>> 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.