we re very concerned that this nominee may be selected with the intent of reversing the affordable care act protections. so it looks like the president is trying to appoint someone with an agenda on the court, and i would hope that all my senators, all my colleagues would be very concerned about that course, not just the senators who come from so-called red states, but i would hope that all senators would be concerned about this. senator dick durbin, the democratic number two in the senate, he said acknowledged really that democrats are powerless in the senate to stop this from going forward because you simply don t have the votes. there are some in the liberal base who reacted very angrily to that, essentially saying that was throwing in the towel. how far should democrats go to fight this? i expect that we ll use every tool at our disposal to, first, be able to highlight what the nominee stands for, use our opportunities to interview, use our opportunities to make sure
filibuster threshold? it was part of a process by senator mcconnell to deny president obama the opportunity for his judges to be voted on fairly before the united states senate. the republicans were holding up any nomination for the circuit court to the district. that was wrong, they were abusing their power. we need to appointing judges that will follow the law, that will be mainstream judges. that s what we need to have, not just on the supreme court, but on our court of appeals and on our district court. clearly president trump is moving us away from that. so we ve got to use every opportunity we can to make the american people understand this is about their rights. this is about a president that s just trying to get a court to ratify everything he does, whether it s immigration policies, health care policies, jeopardizing consumer rights, jeopardizing labor rights. he wants a court that will just rubber stamp his agenda. that s not what the courts are
who s going to change precedent, it could be a career-ending move. senator cardin, do you agree with that assessment? if you re a democrat and vote no, do you risk ending your career in the democratic party? i think senator cantwell is absolutely right as to the consequences of this nomination. the president is looking at a list prepared by outside groups with the intention of changing the precedent of the court particularly as it pertains to women s rights and ro roe v. wa. this is an extremely important vote for every united states senator. we need to understand that we re talking about changing the direction of the supreme court for the next generation. so yes, i am concerned that the list the president is working on has been prepared by an outside group with an intended result. senator, can you take us behind the scenes of the democratic policy lunches. this has clearly been a difficult issue to grapple with, how to fight this nomination.
in the morning, during the morning i interviewed and met with four potential justices of our great supreme court. i ll be meeting with two or three more and we ll make a decision on the united states supreme court, the new justice. that will be made over the next few days and we ll be announcing it on monday. welcome back. by this time next week, we ll know who the president s pick is to fill the supreme court seat of retiring justice anthony kennedy. with the president all but certain to pick a right-leaning nominee, the court s balance of power could shift for decades. both conservatives and liberals are fired up about what that could mean for abortion rights. republican senator susan collins, expected to be a key swing vote in this confirmation battle, said this over the weekend. a candidate for this important position who would overturn roe v. wade would not
investigation. do you think that that s an argument democrats should be making loudly as this process unfolds? i think our first point is going to be the consequences of this nominee for your rights. to me that s the most important thing is the rights that are going to be jeopardized by appointing a person who has an agenda to reverse the precedents of the court. but there s clearly an issue here of senator mcconnell being very hypocritical in the manner in which he is proceeding when he denied president obama his selection on the supreme court. i think senator booker s points about all the other issues are certainly points that need to be considered. senator, i mean i take your point on mitch mcconnell, but democrats were the ones who started chipping away at the process that used to require 60 votes for circuit court judges and for supreme court nominees. do you regret what democrats did under harry reid when they removed that circuit court