WEBVTT - Becoming Justice Barrett 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:05.200 The Supreme Court Confirmation hearings have just ended on Capitol Hill, 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:08.080 which means that Senator Cruz has got to go do 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:10.680 his second job, which is to come on over to 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:14.920 the studio with us. This is an extraordinarily consequential week. 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:19.040 This could fundamentally reshape the balance of power on the 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.279 Supreme Court. And we're about to talk to a guy 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.040 who sat through all twelve hours of the hearings. This 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:33.040 is Verdict with Ted Cruz. Welcome back to Verdict with 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.519 Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles, Senator. It occurs to me 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.760 as we sit here about to discuss the Supreme Court 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:45.519 Confirmation hearings. We've got impeachment, We've had the COVID quarantines, 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.959 we have the Supreme Court confirmation hearies. With the possible 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.360 exception of murder Hornets. You have been at the center 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:56.160 of just about every major story of twenty twenty and 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:57.840 maybe I don't know, maybe you've been involved in murder 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:02.280 Hornets too. I don't know. Well, I will say this 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:07.120 this that podcast feels reminiscent of the beginnings of Verdict 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:11.240 and and and spending all day then in the impeachment trial, 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:17.399 now in the Judge Barrett confirmation hearings and then recording 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:20.480 this late in the evening, although it's only what is it, 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:23.640 nine twenty nine thirty as compared to midnight or one 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.840 in the morning, So we're we're we're more humane than 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:30.320 that than we started. But it is, uh, look, it's 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:32.360 it's it's. Part of what this podcast is all about 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.280 is to is to try to bring folks inside the 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.520 battles real time as they're playing out in Washington, and 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:41.480 that's what we're doing right now. I think in this 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.160 case to Senator maybe some people were watching all of 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.960 the impeachment hearings. I don't think anybody has been sitting 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:51.760 through all twelve hours of the Supreme Court confirmation hearings, 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.440 And frankly, I think a lot of people, and I 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.400 include myself in this to some degree, don't even really 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.920 know how this whole process plays out. So I want 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:03.240 to get into the specific moments and how you're shaping 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:05.760 the process. But I'd like to begin just by zooming 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:11.040 out and asking what was today, What is the timeline 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.800 going to look like? And is this judge going to 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.520 be confirmed to the Supreme Court. So I think today 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:21.079 was a very consequential day today we now know Judge 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.840 Barrett is going to be Justice Barrett. Today was the 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.560 first big day of questioning. So the way this is 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.359 play played out. The President made his announcement a couple 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.919 of weeks ago of Judge Barrett as the nominee. We 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.200 had a couple of weeks where she filled out there's 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:42.560 a whole elaborate questionnaire that a Supreme Court nominee has 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:44.960 to fill out to the Senate that that requires them 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:49.399 to turn over any writings they've had, a speeches they've given. 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.600 They're all these elaborate questions that any judicial nominee has 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.320 to submit and that takes a little bit of time 0:02:55.360 --> 0:03:00.480 to compile. And then the hearing started. This week started yesterday, 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:04.000 so but yesterday was just opening statements. So everyone had 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.360 a ten minute opening statement and Judge Barrett had to 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:08.960 sit there and listen to each of us talk for 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:13.840 ten minutes. And then she gave her opening statement and 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:17.000 it was a very brief. It was introductory, and it 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:19.520 was introducing her family. She had her kids there, so 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.040 she introduced her husband and her kids she had. She's 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.600 got six brothers and sisters, so she introduced them. That 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:30.000 was yesterday, So today is when the questioning started and 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:32.840 the way it worked today as every senator got thirty 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:37.760 minutes of questioning, so it alternated Democrat Republican, Democrat Republican 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:40.600 thirty minutes to each and so Judge Barrett is there 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.720 just answering the questions. And the reason I say today 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.120 as when we know that she's going to be confirmed, 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:49.520 is because the Democrats couldn't lay a glove on her. 