i think the supreme court got that decision wrong. but i reject the idea that this supreme court is part of a plan to restrict the ability of the american citizens with a partisan preference one over the other. that is simply not true. i worry that people who make those claims, people who make proposals for change based on some idea that the supreme court is not legitimate, i think they play into something that is quite toxic in our culture today. this sense of distrust or mistrust. jonathan hite said recently, he predicted a cataclysmic failure of american democracy because he said we just do not know what happens when you train all trust out of a democracy. i worry that the arguments that are made for expansion of the court assume that the court is still political partisan actors and that the antidote is to fill that with more partisan actors. that was not my experience in the federal judiciary. it is not filled with partisan actors. it's filled with men and women doing their level best to follow their own to be impartial. they have

and the race to a new supreme court justices on. with justice stephen breyer officially stepping down. democrats are hoping to match trump's record of getting his final nominee. amy cohen barrett, remember her? on to the court in just 27 days, instead of the typical 60 days plus. the buzzword today among democratic senate leadership, was expeditious. they've already begun strategizing their next moves. and one democrat on the judiciary committee has this message for republicans. >> we are prepared to fight, make no mistake. we are prepared to fight ferociously. and use all of the options that we have to get this job done. it is a job that will get done. this nominee will be confirmed. this afternoon, justice breyer appeared with the president at the white house to formally announce his retirement.

if a retired supreme court justice is still a supreme court justice, still holds the office, i don't see why it matters to that analysis whether they take that position voluntarily or not. so i think at the least, like the straightforward argument based on our statutes and our practice is a justice who takes senior status still holds the office, no good behavior problem. >> what would happen if congress added -- decided to add two seats to the supreme court but that they were 18-year seats? in other words, they were temporary, that they would expire, not that the person would lose their status, but it would simply expire? and go back and say we're going back to nine seats after 18 years? would that be a way around this? >> well, that's an interesting question because there is general agreement that congress has power over the size of the supreme court. so, you know, i think maybe you could actually set up something that works that way except that you can't really take people off by shrinking the court. i mean, there are a lot of interesting -- >> all right. let me go to the other maj

supreme court. and how the current makeup might impact pending cases. you're watching live coverage here on c-span. robert: cristina rodriguez who was co-chair of the commission. judge griffith, professor rodriguez, welcome to "washington post" live. cristina: thanks for having us. judge griffith: hi, cristina. cristina: good to see you. robert: old friends getting back together again, i see. professor rodriguez, would you start us off, please, and tell us the impetus for this committee and sort of the, i guess, unusual mandate that you had, which was not really to make recommendations to the president. cristina: the committee was effectively making good on a campaign promise that then candidate joe biden made during an interview when asked about the prospects for the supreme court reform, he said that he would form a committee in order to study those ideas. the committee was set up not to make recommendations. but to van cass as wide a range of views as possible in order to provide an actual analys

more supreme court justices come from that court than any other. president biden nominated judge childs to be for the court of appeals in december and as luck would happen her confirmation hearing was scheduled before the severe news is today that justin -- justice stephen breyer will retire at the end of the supreme court's term in the early summer. tuesday's hearing will be in effect, a full dressed rehearsal for the supreme court confirmation hearing of judge michel child's, if president obama nominates her to the supreme court at the end of february, which is the timetable that the president announced today for his big decision. the hearing will also show us whether any other nominee the president might choose will be subjected to in these senate judiciary committees. judge chiles might be able to actually win the supreme court job next tuesday by delivering a stellar performance and what will be her second confirmation hearing as a federal judge. the other person at the top of the white house list to replace justice breyer has already been thr

code of ethics for supreme court. but mostly i would say what people focused on and probably rightly so is term limits and court expansion. >> how did you find it? anythingles -- anything else you want today mention as a key take away? >> no, i think on court expansion and term limits, the term limits about the constitutional amendments, but i thought that the other materials were interesting in the confirmation process. specifically and there was a range of ideas focused primarily on expansion and trade limits and did a good job of some other proposals. >> for a lot of people, maybe for those who are commissioners, the commission's charged undually limited and frustrating and did not actually call for recommendations. do either of you feel that this sort of hampered the inquiry? so, well, i think that if we just start with the problem to which the commission would give a response. last five years which changed the competition of the court quickly and might be considered-- continues to be a very conservative court tha

