Rebel News Podcast - I'm jealous： Americans get to debate the SCOTUS pick — Why don't Canadians？

00:00:00.000 Tonight, Donald Trump nominates his second Supreme Court judge, launching a vigorous national debate.

00:00:05.960 How come Canadians don't get to do that?

00:00:08.460 It's July 10th, and you're watching The Ezra LeVant Show.

00:00:16.360 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:00:20.160 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:00:23.880 You come here once a year with a sign, and you feel morally superior.

00:00:26.860 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody right to do so.

00:00:37.620 Anthony Kennedy, a judge who has sat on the U.S. Supreme Court for about 30 years, announced he is retiring.

00:00:44.880 And last night, Donald Trump nominated his replacement.

00:00:48.400 I do not ask about a nominee's personal opinions.

00:00:52.240 What matters is not a judge's political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require.

00:01:04.520 I am pleased to say that I have found, without doubt, such a person.

00:01:10.820 Tonight, it is my honor and privilege to announce that I will nominate Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court.

00:01:21.780 There he is. There's some continuity here.

00:01:25.060 Kavanaugh actually clerked for Justice Kennedy, as in he was his legal assistant.

00:01:30.340 There is no debate that Kavanaugh is a bright lawyer and a great judge for a dozen years.

00:01:34.940 He has served as an appeals court judge in Washington, D.C.

00:01:38.080 He was sworn into that position on that appeals court by Justice Kennedy, so they seem to be friends.

00:01:43.420 Kennedy himself was nominated by Ronald Reagan, but the U.S. Senate unanimously approved his appointment to the court.

00:01:51.480 That's the thing about the U.S.

00:01:52.500 Unlike Canada, where our prime minister just makes the pick and announces it and is done,

00:01:56.080 in the U.S., the Senate gets to grill the president's nominees, and it goes hard.

00:02:01.820 Quite a few nominees don't make it.

00:02:03.620 Either a scandal in their lives is uncovered, and the nominee withdraws.

00:02:08.720 Rather than proceeding to a vote, they think they'll lose.

00:02:10.660 Or at the very least, the public gets a read of how they will act as a Supreme Court judge.

00:02:15.760 The U.S. Senate is very powerful.

00:02:17.560 It's an independent institution, not the sad patronage appointment house we have in Canada or the House of Lords in the U.K.

00:02:24.560 U.S. Senators love fighting with U.S. presidents, including senators of the president's own party.

00:02:29.600 Just think about how often John McCain, who claims to be a Republican, fights with Donald Trump.

00:02:34.800 My point is, there is no such thing as a slam dunk when it comes to nominations to the Supreme Court.

00:02:40.900 Kennedy's unanimous support was unusual, and I think those days are long gone.

00:02:46.240 Certainly, they will be for Kavanaugh.

00:02:48.680 Last night, before Trump announced his pick, the Democrats had a couple of hundred protesters outside the court

00:02:54.080 with prefabricated signs for a variety of potential nominees that Trump could have chosen.

00:03:01.980 As in, no matter what he did, no matter who he chose, they were going to protest it.

00:03:06.560 That's the age we're in now.

00:03:09.420 Some left-wing lobby groups actually sent out their pre-written attack press releases.

00:03:13.200 Look at this one here.

00:03:14.480 They forgot to fill in the blank for the nominee's name.

00:03:18.220 XX, the nomination of XX.

00:03:20.140 No, you're supposed to put in the name there.

00:03:22.360 But despite the fake outrage, it serves a purpose, you know.

00:03:25.160 It forces the president to think carefully about who he's going to choose.

00:03:28.720 They generally have to have some real talent and real merit and a real track record before being nominated,

00:03:33.920 and they generally have to be ideologically temperate enough to carry the Senate.

00:03:40.180 Kennedy, who was appointed by Reagan, was pretty liberal for a Republican appointee.

00:03:45.720 He upheld the abortion case, Roe v. Wade, though he also ruled against partial birth abortions,

00:03:50.840 which are as gruesome as they sound.

00:03:52.260 Kennedy wrote the gay marriage ruling in the States.

00:03:55.160 He supported race-based affirmative action.

00:03:57.680 He ruled that Guantanamo Bay terrorists have certain legal rights.

00:04:00.960 In other words, he's the kind of a Republican that the media loves.

00:04:05.920 I don't think Brett Kavanaugh will be that way.

00:04:08.300 Again, it's hard to separate the real facts from the prefabricated complaints from the Democrat outrage machine,

00:04:14.260 but it does appear that Kavanaugh is more conservative than his mentor.

00:04:17.840 He says he stands by Roe v. Wade because, as a conservative, he stands by precedent,

00:04:23.840 but that doesn't mean there are no limits.

00:04:25.300 For example, last year he wrote a dissent to a D.C. Circuit court ruling

00:04:28.740 that an illegal immigrant teenager in detention was entitled to get an abortion.

00:04:34.280 That's a whole bundle of left-wing hot buttons right there, isn't it?

00:04:37.620 Kavanaugh said the U.S. Constitution did not grant, quote,

00:04:41.780 a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in U.S. government detention

00:04:46.260 to obtain immediate abortion on demand, unquote.

00:04:50.160 It would be tough to point to a provision in the Constitution that says otherwise,

00:04:53.440 but there's a judge to say it.

00:04:54.640 That's the thing about constitutional conservatives.

00:04:56.400 They say that the Constitution actually means something,

00:05:00.620 and it can't be changed with every passing political fashion.

00:05:03.480 Naturally, leftists hate that.

00:05:04.920 They're always trying to get rid of the First Amendment that protects freedom of speech, 0.80

00:05:08.900 the Second Amendment that protects firearms ownership.

00:05:11.780 They're always trying to create counterfeit rights, like the right not to be offended.

00:05:15.960 Strict constructionists say, no, let's just read the Constitution how it is.

00:05:20.480 Kavanaugh looks like a conservative to me.

00:05:21.940 He's for the Second Amendment.

