Central part of the country. 202 7488001 for the Mountain Time zone. Send us a text, tell us where you are texting from and your name at 202 7488003. We also welcome your comments on twitter and on facebook, facebook. Com cspan. In many parts of the country, decent weather over the weekend, drawing people out, combined with looser restrictions in some states. An Associated Press story and the Washington Times, wellbehaved crowds coming to beaches and parks. Everyoneweather to seemed to cooperate at an oceanfront park on saturday as new jersey reopened its state parks, people itching to get sand between their toes after months of being cooped up. Island beach state park was among the parks to reopen, drawing several hundred to a beach that routinely handles thousands during the summer. Hours, almost all of the crowd stated six feet apart. They also right that the new jersey governor said he was pleased with the initial reports, not only from the beachfront park, but other state resorts and that opened on saturday. Donald trump of the Lincoln Memorial in washington, some reporting on that from the Washington Post. The headline, the president reassures the u. S. It is safe for the states to open. The president sought to reassure americans it is safer for states to reopen among amid the pandemic, offering support to protesters who rallied across the country. He said it is possible to satisfy both the antilinktone lockdown on protesters and there afraid to resume public life. He noted americans were wearing face masks and said that you will have to do that for a while, even as states reopen. Your thoughts, your situation in your state has your state reopened or loosened restrictions . Give us a call at 202 7488000 in the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 for mountain and pacific. Here is what the president said last night in that fox interview. Clip] new jersey is opening up golf courses, beaches are opening, parks are opening. At some point we have to open our country and people will be safe. We have learned a lot, we have learned about the contagion. We have no choice, we cannot stay closed. We will not have a country left. Host part of the call with fox last night. Additional reporting on that from the Washington Times, trump told congress not a big deal. U. S. Deaths of his 66,000. In the Washington Times, President Trump received his first intelligence briefing on the virus on january 23, and his advisors told him it was not a big deal. I was told there could be a virus coming in, but it was no it was not of real importance, he said in a townhome meeting posted by hosted by fox news. It was a brief conversation. They said it was not a big deal. Critics have accused mr. Trump of being slow to recognize the dangers of covid19, writing the democrats are making a Campaign Issue at over handling of the pandemic, saying he acted too slowly. Mr. Trump said that more than one Million People could have died if he had not taken the actions he did. The president noted he closed air travel from china on january 31, except for u. S. Citizens returning from that country. He said the white house released at the details of the Intelligence Briefings on the virus on monday, today. To your calls, first to joe in georgia. Good morning. Caller i love cspan. I want to say thank you. Larry kudlow, he got off fox Business News and he said that georgia was going to lead the way in the recovery. And brian kemp of georgia, the fifth best governor and i agree with that, he is a great governor. He opened up georgia this weekend and people are going out, but they are keeping their distancing. We just feel great in georgia about everything and we are i say all, but most people think that trump is the best person in history, so we are really fired up and we appreciate the job that cspan is doing. And we are real happy in georgia. We think that brian kemp is the greatest governor. And, anyway, we are excited and we appreciate the job that cspan is doing. Host cnn is tracking the states and where they are in the process of opening up. Governor kemp started to ease restrictions on the 24th, gyms, barbers, hair salons, massage therapists, etc. , were allowed to open on the 24th, theaters and restaurants on the 27th. Caveats included social distancing, screening employees. Now a call from teresa. Caller hello. Host good morning. Caller thank you for taking michael. Call. A for taking my i have a comment. Illinois is not opening up at all. I three appointments for physicals. m not allowed to see my doctor. They canceled my appointment three times. I am not allowed to see my dentist. The last thing that happened, i tried to get my car serviced, a nd they told me that at the age of 80 i had to stand outside and wait for them to do that in a neighborhood that is not safe. Do i want to get the virus or do i want to get mugged . When they make laws that are so dangerous to senior citizens, i and we have no choice. Our doctors are ordered not to let us in. Our dentists are ordered not to work. Our car dealers are told that we cannot wait indoors in a comfortable waiting room, we have to wait outside in a dangerous neighborhood. I just think that this is about the most ridiculous laws that they are imposing on us. Host on cnn, a report they are tracking the governor of illinois who issued a modified order that went into effect on may 1, and extends until the end of the month, allowing more flexibility for where it is safe to do so. According to the governor, this is what people are saying on facebook. ,teve says stan says Governor Wolf relaxed restrictions in pennsylvania, but threatened to punish people for not wearing masks. You are wearing a mask, does it matter if i am . Nebraska never closed. Restrictions are lifted for hair salons and restaurants. We have seen the largest bike in positive cases these past couple days, she says. Opening and exposing more people makes good sense. Really, i hope people protect themselves, as by doing so others are protected. Chuck says georgia has completely open, god help us all. And another reviewer says, the restrictions are for your health and for your neighbors. Also astounding how, many people want to march toward death by opening prematurely. Jim says the traffic on the lake yesterday looked like memorial day weekend. Everybody was out. There was bright sunshine and temperatures in the 80s. Baltimore sun piece that rain over the weekend about Governor Hogan. Representative harris, the headline, he compares marilyn deter north korea. They protest the restrictions. Zens demonstrated again on the stayathome order, with a caravan from western maryland into the eastern shore. They plan to the protest against the governors mandate after holding one in annapolis last month. The stayathome order is part of the governors measure to deter the spread of the virus. , in america have been told i cannot practice my religion in the state and it has decided that my religion is essential or nonessential. The speech was broadcast on facebook, the Facebook Page of patriot picking. I did not wake up in communist china or north korea, and tomorrow morning i should be able to go to the church of my choice and worship the way i choose. Governor hogan yesterday, on one of the sunday shows, responded. [video clip] i think everybody has a right to protest and express their feelings. A couple dozen people did so yesterday. And they have every right to do that. Sadly, we had more people died yesterday in maryland than protesters. Congressman harris, i am not sure where he woke up yesterday, but maybe he confused north korea and south korea. South korea is doing a great job on testing. We just save the lives of thousands by getting those tests from korea. I do not have a further,. He obviously has the right to say whatever he wants to say, but i do not really need to respond to him. Host that was governor larry hogan of maryland yesterday on state of the union. Congress returns today, at least half of it, returning for legislative work this afternoon. We are joined by alex bolton. Alex bolton, why the senate and not the house . The house was supposed to return today. Guest that is right, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Majority leader changed their minds after getting advice from the attending physician, who said it is not safe. And noted the differences between the senate and house in 435 houseize, with members coming back. Llawmakers would be forced to be in closer proximity than in the senate. The senate with 100 members, precautions can be taken and will be taken to lengthen the votes, to have senators at meetings with three at a table for instance. So they feel social distancing can happen there, but with a larger body it cannot. Host your headline reflects what we will see when the senate comes back. The senate faces a floor fight over judges and pandemic safety concerns. Back to the nominations today then . Thet there is a lot on schedule, nominations. The will be voting on Inspector General for the regulatory commission. Level,the community there will be a hearing on tuesday for brian millers nomination to be special Inspector General for pandemic recovery. Nomination for assistant secretary of department of housing and urban development. To be the commissioner there. On tuesday, the senate will hold a hearing on the director of National Intelligence position. And there will be other nominations. The Judiciary Committee will have a hearing on nominees, we do not know who is coming up yet. The chairman has not said. The suspicion is justin walker, circuitnee to the d. C. Court of appeals will have his hearing, if not this week, soon. This is thecond second most powerful court in the land and the Bar Association has said he is not qualified because of his lack of litigation experience. He does support Mitch Mcconnell and he is a protege of the house. Host back to the coronavirus may see discussion over additional aid. They have been talking about it while the senate was away. A call for additional aid for state funding to help bailout the states in the midst of the crisis. You say it underscores the difference between Mitch Mcconnell and Chuck Schumer, what are the two views that are competing against each other . Guest they are quite fire part far apart. Nancy pelosi came out with a 1 trillion request for state aid last week, during the cares act negotiation. The democrats asked for more than 700 million. And Mitch Mcconnell only agreed 150 150 billion in billion in the first care act. April, negotiated, in when Chuck Schumer pushed hard for state funding and Mitch Mcconnell refused to budge. While Mitch Mcconnell said we will consider more state funding down the road, it is possible he is requiring that that package include Liability Protection for all employers. That will be a major fight on capitol hill. Chuck schumer has dismissed that. Ane thing he raised is if employer requires workers to work within six feet, in violation of social distancing and do not have proper equipment, they should be subject to being sued. That is something he will not give ground on. So i think that is why we can expect the negotiations in the next round of Coronavirus Relief legislation, cares act ii, will take a while. Ppp, kudlow says that the the Popular Small Business program, and paycheck protection funds, food need another infusion. It has already gotten more than 600 billion from congress, but that money is fast going out the door. That may perhaps inspire talks from smaller of a smaller package focused on just Small Business lending program, but anything along the lines of 2. 0, which pelosi has talked about, would include state aid it will probably take weeks to put together, given the differences. , about house safety on capitol hill. The senate is obviously a body with an older average age of members, so has there been discussion from members indicating they would feel unsafe coming back to take part into the abrasions . In the deliberations . Guest Mitch Mcconnell has been the strongest in pushing for members to come back. He wants them to be physically present, not virtually present. Senate republicans will hold everything in person this week, although in a larger room, three senators to a table. Democrats will have to continue to do with they did in march, which is take their calls via Conference Call, so they will not be gathering for lunches as they did before the pandemic. N it comes to voting, everybody has to show up to vote. Just how Many Democrats show up for a trump nominee, we will see. But if it is Something Like just a walker, i bet all the democrats or almost all of them will show up, unless they have health conditions. You will see more republicans than democrats on the hill this week, but with the big votes you will see a vast majority of the chamber show up. Host alex bolton, we appreciate your insight. Guest thanks. Host back to your calls and comments. Over the weekend, states loosening restrictions. What is the experience in your state . Has it loosened restrictions . Has it reopened . 