supreme court justice. >> yeah. i have three points and what you are asking me gets to the third one. jonathan made the first one. the president has spoken with respect to vice president kamala harris. she is his vice president. will be a running mate. elected by the people to do the job she has. the supreme court is not a consolation or a problem solver post. if people are plotting that as a potential route they should be ashamed of themselves. thirdly, i think one reason why we are here and have speculation about people like the vice president is because throughout the history of our nation there is a dearth of black women to lead them to the judiciary that we have, yes, a list of amazing women and far too small. >> yeah. >> you know? we saw the previous president pick from an abundance of white males to fill the judiciary and it it far to the right. the fact that we speak of five people speaks to how black women are held back to be considered for these positions. judge brown jackson only recently confirmed to the

of the supreme court. clyburn believed, and there is good evidence to support his view, that a supreme court justice was worth a lot more to the black community that a vice president. vp's come and go, clyburn thought, i'll doris vice president. where is he now? but a supreme court seat, well, that is for life. the meeting on the yorktown was fresh in front of man for biden the next day as he prepared for that night's debate. he understood the difference between a narrow victory and a blowout. his margins with black voters. if he committed to naming a black woman to the united states supreme court, that might give him a lift. i think i should do, it he told his advisers. don't do it, simone sanders replied. speaking in concert with a group. if you wanted to do it at some point, his advisers agreed with one another, he should make a carefully consider dirty plan around announcing that. it was not the kind of thing he should just throw out there on a debate stage. besides, it might look like he was pandering

a supreme court justice. so he will remain for weeks, if not a few months, whatever it takes to get a new nominee confirmed. he made this decision, it was a very difficult decision for him, he's a relatively healthy 83-year-old. he realizes, obviously, as everyone does, john, the politics of what's going on right now. there could be a change in the majority in the united states senate after the mid-term elections. and so this is a good time if the democrats still have that 50/50 but with the vice president a majority they presumably could get somebody confirmed to replace him. and as you have reported and all of us have reported over these months president biden has said he would like a black female to be his nominee to be on the united states supreme court. we'll see if that happens. i assume it will happen. i am told he will informally or formally meet with his colleagues on the supreme court, the other justices, and let them know of his decision before i'm told he will head over to the white house for some

of the supreme court. clyburn believed, and there is good evidence to support his view, that a supreme court justice was worth a lot more to the black community that a vice president. the peace come and go, clyburn thought, i'll doris vice president. where is he now? but a supreme court seat, well, that is for life. the meeting on the yorktown was fresh in front of man for biden the next day as he prepared for that night's debate. he understood the difference between a narrow victory and a blowout. his margins with black voters. if he committed to naming a black woman to the united states supreme court, that might give him a lift. i think i should do, it he told his advisers. don't do it, simone sanders replied. speaking in concert with a group. if you wanted to do it at some point, his advisers agreed with one another, he should make a carefully consider dirty plan around announcing that. it was not the kind of thing he should just throw out there on a debate stage. besides, it might look like he was pand

i think the supreme court got that decision wrong. but i reject the idea that this supreme court is some part of a plan to restrict the ability of american citizens -- a partisan preference for one party or the other. that's just simply not true. and i worry that people who make those claims, people who make proposals for change based on some idea that the supreme court is not legitimate, they play into something i think's quite toxic in our culture today, that's this sense of distrust or mistrust. jonathan height said recently, he predicted a cataclysmic failure of american democracy because he said we just don't know what happens when you drain all trust out of a democracy. i worry that the arguments that are made for expansion of the court assume that the court is still political partisan actors and that the antidote to that is fill it with more partisan actors. that's not -- that was not my experience in the federal judiciary. it's not filled with partisan actors. it's filled with men and women doing their level best to follow the

start caring about the supreme court because if you don't control the supreme court, you will get nothing on climate. amy: eli mystal, the nation's justice correspondent. his forthcoming book is "allow me to retort: a black guy's guide to the constitution." dahlia lithwick, slate.com senior editor and senior legal correspondent. we will link to your piece as well "the deep irony of stephen , breyer's bare-knuckled exit from the supreme court." next up, we talked to a top cuban scientist about how cuba has developed its own coven vaccine despite a 60-year-old u.s. embargo. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. cuba has announced plans to deliver as many as 200 million doses of its homegrown covid vaccines to nations in the global south. despite the u.s. embargo, cuba now has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. cu has also announced it will soon apply for approval by the world health organization fo one of its vaccines, abdala, which has been shown to be highly effective

