Supreme Court Process broken and it threatens to undermine americans confidence in the institution. Todays question is do you have confidence in the Supreme Court . Republicans can democrats can call pendence, those supporting thirdparty candidates can call you can reach us on social media, on twitter and on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. Good morning. Lets take a look at a little bit of what Clarence Thomas have to say wednesday speaking it a Heritage Foundation event, when he was asked what he says to people who have lost confidence in the Supreme Court. I dont think people are confident. I think it is something we earned. That you try to do your job in a way that they can have confidence in what you can do. You try to do the hard thing, but they should not be doing in a way that they can have. Onfidence, that you can trust perhaps, we should ask ourselves what we have done to not earn it or to earn it. I am not so sure i have the answers. Is youthe things i say try to live up to the old. You took an old to show fidelity to the constitution any live up to it. He took an oath to judge people impartially, and you live up to it. In this city, it does not go for much. You take heat forward but that is a part of the job. Ou are supposed to do your job run uply, some one will to you one day with your federal marathon commission and have a lot of confidence. That doesnt sound like a whole lot. Probably most people dont care, but it does mean something to you when an average citizen has confidence that you did your job fairly. As best you could. You do not say he agreed with you but he agreed but he understood it. Clarence thomas speaking wednesday about confidence. The subject of todays question. Do you have confidence in the Supreme Court . While we wait for your calls, a little more about the headlines about senator cruzs comments about an indefinite block on Supreme Court appointments if Hillary Clinton wins the white house according to Washington Post. Senator cruz speak to reporters after a Campaign Rally for a republican u. S. Senate in colorado that there was a precedent with fewer than nine justices, appearing to suggest that the blockade on Merrick Garland could last past the election. He said, i think there will be plenty of time for debate on that issue. Certainly long historical precedent for a Supreme Court with fewer justices. I would note that Justice Breyer observed that the vacancy is not impacting the ability of the court to do its job. That is a debate that we are going to have. That was more from ted cruzs comments. Right now, we have a call from canonsburg, pennsylvania on our democratic line. Do you have confidence . Caller absolutely. I think we have millions of people in america who cannot even name two or three of the justices in the Supreme Court and they complain about it. They dont know anything about civics or problems of democracy, so they only know the Supreme Court is the third branch of the federal government. When all of these republicans howpundits talk about horrible it would be to have a liberal Supreme Court, the republicans have been the since 1968. All of these horrible liberal and theke roe v wade samesex marriage have been decided by a republicancontrolled Supreme Court. That is why a lot of people dont do their research. I have a lot of confidence and thank you very much for letting me talk. Host a little bit more about republican reaction to the process that might come next year. They are split on the issue not coming to a full consensus on what they will do. Republican senator jeff blake of arizona thursday said he would work to advance the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland if Hillary Clinton wins the white house. His comments for shadow a growing desire about what to do with garlands long nomination when congress returns, november 14 for the lameduck session after the election. Ill bit more from rollcall. John mccain of arizona in october said in an interview that republicans would next, we have paul calling in from pennsylvania on our republican line. Caller howre you . Host do you have confidence in the Supreme Court . Caller not at the moment, no. I dont ever want to see it go im a staunch conservative, so i am voting for donald trump. I would like to see it wait until after the first of the year, before any confirmation is done. Trumpin reason i am for and for conservative is because lies that went on with the other side. The good lord did not put me here to judge people, but hope every thing that is going on, i dont want to see the democrats maybe put these people into the Supreme Court. Host let me ask you about the contention from senator cruz that if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, the reluctance may stall all of the appointments. Do you agree with that . Caller what was that . Senator cruz suggested that republicans may stall any nominee put forth by Hillary Clinton if she wins. Do you agree . If she puts people up, i think the senate would be honest if a good person is put up, i think they will put them in. If not, i think they are going to go against it. Host and he is calling in from lake butler, florida, on our democratic line. Caller good morning. Host are you confident in the u. S. Supreme court . Caller no, i am not. The Supreme Court has not been , since the last eight years. They haveourt been fighting democrats. Anything they do, they have been fighting against it. Look at obama. He put somebody up there, i i am kind of sick, i am sorry. They were going against everything. President obama have done, the senate have fought against it. The current stalled nomination of judge Merrick Garland, is that caused you to lose faith in the congress and the executive branch . Or does that carry over into your feelings about the supreme it carriesf . Caller over into my feelings about the Supreme Court. Supreme court judge clarence is not fair. He is not fair at all. Youen, how would they say put donald trump up there, and. E know nothing about politics he is going to tear this whirl of just tear this world up. Host calling in from alexandria, virginia. Caller i think you and i and most colors do not have a permanent job. At some point we are supposed to retire. It will be for the betterment of the company. Of the three branches of government, the Supreme Court seems to be entitled to have a lifetime position. Governmentranches of have officials that can be elected or elected out of office, then they should be given the same. They should not be up to stay for a lifetime. As much as anything, a lot of fight orwe cant the judges can no longer relate to. A different age from many of them grew up in, it is a different world. At some point you have to move on. I think their experience would be needed, especially on College Campuses in teaching. I dont think staying in a position for that long, it which is what we dont need. Host lets take a look at some other headlines related to the Supreme Court. In the Washington Post, it report that Justice Thomas has been accused of groping a woman. It we are continuing our discussion about confidence in the u. S. Supreme court. James is calling in from alabama on our democratic line. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am glad you are talking about Clarence Thomas because he was put into office by joe biden. Haveis is the problem we with our political system. Tip oneill work with ronald reagan. They affirmed Ronald Reagans judges. There was a bipartisanship. The democrats did not push back. With bush this is the reason why bush was allowed to do the democrats with nancy pelosi did not push back. The point of clinton was in office, and the tokens which back the republicans pushed back. James, can i ask you a question. For Supreme Court justices nominations, bill clinton nominated ruth bader ginsburg. She was confirmed unanimously to the court. You think things have changed since then . Caller yes. [inaudible] host a little bit more about the latest allegations against Justice Thomas. I need a hill has called for an investigation into that allegation according to the national law journal. Anita hill whose testimony at justice Clarence Thomass hearing in 1991 will open a nationwide conversation about Sexual Harassment in the place next, we have lead calling in from escondido, california on our republican line. Are you confident . Caller no, i am not. Ever since Thurgood Marshall said he considered his duty to tear up the constitution or destroy the constitution, it seems like the Democratic Party has set out to do just that. If you like being free, you do not like being a democrat, because the Democratic Party it is set out to destroy our constitution, bit by bit. Host do you believe that republicans should try to stop Hillary Clinton if she wins the presidency from appointing anyone to the Supreme Court . Caller i believe they should, ause the Democratic Party they will lead you to help. To hell. Do anything to stop the democrats from getting another justice in their. Host marge is calling in from illinois on our democratic line. Good morning. Caller i have been trying for weeks to get through. All i want to say is trump is getting by with murder. He has not turned in his income tax. He is calling all of these ladies liars. I think he should be persecuted to get that income tax in and everyone else has. I think they should make him take a lie detector test. Host march, where talking about the Supreme Court today. Is the Supreme Court a big issue for you back up issue for you . Caller trump is what i am so angry about. He cheated on his first wife with marla and never remarried her until after the baby was born. I dont know who the interviewer was, but he was standing there on tv and i watched him. He was telling the guy to get a book and tells of all of the women in it that i have had sex with. We dont want our young people to be seeing junk like that. Host lets take a look at a survey that was done for cspan a year ago about the Public Opinion of the u. S. Supreme court. That was following several landmark cases. That National Poll conducted by pension berlin suggest that 85 of americans believe that decisions made by the Supreme Court have an impact on everyday life as a citizen, including 83 of liberals, 84 of moderates and 87 of conservatives. People generally think the Supreme Court is very important. Were talking to you about confidence. A caller from sacramento on our independent line. Caller good morning. Host are you confident in the Supreme Court . Caller originally, i