lot of americans thought of the supreme court as not simply a body that interprets the law but that could pick a president and was willing. the majority worked their will and decided who would be the next president of the united states. you now have a supreme court justice who has openly declared himself a partisan, who invoked the clinton wars, who essentially declared himself to be one of the shirts versus skins can openly to the point where he had to slightly walk it back in a wall street journal op-ed. what does that mean for the esteem of that body we re seeing being protested right now of the court if people believe it s just another branch of the legislative body in congress? i there that the past week has left an indelible stain on all of the institutions on congress, on the white house. and now on the supreme court. and that moment in the hearing
opportunity to kind of bring the band back together. right? who knows what will happen to jeff sessions after the midterms. i think all bets are off there. but in the meantime, this is an easy one for the president. josh, he s expecting payback. i presume the white house expects that kavanaugh that you now justice kavanaugh will rule their way and be in lock step or else. i think on the court it s going to be very interesting if you see it go from a court that swings back and forth with a lot of 5-4 decisions to more 6-3 decisions and seem to be leaning steadily in a conservative direction, the court will be even more viewed as a way of extending partisan power as opposed to a neutral arbiter. just yesterday, elena kagan expressed concern during remarks she gave at princeton saying without that swing vote on the court, whether it was kennedy or o connor or others before them, the legitimacy of the court may
the midterms, how this relates to november. he s been looking at polling. this is a president who likes to know about the polls. that s been true true since his campaign. he s seeing republican intensity and enthusiasm that he said something very interesting on the plane. he said he believed that mississippi speech he gave, remember when he mocked christine blasey ford for her accusation against kavanaugh, he thinks that made in his view an important difference in all of this. believing presumably that galvanized republicans. the question is whether that s a sugar high or it sustains through november. thanks very much. miking is in that crowd. we saw the police were heading up the steps of the court. a lot of protesters there. donald trump seems to believe there is as much or maybe more in his view passion on behalf of brett kavanaugh as against him. you re out there. which is it? . reporter: well, right now we re trying to avoid being
he will get all the trappings of being part of this court. he will get all the adulation that comes with being a supreme court justice. on the other hand, there will be this sense that people have with regard to him and most people you know, will not ever say it to his face, will not he ll still be justice kavanaugh. a lot of people will have questions whenever they see his name in news stories or on judicial opinions. that s what you re seeing on the steps of the court right now. the problem, joy, this is really a win-win for the president but a lose for the country. the reason i say it s a win-win, first and foremost, he is now justice kavanaugh. we have all heard his academic position, maybe not his judicial position but his academic position is that a sitting president can t be criminally investigated, indicted or tried. essentially, the judge seems to want to make him king for a day or king for a term. that is not what our country is
brett kavanaugh now has a lifetime see the on the court, ethics complaints can be sent in what do you make on the day he was worn in, more than a dozen complaints came in. it s not unusual for people to level complaints against sitting federal judges. i have seen reporting where judge hinder son of the d.c. circuit has been forwarding these complaints up to chief justice roberts in recent weeks for action. again, the reporting says no action has been taken. i suspect that because he has now been elevated, these complaints die a slow death. and i really don t think anything will come of this ultimately. ben, the swearing in of a supreme court justice is a ceremonial affair. there are aspects of our government that are purely ceremonial. they re about sort of bringing the country together for a moment that everyone should agree is part of the peaceful transfer. it s part of the way our system works. fact that this is being done in