WEBVTT - Delegitimizing the Supreme Court with Carrie Severino 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.720 Justice Clarence Thomas is no stranger to being maligned by 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:06.880 the left. He faced one of the nastiest and most 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:10.559 evil character assassinations during his confirmation hearing. 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:14.400 He famously said this about it. Listen, I think that 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:17.680 this today is a travel steer. 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.599 I think that it is disgusting. I think that this 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:30.319 hearing should never occur in America. I think something is 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:35.519 dreadfully wrong with this country when any person, any person 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.440 in this free country would be subjected to this. 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:39.440 This is a circus. 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:40.960 It's a national. 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:47.000 Disgrace, and from my standpoint as of a black American, 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.320 as far as I'm concerned, it is a high attack lynching. 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:52.680 He is not once again on the receiving end of 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:55.840 attacks from the left. This time they are questioning his 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:58.920 financial disclosures. It also comes at a time when other 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:02.480 conservative justice are under attack by the media as well. 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:08.440 This is clearly an orchestrated, coordinated attack to delegitimize the 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:13.000 Supreme Court. So who's behind this smear of conservative justices 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:16.760 and what exactly are they trying to accomplish. Carrie Severino, 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:22.240 president of JCN and the author of Justice on Trial, joins. 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:23.800 Me to get to the BOTB of it. 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:32.200 Stay tuned, Carrie, It's such an honor to have you 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:33.000 on the show. 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:34.720 I've worked in DC or did. 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.520 I no longer work in DC, but did work in 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.000 politics long enough to know a coordinated attack when I 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:45.560 see one. We've seen hits recently on Justice Clarence Thomas 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:47.080 Gorsuch Roberts. 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:48.560 This is coordinated, is it not? 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.000 I mean, I think it's pretty obvious. Again, if this 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:53.800 has all the hallmarks of that. Suddenly, out of the 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.360 blue we go from zero to sixty on people doing 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:01.040 deep dives and going through with a fine tooth. Come 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:05.320 the financial files of not every justice, but a select justices, 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.520 and wouldn't you know it's all the conservative justices. And 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:12.680 then there's this, you know, staged release of the opinions. 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.560 And it's even interesting, you know, things like Justice Chief 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:20.480 Justice Roberts is invited to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:22.320 which in itself is very unusual. 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.320 They want to try to question the Chief. 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.679 Justice, and then as soon as he declines the next 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.080 day there's a piece about his wife and suggesting that, 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.519 you know that her job as a legal recruiter or 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:36.520 somehow improper. So it's all of these things are just 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.840 very clearly targeting the conservative justices in the court, and 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.800 they're clearly I think, there to try to intimidate the 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:47.080 justices saying, hey, if you don't follow the direction that 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:49.000 we want, we finally don't have a court that is 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.120 just doing the bidding of the left. Now we're going 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:52.799 to come after you, and we're going to try these 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.560 personal attacks to delegitimize those justices and or remove them 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:57.880 from the court or from the cases. 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:00.080 Why now do you think I think it's you. 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.600 Know, coincidence that we're seeing this at the same time 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:07.160 as we are seeing the first time in living memory 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:09.560 that we have a court that has a majority of 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:14.040 originalist justices. For again, all of living memory, we've had 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.720 a court that has been effectively willing to give the 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:20.520 left what it wants on some of the major issues 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.440 that come before it. Issues in some cases there are 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.639 the ones that should be decided in the political realm, 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:28.480 but that they can't get done what they want to, 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:30.760 and so then they are relying on the court to 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.600 play back up and kind of get things over the 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.800 finish line they couldn't get done legislatively and trying to 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.560 open the doors for liberal policies to be enacted via 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.040 the court. We have a court that's not playing that game. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.400 Their job is to look at the constitution and what 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:45.080 the law says. 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:45.840 They know it. 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.720 And so as soon as you have a court that 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:53.000 isn't playing by their game, they start attacking the court 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:57.120 itself because they're so frustrated to see justices whose first 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:03.120 duty is not to trying to achieve these liberal policy 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.920 goals but relate to the constitution and the rule of law. 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.240 Now, we've seen attacks on the Supreme Court before, you know, 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:13.120 throughout history. Are these attacks different than what we've seen before. 