00:05:23.340 He objected to a D.C. court ban on rifles.

00:05:25.160 He has opposed overreach by environmental regulators.

00:05:28.700 I like the look of him.

00:05:29.960 And that's the thing about winning elections,

00:05:31.380 as Barack Obama kept telling Republicans for eight years,

00:05:34.380 winning and losing has consequences.

00:05:36.540 Hillary Clinton did not win.

00:05:38.260 She does not get to choose the nominees.

00:05:40.040 That's just how it is.

00:05:41.040 And the rules that the Democrats put in place during Obama's eight years in power

00:05:44.560 to allow Obama greater latitude without having to bother with Republican approval in the Senate,

00:05:50.060 well, all of those powers are now inherited by Trump.

00:05:52.760 Here's an ideological map of the Supreme Court compiled by the center-left news site Axios.

00:05:59.860 I like the look of that.

00:06:01.020 I look at that.

00:06:01.600 It's hard to measure and quantify ideology, but it rings true enough to me.

00:06:06.120 On the far left, you can see one of Obama's appointees,

00:06:09.180 Sonia Sotomayor, a hard left identity politics affirmative action pick.

00:06:14.300 She would say so herself.

00:06:15.780 Far left, almost alt-left.

00:06:17.260 And you can see Obama's other pick, Alana Kagan, another leftist, not even a liberal on there. 0.96

00:06:24.360 And that other lady on the far, far left is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 1.00

00:06:28.380 She was appointed in the early 90s by Bill Clinton, and she is now 85.

00:06:32.820 Many people retire 20 years, even 30 years earlier than that.

00:06:37.880 Plenty of people think Ginsburg should retire.

00:06:40.740 She has trouble staying awake during her duties, as you can see in this unfortunate picture of a quick nap. 0.99

00:06:46.420 I'm not just talking about conservatives.

00:06:49.020 I mean, during Obama's term, liberals were begging her to retire under Obama

00:06:54.780 so that Obama could nominate her replacement instead of risking, well, Trump.

00:06:59.400 Trump getting her appointee successor.

00:07:02.060 She responded to those clouds saying that she didn't think that even Obama had the political power to appoint someone as liberal as she is.

00:07:09.580 So she was going to stay on as long as she possibly could.

00:07:12.560 It's pretty unlikely that she'll be able to outlast Donald Trump, especially if he gets a second term.

00:07:18.080 I mean, it's possible, but I'm not sure if America wants a 92-year-old judge.

00:07:23.820 No disrespect to anyone's great-great-grandparents.

00:07:26.880 But my point about that debate is at least, I mean, it's acutely political, right?

00:07:32.580 But that's what's so great about the U.S. system as compared to ours.

00:07:35.080 There is nothing more political than a Supreme Court judge in either country.

00:07:39.700 Because unlike a four- or eight-year presidential term, a Supreme Court judge gets to rule for 30, 40 years.

00:07:45.880 There's very little accountability once they're in.

00:07:47.800 And they get to make all the heavy decisions, gay rights, abortion, censorship, immigration. 0.90

00:07:51.840 That's why conservatives believe in a strong constitution, so the judges have to interpret the law, not write their own law.

00:07:56.860 Well, here's Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2016 in the thick of the presidential election campaign. 0.63

00:08:04.420 Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the court's most outspoken justice off the bench.

00:08:08.340 But her biting remarks about Donald Trump have legal experts saying she went too far.

00:08:12.780 To the New York Times, quote, I can't imagine what the country would be with Donald Trump as our president.

00:08:18.640 She said it reminded her of something her husband, Martin, who died in 2010, would have said.

00:08:23.200 Now it's time for us to move to New Zealand.

00:08:25.840 To author Joan Baskupic, he is a faker.

00:08:28.400 He says whatever comes into his head at the moment, how has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns?

00:08:34.500 Asked by the AP about a Trump victory, quote, I don't want to think about that possibility.

00:08:39.140 Trump himself calls her remarks a disgrace and says she should apologize to her colleagues, adding,

00:08:44.640 I would hope that she would get off the court as soon as possible.

00:08:47.920 So don't pretend that Supreme Courts aren't political.

00:08:51.700 And don't pretend that only Republicans appoint political judges.

00:08:54.980 And don't pretend that judges suddenly turn off their partisan switch when they're appointed.

00:08:59.560 I think Kavanaugh is going to be confirmed, but it's going to be a noisy fight.

00:09:03.040 As well, it should be.

00:09:04.020 Trump is momentous, even a historic president, but it's quite possible that Kavanaugh and Trump's earlier appointing Neil Gorsuch will be just as momentous over the course of their careers.

00:09:13.540 If Trump indeed replaces Ruth Bader Ginsburg, too, that could be Trump's biggest impact on America.

00:09:19.000 So, yeah, of course people want to talk about guns and abortion and things like that, because these people, these Supremes, are the deciders.

00:09:26.080 Now compare all of that to Canada.

00:09:27.640 If you're watching my show, you're probably pretty political, but really, how many Canadian Supreme Court judges can you name?

00:09:35.240 Don't Google it.

00:09:36.140 How many can you name?

00:09:37.940 Now, our Supreme Court has a mandatory retirement age of 75.

00:09:41.980 By the way, that would immediately clear out another U.S. judge, too, a liberal named Stephen Breyer.

00:09:47.020 How many Canadian Supreme Court judges can you name?

00:09:49.580 No checking.

00:09:51.660 Have you ever heard of Clement Gascon?

00:09:53.900 How about Andromash Karakatsanis?

00:09:59.780 Have you ever heard of her?

00:10:01.460 How about Malcolm Rowe?

00:10:04.520 No?

00:10:05.760 How about Michael Moldaver?

00:10:09.880 Have you heard of these people?

00:10:11.040 Why not?

00:10:12.960 Do you not think it's important?

