Analysis: Pres. Trump Makes Additions to SCOTUS Shortlist

Today on Jay Sekulow Live, in a breaking news, President Trump expands his list of potential Supreme Court nominees and he calls on Joe Biden to do the same thing so the American people know. We'll talk about that and more today on Jay Sekulow Live. Live from Washington, D.C., Jay Sekulow Live. Apart from matters of war and peace, the nomination of a Supreme Court justice is the most important decision an American President can make. Phone lines are open for your questions right now.

Call 1-800-684-3110. By the end of my first term, we will have confirmed a record number of federal judges, over 300, all of whom will faithfully uphold our Constitution as written. And now, your host, Jordan Sekulow. Welcome to Jay Sekulow Live.

This is Jordan Sekulow. So we are going to go through that list that broke yesterday afternoon. President Trump adding 20 additional names to his initial Supreme Court list of those who he would choose from if there is a Supreme Court vacancy during his term and if he is reelected, of course. So being very transparent, giving everybody, as we talked about, plenty of time to look at these names, to go through their backgrounds, and listen, he's not afraid of the other side having the time to go through their backgrounds as well, and he's also calling on Joe Biden to do the same. And by the way, there's liberal groups calling for that.

You know what, though? I think Joe Biden's campaign is saying, oh my, if we tried to do something like this, those names would end up being ads on their own because the people that they would pick would be so out of touch with the mainstream of the American people's thinking that you could literally probably run ads just about who he might pick to be on the Supreme Court if he put a list out like that. But President Trump's trying to start a new precedent that this isn't going to be a game of hide and seek when it comes to Supreme Court nominees. So notable new additions to this list, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, you know what he said immediately? He said, I would take it, and the first thing we need to do is overturn Roe versus Wade. This is a new world we're living in when it comes to potential Supreme Court nominees. Josh Hawley was offered.

He said that's not probably going to be his role. He's more of serving the public than in the judicial branch. You also have people on there like Paul Clement, James Ho from the Fifth Circuit. And don't forget, from the old list, there's people like Amy Barrett as well. That list still lives as well.

This is an addition. But if you want to know what Joe Biden's list is going to look like, if you want to know what it will look like, I just suggest between 8 and 11 o'clock at night, turn on over to MSNBC and CNN and see who the legal commentators are. I mean, seriously, that's his list. And there's former Solicitor General's on that, Neil Caddell. I mean, it's a stark difference of judicial philosophy that will become really self-evident if, in fact, he were to put forward a list.

I'm not so sure he will. The thing that I like, Jordan, the most about this list is it's not just judges. It's not just appellate judges. There are plenty of judges on there, Andy, but there's actually a district court. There's nine judges on there, of course, lawyers, which, by the way, under the Constitution, you don't have to be a lawyer to be on the Supreme Court. But there's even a district court judge, which I think would be a bit refreshing to have a sitting district court judge actually sitting on the Supreme Court in the United States that's actually tried a case.

Oh, I think it would be great because we have too many people who have not been in the courtroom as judges before juries presiding over jury trials and who actually sentence defendants in criminal cases, who actually preside over discovery disputes in civil cases, and who have the practical experience. I also noticed that he has indicated he is potentially going to appoint among those candidates Christopher Landau, who is the ambassador to Mexico. So they're not all necessarily practicing lawyers or incumbent judges on the courts. I also note Gregory Katzas, who happens to be a Greek American, I'm very proud of, who's on the DC Circuit, who was in executive counsel's office, who would be a very good appointee. Jordan, how big of an issue do you think it is politically? It's always a big issue to conservatives, especially when it comes down to getting out the vote. And so when it's this clear that these are the kind of people that Donald Trump will put on the Supreme Court when vacancies come up, and they certainly will if he's reelected, then it's a huge motivator to the base to get out and vote. And I think it's a great challenge to Joe Biden. Because as I said, if Joe Biden had to put this list out, watch out because you could run ads against Joe Biden with his list.

We'll be right back. Rick Renell, former acting director of national intelligence, will be joining us live. Special advisor to the ACLJ. You don't want to miss that as well. Go to ACLJ.org.

He's got a brand new piece up right now. ACLJ.org. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work.

Become a member today. ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, the Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Jay Sekio Live. Joining us as he does every couple times a week on Jay Sekio Live, Rick Rinnell, Special Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy and again former Acting Director of National Intelligence and US Ambassador to Germany is going to be joining us as you know. But if you're just kind of getting back into it with Labor Day, joining us every about twice a week on the radio broadcast live and he's also writing a piece for ACLJ.org exclusive for ACLJ.org each week as well.

He is a Special Advisor to the ACLJ for National Security and Foreign Policy. Rick, I want to talk about your new case. We just posted it at ACLJ.org and it's titled Antifa Targets Pro-Life Leader.