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.360 There have been examples in history where similar types of 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:20.240 things have happened. I think we certainly have a focus 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:24.120 on it more than other times. I'm thinking of, you know, 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.760 the last big time we saw this that comes to 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.840 mind might be when President Franklin Delan Roosevelt was really 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.400 frustrated with the Court because he's enacting all of his 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:36.200 you know, New Deal programs. 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:39.279 The court was saying, hey, you know, we think some of. 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.160 These have real constitutional problems, and he's going, how can 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:43.479 I get rid of these justices? 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:45.280 And that's when he proposed for. 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:48.880 The first time, you know again that I can think 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:53.279 of just a purely political thing saying let's pack the court, 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.440 let's add justices, so that I, as the president, get 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.599 to pick more of these justices to shift the direction 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.479 the court is going. And even with a overwhelming majority 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.080 and a huge mandate from the Democratic controlled Congress, he 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.040 couldn't get that done because they said that's. 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:08.599 Beyond the pale. 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:13.160 So we're seeing attacks like that that failed so spectacularly 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:17.080 in nineteen thirty seven being brought back now, but additional 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:19.760 things as well, so that we're getting these personal attacks 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.120 on the justices. I think we saw hints of this 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:28.360 in Justice Thomas's confirmation in nineteen ninety, in the Justice 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.200 Kavanaugh confirmation in twenty eighteen, So all of these are 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.560 sort of just increasing in volume and increasing in focus, 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:37.599 and we're seeing things that I don't know have ever 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.960 happened in American history, like the dosing of the justices. 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.200 Not just their homes, which is bad enough, but often 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.640 they're places of worship, the places their children go to school, 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:51.960 and that additional threat level, so it's not just an 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:56.800 attack on them personally their reputation, but even physically. And 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.640 we saw, of course an attempted assassination that we now 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.760 know was and just targeting Justice Kavanaugh, but actually he 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:05.880 was going to try to take out three justices that 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.240 night if he was able to. So some of those 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:12.280 things really are new. And to have the White House 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:17.320 and Democratic members of the Senate really encouraging that type 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.520 of behavior makes it takes it again to the next 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:22.600 level into something that I don't know that we've ever 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:23.520 seen before. 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:23.880 To that point. 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.760 I mean, you had Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.960 the Supreme Court steps in March of twenty twenty about 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:36.080 Justices Gorsage in Kavanaugh saying that they had released the whirlwind, 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.240 that they would pay the price if they continue to 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.640 make awful decisions. And you had Sheldon white House not 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.800 too long ago also attacked the Supreme Court saying it 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.479 is not well, the people know it, perhaps the Court 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.240 can heal itself, or basically making the threat that they'll 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:54.040 have to do something about it. So just overt verbal threats, 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.000 even from our Democrat leaders. 0:06:56.120 --> 0:06:59.400 Absolutely, it's really outrageous to see that. And then you 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.760 they have the guts to say, wow, there's something wrong, 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.680 because for some reason, the American people believe there's an 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:10.720 appearance of improprietary. They have record low levels of confidence. 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:12.560 In the Supreme Court, and you're going, it's because you 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:13.000 have been. 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:17.760 And now we're moving into several years of a focused 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:21.120 campaign trying to tell the American people that the Court 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:26.680 is acting politically and is not behaving properly, which is 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.280 just lies. So they're trying to find they're creating the 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.200 problem itself of American people not trusting the Court really 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.520 to provide the excuse that they would need to do 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:41.400 things like pack the court, to do things like trying 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.720 to you know, they're talks about trying to even add 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.880 term limits on justices or create new ethical standards that 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:50.960 really we know are just a form of them trying 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:54.400 to bully the justices because any of these ethical concerns 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:57.720 is not something that's being applied even handedly. They're basically 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:00.840 inventing new ethic standards out of whole cloth, not people 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:02.840 haven't run a foul of the actual ethic standards that 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.520 are out there. They're inventing new standards, but they're only 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.480 inventing them for a subset of the justices. So all 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:12.480 of these things, they're really targeting the justices that they 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:14.520 know we're going to get attacked in the media and 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.560 get attacked by these same unscrupulous members of Congress. 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.720 What are those duties look like for the Supreme Court 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.360 justices to disclose finances? 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:24.640 You know, what does that look like? 