00:10:14.780 Do you not think that they are political and powerful and have as many opinions on things as Ruth Bader Ginsburg,

00:10:19.860 even if they're smarter than her and keep their opinions to themselves?

00:10:22.580 But that's the thing.

00:10:24.080 Why do they get to keep their opinions to themselves in Canada?

00:10:27.140 I don't mean their opinions about Stephen Harper or Justin Trudeau.

00:10:33.340 But I think we ought to know their opinions about things like our Constitution, boring but important things.

00:10:38.740 I would like to know the opinions of our Canadian judges on their views of provincial rights, let's say, about the carbon tax,

00:10:47.160 about putting pipelines through.

00:10:48.600 Or less boring things like their views on the constitutionality of affirmative action and race-based laws,

00:10:54.660 something that Trudeau's Justice Minister is now pushing,

00:10:57.160 something provided for in our Constitution in Section 15.2 of the Charter.

00:11:01.100 I would like to know the views of our judges about free speech,

00:11:05.280 as opposed to this new wave of censorship against hate speech.

00:11:08.840 I'd like to know the views of our judges on Aboriginal rights.

00:11:11.900 Do they believe that there is some special, inherent, Indigenous right?

00:11:16.860 Or do they believe in equal rights?

00:11:19.020 How about the notwithstanding clause?

00:11:20.620 Do these judges believe it could or should be used?

00:11:23.360 A lot of questions, and we've never had answers.

00:11:27.240 Stephen Harper started a tradition of having a brief ceremonial meeting of his Supreme Court nominees

00:11:32.460 before a very careful parliamentary committee that asked a few gentle questions of his choices.

00:11:37.400 And that was it. There was no vote, no nothing. It was all for show.

00:11:40.920 Sorry, that is not enough.

00:11:42.300 Why can't we Canadians know something about the people who are remaking Canada in their own image,

00:11:48.400 and can for 20 years?

00:11:50.640 And frankly, why didn't Stephen Harper, who actually made eight different appointments

00:11:55.060 to the Supreme Court over his term, two of whom retired,

00:11:58.580 why didn't he do what Trump is doing?

00:12:01.760 What Trudeau is doing?

00:12:03.220 What every liberal prime minister has ever done.

00:12:05.760 Why didn't Stephen Harper put truly conservative judges on the bench?

00:12:10.860 There was no Senate hearing to stop it.

00:12:12.980 I can say that of all of Harper's choices, maybe three of them can be called conservative.

00:12:20.200 Why didn't he care?

00:12:23.020 Why did he appoint judges who were in their 60s already, instead of their 50s or even their 40s?

00:12:28.220 Why did he just hand that branch of government over to the left?

00:12:30.620 And why is it that we can't dare to criticize our Canadian judges?

00:12:35.920 Why does the rest of the entire Canadian establishment treat our Supreme Court judges like some sort of untouchable high priest?

00:12:43.320 Do you doubt that each of them are as political as Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

00:12:47.340 Watching Trump appoint Kavanaugh, I'm jealous, not just of a president who is unafraid to make a truly conservative choice,

00:12:54.480 but of an entire system that treats the court like what it is.

00:12:57.840 It's just another branch of government people.

00:12:59.700 It is not infallible.

00:13:01.400 And at the end of the day, it must serve its people.

00:13:03.620 And at least during the nomination process, it has to act like it.

00:13:07.620 I think our own Supreme Court could use a dose of that accountability.

00:13:12.620 Don't you?

00:13:13.140 Stay with us for more.

00:13:17.340 Welcome back.

00:13:32.580 Well, joining us now is one of our best America watchers, because he's an American.

00:13:37.380 His name is Joel Pollack, and he is the senior editor-at-large at Breitbart.com.

00:13:42.640 Joel, it's great to see you again.

00:13:43.480 Ben, you've been watching this Trump nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.

00:13:50.220 Give me your thoughts first on the candidate, and then I'd like to ask you about the Democrat reaction.

00:13:55.940 Well, he's an excellent candidate.

00:13:58.240 He certainly acquitted himself very well at the ceremony at the White House.

00:14:03.200 He laid down a judicial philosophy which is firmly in line with conservative opinion.

00:14:08.300 He believes judges should not make the law.

00:14:12.080 They should merely interpret the law according to the original meaning of the text, especially as regards to the Constitution.

00:14:18.400 And that is where the conservative movement is.

00:14:20.780 That's the consensus position.

00:14:22.280 The other interesting thing is that Kavanaugh has a long history of association with the Bush family.

00:14:28.860 The Bush is, of course, quite hostile to Donald Trump.

00:14:32.300 So, it's a bit of an olive branch from the Trump White House to his Republican predecessors, whom he often criticizes.

00:14:41.220 And in that sense, it's a unifying pick as well.

00:14:43.380 So, politically, as well as judicially, a very solid pick.

00:14:48.380 Very interesting.

00:14:49.640 Now, one thing that I saw, I think it was Joe Scarborough said, that Republican judges tend to creep left over time.

00:14:57.640 And I think there's some truth to it.

00:14:59.160 Maybe even to Anthony Kennedy, who Kavanaugh is set to replace.

00:15:04.620 This fella, Kavanaugh, looks pretty serious, though.

00:15:07.880 It looks like he's pretty ideologically firm.

00:15:10.540 Is that a general phenomenon, that judges move to the left over time and they become Washington-ified?

00:15:18.780 What's your take on this guy's constancy?

00:15:23.040 Well, it certainly has been a phenomenon in the past.

00:15:27.120 Whether that continues, maybe in some doubt, the Republicans have gotten their act together and used a conservative legal organization, the Federalist Society, to vet their nominees.

00:15:37.720 In fact, that's how Donald Trump secured the support of many conservatives in the Republican primary in 2016, was by striking a deal with the Federalist Society to appoint judges on their recommendation.

00:15:49.300 And the Federalist Society has compiled this list of judges with the idea that these are the kind of people who would not become a Justice David Souter, who would not swing toward the middle like Justice Anthony Kennedy.