Tell people about this. Yeah, look, Jordan, thanks for really highlighting this. This is, you know, a situation that I think everybody needs to really look at, go to and see what happened. There was a pro-life leader, a young guy who has been doing remarkable work. Some of the listeners probably have seen his work. He's been painting murals all around cities on the ground that say baby lives matter. His name is Taylor Hansen and this is a very serious situation because he was out in Portland watching, trying to chronicle the Antifa rioters and somebody recognized him from Instagram, from his local celebrity of, you know, celebrity-ness, pushing this pro-life message in cities and they passed around his Instagram picture and lo and behold about four guys jumped him and beat him up.

And we've got exclusive pictures there that show what happened to Taylor. It's quite remarkable that in today's world someone who's doing such great work for trying to get the younger generation to recognize that abortion in the ninth month, for instance, is barbaric. And this is something that Taylor felt really compelled to do because he's watching Congress do these kind of born alive bills and he thought, you know, when I talk to my friends who are, you know, 20-something people, they don't go for this. They're not down with this.

They think that it's barbaric as well. And so I think that there's a whole new generation of people recognizing that we got to have some sort of limits on this. You know, Rick, I've said that, that this generation is, I think, the most pro-life generation in our lifetime. Part of it is their parents were pro-life.

Part of it is the medical technology has made it undeniable. The left can't argue that it's not a baby. But when you look at groups like Antifa, because that's in your article too, when you served as the acting director of national intelligence, I obviously don't want to disclose anything. These groups are really dangerous. And these are not social protest movements. This is not civil disobedience that you saw with Dr. King or in Operation Rescue in the pro-life movement. This is really anarchy.

Yeah, it's anarchy. And what I try to do in the piece is, you know, distinguish between the great American principle of protesting. And that's so unique to our country. When you don't like something, when you don't like a law, you're allowed to go out and assemble and protest against that.

And that's the whole idea of being an American. We have to protect that. And I know that conservatives and people in the middle and people on the left all want to protect that right.

But we also, in protecting that peaceful protest right, we have to be able to bifurcate the peaceful protests from the anarchy. And Antifa is really, they've crossed the line. They're out to beat people up. They're out to send a message of violence. They have been desecrating many of the federal buildings.

It's really out of control. And I know Bill Barr is focused on this, trying to figure out where they're getting their money because clearly they're getting their money from someplace. In your role previously as acting director of national intelligence, when you have a group like this that has sprouted up, but it's grown and it's grown in intensity in its organization, its capabilities to carry out these violent attacks, obviously, like you said, has a funding source. It has to be treated like a domestic terror organization.

These examples like what happened to this pro-life leader, Taylor Hansen, just because he was noticed, as you said, it was probably someone in the media that passed along this info to Antifa that he was there so that he was then beaten up. And that, yes, law enforcement needs to handle the on the ground, at the moment situation. But it seems like something needs to be done bigger, like you were talking about with Attorney General Barr, on a larger scale to shut this group down.

There's no question. I think we're looking at the funding and we're trying to figure that out. As you guys know, we're in this intense political atmosphere in this political circus of Washington, D.C., where everything is politicized. And I think that Americans have to understand that President Trump, he's absolutely outraged by what's happening in some of these cities. But we do have this philosophy in America that we're not going to make one size fits all rules from Washington, D.C. You know, what works in Seattle doesn't work in Tampa. And so we're the President. I've been in the Oval Office where he's really tried to figure out what's the balance here.

And these are difficult questions. But the balance is trying to allow mayors and governors to to localize these issues and to have a little local flavor. But clearly we have several mayors and governors who are failing to be able to keep people safe. I think if you're in Portland or Seattle and you're in the suburbs and you're watching your largest city kind of melt down, you're thinking, is it coming to me next? I think that is the thought right now. People are coming up to me and saying that. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, I'm sitting next to me in the studio, Rick, is Andy O'Connell, who's the senior counsel for the ACLJ, also has been a district attorney and a U.S. attorney. And I asked this to Andy.

And Andy, just quickly, because I got a question for Rick, but I want to parlay it off for what I'm going to ask you. Local law enforcement is also being overwhelmed right now. It's impossible for local law enforcement to handle the situation that we find ourselves in. Local law enforcement is working 24 hour shifts. I spoke to two police detectives in Washington, D.C., who say that they're working night and day trying to cover our nation's capital and to preserve and protect law and order. And out in the suburbs and in the rural areas, particularly, we are not able to handle the protests, the violence that is taking place and do the regular policing of the regular criminal activity, which, by the way, doesn't take a vacation from engaging in criminal activity during the times of these mob violence and protesters. So, Rick, when you look at the violence that Antifa and these groups are causing and, again, as the former acting director of national intelligence, how does this impact our national security? Because it does divert attention.

I mean, I've thought about this. You know, we fortunately under President Trump, he's really crushed these caliphates. He's really been and the Department of Justice and your office at DNI really focused on the terrorism. And we saw, I mean, a real drop in international terrorism affecting the United States. But boy, you know that there's still cells out there and they're looking at this as a and it doesn't it create a vulnerability point for these cities?