follows supreme court decisions. he didn't want the timing of his retirement to be seen as something political. apparently he's decided that enough time has past that's not going to bow a concern now. there was enormous pressure on him and has been since president biden was elected, especially after the death of ruth bader ginsburg, which gave donald trump a chance to appoint amy coney barrett to the court. there was lots of pressure on breyer to step down, despite the fact he's in good health, so his successor could be chosen while there's still a democrat in the white house and a democratic control of the u.s. senate. the fact is that whatever -- whether that is the reason he's stepping down or not, that is the consequences what it will be. in order to give the democrats a chance a keep the current 6-3 split on the court, conservatives and liberals with justice stephen breyer being the senior on the court against the six conservatives. our understanding is that his intention is to step down at the end of the suprem

yamiche: president biden gets a supreme court pick. president biden: the person i will nominate will be the first black woman ever nominated to the united states supreme cou. yamiche: justice steven breyer announces his retirement. and president biden vows his replacement will make history. >> i'm going to give the president nominee whoever that may be a fair look. yamiche: setting the stage for a senate debate ahead of the midterms. plus -- >> we're acting with equal focus and force to bolster ukraine's defenses and prepare a swift united response to further russian aggression. miche: tensions over russia and ukraine intensify. next. announcer: this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided b. additional funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams, koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, sardinha and carl delay-magnuson, rose hirschel and andy shreeves. robert and sues be rosen palm. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to

supreme court is no longer the supreme court. it's all political. [indiscernible] the supreme court does not go by rule of law. that's all i can tell. host: thanks for your call. we appreciate all your calls this segment with more coming up. "washington journal" continues in a moment and we will be joined by the former nato supreme allied commander philip breedlove, to talk about the russian threats to ukraine and later, we will talk about the crazy roller coaster week on wall street we have had in this week's announcement from the fed that higher interest rates are on the way. >> in 2019, a reporter discovered the remains of the slave ship in a swamp outside of mobile, alabama. sunday night on q and a, he talks about his book the last slave ship which details its history and how and why it transported 110 slaves to alabama in 1860, more than 50 years after the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed stop >> we have the whole story and its sort of a proxy for everyone in the united states and the world whose family derived in whatever country they ar

supreme court. his legacy includes his work as a s leading scholar and jurist and bringing his brilliance to bear to make government run more efficiently. it includes his stature as a beacon of wisdom on our constitution and what it means. and through it all justice breyer has worked tirelessly to give faith to the notion that the law exists to help the people. everyone knows stephen breyer has been exemplary. courteous to his colleagues, careful in his reasoning he put landmarks opinions on topics ranging from reproductive rights to laws protecting our environment and laws to protect our religious practices. his opinions are practical, sensible and nuanced reflecting a belief that the job of the judge is notto lay down a rule but to get it right . justice breyer's law clerks and colleagues described him and his work ethic, his desire to learn more. his kindness to those around him and his optimism to the promise of our country . and he has patiently sought common ground and build consensus to keep

yamiche: president biden gets a supreme court pick. president biden: the person i will nominate will be the first black woman ever nominated to the united states supreme court. yamiche: justice steven breyer announces his retirement. and president biden vows his replacement will make history. >> i'm going to give the president nominee whoever that may be a fair look. yamiche: setting the stage for a nate debate ahead of the midterms. plus -- >> we're acting with equal focus and force to bolster ukraine's defenses and prepare a swift united response to further russian aggression. yamiche: tensions over russia and ukraine intensify. next. announcer: this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided b. additional funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams, koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, sardinha and carl delay-magnuson, rose hirschel and andy shreeves. robert and sues be rosen palm. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions t

that court is often seen as a feeder for the supreme court. now a close second is leondra cuei kruger. she's argued dozens of cases before the court but has not been as thoroughly vetted. we know with the midterms looming time is of the essence here. there's a longer list including mimi wright, second circuit court of appeals judge lee and interestingly michelle childs, a south carolina judge pushed by house majority chip james clyburn. in the 2020 campaign clyburn gave biden what was at the time a much-needed endorsement after he vowed to nominate a black woman. here the pred has a lot of options. time is of the essence soap the fact that judge brown jackson has been vetted, that very much weighs in her favor. they can't afford any delays as at least five gop lawmakers have said they plan to block any nominee from the biden white house if they retake the majority in november. >> jeffrey, of those names, who do you think would be the most likely person to be confirmed? >> ketanji jackson. no question. she fits all the requirements starting wit