00:16:05.040 These are people whose commitment to conservative legal principles is not in doubt.

00:16:09.660 And so while the court does tend to pull justices in a leftward direction, the purpose of this list, compiled by Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society, is to make sure that doesn't happen.

00:16:20.000 So there's more confidence now that whoever Trump picks will remain a conservative jurist for decades and not do as others have done and become more liberal as time goes by.

00:16:33.120 Yeah. And even if they do, of course, you can't put that on Trump. I mean, Trump is the person who chooses them.

00:16:38.520 It is remarkable. I mean, Trump has many things in his varied career that give him firsthand experience.

00:16:46.980 But choosing judges is not one of them. For him to trust the Federalist Society, such a conservative group, is actually a bit of a miracle.

00:16:55.260 Let me put a thesis to you and you tell me if you agree. I put it to you, Joel, that Donald Trump's two Supreme Court picks and many of his other lower court picks, and there's been a great number, have actually been more conservative than the judicial picks by George W. Bush or any that would likely have happened under John McCain or Mitt Romney, let alone Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush.

00:17:21.620 I guess what I'm saying is because of this interesting deal with the Federalist Society, Trump's picks are more conservative than any president since Reagan.

00:17:32.740 Yes, that's true. I think that Reagan certainly hit home runs with Scalia and with Sandra Day O'Connor, although she was a little bit more to the left. 0.86

00:17:43.120 And Trump's exceeding that. I mean, Reagan also picked Kennedy, who became the swing vote and really on the liberal side of the spectrum on social issues.

00:17:49.600 So Trump has been able to pick more conservative judges than Reagan has done.

00:17:55.700 And he's had a sweeping impact on the federal judiciary beyond the Supreme Court, also at the appellate level, at the district court level.

00:18:01.780 So we're going to be feeling the effects of the Trump nominees for quite some time.

00:18:05.620 It's a reminder that what was at stake in 2016 was so much greater than the politics and policies of the moment,

00:18:11.760 that that that victory in 2016 is going to resonate for generations, potentially, in the American political system,

00:18:19.580 because those Trump appointees are going to be there for life.

00:18:23.480 And in many cases, that's three or four decades.

00:18:25.860 So it's really an achievement and not just the depth of conservative ideological thought on the bench,

00:18:35.580 but the sheer number of judges he's appointed.

00:18:38.460 Yeah. You know, Trump is in his early 70s.

00:18:42.400 He will probably be with us for another 15 years, let's say.

00:18:45.980 But these judges, I mean, this judge, Kavanaugh is in his early 50s.

00:18:50.940 Another one of the contenders, Amy Barrett, I think is her name, is 46. 0.98

00:18:54.420 These are people who could theoretically be on the bench past the year 2050.

00:18:59.520 So it's it's an incredibly important thing.

00:19:01.680 I can't help but think, Joel, and I bet you do, too.

00:19:04.060 Imagine if Hillary Clinton were the president. 1.00

00:19:07.300 Imagine the appointees we would be seeing now.

00:19:09.980 And the exact opposite, the the politicization, the alt-left control of the judiciary would be complete.

00:19:17.580 It's it's amazing how close things came to that, isn't it?

00:19:20.580 I mean, imagine if Hillary was president. 1.00

00:19:22.520 What kind of names would we be looking at now?

00:19:24.600 Well, aside from thinking about names, I mean, they simply would have made sure that the judges that a Clinton administration would have appointed would have reshaped constitutional interpretation, perhaps irreversibly.

00:19:37.960 The United States would have ceased to be unique.

00:19:40.000 Our Constitution would have ceased to be a unique foundation.

00:19:43.620 We would have basically gravitated toward the democratic socialism of Europe.

00:19:49.380 We would have abandoned many of our liberties, many of our principles.

00:19:53.740 The Second Amendment would have been in danger.

00:19:55.780 The separation of powers would have faded in favor of executive control.

00:19:59.620 So there's all sorts of things that we avoided as well as gained by voting for Donald Trump in 2016.

00:20:06.760 Yeah, the Second Amendment, I put it to you, Joel.

00:20:08.540 The First Amendment would be at risk also.

00:20:10.260 I see the ACLU is basically walking away from the defense of free speech.

00:20:15.080 I think that would be accelerated by Hillary Clinton. 0.98

00:20:17.980 Thank God that didn't happen.

00:20:18.920 I want to ask you about Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

00:20:21.040 She's now 85.

00:20:22.820 And I just, in an earlier segment, played a clip of her, some of her most partisan anti-Trump comments.

00:20:29.420 I think she really left behind the dignity of the court and engaged in partisan snipes at Trump. 0.95

00:20:36.260 Even if he would have lost, it would have been inappropriate, I think.

00:20:39.860 She's hanging on with her fingernails.

00:20:41.660 She doesn't want to give up her seat.

00:20:44.500 That's a quirk of the American system that the appointments are to life, not to 75 or some predetermined age.

00:20:51.960 Do you think it's likely that she will, in fact, retire under Trump's presidency and he will make a third appointment?

00:20:58.400 Well, the conventional wisdom is she's only leaving the Supreme Court feet first, as they say. 0.59

00:21:06.920 We wish her the best, long life, and so forth.

00:21:09.180 But certainly it's a dilemma for conservatives who are not seeing many other opportunities.

00:21:14.140 Breyer is the other one.

00:21:15.620 Stephen Breyer determined to hold on.

00:21:17.580 And they're under a lot of pressure from the left to stay in those seats as long as possible, at least for the next 18 months.

00:21:23.260 Remember that when Trump runs for re-election in 2020, Democrats will insist that he not be able to appoint the Supreme Court justice following on the rule that Mitch McConnell followed in blocking Merrick Garland from being appointed in 2016.

00:21:35.660 So unless she retires in the next 18 months, and I don't think she will, then I think Republicans are going to have to wait until a second Donald Trump term to see any change on the court that would shift it in a 6-3 or even 7-2 conservative direction.

