justice thomas, but also of the late and great justice antonin scalia. [ applause ] it was such a special night, earlier this week when we were joined not only by our nominee and his wife. but also by the widow of justice scalia and his son, who was with us there and shared that moment. justice antonin scalia's devotion to the constitution will be forever remembered by the people of the united states of america. [ applause ] but this was president trump's promise. and make no mistake about it, my friends, in the federalist society we're in the promise keeping business in washington, d.c. now. before i say anymore, it behooves us to remember justice scalia's legacy and honor his memory. we all knew the late justice, some of you personally, others through his titanic impact on our nation's laws. the federalist society actually owes him a great deal. justice scalia was one of the first faculty mentors in the 1980's i'm told at the university of chicago. our country owes a great deal to him too. his incomparable opinions, even more his incisive dissents. has his successor said the oth

, nominating gorsuch to replace antonin scalia on the supreme court, and the real battle is about to kick off, and democrats are threatening to do everything they can to block neil gorsuch, and the republicans are considering a nuclear panel to get him through. i want to take you to kristin welker at the white house. how exactly did donald trump settle on neil gorsuch for his nomination? >> reporter: good morning, steph. we know president trump met with four finalist, including thomas hardiman, who we talked about as one of the frontrunner and ultimately he settled on neil gorsuch because of his solid credentials, and pete will talk more about that. bottom line, he felt he was the best pick for the bench. the question becomes now what you were talking about, how does he get him through the confirmation process? we know a robust strategy is under way here at the white house, and kelly ayacht will be shepherding him through the process. and mitch mcconnell has to get democrats onboard, and they are still fuming about the republicans didn't give barack obama even a hearing, and so will they

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vacancy. the seat that was left vacant by justice antonin scalia. this video we got a short time ago, you can see mike pence there escorting the would-be justice through the capitol. you also saw kelly ayotte, the former senator from maine despite the fact that she's no longer a sitting u.s. senator, asked her to participate there in walking him around. i want to bring in paul rallstein and a professor of practice in constitutional law at american universities -- excuse me. american universities washington college of law. sorry about that. professor, presidentrump said that the judge had a, quote, extraordinary resume. here's more of what president trump said. >> the qualifications of judge gorsuch are beyond dispute. he is the man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to ensure the rule of law and the rule of justice. >> professor, are his credentials in fact beyond dispute? >> he has very good credentials. there are things about him that the democrats -- the liberals will not like but he is mainstream and i think he's about the best that the democrat

court to replace antonin scalia never got a hearing. so that's part of what is at the root of this. democrats also make the argument they feel as though judge gorsuch is too conservative on various points. so you will see that come into play on the broader debate. again, the president really drawing the battle lines here, andrea. >> and kasie hunt, already i saw one of your notes that there were seven democts saying that they would vote for him. they need eight to block. but if this does reach a fight over whether it should be a filibuster or a simple majority, ultimately the republicans will win. they have certainly 51 votes. it's just that it's something that neither side really wanted to do but it was -- they can say it started with harry reid but they always made an exception for a supreme court justice. one other quick point to both of you, the question at that photo opportunity was phrased in a particular way about judge gorsuch's confirmation by a voice vote when he was confirmed to be a federal judge. the argument has always been that there's a higher standard for supreme c

supreme court, justice antonin scalia >> you disappointed he didn't speak you? >> not remotely. i'm thrilled with judge gorsuch and thrilled to be here in the senate representing 27 million texans. it's been the privilege of my life and continues to be the privilege of my life. i think the senate is going to be the battlefield for supreme court confirmations. the senate will be the battlefield for obamacare, tax reform, regulatory reform, rebuilding our military, keeping this country safe. and i jump out of bed every day. >> you want to be on the field? >> to be on the field as you put it. to be, as teddy roosevelt put it, in the arena. the senate is the arena. >> you said yesterday was the most important day [ inaudibl ] [ inaudible ]. >> kasie hunt as usual manages to get right in the middle of it. an important lesson for all of us about exactly where the republicans are on this, where the senate on the republicans feel not just about jeff sessions but as you heard him talking about the supreme court nomination. i want to bring in jason murray. he served as a law clerk in denver f

