WEBVTT - How Supreme Court Nominations Work 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.640 Welcome to stuff you should know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:13.840 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.920 There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry over there, and 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:22.919 this is who I object to what I don't know. 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.360 I don't think you object them from the Supreme Court. 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:27.440 I think they strike you down with lightning if you 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:32.440 talk out of turn. Yeah did they even uh geez, 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.120 I'd love to see one of those hearings. Yeah, they 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:41.760 even call them hearings. Uh, magic our right, I don't know. 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.239 I'm sure they do call them hearings. I'm almost positive 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:47.639 it's like shrouded in secrecy though, right, you never know. 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:51.839 I don't show that stuff on TV, do they like? No, 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:54.920 but they do have like like if you listen to 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:59.320 Nina Totenberg, she's a great Supreme Court reporter, and um, 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:03.320 it's all. It's not televised and I guess it is 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:07.039 just traditional reporting reporters that are allowed in there. But 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.040 it's not closed to the press or and he's not 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:12.080 like a Pasi court or it's not it's not the 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:16.560 Star Chamber. No, no, uh, it's interesting though, it's it 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.120 is sort of it does seem sort of secretive though, 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.000 because they like write these rulings. Sometimes they don't even 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.640 read them. I saw that Clarence Thomas went seven years 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:29.320 without speaking in court. What Yeah, that's what it said. 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:33.319 Where did you see that? In an article about Clarence Thomas. 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.920 It said he he's one of the quietest justices. That 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.120 said he went at one point seven years without speaking 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:42.720 in court. But apparently writes a lot in his uh 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.520 um rulings and you know, his briefs, his briefs, he 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:48.520 writes in his briefs. Yeah, I can see that because 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.880 I guess when you're in court, you're arguing in front 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.680 of the Supreme Court, I think basically, and we'll do 0:01:53.840 --> 0:02:00.000 like a whole separate Supreme Court episode. Yeah right, agreed, Sure, okay, um, 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:05.360 somebody mark that town. But you are, you're being peppered 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:08.799 with questions from them and then like you're you're trying 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.480 to answer the questions to to show why your side 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:15.040 is right right and arguing the case right now here 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.640 and intimidates you. Um. But yeah, part of it is 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:22.680 going back thinking about it and then writing your opinion 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:26.680 on It's very weird job. It is. It's a pretty 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.400 neat job. Too. One of the big things about it 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.600 is it's in here in the United States. If you 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.880 are on the Supreme Court's the highest court in the land, 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:38.480 you're there for life. It's a it's a life appointment. 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.200 Is the only as far as I know, besides you know, 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.440 um working at the d M v AM. I right, 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:51.880 it's the only for life appointment in the United States government. Yeah, 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.839 which seems like kind of crazy, but it also sort 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.560 of makes sense because you want you want a stable 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.800 Supreme Court. Yeah, you want them focusing on cases, not 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.560 you know, what's going on, whether they need to elected 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.200 again or campaign. That makes it makes sense once you 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:10.680 kind of put your head to it. Plus, it also 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.160 kind of dovetails with the way that they're viewed here 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.960 in this country and I'm sure abroad to um that 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:23.080 they are this panel of highly learned legal scholars just 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:29.040 basically like um uh, I don't know. I'm sure there's 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:33.040 something in Star Wars that resembles this. You know, the 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.680 Jedi Council. Oh man, I'm always afraid to say, hang 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.560 about Star Wars. You know, the Jedi Council that John 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.120 jar Binks was on. Okay, Yeah, we won't hear anything 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.400 about that. How could we write? Uh so this was 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.480 written by our old buddy Ed Grabbynowski. Yes, should we 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.880 tell everybody? Should we reveal the big reveal? Do we 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:55.960 have an announcement? I think so? All right, go ahead. 