The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Brett Kavanaugh Faces Another Sexual Assault Allegation | Sonia Sotomayor
Episode Date: September 17, 2019Brett Kavanaugh faces a new sex assault claim, President Trump threatens Iran after an attack on Saudi Arabia, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor discusses "Just Ask!"--------------------------...--------------------------------Wondery’s The Lead: http://wondery.fm/TheLeadDS Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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You're listening to Comedy Central.
Hey everybody, John Stewart here.
I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show.
It's going to be coming out every Thursday.
So exciting.
You'll be saying to yourself, TGID.
Thank God it's Thursday.
We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are
they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient-to-bread
ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance, it's probably second.
I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday?
I mean, talk about innovative.
Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.
September 16th, 2019.
From Comedy Central's World News Headquarters in New York, this is the Daily Showyshire everybody. Thank you so much to tune in. Thank you for coming out.
As always. I'm Trevor Noah, I'm Trevor Noah, let's do it. Our guest tonight, our guest
tonight, our guest tonight is a judge on the highest court in the land. The Supreme
Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor is joining us everybody. I'm triviol. Let's do it. Our guest tonight is a judge on the highest court in the land.
The Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is joining us everybody.
And please, please, she's not doing parking tickets today, people. Please. Also on tonight's
show, the price of gas is going up. New accusations are coming out against Brett Kavanaugh, and Mike Pence fights a horse.
So let's catch up on today's headlines.
Let's kick it off with an update on that college cheating scandal and the celebrity
mom who's getting locked up.
We are back now with the intense reaction to Felicity Huffman sentencing, the actress
must report to prison in the next six weeks to serve 14 days for her role in the college admissions scandal.
She paid 15,000 dollars to inflate her daughter's SAT score as part of a massive college cheating scandal.
In the courtroom, an emotional Huffman told the judge, I was frightened, I was stupid,
and I was so wrong. Okay, hold on. She said she committed this crime because she was frightened I was stupid and I was so wrong. Okay hold on she said
she committed this crime because she was frightened and stupid? No I mean I
get the stupid problem what were you frightened of? Was the principal at the
school like ma'am your kid scores only good enough for the University of
Phoenix? No no please no. And by the way if the judge let her off
likely because she was all emotional then that judge is a fool.
All right?
Because Felicity Huffman is one of the best actors around.
Getting emotional is her job.
Yeah, if I was a judge, she would have had to make her plea to me as Nelson Mandela.
Yeah, if I was a judge, I would have had to make her plea to me as Nelson Mandela. That's what I would have wanted.
Just come out like, please forgive me and my husband, William H. Macy, please.
Yeah, then you'd be like, I can't send Mandela back to jail.
Go free.
Now obviously this short sentence has gotten a lot of backlash with people saying that Felicity Hoffman only got the special treatment because she is an actor, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thi, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, thi, please, thi, please, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thri, thri, thri, thriiiiiii. thiiiiiiii, thi, thi, thi actor. And I don't know if that's true, but you know that right now someone out there has been
busted with drugs, you know, and they're like, your honor, before you render your verdict, I
want you to know that in high school I played Danny and Greece.
The judge is like, really, tell me more, tell me more, to some international news. Over the weekend, an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia was attacked. And this could be the spark that sets off the next big war.
Coming out of Saudi Arabia, the breaking news,
where there was an unusual attack,
resulting in massive explosions.
Multiple drones targeted two major oil facilities.
Yemen's who the rebels, who are fighting a civil war against the
government took responsibility for the rebels who are fighting a civil war against the Saudi-backed government took responsibility for the attack, but Pompeo declared there is no proof to support the claim
and swiftly blamed Iran.
Iran calls that claim meaningless.
President Trump says the U.S. has reason to believe they know exactly who
is behind the attacks and is, quote, locked and loaded.
But he also says that he's waiting to hear who the Saudis blame before deciding
how to move forward.
Okay, that is the most confusing threat ever. Trump says America's locked and loaded. We're
ready for war. But first, let's say who the war is with on the count of three. You ready,
Saudi? One, two, three. Iran, Wakanda. I was going to say Iran. I was going to say Iran. I was going to say Iran. But that's right.
An oil facility in Saudi Arabia was attacked.
Yemeni rebels have claimed responsibility,
but then America was like, got it, it was Iran.
Yeah.
