elena kagan and sonia sotomayor are, every single document, not just the public documents but privatee turned over. he should be held to the same standards. >> harris: democrats know they can't stop this nomination. so my question early on before schumer and the others decided they would say it -- although the argument as they are only sitting, was why don't you have them in droves? you know elena kagan, the republican sat with her. we heard the talking point where no republicans sat with him. you know, the stalling that's going on that nan is talking about is really critical because this is not a winner for the democrats leading up to the midterm. >> you assume this will be a party boat and i'm not sure that was the case. there are some democrats considering voting for kavanaugh and there are also republicans who under circumstances if evidence is brought out against kavanaugh that show him to be unsuitable they would consider not voting for him as well. >> harris: the republicans like susan collins who have spoken up, they are looking things like roe vs. wade. that was not a litmus

with supreme court justice sonia sotomayor, hamilton biographer, many others, and later in the month the baltimore book festival held at the city's inner harbor, for more information about upcoming book fairs and festivals and to watch our previous festival coverage click the book fairs tab on our website, booktv.org. >> the old name of the village went obsolete in 1949 when the communists took the mainland and proceeded to rewrite history and street names and town names. at the local registry no one had ever heard of the places or any tongs in the area, nearby police station officers said little and offered less. we pestered strangers for some sign. quickly the inquiries took on predictable sequence, initial moment of hope, diversion from main topic and the phrase, it's not very clear, i approached a middle-age man and life of farming, before he can talk his way out, i pounced quickly, this much i learned areporter in china, when you spot prey, you cannot hesitate. have you heard of this? the man repeat it is words out loud and then as if it were to provide further illumination, he

with supreme court justice, sonia sotomayor, former secretary of state, madeleine albright and othersater in the month is the baltimore book festival. for more information about upcoming fairs and festivals and to watch our previous festival coverage, quick the book fairs tab on the website, booktv.org. >> book tv recently visited capitol hill task members of congress what they're reading the summer. >> i just read this book called the simpl sympathizer. it's the perfect book to talk about for world refuge day. i'm now reading the second book called the refugees. they are remarkable. remarkable books who captured the complexity of a refugees left those are the two books that are front and center for me right now. >> book tv wants to know what you're reading. send us your reading list on instagram or facebook. this is television for serious readers.

year in a row at the national book festival in washington washingt, where supreme court justice sonia sotomayor, hamilton biographer ron chernow, former secretary of state madeleine albright and many others. that's a look at some of what booktv will be covering this week. many of these events are open to the public. look for them to air in the near future on booktv on c-span2. >> booktv recently visited capitol hill to ask members of congress what they're reading this summer. >> i'm reading a lot this summer and kind of following up on last year when i was with you guys. first of all, thanks to are c-span. you guys take the time to go into ideas and books and the newspapers every morning. i appreciate it, my constituents appreciate all the work you do. with that, i'll kind of launch. i finished kissinger on china last year, kind of led me into some of the other books here. you know, the way the chinese think over the long term, gave some metaphors, chess and checkers. it's in the news. everything is in the news about china right now, there's a lot of russian news, it's really about can china. r

but the hearings for the last three nominees, justice sotomayor, sonia sotomayor, elena kagan, and neil gorsuch were held 48 or 49 days after the president announced that his nominations. by comparison judge kavanaugh's hearings will start 57 days after his nomination was announced. aprairntly the -- apparently the judiciary committee are in such a rush they gave the democrats an extra week to review the records. they are saying that republicans are -- progressives are doing this in an attempt to muddy the waters. they are hoping that the people will focus on the arts rather than diving into judge kavanaugh's record which is all unassailable. last week my colleagues tried to make hey out out of the fact tht they tried to receive some documents on a confidential basis. these colleagues said it was a travesty they were not being made public. they knew then these doubts were being reviewed so important information like social security numbers and other personal information could be redacted -- could be redacted and removed. in the meantime, the senators and their staff were given access to

that's the standard we followed for both of those tremendous jurors, sonia sotomayor and justice elena kagan. shouldn't we demand the same of judge brett kavanaugh? he is no different than they are on that -- on the issue of what he had to say. we ought to find out what it is and then mike up your mind. vote for him or vote against it. but, mr. president, i'm pretty sure that if we had gotten the right answers on then-mr. bybee, he never would have become judge bybee. i don't find many senators of either party who will stand up here and defend and say it was great that we broke the law on torture for dubious reasons. mr. president, i was going to suggest the absence of a quorum, but i see my friend from missouri on the floor, so i would just yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. mr. blunt: mr. president, today the senate overwhelmingly supported the conference report for the 2019 john s. mccain national defense authorization act. that report is now on the way, that bill is now on th

the same standard was applied for the next democratic nominee, sonia sotomayor. documentation had to be presented to the committee and carefully reviewed before there was a vote on whether that person would serve in a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land. most of us assumed at that point that it was a settled practice in the united states senate judiciary committee when it came to the documentary proof we would ask for when nominees came before us for the supreme court. we thought that but we were wrong because when the republicans took control, everything changed. it changed of course with antonin scalia's vacancy, untimely death, a vacancy which president obama sought to fill during his last year in office. he ended up nominating merrick garland, a d.c. circuit court judge of impeccable credentials to fill the vacancy. the republicans in the senate refused to even meet with merrick garland let alone consider him and vote on him. so for a whole year, the vacancy continued on the supreme court while the republicans broke senate tradition and refu

in 2014, i voted to confirm president obama's nominee sonia sotomayor because -- not because i agreed with her but because i thought she was obviously well qualified for the position. some senators insist that judge kavanaugh should tell them how he might decide a case. that reminds me of the story of senator howard baker, the former majority of the united states senate, who was a practicing lawyer in the mountains. he said he was once a mountain judge before a -- he had a case, boys give me just a moment, i had a telephone call and i pretty much know the facts. judges are not supposed to sty the case before the facts. that's why we have a judicial system. justice ginsburg said that she would, quote, give no hints, no forecasts, no previews of what her legal views might be in she were to be confirmed. this rule is now known as the ginsburg rule. justices are supposed to follow the law and decide cases when the cases are presented, not before justices are confirmed or while they are being confirmed. and, of course, a justice's opinion and decision can be surprising. i spent -- that's b

here's when what he said when the senate was evaluating the nomination of then-judge sonia sotomayor to the supreme court. this is what senator leahy said. we do not have to imagine what kind of judge she will be because she see what kind of judge she has been. another number of other prominent democrats echoed that sentiment, including my friend, the democratic leader. he called republican requests for additional documents related to the sotomayor nomination as a fishing expedition and said republicans were grasping at straws. my friend from new york said everybody knows that then-judge sotomayor's record on the bench was the best way to evaluate her nomination. so i hope that our democratic colleagues who are demanding even more documents have taken the time to read the 12 years of opinions from judge kavanaugh that they already have and that -- and that, of course, will underscore exemplary service on the second highest court in the nation. because when it was the supreme court nominee of a democratic president, they themselves insisted that judicial opinions were more important t