00:21:51.840 What could be interesting is to see the ideological splits that emerge within a conservative court.

00:21:56.920 There's no guarantee that all of the justices in a conservative majority will always think the same way.

00:22:02.440 So that could be another debate to have at a later time.

00:22:04.480 But as far as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer are concerned, they're going to be around for a while, as will Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, although they're much younger.

00:22:13.140 The four liberal justices are going to cling to those seats with everything they have.

00:22:18.060 That's the conventional wisdom.

00:22:19.580 Ginsburg is very old.

00:22:21.020 Breyer's almost 80.

00:22:21.980 They probably would prefer to enjoy their retirements, but they do care about their principles.

00:22:26.540 They want to be seen as heroes by their colleagues and friends.

00:22:31.160 So they're going to hang in there as long as they possibly can.

00:22:33.780 Yeah, I got two quick questions.

00:22:34.940 I know you got to run, Joel, but let me ask you, is there a way, I mean, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I don't know about her mental health.

00:22:42.760 I know that she's, there's pictures of her falling asleep at public events.

00:22:47.020 I hope she's not falling asleep while she's hearing cases.

00:22:49.600 Is there a mechanism by which a judge could be taken from the bench if she is not physically and mentally has the capacity?

00:22:57.720 I mean, you want judges to be sharp.

00:22:59.540 And I'm not saying that you can't be sharp at 85.

00:23:03.780 And you don't even have to be as sharp as you were at 55 if you're still a brilliant judge.

00:23:08.700 But is there some mechanism?

00:23:10.140 I mean, in Canada, we have senators appointed to age 75, and there were some senators who were literally infirm, and their nurses were voting for them.

00:23:21.120 Is there some mechanism that if these judges deteriorate, that they could be pulled out of the court just because they're not well?

00:23:30.080 Not really.

00:23:34.040 Constitutionally, they can stay in for life.

00:23:36.760 And that's just true of the federal bench, by the way.

00:23:39.140 There are states that have some limits.

00:23:42.400 But look, it's going to be especially hard to remove justices on the Supreme Court where there are eight other justices who presumably could fill in and do the job.

00:23:52.140 So it's an interesting question.

00:23:54.280 I think there are mechanisms to impeach a judge, but whether to remove them for infirmity, I don't think that's something that's likely to happen.

00:24:03.920 It's not a question I believe we've faced in recent memory.

00:24:06.600 Most judges would simply be encouraged to retire.

00:24:09.300 But you ask a good question, and we may be debating that fairly soon.

00:24:13.100 One last question, and thanks for your time.

00:24:15.100 I know you've got to run.

00:24:15.660 I think that one of the heroes of conservative court appointments, one of the heroes of all time is Justice Clarence Thomas, who was nominated and put through what he called a high-tech lynching.

00:24:29.280 It was so clearly a smear attempt because to appoint a black Republican would break the logjam.

00:24:37.420 He's been so consistently conservative, and he's been so maligned by the left.

00:24:42.000 But I think he kept the flame going.

00:24:44.200 Give me a—I mean, I was just looking at the judges on the bench.

00:24:47.920 Give me a few words before you go on Justice Clarence Thomas.

00:24:52.540 Well, he remains one of the conservative standard-bearers on the Supreme Court and in America in general.

00:24:59.340 It looks like Brett Kavanaugh is actually quite close to Justice Thomas in terms of his own legal philosophy based on his judicial record.

00:25:05.620 There's an organization that actually measures the conservatism of judges, and I think Kavanaugh is actually second only to Thomas in the whole federal judiciary.

00:25:13.240 So Thomas has continued to have a strong impact.

00:25:16.680 He's openly opposed to Roe v. Wade, the decision that granted a federal right to an abortion.

00:25:23.000 So he's very, very important.

00:25:25.580 He's very sharp.

00:25:26.740 His decisions are powerful.

00:25:29.760 He will be there for a while still.

00:25:31.720 No one expects him to retire soon, but should he do so under a Trump presidency, he would probably be replaced by someone just as conservative.

00:25:39.620 Well, Joel, it's great to talk to you.

00:25:41.100 It's very exciting to watch the American process of selecting judges, and as a Canadian who has to abide by the unilateral appointments done by our prime minister in secret,

00:25:53.180 I've got to say we're a little bit jealous of your process and the checks and balances, and that's one of the reasons why America is such a strong country.

00:26:00.420 So thanks for joining us today to talk about it.

00:26:02.120 Thank you.

00:26:02.660 All right.

00:26:03.060 There you have it.

00:26:04.060 Joel Pollack is the senior editor-at-large at Breitbart.com, and he joins us via Skype.

00:26:10.200 Stay with us.

00:26:10.800 More ahead on The Rebel.

00:26:11.540 We'll be right back.

00:26:41.540 That is a song by Shakira, a Latin American dancing and singing sensation, but the dancer there was a Persian girl in Iran, a teenager named Maedeh Hojabari.

00:27:03.420 If I'm pronouncing her name correctly, she's a bit of a star on Instagram.

00:27:07.700 It would be unremarkable in America where thousands, hundreds, millions of young girls take selfies, and in this case, a little dancing selfie video. 0.98

00:27:19.020 But in Iran, that's against the law, and Maedeh has been arrested and forced to make a confession.

00:27:27.840 Joining us now via Skype from Washington, D.C., is an Iranian democracy activist we've spoken to on several occasions, Erika Kassreyi.

00:27:37.740 Welcome back to the show, Erika.

00:27:40.820 Well, thank you for having me, and thank you for keeping the Iranian people in the news.

00:27:46.060 Well, it's—

00:27:46.940 We're grateful.

00:27:47.200 You know, we're happy to do it because we cover the news.

00:27:50.220 We care about Iranian democracy for Persian people.

00:27:54.440 And what's interesting about this is that young lady there, I mean, she puts a real human face—a teenager dancing and having some fun in her own bedroom, a little bit of belly dancing or whatever. 0.99

00:28:05.940 She sings her own songs.