At this point, it feels like America is just a drunk guy and a bar,
trying to turn you pissed my pants, Iran. Oh, and here's a big thing that confuses me. Donald
Trump says that America has to go and fight for Saudi Arabia because they're one of
America's allies, right? And what makes them an ally is that they buy billions of
dollars in US weapons. So my question is, why don't they just use those weapons they bought to fight for themselves?
Why does America have to go fight for them?
What are the Saudi leaders just there like,
no, we spent a billion on this shit, we're not going to get it dirty?
No, no, no, no, no. You, these are special weapons.
All right, moving on. This next story story story story story, vice president and man who avoids eye contact with Barbie dolls.
Because it turns out, last year he was on the campaign trail
and he got attacked.
Vice President Mike Pence reveals triple crown winner,
American Pharaoh bit him on the arm.
He says he was helping campaign for Congressman Andy Barr last year when the two were invited to see the prize-winning horse in Luxington. Penn says he and Barr were posing for pictures when American
Pharaoh bit him so hard on the arm he almost collapsed.
Oh yes, that's right, the vice president was bitten by a horse. And let's be clear, he didn't almost collapse from the pain.
He almost collapsed from the pleasure.
Oh, it hurts so good.
Don't tell mother about this.
Now, the good news is, the good news is Pence wasn't badly hurt.
The horse bit him, but then immediately let go because horses don't like the taste of mayonnaise.
And there's also good news for the horse.
Yeah, after it came out that the horse bit Mike Pence,
MSNBC has made that horse a paid contributor.
Yeah, so it's just there like, what is it?
And finally, in some fun news,
we might have gotten used to Fox,
flattering the president all the time. But recently, the great Lou Dobbs, took took took took took took took took took to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to tookes, took, took, th, th th th th th th th th th thi, the thi, thi, too, too, too, too, too, to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. th th thi, thi, too, too. too too too too too too too too too too too too too too too too too too. too'n, the great Lou Dobbs took it to the next level. A lot is happening in Washington and all across this great country of ours, and it's because
we have a president who is a true leader, in my opinion.
What I happen to believe will be regarded is one of this country's greatest presidents, indeed,
our greatest.
I spent some time in the White House, and I want to give you an unauthorized, quick update on the atmosphere that I witnessed in the White House, the mood in that White House couldn't be more high energy. I've seen a number of White Houses. I want
you to know the joint is hopping. At every level on every floor, this White House is energized
their sunshine beaming throughout the place and on almost every face. The Joint is hopping? The Joint is hopping? At the end then when he was rhyming, it sounded like the whitest version of Rappers Delight ever.
It's just like, oh, the joint is hopping throughout the place and Sunshine's beaming on everyone's face.
What was that?
What was that?
Actually, my favorite part, my favorite part is that he said,
Sunshine is be baming on almost every face.
It's almost like even the propaganda about Trump conco that far.
He's like, come on, guys.
I can't say everyone in the White House is happy.
People know Melania lives there.
Come on now.
But look, but look, I know we drag Trump all the time for watching Fox News whenever he has a chance, but honestly, I get it.
Like, I honestly get it.
If there was a TV channel that talked about me this way, I would watch that shit all
day.
How can you resist?
Yeah, I would be there all the day.
This is like, on the news, they were just like, Trevor Noah and the folks at the daily show that the greatest of their....... I I, their, their, their, I, t. I, their, I, their, I, their, their, their, t. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, I's, their, if their, if their, if, if their, if their, if their, if their, if their, if their, if their, if, if their, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if...... their, I is is is.......... If, is is is is.. If. If. If, is. If, is. If. If, is. If, is. If, is, is. If, is, is, is, is, their, their, their, their, their, their, the Daily Show makes heaven look like a cracked den filled with corpses of
a thousand cats.
Seriously, Dobbs did such a good job of pleasing the president.
Out of habit, Trump paid him $130,000.
All right, that's it for the headlines.
Let's move on to our top story.
Today's sub-story is all about Brett Kavanaugh, the newest member of the Supreme Court
and the only justice to be sponsored by Bud Light.
Now, you probably remember this, but Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation was one
of the most contentious in American history.
He faced multiple accusations of inappropriate behavior, including drunken misconduct and
sexual assault.
But after he was cleared by the FBI, he managed to get just enough Senate votes to
be confirmed to the Supreme Court. But now a year later, the New York Times has
dropped a bombshell story that has put Kavanaugh back in the spotlight.