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.400 Oh you're letting me do it so everybody. You may 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.000 not know that because we tried to stretch out Grabstar 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.120 articles as much as we could, but they were starting 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.760 to get thin. Ye, Crabster wasn't really writing for the 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.360 site any longer. While we said enough of this, we 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:11.960 need them, you need them bad. So we did a 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:16.719 little wheeling tad bitter dealing and Grabster is going to 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:21.240 be writing again, specifically topics that we are requesting. Yeah, 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.279 it's pretty great. Like you and I were both so excited, stoked, 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.600 I think is the word. Yeah. So anyway, we love 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.080 Ed and uh big shout out to him and to 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:35.000 Buffalo New York and their wings and their football team. 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:39.440 Sure why not? So anyway Ed wrote this, Um, and 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.720 you know, it's a great article. So, like you said, 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:44.520 I think we kind of duve into it really quickly. 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.280 But um, if you're not in the United States, you 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:49.600 might be saying, what's the Supreme Court? Although I think 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:51.640 you probably know. Um, like you said, they are the 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:56.240 highest court and um, they're the third branch of our government. Uh. 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:00.880 And they are specifically specifically air to kind of keep 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.839 everyone in check and to say, like, you know, you 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:08.119 may be the president, but you're not a dictator because 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:10.440 you still have to answer to the Supreme Court at 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:12.320 the end of the day. You can't run a monk. 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:17.120 And we're gonna we're gonna make sure that we and 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:18.840 this is ideally, we're going to make sure that we 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:22.760 review everything in a in a legal way, and we're 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:26.039 gonna get to ideology. You can't escape that, of course, 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.480 but you know, Supreme Court justices are supposed to rule 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.080 on law and specifically these days at least how it 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:37.320 relates to the Constitution. Yeah, and that's a It wasn't 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.640 their initial They weren't created to say, like, go defend 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.160 the Constitution. Uh. And the the Supreme Court said, well, 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:47.839 can we sow some patches or bedazzle our robes? And 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.440 the framers said sure, we don't care, so they went 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:55.359 out and defended the constitution. It actually is very vague. 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.040 The judicial branch or the Supreme Court is created in 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.680 the Constitution, but all it says is that they are 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:07.840 there to UM. They that it's power should shall quote 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.200 extend to all cases in law and equity arising under 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:15.200 this constitution. That's it. It's the only thing it mentions 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:18.400 about the Supreme Court and its power. So Ever since 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:22.840 the Constitution was written and ratified, the Supreme Court has 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.400 kind of been this evolving thing, or it was evolving 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.640 for a while. Now it's pretty well set into into 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.960 its role and what it's meant to do. What evolves 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.599 and changes are, like you said, the ideology and the 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.560 personality of the of the people sitting on the court. Yeah, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.520 and their word is the final word. Um. There there 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:45.520 is no court that can overturn or review even their decisions. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.839 And they review. They have about five thousand cases submitted 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.280 every year and can only review about a hundred to 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.080 a hundred and fifty, which I thought was kind of 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:58.400 a lot. Actually, yeah, I was not expecting that. UM. 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.239 And they specifically try now, like we said, and focus 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:05.479 on the constitution or UM usually cases that have been 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.600 appealed from lower federal courts. You know, they worked their 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.400 way up to food chain um or and I think 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.800 they probably love these uh treason cases involving treason or 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.680 disputes with other countries or ambassadors kind of like you know, 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:22.440 the high stakes stuff. Imagine being an ambassador and getting 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:24.560 dragged in front of the Supreme Court for something you 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:28.840 did being or your kid did. Yeah, probably a little 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:32.400 snot nosed brats ambassador kids. So like, like I was saying, 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.880 the the Constitution is pretty vague about what the Supreme 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.640 Court is meant to do. And it wasn't even out 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.040 of the gate that they realized that they were supposed 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:45.960 to really kind of examine laws in respect to the Constitution. 