control of the senate, and if they have a say in who replaces justice kennedy on the court, things could be very bad for them. barbara, i m curious to hear your take on what s at stake with this nomination the president gets to make. well, i think one of the really key issues that s likely to confront the court in the coming years is the abortion question, roe versus wade. is there a chance it could be overturned? i don t know. as tom said, we have justice roberts now at the center of the storm here. and he has always said that stare decisis, the idea that you respect the precedence that came before is important to him. and so you would think that he s unlikely to want to reverse roe versus wade, but as president trump said in that clip you played, this justice he wants to name is likely to serve for 40 to 45 years. so even if it doesn t happen with the next makeup of the court, how about the one after that? i think that is something that is likely at stake. tom, this seat was he
give us 50 years as we look back at the scope of american jurisprudence. well, it s really impossible to overstate. what you re looking at here is the justice who really wasn t so much a swing justice, but he was a fifth vote for the left on some critical things, like abortion, affirmative action, gay rights. and that vote now will go a step to the right. and so the big barrier to making a big leap to the right in american consequence constitutional law and other issues is now going to be gone. and you re going to get somebody who s much more like a neil gorsuch who we got this term. so it s a pivot point, and it s one that we won t get to come back through again for at least another quarter century, given how long people stay on the court. phil rucker, the president s response was closely watched tonight. tell us about the donald trump you saw on display and that part we just aired about how kennedy did this now because of his confidence in donald trump to do
style of governing, but when it comes to judicial nominations, and not just supreme court nominee, but all these lower court nominees and lower court judges that don t get a lot of attention, but is important to that conservative base, that is where mitch mcconnell and his ranks have been working hand and glove with the white house in coordinating nominees, messaging, how to move these candidates quickly through the chamber. mitch mcconnell, it s a badge of honor for him, not only getting gorsuch installed last year, but also the fact that one out of every eight appeals court judges right now have been nominated by donald trump. that is a staggering number. and that is an accomplishment that mcconnell has had to coordinate with the white house to get that through. and from right away with the vacancy today, you re going to see the administration and senate republicans work together. i mean, there are obviously renegade republicans at times we see folks like jeff flake and bob corker. b
fargo to milwaukee where air force one has just landed. let s speak a little english here. is it fair to say the white house contracted out this list of potential justices to the federal society in washington? that that basically is the vetting arm, at least the first wave of vetting for these names? yeah. it does seem that most of those names do have that in common, that they are judges who have been sort of groomed by the federalist society, which, of course, is the organization that is a very conservative group that has part of its mission to groom future judges and get them on the court. so i think that s right. i think they have, i think that president trump reached out to that group. it is a group that s widely supported by conservatives and they work very hard to develop that network. tom goldstein, i want you and i to sit down and go through every name on it in a lightning round. is that a fair characterization of how that came together? that s right and that s why it wen
fargo to milwaukee where air force one has just landed. let s speak a little english here. is it fair to say the white house contracted out this list of potential justices to the federal society in washington? that that basically is the vetting arm, at least the first wave of vetting for these names? yeah. it does seem that most of those names do have that in common, that they are judges who have been sort of groomed by the federalist society, which, of course, is the organization that is a very conservative group that has part of its mission to groom future judges and get them on the court. so i think that s right. i think they have, i think that president trump reached out to that group. it is a group that s widely supported by conservatives and they work very hard to develop that network. tom goldstein, i want you and i to sit down and go through every name on it in a lightning round. is that a fair characterization of how that came together? that s right and that s why it wen