If confirmed by the senate, i will keep an open mind in every case and i will always strive to preserve the constitution of the United States and the american rule of law. So kavanaugh is a graduate of Yale Law School and clerked for Justice Kennedy. In 1993 he met ken starr during a Justice Department fellowship and became a key staff member when starr was the independent counsel investigating the white water and clinton lieu ensky scandals. Kavanaugh helped write the final report to congress that laid out 11 possible grounds for impeaching president bill clinton. He served as george w. Bushs white House Counsel and Staff Secretary before he was nominated to be a federal judge in 2006. He was confirmed at that time by a vote of 5736. Now, Brett Kavanaughs nomination sets up an extremely
consequential confirmation battle. Within minutes of trumps announcement, several Top Democrats voicing their intention to vote against him. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer put out a saying that b
let s talk about judge kavanaugh. we know he has a long list, shall we say many decisions and writings that a lot of people will sift through from both sides of the aisle to make sure they re making the correct vote or not. we also know a lot of democrats are going to seize on his stance with regards to roe v. wade. that has been the talk really of washington and out side of washington in the lead-up to president trump s announcement from last night. where does kavanaugh stand on this. well, so the issue of roe v. wade is going to be enormously consequential to this confirmation hearing because brett kavanaugh could be the fifth vote on the supreme court. i emphasize could be, to overturn roe v. wade or at least weaken it substantially. you can imagine a scenario where a block of five solid conservative justices if kavanaugh is put on the court will up hold state laws that, you know, states like texas and mississippi tried to pass that would make abortion virtually inaccessible in pa
be beaten, stopped. very hard to stop. they don t have the votes. the importance with that republican days, for people, always a mystery why evangelical likes trump so much, it s because of this. they ve always pointed to the court. there s a lot of those voters sitting in red states that are going to put pressure on democrats to vote for him. yes. such a good point there. we know justice kennedy was really the swing vote in many major decisions on the supreme court. where does kavanaugh stand with regards to the ideological spectrum on the supreme court? the right. very much on the right. now you have a very conservative court. replacing kennedy, as sort of your deciders with roberts in the middle and much more conservative than kennedy was. neither side is being hyperbolic when you talk about someone on the supreme court a long time. it could be a long time before liberals have a chance to take back the court.
think about the era we live in, so polarized, divided government, almost nothing gets done in washington, the supreme court ends up becoming the most pow areful institution in some years and now it s a conservative institution and one that will have a huge affect on our business laws, social laws, how we think about abortion. these are really big cases that affect your everyday life and why the consequences are huge, why schumer would like to defeat it but i think it will be very difficult. a conservative institution for decades to come as we know. i believe kavanaugh, only 53 years old. he could sit on the supreme court the next 40 years if he wanted to. jim vandehei, thank you very much. viewers, you can sign up for the newsletter. that does it for us on this tuesday morning. morning joe, everybody, starts right now. do you enjoy having to work with him? we have a very good
i can t stress enough if you step back what a big deal this is for trump on several different levels. conservatives for 30 years had a project to try to get a conservative court and now are on the verge of having that. most republicans voted for trump largely around this idea of a conservative court, and so that 90% approval rating with the base not only will go up it is solidified his license with conservatives, it s so much stronger today than it was yesterday. because they can say, listen, you made promise. stuck to your promise. on the most kwefconsequential af your presidency. for democrats and republicans, it shows how much your votes count. you have hillary clinton cementing a liberal court for the next 30 years. a very profoundly important day. yes. you make a good point. so many voters i spoke to who voted for president trump not