the supreme court is one. i think the president should have a much broader commission on constitutional democracy and reform and study that. >> very good. i hope i haven't had too short. i know, kara, you have questions. >> i will try to put them together for you will, how about that? there are questions about whether specific reforms were addressed by the commission or perhaps what your opinions are of them. the thing is -- a super majority vote for confirmation of justices, like a two thirds requirement perhaps or and or, i guess that would be a mandatory retirement age, and perhaps another -- if not those kinds of reforms for jurisdiction stripping. >> i will speak to that. age limits, determine limits working group to consider age limits and we decided they were not as good. because they will give you a finite term, but they will not read regular eyes appointments in the way that we thought was pretty important if you are trying to equalize the influence the presidents have on the court. jurisdiction strip

state supreme court court, now district court. i could go through every one of those women who have been named as potential nominees and sing their praises based on their intellects, reputation and impartiality alone. but again, we're talking about a system that's inherently political. here's why that's important. for the same reasons that many of the people who have been talked about have been recently confirmed, i am waiting to see to what extent somebody will bring up for example, judge brown. whether they will mention her relative infancy when it comes to being an appellate judge in d.c. circuit and comparing that to how the relative infancy was when it came to justice amy coney barrett. there was bipartisan support for several of these women in recent types. i'm wondering if there will be hypocrisy going forward about when suddenly it comes to the highest court in the land, their ability and credibility will be challenged. it will be very interesting to see how they do this, but as dana mentioned, it's so important to think a

of the united states supreme court. clyburn said. clyburn believed and there was good evidence to support his supreme court justice was worth a lot more to the black community than a vice president. vps come and go. clyburn thought. al gore was vice president. where is he now? but a supreme court seat, well, that's for life. the meeting on the yorktown was fresh in front of biden the next day as he prepared for that night's debate and he understand the difference between ani narr victory and a blowout. his margins with black voters. if he committed to naming a black woman to the united states supreme court, that might give him a lift. i think i should do it, he told his advisers. don't do it. simone sanders replied speaking in concert with the group if he wanted to do it at some point, he should make a carefully considered plan around announcing it and it wasn'tfu t kind of thing he should throw there on a debate stage and besides it might look like he was pandering and back pire. biden was torn. his colleagues believe

appeals court just below supreme court with republican saying she's qualified for the circuit court. that was lindsey graham and he added elections have consequences. that's what he said yesterday. which means the democrats, technically, if they hold their own, they would hope have even a couple of republicans. including lindsey graham and lisa murkowski, who voted for her just this past june for the circuit court. and two other potential nominees among 19 other black women who have been confirmed by the federal bench by this president. what's at stake with mitchell mcconnell's rule changes and the anger among democrats that a merrick garland never even got a hearing? >> what a big opportunity for president biden. it comes at just the right moment. last week we were talking about how many problems after finishing his first year in office. now he has a chance to make a big statement, a historic step by nominating a black woman for the supreme court. he can unite senate democrats that have been so divided on build back better and other proposals. he can energize the democratic base and

court of appeals before his appointment to supreme court as a justice, brett kavanaugh. we've got a lot to discuss so let's get started and bring in my saturday night panel. tim is the cofounder of she will rise, an initiative aimed at putting a black woman on the supreme court. joseph stern is a staff writer for slate, and margaret cho is a comedian and host of the podcast. you can see her perform at the irvine improv on february 11 and 12th. it's great to have all of you with us. let me get your thoughts on this. your organization has been advocating specifically for this moment. did you expect this kind of response from republicans? >> we expected this type of response but remain disappointed. you know, to be completely honest with you the conversation is being framed all wrong. we should be thinking about how is it that we are going to be sure that the senators are going to provide their constitutional duty to advise and consent and make sure that this judge has the judicial disposition and the -- and the experience to be an excellent addition to this -- to the supre

the supreme court is for rich people, anyway. it doesn't matter what a bunch of poor people has to say. thank you very much. host: to new york, mike on the democrats line. go ahead. caller: hey, how are you doing? can you hear me? host: yes. go ahead. helen on the democrats line. go ahead. caller: yes. i think it is wrong to put a black woman on the supreme court because it is a campaign promise. these jobs are supposed to be considered by your qualifications. and, i'm not saying a black woman can't be the most qualified. what i'm saying is to just come out and say that, is that not reverse racism? are you not going to commit racism against a hispanic candidate or a white woman or a white man or a hispanic woman? maybe a japanese or someone of another -- we don't need to be picking these jobs by religion or race. we need to be picking them by qualifications, just like college or anything else. everything ought to be done by the qualifications. what they've done. i'm not saying a black woman can't be the most qualified. but, that