you go back a year ago where this all started, remember, it was antonin scalia who passed away, he'd be sort of a stall ward of the conservative side of the court, president obama picked merit review garland, that should be the replacement. republicans said no, you know what, we would rather stall and keep this seat open for the entire presidential election, garland would probably be voting closer to the liberal wing. it would change the balance of the court. they decided not even to hold hearings and now look at this, donald trump is president, he's got his own nominee up there, neil gorsuch and he would probably slide right there to where scalia was, id logically. democrats, they're furious, they think a seat was stolen that president obama should have been appointed on the other hand, it will not change if this appointment goes through the overall balance of the court from what it's been for the last few years. the dilemma for democrats, you're furious, you think you were robbed on this one. you think the republicans crossed a line they never should have crossed. how hard do

justice antonin scalia exactly 352 days ago. senate republicans vowed to block anyone president barack obama chose to succeed him and that's what they did, refusing to hold a confirmation hearing for supreme court nominee judge merrick garland. it worked and now there's a republican in the white house. joining me from the east room where president trump will announce his choice, msnbc national correspondent peter alexander. give me a sense of what it's like. >> we got the two-minuteteleprom this room is filled with republicans right now, the leadership is here. also donald trump's inner circle, steve bannon, reince priebus, kellyanne conway, all in this room.

by the late great antonin scalia. >> let's bring in amy howell from compascotus block. many are hoping that he will carry on scalia's legacy, but what is the evidence that he will and possibly that he won't? >> evidence that he will is really much more his philosophy. he has talked about how he will s. text you are list and originalist. you look at the words of the law, not necessarilyyou are lis originalist. you look at the words of the law, not necessarily what people might have intended. you look at the text of the constitution as the framers intended it, what it meant to them back in the late 18th century, not what we might think it should mean today. he's a big admirer of scalia, but we really just don't know a whole lot. many of the hot-button issues like abortion and gun rights that conservatives care a lot about, he hasn't actually weighed in on. which i think in part is what made him an attractive candidate to the president. >> you talk about the hot button issue of abortion and do we know his view on it? is it clear at all and what clues do we have from his past ruling

a while. that was a factor. his record. he approaches the law the way antonin scalia did. the confirmability issue comes in between him and, say, william pryor, a federal appeals court judge from alabama, who was considered. had some more difficult to explain to members of the senate from the democratic party, his views on abortion. one of the worst decisions ever in supreme court history. so you look at all those factors. his confirmability was definitely an issue. >> pete, when you look at, if he is to go through the confirmation process and end up installed on the court is he going to have an impact or is is he coming in too late? >> you cannot vote on cases that were argued before you got there. you must be present to win at the supreme court. so he'll probably -- if the normal rules follow, the typical -- if you look at that confirmation time for the current members of the court, it averages about 11 weeks. that would put him on -- some time in mid-april, the last two weeks of argument in the supreme court term are the last two weeks in april. so there's, what, six -- 12

justice antonin scalia. by the grace of god and when i know will be tireless efforts of naerve in this ro, i believe neil gorsuch will soon take his seat as an associate justice on the supreme court of the united states. >> we now turn to florida, where president trump is spending a working weekend. kelly o'donnell is in west palm beach. president trump reacting in a series of tweets, what's he s sayi saying? >> he likes to use the form of communication known as twitter. he uses that in a way that always seems to be responding to the news of the day. separate from what the white house might put out in an official sense. we did hear from president trump early this morning. taking on a couple different things. one in particular, very notable. first defending his policy on the travel ban with those seven mostly muslim countries. and he says interesting that certain middle eastern countries agree with the ban. they know if certain people rulowrare allowed in it's death and destruction. one thing that's getting a lot of taeattention is how presiden trump took issue with the judge that made