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:54.040 I mean they that they really had. There was no 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:58.600 moment in the hearing where they not even scored blood, 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.000 where they even put a nick in her. I think 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.560 she was a fabulous witness. She was calm, she was cool, 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:10.520 she was collected. She had and has I think a 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:15.480 very scholarly, a very judicial demeanor. She was unflappable, and 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:19.720 there were some moments where she could have been forgiven 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:25.640 for flapping and she didn't. But I think every bit 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:27.599 as revealing as the fact that they didn't lay a 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.120 glove on her is for a lot of them, they 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:35.560 didn't even really try. What I read today as is 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.360 the Democrats have basically given up that they know they 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:39.960 don't have the votes, they know they're not going to 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.560 stop her, they don't have any substantive issue, and so 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:47.160 they're going through the motions. But but it actually felt 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:50.200 today like like more than a few of the Democratic 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:52.680 senators were basically phoning it in like they had to, 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.160 they had to fill their thirty minutes, but they didn't 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.360 really believe they were going to get anywhere in terms 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.520 of stopping the nomination. I know, early on when Judge 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.920 Barrett was announced in the nominee, you heard what I 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:10.320 felt were very ugly and politically ill advised attacks on 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.760 her family and on her religion, and the attacks didn't 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.000 play very well. And fortunately we're not really seeing any 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.719 more of those. I remember Dick Durban, now the number 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.640 two Democrat in the Senate. He came out and more 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:25.960 or less said that all Democrats could do was slow 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.560 this thing down a little bit, but ultimately they couldn't 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.520 do anything to stop Barrett on the court. So if 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.120 they're not going to lob those attacks, and the attacks 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:37.760 they're lobbing aren't working, what are they doing? What was 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.720 the line of questioning that the Democrats were pursuing. So 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.760 there was an iron needed Durban putting that message out 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.760 because the last time Judge Barrett was up, when she 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.680 was nominated at the Court of Appeals. Durban was one 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:52.640 of the people who went after her for her faith, 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:55.520 and he asked her then, this is three years ago, 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:01.640 if she was an Orthodox Catholic. Orthodox was the adjective 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.880 he used. Now, I'm pretty sure that she's not a 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.680 member of the Greek Orthodox or Russian Orthodox churches, So 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.520 I'm not Look, you're Catholic. What is an Orthodox Catholic 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:17.840 other than beyond I guess from a Senate Democrats perspective, 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:19.920 someone who actually believes the stuff. I think that's what 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:21.760 he meant by it. But I think you've hit the 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:23.920 nail on the head. She's not Eastern Orthodox. She doesn't 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.359 have one of those long beards. She is Catholic, and 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.640 she's Orthodox, meaning she believes what the Catholic Church believes. 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.520 This would be as opposed to say, a Heterodox Catholic 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.880 such as I'm just throwing out a name here, the 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:38.880 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who says that he does 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.520 not agree with the Church on certain issues. So I 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:45.160 can understand Senator Durban's confusion. He probably doesn't know very 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.400 many Orthodox Catholics. But as you say, I recall that 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.200 attack did not play very well for Senator Durban three 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.800 years ago, and I think he probably wanted to caution 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:58.680 his colleagues now well. Feinstein infamously said, with regarded Judge 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:03.040 Barrett three years ago, the dogma lives loudly in this one. 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:07.359 And it was a moment of really I think contempt 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:11.080 and religious bigotry that that backfired, as I'm glad it did. 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.400 I'm glad the reaction was so strong. So somebody sent 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.880 out the marching orders to the Democrats, don't go down 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:22.200 the road of the attacks on faith again and listen. 