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>> i think this is an activist court. >> getting rid of roe v wade was an incredible thing for pro-life. >> simply because people disagree with an opinion is not a basis for questioning the legitimacy of the court. >> is the u.s. senate confirmation process to blame for polarizing the entire judicial branch? >> what you want to do is destroy this guys life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020. >> donald trump, mitch mcconnell and their republican buddies are shoving aside the ...

Change the rules more. what is the choice? continue like we are or have democracy. >> well, democrats did learn to care. president donald trump worked with senate republican leader mitch mcconnell to reshape the federal judiciary, appointing 54 federal appellate judges in four years, just one short of the 55 appointed in eight years. in february of 2016, less than two hours after the death of justice antonin scalia, nine months before the election, 11 months before the end of obamas term, mcconn...

Both parties want an activist judiciary in what has become a race to the bottom. since the bork nomination in the 80s, every move has been a tit for tat, and each party has rationalized its escalation in the judicial wars by claiming the other side did it first. heres a stunning fact. the last time a republican-controlled united states senate confirmed a democratic presidents supreme court nominee -- grover cleveland administration nearly 130 years ago. in 2013, pushed by the obstruction of obam...

. >> welcome back. "data download" time as we discuss the supreme courts evolution, particularly how its standing among the public has deteriorated as they perceive it to be more and more partisan. were here to provide a reality check on exactly what is driving this shift. theres one simple way to describe this, and thats just simply the number of appointments. since lbj, republican presidents have been in office for 32 years and have gotten 16 supreme court justices. democratic presidents have ...

Or too conservative. going back to the start of the century, as you can see here, it has fluctuated between too liberal and too conservative narrowly. you know, during the bush years and the war on terror. it was seen as too conservative. during the obama years, obamacare ruling, same-sex marriage, it was seen as too liberal. but look at this. it has skyrocketed. now, 42% currently think it is too conservative. and in fact, what makes that number unique? its above the -- theres a third punch we ...

>> usually, i think the trial courts are very strong. i think over and over again weve seen honest courtrooms make amazing differences with dominion versus fox, with the folks -- the parents at sandy hook against the creep who was pretending that their childrens murder wasnt real. and now recently with the judgment against donald trump. so honest courtrooms are really important to cut through to the truth. when you get to the supreme court, if its an interest in which the big right-wing billiona...

Donald trump did something very unprecedented. in may of 2016, he released a list of his potential candidates and kept adding to it, adding to it, and then fulfilled that. >> dahlia, last word. >> well, just remember, in that same election, we have three octogenarians on the court and an empty seat for months and months, and we have one side campaigning on the issue that "we will pack the court" and we have democrats who are saying like, "screensave, screensave, nothing to see here." >> yeah. i ...

Ethical standards. >> my guests this morning, former republican senator roy blunt of missouri, democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island. ill also speak with two former supreme court clerks, andrew crespo and jennifer mascott, and a special panel of reporters who cover the court -- nbc news senior legal correspondent laura jarrett, npr legal affairs correspondent nina totenberg, cnn senior supreme court analyst joan biskupic, and dahlia lithwick, senior legal correspondent for slate....