202 7488000 for eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 mountain and pacific. We go to cleveland to hear from dan. Caller good morning, how are you . Host fine, thank you. Caller i wanted to let you know how things are going in ohio. We are starting to loosen up things. I still cannot get a haircut. It has been two months. We deal with it. Governor dewine is doing a good job and i give him a a lot of of credit. He tried to go by the federal guidelines, along with making his own decisions. Think it is amazing how you see other states, how things are going. It seems like that is closer to democratic communism to me. People have to take responsibility for your own lif e. Do what you think is right. We are in thist predicament, but that is all i have to say. Int mike in apollo mary apollo, pennsylvania. Caller good morning. Let me reply to the guy on the phone. Next door,nsylvania, and this is how crazy the situation has been. We do not have we have more restrictions. Im in an area where i can get in a car and i could be in ohio in an hour and a half. It is no wonder we are all over the place in terms of a device from state governments. The federal government should be leading in a case like this and they should be leading on advice from the cdc, which they probably would have if they had not gotten rid of the Rapid Response force, if donald trump had not early on. It is no order states are all over the place and confuse. Donald trump said even in february that younger people could go back to work. He had a hunch it was not going to be as bad as it apparently is. And that guy who says people have to do with they think is right, you know, based on what . This is a decision for medical experts. Why do we have experts if we are not going to listen to them . Donald trump thinks he is an isert on everything, that why he recommended household cleaner as a possible solution, as a possible drug to get rid of the pandemic. He just you cannot talk off the top of your head and like the guy before me said, do what you think is right. You have to Pay Attention to statistics, to the death rate. Seemld and the poor just to be disposable, they are the ones getting ill. They are the ones showing up in the morgue. If we hadt, you know, had better leadership i think both democratic and republican governors would not be so much all over the place. Host we go to russ in connecticut. Caller i am going to prove it a little bit pivot a little bit from my original,. Comment. Ginal i was going to talk about the governor in michigan who said she saw swastikas. I do not understand how anybody in a crowd, the people in the crowd would not have looked at anybody carrying a swastika and say, get out of here. Whats far about reopening, i wish he would have for a segment, get three people there a black person, asian person and hispanic person who cannot pay their bills, lost their jobs. Get them in as guests and restricted segment to just people who lost their jobs and find out how frustrating your life has to be, because they are the forgotten people here. Have 30le who we Million People now who cannot pay even their rent or mortgage, somehave gone months and of them will continue. They are forgotten. I wish he would have a whole segment with people like that and give them a chance to talk about how frustrating their lives have become. And restrict the calls, not the people like me, who are all set and most of the callers who are doing fine. Let them call. Host we appreciate that. We have done that segment, and given the nature of the shutdowns across the country we will continue to do that. Russ mentioned protests in michigan at the state capital. Asked about that on sunday by chris wallace. [video clip] some of the outrageousness of what happened at the capital this week depicted some of the worst racism and awful parts of our history in this country. The confederate flags and nooses, the swastikas, you know, the behavior you have seen in the clips, is not representative of who we are in michigan. The fact of the matter is, we are in a global pandemic. This is not something that we negotiate ourselves out of it and it is a political matter. This is a Public Health crisis that has taken the lives of 70,000 americans. It has put 30 Million People into unemployment. We have lost in the last 24 hours almost the same number of americans killed on 9 11, that is the last 24 hours. We need to listen to the expertise and institutions of Higher Learning and our Health System and make decisions that are going to protect the lives of everyone, whether you agree with me or not. Im working to protect your life in michigan. I will continue to do my job, regardless of what tweets come out or polls, or what people think makes sense. We will listen to facts and science because we have got to get this right. Host that was the governor from michigan on state of the union. We will show you comments from dr. Birx in a bit. Bit. We are asking him has your state reopened . You can call 202 7488000 for eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 mountain and pacific. Theitter, lee says, caller in georgia is ready to die. What is their life worth . And doctors can die no problem, right . We continueticut, with everyone must be the boy in the plastic bubble. Shut down mcdonalds, Dunkin Donuts and cocacola, that will suit more lives than everyone wearing masks. Do not want the government regulating my health and i am not responsible for others health. I work hard to stay healthy. I will not wear a mask and avoid things i love for people who refuse to take care of themselves. Inwill hear from maria fairfax, virginia. Open the medical treatment offices on friday. Im on my way to work. A survivor phone. I cannot believe people are responding with kkk, swastikas, people who are motivated by the president of the United States. And uneducated. It is disgusting. Its horrible they have no idea about how serious this virus is. It isey are just unbelievable. We do not have the problem we have in michigan because we do not allow armed people going to our state buildings. But it is horrible. Im living in northern virginia. I went to see my son by the window on easter. And i stayed there for two weeks, just to provide him his meals, because i could not see him. Maybe iria, how missed it, how is he now . Caller he did recover. He is still in quarantine because the body will not be rid of it for 30 days. Host do they know how or where he may have come in contact with the coronavirus . Caller we do not know. Hey think that he shared shares a house with others, no one got the virus. Why . Because they are highly educated. They are on the waiting list to be repatriated to their country of origin. The other one is still working. They had a meeting in january. A student trained them. She is doing her phd in epidemiology. She is training on infection and everything. She said, if you are not going to follow those guidelines, you will have to leave. Im talking about sharing the the bathroom with other students. They didnt get it. Why . They are highly educated. Host we will not go to deborah from louisiana. Good morning. Hi, go ahead. Caller this is dorothy. Host go ahead. I am sorry about that. Caller give me a minute to say what i have to say. And i am on my 77 years old now. And something is troubling my mind. I listen to these people talking about those guys going into the statehouse in michigan with guns, somebody saw a swastika. I saw the gun, the swastika does not mean something to me. We should not let that happen. This is one thing i wanted to say. Have you ever noticed that President Trump, pence, his cabinet, none of those people ever wear masks. I found out something this morning. I will not say where i found it out from. But host does your governor wear a mask when he does his briefings . We have covered them on cspan. Isler well, when he does briefing they are six feet or eight feet apart. But President Trump, they are right upon these people. They never wear masks, because they have had the vaccine. If they know about the vaccine, why not give it to the rest of us . And this is Something Else i want to say, god knows i am not a prejudiced person. Host just to correct you on that, as far as we know there is no vaccine. Tested theng president. Caller as far as you know. Have you ever seen the president get tested . No. This is one more thing i want to say. Just about all these people out there protesting, mostly it is republicans, and i wish they would stop because we all have to live in this country. Host on testing, this headline, an Antibody Test has been approved by the fda. It has cleared an Antibody Test the Roche Holding hg, company saying it is a move that could add capacity to efforts to determine the wider spread of covid19. The test identifies antibodies made by the body to fight off the new coronavirus, it is designed to tell people whether they have been affected in the past. Antibodies remain in the blood for weeks, months or even years after infection. The tests are performed on a blood sample enter different from the swab test used to diagnose a current infection. That is from the wall street journal. Er speaking about the protests in michigan. It was a topic this week with dr. Birx. [video clip] a lightning round about some activities people are engaging in. California, where this past week thousands of people were massing on beaches and in close quarters, is that safe . If it is done with social distancing, yes. If not, no. I do not know if you can see the video. There was no social distancing. That is why the governor shut down the beaches. We have seen governors opening up things like beauty salons and spas, where people come into close contact. You are getting a haircut, a massage. If both sides, if both parties are wearing masks, is that safe . We have mader, but it clear that that is not a good safe activity and i think the president made it clear when he discussed the case in georgia. Well, you know that is happening all over the country right now. Let me ask about one more activity. Big crowds of protesters that went into the Michigan State massingwithout masks, together in close quarters. I am not asking about the First Amendment right to protest, that they have come about from a Public Health standpoint is that safe . It is devastatingly worrisome to me, because if they go home and affect their grandmother or grandfather who has a condition, and they have a serious or an unfortunate outcome, they will feel guilty for the rest of their lives. So we need to protect each other at the same time we are voicing our discontent. Host the latest from reuters as they track the coronavirus, the number of cases reported in the u. S. , over 1. 1 million. And total deaths now at over 67,000. The tracker at reuters. Com. A caller in pontiac, michigan. Caller thank you for having me. Earliergan, as the callers alluded to with the First Amendment, i see nothing wrong with that but i think the state of michigan has to revisit their rights to bear arms in public places. Also, i was curious to know, and i think you for the platform you have, if anyone thank you for the platform you have, if anyone of having oro making adjustments to ppe, including in transit systems, in Office Buildings and other large places, instead of using the liquid disinfectant, maybe we should consider using the ultraviolet rays on the transit planes and entrances of doors and office spaces, because that is something i think, i am not an expert, but i think that is something that we would be able to have in modifying47 the different types of equipment of that nature. Host thank you. Robert and marilyn, good morning. In maryland, good morning. Caller that caller in aboutana, there is a lot bearing arms. That is the way of the world. Ais thing here, you had doctor last week who put up a video on youtube that was taken down, but the doctor gave up game. The is forcing these doctors, any deaths that come from car accidents, drug overdoses, senior citizens, nursing homes, they are accrediting all these deaths to the coronavirus. The true scam, this is about voting. They want to keep this alive until november so they can say we cannot vote the traditional way. Voting. Now have mail in this is how the democrats plan on stealing the election. We must not allow them to do this. This is the scam. This is what they are up to, the media and democrats. They want mail in voting. The day after election day, this stuff will go away. This is a scam. That is what this is and that is what these guys are up to. Mail in voting. Host the state of kansas used mail in voting over the weekend for their primary. Biden wins. Hisbiden has notched victory and the democratic president ial nominating contest, winning the kansas primary. The latest results from the saturday primary, released on sunday morning. Joe biden taking 77 of the vote, 100 of the precincts reporting. Bernie sanders, who exited the race, took 23 . Sanders took 10 delegates. Kansas was the latest date to take ballots completely by mail during the pandemic. Now from ohio. Caller can you hear me . Host sure can. Caller i want to say a couple things. One, the government is doing a great job. When the president talked about uv lights, we have already done that. And he talked about injecting the body. People do this all the time. Literally, people receive Hydrogen Peroxide infusions, along with chemical protocols to help kill cancer cells. This already goes on and people do not understand the stuff. We have the best technology in the world. Trust it. It is important that people understand, not to be hyping themselves up over things they do not understand. Sit down and figure it out. And if there are questions for me, i am here. Host thanks. Good morning to robert. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I have been listening to the other comments. And i am troubled. Here where we are in the rocky mountains, we have very little of the coronavirus. Opened well, i e is ahaircut at ther college here that teaches women and men how to cut hair and do that type of thing. And they opened up. So i went and got a haircut. My wife got her haircut. Im 82 years old, so i have seen a lot of the illness. And i have seen a lot of politics. And i am troubled by those who call in and make this political. Its just so obvious that they really do not care about us folder people. Oldder people. My concern is i would rather get the coronavirus, that i would give up my Constitutional Rights and turn this state into a socialist state, which the worldwide left has been trying to do. And they have been using President Trump, because of his his methods, they have been trying to use him to advance their leftist, socialist worldwide political views. And that is what troubles me most about these callers who are calling and not really being honest. Utah,has your governor in governor herbert, correct . Caller yes. Host has he issued Health Restrictions in that state, and are you as upset or opposed to those restrictions compared to the ones implemented by the federal government . Caller i am not really opposed to any restrictions. Been veryvernor has open and very forthwith about what he is doing. And our state is not under a strict regulations. He is opening up our state parks. He is host how about religious services in utah . Caller no, right now i have not been to church in about six weeks. I have been across the street from the church and it is closed, nobody goes in or out. There is no activity at all. Host robert, you feel like you youronstitutional like Constitutional Rights are being tread upon . Caller it is not my Constitutional Rights, it is those who are calling in and they thinkbecause that they are in my opinion and they are trying to prolong this for political reasons and they always take a shot at President Trump about what he is doing. So my real concern is what i call the seminary callers, who have their own agenda and they j left. Y to further the host we talked to alex bolton earlier about the senate returning for work today, through copy and eastern on cspan2. The house will be back, at the earliest, it week from today on may 11. The Supreme Court also returning to work, but not at the core and its certainly not hearing arguments at the court. From the New York Times, the virus pushes the Supreme Court into revolutionary changes. A coalition of news organizations asked the Supreme Court to allow live coverage on gayrights and immigration. Rejected justice ric the request, keeping in a longstanding practice. But on monday, the court will break with history twice, hearing the first 10 cases that will be argued in a telephone Conference Call and letting the public listen in. It is a momentous step for a secretive institution, and yet another way in which the coronavirus pandemic has forced American Society to adjust to a new reality. It is a remarkable development, said the general counsel of cspan, which will offer live coverage of the arguments. We will have our first live coverage this morning at 10 00 a. M. Here on cspan and on cspan radio. Caller from mount pleasant, michigan. Caller i wanted to talk a little bit about the protest in lansing. I think what people are not is that theg governor is lying to you on some of these issues. These people that were protesting, that were having the guns on them, they are michigan militia. They were not there on behalf of the protesters. They are there to keep the peace between both of them, so the protesters do not get out of control and they are intimidated. They are not part of the group, so i know when you see the guns it sounds intimidating. She talked about the swastika. The swastikas were over her picture. Host the militia, wouldnt that be the state troopers job or the Capitol Police job in lansing . Caller the michigan militia is part of an open carry group. Michigan is an open carry state. So theyre there to preserve the Second Amendment for everyone. These guys have been going there for like 15 years for every protest. It is part of the Capitol Police. 