It's a great question because, you know, while we're focused on the caliphate, we're focused on Hezbollah, which is what I really tried to do in my short time. You've got to watch these domestic terrorists who are rising up and clearly they're trained. They're taking advantage of the political atmosphere. We've got the entire left that are pretending like they are just peaceful protesters. And it's excuse making, Jay. It's excuse making for this rise of Antifa. And then you've even got Congressman Jerry Nadler like Jerry Nadler saying, you know, well, this is this is all just smoke and mirrors.

It's not really real. Antifa doesn't really have these type of tactics. We see this and go to this piece on our site and look and see what kind of brutality these Antifa rioters are doing.

It's really outrageous. Great piece on Antifa. Great piece from Rick and now, by the way, Melanie on Facebook said, thank God Rick Grenell is on the team at the ACLJ. What an asset, which has been the overwhelming comments. Well, this is the cool thing about having Rick on the team because, Rick, the final question to you is it's not about the article. The articles of it at ACLJ.org. We'll share that on social media right when the broadcast is over.

And we always clip Rick's interviews too so you can share those as well, folks, with your friends and family. But I thought it was a big deal also internationally, Rick, that the Arab League, the Palestinians failed to get the Arab League to condemn the Israel UAE accord. I thought that was a huge deal diplomatically.

Huge, huge. Let me also make a little news here that what I'm hearing rumblings is that Donald Trump will be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for another issue that he worked on. And I hear that that's coming and it's going to be breaking soon.

So my fingers are crossed that that will actually happen. Yeah. No, these are both great results, Rick. We appreciate it. Can I jump in on one thing?

Yeah. Because you guys were talking about Supreme Court nominee, I'd like to have a Rick Grenell nominee of Patrick Boumeté, my friend Patrick. He would be an amazing, amazing Supreme Court judge. All right, first question the President's going to ask is how old is he? I think Patrick's like 42.

He's in the zone. Because if you're my age, forget it. You're done. All right. Exactly. It's a great list. I'm sure he'd be a great candidate. Let me tell you this.

It is a great list. And we're prepared if there's a vacancy. Who knows? I mean, it could be a year from now. It could be six months from now.

You never know. But thanks for telling us that, Rick. Yeah. And so folks, every time we've got Rick on, we clip this so you can share with your friends and family. And again, check out his new piece. It's up at ACLJ.org. And Tifa Targets Pro-Life Leader by Rick Grenell. Rick, it's always great to have you on the broadcast. Folks, when we come back, we'll get into this list a little bit deeper. Who's on it?

The potentials, the older list, two reminders from there, the new list as well. And take your phone calls. 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110 to talk to us on JCECO Live. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, the play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today. ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Jay Sekulow Live. This is Jordan Sekulow.

We are taking your phone calls 1-800-684-3110. I like to know how important the judges are to the audience. Yeah. I mean, so obviously in election year, the Supreme Court is usually very important to the base of both parties, especially the conservative voters. And what President Trump has tried to do, and I think even tried to expand on that and make it even more transparent is to say, here is the list. And now we've added 20 additional names to the list, not hiding the ball.

This is the kind of people, these are the people I will choose. Now, obviously he's not going to fill 20 seats, but this is the list that I will be working from. He's not hiding it from the media. He's not hiding it from you, the voter. So how important is it to you knowing that the next President of the United States is going to get a couple more at least.

And we know that. A couple more at least. 1-800-684-3110. If you want to talk to us on air, that's 1-800-684-3110. Can I say something about our Bald Beagle program that Logan and the team... Yeah. So we launched on Monday officially this, or Tuesday, I guess, Bald Beagle, which is a channel dedicated to teaching kids American history in a way that young kids can relate. I mean, you just saw the, some of you saw the promotion that we just did during the break if you're watching on our social media platforms. And the idea there, they're using puppetry, they're using all kinds of, the response has been really strong.

And what we're trying to do now is gauge how much we can actually produce. So when you support, if you go to baldbeagle.com and donate, by the way, it's an ACLJ donation is being targeted for the Bald Beagle project. Why do we call it Bald Beagle? You know, the Bald Eagle is the American, it's our American symbol. I had a dog when I was in law school named Bagel who was a Beagle.

So they kind of put that all together and came up with Bald Beagle. Kids love it. They tested it with kids.

You saw the promos. It's doing great. Support it. Just go over to baldbeagle.com and donate.

We had an email that went out yesterday on it and the pilots up, not the pilot, I guess the promos up there, you really should take a look at that and have your kids watch it too because it really, it's that engaging. And let me tell you something, you know who else is going to learn from this? All of us.

Because we're actually teach history why schools are trying to get rid of history. Go ahead, Jordan. Yeah. So again, this is, it's a great asset. Again, baldbeagle.com. You can check it out. And if you donate there, support there, make sure that we know then your donation's going to support that specifically. So they're going to begin production on these now, but you can kind of get also a taste of what it's like at the website at baldbeagle.com. I want to play this. This is from President Trump yesterday and is talking about his original list and adding to the list.