indeed a great successor to antonin scalia. >> reporter: and we've seen it so many times from the campaign to this new presidency that mike pence is often hitting a different note when president trump is focused in something that is deemed controversial. also tonight the president is going to attend about the first lady the red cross gala that is the 60th anniversary that is hosted at his home. judging by other times when there have been events at his home, there are opportunities for the media to at least see the president and first lady which raises the possibility. perhaps he'll have something to say about this on camera tonight. we were told by white house officials that the issue of refugees did come up with president trump's phone call with the prime minister of italy. he also spoke wit ukraine's leader and they talked about the sensitive issue of russia. tomorrow more foreign leader calls as well. richard? >> kelly o'donnell live for us in west palm beach, florida. ann thompson is in the middle of a group of protesters. this is near the president's mar-a-lago residence. >>

you for watching the news on a night like this and thank you for watching it here. antonin scalia, nino to his friends, he was beloved by his fellow supreme court justices. even the justices who disagreed with him the most, perhaps especially the justices who disagreed with him the most in terms of their day jobs. they loved his company. justice scalia and justice ruth bader ginsburg they shared a love of opera. justice scalia and justice elena kagan, they went hunting and fishing together. justice scalia was deeply and antagonistally and provocatively conservative. he was also witty, he was also apparently really fun to be with and he lived an active life. he also had heart trouble.

pick to replace justice antonin scalia. we'll talk to people who know him. we'll take a close look at some of his past rulings and what they tell us about how he might act on the supreme court. boost it's about moving forward not back. it's looking up not down. it's feeling up thinking up living up. it's being in motion... in body in spirit in the now. boost. it's not just nutrition. it's intelligent nutrition. with 26 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. all in 3 delicious flavors. it's choosing to go in one direction... up. boost. be up for it. ♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. but when we brought our daughter home, that was it. now i have nicoderm cq. the nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release technology helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. it's the best thing that ever happened to me. every great why needs a great how. trump, who has said he would be for the working man and woman, has not chosen someone w

court justice to replace antonin scalia, that's the 5-4, that's when you're saying that the white house gets what they want. >> they obviously much more likely to get what they want, and that will govern whether he can put restrictions on the countries or add additional countries or add additional restrictions. one thing which also hasn't been talked about, which i think both trump and the other side ought to think about is that if we can't ban people coming in where there are reasonable suspicions, he might want to consider doing what germany is doing, what norway is considering doing, and that is saying, we're going to let you in, even though we have suspicions, but we're going to condition it. you must wear an ankle bracelet that will allow us through gps to monitor you. this is something we can't do otherwise in this country, in other countries, people under suspicion, committed various acts, and afterwards the authorities said, yes, we suspected them, but we couldn't track them 24 hours a day. but with gps bracelets, you can have one agent sitting in a room with 100 tv sets t

, the widow of the late justice antonin scalia, somebody who we saw fairly recently at the white house when president trump announced judge neil gorsuch would be his pick to replace justice scalia. several people people will be in attendance whose family were killed from undocumented immigrants. at president trump's campaign rallies he'd bring people on stage to talk about this with regard to immigration. this will be a discussion of potentially economic security, national security, and possibly immigration as we look ahead later in the week, ali, to the president revealing his revised travel ban. on friday remember, it will be a month that original ban has been tied up in court essentially since the stay was put on it. the president might talk about his budget, too, something a lot of members of congress are particularly interested in hearing. here's what he had to say when it came to what he would do with entitlement reform with cuts to medicaid and social security. listen. >> you have an omb director finally. he says you have to take an axe to entitlements. u.s. treasury says

unimmigrants. he's inviting maureen scalia, who is the widow of the late justice antonin klscalia. this comes as he's appointed neil gorsuch to be the replacement for scalia. we'll being looking at that guest box tonight, clearly meant to send a strong message that immigration continues to be one of his kree prioritiey priority the hot button issues of his administration. >> and let's talk about a number that represents a stunning shift in budget priorities. the president indicated the military budget could be increased even more thanat. >> we're going to spend a lot more money on military. we have no choice. a lot of people think it's a tremendous amount of money. it could be actually $30 billion more than that. and we're going to upgrade our military very substantially. >> nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nichol joins us live from the white house. boy, has this got people talking on both sides of the aisle. these remarks came after he said yesterday we have to start winning wars again and then there's this surprising pushback from more than 120 generals, right? >> the genera