Criticism and as i am barked on my own legal career i resolved to maintain that same perspective theres a tendency in our profession to treat the practice of law as all consuming while losing sight of Everything Else but that makes for a shallow and unfulfilling life i worked hard as a lawyer and as a professor i owed that to my clients to my students and to myself but i never let the law define my identity or crowd out the rest of my life a similar principle applies to the role of court courts have a vital responsibility to the rule of law which is critical to a free society but courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life the policy decisions and value judgments of government must be made. The people the public should not expect courts to do so and courts should not try that is the approach that i have strived to follow as a judge on the 7th circuit and every case i have carefully considered the arguments presented by the parties discussed the issues with my colleagues on the court and done my utmost to reach the result required by the law whatever my own preferences might be i try to remain mindful that while my Court Decides thousands of cases a year each case is the most important one to the litigants involved after all cases are not like statutes which are often named for their authors cases are named for the parties who stand to gain or lose in the real world often through their liberty or livelihood when i write an opinion resolving a case i read every word from the perspective of the losing party i asked myself how i would view the decision if one of my children was the party that i was ruling against even though i would not like the result but i understand that the decision was fairly reasoned and grounded in law that is the standard that i set for myself in every case and it is the standard that i will follow so long as i am a judge on any court when the president offered me this nomination i was deeply honored but it was not a position i had sought out and i thought carefully before accepting the confirmation process and the work of serving on the court if confirmed requires sacrifices particularly from my family i chose to accept the nomination because i believed deeply in the rule of law and the place of the Supreme Court and our nation. I believe americans of all backgrounds deserve an independent Supreme Court that interprets our constitution and laws as they are written and i believe i can serve my country by playing that role i come before this committee with humility about the responsibility that i have been asked to undertake and with appreciation for those who have come before me i was 9 years old when Sandra Day Oconnor became the 1st woman to sit in this seat she was a model of grace and dignity throughout her distinguished tenure on the court when i was 21 years old and just beginning my career Ruth Bader Ginsburg sat in the seat she told the committee what has become of me could only happen in america i have been nominated to fill Justice Ginsburgs seat but no one will ever take her place i will be forever grateful marked and the life she led if confirmed it would be the honor of a lifetime to serve alongside the chief justice and 7 associate justices i admire them all and would consider each a value colleague and i might bring a few new perspectives to the bench as the president noted when he announced my nomination i would be the 1st mother of School Age Children to serve on the court and i know that it would make senators young and brian happy to know that i would be the 1st justice to join the court from the 7th circuit in 45 years i would be the only sitting justice who didnt attend school at harvard or yale but i am confident that notre dame could hold its own and maybe i could even teach them a thing or 2 about football as a final note mr chairman i would like to thank the Many Americans from all walks of life who have reached out with messages of support over the course of my nomination. I believe in the power of prayer and it has been uplifting to hear that so many people are praying for me i look forward to answering the committees questions over the coming days. And if i am fortunate enough to be confirmed i pledge to faithfully and impartially discharge my duties to the American People as an associate justice of the Supreme Court thank you thank you very much if youre just joining us on aljazeera that was judge Amy Kone Barrett shes President TrumpSupreme Court nominee and she was sworn in that Senate Judiciary committee is hearing taking place right now and she delivered her Opening Statements before the committee saying that she was humbled by the profound responsibility in judge barretts also saying that the Supreme Courts to which she is nominated must be independent and must interpret the constitution and laws as they are written lets bring in alan fischer hes joining us from capitol hill so we just heard from judge a macone baron herself and i mean talk us through what has been going on in the past few hours and whats at stake here. Well there we had Lindsey Graham introducing the hearing he is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee he essentially the reasons why this was being pushed ahead he said it was constitutional there was no reason why the president couldnt nominee a Supreme Court justice and no reason why the senate couldnt vote to confirm of course democrats have a problem with this because we are just if you weeks away from an election they argue that this is a decision that should be made by the next president pointing to the fight whoever is elected president whether its donald trump or do biden pointing to the fact that 4 years ago when there was a vacancy in the court several months before the election the republicans refused to hold any hearings