25 of the state police were sick with covid, so the government was actually down on their police. There are Capitol Police, but they do not have thousands to take care of the protesters. My understanding was the protest was going all the way out of the capital, out of the city and down the highway to mouse. Down the highway 10 miles. It was a calm protest. Only one person was arrested and he was arguing with another protester. Host to steve in missouri. Caller good morning. Vote is, our right to just as important as their right to carry arms. That lady that just called, that is ridiculous. If i was the governor of michigan, i would call the state police and it wouldve arrested all of them, confiscated their guns and charged them with unlawful protest. We have the right to peacefully protest. We do not need to be intimidated. They charged to the capital. It is rude to close. As far as the mail in ballots, that is the only way to have a free and fair election. Every time we let the republicans control the government, they spend a bunch of money and they end up putting us all on the limb. The only way we can get out of this is to shore up the unemployment and have reasonable and into be able to work certain areas. We are not going to open up the whole country. That is the way it is until this virus is under control. That is the only thing we can do. I appreciate what everybody is doing. And cspan taking our calls. Host has your state reopened or loosened restrictions . We welcome your comments on twitter. You can text us at 202 7488003. Michael says more people are out as vermont has loosened restrictions. On facebook, yes, florida is reopening because the governor knows it was only to flatten the curve so hospitals were not overwhelmed, it was never to hide in hopes of a vaccine. Governorfacebook, the of virginia has continued his reign of fear. Im so ashamed of what he has done to virginia. Catherine says, alabama has partially open to. I am waiting to go back to work. Some companies are still closed. This is what the governor of mississippi said yesterday about the state. [video clip] that is a great and fair question. What i would tell you is, you have to understand mississippi is different from new york, it is different from new jersey. By the way, my neighbor to the west is the same, in louisiana they had a spike in cases over a short amount of time and then mississippi is not like that. We havelast 40 days, been between 200300 cases without a spike. Our Hospital System is not stressed. We have less than 100 people in our state on ventilators. So as i talked the president and Vice President , i have spoken wetially with dr. Birx, and agree that sometimes in the models are different for different states, and we believe that that particular criteria does not work in states like ours, who have never had more than 300 cases in any one day with the exception of friday. Host the mississippi governor yesterday, the front page of the usa today, about 16,000 dead in nursing homes, dire shortages of supplies, a real problem. A couple more calls. Peter in new jersey. Good morning. Caller good morning and thank you for taking my call. I love cspan and i listen to it and i watch it as often as i can. Host we are glad to hear that. Glad to have the with us. Go ahead. Caller i feel honored you are il able to pick me, this is my first time on. We are so happy the governor has loosened restrictions and has let us get rid of tension from being confined for so long. Im enthusiastic about going to parks and taking walks with my wife. And just getting out to breathe the fresh air. Host are you still working . Have you had remote work over the past few weeks . Caller i do not remote work, but my wife does. She has turned part of our house into her work office. And she is coping with the situation. Theis a real avid fan of restrictions, saying that this coronavirus is real. Back from december, she knew about it because of her news from hong kong that this was serious. When it came here, we told everyone this is a serious situation. Just please obey the law, no matter how much you do not like it. It is there for a reason. Host peter, glad you got through on the phone. Throughout the crisis, we have been checking in with members of congress on their work in their districts and particularly returning to the house floor. We are joined next by representative davis, 13th district of illinois. He is also the Top Republican on the House Administration committee, which congressman davis will have a key role in in determining the parameters for coming back in the u. S. House. What can we expect . Guest thank you for having me. First, we had a successful vote series to pass the second round of funding for the paycheck protection program. We were able to make sure the capital remains safe, almost every Single Office in both republican and democrat caucuses are teleworking, so there is virtually zero staff running around the Office Buildings. Just the staff in the capital and those on the floor. If you turn on cspan during those debates, you saw people wearing masks, people in a very orderly fashion coming in and out to vote. They were safe. Each voting machine was cleaned. And we can come back to the capitol and do it in a way that is safe for everybody. Host are you frustrated that you are not back this week . Guest it was like pingpong last week. One day we were told by the majority that we were coming back to washington, in less than 24 hours they changed their minds. That is part of the issue that we have. We can come together, and we do, in a bipartisan way. We talk about how to use technology. We talk about implementing it into our house operating systems and artificial responsibilities, but at the same time we have to respect the fact that there are no rules that would allow for remote booting or the ill advised proxy voting that the democrats proposed last week. So if we are serious about governing, serious about helping the American People, we have got to get back to washington. Host tell us why you used the term ill advised proxy voting, tell us what proxy voting means and why you think it is not a good idea. Guest keep in mind, just a few short years ago when republicans took over the house in 1995, after 40 plus years of straight democrat majorities, we got rid of proxy voting. Proxy voting had been abused by leadership in the committees. And it is something that effectively took away the voice of many individuals. Just bringing proxy voting back i think has circumstances and that we are not taking into consideration. Frankly, the worst part of it was it was a process that had zero republican input. A process that was put together by the democratic majority, told us that this was going to happen, and frankly they pulled the bill a few hours before i was supposed to go testify in front of the house rules committee, while i was in d. C. , then we voted on a piece of legislation that did not need proxy voting. Members of congress are we are itching to get back to work. We are itching to get back to washington. We want to solve even more problems than what we did a week ago. We have to stop with the partisanship coming out of the majority with plain sight proxy voting that do not fit within the house rules, and frankly can be abused by leadership once this is implemented during the socalled emergency, like they were trying to do. Host the senate is returning for legislative work, also holding hearings, we understand, in person. Do you anticipate the same will be true for the house . That some committees will physically meet and others will whole teleconference hearings . Guest that is a suggestion that leader mccarthy gave to hoyer in the first meeting of our Bipartisan Task force that was put together after the proxy voting process was held. Remember, washington, d. C. As we knew it on march 13, it is not the same today around capitol hill. Restaurants are closed. You cannot walk into the Capital Building and see a flood of staffers, let alone people visiting. It is virtually barren. So if we are sending people back to Committee Hearings on a rotating basis, you can get a lot of stuff done because there is nobody around. You can make sure that you focus on the committee duties. We have important bills we need to pass in a bipartisan way, like the National Defense authorization act. We need to come back for Appropriations Bills. We should be able to have our subcommittees meet on a basis that they can come and really drill down and focus on the work ahead, along with the committee i serve on, transportation and infrastructure. We have a resources bill and highway reauthorization that we can come back to, we can socially distance, utilize the house floor, and we can work out our differences in a bipartisan way and do it safely and make sure that we protect everyone involved. Host you alluded to it a moment ago, folks may be aware that isually the capitol underground and it is a city of people during its busiest times with staff and other workers. How will you handle that . When the house comes back next week, will though staffers continue to work remotely, most of them . Guest the attending physician of the capitol, he recommended offices remain in telework mode. We did a loud preparation on the House Administration committee. This was a bipartisan success. I give the chairperson credit. We make sure that each and every office in the house has equipment and ready to telework when the call came out to make that happen. I anticipate teleworking to be part of the capital process and operations for not just months to come, but for years to come. I think we can safely lay out some Protection Measures to ensure that staffers are not huddled in small offices without having the opportunity to telework. Those are the things that leader mccarthy and Ranking Member cole and i, we laid out a plan that was released today that talks about how we safely return to the capitol, and most important they would our vision of what congress looks like after the coronavirus that is the issue we need to take a step back and realize what we think we will see when we come back. And how we operate within that viewpoint. Host one more question, how are things in your district with your constituents and with your family . Guest thank you. My wife is a health care worker, to ae gets up and goes facility that treats Covid Patients on a daily basis. Her and her fellow nurses are doing the work of heroes. My kids are home from college. They got back home a few months earlier than the anticipated from their grad school year one, hmen. My twins are fres i never expected them to be home during finals week. My constituents, they have resolved, just like these kids in my house. You see people making sure that the essential services are provided for. Our First Responders are going to work every day. That is something we believe congress should be able to do much more safely, too. If we are able to get our work done, we can help those individuals who are fighting the disease, to protect people from this disease, to cure people from this disease, host congressman rodney davis from illinois. We appreciate you being here. Thank you for being with us this morning. More ahead on washington journal. Next up, we are joined by the Wilson Centers congressional relations director aaron jones and we will talk about operations during the coronavirus pandemic. Later, more of your phone calls. Later, Jeffrey Rosen, the chair of the Constitution Center on the Supreme Court. Next, we will show you comments from Governor Andrew Cuomo at the briefing yesterday and the numbers in new york state. [video clip] the total hospitalization rate is down and that is good news for all concerned. Below 10,000, that is a big deal for us. 18,have to go back to may 19th, to get near that number. March, i am sorry. The number of total hospitalizations is down. Intimations is down. Is 789ber of new cases paired that is good news. At 900, 1000. That might be a reporting anomaly because it is over the weekend and the weekend reporting tends to be different. The reporting system we put in place, it never happened before where hospitals or reporting on a daily basis, and hospitals have a lot going on, so i would theset the farm on any of specific oneday numbers, but the overall trend is good. The number that is the most important number that we look at, which is still tremendously distressing is the number of deaths, 280. That number has not moved dramatically in a relatively long period of time. But the overall direction is good, even though it is very painful. I think it is important we take a moment and learn the lessons of what we have been going through. This has been unprecedented, what we have been doing for the past 64 days. This was an urgent situation, this was all hurry up, we had to quickly figure out a plan, quickly and enact a plan, but now we are a couple months into it and i think simultaneously, we should be learning the lessons of what we just went through. People talk about this like it is going to come and go, and it is onceinalifetime. I dont know that it is onceinalifetime and i dont know that it will come and go. There are people talking about a second wave, a possible mutation of the virus. Caution would suggest that as we go through this, we learn at the same time to make sure that if we have to go through this again, or if this is a prolonged situation, that we are learning from what we are implementing. Burke, a great irish philosopher, those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it wise words. The macro questions, bigger than just new york questions, bigger than the governors questions. What happens in china . Where did this virus start . How did it start . How did we not know . Above my pay grade, what important questions. How