Thinking it, she was so lucky to have that job, to have that proximity to Justice Ginsburg, to have that experience to know her so well. I also just feel like were obviously and for totally understandable reasons with whats going to happen with the succession of the court thats created by Justice Ginsburgs death. But for all of the mourning of her passing, one way to honor her legacy is to make sure that we understand it. And the people who were involved working shoulder to shoulder with her when she was writing her most important opinions and doing her most decisive and long far sided thinking about the constitution i think have stuff to tell us that we should learn from in terms of how to approach this moment and how to be strategic. There is a lot in her legacy that could help us right now and i feel like im not ready to stop talking about that side of it. I think, though, we can also see the glow, just the glow that she feels just thinking about Justice Ginsburg and just thinking about that experience of being lucky enough to work with her. I have my own little highly tan shenial moment and it came during her confirmation hearings. He used to use my office at the Senate Finance committee as her hideout because there is a kind of secret back door passage way from where my office was into the other buildings from dirk sen into the Heart Senate Office Building where her big tv hearing was going on. And senator moynihan from monew york, my boss, the tradition is the senator from your home state introduces you and senator moynihan guided her through that process in his way and it was his idea to park her on my sofa which she did for a few hours at a time, and that was kind of magical. Senator moynihan had recommended her to the president as did joe biden which was even more important because he was judiciary chairman and even more important than that Hillary Clinton had recommended her. So she came to the president with very, very strong recommendations. I also now feel like we need to create you know like flat stanley . We need to create a flat Ruth Bader Ginsburg and park her on your couch now that we know you earned that. Like if i did that, that would be creepy, but you could actually legit do it. And the effect it has, rachel, is im on my best behavior if shes in the room. All right. Im going to kinkos right now. Thank you, rachel. Thank you, lawrence. Four years ago senator Lindsey Graham said you can use my words against me. But the most important democrat in america who is using Lindsey Grahams words against him is Jaime Harrison, the democratic nominee for senate in South Carolina running against Lindsey Graham. The latest polls show Jaime Harrison tied with Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, and Jaime Harrison will join us here later on tonight. And dont be surprised if he uses Lindsey Grahams words against him. At the end of the hour, tonights last word will go to Steve Schmidt who is outraged at what Mitch Mcconnell is doing to the Supreme Court confirmation process and no one but no one brings more eloquence to outrage than Steve Schmidt. I want to begin tonight with two things. The first thing is the only way the democrats can block the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice this year to replace the honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And the second thing is the name of the person donald trump is most likely to nominate to the Supreme Court at the end of this week. Lets start with that first thing and with the parliamentary lay of the land in the United States senate. A lot of people think the senate is filled with complex rules that can be used to block anything or almost anything moving through the senate and it is true there are many obscure rules to senate procedure, but most of them apply to budget issues. But cant raise a budget point of order against a Supreme Court nomination. None of the delay tactics you get to use on legislation can be used against a Supreme Court nomination. You have heard Democratic Senators say theyre going to use every procedure maneuver they can to block the nomination, but you havent heard any of them, any of them specify what those procedural maneuvers might be. When you hear a democratic senator say they are going to hold republicans feet to the fire as i have heard more than once, thats not parliamentary language. I worked in the senate for years and i dont know what theyre talking about. Senators arent allowed to use their fireplaces in their offices anymore. There is only one way. There is only one way to block this nomination, to stall it, to slow down the United States senate. There is only one way for democrats to seize control of the calendar of the United States senate and throw up a roadblock to this nomination in the senate, and this parliamentary maneuver is not something that the democratic leader of the Senate Chuck Schumer can do. It is not something any democratic senator can do. There is literally nothing Democratic Senators can do to block this nomination. But the house of representatives can do something. The Democratic House of representatives can actually seize control of the calendar in the United States senate. Speaker nancy pelosi can do that, and she knows that she can do that and she was very, very careful when she was asked about it yesterday by george stef nop loss who before he worked in the Clinton White house was on the staff of the democratic leadership in the house of representatives. Some had mentioned the possibility if they try to push through a nominee in a lame duck session that you in the house can move to impeach President Trump or attorney general barr as a way of stalling and preventing the senate from acting on this nomination. Well, we have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that im not about to discuss right now. If nancy pelosi delivers articles of impeachment to the United States senate, senate rules say upon such articles being presented to the senate, the senate shall at 1 00 afternoon of the day sunday excepted following such presentation or sooner if ordered by the senate proceed to the consideration of such articles and shall continue in session from daytoday sundays excepted after the trial shall commence unless otherwise ordered by the senate until final judgment shall be rend dered and so much longer as my, in its judgment, be needful. Today on the senate floor, Chuck Schumer said there is only one way. Those were his exact words, there is only one way. He didnt say he had arrows in his quiver, just one arrow, and its not in his quiver. There is only one way, one way for this chamber to retain its dignity through this difficult chapter. There is only one way for us to have some hope of coming together again, trusting each other again, lowering the temperature, moving forward. And that is for four brave Senate Republicans to commit to rejecting any nominee until the next president is installed. Two Senate Republicans of questionable bravery Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are opposed to noting until after the election. Mitt romney has remained silent so far. The three front runners on the trump short list for the Supreme Court are all federal Appeals Court judges. Alison jones rushing of the Fourth Circuit court of appeals in richmond, virginia. He was confirmed in the first year of the Trump Presidency 5344. Amy koeny barrett was confirmed 5543 in the first year of the Trump Presidency to the seventh court of appeals in chicago. And Florida StateSupreme Court judge Barbara Lagoa was confirmed to the 11th Circuit Court of appeals just last year by a vote of 8015. And that makes