We read briefs. We read amicus briefs which are by the court. We read the record that has been created below, the decisions of courts across the country who have faced the question. We then research and we right in we right and then we added. And almost every day we are Reading Research and writing. It does not sound very exciting. Then our opinion gets published. All of that thinking gets shown to the world. And it is what people look at. They dont really realize how much we have to do to get their, and it is work to get there, hard work. And remembering that every decision we make their is a wonder and their is a loser. If they dont like what we have done the dont think were smart. They think really is a. They think we are doing it based on policy. The somehow we just dont like what they like. It is so far from the truth. Judging is a skill, a profession. You are trained to look at issues in a legal way, to think about the question is not based on your personal like so dislikes, but on the tools you have learned to understand. And so the process can seem boring to an outsider. To someone who loves law the way i do it is completely. And the other half we are interrupting with the public. I have met with schoolchildren as young as second grade, and claire school, i school, college and professional, not just law school. The students who are going to be doctors, students who are going to be businessmen. Groups of all kinds that are represented in society who come to the court and be with the justices to have conversations about what we do. We get visitors from around the world, judges from around the world. I told you earlier, people around the world reader pieces that study are legal briefs. They come to our court looking to meet with us and talk to us and to each of us to learn from each other. And i travel. I travel to law school. But i want to reach out and teach people about the law and about helen so passionate about what i do. If in one meeting with people i can get them to understand our legal system below the better i hope that they become better citizens , more active citizens working in the community and improving for everyone. So we are busy on lots of different levels, not just being in the courtroom. The hours that lawyers have argued cases before us, it is a microcosm of the work that we put into it. The most popular question submitted was how did the justices get a long . [laughter] now, i know that relations among you all are deeply collegial, so i am wondering, what other conference rituals and the ways you all build relationships . Its starts with respect. If you comment to this process appreciating that every single justice on the court has a passion and a love for the constitution and our country that is equal to mine menino that if you accept that as an operating truth, which it is you understand that we can disagree. You can understand that you can disagree respectfully. Sometimes passionate words. If you read our decisions. That is because we really have a commitment to the answer that we think is right. And as you all know from your personal relationships, when people think theyre right they can get really agitated. We do that in writing. In person if we treat each other with affection and love because we understand that commitment and respected. And so we, you know i hope i did not use to many of those in my book. Unavoidable. We are family. We spend more time with each other than any of us spend with their spouses or friends because we Work Together every day of the week. We are doing our work in our office or elsewhere constantly. So when you spend that much time with each other you figure out a way of how to love each other. It is what family does every single day. Try figuring out what movie are going to go to on friday. I and stand in your official conference youll take turns. You can speak again until it comes around to you. It is a way of making sure that nobody hogs up all the time. [laughter] on wednesdays we vote on the cases we heard on a monday on a particular week. On friday we discuss on the cases that we heard tuesday and if we have a wednesday, wednesday. So we break it up a little bit because it can take time sometimes to talk about cases. The chief starts and he does two or three sentences to remind us all with the case is about, although we all know it is to ensure that were all on the same page. Sometimes, not very often, he will say the issue is this in the case. It comes around to someone else. I disagree. I think it should be this. You have to start there. So you start there. Then he tells you what is belief is and why and will then explain why he did not think the other sides argument made sense. The next person to speak is the most senior judge after the chief, the senior in years of tenure. In this case it is justice antonin scalia. He says either agree with the chief and if i do i do on everything except. I think we should mention this. I dont think one of those reasons is really a reason. I think that we should ask for this argument that way. He expresses what his thinking is a. And it goes down the line until it reaches the most junior justice. But somewhere in there someone might say i disagree altogether. Im going to defend. They explain why theyre defending and why the other side is wrong. And if there is someone who joins that they will do the same as he agrees to. It will probably say, yes, but we should say this. No, we should not say that. And by the time the conference since, when the writer of the opinion is ultimately assigned, if he is not in the majority then the next most senior judge voted in the majority assigns the opinion. If it is a dissenting group the most senior judge takes to read it. By the time you sit down to write an opinion you have of very clear outline of what your colleague was thinking. And its your job to write an opinion that other people join because you need five to win. There is a joke among judges. If you are on the trial court its about me. You make the decisions. If youre on an Appeals Court there are three judges. You know how to count to two. Your vote and the other guy that lets you win. And if youre on the Supreme Court you know how to count to five, your vote and for. Okay . But you have to write so that people will join your opinion. You want to write so that you get everybody to say youre right. And so, that is how the process of writing begins. Now, clearly after the draft comes in sometimes people say you really are not thinking the way i am. I have to write differently. And the conclusion might be the same, and thats called the concurrence. In the same happens. Im dissenting, but i will say, i am not dissenting for that reason. In dissenting for this reason. I will write separately. But we try to come together as often as we can. Yesterdays