the fact is age matters on the supreme court. by supreme court standards the new nominee will be fairly young. it will be clear that there will be a liberal presence on the supreme court for some time. although they are now very much in the minority. >> it's been so interesting to see these old interviews with justice breyer and to hear about the role that he played behind the scenes and that he was seen as someone who was willing to compromise and willing to cross the aisle and skjust by definitn his replacement will be a newbinewbie and unable the play that same role. >> he was under a lot of pressure from conservative groups last term to retire. i'm sorry, from liberal groups. he chose not to. they were furious. some people thipnk he decided t stay because he had been on the court for so long. he knew some of the conservatives so well. he thought he could make a difference this term when the court was hearing these cases having to do with abortion and the second amendment. the end of the day and there's a lot of time left in t

supreme court. that would be significant. what would the edition of a younger, more progressive justice, due to the ideological slant of the court? >> so i think it has already been said. in the immediate material, not that much. you're swapping out someone generally liberal, although practicing mat oik certain issues, for another liberal. in the immediate future, you're going to have a 6-3 court. before justice breyer's retirement and a 6-3 court after his retirement. in the long term, it is a very sharp shift to a 7-2 court. if justice breyer waited just a year, or even a number of months, depending on what happens in the elections this fall. as we know, senator mcconnell does not like to proceed on democratic president's nominees to the high court if he thinks he can get away with it. so an enormous ideological shift. maybe on certain issues, the new justice maybe more progressive than pragmatic. but in the middle to longer term. >> let's not forget, this is a lifetime appointment. he sow someone 45, 50 years old, nominate

court for the first time. >> we talked about the supreme court. i am looking forward to making sure there is a black woman on the supreme court, to make sure that we get that representation. [applause] it's not a joke, not a joke. i pushed very hard for that. >> earlier today, the white house said joe biden plans to honor that commitment. >> the president has stated and reiterated his commitment to nominating a black woman to the supreme court. and certainly stands by that. >> on the 115 justices who have served on the court, only to have been black. justices thurgood marshall and justice clarence thomas. five black women are said to be among the possible contenders. a name that continues to come up as lead contender is ketanji brown jackson, who currently sits on the court of appeals in washington d.c.. she's a harvard law school grad who once worked as a public defender and also clicked for justice breyer. jackson was confirmed to the appeals court in june by a 54 to 44 vote. all members of the democratic voted for her, including senators kyrste

. >> we talked about the supreme court. i'm looking forward to making sure there's a black woman on the supreme court to make sure we in fact have every representation. not a joke, not a joke. i would push very hard for that. >> you can see when he made that news in february on that big stage, there were a lot of other candidates -- it was at a time when he was not necessarily the presumptive nominee. well, today he's the president, and you think about how much things change in washington, a few days ago there were a lot of other different stories that were news. now this is the biggest thing facing washington, the white house has said it. and today i can tell you as we report on all of this, the biden white house staff reiterated the value you just heard. we'll have a list of candidates later on. this kind of diversity pledge is unprecedented but, again, it's for a court can that remains one of the most powerful institutions that has diversified the least and the slowest compared to say congress. speaking of congress, this

supreme court. kruger, a former justice department lawyer, has argued several cases before the u.s. supreme court. the white house tonight brushing off speculation that president biden might nominate vice president harris >> the president has every intention, as he said before, of running for re-election and running for re-election with vice president harris on the ticket as his partner. >> reporter: the pick will not change the balance of the conservative court but for president biden, with inflation soaring, his agenda stalled, and poll numbers sinking, it's a chance for a much needed political win >> peter, is the white house giving any indication about how quickly the president will move on a decision >> reporter: yeah, lester people familiar with the process tell nbc news that president biden will try to put forward a nominee quickly. it is something the president has thought about since before taking office. even during the transition, top advisers gave him formal presentation about the best p

the supreme court is for rich people, anyway. it doesn't matter what a bunch of poor people has to say. thank you very much. host: to new york, mike on the democrats line. go ahead. caller: hey, how are you doing? can you hear me? host: yes. go ahead. helen on the democrats line. go ahead. caller: yes. i think it is wrong to put a black woman on the supreme court because it is a campaign promise. these jobs are supposed to be considered by your qualifications. and, i'm not saying a black woman can't be the most qualified. what i'm saying is to just come out and say that, is that not reverse racism? are you not going to commit racism against a hispanic candidate or a white woman or a white man or a hispanic woman? maybe a japanese or someone of another -- we don't need to be picking these jobs by religion or race. we need to be picking them by qualifications, just like college or anything else. everything ought to be done by the qualifications. what they've done. i'm not saying a black woman can't be the most qualified. but, that