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.480 For whatever reason, the Democrats, when they get talking points, 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.680 they stick to them. And so it was order, you're 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.760 not allowed to attacker on this, and they all stayed 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:35.080 away from it. So that's good. I mean that. I 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:37.280 think they were nervous about the election coming up in 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.760 a couple of weeks, and they didn't want to tick 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.520 off Catholic voters or people of faith because it's it's 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.080 persecuting someone, you know. Maintaining the position that no one 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:50.840 of faith can be a judge is a pretty extreme position, 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.160 and it's also on constitutional I mean the Constitution explicitly, 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.400 the text of the Constitution prohibits a religious test for 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:02.480 anyone serving in public office. Given that, what's interesting is 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:06.440 they didn't even really decide to go after her record, 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.760 to go after anything. The principal talking points that the 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:15.600 Democrats are emphasizing is attacking the President. That they're just 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.800 using this to say Trump, Trump bad, Orange Man bad, 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:23.920 and it's all about Obamacare. It's all about Obamacare. And 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:31.760 their argument is that if Judge Verridis confirm, the Supreme 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:36.760 Court will strike down Obamacare, and a gazillion people will 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.439 be denied healthcare and people with pre existing conditions will 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:44.240 be denied healthcare. And they basically are making it's You've 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.640 got to be impressed at the discipline that virtually every 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.160 Democrat says that almost word for word. I mean, they 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:54.120 read from their talking points, and the arguments they're making 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:59.000 are not judicial arguments. They're not actually arguments. It's not 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:04.240 the Supreme Courts to decide them. Listen, every Senator agrees 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.760 we're going to protect pre existing conditions. Every Republican agrees 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:11.880 with that, Every Democrat agrees with that. Now their disagreements 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.800 on how you protect pre existing conditions. And I think 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.400 Obamacare has been a train wreck. It's driven premiums through 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.400 the roof, and it's very unpopular, but that is a 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:27.400 policy question for Congress to debate. That's not the Court 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:32.239 is not going to decide what's the best system of healthcare. 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.680 And so one of the main general election arguments the 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.520 Democrats are mounting is this pre existing conditions attack. And 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.920 it was striking a number of the Democrats. They all 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.000 but ignored Judge Barrett. They just had their talking points 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.600 Trump pat you and wants everyone to die and it, 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:51.480 and you know, Judge Barrett just kind of sat there 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:53.760 and smiled. Well, I mean, you know, that was not 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.720 directed to her and her fitness and record to serve 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.000 on the court, I thought, But I thought it was 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.640 interesting how halfhearted they were and going after her. They 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.920 barely tried well on the healthcare point. I was speaking 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:11.240 to a fairly prominent Democrat operative during the mid terms 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.360 a couple of years ago, and this operative told me 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:18.160 that basically the only winning issue for Democrats was healthcare 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:20.720 and not Obamacare, by the way, just sort of broad 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:24.760 healthcare reform, healthcare protections, right, because the promises on the 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.400 campaign trailer always We're going to give you a lot 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.199 of free stuff, and it's going to make everybody healthier 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.040 and better, So they keep hammering that home. It's obviously 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:36.320 much less contentious than say abortion or going after somebody's 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:38.320 faith or something to that effect. Well, you know, in 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:42.480 twenty eighteen, Chuck Schumer dropped several million dollars in attack 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:46.560 ads against me in the closing week of my reelection campaign, 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.440 and it was all pre existing conditions. It was ted 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.720 once to takeaway coverage preexisting conditions. Now we immediately pivoted 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:55.079 and hit him back and said, no, we're going to 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.920 protect preexisting conditions. And you've driven costs through the roof 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.640 and people can't afford health here and it. I mean, 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.280 we have always been a very data driven operation, and 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:09.560 the polling showed that when we counterpunched, it completely neutralized 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.240 the attack. But they put hundreds of millions of dollars 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.719 behind that attack nationally in twenty eighteen, and they're doing 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.000 it again this cycle. Well, I want to get into 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.640 those hundreds of millions of dollars because I agree with 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:22.800 you watching I didn't watch twelve hours of it today, 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.280 but watching what I did, it did seem halfhearted. Senator 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:29.280 Feinstein went for a row versus Wade that kind of flopped. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.920 I felt Kamala Harris flopped. I just felt so many 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.040 of the attacks were weak. The only one that caught 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:37.840 my interest was from your colleague, the Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:43.120 who launched an attack at the funding of the conservative 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:47.680 judicial movement, basically saying that dark money was behind the 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.680 selection of Judge Barrett. And then he didn't quite explain 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.880 what that meant. But the conclusion, of course was Barrett 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.000 is an illegitimate nominee and there's no way we should 0:11:56.000 --> 0:12:00.240 confirm her. Where is all that dark money? Senator? So 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:05.280 I it was a fairly extraordinary So Sheldon talked for 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.560 thirty minutes. He didn't ask Judge Barrett a single question, 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.560 So she just sat there while he put on and 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.120 he had these little charts he had and it was interesting. 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:17.320 Ben Sass later in the afternoon referred to it as 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:25.359 a beautiful mind presentation. But there's a reason for his presentation. 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:30.800 So white House has been pushing this for a long time. 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.280 There's a concerted effort to delegitimize the court, and that's 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.120 part of his narrative, is that he says that that 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:45.199 secretive corporate billionaires are funding Republicans, and the Court is 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:48.000 bought and paid for, and it's illegitimate. And this is 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:52.079 connected to their whole effort to pack the court. This 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.760 is all Sheldon's objective is to delegitimize the Supreme Court. 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:01.400 And my questioning was immediately after his. And that's usually 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:05.160 the case in terms of the seniority. I normally go 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:10.319 between white House and Klobuchar, and so often I'm often 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.120 have a chance to respond to white House, and then 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.880 Klobuchar is discovered. She gets lots of likes when she 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:18.240 likes says something nasty about me, which is Amy and 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.280 I actually get along quite well, but it makes it 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:23.480 makes lefties really happy when she attacks me. So she 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.440 often will chime, you're going to totally kill her credibility. 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:28.600 Now that you say that you and she get along 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.360 very well. There go all the Facebook likes. So white 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.079 House I took the chance to really lay into his 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:37.959 premise as as you know, in the world of campaign 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.520 finance reforms. So and this is something Sheldon says all 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:42.320 the time, but Democrats say all the time is big 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:46.200 money is behind the Republicans. It just happens to be. 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:48.920 There's a lot more big money behind Democrats. That that 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:50.840 if you want to know where the big money is. 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:55.080 So if you look at, for example, in twenty sixteen, 0:13:56.160 --> 0:14:00.880 of the top twenty superpack donors in America, do you 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:04.160 know how many gave almost exclusively to Democrats. Of the 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:08.880 top twenty fourteen gave almost exclusively to Democrats, three gave 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.360 about evenly Democrat and Republican, and only two of the 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:17.160 top twenty gave primarily to Republicans. It's overwhelmingly and by 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:19.720 the way, the difference in dollars and that cycle twenty 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:24.040 sixteen cycle h Republicans had one hundred and eighty nine 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:28.120 million dollars spent supporting their elections. Democrats had four hundred 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.600 and twenty two million dollars. And it was you know, 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.400 and and and you know, Sheldon was bellowing, you know, 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:37.400 these mysterious dark money donors, they want something for it, 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.360 they want something. You don't give that kind of money 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:41.800 for nothing. I mean, he was, he was, I was 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.680 really tempted to jump in and be you know, Sheldon, 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:47.240 that they're decaffeinated brands of the market that are just 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:54.080 as tasty just to relax their son. But look, if 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:59.000 you look at this cycle, the fortune five hundred overwhelmingly 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.120 supporting Joe Biden over Donald Trump. Wall Street overwhelmingly supporting 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:09.560 Joe Biden over Trump. The entire narrative that it's big 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:15.120 corporate interests supporting Republicans. It's just not right. What you've 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.720 pointed to here, Senator, I think is key because I couldn't. 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:20.000 I couldn't make sense of it. I knew that he 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:21.960 was putting on a big show, but the whole time 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.360 I was watching it, I thought, what is the point 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.320 he's trying to make? You know, he had step one 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:31.080 raise a lot of money. Step two, I don't know. 