Barry Nussbaum: Hello, and welcome to ATP Report. I’m Barry Nussbaum. Our very special guest and longtime friend of American Truth Project is Graham Leger today. You probably know him as a long time national news broadcaster. He’s an Emmy Award winner and a scholar when it comes to politics and how it relates in America to the Constitution. `Welcome, Graham.

Graham Ledger:  And all-around lousy golfer.

Barry Nussbaum: We won’t talk about your handicap. So as everybody in America and the world knows, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the ninth justice on the Supreme Court, passed away recently. She served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from ’93 until her death on September 18th. She was nominated by Bill Clinton. She became a hero of the left, a very progressive justice, a very famous justice, and now the seat is vacant. There are eight occupied seats and one vacant one. Why is it so important, Graham, who sits in that vacant seat? And why is it so important to America?

Graham Ledger: Well, I think, first of all, we ought to back up to 1787 and the framing of the Constitution of the United States and did the framers of the Constitution envisioned these justices, first of all, serving on the court as long as Ruth Bader Ginsburg did? I think the answer is no. And secondly, really, what was the intent of the framers of the Constitution in initiating and forming a Supreme Court? Was the intent to tackle an issue like abortion? It’s a social issue, and it’s a moral issue as well, but it’s also a social issue. Was the intent to tackle issues like gay marriage and whether they should be delving into issues like that? That was not the intent of the framers of the Constitution. They figured the Supreme Court would handle certain matters between the states, for example. If one state had litigation against another state, then the Supreme Court would step in. But the Supreme Court today, I think, is vastly different from what the framers of the Constitution envisioned, and it has been nine justices, Barry, I believe, for somewhere in the order of one hundred and fifty years. And we know the holy grail of the radical left since FDR is to try and stack the Supreme Court, right? FDR wanted to add a couple of justices, and he failed in that effort. But we hear what’s echoing through the halls of Washington, D.C. right now and out of the mouths of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, and that is threats to try and stack the Supreme Court. If Joe Biden happens to limp into the presidency and Schumer becomes the leader of the United States Senate, and Nancy Pelosi holds the House, this is exactly what they’re going to do. The Democrat Party follows through with its threats. So this is all intertwined. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has become wholly political. The framers of the Constitution did not envision this way. As I said, we have nine Supreme Court justices. And if, for example, this Aimee Coney Barrett, and we can talk about her later if you wish, if she is the nominee and if she is a constructionist and if she is an originalist, which is what we want on the Supreme Court, we don’t want a Ruth Bader Ginsburg legislating from the bench, especially on social issues. And if Aimee Coney Barrett is a pure constructionist and constitutionalist, that’s exactly what you want. You don’t want a Republican per-say or a Democrat per-say on the court. You want someone who is going to interpret the Constitution as it is written and not legislate from the bench. So I guess to try and answer your question, of why it’s so important, because right now at least two of the three of the justices, I should say, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, are I would put them in the radical left category. And so the closer the court gets to the Constitution, which I believe is centered when I look at myself as a constitutionalist, I consider myself dead center. Not left, not right, and that’s what you want on the court. The John Roberts court is wholly unpredictable, but the more Clarence Thomas types we can have on the Supreme Court, the better off this republic is.

Barry Nussbaum: There’s a lot of noise in the press and on the left from the leadership of the Democratic party, mostly, that you can’t nominate a justice in an election year. When the president’s up for reelection, or there’s going to be a new election. I looked at the history of this, and there have been 19 nominations to the Supreme Court in an election year where the presidency was held by the same party as the Senate. Which is exactly where we are today and 17 out of the 19 times or roughly 90 percent of the time that justice was confirmed. Where is the justification for this “we’re going to burn it all down” mentality from the left if President Trump does his job and attempts to fill the seat? And if the Senate does their job, which is to advise and consent, obviously, and then to vote on that nomination, why the burn it down response instead of, well, let’s see who he proposes.

Graham Ledger: There is no justification for that, Barry, and you know the answer to that question. You have these people who go on television or people who are part of the Democrat Party suggesting to burn the system down if they don’t get their way. This has been, unfortunately, the MO of the modern Democrat Party. Right? It’s not just relegated to the next justice of the United States Supreme Court. They talk about burning down the electoral system. Right? They want, there’s a movement, of course, to remove the Electoral College and go to a straight popular vote for president United States, which would then relegate Republicans to the sideline. The modern Democrat Party is so drunk on power that they are willing not only to burn down the system but to tell you they’re going to do it.

Barry Nussbaum: Graham, thanks so much for joining us today. Tell our viewers across America where they can get your opinions and where they can follow you.

Graham Ledger: Well, you can go to Grahamledger.com. That’s Grahamledger.com, and you can see some of my videos there, and you can also subscribe to my podcast, which is called The Ledger Report. All you have to do is hit subscribe, and it’s for free. There’s no charge put in your email, and you can get my podcast delivered to you a couple, three times a week, right in your email box, Barry. If you haven’t signed up, then please sign up.

Barry Nussbaum: I will make sure to do it again, I haven’t been seeing it. I probably did it wrong. You know me, I’m not the most technical guy, and for those of you that haven’t subscribed to ATP Report, take out your cell phones, text the message TRUTH and send it to 88202. You’ll be automatically subscribed to what we’re doing at ATP. You’ll get it on your cell phone every couple of days, and like Graham, we never charge for content either. For ATP Report, I’m Barry Nussbaum.