justice brennan was a state supreme court justice. justice o'connor came off a state appeals court. it's been more common recently to go with judges from the federal bench. but i think judges who have significant state court experience can be important because a lot of the supreme court docket is review of state statutes to see if they comply with the federal constitution. so i think that can be an important experience. and what president biden has done already in his appointments to the lower courts is he sort of broadened the professional background, federal public defenders are getting on the bench. that wasn't the case. private practitioners who did civil rights work are on the bench. that wasn't so often the case. so before we even get to issues, i think looking at people's diversity, not just as demographic diversity but diversity in life experience and their professional careers are really important. >> let me ask you about the state of the democratic party, the state of the democratic senate and how's everybody getting along. is this an opportunity to sort of calm the waters

from the supreme court. the president reiterated his pledge to pick a black woman for the vacancy and he said he would announce his nominee by the end of february. egin by recognizing both dr. breyer and dr. biden and being here. this is a bittersweet day for me. president biden: i am here today to express the nation's to justin stephen breyer -- justice stephen breyer for his remarkable career in public service and his commitment to making the country's laws work for its people. our gratitude extends to his family for being partners the country owes you as well. stephen breyer's public service started early. he served in the u.s. army as a teenager and in all three branches of the federal government before he turned 40. the good old days. a clerk to supreme court justice goldberg, a prosecutor in the department of justice, a member of the watergate prosecution team. >> he served in all three branches of the government before he turned 40. and as he was a law clerk, a prosecutor in the department of justice,

>> terry moran leading us off from the supreme court. terry, thank you. >>> and you heard the president there say very little today, saying he would wait until we get official word from justice breyer himself. so, let's bring in abc's senior white house correspondent mary bruce tonight. mary, i want to go back to what we heard from then candidate joe biden, what he said during his campaign about who he would nominate to the supreme court. let's listen. >> i'm looking forward to making sure there's a black woman on the supreme court to make sure we in fact get every representation. >> that was just before he won south carolina. mary, tonight, there's already a short list of potential nominees? >> reporter: there is, david, and the white house today says the president is standing by that promise to nominate the first black woman to be on the supreme court. tonight, the front-runner is believed to be judge ketanji brown jackson, a former clerk of justice breyer's and she's actually already gone through the senate confirmation process, earni

on the supreme court. for 13 years, he also sat on the u.s. court of appeals for the first circuit. before that, he served for eightees as am be of the army reserves. and of course, members of this chamber cannot forget that he was once part of the senate itself, serving as an aide on the judiciary committee in the 1970's where he worked closely with our dear friend, the late senator ted kennedy. every step of the way he remained his essential self -- decent, brilliant, and dead caded to our democracy. with his new vacancy on the court, president biden will have an opportunity to make history by nominating the first ever black woman to serve on the supreme court. i am confident that the president will select an outstanding individual to fill justice breyer's seat, and we intend to move quickly on our constitutional duty to act on his nominee when announced. i can assure all senators that the senate will have a fair process that proves quickly so we can confirm president biden's nominee to fill justice brey

court justice -- as a supreme court justice. that is a way to protect judicial independence. i also think -- it is kind of interesting, the suggestion that judges do not identify with any particular political party. i think that is true for the most part. over the last two years, there's been a lot of attention to the extent to be conservative legal organization has been -- i think that dynamic is one that has caused some concern over the last several years. it depends on what you think judicial independence is. my view is that the way the constitution is supposed to work is you have individual justices or judges who are independent in individual cases and their decisions are not influenced. but you have a judiciary who se competition over time is responsive to the popular will is manifested through presidential elections. and i do not think you need life tenure for that. i think it actually makes it harder. if you take a comparative perspective, no one else does it this way. one of the witnesses, tom ginsburg, said if we were w

supreme court. you were learning new details such as, may be by summer or the end of the current term? >> yes, at the end of the current term appears that's when justice breyer will officially step down, they could be the end of june or early july, it depends on when the high court finishes its docket. but we just found out this news in the last 15 minutes or so about the 83-year-old justice to retire, and already, u.s. senators are sending out press releases into inboxes. i'm reading one from patty murray, the democratic senator from washington state, calling on president biden to move forward to appointing the a black woman to the high court. some of the other names as kaylee atomic kayleigh mentioned, we've not heard any mention of vice president, irs or any official appointment but some other names mentions, judge cuts cut tonja brown jackson, also lee andre kruger. >> harris: they have put out notices from lawmakers, are those letters on the record or are these just being talked about? >> they