Tonight, new questions about a new report, another sexual assault allegation
against Justice Brett Kavanaugh, this one reportedly,
never pursued by the FBI.
The New York Times publishing the previously unreported account of Max Stier, one of
Kavanaugh's former Yale classmates.
Kavanaugh's former Yale classmate told Senators and the FBI that he saw Mr. Kavanaugh with
his pants down at a drunken dorm party where friends pushed his genitals onto a female student.
God damn! Every high school story or every college story we hear about bread Kavanaugh just makes him seem worse and worse.
And it's always something about him exposing himself. He's lucky that Mike Pence horse wasn't around during his college career. Because you see what they do to carrots, y'all. And you know when you hear stories
like this, it's hard to believe that someone like that could ever go on to the Supreme Court.
It must be even harder for people who actually went to school with Kavanaugh.
Can you imagine their conversations is like, hey, whatever, whatever happens to balls out Brett, and it's like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's th, it's th, it's th, it's th, it's th, it's th, it's th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi's thi's thi's thi's thi's thi's thi, because thi's thi, because thi, because, because, because, because, because, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, because thi, thi... thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi's thi's theeea. thei's thei's theauiiii. theaui. theaui. thea. thea. thea. Because, the conversations, it's like, hey, whatever happened to balls out Brett, and it's like, actually, it's justice balls out Brett now.
Now, here's the thing.
This story is messy, and what makes it messy is that the woman who this allegedly happened
to says she doesn't remember any of this happening, but the guy who says he saw it, says
that she was so drunk at the time he's not surprised that she can't remember it.
And we may never know for sure what happened that night, especially since the FBI never
even investigated it.
Which may seem like a surprise to some people, but according to the New York Times, the
FBI didn't look into a lot of the accusations against Kavanaugh.
The incident echoes a similar but separate allegation made by Deborah Ramirez, who came forward last year, accusing
Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her at a Yale party.
In his denial, Kavanaugh claimed that had the incident happened, it would have been the
talk of campus.
Now, the New York Times is reporting on evidence that it was the talk of campus.
Per the Times, at least seven people heard about the Yale incident long
before Kavanaugh was a federal judge. Ms. Ramirez's legal team gave the FBI a list of at least 25 individuals who may have
had corroborating evidence, but the Bureau interviewed none of them.
Man, this story just keeps getting more and more strange. The FBI ignored 25 former Yale
students who could have given evidence. It's insane. Because I didn't know
the police also ignored white people.
That's some crazy shit.
Yale and the Bronx, who would have known?
Now, in the FBI's defense,
the reason they didn't interview these potential witnesses
was because the White House reportedly told the FBI that when it came to Kavanaugh
and the accusations they were only allowed to interview 11 specific people and no one else.
Yeah.
It's not something you do when you're confident in someone's innocence.
Right?
You'd just be like, interview anyone, but he'll like anyone, just them.
Yeah, it's like Jeffrey Epstein saying, I have nothing to hide.
Look anywhere.
Except the sex dungeon.
Yeah, and pedophile island, don't look there, don't look there. But anywhere else, anywhere else. And by the way, if these stories are true,
why the hell was Kavanaugh constantly whipping his dick out at parties?
Can we ask that question?
No, like, just like every single story.
He's doing it at high school parties.
He's accused of doing it at a college party.
I'm starting to his grandma's birthday party? Happy 90th, Nana! It's like, no, Brett!
No, we said, bring your famous dip!
If it's true, it would explain why Kavanaugh wanted to be a Supreme Court justice.
He gets to wear a robe all day. It's just, yeah, it's true, if it's true it would explain why Kavanaugh wanted to be a Supreme Court
Justice, he gets to wear a robe all day.
It's just, yeah, it's easy access.
The job he should have is astronaut, because you whip out your dick day, it just freezes
and shatters, bang.
Although it would be a disaster if he was the first human to meet aliens, because they'd be like, hello humans, please join us, thi.... th. th. th. th. th. th th. th th thi thi, thus, thus, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, it's thi, it's th. th. th. thi, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, th.. Yeah, it's, th.. Yeah, th. Yeah, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th thi. thi. th us at our welcome party. Did someone say party? No!
Now, as has become normal in the age of Trump,
reactions to this story have become as partisan as everything else is right now.
This new report prompting Democratic candidates for president to call for Kavanaugh's impeachment.
Senator Kamala Harris, who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, tweeting, he was put
on the court through a sham process, and his place on the court is an insult to the pursuit
of truth and justice.