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:50.680 That started in an eighteen oh three case Marbury versus Madison, 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:55.040 and it was yeah, it was a landmark watershed case 0:07:55.400 --> 0:08:00.280 both both kinds um and ironically, the court found owned 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:04.920 that it didn't have the power to satisfy the petitions 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:11.800 of the petitioners. I think James Madison or no, Stephan 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:17.280 Marberry was suing James Madison because James Madison had said, um, 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.640 we'll give you these commissions and then he was taken 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.160 out of office or he phased out of office and 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:27.040 the commissions were forfeited, and the Supreme Court said, you know, 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:28.760 we thought we had the power to do this, but 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:33.000 it turns out we don't constitutionally, so sorry. And it 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.800 was the first time that the Supreme Court had ever 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.160 examined something through the lens of the Constitution, and that 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:42.560 set the precedent from then on. Yeah. And they serve, well, 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.120 they serve kind of however long they want to or 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.840 if they die obviously, but the average about fourteen years 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:53.079 UM or if they retire, they average retirement age seventy 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.560 one UM. But they can serve super long. And I 0:08:55.600 --> 0:09:00.120 know that one justice served for thirty five years UM. 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:04.200 And you know, if you if you nominate a young judge, 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.280 which is kind of more of the trend these days 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:09.280 when you're thinking politically, like you know, we want someone 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.760 in there for our team, so pick a young one, right, Uh. 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:17.400 Then they can have tremendous sway And how things going 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:20.880 this guy year after year after year after year. Yeah. Yeah, 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.640 because the reason why they have so much sway is 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:28.600 like the stuff that they're they're ruling on is constitutional 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.360 in nature, and here in the United States, if it's 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:36.600 if it's constitutional, if it's guaranteed by the Constitution, protected 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.480 by the constitution, outlawed by the Constitution, whatever. However, the 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:45.080 Supreme Court measures the law against the constitution, Like you said, 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.520 that's the law of the land. From that point on. Um, 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:54.040 any law similar to uh, what the Supreme Court just 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.760 ruled on, it's immediately null and void, like it's done. 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:00.600 Um ed used is a really good an example. And 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:04.520 this he said, like if if main bands anti war 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.920 signs from people's front yards and Supreme Court rules that 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.120 that law is unconstitutional, well, if Rhode Island has a 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:16.079 similar law, California is a similar law, those those laws 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:21.680 are immediately illegal. I guess, um. And it's not like 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:23.800 Rhode Island's gonna bring their case and then California is 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.199 going to try their case. Once they rule, it's done. 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:30.120 It's been ruled on. That's right by the sc Yeah, 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.800 and uh, there are nine justices, Um right now there 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.360 are eight, which we're going to get into. And uh, 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:39.800 obviously having an odd number means you can break a tie. 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.560 So it's um with eight you can have a tie. 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.480 And when you do have a tie, they've actually thought 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:51.600 about this, believe it or not, they arm wrestle. I'm kidding, 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.360 of course, they don't arm wrestle. But um, what happens 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.240 is the lower court decision is what's called passively upheld, 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:02.040 which means that for that case only, it's upheld. But 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.040 it's not like the Supreme Court didn't rule on it, 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.120 and it doesn't create that that nationwide legal precedent forever 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.400 and ever passive aggressive and someone could you know, once 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.120 I get that ninth person, they could bring up a 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.640 similar case, not the same one, but a similar one 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:20.560 if they want to like have that precedent said in 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:22.920 the Supreme Courek will be like, let's try it again. Yeah, 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:28.400 but yeah, if you for a case to be decided definitively, 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.720 all you need is a simple majority five to four. 