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:26.920 And are any of these allegations that have been made 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.240 against you know, Thomas or some of the other justices, 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.600 do any of these run a foul to what their 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:32.679 responsibility is? 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:34.440 What we have seid, So justices do have. 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.920 There's one fallacy that's out there that's again intentional misrepresentation, 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.439 suggesting that while it's just the wild west of the 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:43.160 Supreme Court, they can do whatever the heck they want, 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:45.640 there's nothing that governs it. That's not true. They do 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:49.040 have annual disclosures they have to file. They do have 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.760 a recusal statutes that do govern them and that they follow, 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:57.400 and that they consult each other in terms of determining, Okay, 0:08:57.920 --> 0:08:59.960 at what point should I recuse in this case type 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.959 case or that type of case. So there absolutely are 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.800 standards that the justices are following. Now are they followed 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:06.760 perfectly every time? 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.959 No? But what we're seeing here is nitpicking on errors. 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:12.880 Just as if any one of us, if you had 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.360 someone in fact not just someone, a team of someone's, 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.480 a team of highly financed from media, from dark money 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:21.880 groups in the left wing going through your tax returns, 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.040 for example, and said with a fine tooth comb, I 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:25.400 bet they could find a typo or two. 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:25.719 Right. 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.680 Does that mean that you are somehow maliciously doing these things? No, 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.760 it's just a complicated form. So what we've seen historically 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.840 is absolutely there are justices who have forgotten to disclose 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.880 things or incorrectly disclose things, but those justices. 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:39.720 Actually do run the gamut. 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:44.080 Justice Ginsberg, for example, sat on dozens of cases inadvertently 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:47.560 in which her husband owned stock. Now, normally that would 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.480 be just an easy given if you or your spouse 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.120 owned stock and something you have to recuse. And I 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.200 don't think at all that for a minute she was 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.960 voting differently in those cases because her husband owned stock. 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.079 I don't think she knew or she would have recused herself. 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:02.680 But it's that type of thing that when it happens 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:06.079 to a left wing justice or justice Jackson just neglected 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.280 to disclose certain aspects of her income, her husband's medical 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.760 malpractice work that she just forgotten then later amended her filings, 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.880 and that's viewed as kind of like, oh, okay, they 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:17.839 just amended this great, and I think that's right. This 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:21.720 wasn't malicious, there wasn't real corruption. But those same levels 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:25.160 of things on the right are being treated as if 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:29.600 there is a corrupt mafia running the institution and that 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:33.040 these justices are up for sale, which is patently false. 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:35.560 And even when the Senate Judiciary Committee had a hearing 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:40.200 last week talking about this, even the liberal witnesses on 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:43.760 their side, after making all of these suggestions and kind 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:48.200 of eyebrow raising and suggesting and inferring that these justices 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:50.160 are up for sale, when they were directly asked, are 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.520 you wait, who are you saying has sold their votes? 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:54.400 Who are you saying is actually corrupt the guys? Oh 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:55.280 I didn't. I know, I wouldn't. 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.280 I wouldn't actually accuse them because that would be slanderous. 0:10:58.320 --> 0:10:59.880 I mean, that's not what's happening. 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:04.200 It's people trying to exploit minor issues or things that 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:06.240 they're saying, Hey, I wish the diskills the rules were different. 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.920 You follow the rules, but I think you should disclose more. Okay, 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.680 we can talk about that, but don't pretend that people 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:16.880 who follow the rules now somehow we're doing something inappropriate 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:17.679 when that's not true. 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.360 Let's take a quick commercial break more with Carrie Savarino 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:26.880 on the other side, If you look at Joe Biden, 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.400 it seems like some of the most discrediting and some 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.600 of the biggest attacks on Supreme Court nominees or the 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.800 Supreme Court itself have come under his watch. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:38.439 I mean, you look at right now. He's part of 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:39.160 the United States. 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.000 He's at the helm of two of the nastiest Supreme 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.800 Court confirmation hearings, whether it was Clarence Thomas or Robert Borke. 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.320 So, I mean, how much does that have to do 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:49.120 with it? Oh? 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.880 Yeah, I mean Biden has been part of the ringleader 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.920 of this crazy judicial intimidation circus from day one. 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.400 I mean he was around during the Bork era. Eve. 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.080 I mean this is like very early on in this process. 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.440 He was leading the Judiciary Committee during the Thomas hearings. 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:08.319 He he is definitely part of the problem, and we're 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:12.680 seeing under his administration things like him going from saying 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.520 court packing is a bonehead idea, which was correct, that's 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.640 what he said in nineteen eighty two, to then saying, actually, 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:20.319 maybe it's something we should consider it. Well, we should 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:22.960 consider it when maybe it gives me extra people to 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:23.640 put on the court. 