judge lagoa the most likely choice for this nomination. Barbara lagoa is from miami. Donald trump will see her cuban heritage as helpful to his campaign in the mustwin state of florida. And she went through her fbi background check for her current job just last year, so a new background check for judge lagoa would be completed faster than possibly any other nominee. And most importantly for the politics of the senate, Barbara Lagoa was confirmed just last year with 27 democratic votes. Most democrats on the Senate Judiciary committee voted for Barbara Lagoa just last year. Among the democrats on the Judiciary Committee who voted against the confirmation of Barbara Lagoa last year, senator Kamala Harris and our leadoff guest tonight, senator amy klobuchar. Were joined now by senator amy klobuchar, a senior senator on the Judiciary Committee. First of all, i want to dispense with some theories out there about what might happen. Okay, lawrence. Lets begin with impeachment because one very important clause inside that, which sounds good, sounds like impeachment articles control the senate and immediately have to be heard beginning 1 00 p. M. The next day. But inside there it says unless ordered otherwise by the senate. Isnt it true that the impeachment process can be derailed by 51 republican votes, including an immediate not guilty vote. You appear to be quite the expert on these rules, lawrence, and first of all, that is my understanding. But id want to look at it again. But i would like to say this. Right now our focus is on the heart of what you just said, and that is four republicans. We already have two. Two more with nearly all of them that were here in 2016 made it very clear the precedent that they set and the precedent that they set was that the people should vote and pick the president and the president picks the Supreme Court justice. Just like Abraham Lincoln did in the only incident next to this one when a just disdied so close to the election and thats when i will one up you on facts. Justice tonni, the author of the dread scott opinion unfortunately died close to the election. And Abraham Lincoln waited. He did get reelected and thats when he decided to nominate a justice. So my point here is that whatever all these rules say and, yes, there are things that we can look at Going Forward especially, but right now the best way to do this from our country and to bring our country together is for those republicans, and i put it on them, to make this call and to follow their own precedent. What would be the case that you would make to a republican who thinks the president s nominee is the right person for the job who agrees with all of the known judicial philosophies of the republicans of the president s nominee . What is the case you would make to that republican senator . Sure. Id make the case that this is about our democracy, that our country is at this moment, this boiling point where, first of all, we need a president that brings them together. That is joe biden. But that secondly, it is our job to kind of put all of this aside. They are not beholden to Mitch Mcconnell. They are beholden to the people of this country. And 62 in the routers poll, 62 of the American People said that the next president should pick the Supreme Court justice. 5 out of 10 republicans said it. So i think in the end the voting thats going on, the motion thats out there, about the notorious rbg and that anything and everything was possible and that she never gave up when people told her she shouldnt go to law school. She graduates number one in her class. She goes in and does it and wins. When she gets to the court, she becomes an icon in her 80s. Anything is possible. So those are the arguments im going to make to my colleagues because we are at a moment where americans are voting in droves. They are voting big. Joe biden is ahead in states we never imagined. You just mentioned Jaime Harrison, who i cant wait to see on your show, coming up. These races are going in a direction that the people want them to go in. So i believe in the end that our colleagues at least a few of them have to listen to that regardless of where they are on any nominee. And it is our democracy thats at stake. Well, it sounds like Mitch Mcconnells worried about that, the possibility of those two votes because he sent out that letter to all of his republican colleagues kind of as fast as he could because he didnt have time to kind of call them all individually. And as you know, he included that phrase that leaders include when they dont have the votes. He said, i urge you all to be cautious and keep your powder dry until we return to washington. Of course in Senate Leadership speak, that means im very afraid of what you might do with your powder. So just shut up and dont say anything until you get back here. Yeah. Like i said, they are accountable to the people that sent them to washington. Theyre accountable to our country and patriotism and democracy. Mitch romney many times stood up for our democracy. They also understand the issues at hand. Health care is not only on the ball ballot. Its going to be on the Supreme Court docket on november 10th when they will be deciding that critical case out of texas about whether or not people are going to be able to keep their Health Insurance if they have preexisting conditions, over 100 million americans could lose their Health Insurance. They know as we see the smoke on the west coast that the environmental protections that so many people hold dear are eventually going to be on that court docket. Money thats been flooding into the elections where you have such a conservative court time and time again with the Citizens United case on down which a lot of people that arent just democrats dont like that, and thats a case we need to make to the American People. Not only because they need to vote like their life depends on it, to quote the great my sell obama, but also because they have to understand the great significance of this Supreme Court justice. It is not donald trump that could make this decision. It is literally in their hands right now as they go to the ballot box. Senator quickly before we go to a break here. 27 democrats voted for Barbara Lagoa last year. You were not one of them, but most of your colleagues on the Senate Judiciary committee, democrat colleagues did in fact vote for her. What do you say to them if she comes up as the nominee . They voted for her to be confirmed to the court just one level below the Supreme Court. What do you say to the democrats who have to now in effect reverse themselves on this judge . The Supreme Court is a whole other ball game. You have old arguments already made that you want to get a justice that is would do would make Ruth Bader Ginsburg proud, would make her family proud. You look at her last fervent wish, those are her words, my most fervent wish is i will not be replaced until a new president is installed, debt piet the fact that donald trump is undermining her own family after shes died by questioning whether or not she said that. And of course as you know her, she would use the word fervent in her closing days. And then the second argument is when you are picking judges for the Supreme Court of the United States, it is a whole different standard. It is a whole different ball game. Senator amy klobuchar, i know how much Justice Ginsburg meant to you and that she was an inspiration. A lot of people talk about what an inspiration she was to little girls around the country. And some of whom became senators. Yes, exactly right. An inspiration to senators. Senator amy klobuchar, thank you for joining us once again tonig