did the virus get from china to the United States . We assume it got on a plane from china and flew to the United States. That was the first thinking. When this started, now it appears that is not so. Washington journal continues. Host joining us next is aaron jones, congressional relations director with the Wilson Center in the nations capital. Talking about where we left off with congressman rodney davis about the function of the house and senate during the Coronavirus Crisis and beyond. Aaron jones, congressman davis said something that caught my ear in terms of operations for the staff, which he said the remote operations could not just continue for months to come but for years. Do you see this as a groundbreaking, Game Changing time for congress in a way that that part of it, the functionality of the offices and the staff works . Guest i think it will be an interesting change. Congress has developed into becoming a very human institution, one that works on personal interaction at the committee level, staff level, Members Meeting each other on the floor of the house of representatives and the senate. They have gotten used to meeting facetoface, so they are really having to make adjustments. The uncertainty of when they can come back really becomes the issue that they have to grapple with right now. How can they do their jobs, how can they effectively do oversight, legislation and Appropriations Bills when they cannot constantly meet facetoface. It is something they are having to deal with and it might be something to have to adjust to for several months, maybe even years. Host you had an opinion piece for the hill how Virtual Congress would transform the work of lawmakers. You said something to the effect that you felt this would eventually draw attention away from washington and more back toward the states. Elaborate on that a little bit for us, what is your thinking there . Guest if you look at how congress has evolved in the last 100 years, modern inventions of electricity and air conditioning really changed how Congress Works in washington. It used to be that washington was empty during the summers, it was not just august recess. On, air0th century wore conditioning was put into the capital, they started a year long session. It got to be in the 1960s the case that they were there throughout the entire year and it was in the early 1970s that they had a chance to get back home to their districts. If you talks poll to members when they are in private circles, there is always a poll back home, if they have families, kids that come for going to school, they dont always bring their kids to washington, they dont always bring their family to washington. It is not just a political need to be home. This opportunity to work virtually really makes it that members of congress can potentially spend a lot more time at home, and the more time they spend at home, the more time they are involved in local district issues and they become more engrossed in the issues of their state when they do come to washington, they will be more inclined to go even further into those issues when they are here. Host is there a potential drawback that less time here means less time for oversight, less time to hear from the leaders of agencies and to work with those leaders . Guest i think congress will figure that out. There is certainly an adjustment the need to make and they are working on making that. I do not think congress will just advocate its duty on that. They will find a way to conduct oversight. They need to put in place the mechanisms that will make them able to do that. The need to make sure they have secure video calling communications, the need to make sure they have a way to communicate by email that is completely secure. There are a lot of things that have to be in place some of that, they have been working toward for years. The necessity of being virtual will net could even tougher so they will make sure they do it right. Host there is nothing constitutionally mandating the house or senate to meet in the nations capital, is there . 1812, during the war of they had to move the capital out of d. C. When they were fleeing the british invasion. It does not have to be in washington, d. C. , although that was set up as the capital, the place where the government would meet. There have been times where congress has held Committee Hearings outside of washington. They have done things in other cities before. I think they can make their own goals and they will just have to streamline and make sure they do it in a way they can conduct that oversight that they do have to. Jones,ur guest is aaron the congressional relations director with the Wilson Center here in washington. He is on this morning to talk about the house being out this week and the senate returning. Congress and the coronavirus, and how they are dealing with it. 202 7488000 is the line to call for those of you in the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 and the mountain and pacific time zones. The headline over the weekend in the washington coast column with congress sideline, leaders use media to shape debate on crisis response. As you watched the debate the discussion last week on whether the house would return, what was your thinking . Why do you think eventually the house leaders decided to not return this week . Guest i think there is a number of factors. There is a concern because a lot of the members of congress are in what are considered a highrisk age bracket. They are worried about coming back. The city of washington, d. C. Is still under stayathome orders, i think that is a concern, as well. There is news that came out about the availability of testing for members and senators. I think there are multiple factors that made them come to those decisions. I think there is ultimately the feeling they have been out for several weeks now, and they have to do their job. When we saw before, when they came back, they came back in a staggered way, where the senate was in, and then the house went in, and then they came out again. This was partially because they were able to do it in a way when they did not have everybody in the capital at the same time. The capital from the outside looks like a large building, but it was built in the early 1800s, in the House Chamber and the Senate Chamber wings were added in the 1850s and it is not as big on the inside as you get the feeling on the outside that it is. They do work in close quarters in committee. When they come into a chamber like the Senate Chamber or the House Chamber, there are a lot of people milling around. They really do worry about the close quarters. Host we will get your calls momentarily for aaron jones. First, the comments from Speaker Pelosi and her latest briefing thursday on why the house is not returning this week. [video clip] thing, we are 430 people now. We are 430 members. The decision was made on the strength of our numbers and people coming together. Direction of the sergeant and arms when we had to have a vote spreading out. Wish it had been seen because that was the start and he got the job done for the American People. We didy, the next time it because there were those on the other side demanding a recorded vote and they had a plan for that that worked beautifully took time, but nonetheless, with social distancing, people came in. We could have done that again. The situation in the District Of Columbia has changed since then and it may have had some impact you would have to talk to the capital physician. From one day to the next, i think it is better to wait. What they advised the senate, i dont know. 100, we are four times that. They had their own members singly should not come back. I cant speak for the senate. I just know what our responsibility is in the house. Host Speaker Pelosi from last week. Aaron jones, the senate is returning today back to work this afternoon. Why do you think leader Mitch Mcconnell made that decision . Guest i think they have been out for several weeks and there is a lot of things they really feel like the need to come back on and start working on. More is talk about doing emergency funding bills, there is oversight that needs to be conducted, Committee Hearings that need to be done. Sureo come back and make they are still doing the work they are supposed to be doing. We always say a member of congress is elected and sent to washington. Sent to literally washington to do this job. There is concern amongst senators and a lot of house members they have to be doing something. They cant just appear to not do anything. Host the congressional relations director for the Wilson Center here in washington, what does that job entail . What is it like now, that you are working remotely and members are working remotely . The senate, case in point, returning. Guest i have talked to a lot of congressional staffers, and that is something my job entails, is to make sure Wilson Center experts, we do work on foreign policy, science and technology, environmental issues. We want to make sure our experts are still in front of members of congress and their staff. That is my job, to make sure that occurs. I am constantly talking to staffers and making sure they are up to date, getting briefings for them with our people. We have also moved the Wilson Center is a place that does a lot of events throughout all of our programs. We have been able to move so many of our events into the virtual space, which is good, and we are able to still bring that content, ideas that are nonpartisan. It is hard to find nonpartisan information these days, but the Wilson Center brings that and we are still able to bring that in our virtual platform. Host oklahoma. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Ofeally like that idea working remotely for them. This is more of just my opinion. Located forremotely one month a year, i think they will cut down on lobbyists, expenses. I dont think any of them really give a damn about the country. They just care about themselves. Lot,nk that would help a getting us back on track. Host aaron jones. Guest one of the things i piece is in my if congress switches to a virtual mode and this becomes more of a norm, i made the point this would change how the washington apparatus is run. Firms,e think tanks, law the press that is all concentrated in washington. Opportunitiesore for members to be at home longer, a lot of that is going to shift outward toward the states. The other point i make is you have six Office Buildings in washington, d. C. That house congressional offices, congressional staffers. Over the last 100 years, since the buildings were built, they have been filled with more and more staffers as the government has grown. One member of congress cant be an expert on everything from water resources, to nuclear deterrents, to name your issue that the federal government covers. There are staffers who become experts on those issues for them. As members end up going to the states more often, you will find our staffers with them in the states more than there are in washington, d. C. That will change how washington looks. Host lets hear from bob in tyler, texas next. Bob, good morning, go ahead. Tyler, texas, you are on the air. All right, alfred in pennsylvania. Are you there . You are on the air, go ahead. Thatr i really think congress should be passing a the American People, with all of the people who died, they should be paying for it, not the American People. That is all i have to say about that. Host aaron jones, we touched on it briefly, the thing that congress has to get done every year, including things like an appropriations bill, the spending bills for the next year, fiscal year 2021. Guest there are things that congress has to pass every year, appropriations is one of them. National Defense Authorization is one of them. Congress is trying to move forward on those projects. The House Appropriations committee is still going to be doing some hearings this week and they are still trying to work. Coronavirus funding does make that a little tougher and the allocations in the last budget agreement were not much higher than last years allocation of discretionary spending. The challenge the appropriators have with a huge influx of supplemental or emergency spending due to the coronavirus, and then trying to get their wemal appropriations done, always talk about regular order in washington, d. C. And the appropriations process should go by regular order, which was laid down in the 1974 budget act. The truth is, weve only done that four times since 1974, in the last time was in the 1990s. There has been continued resolutions, shutdowns all throughout this 40 year history. It would not be unusual if congress had trouble in a normal year getting things done. This certainly poses a challenge as they go through the process. An to your for appropriations chairman from 2011 to 2017. The Appropriations Committee is always trying to work to create bills. Politics and other issues may derail the process, but it is always trying to put together bills that meet discretionary targets. Host one of them was the Senate Homeland security that had a virtual hearing. Im not sure if you had a chance to see any of that. Do you think those will become more of a staple in the future . Guest it depends on how long this goes on. Some of what they have done has been classified as roundtables and not Committee Hearings. They were test runs to see how it went. In the coming weeks, they will be telling how those come together. I think they will try and some committees each committee can create its own rules on this. Flowers overow it the coming weeks. The one thing that has to be done as it has to be sure to include everyone on the committee and there has to be some secure way of voting on things. It has to be done in a bipartisan way. The House Administration committee, which puts out a lot of guidance on these things, it is been talking to members and their staffs on how to proceed, we will have to see how it goes in the next few weeks. Host lets go to atlanta and hear from gary, next up. Caller hello. Host go ahead. Kids in thele sandbox. This has been going on since the 1960s. Congress needs to do their job and take care of the country. Guys in the senate that are angry. You know that. That is all i have to say. ,ost we will go to Brad International falls, minnesota. Caller good morning. You were talking earlier about how the media is taking over, pushing the agenda for congress as we are speaking of today. That is the biggest downfall of congress today, is that one side of congress is being run by the media. Biggest as the either gain or loss and they control the democratic party. Idea,s not the greatest because if you watch cspan, you will notice the only people they ever cite are the Washington Post and the New York Times. Haterse both the biggest of trump. If we keep going down this road, they are going to actually destroy the democratic party. More than youe, can imagine, are