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.840 Right, It's a very clear shift there. 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:31.600 You've seen him, you know, say one thing about Justice Thomas, 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:35.079 don't worry. I realize these charges are you know, unfounded, 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:39.000 and then going and helping lead the three wing circus 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.960 against him during his confirmation hearings. 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:44.640 He is willing to play multiple sides of it. 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.040 You know, when Justice were being docksed again and people 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.520 are making threats against them, you had his spokeswoman saying, 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.480 you know, we wish really support people's First Amendment rights 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.840 and we're proud of a maybe American right to protest. 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.200 What is the message being sent when people are violating 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:05.080 federal law by trying to intimidate the justices regarding an 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.199 active case, because they were doing this intentionally to try 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.960 to change the justice's vote on the Dobbs opinion last year. 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.840 They basically said, we support this, we endorse this, and 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:19.400 that's that is a huge message that's being sent by 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:22.880 this administration. And I think the bottom line is he's 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:25.040 willing to say and do whatever it is to get 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.920 more power, including more power over the Supreme Court. 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:28.200 Yeah. 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.080 I mean, if you want to talk about ethics, Joe 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.319 Biden has none. And you know, if there's any question 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.439 that this isn't coordinated, you had mentioned the Senate Judiciaries 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:41.000 Committee hearing called Supreme Court Ethics reform after these articles 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:45.440 had surfaced, so you know it clearly is this coordinated attempt? 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:48.640 You know, Carrie, from your perspective, obviously you follow this 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.199 closer than anyone in the Supreme Court. Has this impacted 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.560 any of the decision making these threats the you know, 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:59.480 people outside of the justices' homes, or even assassination attempt 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.880 Have you noticed has it been working, this attimidation? 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.559 You know, I think it definitely. It clearly didn't. 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:07.840 In the case of the Dobbs decision, right, we saw 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.480 a decision that was leaked May second last year, and 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.640 then came out in substantially the same form at the 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.040 end of June June twenty fourth, and they I think 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:18.679 they were consciously. 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:20.920 Saying we are not going to bow to this pressure. 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:23.400 Were there were some changes that were just not changes, 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:26.720 additions addressing concerns brought up by the dissent, for example, 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.920 that wasn't available at the time, but they basically said, no, 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.680 we are not changing our position and I think that's 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:35.280 what the Court has been doing. 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:35.560 Now. 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:37.800 One thing that I wonder is is this slowing down 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:40.520 their work. We've seen this court this term has been 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.160 one of the slowest release of opinions. We have tons 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.440 of opinions still to come out, and there's really just 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.600 over a month left. And maybe some of the extra 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.840 security protocols and the extra difficulty of knowing who they 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.000 can trust, even internally, maybe I think that could be 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:57.160 slowing down the ability to work. I think there has 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:01.720 to be trust rebuilt within the court elf amongst each other, 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.000 amongst the clerks and the staff, and I think that 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.720 is a real shame and a tragedy. I worry that 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:10.720 it could influence justices saying, hey, this is you know, 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:12.680 there's a whole lot of really important issues that are 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.640 always coming up. I hope they're not looking at cases 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.000 going wow, that is an issue that in a vacuum, 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.600 I would say the Court has to address, but we 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.040 just don't need any more pressure this year. I hope 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.280 that's not happening. But we know one hundred percent that 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:28.160 is the goal of all of this. They know that, 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.320 for example, these threats against Justice Thomas, like trying to 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.240 get him to move. Come on, nobody can move Justice 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:36.640 Thomas from what he knows is the right thing mandated 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.760 the content by the Constitution. That man has a spine 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:43.880 of steel. But I think they're trying to hope to 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.520 influence the other justices and say, maybe we just want 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:48.280 to stay a little farther back here. 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:50.320 I don't think that has worked, but I want I 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:51.120 think we need to be. 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:55.920 Really out there ensuring that it doesn't have a chance 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.120 to work, and that people shouldn't be keeping this kind 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:00.800 of pressure up because no one, for the sake of 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:04.120 doing their job and enforcing the Constitution should have to 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:07.280 sacrifice their personal privacy and the safety of themselves and 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:07.840 their family. 