00:28:07.080 She sounds so relatable, I think, to people in the West.

00:28:10.060 Tell me what happened, if I'm pronouncing her name right, to Maedeh.

00:28:13.820 What did the government do to her?

00:28:17.080 Well, unfortunately, this is how the Islamic justice system deals with the youth. 0.99

00:28:23.060 Well, with anyone who, you know, goes against Islamic law, a Sharia law.

00:28:29.160 So, let me start by saying that the youth are online, and this is the only place where they're able to be self-expressive.

00:28:40.340 Instagram and Telegram are two of the major platforms that young Iranians are using today to communicate with each other and to communicate with the outside world.

00:28:49.780 Because, as you know, in the streets, they have to be covered.

00:28:52.540 Women have to be covered. 1.00

00:28:54.120 Their hair has to be covered.

00:28:55.380 Their body has to be covered.

00:28:56.540 So, Maedeh is an Instagram, I guess you can say, kind of star.

00:29:02.760 She is a gymnast and a dancer, and she used a software called Musical.ly to dance and make videos of herself dancing in her bedroom to be self-expressive.

00:29:14.820 And the regime has been cracking down on, you know, young people who seem to be getting a lot of traction and have a lot of followers.

00:29:26.460 If you go to her IG page, she has almost, I think it's 600,000 followers.

00:29:32.900 So, they arrested her, and they forced her into a confession.

00:29:41.060 I don't know if you have a clip of that.

00:29:43.020 Yeah, I think we do.

00:29:43.820 It's in Persian, but she basically is forced to self-denounce.

00:29:47.840 Let's see if we can play that in the background.

00:29:49.680 Essentially, what she's saying is that some musicians gave us money so that we would, you know, dance.

00:30:10.060 You know, we would dance, and to promote their songs, we would dance.

00:30:16.820 Actually, she was arrested along with two other young ladies who created these Musical.ly videos. 0.87

00:30:22.720 And they wanted us to promote their songs and their videos by dancing to them.

00:30:27.920 I mean, in the West, that's completely normal.

00:30:30.120 That's what gets me about this, Erica.

00:30:32.040 I don't think this young girl, she's just a teenager, I don't think she said a political word.

00:30:37.040 I don't think, I mean, I went through her Instagram.

00:30:39.540 Not at all.

00:30:40.460 Not one single political iota of politics was in her videos.

00:30:45.120 This is just a young girl doing what young kids do and expressing the passion of dancing and music. 0.97

00:30:52.340 I mean, this is ridiculous.

00:30:53.760 You know, in the West, we have this show on HBO called A Handmaid's Tale. 0.93

00:30:59.380 And people who wear very restrictive clothing are the symbols of the misogyny of the Republic of Gilead.

00:31:09.200 And that's a real meme in women's rights activism in America. 0.99

00:31:14.800 But taking a beautiful young teenage girl who's doing nothing wrong, who's not being obscene.

00:31:19.840 I mean, she shows her tummy in some of her belly dancing videos. 1.00

00:31:23.000 That's about it.

00:31:23.760 And arresting her, seizing her, making her do a forced, tearful confession, that is the handmaid's tale in real life.

00:31:33.880 Erica, has this, has any leading figure in the West, any leading politician, any leading celebrity, any leading musician stood up for Maede?

00:31:42.700 No, as a matter of fact, I think that the reason for that is because mainstream media is just not giving enough attention to cases like Maede.

00:31:54.620 Because we don't we don't have I don't think we really have journalists who are able to not only, you know, sort of cover the social media platforms and read Farsi or be able to really understand what's going on.

00:32:10.180 And I think there should be a great shift in that.

00:32:11.980 I mean, I would love to see women's rights activists coming forward and standing up for the women of the Middle East.

00:32:19.140 I mean, frankly, right now, there's been a backlash.

00:32:22.520 You're seeing this great unity among women in Iran, greater unity among women because of cases like Maede and others who've been arrested.

00:32:33.380 I mean, Maede was was sentenced to four years in prison and 80 lashes for dancing.

00:32:38.720 Oh, my God.

00:32:39.740 I mean, it wasn't just the confession prison and no, oh, my four years prison sentence and 80 lashes.

00:32:47.240 This is how the Islamic justice system deals.

00:32:49.820 Was there a reprieve or has the sentence been carried out?

00:32:52.480 I don't I don't have I don't have any information on that.

00:32:58.220 I think the case is still sort of.

00:33:00.400 Yeah.

00:33:01.120 Oh, yeah.

00:33:01.660 It's pretty unbelievable.

00:33:03.080 You know what?

00:33:03.700 I that's that's such an outrage.

00:33:05.700 I want to I want to talk about one other young lady and I'm going to try and pronounce her name right. 1.00

00:33:10.460 You correct me if I'm wrong.

00:33:12.240 Shaparak Shazari Zadeh.

00:33:14.240 She was a little more political. 0.85

00:33:16.200 I think I don't think she's a teenager.

00:33:17.920 I think we've got an image of her taking off her hijab and waving it around.

00:33:23.400 So this is not a teenager in her bedroom dancing to Shakira's songs.

00:33:28.260 This is a young woman on the street holding up her hijab on a stick, showing her hair.

00:33:35.140 Oh, my God.

00:33:35.960 Like you can see she's not obscene in any way.

00:33:39.060 She's just showing her hair, which was lawful in Iran until the Ayatollah's revolution.

00:33:44.680 Tell me what's happened to her.

00:33:46.180 She was grabbed by the religious cops, prosecuted, sentenced, convicted, et cetera, too.

00:33:51.560 Tell me what happened to Shaparak.

00:33:54.660 So Shaparak is one of many women who've been arrested for waving their hijab in public because of a campaign called White Wednesdays. 1.00

00:34:08.180 And on every Wednesday, a woman will go into the street, remove a white hair headscarf and wave it in public, in public defiance of forced hijab. 1.00

00:34:20.380 As you know, in an Islamic country, under Sharia law, a woman is to cover her hair as to not arouse the eyes of a man that is not her husband.