fleeing the party because of the media. We cant have the media, because they want their ways, their powers, and that is what we have to stop. This whole thing of taking advantage of this terrible pandemic just to have control of sadle, we are in a situation because of this. Road,keep going down this that we think the media should be pushing the foolishness just so they can control, that is wrong. In international falls. Aaron jones, any comment . Guest one thing we talked about earlier and was mentioned in my hill, there will be changes if congress is in the states. State media is different and members of congress focus more on their local media, already. If there was more of a push for a Virtual Congress for several weeks or months out of the year, you will have congress turning more to its state media. It will change how things function here in d. C. Host we talked about this with congressman rodney davis about proxy voting. I want to play you the comments of the republican leader Kevin Mccarthy on why he is opposed to the idea of proxy voting for house legislation. Heres what he said. [video clip] concern if youl go to proxy, i dont have the number in front of me, but if you look at the number of people came back, it was a pretty good number. The number of people who were missing were not that much higher on average. On both sides. , oneso found on proxies person can hold 200 proxies if they wanted to. They hold them accountable. They dont lend their power for other members. Host republican leader from late last week. Aaron jones, your thoughts on proxy voting, what are the pros and cons . Guest proxy voting is one of the things that has come up as an issue, whether or not it is possible. There are some Senate Committees that already allow proxy voting, a member who cannot attend will tell their chairman or Ranking Member as the case may be how they would want to vote on particular bills. Mccarthys comments speak to the constitutional question that a lot of members have and how much ability and how much power they want to give over to a singlemember for proxies. Particularly once who might be closer to the east coast, who could get to d. C. And really be able to vote if there was something that came up. Talking to a lot of members, there are a lot of members willing to drive to d. C. If some legislation really needed their vote on something. When we had the earlier supplemental emergency funding that was brought up by coronavirus, there were a lot of members who wanted to put their mark on that. I think the proxy voting question will remain throughout this pandemic. It is something there are a lot of people that have concerns with how much power that would give one person and the constitutional question that you were elected. Host most members of congress in the house or the senate live just temporarily in washington. Perhaps some even share an apartment three or so sharing an apartment in washington, correct . Guest yes. There are even some who live in their offices. We heard a lot about that a few years ago. A lot of folks who came to washington and were living in their offices. Host lets go to bob in tyler, texas. Good morning. Caller good morning. One of those representatives living in their office was my neighbor. Month about the expert said it was not tested and we need to wait on a vaccine. ,e have a doctor here in texas he was the previous vice chairman of the Republican Party of texas. Homes working a nursing and they had 80 patients and employees there and they were down to their last gasps. He used the cure i talked about saved all but one of them. Home with veryng debilitated patients. The used hydroxychloroquine. I dont see why our representatives are hiding from the responsibility. We have a cure. Get the word out about this cure, it works. Is robin armstrong. He was a past vice chairman of the Republican Party of texas. Host a couple of questions and comments on twitter. This one is a comment. Congress will return in three phases, essential workers, nonessential workers and nonworkers. Please ask mr. Jones to talk about k street access to lawmakers at this time and how it might be going forward. Guest i think that is something i find interesting is if there was less physical presence of thenrs in the capital, there will be a challenge for all of the washington apparatus that has been set up, which includes people who lobby, but also industry to include people flying in every spring. You have educators, people with disabilities and groups representing issues throughout the country that coming to d. C. Every spring and talk to members of congress and their staff. Challenge ifo be a congress is gone for an extended period. This is usually the time that washington, d. C. Is the busiest. It is not just the time you will have a lot of tourists. You have the Cherry Blossom festival in march. You also have a lot of industry and advocacy groups coming into d. C. To talk to their members of congress and that is not going on right now. People from d. C. And the district, they are having to reach out to their office virtually. There are a lot of phone calls going on. Facetoface interaction is important with congress. To alabama. Go caller good morning. I just wanted to ask the congressman of the United States and the media why they keep picking on trump . We have not given him time to do his job. Even if he does do his job, they keep picking on him. He cant do what he needs to do to be president. Host thank you for the call. Aaron jones is with the Wilson Center, he is the congressional relations director. Thank you for your comment. Ohio, good morning. Caller i just want to say that Congress Goes to such a length to run to these positions that they have in congress, when we work, whether we have to drive we have tor however get there, we dont get paid if we dont show up for work. They are always on vacation, they come back, they are on vacation again. Quit complaining about how you get your job. If it is your job to go to work, then you go to work. If you dont go to work, you dont get paid. That should be the end of it. Host aaron jones, she brings up a good point. Could this change the august recess or other vacation plans on part of the house . Guest im really glad she brought this up, because this is the ageold question about congress. You hear a lot about when they are here, they are messing things up, when they are away, they on vacation. Members of congress and their staffs i believe are very hardworking and there have been studies done on the average amount of times that a member does work, and sometimes it is up to 70, 80 hours a week when theyre in d. C. , and 60 to 70 when theyre in their districts. When they are in their districts, they are not on vacation, they have offices in their districts. With the way the calendar is been, they have to cram in everything they want to do in their districts within a weeks time. I would say that even though that might not be in d. C. , that does not mean they are not working. As far as the members of congress is concerned, they have a lot to answer for. Votes in congress, there are things going on in d. C. And they have local issues. It is often the case that people feel like they are going on vacation. Certainly, there are probably times where they do take some time off. But i would say from having worked in congress there is a lot of work going on even when theyre in their districts. Host a headline from the Associated Press over the weekend, back in session, senate risks a return but house stays away. Is there a downside for the house, or the members, leadership staying away. The messages coming out from washington come from the president or from the senate side. Leader pelosi can hold a briefing and Kevin Mccarthy can hold a telephone conference, but there is something about being here physically that perhaps do you think does not rise to the level of attention when it is done remotely . Guest i do think that is something a lot of members of congress are dealing with. When they are not physically present here in the capital, that they feel like they have ceded their ability to talk about the issues. Aspect of whenhe the countryound about having any kind of messaging. Concern with a lot of members that they would like to be together. Congress is a very human institution. They have to feel like that together. The Word Congress means coming together. That is what the institution wants to do. Host we will hear from cheryl next in pittsburgh, welcome. Caller hi, i am glad you took my call. I am concerned about how we are looking at the food chain. It is a subject for congress to possibly take up and not be left to the small group that the president has to discuss. It is their food chain, and i think it might be in question here. It seems as though there is movement back as far as science goes into this virus being transferred from animal to human being. Today, thenhe case what is happening with the meat . We are talking about how long the virus lives on cardboard and metal, how long does it live on meat . Host not your area of expertise, aaron jones, but in terms of Congress Following up on hearings about this, investigations, etc. Guest even though im not an expert on supply chain issues, we have experts at the Wilson Center who know how these things move across borders and the regulations that are set up in various ways. We have also talked about sustainability and the environmental challenges. The Wilson Center has experts that work on these issues and we have been briefing in the virtual sense. We have been bringing briefings to staffers and members so they can get a nonpartisan view on these issues. That is what the Wilson Center is for. That kind of interaction is still going on. Next lets hear from mary in las vegas. Caller good morning. Work,ss is doing their mitch needs to bring the hundreds of bills to a vote. They have been sitting on his desk. I have no trouble getting through to my congresspeople. These people who think the president is being picked on, he brings it on himself. He sucks the air out of a room. He needs to be held accountable. Who sayseveryone something that is contrary to his reality. At turning fiction into fact, people, and he is edging our country into fascism. Host aaron jones. Guest i think it is great that we have outlets like cspan this is one of the great things about this country is we have the ability to openly speak about these issues from both sides. I love the ability that people have to talk about that. Freely talk however we want about the president and our congressmen and how congress functions and peacefully bring about and petition the government and it is a wonderful thing. Host there is a Bipartisan Group that is studying potential rule changes in the house. It includes minority leader Kevin Mccarthy. Ranking member tom cole. The Administration Chair and Ranking Member rodney davis who we talked to earlier. Tot are you looking forward coming out of that committee in permit, ortential semipermanent ways the house changes its functions . Guest it will be interesting on the Security Side of things. How does Congress Really button down and make sure is communications are secure and that it is able to conduct a so thate hearing someone who is not supposed to be there comes in there and disrupts things . It is a portion of congress that they have to be able to write legislation, vote legislation and all of that will require that their cybersecurity is the best it can be. Host lets go next to manchester, new hampshire, this is joshua. Caller can you hear me . Host i can. Caller my question is, with the pandemic going on, we are being told we have to listen to the cdc, i have muscular im looking for a doctors opinion about research. What is going on right now with the virus is lots of onsional doctors social media just because they are providing facts. I just want to see what congress can do to research this, how come these doctors are being blocked . They had been in the business for many years and now they are being censored. I just wanted your thoughts on that and what can congress do to look into that . Host aaron jones, one more text,on for you here by how do we know the representatives are working remotely from home . Is there some method of recording for congressional records . Not know the do specific answer to. A member of congress, they are responsible to their constituents. Each district of 700,000 people, they have the right to Pay Attention to what their congressman or congresswoman is doing. Ist is how the constitution set up for that type of oversight from the constituents. I dont know of any particular way in this current time the congress would be focused on that. Constituents are the one who the members of congress have to answer to. Host you spent a number of years working for an Appropriations Committee chair, have you talked to some of your former colleagues on capitol hill and how their daytoday work remotely is going for them . Guest i have talked to a lot of staffers. That i wroteings in the piece on the hill, they have to do a lot of work that is district focused. There are a lot of Small Businesses that have applied for loans under the cares act. A lot of people who are trying to navigate the coronavirus challenge. We have heard some of our caller s today talk about some of the challenges they are seeing. Who usually work on policy issues in adc office in a d. C. Office are having to do with their district staff would be doing because there is so much work being generated from the district because the members home and there are so many local issues going on. A lot of d. C. Staffers are having to pitch in and a virtual all of thene, virtual conferencing platforms. The ones i am talking to are not sitting on their hands, they are doing a lot of work. Said howon jones Virtual Congress would fully transform the work of lawmakers. Thank you so much for being with us this morning on washington journal. Guest it is a pleasure to be with you. Host we will spend the next 15 or 20 minutes taking your phone calls and hearing from you, particularly after a number of states have opened up or loosened restrictions. What is the situation in your state . As your state reopened or loosened restrictions . The numbers are 202 7488000 four people in Eastern Central time zones, central or pacific is 202 7488001. Coming up in less than one hour, the Supreme Court will make history when it hears oral arguments over the phone and it streams those life. We will be talking about that with Jeffrey Rosen of the national Constitution Center, coming up on washington journal. All persons having business before the honorable Supreme Court of the United States give their attention, the court is now sitting. For the first time in history, here the u. S. Supreme court life. This month, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the court is hearing oral arguments in 10 cases by telephone. At 10 00 a. M. Eastern, the justices here the court of the Trademark Office against booking. Com. Toinvolves the sites effort trademark its website. Live, today at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Cspan. Org, or listen on the free cspan radio app. Immediately following the live Supreme Court session, joint Jeffrey Rosen of the national Constitution Center, leading a live discussion with scholars. Heard that you have done cybersecurity checks in your office. Concern thatt of members of congress dont know how to practice good cyber hygiene. I have taken two trips and i have a phone that checks out from the travel office. Many members do this but many dont know its a priority. You never know if you plug that phone and if it will charge or what will get loaded on it, who might come in contact with it. Virginia democratic representative Abigail Spanberger on the steps she takes to safeguard her work. Watch the communicators tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan two. Washington journal continues. And comments on 9 15 eastern. Are your states reopening . Are they loosening restrictions . The eastern00 for and central time zones, 202 7488001, mountain and pacific. You can send us a text at 202 7488003. President trump texts, great reviews, finally, for how we are handling the pandemic. The building of field hospitals and beds, and soon, the great things we are doing on testing. People are working well together. From the Washington Times this morning, reopening economy estimated to cost more than 230,000 lives. A new model rejects 18 million jobs could be saved. Fully reopening the economy now would cost more than 230,000 lives but would save 18 million jobs that would be lost if the Company Remains shutdown down through june 30. According to a new calculation, a bad economy and more than 100,000 covid19 deaths are already inevitable given the current spread of the coronavirus and the shutdown orders previously in place. Just how bad it will get in the tradeoff in lives saved depends on how fast states reopening and how closely americans adhere to social distancing says a nonpartisan analysis outfit at the university of pennsylvania. First up is kathleen in saint augustine, florida. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Caller i lived in saint augustine, which is in northeastern florida. We have been close now for about a month. That the is ecstatic stores are opening. We have been fortunate in the area, although there have been some cases, there is only one death i have heard of in the area. With things like this, some people go too far one way or the other. Mostly, if people keep themselves clean, especially their hands, and dont stand on top of each other. I think we will be fine. Most of us, myself included, are ecstatic to be able to get out and go somewhere. We did not have anywhere to go. It has been wonderful. I think the president has done a remarkable job. As a former nurse, i think the way he went into action and got things moving was remarkable. The people that comment about the shortages of things, i think in general, almost everybody was ill prepared for the pandemic. I think his responses were twollent and getting those ships ready, i think he has done a remarkable job. Host lets go to elizabeth city, North Carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host you are on the air. Caller yes, of course. Good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I live in North Carolina and the governor has not opened the state up yet, but we are hoping he will soon. I am all for opening up the states very, very carefully. We need to get this economy going again. Lets be safe about it. Apart, hand sanitizer, the whole bit. It can be done. I totally support what the president has done. I think he has done a great job, i agree with the caller before me. I know a lot of people are arguing against opening up the states too soon, but it can be done if it is done safe and stepbystep. Given an your governor indication of how things and when things will open up there . Guest i read in the newspaper that he may extend it. That,t know if he will do but i have been reading that he may decide to extend it. I will have to check up on that. Upht now, we may opened after may 8. Host a member of the Coronavirus Task force was reiterating the call to reopen is being left up to the state governors. [video clip] i think federal guidelines what we think is important from a Public Health standpoint. States it possible for to open counties independently of the entire state because, again, some of these outbreaks are local and have to be studied and understood that way. As states reopening, we made it clear to the American People this is what you need to continue to do to protect yourself. You need to social distance, practice scrupulous handwashing. You need to know what your hands have touched and make sure you dont touch your face. Most importantly, if you have any preexisting conditions, through phase i and phase ii of any reopening, we have asked you to continue to shelterinplace. We know who is at particular risk for a difficult course of this virus and we cannot emphasize enough how strongly we feel, if you have a coexisting condition, to continue to shelterinplace. Clearly, when you leave it up to individual governors, and governors are not observing the twoweek decline before they are opening, it sends a mixed message to a lot of those individuals you are talking about. Host the wall street journal writing about florida. Florida began reopening after virus lockdown. Florida is joining u. S. States and countries around the world starting to reopen as the global number of confirmed cases from the coronavirus pandemic crossed 3. 5 million, with nearly 250,000 deaths. The first phase of floridas reopening calls for restaurants and shops to operate at 25 of their indoor Capacity Starting today. Gyms and salons or remain closed. Caller good morning. Host good morning. With ron am delighted desantis handling of this virus. He has done a fabulous job. Thankfulrida can be for his leadership. President hasur done a fabulous job. Very, very good. Host tim is next, wisconsin. Caller can you hear me . Host yes, we can. Caller i would like to comment trump believe that donald has not done a real good job of messaging. Wisconsin, here in order ofs put in an social distancing way back in the early part of march. In iowa, they did not, they dragged their feet for a couple of weeks. Wisconsin, we have about 100 cases of covid19. Across the river in western michigan western iowa, i am sorry they have 98 cases in a county of about 30,000 people. Wisconsin ind past total cases. I do believe there is a lot to be said for the social distancing rule. As far as the callers in florida, they can open up the state all they want, but the snowbirds are not coming back, the cruise ships are not coming back, disney world is not opening up anytime soon. I dont think the people will decide when things will open up again we need guidance from the cdc. We dont need it from just babbling away on different issues. Host we go to baltimore next and hear from tom. Caller good morning. You towant to say thank Governor Hogan for the tremendous job he is doing for the state of maryland. I understand some of the challenges he is presently having and acquiring some of the components to combat the coronavirus. What i do not understand is the various double talk we are getting from the White House Team in reference to reopening the states. One moment, he says lets loosen them, the next moment he says we have to be very careful. World,leader of the free we have lost our standing in the world under this present white house regime. I dont understand why we should be working as a team to address this for the entire United States, as well as other countries that need our assistance. I just wanted to say that. I have no ill feelings toward no one. I want to thank Governor Hogan for the job he is doing and i am very appreciative, and i believe he is leading us to open in the right manner. He has good people around him. Even the president has good people around him, but sometimes you get mixed messages from his team, as well as the president , himself. We need some consistency coming out of the white house in reference to how to address and open back up the country. I understand we are in an economical crisis, i respect that. But we should do it in a manner that is conducive to everyone. Believe me, if one state is releasing or opening areas backup, those states that are not completely open, those residents will migrate over to doing theird start shopping, per se. Barnes is the Supreme Court reporter for the Washington Post. His piece published this morning, the Supreme Court takes step with teleconference hearings. The court is scheduled to hear a stepguments, taking into the technological present. They cant gather in the courtroom due to threats in the coronavirus, the justices will remotely hear 10 cases over the next two weeks. They are drawn from cases postponed in march and april. The justices have not sat as a group since march 9. He writes that the justices will remain scattered. The advocates will present their cases from the basements and Conference Room in washington and around the country. We will hear from Jeffrey Rosen from the national Constitution Center and bring you live coverage from the more of your calls, we go to the show in greenfield, massachusetts. Good morning. I live i wanted to say in massachusetts, and we are still on lockdown. Even though i never voted for my governor, i think he is doing a wonderful job. , i saw ondinating cspan yesterday, he is working with the surrounding governors of the area. Im so happy about that. , we aremassachusetts doing a great job. I think the president has not done a good job at all. He is deflecting his poor work on this. He is deflecting it on china. I wanted to let you know that i am really upset that the deathsa up, and nobody in the white house seems to understand that. I dont like how they go out and dont wear masks, like mike pence. Im happy that we are still on lockdown because i think our governor is smart about that. He is taking it slow where the other states are not. I feel they are going to start seeing more deaths and all that. Host michelle in massachusetts talked about the president , she said deflected the blame to china. Nights fox news townhall. [video clip] the virus came from the wuhan lab, not that it was created there, but it came from there. We are going to give a strong report as to what happened. I think it will be very conclusive. Is there any suggestion that it was anything nefarious, or is it a mistake . I think personally they made a horrible mistake. They did not want us to go in. My opinion is they made a mistake. They tried to cover up your they tried to put it out. Up. Over it they tried to put it out like a fire. They stopped people going into china, but they did not stop people going into the usa and all over the world. Wuhan,ld fly out of where the primary problem was. You could fly out of wuhan and go to different parts of the world, but you could go to beijing or anyplace in china. What is that about . They knew they had a problem. I think they were embarrassed by the problem. The New York Times reporting this morning, chinas missteps fuel a global backlash. Germany and britain are hesitating anew about inviting uawei. Inese tech giant wa creating a deeply polarizing battle of narratives and setting to fillnas narratives the leadership vacuum left by the u. S. Richard, sterling, virginia. Caller good morning. It is great to have cspan. It is great to have a place like cspan to discuss issues like this. Virginia in my opinion has not changed anything. Some people observe wearing a face mask. Some dont. In the parks, you see some people playing with masks, some dont. The president is the most narcissistic person i have ever seen occupy this position. It seems like unless you are patting him on the back, he cannot do his job. When he got on george bush because of his comments and said what about the impeachment . Impeachment is about him. This situation george bush was addressing is about the u. S. People. This man is so narcissistic that he cannot see that he can be the problem. We are going to come through this somehow and make it through. Thank you. Host thank you. Texting us from dallas is anna, im very happy about President Trump and Governor Abbott how they have handled the reopening of texas big these people with all the doom and gloom are no help reopening of texas. These people with all the doom and gloom are no help. Everyone has choices to make. Bob in texas. Caller good morning. Youre the man. I like you. These bomb droppers come in with no substance. I hate somebody. We get sick and tired of that stuff. I would like to know why the institute of health in the u. S. Has sent 3. 