Fight 11. My original list of potential justices include many of our nation's brightest legal minds, such as Bill Pryor, Amy Coney Barrett and Thomas Hardeman, outstanding people like those distinguished individuals. The 20 additions I am announcing today would be jurists in the mold of justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. And I think that that's become the three, the, you know, the, you never exactly know how a nominee is going to be once they make it to the court. But what we've called on and we've been pretty aggressive about is we've taken that Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton kind of approach, which is no more of those, eh, I can't really answer the question nominees because you know, that's how you end up with maybe a Roberts type, the people that just are kind of dancing around question. You never clearly never, especially if they didn't serve in the judiciary. I think they need to answer even more questions about that. And we're no longer going to accept that as an answer to them, pour resources into defending them from whatever allegation the left comes up with about them.

Darrell Bock No, you're right. And I, you take a look, you know, he mentioned in the first list, the names of Bill Pryor, Amy Coney Barrett and Tom Hartman. I mean, these are judges that now have long track records.

They're still relatively young, but they've served for a long time. But look, I mean, I'll take the religious liberty issue as an example. Andy, you and I have talked about this and there's been a couple of cases that have gone to the Supreme Court. We've got one that right now is in the district court representing churches because there's still this ban in place in California, where even if you can meet, even if your sanctuary can hold, you know, 1000 people, you can't have more than what was the number? Was it 25 or 100? It was 50.

In a sanctuary that could literally hold 5000. And there's two things you can't do, sing or chant. And we thought that's absurd. So we filed suit. Now, there's been two other cases that have gone to the Supreme Court. And both times, Andy, the Supreme Court, by a five to four vote, rejected the religious liberty claims. Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh voted to strike those provisions down as unconstitutional.

John Roberts went with the more liberal wing of the court. So the next Supreme Court vacancy impacts cases like that directly. We've got to realize how significant the Supreme Court of the United States has become in the situation involving the culture, our society, the effects that it has upon people, how we live, how we function, what we do in everyday lives. The Supreme Court of the United States has become a pivotal institution in American culture because it is the ultimate arbiter of what is constitutional and what is going to pass constitutional muster and what is not. And therefore, we've got to be very, very careful who we elect President because that President will nominate people to the Supreme Court who will either be constitutional conservatives, which is what we won and which Josh Hawley said he wanted, even though he declined the senator from Missouri for consideration.

But nonetheless, that is who we're looking for and who we want to be on our court. People who will be textualists, who will read the Constitution for what it says, will read statutes for what they say, and will not gloss and put interpretations on them that are not there. I can't emphasize how important the Supreme Court of the United States has become as an institution in our American government, in our American culture and society.

It is the most important institution. There are no vacancies on the circuit courts of appeals right now. The President has filled every single one of those vacancies. And now he is looking for that and at district judges and at even people who are not on benches to fill the seats on his court. He's got three confirmation votes set for today. That's at the district court level. I mean, they're literally because there's no space at the circuit court. So right now there are three at the district court level. That would be a total number of confirmed up to 208. There's currently no circuit court vacancies for the first time in four decades in 40 years.

No vacancies. At this point in time, about a third of the nominees to the circuit courts in the United States are Trump nominees, not Republican, are Trump nominees. Imagine what it would be in four more years. It could be two thirds. Well, take a look at the second circuit court of appeals. I mean, the second circuit court of appeals traditionally has been one of the most liberal courts in the country. It's now a conservative court.

Plus one conservative, but yes. And the ninth is going to be, I think, the next one to go, actually. Yeah. I mean, so you're seeing over a complete overhaul now. Does that stop if Joe Biden gets elected?

Probably. I mean, it probably stops right in its tracks, but it's still very significant. What has already been accomplished.

You can't take that away. Those are lifetime appointments and he's up for reelection. So that's what we're asking people. Our second half hour of the broadcast, really, is this issue one that is driving you to the polls or is it just, there's so much unrest in the country. You're sick of riots. You're sick of Antifa. You're sick of promoting lawlessness on the left that, you know, this is one of the issues cause it's a law and order issue, but you're going out to vote regardless. And, and it, you know, it's not so targeted as it used to be to get people out to vote.

Really want your thoughts on that. 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110. We are live on the air. Remember as well to share that new piece. It's up at ACLJ.org by our newest special advisor, Rick Rinnell.

It's called Antifa Targets Pro-Life Leader. You can share that on Facebook, Twitter. You can email it out to your friends and family. It's great to do that as well. And remember, support the Bald Beagle programming at BaldBeagle.com. We'll be right back on JCEC-YO Live. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today.

ACLJ.org. Live from Washington, D.C., JCEC-YO Live. And now, your host, Jordan Sekulow.

Welcome back to JCEC-YO Live. So we're talking about, of course, President Trump yesterday announced an expanded list of his potential Supreme Court picks if there are vacancies on the Supreme Court. So this expands on the original list, which was announced in November of 2017.

This list comes yesterday. It's 20 additional names. It includes some well-known names, people like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Josh Hawley, a Missouri senator. He already said probably not likely the place for him as he likes to — he's more about serving the people directly as a politician elected that way. Oh, a clerk for Rehnquist, I think. Rehnquist's clerk. And he is someone who I think will play a key role in the next confirmation battle because he is the one who — I've kind of said I agree with him and Tom Cotton that enough is enough when it comes to these confirmations of I'm not going to answer the question. So Tom Cotton came right out and said, I'd take it.