00:34:29.560 And Shaparak was one of the women who was arrested on Revolutionary Street in Tehran for doing that.

00:34:39.620 She was sentenced to 20 years in prison for this act.

00:34:43.640 20 years in prison.

00:34:44.760 20 years.

00:34:45.740 Murderers or less.

00:34:46.160 Murderers or less.

00:34:46.880 Correct.

00:34:48.080 And she was to serve two years of that sentence and then be on probation for 18 years.

00:34:53.500 So we do know that Shaparak has left the country before she was arraigned.

00:35:00.260 She's escaped.

00:35:01.360 We don't know exactly of her whereabouts, but she's posted a video online right now that's circulating, basically saying that she's left the country because she feared for her life.

00:35:10.540 Now, mind you, she was arrested with her two-year-old son when she was arrested.

00:35:17.140 So, yeah, there's absolutely zero mercy in this regime.

00:35:21.080 I think I hear we have a copy of her video.

00:35:24.080 I'm not sure what language is it.

00:35:25.260 Let's put that up just for a second.

00:35:26.440 No, actually, I think she's, we have subtitles for this one.

00:35:30.040 Okay, let's take a quick look at her video that she posted upon fleeing the country.

00:35:33.760 Okay, let's take a quick look at her video.

00:36:03.760 Okay, let's take a quick look at her video.

00:36:05.760 Okay, let's take a quick look at her video.

00:36:10.760 Unbelievable.

00:36:11.760 And her lawyer was arrested.

00:36:26.400 I mean, Nassim Soutoude is a very well-known lawyer who defends the rights of many women.

00:36:39.180 And Nassim Soutoude was arrested because of her willingness to support and to defend the cases of women like Ms. Schaapare.

00:36:49.860 Well, let me ask you a question.

00:36:51.840 I mean, there's a lot of groups from Amnesty International, very well-known, Reporters Without Borders, Penn International.

00:37:03.220 These are people on sort of the journalistic side.

00:37:06.240 I don't know if my, or I don't know if the journalists, but Amnesty would certainly apply.

00:37:10.580 There's other free speech and human rights groups, international women's groups.

00:37:17.060 Can you tell me if any of these NGOs have said anything in public?

00:37:21.940 Because I feel like these cases are so egregious.

00:37:25.720 Are there any allies in the West?

00:37:27.940 I know that Amnesty has, and I believe Human Rights Watch has, but I'm not aware of any other NGOs right now that have made any public statements.

00:37:37.920 Unfortunately, it's very hard to confirm, you know, the facts because obviously, as you know, there's no free speech.

00:37:49.200 There's no credible journalism inside the country.

00:37:52.200 So a lot of the information that's coming out is coming out through social media and, you know, sources that are inside the country that are not, you know, actual reporters.

00:38:02.280 Let me ask you one last question, and I don't want to be partisan because this is a nonpartisan issue.

00:38:07.540 Whether you're on the left or on the right, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a liberal, we can all stand behind the Democratic activists.

00:38:16.980 And I'm sure they're on the spectrum, too, from socialist to conservative, too.

00:38:21.980 But let me ask about Donald Trump, not because he's a Republican, but because he's the president of the United States.

00:38:27.580 And he has criticized Iran in various ways, including on the nuclear deal.

00:38:32.280 Do you see any indication that under Donald Trump, the United States is more seized with the issue of democracy and this democratic rebellion in Iran?

00:38:43.200 Has there been any activity from the State Department that would give you hope?

00:38:50.240 Well, let me say this again.

00:38:52.140 I know I've said this to you before on your show.

00:38:55.160 The people of Iran love Donald Trump.

00:38:58.760 I mean, I have been watching, you know, Iran for almost a decade.

00:39:02.600 And, you know, profiling these various social media websites.

00:39:08.340 You know, I think that a lot of the empowerment and the activities, the protest movements that you're seeing today is an actual direct result of the words of Donald Trump supporting and empowering the Iranian people.

00:39:22.240 I'm startled to hear that.

00:39:24.420 Why?

00:39:25.220 You helped me understand it.

00:39:26.200 Well, there's a there's a hashtag.

00:39:27.940 There's a hashtag storm.

00:39:29.260 We love you, Donald Trump.

00:39:30.640 We love you, Trump.

00:39:31.560 Thank you, Mr. Trump, because they see him as the first president that's been able to stand up to this regime, that he's not backing down.

00:39:40.820 And so, you know, it's it's it's not propaganda for sure.

00:39:46.840 It's not propaganda.

00:39:47.680 I can tell you that that the people of Iran are looking to the United States as the you know, as the beacon of freedom to pave the way.

00:39:59.400 And I know that that the policy of the United States right now is not for regime change.

00:40:05.540 But I know that because of the words of Secretary Pompeo and Donald Trump, whether it's their tweeting, whether it's their interviews, you know, they're they're not addressing the regime.

00:40:17.520 They're addressing the people and encouraging and empowering them.

00:40:20.080 And I, you know, I would say that I would I would caution I would caution any policymaker, you know, that wants to take a particular position.

00:40:31.520 But I think that when you know, when you are speaking directly to the Iranian people, encouraging them, that speaks louder than words.

00:40:40.100 Well, that's amazing.

00:40:40.760 I had no idea.

00:40:42.100 I had no idea that that was going on on a grassroots basis.

00:40:45.560 And it gives me a flicker of hope.

00:40:47.400 And I hope that the cases of especially of Moada, who is such an innocent young girl who has nothing to do with politics, to be arrested, tried convicted sentence for dancing, forced to make a tearful televised apology.

00:41:03.080 I find that so shocking.

00:41:04.760 And if there's any genuine, authentic love for freedom and human rights in the expressive communities in Hollywood, in New York, in London, I hope that that pricks them to action.

