give great consideration and great thought and due respect to prior decisions of the court. they aren t just words on paper. bill: did gorsuch answer it that way? did roberts answer it that same way? very similar. i don t know if they used those exact words but i think all of those judges who had served as judges previously before being elevated to the supreme court understand the importance of precedent. if precedent can be casually tossed aside without a second thought, then the decisions of our federal courts don t really have that much meaning. if they can be cast aside in a heartbeat. you have to approach the question of overruling any prior supreme court decision with great seriousness. it s one of the most significant serious tasks a supreme court justice can undergo. bill: you study this for a living. how long have you studied brett kavanaugh? bill: for many years. very familiar with his judge on the d.c. circuit and very impressed by the quality of his answer. bill:
other out rages will come forward. there will be 100 other things that happen between then and election day. i don t know the effect it will have on the mid-terms. i was watching the measured statement from bernie sanders last night saying the american people are on our side. that just isn t true, either. if you look at some of the polling. nbc has a poll out. 62% of americans want the nominee confirmed before mid-terms and some of these states, battleground senate states occupied by red state democrats large majorities of those constituents want to see president trump s pick confirmed. when bernie sanders makes that comment it s more about the issues at stake up against the courts. for example, there are 12 cases currently in federal courts on abortion. one of these cases could hit the supreme court. what bernie sanders and activists are saying having somebody like kavanaugh sitting with a hard 5-4 we always new
all that, that s one thing. but i don t think they can. kavanaugh is a very smart guy. he is liked by everybody who knows him, including democrats. and frankly, i wish for once they would say look, he is a good choice and we ll support him. bill: that hasn t happened yet. not yet. bill: you have been involved in some of these bruisers. robert bjork and clarence thomas. this divided a country. bork was the tipping point. do you think this gets that emotional? they knew bork was one of the greatest legal scholars whoever lived. they didn t want him on the court because they thought it could change laws in my opinion the better for decades to come.
sandra: the president s pick for the supreme court has been made. president trump tapping brett kavanaugh. welcome to a brand-new hour of america s newsroom. i m sandra smith. bill: i m bill hemmer. confirmation hearing lies straight ahead kicking off the super bowl of politics. we ll see how that goes. that brings us to today s newsroom news feed. this very evening the president of the united states will announce a brad new brand-new pick and his choice will affect the lives of americans for the years to come. breaking news to report. the president has settled on his nominee for the supreme court. the a.p. moments ago reporting it will be brett kavanaugh. there is the president now headed to the podium in what is history in the making.
of senator gillibrand. you remind me what was happening last night. they had the signs stop and fill in the blank and ready for all four nominees which goes back to my original point. they ll resist and obstruct anybody the president nominates. that s on them, not him. secondly, did you see what the women s march said? they forgot to fill in the name. it is so brilliant. bill: when senator kennedy announced his retirement a number of senators came to the white house. i think murcowski and collins were there. do you know how they feel about brett kavanaugh? that s up to those senators. we respect the fact that each senator has an individual vote and i expect that senator murcowski and senator collins will do what they always do. give a fair hearing one-on-one, meet with judge kavanaugh individually. we have the great senator john kyle from arizona, former senator of 18 years spent many years on the judiciary committee. he will be shepherding judge