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:33.560 And a lot of cases these days in the United 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:38.520 States are have I have like five to four decisions, um, 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.480 Which is the fact that that's a pattern and then 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:45.200 that's routine really kind of shows you how just close 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:50.320 to the center that that ideologically the bench is. And 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:52.880 um that all it would take was you know, one 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.240 or two votes that you can really rely on one 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.520 way or the other. It's going to be super liberal 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:02.000 or it'll be super conservative. Yeah, and these days it's um, 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:07.120 I mean sometimes you'll get surprises on ideology, like oh, 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:08.920 we thought this person would vote this way, that way, 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.000 But generally you got kind of the four on the 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:12.880 left the four on the right, or you know you 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:16.680 did before Scalia died. And um, I think Kennedy is 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.960 sort of the swing vote, right, yeah, generally speaking for 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.280 us right, it used to be Sandra Day O'Connor. Right. 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.440 But when when they say, oh, we were surprised, we 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:27.760 thought they were going to vote this way, that's putting 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:32.240 it about as mildly as you can. But surprise, yeah, outrage. 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.080 I wasn't expected that fiddle d d yeah, And I 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:37.440 looked up some of the I mean, we'll get to 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:42.480 this later, but some of the appointees, um, throughout history 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.440 have been made by like conservative points of conservative and 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:47.840 then they might grow a little more liberal over time 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:50.720 or the other way around. And they're always like they're 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.080 so upset, like, you know, I thought this is what 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.320 we were getting. But to me, that's how it should be, 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:00.520 you know, Like that means probably that that judges deciding 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.320 cases based on merit and not like I'm just dug 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:07.439 in and entrenched in one ideology. Yes, which is exactly 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.560 what you want from a Supreme Court justice. Should we 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:12.280 take a break, Yeah, let's take a break. All right, 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.160 we're talking about appointments, so we'll get to that right 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:49.160 after this. All right, how's this work appointing? Yeah, so 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:53.520 remember the constitutions when their Supreme Court do it. I'm done. 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.719 I'm out right and going to take a nap um. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:00.920 So appoint appointments, it's it's all just made up. There's 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:05.320 no qualifications. Uh, there's no requirements. You you or I 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:10.320 could be nominated to be on the Supreme Court. The 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:12.880 President was like, I want to figure out the fastest 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.600 way to ruin my political career. I've got it. That's 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.600 that'd be a good way to do it. Because again, 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:24.360 here in this country, people treat Supreme Court nominations like 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:28.320 a religion. It's a big, big deal. Not even to 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.360 like get someone through the process. Just to nominate somebody 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.880 can bring so much blowback from your party, from the voters, 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.040 from the opposing party, from everybody that you really want 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.320 to think it through. It's not a haphazard thing. But 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.960 as as far as the starting the whole thing off, 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:50.600 you have a list of qualified candidates. I think every 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.520 single Supreme Court justice in history has been a lawyer 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.760 at least, but lately almost all of them The only 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.600 person on the Supreme Court now who isn't a judge 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.120 is Elena Kagan Um. But the trend is is most 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:05.960 of them are federal judges who are called up to 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.040 the bigs. Yeah. And a lot of them have even 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:12.000 served as clerks on the Supreme Court. Um. So what 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:15.240 they're looking for with all that is experience. Yeah. And 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.160 and for the last hundred and fifty years, not only 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:20.240 have they been attorneys, but they've they didn't go to 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:25.600 you know, the strip mall although was it O'Connor, Well, 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:27.080 she didn't go to a strip mall law school, but 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.400 she was a strip mall lawyer. I think yeah at first. 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:35.560 But they have all graduated from like an accredited legit university, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.720 like not like Dr Nick graduated from the Upstairs Medical Clinic. 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:42.240 Is that what it was called. I think it was 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:47.120 Tijuana Upstairs Medical Credit. Uh. A lot of these UM 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:52.840 justices before their Supreme Court appointment have been involved in politics. Um. 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.400 Some of them have been governors, some of them have 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:58.280 been in Congress. There was even one former president, one 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:02.960 Howard Taft. Howard is actually a great story. He hated 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:07.680 being president, hated it, loved being a Supreme Court Justice. 