And, by the way, my first — I think our first task would be getting rid of that horrible precedent of Roe versus Wade and reversing that. So it's a new world if President Trump gets reelected and these are the kind of people that get selected. Now, that's not it on the list. Obviously, you have a former U.S. Lister General, a good friend of ours, Paul Clement.

I mean, you could go through the whole list if you want to. James Ho on the Fifth Circuit. Noel Francesco is a former SG. Former SG. He just took his case with him. Right.

And it's just now a former SG. And then on the previous list, you have people like Amy Coney Barrett. You've got people like Bill Pryor as well from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. So this is building on the first list and it's also a challenge to Joe Biden to show his cards. I'll show you my cards.

Show your cards. Show the American people who you would put on the Supreme Court. And let me tell you why Joe Biden — I think it would be so scared to do that even though there are liberal groups that would like him to. Because those people alone, I think you could run ads against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris just by using those people because they will be so out of touch with where — when you go into what they've written and the crazy stuff they've written as law professors and as judges, what you will see is they are so out of touch. Not just with like Republican conservatives — just mainstream middle America. Out of touch.

You know, and so I think he's gonna — he's gonna want to hide the ball in that unless he's just pressured and has to. You know, it's interesting you said that because — and we do want your calls at 800-684-3110. Colonel Wes Smith is joining us back in the studio again. So we're kind of getting back to — I feel like we're getting back to close to normal here at our facilities.

We're able to keep everybody sufficiently apart but able to bring you the broadcast. Wes, you served in the military. A lot of the issues the Supreme Court deals with end up impacting the military. What do you think of the list so far?

I am very impressed with it. And, of course, being military, I'm biased a little bit towards Tom Cotton. Not only is he a brilliant young guy, Harvard grad, JD, but an Army officer who, even though he was jagged — I didn't — okay.

Yeah, even though he was jagged, he — Well, tell people what jagged is because they don't know. Yeah, that's the Judge Advocate General Corps, the lawyers in the military. He volunteered to go to Afghanistan, but he didn't want to function as a JAG officer, but as a line officer doing patrols. This guy is a sharp young man. And what a lot of people don't realize is he also clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts.

So the list is impressive. You mentioned Noel Francisco, who clerked for Scalia. You look at all of these people, and they are constitutionalists. They're people that are there to say what the law means, not to make the law. And that it's frightful to people on the left. And I tell you what, Jay, I think the reason that probably Joe Biden will not release his potential judicial picks is the same reason that his campaign won't let him do impromptu press briefings, because they're afraid of the reaction of people to that. Well, that's true.

By your fruits shall you know them. And if Joe Biden were to come out with his list, as Jordan said, it would be appalling to see that. One, I enlisted President Trump has indicated he might choose from, I want to call out specifically, is Daniel Cameron, who is the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He is a rising star in the Republican Party. I noticed him speaking at the Republican National Convention. He was legal counsel to Mitch McConnell, and he graduated from the University of Louisville, undergraduate in law school. Brilliant order, excellent constitutionalist, would be a great pick on the Supreme Court.

Yeah, I mean, that's pretty impressive. There's a lot of folks here again, and this is a supplement to the original list. You got 20 additional names. Take your calls when we come back, 1-800-684-3110. Remember, too, to support the production of Bald Beagle. As we know so many kids doing this virtual learning, we want to start helping and assisting that. And you can learn about what Bald Beagle is. If this is the first time you've ever heard me say it, go to baldbeagle.com, check it out. You can support it there.

Hit that support button. It's a donation to the ACLJ as well. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work.

Become a member today. ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, play on parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. We'll be hearing on the broadcast for about three weeks. He's going to be on about twice a week, but he's also going to be writing exclusive content at ACLJ.org each week. And this week we just posted, as he was on with us, his new piece, which is Antifa Targets Pro-Life Leader. Now it's very interesting to get the perspective of a pro-life former cabinet member who was the acting director of national intelligence and a former US ambassador and their perspective on Antifa targeting the pro-life movement. So to have a special advisor like that to the ACLJ is excellent and to provide this kind of content to you. So it's up at ACLJ.org.

Read it, share it with your friends and family on social media and check that out. But I wanted to go to the phones. I've got a lot of calls coming in on the Supreme Court issue. Let's go to Tom first in Ohio, on Line 2.

Tom, welcome to Jay Sekio Live. Good afternoon, and thank you so much for your show and this topic. I actually litigate these cases. I, with a co-counsel and I, prevailed in the Maryville Baptist case in the Sixth Circuit and we prevailed for one reason. A Trump appointed judge wrote our decision in a case that we lost at the lower level with a Carter appointed judge. And so my comment is that the public has to understand that you don't bring these cases, and I know you all know this, you don't bring these cases unless you are right on the law and you have a compelling factual story to present, but none of it matters if you don't have a receptive audience in the courtroom. And so this election is critical to shaping the future of this country and how we're all going to live. I can't emphasize it enough.

