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Supreme Court starts term with PIVOTAL cases · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: And a Fox News alert, it's the first Monday in October.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: So that means the U.S. Supreme Court is set to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: kick off a new term. At any moment, Chief Justice
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: John Roberts will call the court into public session with
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: a wide range of very consequential cases on the docket
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: this fall. Good morning. I'm Dana Perino. Good morning again.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: How you doing? I'm Bill Hemmer. Good morning at home.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: How was the weekend?
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: How would you rate it?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: One to ten. Eleven. Wow.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Very good.
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: Wow. Okay.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: A mix of work and pleasure and exercise and dog.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: A lot of dog time.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: That's a win. I mean, you give me a Bengals win,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: I'd probably put it 11 too, but there it is.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: So you got immigration America, you got religious liberty, you
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: got gun rights, and you got executive power.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Is that all?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: That's it. Among the many hot button issues landing before
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: the justices this term. And it comes as the court
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: faces public and political concerns over some recent rulings. the
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  Speaker 2: justices' personal safety and even the court's future makeup.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: John Yoo is a former law clerk for Justice Commons,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and he is going to join us in a moment.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: First, though, David Spunt sets the table live at the
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Supreme Court. David, hello to you. Good morning.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Good to be with you both as we kick off
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: this new fall term here at the United States Supreme Court.
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  Speaker 3: The first case the justices will hear behind me any
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: moment now is related to climate change and whether federal
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: law trumps local state lawsuits. This is states that want
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: to sue... gas companies and they believe that those gas
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: companies should be held accountable specifically for some of the
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: effects of the climate change crisis that we are seeing,
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: whether it comes to wildfire rebuilding or other climate change
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: related events. Oil and gas companies, Bill and Dana, want
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: those cases to be heard in federal court where traditionally
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: judges have ruled in favor of the companies instead of
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: state court where the states want those cases to be heard.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: The Trump administration is backing the oil and gas companies
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: in this case. Justice Samuel Alito, we've heard about him
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: recently lately, has recused himself in this specific case after
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: critics cited his stock holdings in oil and gas companies,
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  Speaker 3: arguing he has a personal interest in the outcome of
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: the court case. Speaking of Justice Alito, as I just mentioned,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: he sat down recently with Fox News Sunday anchor and
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream to discuss a new book
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: out tomorrow. He was asked about the now infamous leak
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: to the Politico story about the Dobbs decision several months
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: before a majority of the justices overruled a constitutional right
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: to abortion.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Watch.
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: That was totally unprecedented in the history of the country.
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: It was a grave breach of the trust that everybody
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: who worked in this building had before that point.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Do you have an opinion about who you think.
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: The leaker was? I do have an opinion, but the
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: evidence available at this time is not strong enough for
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  Speaker 5: the court or for me to say this is the
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: person who was responsible.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: And it's been over four years and we still don't
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: know who that person or people was involved in that leak.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: In addition to those cases, like you mentioned, gun rights,
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: religious liberty and voting rights, we're also going to see
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: challenges to some of the president's executive orders or some
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: of his wish list items like the new White House
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: ballroom or the Trump arch that is going in Washington, D.C. Also,
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: some election-related claims that could come shortly before or after
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: the midterms, which could clog up the docket here at
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: the Supreme Court behind me. Bill Dana.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Thank you, David. Way to set the table. David Spunt,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Supreme Court.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: Thanks.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: And more on this. John Hughes, former Deputy Assistant Attorney
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: General and former Justice Thomas law clerk. There's a lot happening.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Of course, we have the midterms, and there's a lot
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: of these cases regarding mail-in ballots and redistricting. But there's
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: some even bigger things on the table longer term. So
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I'm going to put up this key cases on the
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: docket for everyone to see, including whether oil and gas
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: companies are liable for climate change harms. We have a
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: religious liberty, gun rights and voting rights, including efforts to
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. Up
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: today is this case that some people might think just
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: seems very small. It's out of Boulder, Colorado, asking whether
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: oil and gas companies can be held liable for climate change.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Why does that matter so significantly to our national conversation?
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  Speaker 4: Dana, you've got it exactly right there. There's a bunch
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  Speaker 4: of cases this term, but the most important one is
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  Speaker 4: the one this morning between Boulder and these other cities
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  Speaker 4: and counties which are suing the energy companies claiming they're
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  Speaker 4: responsible for the harms of climate change. This goes to
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  Speaker 4: the very purpose of why the framers created this Constitution,
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  Speaker 4: rather than keeping the old one, which was seen as
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: too weak, and why they created a Supreme Court. Because
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  Speaker 4: what the Constitution tried to do was wield a national
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  Speaker 4: government which would be responsible for things that affect the
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  Speaker 4: country as a whole. And one of those has got
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: to be climate change. Most of the activity of climate
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: change doesn't occur in the United States. It happens worldwide.
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: How we as a nation are going to organize our
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  Speaker 4: oil and gas industry and how we're going to relate
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  Speaker 4: with other countries to solve this problem is particularly national. Second,
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  Speaker 4: it's a national security problem. We are at war. We
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: are in war right now with Iran. We have won
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: that battle conventionally. Their only defense is to try to
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: raise gas prices in the United States. The idea that
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: cities and states could interfere with the national security and
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  Speaker 4: foreign policy and internal market in the United States is
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: something the framers would have rejected. That's why they created
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: the Constitution and a Supreme Court to sit there and
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  Speaker 4: to police the states so they don't use their legitimate
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  Speaker 4: power over what happens in their territories to interfere with
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  Speaker 4: issues that are set for national resolution.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Big cases, too. The energy is one of them. That
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: gun issue is a big deal. U.S. citizenship required to vote. OK,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: it's all right there. Shannon ran the gamut with Justice Alito.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: We heard a soundbite a moment ago. Here he is
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: answering the question as to those who want to expand
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: the court in terms of numbers.
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  Speaker 5: There has been a concerted effort to intimidate the court.
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  Speaker 5: I am concerned about the future of the court. I
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  Speaker 5: think it's an important institution. It has not. always done
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: the right thing. But I think on the whole, it
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: has been fundamental in protecting our constitutional structure and the
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: rights that all Americans enjoy.
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  Speaker 2: How much of the conversation between them do you think
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: centers on that possibility of going from 9 to 13
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  Speaker 2: or not?
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  Speaker 4: Bill, it's a good point. And this is also something
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: our founders were very worried about. Alexander Hamilton mentioned this
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: in the Federalist Papers. that temporary majorities always want something,
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: whether it's to get a climate change or they want
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: abortion or they want whatever rights or policies. And sometimes
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: the Supreme Court and the law are going to stand
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: in their way and no one's there to defend the court.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: The framers said, you know, the executive branch, they have
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: the sword. The Congress has the purse. All the court
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: has is just their opinions. They have to persuade people
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: their reading of the law is right, and often they
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: have to stand in front of majorities and say, slow
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: down or even stop. That's what you're seeing here today.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: What worries me is not just the independence of the courts,
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: which is under extraordinary threat with an attempted assassination of
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: Justice Kavanaugh, with the leak of the Dobbs opinion, and
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: now an entire political party almost unanimously saying they're going
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: to manipulate the size of the court to get the results.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: What also worries me is that you have a political
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: party that's determined to do this. Even FDR tried this
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  Speaker 4: at the height of his powers, and his own party
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: stopped him. I don't see a restraint like that in
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: the Democratic Party now.
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  Speaker 1: There was so much out of those interviews over the weekend.
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  Speaker 1: We could keep going, but John, you thank you for
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: kicking us off on our 10 o'clock hour.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: Thank you, John.