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.280 I could see that, he said. On the bench, it groaned, anyway, 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.800 I'm home, this is great, the bench groaned. I know 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:17.760 that for a little while there were people there were 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:21.560 there were rumblings that Obama might be in line for 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.440 a Supreme Court appointment had the election gone a Diffroy, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.000 which would have been I could see that. I could too, 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.080 But um, you know, obviously that's not gonna happen. No, 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:35.000 I don't see Trump, I pointing Obama. All right, So, 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:39.200 once this nomination goes through UM and you know, the president, 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:42.000 it used to be like a very I don't know 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.680 about solitary probably there a little close circle. But now, 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.960 like you said, they get a list and that that's 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.920 culled from a group of very smart people that are 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:58.280 UM trying to firmly entrench their own ideologies basically, so 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:03.160 they're gonna choose from that list the candidate UM and 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.680 nominate them officially in the Senate. Then we'll hold hearings. 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.080 And just recently, you know, we've seen this going on. 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.560 You know, this is happening right now with Gorse. Yeah, 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.399 and the whole thing would have started with Gorsets getting 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:19.439 a phone call from the press saying, hey, I want 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:26.000 you to want me on the Supreme Court, and Gorstch 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:28.000 was like, I don't, I don't know what you're saying. 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.000 He's like, you're gonna be on the Supreme Court and 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.320 hung up right. That was it, And then uh yeah, 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.880 the name gets released to the press and the Senate says, 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.440 all right, let's get busy, let's get to work, and um, 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:44.280 this whole high bee hive of activity just starts kicking 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:48.000 up around this one. Poor sap who accepted the nomination 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:52.760 and now has everyone from the Justice Department to Congressional 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:56.680 aids putting on latex gloves and going right up there 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.520 rectum to try to see what they can find in 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:02.119 this person since passed. Yeah, and not only what they 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.840 can find in their past, but really grilling them, um 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:11.560 on maybe where he or she might lie ideologically, like 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.040 how how would you rule in this case that it 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.639 has happened? How did you feel about this case? And 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:19.600 I was watching um A news network the other day 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:23.000 talking about how Gorsets did such a masterful job of 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:26.920 like dodging, yeah about like not going on record with 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.760 with how they lean, um and that's tradition. Well, yeah, 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.399 apparently they they like the one thing that you're supposed 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.800 to do up there is not give anything away. No, 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.400 because it's just a big dance. And if they say yeah, 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.159 Joe Biden back and I think the eighties called it 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.840 a kabuki dance. Um, and Elena Kagan called it a 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:50.159 vapid and hollow charade because the senators are trying to 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:53.119 pin you down one way or another on your views 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.960 on gun control, abortion, all of these hot button issues 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.480 that the Supreme Court has either ruled on, may rule 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:03.720 on in the future, may overturn at some point. Um. 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.760 That that really split the country ideologically. And the point 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:12.520 of these Senate hearings is basically for the nominee to 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:15.479 sit there and not give up anything, because if they 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.240 did do that, then they would have to recuse themselves 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:21.240 from that case for having gone on the public record 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:26.320 stating their position. Well yeah, And it's the opposition's party's 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.920 job to sit there and sigh and rub their temples 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:31.879 and say, well, it just seems like you don't want 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.120 to go on record for anything, right, And they never 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:39.040 get to respond. Duh. It's a Senate hearing for Supreme 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.879 Court justice is what always happened. It's really funny that 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.679 they play that up, that like the senators act like 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:46.720 they just can't believe what's going on even though this 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:50.560 has been happening for decades now. Yeah, it's just a 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:52.880 big I don't know about a charade, but I think 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.720 part of it is they part of it is to 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:57.719 see how well they can hold up to the grilling too. 