joining us now, sherrilyn ifill, president and director counsel of the naacp legal defense and education it is nice to see you. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> i wanted to ask about how you foresee the fight over judge kavanaugh's nomination? how you foresee it unfolding and whether we should look to the previous battles over his confirmation fur a lower court as a sort of predictor in terms of how things are going to unfold here. >> well, i think, rachel, it is not a predictor because i think this will be so much bigger, so much more of a brawl. the stakes are so much higher, certainly for civil rights groups, for women and many others. the stakes are as high as they can possibly be. but think about this. this is a president who is under a cloud of investigation. you've talked about this, as have other guests on your show. many of the issues that are going to emanate from the mueller investigation may make their way to the supreme court. this is a president who's flirted with the idea of pardoning himself. so this whole process is already under a cloud. and the pre

s> woodruff: sherrilyn ifill, your reaction whoa, hold up. >> because i also think it's important for local communities to find and feel and exercise their own power. it's critically important, particularly at this moment for the communities that i remember around civil rigs issues, because the federal government is so hostile to civil rights issue but to say this without recognizing that local forces are not always as benign or as integrated as the way davibed descriin the piece i think fails to take account of the elephant that sits in the middle of the rom whenever we talk about politics anddive inun athiss race. the history of this country demonstrates thaty actua racial politics has been fought most passionately at the local level. and most divisively at the local level, and sometimes most dangerously at the local level. if we tnk about the watershed moment of brown versus board of education, what the court said is, "local voices have to control the process." they should proceed with all deliberate speed, taking account of local conditions. and we all know what happened. massive

. >> sherrilyn ifill, president and director counsel of the naacp legal defense and education fund. for being with us tonight. i would like you to come back in the next few days to talk about one other element of this that's premature to talk about yet but it's going to come right in the next few days, which is the interaction of the legal and political fight here with what we're likely to see in terms of a protest movement in terms of direct action and people mobilizing on this issue. i look forward to having those conversations with you as we see this unroll. >> happy to be back. >> we'll be right back. stay with us. stay with us. >> (♪) i'm a four-year-old ring bearer with a bad habit of swallowing stuff. still won't eat my broccoli, though. and if you don't have the right overage, you could be paying for that pricey love band yourself. so get an allstate agent, and be better protected from mayhem. like me. can a ring bearer get a snack around here? looking for a hotel that fits... whoooo. ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel y

stage, welcome president and director council of the naacp legal defense and educational fund, sherrilyn ifill spanish ] >> all right. today marks the 150th anniversary of the passage of the 14th amendment to the constitution, so it's a good day to talk about justice. give the 14th amendment a round of applause. [ applause ] >> it's a good day to talk about justice. the 14th amendment articulated three critical rights that forever changed our country. first, birth right citizenship, meaning that anyone born on u.s. soil is a u.s. citizen, second, equal protection of the laws, and third, the guarantee of due process to ensure that the states could not deprive individuals of life, liberty or property without recourse. it's important to remember, especially at this moment, that the guarantees of equal protection and due process extend by the very words of the 14th amendment to every person in the united states, regardless of whether they are a citizen or not. what does this have to do with justice? well, most of us think that justice should be a by-product of equality, full citizenship and due pr