Republicans saying Democrats need to move on.
There's nobody they don't want to impeach.
And at some point they just have to let the anger go.
Yeah, at some point you just got to let the anger go.
Donald Trump said my wife was ugly and my dad killed JFK and now I go on TV to support him
and I'm perfectly happy.
He he.
Oh, and speaking of Trump, the president is also weighing in on the Kavanaugh news
and there's no prize for guessing which side he's on.
President Trump also coming to Kavanaugh's defense, tweeting, he is an innocent man who has
been treated horribly.
Such lies about him.
Bright Kavanaugh should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should
come to his rescue?
The Justice Department should come to his rescue?
What? I feel like Trump doesn't really understand
how the government works.
Yeah, he just acts like the Justice Department
is his own personal emergency line.
Justices Department, there's a monster under my bed.
Come quick.
It's like, no dad, it's me, Eric.
Even worse, come quicker.
Come quicker. Come quicker. So, it looks like President Trump is once again ready to fight to clear Brett Kavanaugh's
name.
And I'm sure when he's done, you know, he'll probably throw Kavanaugh a big victory party
where he'll go, no, Brett, no, not again.
We'll be right back. Hey everybody, John Stewart here.
I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday.
We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls.
What are they talking about the weekly show coming out every Thursday.
We're going to be talking about the election earnings calls. What are
they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about
ingredient-to-bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as
far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the
weekly show with John Stewart wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to the Daily Show.
My guest tonight is the first Latina and third woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court
of the United States.
She has written a new children's book called Just Ask, Be Different, be Brave, be you.
Please welcome, Justice, Sonia Sotomayor.
And it is truly an honor to have you here on the show.
And just so we're all on the same page ahead of time,
there are certain rules when speaking to a Supreme Court justice, especially on TV.
And a few of those are, I know that you cannot speak about any cases or any of your colleagues
or anything that could negatively impact the institution that is the Supreme Court.
That is correct.
That is correct.
So I just have a few.
These one.
These ones. These ones. These ones. These ones. These ones.
These ones.
Okay.
No, these ones.
All right.
No, well,
the the's.
All right.
No, welcome to the show.
Let's begin with the book.
I haven't left you with much, right?
No, you have.
Because I want to talk about the book and then, you know, after the break, it would be great to get into the court and everything you've experienced while serving on it.
A children's book is not exactly where you would expect a Supreme Court justice to be.
You know, you'd expect it to be a book about law or a book, you know, about what's
happening in the country or life and legalese, but a children's book is what you wrote. Just ask, be different, be brave, be you.
Why?
I write law every single day.
And most of it is going to go down in the history books.
And after much time passes, some people may read one or two of those decisions.
But if I can affect the lives of children,
if I can inspire them to be bigger, better, braver,
then they believe they can be, then I've left a real legacy of my judgment.
And so for me, when I write for children or speak to them, it's to create
that lasting gift that I hope will inspire them to do something that they haven't even dreamed
about. Wow. I'm a Supreme Court Justice, and I tell kids all the time. I grew up in a Bronx
housing project. There were no lawyers or judges all the time, I grew up in a Bronx housing project.
There were no lawyers or judges in the housing projects.
And I had no idea what the Supreme Court was.
I didn't start to learn about it probably till high school,
which is about when I started to read newspapers like the New York Times.
Before that, in my home, we had the Daily News, the New York Times. Before that, in my home, we had the Daily News,
the New York Post,
and the Spanish newspaper,
which my father brought home every day
as he rode the train home.
But for me, that's what I want kids to do.
So want to be more than they can imagine.
Who inspired you to be more than you could imagine? Because here you are in a position,
highest courts in the land inspiring the youth,
but someone had to inspire you.
My mother, born in greater poverty
than I ever existed for me and my brother,
in a situation in which her mother died when she was nine
and her father abandoned her, and being raised by her older brother and older sister. It was a tough, tough life
that she had and she did what millions of other young Americans have done.
She joined the Army. Wow. During World War II and she came over to the
States and she ultimately met my father and my brother and I followed. But my mom in her 40s, the thirties. in the thi thi th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi toeee toa toa toa toa toa.eeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii toe thi thi thi she came over to the states and she ultimately met my father and my brother and I followed but my mom in her 40s went back not
went back went to college and got her registered nursing. That is amazing. That is
amazing. Wow. Wow. So, it's really hard with a mother like that, not to think education is valuable.