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.040 Step three you have a judge on the court, but 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:35.080 then often the judges disappoint the people who want to 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.240 appoint them. Anyway, I just couldn't get what the point was. 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.800 But what you're saying is there's no point about the money. 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:46.480 It's simply part of a broader performance to delegitimize the court. Yes, 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.520 and that, and it's also to say the court has 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.240 bought and paid for. But it's also to justify a 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.720 democratic power grab and a regulation of speech. And so 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:02.160 I used my questioning to talk quite a bit about 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:07.160 what the Democrats want to see from left wing Supreme 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.200 Court justices. As you know, my new book came out 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:12.080 a couple of weeks ago, One Vote Away, How a 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.600 single seat on the Supreme Court can change history? A 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.320 New York Times bestseller, I believe, is that correct? It is, 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.400 and it was the number one bestseller in the country 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.040 on Amazon, So I mean it really A lot of 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:22.680 people have been buying it. A lot of folks who 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.280 listened to Verdict, thank you for that. I appreciate that 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:31.480 there's a chapter in the book on Citizens United. And 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:35.240 so my questioning today, I wanted to explain, you know, 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.240 a lot of folks have heard of Citizens United, but 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:39.000 they don't know what the case is about. They know 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:44.920 Democrats hate it, and so I explain Citizens United was 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:50.040 at its heart about whether we can criticize politicians, and 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:53.320 in particular, so what happened. Citizens United is a small 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:57.920 nonprofit organization based in DC. They made a movie that 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.880 was critical of Hillary Clinton, and the Obama Justice Department 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.959 went after them and wanted to be able to find 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:09.080 them for daring to criticize Hillary Clinton in a movie. 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:11.800 And the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.200 and there was one exchange at the oral argument Michael 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:19.919 that was really chilling. Where Justice sam Alito asked the 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:24.800 lawyer for the Obama Justice Department, said, under your theory 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:30.679 of the case, can the government ban books? And the 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.800 Obama Justice Department lawyer said, yes, yes, the government can 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:39.119 ban books if they're critical of a politician. And ultimately 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:44.960 the court struck that down five to four. But there 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:48.160 were four justices ready to say that the government can 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:52.600 ban movies and the government can ban books. And it's 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.439 what I tried to do in the book, want to 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:58.520 vote away, as every chapter emphasizes, Look, we had four 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.720 votes to say the government, never mind what the First 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.080 Amendment says, never mind free speech. The government has the 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.840 power to ban movies or books if they don't like 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.680 the content of them. That's really terrified. And that's what 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.080 white House and the other Democrats were trying to build 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.800 the predicate for. They want to be in charge, frankly, 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.760 of silencing you, of silencing me, of silencing anyone who 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:23.359 says something they disagree with. Before we get to mailbag, 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:25.600 I do want to get to a mailbag question. I 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.040 do have to ask this though, Senator, I know we 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.920 had all been joking on the right that the Democrats 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:34.040 were going to pull a Cavanaugh on Judge Barrett that 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.080 they were going to accuse her of sexual harassment or 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.320 something like that, and then tell me I'm crazy, tell 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.160 me I misheard it while I was watching today. Did 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:48.880 Senator Mazie Harrono of Hawaii actually ask Judge Barrett if 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.880 she had sexually harassed anybody since you became a legal adult. 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:57.080 Have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:01.760 committed any verbal or physical harassment assault of a sexual nature? No, 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.360 Senator Horono. Have you ever faced discipline or entered into 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.600 a settlement related to this kind of conduct? No, Senator. 