he believes that this will that it will emerge from the committee along party lines that is probably true but its still got to go to the senate no the democrats say 1st of all the hearing should be taking place carla harris who is the Vice President ial nominee also a member of the committee saying in her remarks that there were much more important things to be done not least a covert relief bill and that should have been going through the senate now also we have from numerous members of the committee who are democrats pointing to the fact that the Affordable Health care act might be under threat should a conservative justice such as equally valid be appointed to the Supreme Court they are seeing that with a hearing jude the week after the election that given her previous writings she may well strike dont all of the Affordable Health care act obamacare is that became known and that would jeopardize people with preexisting conditions why are they taking that particular tack well they know if it goes to the senate then there are 2 republican senators who said they couldnt vote for the nomination at the moment because what in the election season they are hoping that Public Opinion will sway at least 2 other republican senators perhaps 5 people calling them and that may be enough to postpone the vote for the. Time being as well but the republicans have really mush marshaled their forces the battle lines are drawn and they believe they have the votes to push this through before the election as for the judge herself or she stuck to her prepared remarks as you see the 2 most important points she was making was that she understands the law should be interpreted to with was written not the way you would like it to be written if that was said to try and reassure some democrats its not going to change many votes the other point that she made is that when she writes her very hard decisions she does so thinking of the people who are now losing side whether they may be appearance or children or mothers and how they will feel and she says she hopes that they see that whatever decision she comes to which they may not agree with is well reasoned this is really just the start of the phony war of people are being relatively nice in the 1st 3 of these hearings which will go through all the way to thursday and the vote to moral senators will get the chance to ask questions of the judge they will do so in 30 minute bus they will go through all 22 members of the committee and then a further 20 minute push so well be here late into tuesday probably late into weapons the as well as the question equally by a her. Position on the law stands to certain issues and perhaps even her ideological bent all of these will fit in but from what were hearing from a number of senators on the committee i think theyve already made up their minds how theyre going to vote and so thursday to a large degree may well be a formality whether or not democrats turn up thats another issue but it looks as if it is going to be a formality and she will go forward to the senate for a fool confirmation vote ok allan i will let you go for an hour we speak throughout the evening and over the next few days thank you lets bring in cody barlow is the movie editor at the skoda blog and that is the Supreme Court of the United States walks is joining us from new york thanks very much for your time whats your interpretation of the judges statement at her confirmation hearing. Well judging turnberry there we met last night there everybody and 2nd chance to review it is pretty standard Language Program here from a nominee piece about how she will interpret the law as written as opposed to the way that she wants her preferences something that she gets from her mentor and a former justice from the supreme or. Then. She also talks about ensuring he hears and when she decides a party not only there she as your correspondent no think about the losing side as a trial grandmother she actually visualized what it would be like for her child her children to be on the losing side of the case that she decided before she makes the final decision in this comfortable position but its pretty Standard Operating Procedure today is actually one of the more boring days in terms of any confirmation hearing every senator on the land speech the nominee has a plan not to run true for excitement or fireworks today in science room at least for tomorrow or when those so what will you be looking out for then some more or the day after when you say the fireworks are are meant to begin. I didnt run it noted that the fragment really laid out drama data or lack here the democratic remarkably d. Are thinking on message talking about whatever and that the president what about your act obamacare. Or the Supreme Court one week after election day and senator kerry that 29. Democrats are history im reference were talking about or an organ that is covering preexisting condition were being hurried and you know greater world than our country in particular right now and republicans are pushing back against comment that democrats are making in the raf about the nominees their religious beliefs you didnt know his comments today criticizing her religious beliefs but youre having a. Wealthy government questioning tomorrow when its wednesday its going to further diving and digging into this nation trying to make their position in American People this is about me or here are this is about action a religious liberty and that would be their messaging that theyre very into the election on the records coming out 22. 