I can only imagine.
And in the book, it really speaks to it because you are talking to kids from a very
personal place.
The book is called Just Ask.
And what I really, what I really love about the book is you have these stories of a group of kids who
go into a garden and really it's a tale about children who may be facing difficulties in
their lives.
You know, you have a little child who has ADHD, you have another child who has to turets.
You have Sonia who is diabetes.
I wonder where that came from.
And it's a story about the kids having whatever they have to deal with, but the one obstacle
you don't want them to face is people judging them because of what they have to deal with.
Judging them because of their difference.
Right. How did people judge you because of your differences?
Like was there ever something that happened to you where diabetes, you know, it seems like
everyone just accepts that?
No, but I, they don't.
And the just-ast title was born over 30 years ago.
When I was seven and a half, I was diagnosed with diabetes,
and I started to give myself injections of insulin every day.
And as was common back then,
gratefully less common today,
you were, I was embarrassed by my condition.
Right.
I thought it showed weakness.
I thought my friends would make fun of it.
And so I hit it.
And as I grew older and I took multiple shots a day,
because at first it was only one and I did that at home.
Over time, it grew to two shots and still at home,
morning and afternoon.
But as I grew older, multiple shots a day were more common
and more frequently before I ate anything.
I was in a restaurant in New York in my early 30s,
and I would order my meal, and then go to the bathroom to give myself my shot.
This day, I didn't go into the stall.
I stayed in the public areas because it was a two-stall bathroom and there was no one there.
As I was finishing a woman walked in, she saw me doing what I was doing and finishing
up, putting my injection away. And I walked out.
I ate dinner, finished, walked by the woman,
and I overheard her say to her companion,
she's a drug addict.
And I stopped.
And the first emotion I felt was shame.
I was mortified.
And then I thought about it for a second.
And I turned around and marched back to the woman and said,
I'm not a drug addict.
I'm a diabetic.
And that shot you saw me take is the medicine that saves my life every day in sleep.
And if you don't understand when someone's
doing something different than you expect, just ask, don't presume the worst in
people, and I walked away. But that didn't make me decide to disclose my diabetes to others, not yet.
What happened a few years later is I was at a party that I threw at my home with
some of my best friends that I have in the whole
world.
People who I know adore and love me and who take care of me in every situation.
And all of a sudden I fell asleep on my bed.
And they thought I was asleep. I was really in a sugar low.
I was semi-unconscious.
Thankfully, someone had to shake me to ask me for the telephone
for a cab to go home.
This is before Uber, ladies and gentlemen.
And lift, and all those other things.
At any rate, I struggled with trying to remember the number,
and I couldn't.
Wow.
But I then just sat on a stair that was,
I had my backyard, had a set of small steps, and I sat down there.
Couldn't go much further.
Because that's what sugar glows do to you.
And one of my friends walked over with a piece of cake and I grabbed it with my hand and stuffed my face with
it, which was an unconscious reaction that I needed the sugar. Because you knew
you needed the sugar. Right. Well, my friends didn't know what was happening,
because I had never told them. And so I almost died in a room full of people who loved me.
And I thought about it and had a conversation
with many of them afterwards about what happened, why.
And I realized that I should not hide my condition.
Not only because it was dangerous for me,
but because if something had happened to me
and my friends were there,
they would never be able to forgive themselves.
Because they wouldn't have known something about you
that could have saved your life.
And I think it was a kindness to me and one to my friends
where I then chose to become open about my condition.
And just ask is encouraging friends to look at the people in your life who do things differently or differently able.
Right. And talk to them about it.
Figure out and find out how it affects them and how
you can help and when. Because I don't need help all the time, but I do sometimes,
and people should know that, and you should know that about the people you love
and care about. And so for me, the just ask is encouraging, not just the children like me, who are differently
able to speak about their conditions, to be brave about them.
In the way they are every day.
Right. Think about how hard it is for a dyslexic child to read.
Now, they can do it,
and they do it every day that they're in school,
but it's a challenge for them.
And it's important to understand that challenge.
Or Julia, who bears the name of a special little girl in my life,
who has Tourette's syndrome.
And it's actually one of my favorite scenes is that one. If you look in the
book you'll see one of the symptoms of Tourette's is uncontrolled body
movement. Blinking is one of them but so are unexpected motions sometimes sounds.
And Julia's blinking and the owl blinks back at her.
