on this nominee on the floor and confirmation this fall. host: we are talking with stephen dinan and chris cadelago. stephen dinan, i want to get your reaction to what senator orrin hatch growth over the weekend -- what to expect when the president nominates a new supreme court jus

we will not get anthony e -- kennedy, how close to scalia these people are going to be. paul: he belongs to a christian group, volunteer group called people of praise and that's been on the left criticized as somehow weird religious cult. tell us what's the real story? >> the real story is exceptional level of religious ignorance by those calling this a cult. this is a spiritual forum of the type that millions of christians belong to across the country. it's a group of people who want to take outside regular sunday church, help out each other. it's a very common place thing. look, this is going to be emblematic. when it comes to juris prudence they are topnotch. they will go after questions of biography. paul: kethledge is less known than the others because he has worked out on sixth circuit. he has written on property rights, strong con cities -- constitutional background too. kethledge and kavanaugh have the most experience. hardiman interviewed the first time, he's somebody who has an appealing background, likes him personally, maybe not the same level of jurist prude

clerk to was a law justice antonin scalia and went on to serve in the judiciary committee.e now heads the ethics and policy center,c a conservative think tank, and he comes to us today from washington. ed, thank you for joining us. it seems clear whoever the president picks, it will be a conservative. the candidates he's been talking about her conservative. let's start at the beginning. what does conservative mean? what you looking for in a "conservative"? ed: i looking for justice who faithfully applies the laws and does not import his or her own personal preferences into the law. i'm looking for someone who applies principles of ritualism and textualism in saying what the law is, who is an impartial arbiter of the law, again, not what was seen from justices on the left for such a long time. you and i both know you bring the sum total of your experience to those decisions. it's not as if it's an anti-vuitton. it's not a machine that comes out with an answer. you would not name nine people if that were the case. when you're talking about these specific areas, how important

he's served in the same court that produced supreme court justices ruth bader ginsburg, antonin scalia john roberts. kavanaugh has been reliably conservative throughout most of his career dating back to 1989 when he was a student writing for the yale law journal. >> he ultimately was one of the authors of the starr report to congress that recommended a number of grounds for impeaching president clinton including, you know, a number of misstatements, obstruction of justice, things of that nature. >> reporter: kavanaugh went on to serve as counsel under the bush administration and is considered an establishment choice for the nomination. >> you'll find him to be a very calm and thoughtful man. >> reporter: tom bossert, former homeland security adviser under president trump, knows brett kavanaugh well from his time at the bush white house. >> what people will be most surprised about over the coming days and weeks will probably be the human side of judge kavanaugh. he is a very soft, very kind, very smart individual. >> reporter: despite overwhelming support tonight, his record has raised

he was the number two last time around for justice scalia's seat.dent really liked him for his personal story. first in his family to go to college, drove a cab. he has a big second amendment case people like. and finally, amy coney barrett. she's new on the bench. trump put her in a few months ago for a lower court. she doesn't have this long list of opinions, but she's got a lot of writing that she did at notre dame. a lot of that writing is on issues regarding religion. during her confirmation hearing, senator diane feinstein talked about her religion a little bit f you remember. she said something like the dogma lives loudly in you. and that really angered conservatives. the social conservatives really like her. they think she might be a vote to overturn roe v. wade. that's the short list right now. >> okay. so of these, thomas hardiman was the front runner they called the runner-up this time but not necessarily the runner-up this time. >> it's a very interesting thing that's been going on behind the scenes. the conservatives haven't had a lot o

that is not what propels the conservative legal movement in this country what propels what justice scalia stood for. if idea that it's the business of the court to interpret the constitution faithfully and to leave your politics and you culture and your religion and everything else aside. that's what the president believes and that's what the american people want. what senator schumer and the liberals want, they want a justice that will check the boxes on their left wing extremist issues. >> neil: so when it comes to the catholicism and you've heard this -- >> i can't believe that right here and now in our country we're talking about whether catholics can engage in a vigorous public debate about the proper role of the courts and every time we open our mouths, it's about what we believe in -- >> neil: by the way, i raised this yesterday. people were talking about -- has this happened before and it had with john kennedy running for president. democrats rallied around him. he was a candidate for president but very different political environment now. is there a litmus test you look for? obvi

. >> so given he is now stepping down, how different is this from the scenario w gorsuch replaced scaliabecause it was a cservative replacing a conservative. now we have a swing vote stping down. how moment us ous is for what happens next on the supreme court? yo it is very momentous. in ne's estimation the next justice is likely to move the court to the right on a number of issues, and the chief justice will emerge as a swing vote in quite a few cases. it wl becomehe roberts court eople refer to because he will be at the center , literally as chief justice but also often as the swing vote>> let's not suggest gorsuch and scalia were tit for tat. so we already have had some right ward drift on the cou and this next nominee will send the court further to the right. >> all roht. much watch in the months to come. professor melissa murray and also attorney josh patashnic. thanks to you both. >> thank you. >> on tuesday primary elections were held in five states including new york. there veteran democrat crowley suffered a stunning defeat to 28-year-old cortez. a former organizers for bernie s

on the bench, just as co--- cilia justice scalia asked a lot of questions for a junior justice. justice powell got overheard but when justice powell let the bench, after one oral argument he said do you suppose he knows the rest of us are here? [laughter] i understand. the one thing i wanted to, it is interesting to me that there have been so many fewer chief justices of the united states than there have been presidents. you are one of 17. that's a very small number. that's a very high office. high office has a way of handicapping the occupants and restricting their freedom of movement. i am wondering if you, your obligations to be an institutionalist and to lead the court, lead you not to dissent in cases where you if it was just up to your individual druthers you might wish to write a dissent or to write a separate opinion because it may lead the court in a more splintered off fractured stage. do you feel that the weight of the office circumscribes your freedom in a way that an associate justice does not face? justice roberts: that is an interesting question. i thought about i

lawyer, a graduate of harvard law school as well and following that, he clerked for justice antonin scalia on the supreme court. he also spent time at doj as an assistant solicitor general, and has argued 16 cases before the supreme court. he has also received numerous awards and been described by chambers usa as "a rocket scientist with a keen and analytical mind, and a rising star at the appellate bar." i will resume my seat. and, let as start with you talk about the travel ban case, case that you argued. if you could talk about your impression. >> great, thank you for having me here. been doing this a bunch of times cannot and i love it. it is great to be here with all of you. of the best writers in the business, and john is a fabulous, fabulous advocate, so it is really great to be here. as you can see, i am just kind of stalling because i don't want to talk about the travel ban, [laughter] it is too painful -- i would just give you an overview of the numbers and then we could get ban.the travel justice ginsburg last year said "one can safely predict that next term will be a momentous

i think it was judge scalia who then -- and others who have said that a good judge is often not happy with the opinion they have to render because the opinion they have to render, based on the facts of the case may not be the way they'd like the case to work out at all, but that's not their job to decide how they'd like the case to work out. the judge -- the job of a judge is to judge the application of the law and the application of the constitution. you know, seven justices, including our most recent nominee to the court, judge gorsuch, have served as law clerks on the supreme court. if he happened to be-- if he's confirmed, judge kavanaugh will be the eighth. his background, his training, his work as a circuit judge appear to qualify him in a significant way. he was a supreme court clerk for judge kennedy and judge kennedy, by the way, is something that we ought to be sure we're understanding what's happening here, has been on the court for 30 years, filling a vacancy created in 1987. serving on the court for 15 years after the person that nominated him to the court died. talk abou