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.159 I think that's part of it as well. But the 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:06.280 group that probably plays the biggest role in in in 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:11.040 kind of rooting out what the nominees politics are are 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:14.360 the aids in the Justice Department and whatever they leak 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:18.320 to the media, because, um, you're not gonna you wouldn't 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:20.959 find anything out about say, like Gorsets from those two 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.760 days of hearings. No one found anything out about him. 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:25.640 If that's all you know about that guy was those 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.439 two days of hearings, you didn't read anything else about it, 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:31.240 You have no idea what his positions where. You'd just 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:33.520 be like, that guy's got one of the better haircuts 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:35.720 I've ever seen in my life. That's all you would 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:38.639 get from it. But the media tends to report on 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:41.680 it and they kind of fulfill the role that um 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:45.399 that that the Senate fails at every single time and 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:49.600 it'll be things like, um, Harriet Myers was was, um 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:54.359 was nominated by George W. Bush, and Um, he just 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.560 got immediate blowback for it is a terrible nomination. But 0:20:57.640 --> 0:20:59.600 one of the things somebody found was that she had 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.240 cant if you did some money back in like a 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:08.840 good fifteen something years before to Al Gore's presidential campaign. 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.240 Like they find like little stuff like that, and they 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:14.320 try to put it all together to create a picture 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.399 so that the Senators can ask them about stuff or whatever, 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:20.399 or the media can can paint a picture one way 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:24.040 or another, and everyone can try to divine how they're 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:26.680 going to rule. Now, did Harriet Myers actually go through 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:31.879 the Senate hearings? Well, that that's what will happen a 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.320 lot of times if there is a skeleton in their closet. 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:38.199 Sometimes they want to accept the nomination, not even for 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:40.200 that reason. Sometimes they want to accept the nomination because 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:42.719 they're like, no, man, I know it, I don't want 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:44.960 to go through all that. I'm fine just being on 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:50.080 my federal circuit here. Um. But sometimes they'll withdraw if 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:52.040 they know that they won't make it through that and 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:53.920 they don't want that drug out in public. And sometimes 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:58.080 the the President will withdraw that nomination to avoid that 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:02.800 kind of embarrassment too, right, Um, Like Clarence Thomas, I 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:05.240 don't know how they missed that, or if they did, 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:10.120 you know, he would famously was uh allegedly sexually harassed 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:13.200 Anita Hill. And I don't know if they that didn't 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:15.240 come to light until the hearings or if that's what 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:18.199 my guess was. I think they started the hearings and 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:21.320 they were still doing investigations and they got into Anita Hill. 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:24.679 Yet he would come I don't think in today's climate, no, 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:28.040 that was that was nuts, um. But the what's ironic 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.480 about it is that he wouldn't make it in today's 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:34.399 climate with our awareness and understanding of sexual harassment. But 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:40.440 those hearings, his his Supreme Court Um confirmation hearings were 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:44.600 what exposed the world to sexual harassment and concept of 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:47.600 it that we understand today is rooted in that moment 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:50.240 in those three days where Anita Hill stood up and 0:22:50.359 --> 0:22:53.920 was like, this is messed up and I'm gonna share it. Um. 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:56.679 And and Clarence Thomas famously called the whole thing a 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.800 high tech lynching. And then after all this, so he 0:22:59.880 --> 0:23:02.199 was about to be voted on. There was debate in 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:04.560 the Senate, which we'll get to this process in a second. 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:07.119 They sent after this came to light, they sent it 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:11.640 back to the committee hearings. So he took a huge 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:14.560 step backward in the confirmation process, had to go through 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:18.120 three days of Anita Hills testimony, and then after that 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:22.000 the Senate still said, all right, cool, well we'll confirm you. Yeah, 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:23.480 and he was so upset he said, you know, I'm 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:30.440 not gonna talk for seven years, right, I'll show you so. UM. 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:35.760 By and large, though the vast majority of appointee UM 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:43.120 submissions what would you call him nominations are appointed, right. Oh, 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:46.600 I think it's something like there have been a hundred 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:51.080 and sixty one nominations and a hundred and twenty four 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:55.000