But Julia had an incident when she was smaller.
She was in a store, and her turrets went into action, and she was moving around uncontrollably.
And a woman looked at her and said,
don't you have a mother that can control you?
Wow.
Thankfully, she does.
She has a mother who's a schoolteacher and set that lady straight.
Oh, I love it.
But every single story in the book has that feeling of overcoming.
I also love that you have the book in Spanish as well.
Just Ask, and Solo Pregunta, if I've said that correctly.
And the book is available now.
Just Ask, which is exactly what I'm going to be doing with Justice Sotomayor after the break.
I'll be just asking questions I have about the Supreme Court.
We'll be right back.
Hey everybody, John Stewart here.
I am here to tell you about my new podcast, the weekly show.
It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID.
Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me.
The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be
talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but
in importance it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts
go, but how many of them come out on Thursday?
I mean, talk about innovative.
Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.
Welcome back to the daily show.
We are honored to be joined by a Supreme Court justice.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor everybody, still here with us on the show.
So, I've always wondered what it is like
to be on a Supreme Court, and not just in terms of the legal part of it,
but all of the pressures that come with the job, you know,
shaping the course of a country and at the same time, trying to remove yourself from the fray of to define, to define, to define, to to, to, to, to, to, the the to, to, the to, the to, the to, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, is, is, is, anda, is, and, is, is, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, toe, the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the, the the the the the the the, is, is, ws.e.s.s, ws, ws, is, w.s, w. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toxxh. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. a country and at the same time, trying to remove yourself from the fray of what's defining
what is happening in that country.
How removed our Supreme Court justices from the everyday fray?
Are you just like Instagram only?
No Twitter?
Is that what you do?
I don't do either.
Some of my colleagues might.
I won't give them up.
I'm going to say Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I'm saying Ruth Biddy Ginsburg, Twitter.
That's what I'm going with.
I think that would be far-fetched.
Every one of the nine justices were incredibly devoted citizens.
And they were very active in our world
before they became justices.
Some of them were even in the political arena.
Some of them have worked for the White House, others.
Everybody has, as one of my dear judge friends once said to me.
Most judges are political, either in the capital P sense or the small P sense.
And the capital P is those who have worked in politics, the small P are people like me
who were involved in non-profit organization and other government organizations.
So everyone is an involved person.
And I dare say that every one of us is a little bit above the fray because we can't comment about the fray.
But we certainly read about what's happening in the world.
And we stay tuned to the news.
I'm not going to say which channels.
But every.
She watches the Daily Show.
I mean, that's what. No, no, no, no, you can't applaud because
then it would be true.
We know, but sorry, let's carry on.
Please, I forgive them, Justice.
I know, we know, but carry on.
But the point is that we're not monastic in the sense of not knowing what's happening in the
world. So, we don't talk about about the th th th th th th th th th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thate thate, thate, that, that, tho, tho, that, to be, that, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, to be, to be, to be, to be, we to be, we to be, we to be, we to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, thin. thin. tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, tho, tho you then, you know, relate to each other?
Because one thing that has...
So we don't talk about politics.
That's interesting.
That's actually what I wanted to know.
Because you have nine people who have different political leanings who are all extremely
skilled when it comes to applying law.
And oftentimes you have to argue against each other.
So when you're having lunch with each other, when you're just, you know, in that downtime, what do you talk about? No politics. We stay away from religion and politics.
The two subjects that most people who, if they don't want to fight, should stay away
from. And we do. So, what do we talk about? What bad movie? What bad movie. What books we're reading and most of
my colleagues, myself included, love history books. And so all of us are
generally reading something that we find fun and will recommend to the others.
Interesting. We talk about kids, lots of talks about grandchildren, sometimes about food.
Any topic that any group of friends would have, talks about grandchildren, sometimes about food.
Any topic that any group of friends would have
that doesn't involve a contentious issue, we talk about.
Okay, okay, so you stay away from politics
and then the final episode of Game of Thrones.
That makes sense.
The, the court is constantly thrust into the spotlight,
especially in American news.
Now, apart from presidents that come and go,
apart from news stories that come and go,
what do you think is important in and around
a confirmation of a justice,
or what do you think the most important qualities of a judge have to be?
Because it is one of the highest positions you can possess in the land?
I'm going to answer that differently.
I'm going to answer a question you haven't asked, but I think is much more important.
What should you possess as a citizen?