I think your story is, you know, right on bat. You have the district court, look at where they're nominated, they go one way. Look at the circuit court, you see where they're coming from, they go a different way, right in their opinion. And does that mean you can always predict them?

No. But Andy, what you want is to at least go in there and know that you've got a fighting chance. Now at the ACLJ, we fought through and tried to convince those liberal justices and judges that sometimes were successful. But the issue is that when you get to the Supreme Court level especially, which is what the President's talking about here, when you get to the Supreme Court level, unfortunately on about every major case of social importance, I'm not talking about some patent law case, but of social importance, I can tell you exactly where the liberal members of the court are going to come down.

It does not matter what the law is, it doesn't matter what the precedent is, they will figure out a way to get to what answer they want. I can't do that with a lot of these so-called conservatives. Some of that's for good, but I think some of it people are a little bit sick of too.

Yeah, we are sick of that. In other words, the liberal justices have a view of what they want done and social engineering is what their ultimate goal is and to engineer it in a way that is with a liberal band. And so they're going to make that decision and then find the law or contort the law to meet the end that they are seeking to achieve. So in other words, as someone has said on Facebook and I'm reading the comment, I think a judge should be impartial on interpreting the law in all aspects, significance of cause and effect and interconnection between the law, people and society.

That is a very prescient and very good comment that was made by that person on Facebook. But it all has to be done within the context of the Constitution of the United States, a document that was drafted in the 18th century, but which still exists today. And as Justice Scalia says, and I think that what we want with a conservative justice is read it as it was written. It is not a living, breathing document that you can contort and interpret as you wish. That is our constitution, our katastatiko in Greek.

That is what we live by and that is what we can die by if we don't really emphasize the fact that we want judges who live by that constitution and the text of our statutes. Let's go to Debbie in Texas. If you want to talk to us on the air, 1-800-684-3110. Our phone lines are open.

How important is the Supreme Court to you and how you cast your vote in the general election and who you decide who to pick for President of the United States? Give us a call. We have phone lines open, 1-800-684-3110. Debbie, welcome to JCECO Live. You're on the air. Thank you and thank you for all you do.

Thanks, Debbie. I have a question. The Democrats have been talking about packing the Supreme Court. If that should happen, could it ever be undone? Well, you know, it takes a constitutional amendment. Listen, FDR tried to do that. He didn't like the makeup of the Supreme Court.

Wes is shaking his head. So he decided he was going to add, I think, four additional seats, maybe five, to get the balance in his favor. That got terrible political reaction. So it really literally would take a constitutional amendment, I think, at this point to do that. The fact is that, look, the big legacy of any President, Wes, is the Supreme Court picks.

Absolutely. Out of all the things the President of the United States does, this is the most lasting of his task because these judges are appointed for life. The military is important, national affairs, national security, diplomatic relations, all of those things. But as the administrations change, the emphasis on those various issues can change as well. But the judges are there for life. What I find also interesting, Jay, with the previous caller, the attorney in Ohio, and that is the judges who are appointed, they're more left of center, are very predictable. We are almost never surprised we know how they're going to rule. Every once in a while, a constitutionalist judge will side with the liberals because that's what the law says.

But you seldom ever see that go the other way. No, I was going to ask you this question, Jordan, I asked you this in the beginning, you've got more campaign experience than any of us, and that is, it always is a big issue. Is it an issue when you've got a pandemic? Laura Ingraham asked me this, is it the number one issue for the President or is the pandemic?

And this is what I said, and here's what I said, the pandemic, as horrible as it has been, and it looks like things are going in the right direction, God willing, is going to be over with either a vaccine or something in the next hopefully months or year. These justices are going to serve for four decades. Yeah. No, I think there's short-term and long-term.

Short-term right now, what's on the top front of people's minds as they cast their votes, probably not going to be Supreme Court nominees this year. I think on the short-term, it's riots, lawlessness, groups like Antifa, groups like Black Lives Matter that are basically terrorist groups tearing the country apart as well because a group like Black Lives Matter should be something we should all be able to say, yeah, we support that, right? But we can't because that's now a term of a group that's almost like a terror group and at least criminal in their actions. And so you look at groups like Antifa, are we all anti-fascist? Yeah, we're all anti-fascist. We live in the United States of America. World War II is a good example of that in our anti-fascism. But you can't say that anymore because of the connotations of that being a domestic terror group. So you have people I think that are one, the economy is always number one.

Number two, I think right now is going to be COVID mixed in with this unrest in our country, the lawlessness. I mean, just yesterday, another police commissioner gone in a major city. I mean, it's like city after city. They're black. And they're saying, I cannot do my job. I don't understand this. We're not allowed to police our streets.

I'm done. And these are people who worked hard to get to those positions as commissioner. Yeah, and they're African-American. And they're giving it up. Many of them.

No more. Isn't that counterproductive to what they're trying to accomplish? I think they've gotten to a point where, no, it's dangerous to be a police officer. They can't keep their police safe. They can't keep their sheriff's deputies safe.

