jeffrey, there is so much attention placed on the supreme court of the united states, often out of the limelight is the repopulating of the federal bench, the district court and circuit court level. that s fully under way and this president is leaving his thumbprint there. there it s so important and especially as the supreme court under chief justice john roberts may be inclined to duck controversial questions, ba us the chief is trying to create bipartisan anonymity. that leaves hugely important questions ranging from new travel ban questions to the affordable care act. possibly to the president s use of emergency powers could be resolved not at the supreme court, in a lower court. that s why those appointments are essential for americans to pay attention to. finally, am i nay niave in thinking we may at some point in the future get cameras in the supreme court of the united states? i love you have done that from the confirmation hearings. the younger justices are for
it has been such an insane week of major news that the president s nomination of brett kavanaugh to replace antony kennedy on the supreme court seems like eons ago, polarizing debate remain, since he s young enough, it s worth discussing what we can and can t learn about his views. on roe versus wade, once the confirmation hearings begin. joining me, jeffrey rossen, he is a professor at george washington law school and a contributing editor at the atlantic and today s wall street journal, what we can learn from supreme court confirmation hearings. hey, jeffrey, i have a short montage of recent hearings i
and say in 1992, justice kennedy affirmed roe for three reasons, it is embedded in society and second the test was unworkable. third, there were no social changes that you would called it into question. judge kavanaugh, do you agree with justice kennedy or are any of those three other factors different? if he demurrers, you say, judge kavanaugh, conservative judgments say certain cases like roe become super precedents, they are extended in future cases. you can be off and running. you argue in the journal today. i think very effectively, jeffrey, that these are not theater, there is actually a lot of substance there to be gleaned. it s remarkable how educational these hearings are.
non-partisan mandate. the court is going to be under scrutiny because of the confirmation process. justice gorsuch is going to have to prove to the american people that he really embodies something more than a 5-4 majority. when we were talking together on friday and were talking about some democrats in their opposition, one of their complaints was big business. and where justice gorsuch, judge gorsuch will fall in terms of big business. you wrote in the atlantic a few weeks ago about his alleged pro-business views, but he may have a more nuanced view of them on the court? reporter:es, justice gorsuch is more pro-business. so he could be more liberal than justice scalia. jeff rossen is the president s ceo of the national constitution center and a professor at the george washington university law school. all right. we re just passed the bottom of
if it s a big deal, they could re-argue it later this term. but he could be the decisive vote if there are any of the 4-4 ties we have not heard about it. pete, thanks, as always, for bringing us up to speed on what it all means. joining us now is george washington university law school professor jeffrey rossen. and he s the pastor of the national constitution center, it was established by congress in 1988 to share information about the united states constitution on a non-partisan basis. jeff, you were with me when the vote happened where neil gorsuch was confirmed by the u.s. senate on friday. now you re with me as he gets sworn in. let me ask you this, for a lot of americans, they cast their ballot on one important issue, a nominee to the supreme court with many democrats saying they wanted a nominee who would confirm and continue row v. wade. and many are saying the second amendment is another big issue.