7 million to the wuhan virus deal to study backs. Nobody has said anything about that. States, and has 50 the continental u. S. , i have been from one end to the other four or five times. This did not get here by sneezing or coughing in peoples face. I feel like they put files in the subway system, sprayed it in the air conditioning system. You cannot get from the entire 50 states infected. Nobody i have heard on cspan said it is the chineses fault. They arethis, and laughing their backsides off while we are over here honking hunkering down like an atomic bomb is going to drop. We cannot let this happen again because if they bring another bunch of this stuff over here. When you spray it out of a twostory apartment in the streets, everybody is going to catch it. Were going to susan next in fort myers, florida. Caller thank you for taking my call. I have my thoughts about the coronavirus. Ofs have been accused spreading this, but there has been no definitive test in this case, and the same thing with the almost extinct pangolin. The other thing i would like to point out is that everybody is jumping on china. I personally dont like xi jinping. He is a dictator. I have nothing against Chinese People themselves. Weannot help wondering if have, in world war ii, in order to see how to deliver napalm, which the u. S. Concocted, they used hundreds of bats to deliver the napalm, and the poor things were blowing up and on fire in the skies over california. You can check that. That has not been established where it came from. We have records of coronavirus. This is another strain in our own science labs and the government that we never hear about. Im questioning that and the timeline that this came about, and of november, early december. Host a little less than 10 minutes or so, we are asking the situation in your state. Has the state reopened . Part of the situation over the weekend in california, beachgoers defy order in california. Scenes across Orange County in Southern California revealed the simmering tension and the challenge of keeping people away from the ocean. Beach, known as surf city, more than 200,000 people swarmed the city to protest the governors order. Thecity had sued to block governors order, but a judge refused to block the injunction. Dozens of Service Charge the waves on saturday despite signs announcing the beach was closed. Asheville, North Carolina. Next, we hear from jamie. Governor roynk cooper is doing a good job extending the period. I think everybody nationwide is getting caught up in this argument of who started it and who did it. We have to come back, that does not really matter right now. If we can all just live this through for as long as we can, stay hunkered down, we will all be ok. It,e can find out who did that is great, but this does not do anything to help stop the virus. As long as people can sit down and wait this through, we will be ok. Host sending us a text from louisville is donnie saying, give me liberty or give me death. If i want to go to a restaurant or football again, that should be up to me or my family and not the governor. Bruce in florida, our area has opened up. I will still because is about where i go. Cautious still be about where i go. Ohio, good morning. Caller i would like to say im a democrat. I am pleased with the way governor dewine has handled it. I did not vote for him. I almost a guy would. I would i almost think i would. I would almost crossed ballots, not for john. Trump. No one has them. People want them. They dont have them. No one is getting tested. I heard this morning wine is stepping it up. You cannot get tested unless you are hospitalized in ohio. That is how i feel. Why are we letting guns in michigan courthouses were any police or any type of house . Host good morning. Caller good morning. How are you . Host im fine. Caller here in cleveland on march 18, we had one case. Then it went to two cases and cases a day. To 50 deathslots and lots of from the first of the year until now. We are still having lots of debts. Of deaths. I believe this is being underreported. Manufacturing did not close down because it was essential employment because whirlpool made stoves. How can governor lee go and start reopening these facilities in Rural Communities where we dont have the hospitals and resources . Tell us where cleveland, tennessee, related to the larger area of memphis and nashville is located. Caller you know where knoxville , we are inanooga between the two. We are in that area. It is really bad. Host did you Say Something about a maytag facility nearby . Caller yes, sir. It has been clocking right along. It has been clocking right along like nothing happened. Keep rising. I called to the mayor, the governor. I have never had a call back. Made a call to the das office. Host what about the plant itself . Have there been cases . Caller they say there hasnt. I had a guy who comes and moz the lawn for me. Mows the lawn for me. Tenths inet up two the parking lot, and they were doing temperature checks. Host thank you for calling in. Than an hour, the u. S. Supreme court will make history when it hears oral arguments over the phone by teleconference and streams those live. We will carry those on cspan. Coming up next with Jeffrey Rosen with the national Constitution Center. Cspan has roundtheclock coverage of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, and it is all available on demand at cspan. Org coronavirus. Briefings, house updates from governors and state officials, track this bread throughout the u. S. And the world with interactive maps, and watch ondemand at cspan. Org coronavirus. Oh ye, oh ye, oh ye, all persons having business before the honorable Supreme Court of the United States, give their attention, for the court is now sitting. For the first time in history, here the Supreme Court live. The court is hearing oral arguments in 10 cases by teleconference. Today at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, the justices hear the case of u. S. Patent and Trademark Office versus booking. Com. Be a part of history and listen to the Supreme Court oral arguments as they are heard by the justices live today at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan, ondemand at cspan. Org, work for free on the cspan radio app. Of theffrey rosen national Constitution Center, leading a live discussion with scholars. Washington journal continues. Next by are joined Jeffrey Rosen, president and ceo of the national Constitution Center in philadelphia. Joining us to talk about the u. S. Supreme court airing oral arguments live by teleconference. What led to the court doing this . It is obviously a Different Court the coronavirus pandemic, but what was there thinking with allowing live access to the oral arguments . Guest good morning. It is an historic morning. The first time the Supreme Court has allowed live feeds of their oral argument. What led to this was a necessity. Of importantunch cases they decided could not wait to be argued until the fall. For that reason they came up and important series of proceedings. They are going to do this over teleconference with justices asking questions in order of seniority. It is an experiment for everyone. I keep thinking on this stork thatt of a quotation justice all of lender holds Justice OliverWendell Holmes made. It is what cspan and the national Constitution Center are doing together in hosting live discussions of the cases right ther they end to help public understand the arguments they have just heard. It is an exciting morning. We will be hearing lots of technical legal arguments. It is important that citizens listen closely to the legal arguments on both sides of the case. What a thrill for the first time for people across the world to be able to hear these arguments in realtime. Host the structure of the oral arguments they will be different than they are in a regular Supreme Court setting. Explain that to us. Guest they will be different. In a regular Supreme Court setting, for those who have never had the privilege of sitting in the courtroom, it is a grand experience. Everybody gathers together, and the marshall comes in. That is going to happen today by telephone. According to the press release issued by the court, at 10 00 a. M. , the justices will enter the main Conference Call. It is an unusual way of putting it. Usually they come in and sit down, and the chief justice was will say, counsel, you may begin. Have two orwill three minutes to speak without being interrupted. Today for the first time in history because the justices cannot see the counsel, they have decided the justices will ask questions in order of seniority. The chief justice will go first. The next most senior justice will be Justice Thomas always down to Justice Kavanaugh all the way down to Justice Kavanaugh. It is very different in a number of ways. The most important being the counsel and justices cannot see each other. The council have often described how intimate the Supreme Court hearing is. You can tell who is leaning in, who is leaning back. Who is shaking their head in disapproval or who seems engaged. Justices often talk to each other. None of that will be possible now because it will be formulaic. Several counsel have already said it is better than nothing, but it is not the same as an actual interactive oral argument. Us a sense of wine and its history the court has changeadapt to crises or its procedure or locale. Guest they did it at the very beginning. It was because of a pandemic, flu pandemic in philadelphia in the 1790s forced the court to change its session and cancel some arguments. Court 1918 pandemic, the did not meet and cancel arguments and delete the cases for several months delayed the cases for several months. This is the first time that arguments have ever been live, and that is one technology the court has resisted for so long. Justices have not wanted to allow cameras into the courtroom. They continue to release thements a few hours after arguments. This is the first time you can hear them in realtime. Jeffrey rosen, the head of the national Constitution Center. We welcome your comments and calls. Mountain and1 pacific. End us a text, 202 7488003 our Legal Counsel is bruce collins. His opinion piece published friday in the Washington Post. At long last, the Supreme Court is going live to air. Change is afoot at the Supreme Court. Afootthis change that is be permanent . Guest it could be. People will ask the court, you did it once, why not continue to issue live audio arguments . What is the point of delay . The justices will have to decide whether or not to accommodate that. They are likely to continue to resist cameras. Camerasfeeling is that would change the nature of the arguments, would lead advocates to play to the cameras. ,f this experiment is a success and it turns out it increases public attention to the arguments, maybe the justices will be persuaded to issue live feed. That is why our experiment, our collaboration with cspan is so important. We have faith that citizens will take the time to dig into the complicated arguments. I would like citizens listening now to read the briefs in the first case. You can go to the spring Court Website and find the actual briefs. In order to understand what is going on in the oral arguments, you have to do some homework, as the justices have done. If you prepare yourself, we will listen to the arguments together and unpacked them so we can justices aret the talking about. You dont need to be a lawyer to engage at this level, but you do have to be an engaged citizen. The first case coming up today, booking. Com, a trademark case. What should viewers and listeners be listening for in terms of the constitutional issues that might be at hand . Guest cooking. Com is a highly technical case that at first seems abstruse. It is important. The question is whether the which says generic terms cannot be registered as trademarks come and does that mean a Generic Company like booking. Com can register its name as a trademark . Generally if you have a generic rubber wasood year not allowed to copyright the phrase good year rubber, because rubber was a common phrase. Thequestion is whether internet is different. Will people understand that it, it isom after like cocacola. The reason the stakes are so high is it booking. Com is allowed to trademark that name, no other Hotel Booking company title. Booking in its the people who are trying to prevent this from being trademark, they think this would be a huge monopoly to the company like booking. Com. It can prevent any of its competitors from using that phrase. The argument on the other side is that there are other examples of generic names that are already trademark like dat ing. Com and cooking. Com. The reason it is so important to dig into is we have to balance this federal law that was passed in 1946 and amended in 1980 against an important Supreme Court precedent back in the 1880s called the good year rubber case. The question is whether the law trumps thisngress decision. Host that oral argument coming up at 10 00 eastern. With us just before 10 00 eastern this morning. Discussion from the national Constitution Center, which mr. Rosen will moderate. Tell us about your guests. Guest we will be talking about these oral arguments that i just described quickly. We have two experts, a scholar from harvard law school, an expert in trademark law. She filed a brief on behalf of neither party. She will be able to describe in neutral language what the arguments are. Have an expert from the Electronic Frontier foundation, and she will be making arguments filed aher organization brief for why the trademark should not be allowed. Invited members from the respondent side, and none of them responded. Have a guest making arguments for we will have a guest making arguments for the booking. Com side. Participants, what did the chief justice mean when he asked this question . What was the response . I have to share with you the fact that it is exciting to do homework to prepare for these cases the way the justices and advocates do. Im a law professor. I teach at George Washington law school. E read briefs on both sides. It is not impossible for citizens to understand. I have faith that all of you watching can do it. You just have to take the time to dig in. That is why we are giving a full hour to the arguments and in our afterwards to dig into the arguments so we can understand the basic competing arguments, and then you can make up your mind. For the mountain and Pacific Region 202 7488001. This is the first of three days of oral arguments. Tomorrow and wednesday at 10 00 a. M. , we will hear from the Supreme Court. Because they have missed these cases, they have a fairly packed schedule. Guest they have six days of arguments. There are two more this week. Tomorrow, there is the alliance for open society case. We can talk about what all of these are in a bit. Wednesday is going to be a blockbuster case involving religious liberty called Little Sisters of the poor. That is all on wednesday. We have a bunch more cases next week, including cases involving faithless electors, whether someone elected to the Electoral College can vote for someone other than the candidate they and elected to vote for then to cases involving subpoenas of President Trump. Is it your understanding that the Supreme Court is going to allow live teleconferencing of all of these oral arguments . Guest yes. They will have live broadcasts of all arguments. The Constitution Center and cspan will be here with live analysis and scholars on both sides after each of these six days. Host we are within half an hour of the first case coming up. Lets hear from pamela. Go ahead. Caller thank you for taking my call. My understanding is our entire system of laws are based on case law and precedent. Can you explain this to the average person like myself, why this is used as opposed to other methodology . Guest that is such an important question. Laws isour system of based on case law and precedent. That is generally the case. We think when the Supreme Court has decided an important precedent, like brown v. Board of education, the most important precedent in the 20th century, future courts have to stick to that precedent and cannot allow segregated schools to come back because it is the law of the land, and it has to bind all of us as citizens. Sometimes there is a clash between what the case law says and what subsequent laws passed by congress say. That is what is going on this morning. We have to think about the based on the constitution and current law. If the constitution says several schools can never be equal, congress cannot overturn that decision. The only way that decision can be overturned is by a constitutional amendment, and that is why that decision is going to stand unless the Supreme Court itself changes its mind and says the decision itself was wrong. That is why we hear so much phrasehis race sta this stare decisis. Once the court has decided the case, it should stick to it. Case wasill say when a , they such as roe v. Wade