And I think that in this room full of people, if I ask every non-lawyer in the room,
and maybe some lawyers.
How many Supreme Court decisions have you
read from beginning to end?
No one will raise their hand.
All the news people get is from the newspapers or television.
The sound bite.
Right. The headline.
Yes.
This side won. This side won.
This side lost.
But nobody talks about the reasoning.
Very few people do.
They'll quote a sentence here, a sentence there.
But I think if you're going to be an informed person, you should really read the decisions.
Because that's where both sides, if
there are two sides, court agrees a lot, so it's not that every case is split.
Right. But those that are, you should read both sides. To understand which arguments
were applied and why they were applied. Exactly. And I think you will think more highly of the judges,
and I think you'll realize something that most people think, don't think you will think more highly of the judges. And I think you'll realize something
that most people don't think of.
You like a decision, so you agree with the side that won.
If you don't, you're going to disagree with them.
But unless you engage with the arguments, you don't
understand how hard the questions are.
And the fact that even when you win,
sometimes it wasn't so clear that you should have.
And so I think it would be make people much more respectful
of the court as an institution,
but of courts generally, if they took the time to read those decisions
that they feel affect them so deeply.
That's powerful, but people won't read.
So my counter would be, my counter.
You count on that.
Yes, no, I mean, everyone would like the idea of everyone reading,
but my counter would be what you just said.
You said, people get the news from the TV and the headlines and the soundbyes.
The Supreme Court is still only in written and audio form. And I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th, the the th, th, the the the the th, the the the the th, th, the the th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the.a, thean, thean, thean, tho.a, thean, thean, the.a, the.a, thi, thi, the Supreme Court is still only in written and audio form.
And I'm saying like I could produce like a courtroom show where like you guys are on camera.
Because I'm sure some people don't even recognize you in the street and you affect the country.
You could be signing autographs.
I'm not saying I'm, I could make you famous.
I'm just saying like, you know, I'm saying we could do, like, do you think maybe the court should jump into the era of like TV and broadcast
what you're doing? No. You walk into our courtrooms and we're not made for TV.
The lawyers have presented us with briefs. Friends of the court call a meek
eye a lot more briefs. The courts below have made a decision.
We start questioning lawyers.
Most of the time, the audience doesn't understand
what we're talking about.
Because we're asking from knowledge.
We're asking from the place where we have a question
after everybody's finished explaining everything to us.
And so what we say can sometimes just be
challenging for the sake of eliciting a response. Sometimes it can be
genuine doubt about what the position of a person might be. Sometimes we're
talking to each other and we're raising points through the questions that we
want our colleagues to consider with us
because we're thinking about it and we know we're going to bring it up at
conference among ourselves so it's nice to get it out so that we can have some
time to think on it. So there's lots of reasons for what we're doing but
none of them are ever perfectly understood, often not, among the people who are
listening. And I think if our arguments were televised, it might change the dynamic. You're going to get
some people who will ask less questions. We've already have one person who's made that choice.
Right. If you want more, I think it could happen.
You would have more studied questions
rather than those questions which are less studied and more inquisitive
and that we do ask and seek answers to.
And we're human beings.
And the drawer to play the TV affects every human being.
And so I think you would change our institution so dramatically that it would be for its worse,
not for the country's betterment.
Every decision we make is written.
Fully explained, fully defended, fully laid out.
But you can't do that and maintain a show.
Now that you've said that, I feel like no part of the US government
should be on TV.
Actually, that's what some senators said to me, that the partisanship in the Senate
started to grow when camerasanship in the Senate started to grow when cameras
went into the Senate room.
Because you want to appeal and you want to win votes and you want, yeah, it makes sense.
The public that has no idea that those Senate rooms now are completely empty.
It's the chair of the Senate. It is the senator speaking and some members of his staff.
There is no one else in the room but the camera.
And they're speaking to the camera, not to each other.
And I know because I was interviewed by senators, they're not back in their offices listening
to what's happening on TV.
They're back in their office conducting business.
Maybe a staffer is washing.
But many senators told me that they
felt that much of the collegiality
died when they stopped getting together in that room,
and were forced to listen to each other, and were forced to sit next to each other and talk to each other.
Now they barely see each other except running through the hallways.
So I think you said a joke, some might think it might be a good idea to return to those.
Because I understand how difficult it can be to be natural on TV.
Just as Sonia Sotomayor, everybody.
Thank you so much. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,
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