And they're not allowed to do their job. And you have, Wes has that in his, you have police officers in your family. And of course, you know, you've been chaplain to police officers. Right.

My son-in-law is a police officer near Atlanta. Yeah. I mean, the lawlessness, as Jordan says, is one of the key issues in this upcoming election because you mentioned the African-American chiefs that are resigning.

The American people are really, really fed up with not only the lawlessness and the riots and the assaults that are done in the name of freedom to demonstrate, but also they're fed up with the fact that that law officers, their hands are tied and that political leaders are actually by their action or inaction, encouraging the lawlessness. I think that will be one of the key issues in the election coming up. I think he's absolutely right.

Yeah. No, I mean, listen, it all ties to, I think that's where the Supreme court comes in more so than ever. Now for social conservative voters, Christian evangelical voters, this is a big driving factor.

It has been for decades. And I think they really do like the fact that President Trump puts these lists out so that they have time and organizations like ours have time to go through and say, Hey, these are the people who would be good. And also by the way, it gives us time to say, these are the ones, eh, you know, they made the list, but they wouldn't be on my, the top three I'd pick, let's say it, put it that way. So President Trump does it that way for good and for ill, you know, just because you get listed as one of these potential picks doesn't mean you're a hundred percent. It actually gives conservative judicial groups like ours time to say, I'd scratch that one. You know, that's not one we would really get behind. That's not when we would put our resources behind. And so he's willing to do that. I think it's a much, uh, it becomes a much safer issue as well. When you look at the potential nominees, we'll continue to take your calls.

We come back at 1-800-684-3110. People like to always write in J or Jordan, would either of you accept a nomination Supreme court? I would not get confirmed.

I talk on radio every single day. Could you imagine pulling all of those transcripts? 80 senators that are Republican like Tom cotton and Josh Holly.

Yeah. Maybe, maybe, you know, maybe, but, but, uh, but, uh, again, uh, the big questions, these are the ones who will end up there. If President Trump's reelected, we have the list, we know the names and I think that's great because we have time to do our research. We'll be right back on JCECO Live. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected.

Is there any hope for that culture to survive? And that's exactly what you were saying when you stand with the American center for law and justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called mission life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, playing parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of mission life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. The challenges facing Americans are substantial at a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack. It's more important than ever to stand with the American center for law and justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American center for law and justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today.

ACLJ.org. All right, welcome back to JCQ live. So we're going to do a mix of calls and Facebook comments that have come through.

So Chris and Suzette, we're going to get to your calls soon, but Lynn has an interesting question on Facebook. She says a lot of people talk about bringing turn limits to the high court. You know, that when the constitution was written, people did not live to be 80 and 90 years old, a hundred years old, you know, and in that capacity to be able to serve. So it's, should that be changed? I don't think so. I, the reason that you're supposed to, that the founder said life appointment was to be free from political influence. That was the idea.

Now, has that worked out? I'm not so sure, but the concept is right. I don't think I'd change it.

Anybody, any other thoughts there? No, I mean the constitution says during good behavior, in other words, as long as you, you know, behave yourself and comport yourself as a justice should, you shouldn't have your thoughts influenced. And I, and I don't believe in term limits for the Supreme Court. I think that you, I agree with Jay, that we have a tradition in this country of life appointments and you get what you get. That's why the election of the President is so incredibly important as part of the balance of power too. And you want to complete the independent judiciary.

You really do. I think if you were going to talk about all about term limits in the Supreme Court, it'd be like limited. It'd be like 30 years. I mean, so something where it's still very significant, like a mandatory retirement age, almost like that's what I'm thinking more. It's like my generation looks at it and says 85 to 90 year olds probably shouldn't be deciding rules about technology. And a lot of them have been.

And they are, too many are. And so it's not so much, it's not so much that it's not a lifetime appointment. It is until like, until like it's past your time really to be there in service.

And I'm not pointing out a single justice because that's not the rule right now. But I don't see it then as like a limit, like a term limit. It's more of a retirement age. Military has this to you. Certain ages you get to where you cannot serve in this position any longer. I could see that being attractive to both sides of the aisle, people in my generation is, okay, you get to be, I don't know if it's 85, it's 90 years old, somewhere there and it says, okay, that's when you've got to at least start that retirement process, something like that.

But again, that would take a constitutional amendment. So a big, a big change there. Let's go to one of the phone calls as well. Chris in Nevada, online one. Chris, welcome to Jay Sekio Live. You're on the air.

Hi, and thank you. I appreciate that the President put out an updated list of potential Supreme Court nominees, but by doing it now, doesn't it also give the left a lot of time to try and dig up dirt on these people, whether that dirt has any validity or is completely made up? I mean, no. Listen, they will come up, they'll have time when the nomination's made to go after whatever nominee that is and go after the dirt. Remember, so you make the nomination, it's a long period of time.

It's not that quick. So they're always going to come up with something to oppose. They're not going to support any of these nominees. I think it's bold and brave to put the names out.