00 days so we heard from Lindsey Graham earlier on he opened the session of the Senate Judiciary committee where he seemed to imply that this is pretty much a done deal so as allen was saying it is this just a formality at this point. I think. Everything and its rank near grand its great and we didnt just hear that senator graham actually yukari from across the aisle well which are and also going to come right here well this is their position that were in the republican fold a democratic majority in the senate and this will very likely go through something something im right and natural predators and theres actually will burn me on the bench probably more our election day are able. To get it and thats. All right katie barlow thank you for speaking to us from new york thank you now Shihab Rattansi was outside the Supreme Court where protests were held as that hearing kicked off the 1st determined group of protesters both for and against the nomination confirmation that i me tell you about here outside the Supreme Courts. Those against the interesting and white house. One of the many objections they have to the proceedings is that no one was required to have a test before the hearings took place and to one of the organizers. Love whos with us. Whats at stake for you during this confirmation hearing. Right now the focus is on a confirmation hearing when it should be about the American People people in america we need to make sure you have a relief package that includes health care. For people who have lost their jobs that supports businesses that supports child care should be here and people. Should focus on people who live in america not a court but what about the confirmation itself. Of. What about just not the right person. Should make sure that. Im going to be on the Supreme Court versus that thinking about all of the people and there are you can look at her record her record has not been very. Conservative in all of her rulings so now would this kind of make it more conservative im concerned about the. People who are on if it is unconstitutional. Not have coverage. Preexisting conditions not have coverage she says obamacare the health care thing but is there a sense if youve lost this battle that she will be. Well its not over until its over its not over yet happens we are going to continue to resist and as long as there is resistance we have to define our standing up for what we believe in and that we are putting people 1st example of what route to happen in america people need to be before politics and we need to make sure that people who live in america are taking care of us continue to fight like you very much and there is a sense that perhaps the republicans do have the votes this confirmation will go through. But theres also a sense that the democrats didnt fight as hard as the republicans might have if they were in the same position all the various democrats immediately met with amy carney about for example whereas when president obama nominated his choice for a chief justice of justice rather none of the republicans even met him so theres a bit of frustration with the democrats for the time of nation to fight on anyway. Heres whats coming up on the news hour high ranking supreme that politicians are implicated in a scheme to sell a new passports to criminals we have an exclusive investigation the u. K. Gets a 3 tier system of lockdown measures as its Prime Minister warns the next few weeks and months ahead will be difficult its unsporting back your hands were here what. To say about it as late as ground success. But 1st russias foreign minister says turkey will be involved in peace talks over the disputed region of nagornokarabakh Foreign Ministers of armenia and russia have been meeting in moscow armenia and azerbaijan are accusing each other of violating a humanitarian ceasefire which has left casualties on both sides math reports from doris in armenia. When an armenian missile hit the apartment block where i. Live there was supposed to be a ceasefire. This was another bridge 9 people died in this attack on sunday johns 2nd largest city here they have no interest in a cease fire. If you let me go to war im going im going that chanting turkey is giving azerbaijan its full support and its fight to reassert sovereignty over the Ethnic Armenian on plate of nagornokarabakh an adjacent land occupied by all media now these areas president wants turkey to be involved in talks to find a solution to the conflict but russia isnt interested. Miss them so they did it but just that its a new statement confirms the unchangeable nature of the negotiation process and its format. Group consists of a fairly large number of states with this but it has delegated the management of the negotiation. Process and mediation to the 3 cochairing states russia the United States and france. But in almost 30 years the minsk group has failed to find a solution to the status of nagorno karabakh. Talks with his armenian counterpart following a similar meeting with the as ery foreign minister last week. On monday in caracas maine town of panic at the air raid sirens were still alerting people to the shelters despite the cease fire the anger here as raw as it is on the other side of the conflict as much as you before jessica is one of them who would be here next to me i would strangle him i would strangle him without a weapon i have lost my husband and now i could lose my grandchild and relatives why 5 armenians were killed on sunday and how drought in the south of the going to kind of back as azeri forces attempt to capture the town about 50 kilometers in that direction is the Ethnic Armenian town of how dry it now theres been intense fighting going on there as both sides a seemingly trying to cement their positions while moscow increases the pressure on armenia and azerbaijan to fully implement the humanitarian cease fire burn its an aljazeera chorus in armenia. And undercover investigation by aljazeera has exposed a high ranking officials in cyprus expressing a willingness to aid convicte