>> terry moran leading us off from the supreme court. terry, thank you. >>> and you heard the president there say very little today, saying he would wait until we get official word from justice breyer himself. so, let's bring in abc's senior white house correspondent mary bruce tonight. mary, i want to go back to what we heard from then candidate joe biden, what he said about who he would nominate to the supreme court. let's listen. >> i'm looking forward to making sure there's a black woman on the supreme court to make sure we in fact get every representation. >> that was just before he won south carolina. mary, there's already a short list of potential nominees? >> reporter: there is, david, and the white house today says the president is standing by that promise to nominate the first black woman to be on the supreme court. tonight, the front-runner is believed to be judge kattan gee brown jackson, a former clerk of justice breyer's and she's already gone through the senate confirmation process when she was confirmed to the powerful d.

court's history, they still have a 6-3 majority on the supreme court. they still have what they think is a very strong agenda to use against president biden in the midterms. and so i think this is going to look very different, don, from the last couple of supreme court confirmation fights that we've been through. >> hey, steve, you've been going through this list, president biden's potential short list of picks. who stands out to you? >> yeah, don, i think any conversation's going to start with the same two names. there's judge ketanji brown jackson who's currently on the d.c. circuit. very important appeals court in washington. she spent eight years on the district court bench in d.c. don, as you know, she was confirmed just last year by this same senate. 53-44. with three republican senators, senators collins, graham and murkowski joining all 50 democrats including senators manchin and sinema in voting for her. so she's going to be i think very high on the list. 51-year-old. highly regarded federal judge. also a bit younger, i think a bit more progres

court decisions, which said that standards by which citizens can determine whether the supreme court is abusing its authority to interpret the constitution. his new book, "the nation that never was," is a book that considers the period of the civil war and reconstruction were relevant to thinking of the values of our nation as opposed to the revolution and the original constitution. if i've mischaracterized that, you will get a chance to fix it. he is a graduate of yale law school and served as a law clerk to justice david souter on the u.s. supreme court and judge stephen f williams on the d.c. court of appeals. our other expert is a professor of law and interdisciplinary legal scholar researching the quality at the intersection of law, history, sociology, and politics in the united states, and globally. she has authored dozens of articles and books about imperative constitutional law, about the procedural implementation in the united states and europe. she received her doctorate in politics from oxford university, where she held a marshall scholarship, and a jd from yale law school

the california supreme court. and, you know, you can draw your own conclusions about where they fall on the ideological spectrum if they are nominated and at the confirmation hearing. justices, senators can certainly ask them questions about their judicial philosophy. i'm not sure if that answers your question, but that's certainly how the process will work. host: is there any distinction between the three potential candidates that you talked about on previous rulings? does anything set them apart or come up? guest: apart from each other? host: yeah. guest: yeah, i will say that we're still in the preliminary stages, and so it's hard for me to say right now. judge jackson is a trial court, spent more of her career on the bench as a trial court judge. justice kruger is on the california supreme court. they have a lot of unanimous rulings. i wouldn't want to draw distinctions that i'm not ready to draw yet. i haven't had the chance because justice breyer's retirement happened so recently, to really dive in and start

court's history, they still have a 6-3 majority on the supreme court. they still have what they think is a very strong agenda to use against president biden in the midterms. and so i think this is going to look very different, don, from the last couple of supreme court confirmation fights that we've been through. >> hey, steve, you've been going through this list, president biden's potential short list of picks. who stands out to you? >> yeah, don, i think any conversation's going to start with the same two names. there's judge ketanji brown jackson who's currently on the d.c. circuit. very important appeals court in washington. she spent eight years on the district court bench in d.c. you know, don, as you know, she was confirmed just last year by this same senate. 53-44. with three republican senators, senators collins, graham and murkowski joining all 50 democrats including senators manchin and sinema in voting for her. so she's going to be i think very high on the list. 51-year-old. highly regarded federal judge. also a bit younger, i think a bit mo