00:41:18.040 And we'll do our small part and spread the word about this.

00:41:21.080 Eric, it's a pleasure to talk with you.

00:41:22.680 I hope that we can talk again soon.

00:41:23.560 Thank you, Ezra.

00:41:24.000 I appreciate you having on your show again.

00:41:26.100 I just want to remind everyone who's listening and watching to take your freedom very seriously.

00:41:32.800 There are people living in the world that wish they could live in your shoes.

00:41:36.640 So especially women, women who just don't have any idea what a privilege it is to live in a free and a democratic society. 1.00

00:41:45.880 Well said.

00:41:46.740 And I wish every woman in the West would take that to heart.

00:41:50.900 And I'm so grateful that you are fighting for the women of Iran and other places.

00:41:55.000 Thank you, Erica.

00:41:57.240 Thank you, sir.

00:41:58.060 All right.

00:41:59.140 Well, that's Erica Kasrayi, an Iran democracy activist who joined us via Skype from Washington, D.C.

00:42:06.760 Very interesting, very troubling stories, but also a glimmer of hope behind it all.

00:42:11.740 Stay with us.

00:42:12.800 More ahead on The Rebel.

00:42:13.560 Hey, welcome back on my monologue yesterday about Trubo's grope gate.

00:42:29.140 Tammy writes,

00:42:30.560 The Liberal Party of Canada has a serious sexual misconduct problem.

00:42:34.140 As leader, he needs to face the consequences.

00:42:36.520 It was only five months ago when he gave CBC that interview when he confirmed the rules apply to him as well.

00:42:40.940 No expiration date on bad behavior.

00:42:42.840 You're so right.

00:42:44.280 And, you know, I was thinking he was in Calgary for the Stampede the other day.

00:42:47.460 And there's two liberal MPs from Calgary.

00:42:49.400 One is named Darshan Kang and the other is named Kent Hare.

00:42:53.420 And both of them were ejected for sexual misconduct.

00:42:57.900 Darshan Kang is out of the party and Kent Hare is out of cabinet and there's Trudeau.

00:43:02.780 What a mess.

00:43:04.340 What a mess.

00:43:05.160 But if Darshan Kang is kicked out of caucus and Kent Hare is kicked out of cabinet, why is Justin Trudeau?

00:43:11.080 I mean, let me say this about Kent Hare.

00:43:13.000 It's a little uncomfortable to say, but he's quadriplegic. 0.96

00:43:15.580 He can't just grab a reporter's tush like Trudeau did. 0.83

00:43:19.540 Why is Kent Hare kicked out for some lascivious words? 0.98

00:43:23.840 Trudeau gets to stay in after he's grabbing everyone's tush.

00:43:26.740 Liza writes, if it was nothing, why doesn't Justin just tell us where he put his hand?

00:43:33.520 Well, exactly right.

00:43:34.400 He's just talking about his perspective and her perspective and everyone gets their own perspective.

00:43:39.640 No, no.

00:43:40.160 Only one thing actually happened and he has yet to describe it.

00:43:45.060 Paula writes, in all my years I've never seen such a sleazy politician. 0.61

00:43:48.920 I don't think his old man was as corrupt and slimy, but I could be wrong.

00:43:51.860 In any event, this would be a good time to pressure Trudeau into stepping down or at least call another election.

00:43:56.380 Call an election.

00:43:57.160 Either way, Trudeau has to go.

00:43:59.960 Well, Pierre Trudeau was just as slimy, I can tell you that.

00:44:04.000 He was absolutely unfaithful to his wife, Margaret.

00:44:07.340 And I know this sounds shocking to say it, but it's on the public record.

00:44:12.160 He physically beat her so badly he gave her a black eye.

00:44:15.840 She was no role model either, too.

00:44:19.320 And I don't want to get into that.

00:44:20.920 We'll do a show on it one day.

00:44:22.860 But Trudeau Sr. was awful.

00:44:25.340 And sometimes I think about the kind of role models that Justin Trudeau had for what a mom is like and what a dad is like.

00:44:31.480 And I think it's a shock that he's as normal as he is.

00:44:34.840 But I don't think he's as normal as he presents.

00:44:37.320 I actually think he's a lifelong groper.

00:44:41.300 I'm not going to use the word predator necessarily because I don't think it's...

00:44:44.660 I don't think because of his good looks and his money and his last name, I don't think he has to be like a Gian Gomeschi.

00:44:50.460 I don't think he smashes women in the face like his friend Gian Gomeschi did.

00:44:54.480 I think he just assumes that every woman is going to fall for him because he's handsome, he's rich, and he has a famous last name.

00:45:02.140 And everyone always has, bent the knee to the Trudeaus. 1.00

00:45:05.180 So I don't think he's a beater like Gian Gomeschi, his friend. 0.98

00:45:10.240 I don't think he's a Harvey Weinstein who's a rapist. 0.89

00:45:13.400 But I think that Justin Trudeau just assumed every woman would like to be touched by him.

00:45:19.980 And some would want a lot more than that.

00:45:23.480 I think his whole feminist shtick is just that.

00:45:27.120 I think it's a preemptive cover to distract and dissuade people from looking at him for who he is.

00:45:33.140 The same reason Gian Gomeschi got that women's studies degree. 0.84

00:45:36.320 We'll see. We'll see.

00:45:37.940 I see rumors online that the CBC is sitting on at least two other stories of a similar vein.

00:45:42.820 They're the state broadcaster. They're not going to lead with it.

00:45:45.080 The CBC was one of the last journalistic media in Canada to run with this grope story. 0.82

00:45:50.360 Look, they get paid by Trudeau. They're not going to bite the hand that feeds them.

00:45:54.080 That's it for the show today.

00:45:55.980 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, good night.

00:45:59.860 And keep fighting for freedom.

00:46:03.140 We'll see you next time.

Rebel News Podcast - July 11, 2018

I'm jealous： Americans get to debate the SCOTUS pick — Why don't Canadians？

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