was. This year, when Justice Ginsburg spoke out against donald trump, i think she broke with her party committed an error for a sitting Supreme Court justice to speak out against a nominee. That kind of upset me. Im not a republican or democrat. Ginsburg spoke out, it seems like our Supreme Court has become so hyper partisan that they cannot see past what they were elected to represent. When they are elected when they were elected, they was want to uphold the constitution, and written and it should be interpreted host me ask you a question let me ask you a question. Other justices do speak outside of the Supreme Court. Antonin scalia would quickly do interviews or speak where he gave views about things about abortion. You think no justice at all should speak outside of their role on the court . If it is an purview of the constitution and Constitutional Rights if it pertains to everyday rights, they should be up to speak out about it. When they get involved in a president ial race and politics of that race, i feel they are stepping outside of what they ise elected to do and that to interpret the constitution. The citizens are not interested in hearing who they are going to be one for why donald trump is fit or why Hillary Clintons emails are so bad that she should not become president. That is out of their purview. What if they were they were put on the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution and how that affects the loss in our. Ountry and america as a whole of course it is going to affect our lives. Partisan and too democrats and republicans, they are both sides of the same coin. We need to have an outside independent party that can get into the debates. It is very disheartening to see the Supreme Court get involved in the president ial election. Host some other headlines making the news. Republicanernor and Vice President of candidate, mike pences plane skidded off a runway in new york. It said that governor pence skidded off the runway shortly after landing at Laguardia Airport thursday night. The plane was carrying more than 40 people occluding members of his staff and reporters. There were no injuries. Everyone got off the aircraft safely. Mr. Pence, the governor of indiana, could be seen shaking hands with First Responders. He said he is so thankful everyone on the plane was safe, grateful for our First Responders and the concerns and prayers of so many. Back on the trail tomorrow. Fromis calling in california on our democratic line. Caller good morning. Host do you have confidence in the Supreme Court echo caller Supreme Court . Constitutionally, it is not operating properly. There is supposed to be nine justices. Listen,people do not because they are allowing the senate to talk about what they are not going to do. That is their job. Their job is to confirm. The president present and their job is to confirm. Host the constitution doesnt set a number of Supreme Court justices. Caller it does. It sets a number because when president roosevelt wanted more , that was voted down. He was not able to do that. The Supreme Court is nine justices. I know it has increased and everything, but the importance of having the justices is to have an equal amount of people. Qual amount of people host lets take a look at a few more of Justice Thomass comments. This is what he said when asked if there is any hope to improve the confirmation process. The city is broken. Been in most of my adult life now. Become veryave comfortable with not thinking things through, and debating. One of the things i love about the court, you can talk about things. I think we have decided that rather than confront the disagreements and differences of opinion, we will simply annihilate the person who disagrees. I dont think that is going to work. I dont think that is going to work in a republic or civil society. At some point, we have got to recognize we are destroying our institutions and undermining our institutions. Them. Going to destroy the day is going to come when we are going to need the institutions and the integrity of the institutions. When you disagree with people, i do notice and my opinions, i do not attack personally my colleagues. I disagree with them strongly. I think it is important for me to leave them standing in the institution standing. Contrast. St have the i dont think that is going to change in the city until we get back to a notion that we are that we argue, debate and decide based on logic and fact and reason, as opposed to who yells the loudest or who has the best narrative or best meme or some other nonsense. Some of the facts about the Supreme Court as reported by history. Com, among them that has not always been nine justices on the court. The u. S. Constitution established the Supreme Court but left to congress to decide how many justices. The judicial act of 17 a nine set the number at six a little bit of the history of the u. S. Supreme court and how we arrived at the nine justices we have. A vacancy early this year from justice antonin scalia. At 3 00 p. M. , another Supreme CourtJustice Elena kagan will be speaking about the Supreme Court and constitutional law. Well carry that event on cspan, as well as on cspan. Org and cspan radio. Southcalling in from carolina on our independent line. Are you conf