the supreme court is topic number one. you're a member of the foreign relations committee and involved in negotiations in the senate about a potential package of sanctions against russia because of the standoff with ukraine. the united states and nato allies submitted some written responses to russian questions about where we might have some negotiations. the kremlin spokesman said it cannot be said our considerations were taken into account. whether any willingness to take into account our concerns was demonstrated. you see a pessimistic view from the russian perspective. that because the united states would not concede what russia wants to say that ukraine would never be allowed into nato. what is your sense of this moment? do you agree with the white house take that an invasion could be imminent, and how quickly will the senate have a package of sanctions? >> i believe the threat is very real and can happen at any time based on the information that i've seen. i co-led a delegation last week with senator rob portman from

do you know anything about her, and is the california supreme court, any state supreme court as big a stepping stone to the supreme court as an appellate court, appeals court, one of the district courts, andy? >> trace, it doesn't happen as often but that's a stellar credential, and what i know about that particular judge is pretty much the resume you just outlined, which is a sterling resume, and it has the advantage of i think she's about six years or so younger than judge jackson. so one of the things that is a consideration here is if you can get a judge of your liking on to the supreme court, the younger the better as far as they are concerned, right. because you know, she could be on for a very long time. >> i just, if i can, sandra, quickly, what andy was saying there, the last time it happened, the last u.s. supreme court justice that was taken from the state level back in 1981, justice sandra day o'connor, andy, to your point there. >> sandra: i was going to get this in. the reaction pouring in is really something, it goes a lot of different directions, i'll read from newt gi

president george hw bush who nominated him to the to the court of appeals in the supreme court and senator jack danforth who gave citizen thomas's first job in missouri and became his indispensable backer in the senate much much later, so please come up and say some words and let me give you this thing. if i could the key to what he just said. was a few words. and there's one word that seemed quite inappropriate and i didn't realize it. that it was part of the award. was the word humility because i thought about this. and i richly deserve this award. but not for the reasons boyden said many years ago as the reagan administration was ending. clarence thomas came to me for career advice now is a little duplicitous because i had already been on the phone with boyden. recommending him for the court of appeals so i wasn't really nonpartisan about this. but i had to do some real talking because clarence. who had exhibited real leadership? management ability brains as chairman of the eeoc like so many lawyers who get into a management job senior management job and government thought he could tran

supreme court -- the court of appeals first in 1980. and then 14 years later, 1994, i got to preside as chairman of the senate judiciary committee over the supreme court confirmation hearings. we were joking with one another when we walked in did he ever , think he would serve decades on the court and i would be president of the united states on the day he came in to retire? and he looked at it. i won't tell you what he said. i'm joking. i'm proud and grateful to be there at the start of his distinguished career, supreme court. and i'm very proud to be here today on his announcement of his retirement. during his confirmation hearings, back in 1994, stephen breyer said, "the law must work for the people." he explained our complex legal system has a single purpose, tell people who make up our country. it was a different time. but his brilliance, values, scholarship are why he became justice breyer by overwhelming bipartisan vote at the time. today, justice breyer announces his intention to step down from active service after four decades

supreme court -- court of appeals first in 1980. 14 years later, 1994, i got to preside as chairman of the judiciary committee over the supreme court confirmation hearings. we were joking with another, did he ever think he would serve decades on the court and i would be president of the united states on the day he came in to retire? he looked at. i will tell you what he said. i'm joking. i'm proud and grateful to be there at the start of his distinguished career, supreme court. i'm very proud to be here today on his announcement of his retirement. during his confirmation hearings back in 1994, stephen breyer said, "the love must work for the people." he explained our complex legal system has a single purpose, tell people who make up our country. it was a different time. his brilliance, values, scholarship are what he became justice breyer by overwhelming bipartisan vote at the time. today justice breyer announces his intention to step down from active service after four decades on the federal bench and 28 years on the united states supreme court. his legacy includes his work as a leadi

the supreme court -- lifetime appointments. and they make decisions that affect every single american. this is really important and so it's a teaching moment as well for people to understand what's at stake in elections, and what's -- what are the responsibilities that go along with being on the supreme court. and i hope everyone tunes in, everyone is engaged in this process. i look forward to having a very thorough review of the candidates. i think the process should not be jammed through the way president biden's predecessor did. it should be done in a thoughtful and serious way, where the public has an opportunity to see exactly what it is that president biden sees in this person, have open hearings, open debate, and hopefully a successful confirmation. >> valerie jaret, appreciate you tonight. thank you so much. >> you're welcome, anderson. >>> coming up next, a close friend of justice breyer, constitutional law scholar laurence tribe joins us. also, hook at confirmation hearings that have left an indelible mark on history