RIGHT IS POSSIBLE. NBC NEWS HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO CONFIRM WHAT EDITS MAY HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE RECORDINGS. JOYCE VANCE IS A FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY AND MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST. JENNIFER PALMIERI IS FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE AND HILLARY CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN AND AN MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST. SENATOR JOHN CORNYN SAID THE ALITO RECORDING WAS PART OF A, AND I'M QUOTING HERE, CAMPAIGN OF HARASSMENT AGAINST THE COURT WHICH IS KIND OF WHAT WE JUST HEARD FROM THE JUSTICE. BUT I WONDER WHAT YOUR REACTION IS TO HEARING WHAT JUSTICE ALITO HAS HAD TO SAY. >> RIGHT. SO PEOPLE CAN DEBATE THE TACTICS THAT WERE USED TO OBTAIN THIS RECORDING. BUT THE PROBLEM IS WE HEAR JUSTICE ALITO IN HIS OWN WORDS ARTICULATING A VISION THAT NO JUDGE WHO'S SITTING ON A COURT, PARTICULARLY NOT THE SUPREME COURT SHOULD BE EMBRACING. WE EXPECT OUR JUDGES TO BE NEUTRAL UMPIRES, AND, LOOK, JUDGES ARE HUMAN BEINGS. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN PERSONAL VIEWS, WHAT THEY'RE ASKED TO DO AND WHAT THEY TAKE AN OATH TO DO IS SET THEIR PERSONAL VIEWS ASIDE WHEN THEY ACT AS JUDGES. THAT'S THE PROBLEM HERE. THE CONFLATION OF THE JUDGE'S PERSONAL VIEWS WITH THE WAY HE SITS ON THE BENCH. AND THEN, CHRIS, JUST THE LAST THING I'LL SAY IS, THIS IS A CASUAL PUBLIC CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE HE DOESN'T KNOW, AND IF HE'S WILLING TO BE THIS FREE AND TO GO THIS FAR IN THAT FORMAT, WE HAVE TO BE VERY CONCERNED ABOUT HOW HE'S CONDUCTING HIS BUSINESS. >> JEN, OUR CHUCK TODD WROTE A PIECE, HE ARGUED, FOR THE ATTENTION ON ALITO, THERE SHOULD BE ATTENTION ON WHAT CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS SAID WHEN HE WAS SECRETLY RECORDED. HERE HE IS ON WHAT HE SEES AS THE ROLE OF THE COURT. >> YOU DON'T THINK THERE'S LIKE A ROLE FOR THE COURT IN LIKE GUIDING US TOWARD A MORE MORAL PATH? >> NO, I THINK THE ROLE FOR THE COURT IS DECIDING THE CASES. IF I START -- WOULD YOU WANT ME TO BE IN CHARGE OF GUIDING US TOWARD A MORE MORAL PATH? THAT'S FOR THE PEOPLE WE ELECT. THAT'S NOT FOR LAWYERS. >> IF THAT'S WHAT HE BELIEVES, WHAT SHOULD JOHN ROBERTS DO, DO YOU THINK? OR MAYBE AT THE VERY LEAST, SHOULD THAT HELP BUILD FAITH IN THE COURT? >> WELL, I THINK, THE PROBLEM, WHAT I FOUND STUNNING IS THE SAME RESPONSE THAT JOYCE HAD, WHICH IS SUPREME COURT JUSTICES FEELING COMFORTABLE JUST SPEAKING INTO A MICROPHONE, IN A HALLWAY OF SOMEONE WHO THEY DO NOT KNOW. AND PARTICULARLY FOR ALITO, EXPRESSING THE BELIEFS THAT HE DID. AND THEN THE CHIEF JUSTICE, WE DON'T KNOW IF HE HEARD WHAT ALITO SAID, BUT, YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW IF THEY WAS CLEANING UP WHAT ALITO SAID, BUT IT'S JUST -- IT IS PRETTY STUNNING THAT ALITO WOULD BE THAT FORTHCOMING, AND THAT EVEN IF THE CHIEF JUSTICE WOULD RESPOND IN SOME WAY. IF HE WANTS TO ACTUALLY PROTECT, YOU KNOW, THE COURT IN THAT WAY, HE SHOULD BE BEING, YOU KNOW, WE CAN'T KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING BEHIND THE SCENES. HE SHOULD BE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN MANAGING THE COURT, IN DEALING WITH THE ETHICS PROBLEM, AND PERHAPS SIDING WITH THE MINORITY SOMETIMES, WHEN THESE QUESTIONS, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THESE ABORTION CASES, THE CONTRACEPTION CASE COMING UP. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KEEP GOVERNMENT, KEEP THE COURT OUT OF MEASURING AND GUIDING TOWARDS MORALITY. YOU KNOW, HE'S NOT -- HE IS -- THERE WAS A TIME, YOU KNOW, I'M THINKING IN PARTICULAR, CHRIS, OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT DECISION IN 2012 WHERE WE UNDERSTOOD THAT CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS REALLY PLAYED A ROLE IN TRYING TO KEEP THE COURT INCREMENTAL AND HOW IT'S DECIDING THINGS, NOT OVERSTEPPING ITS BOUND WHEN IT COMES TO LEGISLATION, KIND OF KEEPING THAT DECISION, GETTING THAT DECISION TO WHERE IT NEEDED TO BE, AND THEN EITHER HAS LAWS ALL CONTROLLED OR HAS STOPPED OR NOT PUSHING BACK OR NOT PUSHING BACK ENOUGH TO KEEP THE COURT FROM BECOMING THE COURT OF GODLINESS, YOU KNOW, TO PARAPHRASE WHAT JUSTICE ALITO SAID. >> THERE'S BEEN ATTENTION ON A NUMBER OF JUSTICES, AS YOU ALL KNOW, JOYCE, BUT ALSO ON THEIR LIVES, IN THE CASE OF ALITO'S LIFE, WHO HE BLAMED FOR FLYING THE CONTROVERSIAL FLAG, THERE WERE TWO OF THEM OUTSIDE THE PROPERTY. SHE WAS ALSO RECORDED AND HERE'S WHAT SHE SAID. >> YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT, I WANT A SACRED HEART OF JESUS FLAG BECAUSE I HAVE TO LOOK ACROSS THE LAGOON AT THE PRIDE FLAG FOR THE NEXT MONTH. >> THEY'RE PERSECUTING YOU, AND YOU'RE LIKE A CONVENIENT STAND-IN FOR ANYBODY WHO'S RELIGIOUS. >> LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT MY, I'M GERMAN, FROM GERMANY. MY HERITAGE IS GERMAN. YOU COME AFTER ME, I'M GOING TO GIVE IT BACK TO YOU. >> DOES JUSTICE ALITO NEED TO ADDRESS WHAT HIS WIFE SAID THERE? DOES THE CHIEF JUSTICE NEED TO ADDRESS BOTH WHAT HE SAID AND WHAT SHE SAID? DOES IT HAVE NO BEARING ON HIS WORK? >> WELL, MRS. ALITO CLEARLY KNOWS WHAT EXPECTATIONS ARE FOR HER BEHAVIOR AS THE WIFE OF A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE BECAUSE IN THAT SAME RECORDING, SHE GOES ON TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT JUSTICE ALITO HAS ASKED HER NOT TO FLY FLAGS RIGHT NOW, AND THAT SHE WON'T FLY THEM RIGHT NOW, AND THAT'S WHEN SHE GOES ON TO TALK ABOUT THE FLAGS THAT SHE WOULD LIKE TO FLY. SO, LOOK, THERE AREN'T HARD AND FAST RULES AROUND SPOUSAL BEHAVIOR, BUT THE PROBLEM HERE IS THAT THE SUPREME COURT DOES NOT HAVE AN ARMY THAT GOES OUT AND ENFORCES ITS DECISIONS. THE SUPREME COURT HAS MERIT AS AN INSTITUTION IN OUR SOCIETY BECAUSE THE PUBLIC HAS CONFIDENCE IN IT. AND WE ARE LIVING THROUGH A TIME OF JUST LAGGING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN THE INTEGRITY OF THIS COURT AS AN INSTITUTION. THE JUSTICES AND THE PEOPLE AROUND THEM NEED TO BE TAKING EVERY STEP THEY CAN TO RESTORE THAT CONFIDENCE, NOT CONTINUING TO DENIGRATE IT. >> JEN, YOU PREVIOUSLY SAID, THE BLAME THE WIFE DEFENSE, MAKES SOMEBODY LOOK LIKE A COWARD. DO YOU THINK, THOUGH, IT MOVES THE NEEDLE AT ALL? DO YOU THINK THAT THE SUPREME COURT IS SOMETHING PEOPLE ARE VOTING ON IN NOVEMBER? >> I DO. I DO THINK THAT, AND, YOU KNOW, BY THE WAY, ALITO'S WIFE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS FLAG. LEONARD LEO HAS IT. I HAVE SEEN IT. LEONARD LEO HAS THAT FLAG HANGING OUTSIDE OF HIS HOME IN MAINE. HE, OF COURSE, IS A VERY WEALTHY DONOR WHO HAS GIVEN A LOT OF MONEY TO CONSERVATIVE LEGAL ORGANIZATIONS WHO TRY TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT THEY HAVE, WHICH IS VERY CONSERVATIVE, AND RELIGIOUS LEANING IN THEIR DECISIONS, SUPREME COURT. SO I THINK THAT -- I DO THINK, YOU KNOW, IT IS -- I MEAN, IT REALLY IS STUNNING TO HEAR, JUSTICES NORMALLY DON'T VOICE ANY KIND OF POLITICAL OPINION AT ALL, AND TO BE SO CASUAL WITH IT, I FOUND -- I FOUND REALLY SHOCKING. I THOUGHT THAT THE DISCUSSIONS HAPPENING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, THE SUPREME COURT, AND I DO THINK IT'S GOING TO BE A VOTE. I THINK THE SUPREME COURT IS GOING TO BE A BIG VOTING ISSUE. WHEN YOU HAVE THE MIFEPRISTONE DECISION COMING SOON. ALREADY LIVING WITH HOW THE ROE DECISION HAS WRECKED WOMEN'S HEALTH CARE ACROSS THE COUNTRY, AND NOW YOU HEAR THAT THE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WANTS THERE TO BE A NATION OF GODLINESS, AND THE CHIEF JUSTICE IS A LITTLE WEAK KNEED ABOUT HOW YOU PUSH