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.200 So she did, and I will admit it was one 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.159 of the most incongruous moments. Like, if you were to 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:22.119 pick perhaps the least likely person on planet Earth to 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:25.760 sexually harass someone, it may well be Judge Amy Coney Barrett, 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:32.760 I will say in Mazie Horono's defense, and I don't 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:39.520 often come to Mazie's defense. She consistently asked that question 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.880 of every nominee before her, and she's done that since 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:48.600 she got elected. And so it's if you're nominated to 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.160 be a judge, if you're nominated to be in anything 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:54.439 where Mazie is going to be on the committee confirming you, 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:58.720 she will ask that same question. And I actually respect 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.880 that she asked that. I mean, I think it certainly 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.840 caused a lot of nominees to think twice about, Okay, 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.159 how are they going to answer it? And look, I 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:11.399 think it's a reasonable thing for the Senate to ask, 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.840 and I think it's fine that she applies it even 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.320 handedly and consistently. I think it's actually a good thing 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:20.280 that she applies it to everyone. Well, a very fine 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:22.480 kind word to say about Senator her own. And I 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.120 think we're all very pleased that Judge Barrett was able 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:29.479 to answer that very quickly. They moved on before we go, 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:31.480 we've only got a couple of minutes left. I do 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:34.120 want to get to a couple of mail bag questions. 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:37.600 This first one is from I promise you this is 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.679 not my account. I think it's a listener or verdict. 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:43.679 The account is verdict Sir Noel's commander of the British Empire, 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:48.320 not me. What would happen if the Senate majority just 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:52.400 refused to fill a Supreme Court vacancy for an extended 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:54.680 period of time, so not a few months of a campaign, 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:58.680 but let's say two years or three years, look, the 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:02.800 seat would remain vacant. You know, it does seem we 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:06.840 are moving in that direction where I am not sure 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:10.800 we will see a Senate filling Supreme Court seats for 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:17.120 the opposite parties president, and it's just judicial nominees. If, 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:22.639 for example, we started next year with let's suppose Trump 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:26.439 won and Schumer took the Senate, I think the odds 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:28.840 are pretty high that they might not even fill any 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:33.280 Court of Appeals judge seats. At a minimum, if you 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:36.600 had the Senate and the president of opposing parties, there 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:40.840 would have to be major compromise on the nominee to 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.800 get someone through, because I think it has become such 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:48.320 a partisan divide in terms of what people are looking 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.120 for in judges that I think both parties right now 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:59.280 would be hesitant to although to be fair, Republicans have 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:04.159 demonstrate did a lot more willingness to confirm Democratic nominees 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:09.520 than vice versa. I remember, I think it was Justice Kennedy, 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:13.800 but as recently as Justice Kennedy was confirmed unanimously, Justice 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:18.320 Ginsberg was confirmed overwhelmingly. Now it seems that all of 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:21.000 these are the are the biggest battleground of all well 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:24.920 looks and Soda Mayor and Kagan. So both of Obama's appointees, 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:27.360 there were a number of Republicans that voted to confirm them. 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:30.280 So there were many more Republicans I forget. I wasn't 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:33.600 there for Sodomayor and Kagan, but so Lindsay Graham voted 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:36.000 to confirm both of them. You remember when he got 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:39.840 Lindsay got so mad at the Kavanaugh thing, and he 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:42.720 kind of blew up and had sort of the viral moment. 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:45.320 In fact, I told you when Lindsay did that, my 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:47.760 mom texted me and said, Okay, I love Lindsay Graham. 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:52.680 Now that was in the Kavanaugh hearing it And by 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:56.640 the way, my mom is quite conservative, and I think 0:22:56.640 --> 0:23:00.680 it's fair to say she did not previously lovely. And 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:04.480 so the passion with which he unloaded. But one of 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:06.399 the things he said there is he said he voted 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:10.160 to confirm both Sodamar and Kagan, and the Democrats had 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:14.920 none of that reciprocity for Trump's nominees. One last question 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:16.720 before we go. I know this is on a lot 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:19.080 of people's minds because they keep asking me about it. 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:22.439 This is from coal. Coal is a poly sized student 0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:29.080 in Wisconsin. What is the difference between originalism and textualism. 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:32.240 We hear these terms use as if they are synonyms, 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:35.359 but they're not synonyms, right, So they're not. And the 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:40.960 simplest difference is originalism refers to the Constitution and textualism 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:44.800 refers to statutes, which are federal laws passed by Congress. 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:48.399 But it's not the Constitution. So let's unpack that a 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:51.240