>> Sreenivasan: JEFF, WHAT DO WE

KNOW AND NOT KNOW ABOUT HOW AND

WHEN THIS CONFIRMATION PROCESS

WILL HAPPEN?

>> WHAT THE PRESIDENT SAID

YESTERDAY WAS HE INTENDS TO SEND

UP A NOMINEE VERY QUICKLY.

HE SAID IT WOULD BE A WOMAN.

WHAT WE DON'T KNOW IS WHEN

SENATE LEADER MITCH McCONNELL

INTENDS TO TAKE THIS NOMINATION

UP, WHICH HE DOES.

THERE'S VERY LITTLE TIME IN THE

SENATE CALENDAR BETWEEN NOW AND

ELECTION DAY.

AND THERE'S BEEN SOME

SPECULATION THAT THE VULNERABLE

REPUBLICAN INCUMBENTS MIGHT NOT

WANT TO CAST A VOTE BEFORE

ELECTION DAY.

NOW, JUST IN THE LAST DAY,

SEVERAL OF THOSE ENDANGERED

REPUBLICANS HAVE SAID THEY'RE

SIGNED ON WITH McCONNELL--

JONI ERNST IN IOWA, TILLIS IN

NORTH CAROLINA, McSALLY IN

ARIZONA-- AND SO, WHAT WE DON'T

KNOW IS, ARE THERE FOUR

REPUBLICANS IN THE SENATE, APART

FROM SUSAN COLLINS, WHO SAID SHE

WOULD PREFER TO WAIT, LISA

MURKOWSKI, WHO SAID SHE DOESN'T

THINK THERE SHOULD BE A VOTE

'TIL THE NEW PRESIDENT IS

CHOSEN, CHUCK GRASSLEY, FORMER

CHAIRMAN OF THE JUDICIARY

COMMITTEE, HAS ALSO SAID THAT--

BUT THAT LEAVES ONLY THREE IF

THEY ALL DO THAT.

MANY, MANY OTHER REPUBLICANS

HAVE DONE A COMPLETE 180 AROUND

THEIR POSITION BACK IN 2016 WHEN

THEY SAID NO VOTE IN A

PRESIDENTIAL YEAR.

AND SO, IT'S GOING TO BE UP TO

McCONNELL IN THE NEXT DAY OR TWO

TO DECIDE, DOES HE WANT TO TRY A

VOTE NOW, OR DOES HE WANT TO

WAIT 'TIL AFTER THE ELECTION AND

DO IT IN A LAME DUCK SESSION?

>> Sreenivasan: AND THINGS COULD

GET CONTENTIOUS.

I MEAN, DEMOCRATS WOULDN'T LIKE

THIS IDEA.

>> IF TRUMP WINS IN NOVEMBER,

THIS ISSUE ESSENTIALLY GOES

AWAY.

BECAUSE EVEN IF THE DEMOCRATS

WERE TO WIND UP TAKING THE

SENATE, THE LAME DUCK

REPUBLICANS IN NOVEMBER COULD

SAY, LOOK, THE PEOPLE CHOSE

TRUMP, IT'S HIS NOMINATION AND

FINE.

IF TRUMP WERE TO LOSE AND THE

SENATE WERE TO GO DEMOCRATIC AND

THE LAME DUCK REPUBLICAN STILL

SAID, WE'RE GOING TO CONFIRM

TRUMP'S NOMINEE IN LATE

NOVEMBER, THEN YOU'RE TALKING

ABOUT WHATEVER ANALOGY YOU LIKE.

DEFCON ONE, ARMAGEDDON ON

STEROIDS.

AS CHUCK SCHUMER SAID,

EVERYTHING'S ON THE TABLE.

THAT COULD MEAN EXPANDING THE

SIZE OF THE SUPREME COURT.

IT COULD MEAN GIVING STATEHOOD

TO PUERTO RICO AND PERHAPS THE

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FOR FOUR

MORE DEMOCRATIC SENATORS.

THAT MEANS THE ENTIRE FRAMEWORK

OF OUR SYSTEM IS BEING

ESSENTIALLY REDUCED TO WHO HAS

THE POWER.

>> Sreenivasan: IT SEEMS LIKE

THIS WILL GALVANIZE PEOPLE ON

BOTH SIDES TO GET OUT AND VOTE.

>> FOUR YEARS AGO, IT WAS CLEAR

THAT THE ISSUE OF A SUPREME

COURT JUSTICE WAS HELPING TRUMP.

IT GOT ALL THE SOCIAL

CONSERVATIVES WHO WERE WORRIED

ABOUT TRUMP'S PERSONAL BEHAVIOR

BACK IN LINE.

AND THEY WERE MOSTLY WORRIED

BECAUSE SCALIA, THE MOST

MILITANT CONSERVATIVE, WAS GONE,

AND THEY WERE WORRIED THAT AN

OBAMA PICK WOULD FLIP THE COURT.

THIS TIME IT'S THE LIBERAL ICON

WHO HAS DEPARTED.

AND DEMOCRATS ARE SAYING, WELL,

YOU KNOW, ONE MORE CONSERVATIVE

JUSTICE.

THERE GOES THE AFFORDABLE HEALTH

CARE PLAN.

THERE GOES ABORTION RIGHTS.

THERE GOES THE WHOLE AGENDA.

AND IT'S INTERESTING THAT IN THE

LAST 24 HOURS, A LIBERAL

FUNDRAISING GROUP, ACTBLUE, HAS

RAISED $91 MILLION, WHICH

SUGGESTS THAT THE TRADITIONAL

ANALYSIS THAT A CONSERVATIVE IS

HELPED BY A SUPREME COURT FIGHT,

THAT MAY HAVE FLIPPED THIS YEAR.

WE'LL FIND OUT.

>> Sreenivasan: JEFF GREENFIELD,

THANKS SO MUCH.

>> THANK YOU, HARI.