You're saying, bring it on, left. But also I'm doing this as a gift to those who are thinking about voting for me. This is the kind of people I will appoint. They will come from this list, from these names. I will not surprise you and their backgrounds won't surprise you because I'm telling you who they are if you want to take the time to actually look and learn about them.

And so to the left, it's what are you hiding? What are you afraid of, Joe Biden, in telling people who you might pick to be on the Supreme Court? And maybe he'll surprise us and maybe he'll surprise us and he won't be. But I would imagine that those people will end up becoming ads against voting for Joe Biden. And that may be the reason why they don't want to put out that kind of list for. I think that, you know, the President talked about Joe Biden's just refusal to do this by 10. Joe Biden has refused to release his list, perhaps because he knows the names are so extremely far left that they could never withstand public scrutiny or receive acceptance. He must release a list of justices for people to properly make a decision as to how they will vote. It is very important that he do so. Yeah, I'll tell you, you know who you're going to see? Preet Bharara.

Remember him from the CNN saying how the President was going to be impeached, former U.S. attorney from New York. Guys who spend their time tweeting nasty things about us. Yeah, mostly.

Yes, that would be a good way to do it. Just look at people that say nasty things about us, the ACLJ or me and Jordan or Andy or anybody who says anything nasty about Andy. Basically large tribes, acolytes. No, no. I mean, there's Mike Katel, Preet Bharara. There's another guy, Elie Honig or whatever his name is on CNN.

There you go. Large tribe if he was 40 years younger. His acolytes, but his acolytes, the kind of his world. And then of course you go to, and then they got a whole group of them from the ACLU they could choose from. But I think again, if you look at these high profile ones, yeah, Andrew Weisman. It's a fundraiser for Biden. He is a fundraiser for Biden. It's interesting because I'm reading all these books about the impeachment and about the Mueller report and you know who's not in them? Andrew Weisman.

Barely mentioned. That's kind of weird. Interesting. And then a lot of people think he was the- Running the show.

Yeah, he was pulling the levers in. Because now the liberals are upset. How could they pick, you know, how did they pick Mueller? They knew Mueller was not competent. How did they pick him to do this? You know, it's interesting.

It was interesting here. Debbie on Facebook said the most important issue for the Supreme Court of the United States nominees, how they interpret the Constitution. And Republicans Jordan have danced around this issue. We're not going to ask you how you'll vote on a particular case.

We never really do get a clear answer. Now, some of these like Alito, you had a clear record. Thomas, you had a clear understanding and they're unapologetic. I remember, you know, Bill Pryor when he was up for his Court of Appeals nomination, he said what his position was. Yeah.

Yeah. That's what I think people want to see now from these Supreme Court nominees. No more dancing. No more I can't comment on something. Because, by the way, Roe vs. Wade, it isn't up before you right now and it's not going to be up for you right the moment you're confirmed.

So you can't use that anymore. Or if you're going to act that way, fine, go ahead. But don't expect us in groups like ours to spend the resources of our donors and our time on radio defending you from accusations at all. We're not. We'll let you go down, if that be the case, because you weren't willing to fight the fight that we're fighting. So you want our resources to back your nomination, you better answer the questions truthfully. And if not, we will let the left take you down because we know they can. We know they will try and take every one of you down that gets one of these positions. So if you're not going to fight the fight, that's why I'd be safer with the Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, that world than a lot of these others who we do know. But I also know they come from the legal world and the legal, and they are not from the, they're not politicians. They have not, they've never been to the, really to the people, they've never been servants of the people directly like that, to constituents.

I like the fact again, of those kinds of things. Cruz and Cotton all were Supreme Court clerks. We know where they're going to be.

Cruz was a solicitor general. And no guessing. Yeah. Yeah. And they're young.

And so potentially they would be on the court for a long time. I think frankly, it's quite refreshing that some politicians, they don't want the people to know what they think or feel for fear they won't get elected. President Trump is honest and open about this and he's laying out all that on the table.

What do you think, Andy? Well, I think it's what a President should do. Look, the most important thing that you're going to be as President of the United States is an appointor of Supreme Court nominations and Supreme Court, filling Supreme Court vacancies. Why?

Because that's what's going to last. That is your legacy. You think about the Earl—we call it the Earl Warren court, don't we, Jay?

Yep. Or we call it the Burger court or the Rehnquist court. And those are the things that you think about Eisenhower having appointed Earl Warren, who really was governor of California and who really he didn't want, but for political reasons he appointed. Don't tell me that the Earl Warren court did not have a tremendous impact on American society because it did. That's why Supreme Court nominees are so important. And I applaud President Trump for telling us who he will pick from.

All right. So folks, check out Rick Renaud's new post on ACLJ.org. Remember, that's exclusive content that the former acting director of national intelligence, a cabinet member, and now special advisor to the ACLJ is providing each week on ACLJ.org. Share that. Antifa targets pro-life leader.

Check out Bald Beagle as well, baldbeagle.com. Support their efforts. And again, your support there is a donation to the ACLJ, but it means that we're tracking it so we know they can use it to produce those episodes for our nation's children.

We will talk to you tomorrow on Jay Sekio Live. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today, ACLJ.org.