inauguration, you were great. [applause] the inauguration reminds us of the power of the constitution. Why does it work . It is remarkable that the guiding document has worked for 2203 years in the worlds most diverse nation. Why do you think it works . Because our forefathers did not write a document for the time. They wrote a document to last an age. And the way they did that was to try not ted define but to use terms and concepts that each generation could interpret to meet their needs. And so one of the biggest issues that the court is constantly grappling with is in this age of new technology what does an unreasonable search and seizure me . All right . So, we have dealt with cases about ten can the government flyover your home and use technology that takes the air that emanates from their home . We have had questions about wiretaps. We have had questions about the gps navigations, gps tracking and people in cars. We will have many more. And for sure the forefathers had no idea that the computer and computer chips would come into this, even benjamin franklin, i doubt very much. [laughter] that he ever in his wildest fantasies imagine that things we could do today. If they had used terms that were more specific than they did we would not have been given the opportunity to define it with experience. And so they did a mixture of some very, very clear things. You cannot do this. One thing we forget about today, you cannot quarter militia in peoples homes except in times of war. That is pretty specific. But there were many other things that they left generally. And i think that is why the document has lasted. It gave us a concept. We are guided by that concept, but we are not lead into a fixed time. And what worries you about the constitution . Are there any trains coming issues you might have your eye on . [laughter] are you aware . Adelle think you were. Many. But i dont think that this is the floor to really talk about it. But i will talk about one thing that the recent election has given me gratification about. Our forefathers were citizens. And back then there were all men, so thats why use the word statement. There were people who were of the community there werent. They were the elite of the society. They were businessmen become a very successful. They were free people who had high education, and they actually traveled the world and learn from other cultures. The constitution was written by men who had studied the governments of history and of other countries, and they craft is something that was unique for the time by picking and choosing from the various things that they saw working, discarding the things that they thought did not work and coming up with Creative Solutions for the issues that they thought had not really been fixed by other systems. So what i am gratified by is that more people are voting no then they have in past years because it worries me when citizens forget that it is their obligation, not to let the country just happen, but to create the country they want. That is why i tell people when they ask me, how do you feel about Immigration Law . Immigration law . How do you feel about the debate . How do you feel and i get all these questions. I cant answer them because they generally have cases that i am still considering, and i dont want people to believe that i have made up my mind because i happen to. But if i express an opinion that is what they will believe. But having said that, what i often say to them is, why are you asking me . Why are you asking yourself . What do you think . And what do you do about it . If what you think is that you dont like something because that is what this country was founded on, on people actually getting up and starting a war to change the country and create a new one. And so [laughter] spam encouraging civic responsibility. We should all the citizens states people. We should all be out there lobbying for the things that are important to us. We change. You take charge of that change, not the court. Last question. Thinking about your nomination, from your nominations your swearingin to the Supreme Court, was there a moment that stands out for you that was particularly meaningful . I think i spoke about it earlier, the moment when i realized how extraordinarily special motherless. You take the people that you love often for granted. They are in our lives in recent times dont really know how important they are to us. The most special moment the ball during the nomination process was that a friend put my rule. I wasnt letting them show me any of the press about the nomination. One of my closest friends, sonya, you have to watch this. And watched my brother being interviewed on television, and he was describing me. He started to cry. And in that moment, like never before, i knew how deeply my brother love me. Most of us dont get a chance to see that your feeling. Except in moments of tragedy, and illness or death. I got to feel it in a joyful one. That may have been the greatest. Justice sotomayor, thank you for a beautiful evening. Here is a gift from us. Pinkys a much. [applause] in the next washington journal we look at gun ownership in america beginning with the center of republican integrity recently wrote about the role of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms and a background check system for purchasing firearms. Live from the blue ridge arsenal , a gun shop and shooting range. In addition to interviews with a gun shop owner and live demonstrations, executive director of gun owners of america and Washington Times senior opinion editor emily weller, author of this years emily gets a gun. Live on cspan at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. From the very start we told the board that the approach we were going to take, which was pretty straightforward. And remember, we were sent there to sort of fix gm, the board in night. That was the mission. Go make this thing a Viable Company again. So we were all focused and brought the message we will design, build, and sell the worlds best vehicles to move quickly. We need your support. And we need your input. And so we changed a few things about the board meeting. We shorten them considerably. We stayed away from the details or did not get in the weeds on how you build a car. The bigger questions of financing, morale, positioning, marketing, that sort of thing. The board was very supportive of that. And we kept them informed and, you know, we just took off. Leading General Motors through bankruptcy in the government bailout, former chairman and ceo edward occur on an american turnaround sunday night 9 00 p. M. On after words, part of book tv this weekend on tv cspan one. The widow of cia director richard helms. Her book, she writes about our marriage took her from her birthplace in england into the