Week In The News: SCOTUS Nominee, Big Primaries, Russia Leaves Syria

A nominee for the Supreme Court. Clinton, Trump and a warning of riot. An American gets 15 years hard labor in North Korea. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

A Supreme Court nominee this week, and instant battle lines. No go, no hearings, says the Republican Senate. It’s your job, says the President. We’ll see. In primaries, Clinton and Trump go big. Trump warns of “riots” if he doesn’t get the nomination. We’ve got tough hearings on Flint’s water. Prison time for a young American in North Korea. A subway shutdown in the nation’s capital. An NFL V.P. links football and brain injury. And John Kerry calls the ISIS killing “genocide." This hour On Point, our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Ben Domenech, co-founder and publisher of the web magazine, the Federalist. Host of the Federalist Radio Hour and author of the Transom newsletter. Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. (@bdomenech)

Jay Newtwon-Small, Washington correspondent for TIME Magazine. Author of the new book, "Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works." (@JNSmall)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

The Federalist: If #NeverTrump Wants To Matter, Look To The Libertarians -- "The likely result of any significantly backed third party candidacy would be to throw the election to Hillary Clinton. In 2012, Barack Obama got 65 million votes, Mitt Romney got 60 million votes, and Gary Johnson – the only other candidate to break a million – got about 1.3 million votes. There is a significant potential, given the strong opposition to both frontrunners, that a third party bid this year could accrue a much larger degree of support – say 3-5 million votes."

TIME: Merrick Garland’s Best Shot at Confirmation: Lame Duck — "There is no certainty they the plan will work. The Republican primaries are in disarray and the Party’s frontrunner, Donald Trump, viewed with suspicion or outright hostility by the GOP establishment. McConnell has seven seats to defend that were won by Obama in either 2008 or 2012. Five of those are already toss ups—and the loss of five would hand Democrats the majority in the Senate."

Washington Post: Russia could redeploy to Syria in hours, Putin says — "Russia could rebuild its military presence in Syria in a matter of hours and will maintain powerful air defenses in the country for the foreseeable future, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, offering a chest-beating assessment of a deployment that rescued Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from near defeat."