will say the cortes to reexamine it. Those are decisions based on the constitution. Today, we are talking about a decision from the 1880s, which was based not on the constitution, that on a construction of previous laws and the nature of trademark. Congress did pass a subsequent law in the 1940s which claimed to be more precise about which kind of things you could trademark. If the Court Decides that subsequent law passed in 1940 trumps case law from the 1880s, it will say that previous decision has to be overturned. It is important that you asked that. It reminds us who has the power to change the law. Whether as based on precedent is based on the constitution or a federal statute or law. From question for you maryland, las vegas. What happens when Justice Thomas does not ask a question on his turn . The justices can only ask questions on their turn in order of seniority. Thethat reason, it says chief justice will think counsel for their arguments and acknowledge the next attorney. The process will continue until the process is completed. Justice thomas will have the opportunity to ask a question right after the chief justice because Justice Thomas is the most senior associate justice. He is allowed to ask a question only then, and then after Justice Thomas, the next most senior justice is justice ginsburg. Host rapid city, south dakota. Good morning. Caller i have two quick questions. One of them is about citizens united. It seems like it has been abused by big money. The other one is about taxes for the commanderinchief, no matter what party he belongs to. Everybody should have to show their taxes before they run for president. That is the only two questions i have to ask. Host one of the two cases is about the president s financial records. Guest those questions about subpoenas will shed direct light on whether the president will have to turn over his tax returns or financial records. In response to requests from the District Attorney of new york or from congress. That is why those questions are very important. Host he asked about citizens united. There is nothing coming up challenging that, correct . Guest there is not. That is not on the docket right now. There cases involving Supreme Court just decided the wisconsin voting case involving the timing under which ballots can be counted, which will have a huge implication for the election in the fall. On this topic, there are not Campaign Finances pending. Host roger from georgia. Good morning. Caller i have been listening to world arguments oral arguments for years now. I happened to listen to the argument two weeks ago and the trumpircuit about the subpoenas, and they were using the same sort of teleconferencing. It seemed like a pretty limited picture compared to oral argument because there was no way to follow the thread. There was no continuity. I wonder if you would like to comment for the audience the difference between what we are going to hear and the normal argument. Guest that is so interesting. Thank you for sharing that experience. Thank you for taking the time to listen to those oral arguments. You have just shared with us what you heard. I have not heard those arguments. Is a term you used and a turn and a term. We will see in a moment. You may be right. It sounds like the structure of asking judges to ask questions in the order of seniority discourages the conversational quality that makes Supreme Court arguments so intimate and conversational. It is just a very basic rule of Supreme Court arguments that it is important to answer the justices questions. In the movies, you stand before the court and give this oration. That is not the way it works. Justices have very specific questions. They want to know the answer to those questions and not some other questions. If you dodge those, they will come back and say answer my question. There is one aspect of this exercise that will not be all that different. The fact that the viewers cannot see the justices is not that unusual. For years, i was a regular Supreme Court reporter before i joined the national Constitution Center. I would go to the court to hear arguments. In the gallery. There is a press gallery not in the main courtroom. The view is so bad that you can barely see the justices. All you can hear is their voices. Those of us who have covered the court for a while know the of their voices. In that sense all americans will position. Same to be an entirely different exercise, better than nothing, no doubt. It will lose that conversational intimate quality. We will stream online. Argumentsgment the going on as justices ask their questions and responding lawyers present their case. We hear from mechanics falls, maine. Caller good morning. Love cspan. I have an old question, but it goes like this. And allupreme court courts are supposed to be going constitution, the and they are supposed to be impartial, why is there always such a big rush to pack it with conservative or liberal judges . I have never had that question answered to my satisfaction if it is supposed to be impartial. Could you enlighten me on that . Guest that is a very profound question you asked. You are correct that the ideal is the rule of law, which is vitally important for the survival of the american republic, that we have equal justice under the law and that is indifferent as to persons. Our court has become political hot potatos. How to reconcile those ideals, i think all we can say is that the courts have always been at the center of the most hotly contested issues of american politics. Alexis deille said tocqueville said every question ultimately becomes a political question. Say this isant to not the first time in American History that has happened. During the election of 1800, the outgoing federalists changed the size of the Supreme Court so the incoming republicans would not get a chance to make any appointments. We have had great partisan struggles throughout American History. The greatest courts and chief justices have held forth an ideal of the Supreme Court that is greater than the sympathies of the justices that make up the Supreme Court. John marshall was so determined that all citizens could come to see the court in impartial terms. I know i will not be able to satisfactorily answer your question now. Give the court the benefit of the doubt. When you listen, dont assume it is all politics. These legal arguments are really complicated. One thing i will predict is that these will not all be 54 decisions. Some will be unanimous. You will see unexpected combinations. You have to Pay Attention to the legal arguments, not to the political valance of the ultimate decision. If you approach the court the way the finest justices attempt to, at least we can have a sense of how the law is supposed to operate. Maybe at the end of it we will all feel better able to answer your question, and when we see how the court operates in the more technical questions, we will have faith that in most cases the court is approaching these cases in a nonpartisan spirit determined by the rule of law. Host we will hear from new york city next. Joshua, youre on the air. Caller is there any precedent in lower courts of cases being given over teleconferencing . Do you think the fact that these cases are being heard over the conferences teleconference legitimize nce to de the decisions reached . Guest i believe the Supreme Courtornia supreme met by teleconference. The spring court has decided not to meet by video. They are reluctant to allow their images to be shared widely. They are afraid the justices will become Like Television celebrities. They dont want to become a saturday night live skit. You asked a very important question, does this have the potential to delegitimize those decisions . It could. If arguments are held in this very formal way, i dont believe the decisions will be de legitimize. Justices themselves have set oral arguments are important but not decisive. Few cases are decided in the oral arguments. The main tools they use to decide the case is the briefs. The oral arguments is a time for teasing out small points of uncertainty and a chance to justices. He other for that reason, even though these arguments are not going to be ideal, they will certainly give the court more than to decide the cases, and when those , ie decisions come down imagine that citizens will come to accept those decisions as just as legitimate. Covered otheras court settings. We want to point out our Supreme Court site. It brings up all the past coverage of the world arguments that are released the day after. Today, live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. Lets hear from julie in virginia. Caller good morning. I was wondering why the word against could be used the impeachment of the president so it couldd states never be used against him again . Host the word expunged . Caller the word expunged should be used against the impeachment process that they could not find was proof. Why could not that word expunged be used, and it could never be used against the president again . Host are you familiar with that . Guest it is a good question. We can look at the constitution. It sets forth no procedure for the expungement of impeachments. Not only does it not allow for expunged,ment to be it allows for people to be impeached more than once. There is no double jeopardy. He constitution does not limit ehat is different from a censur andrewngress censured jackson. Impeachments are different as set out in the constitution. Those are our constitutional rules. Host a couple of comments for you by text. On partisanship. It has become unreasonable for anyone to take the Supreme Court seriously since long ago the majority of cases are decided on basis. Tly 54 the Merrick Garland the prove that partisan politics control this court. Is there some way i can get access to the briefs so i know what they are talking about . Guest great questions. You can get access to the briefs. Please do. Before you hear the oral arguments, go to the supreme and click on and you willgov, see oral arguments. The first case is patent and trademark versus booking. Com. You can click on docket. Ive just done it. All the briefs. Isnt that wonderful . There is a lot to read. You can skim the briefs during the oral arguments. Keep tuning in. Willonstitution center walk through the briefs and arguments. I urge all citizens to take the time to read the briefs. The second question about partisanship, it is not correct to say most cases are decided by 54 votes. Most cases are unanimous. Of cases aree 80 unanimous or nearly so. The number of 54 cases fluctuates, but it is in the range of 30 or less. Of the court as polarized because those cases are the ones people Pay Attention to, religious liberty and abortion and president ial powers. What is so interesting about this opportunity we are all about to have is we are going to tune into cases we dont ordinarily Pay Attention to. I want the Constitution Center. It is my job to learn about the constitution for fellow citizens. When we do podcasts, we picked the highprofile cases. This week and next week, with cspan, we are going to dig into the less hotly contested cases. , ied on the statistics imagine these more technical cases are unlikely to be decided on partisan lines. We will see the justices do what we expect them to do, which is evaluating arguments in legal terms. If they are not unanimous, often the alignments are not liberal and conservative. Lets give the court the benefit of the doubt over the next couple of weeks. Lets see what they do in these ordinary cases. This is the bread and butter of the courts work. From we are five minutes taking folks over to the Supreme Court. We are actually going to a teleconference. We will get a couple more calls. We will go to colleen in pennsylvania. Go ahead. Caller yes, my question is how does the Supreme Court determined on which cases they will review and which they will reject . Guest wonderful question. Very important. Hearustices can decide to any case they want. There is a small category of cases that are part of their original jurisdiction, which they have to here. It includes disputes between two states and controversies arising on the high seas. The general principle they use, they will take a case if there is a disagreement between the lower courts. If one federal court says x and another federal court says y, the court believes it is their job to come up with a national rule. That is called a circuit split. That is the surest way of getting a case decided. There are also cases that the court believes are really important to be decided. That can include cases like the wisconsin Voting Rights case, which the court saw the country needs an answer. They could include cases involving president ial subpoena. Here is another answer to your question. It takes water justices to vote in favor of hearing that case. There is a tradition in the court called the rule of five agreea fifth justice will to vote to hear the case. If the Supreme Court has heard the case, that means for justices believe it is important enough to be heard. Host lets go to darlene in las vegas. Caller good morning. Sorry to bother you. My question is about department heads, for example the head of h. U. D. , which make rules and are and have the same force as law. These are not people that are elected. These are people that congress abrogated its duty to. How is it that these are able to make law and the lawmakers did not do it . Host great question. Case on wednesday raises a similar question, can an agency, can they issue guidelines saying that employers dont have to provide contraceptive coverage if they have a moral or religious objection to it . That question of whether agency heads can make law under delegated power from congress is one of the most important and controversial questions. We will hear about that on wednesday. To prepare for it, read the briefs and make up your own mind about whether you think the agency should have lawmaking power. Host the u. S. House is supposed to be in this week. Now the oral arguments airing here on cspan, online at cspan. Org, and on cspan radio, we will cover the conversation at the national Constitution Center. Jeffrey rosen, it is a pleasure to have you. Guest it is a pleasure to be on. Lets look forward to hearing the oral arguments and reconvening right after. Host that conversation live here on cspan following the oral arguments. Thank you, Jeffrey Rosen. We will invite you back tomorrow morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Up, the Supreme Court oral argument airing live for the first time in the booking. Com case. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] having business before the Supreme Court are admonished to give their attention for the court now sitting. God save the United States in this honorable court. We will hear argument this morning the case of u. S. Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking. Com. Mr. Chief justice