>>> A NEW LOOK SENATOR EDWARD KENNEDY'S LIFE, HIS DIARY
DETAILS WHAT HE TOOK FROM SAMUEL ALITO TO RESPECT THE PRECEDENT
OF THE ROE V. WADE RULING. IT DETAILS CONVERSATIONS THAT HE
HAD WITH ALITO BACK IN 2005. SENATOR KENNEDY RECORDS ALITO AS
VOWING TO, QUOTE, ADHERE TO PRECEDENT.
SAYING I BELIEVE IN A RIGHT TO PRIVACY AND CALLING THE MATTER,
QUOTE, SETTLED. FAST FORWARD 16 YEARS.
IT WAS JUSTICE ALITO WHO WROTE THE DECISION ERASING ROE V. WADE
THIS SUMMER AND ENDING ITS GUARANTEE TO ABORTION RIGHTS,
FEDERAL GUARANTEE. THE REVELATION COMES FROM THIS
NEW BOOK, INCLUDING NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN EXCERPTS FROM
THE SENATOR'S OWN DIARY. THE AUTHOR JOINS US NOW.
IT'S GREAT TO SEE YOU. LET'S CONTINUE FIRST ON THIS
THEME. WE NOW LIVE IN THE DOBBS
AMERICA, NOT THE ROE V. WADE AMERICA.
ABORTION IS STATE BY STATE. SENATOR KENNEDY SUCH A PLAYER IN
THE DAY. YOU WROTE A PIECE IN "THE NEW
YORK TIMES" YESTERDAY ABOUT KENNEDY ASKING HIM, BECAUSE
ALITO HAD WRITTEN A MEMO WHERE HE SAID I OPPOSE ROE.
JUDGE ALITO ASSURED MR. KENNEDY HE SHOULD NOT PUT TOO MUCH STOCK
IN THE MEMO. HE HAD BEEN SEEKING A PROMOTION
AND WROTE WHAT HE THOUGHT HIS BOSSES WANTED TO HEAR.
I WAS A YOUNGER PERSON, JUDGE ALITO SAID.
I HAVE MATURED A LOT. A, THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS BUT
JUST, B, WHAT DID YOU LEARN GOING THROUGH THIS FASCINATING
DIARY? >> AS YOU KNOW, TED KENNEDY HAD
BEEN ONE OF THE LEADERS IN THE BATTLE TO DEFEAT ROBERT BORK
BACK IN THE REAGAN YEARS WHEN BORK WAS DOMINATED TO THE
SUPREME COURT. AND THE LESSON THAT THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY CAME AWAY FROM WAS THAT WE CAN'T HAVE OUR
NOMINEES GOING UP THERE AND DOING INTELLECTUAL COMBAT WITH
THE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE BECAUSE WE SOUND TO HEARTLESS
AND WE SOUND LIKE WE ARE GOING TO DO A WHOLE BUNCH OF STUFF
THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON'T WANT.
SO WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THEM GO UP AND IN A SUCCESSION OF RIP
NOMINEES WENT UP AND ALL SAID THINGS LIKE I WILL RESPECT
PRECEDENT. I HONOR WHAT'S HAPPENED BEFORE.
THERE'S A JUDICIAL THEORY CALLED STARE DECISIS WHICH MEANS WE
DON'T GO BACK AND WRECK 50-YEAR-OLD JUDICIAL DECISIONS.
SO WHEN HE WAS IN THIS PRIVATE CONVERSATION WITH TED KENNEDY,
JUDGE ALITO SAID THINGS LIKE I RESPECT PRECEDENT.
I BELIEVE I'M GOING TO ADHERE TO THAT.
I HAVE CONSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES.
ALL THINGS THAT SORT OF GIVE THE INCLINATION THAT HE WOULD BE AT
LEAST A NEUTRAL PERSON ON SOMETHING LIKE ROE V. WADE AND
OF COURSE HE WAS NOT. HE WROTE THE DECISION THAT
OVERTURNED IT. >> OF COURSE HE WAS NOT.
IT'S FASCINATING. SO MANY BOOKS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN
ABOUT THE SENATOR THAT IT IS REMARKABLE THE REPORTER YOU'VE
DONE TO FIND SO MANY NEW DETAILS, INCLUDING ABOUT ONE OF
THE GREAT TRAGEDIES IN SENATOR KENNEDY'S LIFE, THE ACCIDENT AT
C CHAPPAQUIDDICK.
YOU GOT ACTRESS TO ARTHUR SCHLESSINGER AND ADVISOR TO
PRESIDENT KENNEDY. IN THIS DIARY JEAN THINKS THAT
TEDDY PANICKED. HE HOPED THAT HE COULD FIND SOME
WAY TO COVER IT ALL UP. WHAT ELSE DID YOU LEARN ABOUT
CHAPPAQUIDDICK? >> FIRST OF ALL, THAT HE REALLY
WAS PANICKED BUT HE WAS ALSO POSSIBLY SUFFERING THE EFFECTS
OF A CONCUSSION FROM THE CAR ACCIDENT.
HE WAS IN THIS SORT OF DREAM WORLD OF IMAGINE NAL MAGICAL
THINKING WHERE HE HOPED HE WOULD SEE MARY JO WALKING DOWN THE
ROAD BUT IN THE END HE MADE A VERY COLD DECISION THAT EVEN HIS
MOTHER, ROSE KENNEDY, FAULTED HIM FOR, WHICH WAS TO GO TO
EDGARTOWN, GET DRESSED, GO DOWN TO A HOTEL LOBBY IN THE MIDDLE
OF THE MORNING AND THEN HAVE BREAKFAST WITH FRIENDS ON THE
BALCONY AND MAKE IT SEEM THAT HE HAD NOT BEEN THERE.
FINALLY TWO OF HIS AIDES AND FRIENDS CAME TO HIM AND SAID YOU
CAN'T DO THIS. YOU HAVE TO GO REPORT THE CRIME.
AND THAT WAS WHAT HE HAD TOLD JEAN KENNEDY SMITH, HIS SISTER.
SO THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE THIS TALE CONFIRMED OUT OF THE
SENATOR'S OWN MOUTH. >> YOU ALSO HAVE IN HERE AND IT
FITS WITH THIS, ABOUT HIS ROLE IN THE FAMILY HERE.
THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN MESS UP IN LIFE AND NOT GET CAUGHT.
TED KENNEDY'S FATHER, JOSEPH, TOLD HIM YOU'RE NOT ONE OF THEM.
>> THE WHOLE BOOK IS ALMOST A SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY, ABOUT THE
YOUNGEST SON WHO NEVER EXPECTED TO HAVE TO SHOULDER THE BURDENS
OF THE CROWN. THROUGH AN INCREDIBLE SERIES OF
EVENTS, THE THREE OLDER BROTHERS SUFFER VIOLENT DEATHS.
HERE'S TEDDY UNPREPARED, IGNORED FOR LARGE SECTIONS OF HIS
CHILDHOOD AND NOW HE'S THE ONE WHO HAS TO CARRY THE BURDEN,
CARRY THE MANTLE FORWARD. >> FASCINATING WORK ABOUT A
FASCINATING MAN. APPRECIATE YOUR TIME TODAY,