Newly re-elected Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Daily Beast columnist John Avlon, and author S.E. Cupp appeared on Bill Maher's "Real Time" panel Friday.
Maher began the discussion with the topic of Elena Kagan's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pointing to questions about Kagan's judicial philosophy, Maher wondered why President Obama would nominate a person who is a "huge question mark."
"I find it very scary that the liberals win two elections in a row, the Democrats at least, and the best they can put on the Supreme Court is a huge question mark," Maher said. "The Republicans don't do it that way. Bush wins an election, he gets John Roberts a known, dyed in the wool conservative on the court. He gets Alito. Why can't the liberals get somebody who's a liberal on the court to balance it.?"
Booker defended Kagan's nomination and said that he expects she will reflect Obama's presidency:
"...We elected Barack Obama, we didn't elect a liberal, we elected somebody to lead our nation. We put our faith in him. And he's chosen somebody that he knows very well. He's known her for years. He chose her for a very significant position. She passed a Senate confirmation. And trust me, they looked into her background to understand who she is. She's a pragmatist, she's somebody that's going to look at the issues. She's somebody who's going to reflect the kind of president we have right now."
After discussing Kagan's nomination, Maher moved to the question of religion. He took issue with the premise of Cupp's latest book "Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity," and argued that liberals are not atheists any more than conservatives are.
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