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.400 Well, and you know, not many people have the kind 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:14.200 of integrity Justice Clarence does, or can face the sort 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.480 of character assassination that he faced, you know, even from 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:21.600 the beginning during his confirmation hearings up until you know 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.160 this point. Not that many people are that rock ribbed 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.400 and just strong in their beliefs to be able to 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:28.120 withstand that kind of slander. 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:28.680 Yeah. 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.240 Absolutely, And I think it has so many layers to 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:34.000 it because they love to make his life miserable. I 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:35.840 I feel like that's bonus points for them, but it 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.360 sends a message to other judges, justices. It sends a 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.080 message to other judges who might one day think, Okay, 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.160 I could theoretically be aligned for the Supreme Court. 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.320 Do I want that position? 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:46.640 You know? 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.360 Do I want to put my family and my own 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.320 reputation in life through the ringer or that it's going 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.840 to be to in order to do that. And again, 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.360 that shouldn't be part of the calculus. We want our 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.080 best men women on the bench to want this job 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:03.720 and not to say, Okay, I'm going to take this 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.600 knowing that I'm going to have to like sacrifice myself. 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.639 On the altar of the Constitution. This isn't that. 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:13.560 That shouldn't be the cost we are demanding, and we 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:18.439 should be requiring our representatives, especially you think, gosh, these senators, 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.359 these supposed to be representing American people. I know there 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.959 are radicals out there who really do want the Court intimidated, 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:26.919 but I don't think that's where most of America is. 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.359 And I think that those people who are part of 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.840 this process ought to be held to account, and the 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.000 American people should stand up, just like it did in 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.480 nineteen thirty seven. To say, you know what, Okay, politics 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.280 is politics, and maybe I don't agree with some of 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:41.800 the decisions the Court makes, but no one should be 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.520 trying to undermine the institution of the Court the way 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:48.399 that they are and trying to drag the good names 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:50.280 of our justices through the mud. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.760 That's really the point in the direction all this is heading. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.440 As you pointed that, you know, good candidates might be like, hey, 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:58.280 this isn't worth it. You know, I don't want to 0:17:58.320 --> 0:17:59.640 have to go through this. I mean, that's why they're 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.320 doing this to Trump as well. Whey they've tried to 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.960 destroy his life so that future Republican candidates are like, 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:07.840 you know what, I just this isn't worth it. I 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:09.800 don't want to drag my family through the mud. I 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:12.200 don't drag myself through the mud. And you know, it's 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.119 the intimidation fact that they're intentionally trying to do. I 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.840 do worry that it'll it'll work in the future. I'm 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.640 sure people have probably given pause to stick their knock 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:22.560 out there in these various positions. 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:26.680 This is not the way our American system of the 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:31.280 rule of law should operate. The reason our Constitution gave 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:35.080 justicees life tenure was so that they would be able 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.399 to have an independent judgment, that they wouldn't have to 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:39.439 rule on cases thinking, Okay, I want to make this 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:41.040 person mad because I might need to ask them for 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.240 a job later. I don't want to alienate this industry 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.359 or this you know, this party because I'm going to 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:47.400 be back in the loop again. 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.360 Sometimes they said, you know, we want you off the table. 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:51.320 You are just. 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.680 Focusing on doing what's right as a matter of law. 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.960 So our constitution realized, we want people to be independent 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:04.760 thinker and not be prone to having to make people happy. 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:05.959 Here's the challenge. 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.760 They're still trying to use whatever lovers of power they can, 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.840 and it's increasingly people are saying the quiet part out loud, 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:14.520 and you've got people on the left tweeting about and 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.600 writing about how yeah, the goal should be to try 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:20.600 to make them worried, either for their safety or for 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.960 their for their good name, we should our goal should 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.960 be to cancel people and drum them out of polite society. 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.280 They shouldn't be allowed to speak at a law school, 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:32.120 go out to dinner, you know, you name it, because 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:36.120 we want them to be punished for their positions. That 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:40.520 is contrary to our constitution envisions that role of trying 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.879 to have someone independent and I think the justice as 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:48.600 we do have are going to, you know, still try 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.679 to stay the course and stay firm, but we should 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.040