innermost circle of the american intelligence community. She recently spoke at the British Embassy in washington d. C. This is just under an hour. [applause] thank you. Very kind. I am most grateful and that thank everybody for coming. [inaudible] and so i finally said can you come to the bar and he said what bark. I said. [inaudible] and so the only thing, is so scarf. Your thinking it was lovely. A woman that i did not know anything about. But its not really intend to write this book. Would have written a book. Eightyone, i think. Then i tried to write this book and found it too difficult because i was much too close to some of the events. The war and are divorced and other issues. And so vivid then in 2011 my grandchildren, my groan grandchildren made me promise that i would do it. I had told them stories through the years, never. And so he made me promise that would do it. In january, exactly year ago i was lucky enough to find the ultimate person to work with. As a complete professional. We were joined at the hip. We produce the whole thing in eight months. Most grateful. But that is how it started. Thank you. Thank you, for hosting this wonderful event. Thank you to all of you for coming to celebrate a remarkable woman and her intriguing life. I felt that the women of the greatest generation have not done their due. They have not gotten the attention or the credit that they deserve, and that is not to take anything away from the men. The men were extraordinarily patriotic, brave. They survived the depression. They fought a war, contributed to the baby boom after the war, but then so did the women. In the women really have not gotten the attention, i think, even though they were just as talented, just as patriotic, and just as important. Cynthia an ounce has experienced a close and personal some of the momentous events of the 20th century, and she has also known some of the most famous people of the 20thcentury. We were working on this book. Elkin told her, youre like forest gump. You just knew everybody. In this industry, in fact among back in 1964 when the beatles were here on their first tour in the United States there was a reception here, and she found a spot for herself to get away from the crowd and found herself sitting next to paul mccartney. Of course she did. Her life was like that. The most remarkable thing to me about her, though, is that she was not just a witness to history. She really live it. She has lived an extraordinary life, and she has lived all the incredible changes that have taken place in the lives of girls and women over the last century. When she was born in england in 1923 the liberals were expected to grow up and the wives and mothers, which was fine, but nothing else. Well, over the course of her life things changed and she changed. I hope that this book helps contribute to younger womens understanding of what their mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers for that matter and not to take for granted all that they have. She yearned all the time throughout her entire life to have a life of her own. That is the way she put it. A life of my own, and it really was about having her own unique that was not discussed as someones mother or someones life. As much as she enjoyed being a mother to the former children, some of whom are here today and as much as she enjoyed being misses richard helms. She was more than that. And i think that comes through in this book. That is an important thing that every human being once their own identity. We are going to begin today with our discussion with her service during world war ii. Said the crew of, and the southeast coast of england which is the part of the island that is closest to the continent. And for the millennium that part of england had been invaded by vikings, buy you name it. And the people and that area were acutely aware of the nazi threat, probably more aware than anyone else because they knew it was in their dna that they were vulnerable to the invaders. She enlisted in the Womens Royal Naval Service exactly as soon as she could come as soon as she turned 18 and was legally eligible. So my first question is to tell us why you enlisted and what was, sort of, driving you as a teenager to become a member of the Womens Royal Naval Service and tell us about being above crew then which was very special. You remember, the people in our time, 1988. 1939. In our area. And so after two months, you know, not too much. The west coast and live in america. And so i lived with them. In france. He settled and eventually committed suicide because he lost all his money in the financial crisis. But he by live with them for about a year. He was set up in the morning looking for food because there was no food at that time anywhere. Sometimes he would come back with a jar of marmalade and sometimes come back with nothing. He was very fit. Well let me have it. Thats the problem. As the problem with this. I have to be helped. Said he was such a naughty playboy when he was a child to me knows what can happen to young girls after dark. So then he enlisted me to go to two dances. The imperial hotel, the pilot had been taken over for the rehabilitation of airforce pilots, mostly from the battle of britain. And i was 17. I went to a tea dance one day. Was leaning up against the door thinking can i do this, can i do this. I was looking at these men. And i use bandages commit terrible this figuration. One young man coming toward me. He had all these bandages on his hands and his arms and his face. Is my ball was gone. He was looking at me. He held my eyes as he came toward me. And i knew that he did not want me to fines collected his face. So i made myself stand there. I went down and said, im going home. He said why . And i said, well, after go. You know. Im going home. And this was the middle of july. And i went home. Asset to my parents, im going to turn up. And so there was a great discussion. My grandmother was two or three years older. But he was an air force pilot. He was found on the Dangerous Missions of dropping agents into france and into youre flying at a pretty tough level and dropping all the agents in. He, in the end, flew about 80 nations. In this distinguished metals. Now the only survivor of his squadron. Last years 600 people. Its amazing. Still talk to him in london over the weekend. But i went to london. Much discussion about this. My mother was not at all happy. I got on a train went to london and worked for a naval officer, the royal navy office and i joined up. My 18th birthday. And i waited two or three weeks. And then i was asked to get to scott with. And, of course, always say. So turned into a Naval Establishment and hms duke. And i worked in an office there. So i arrived there. I was assigned to a man called richard helms. And he became a great fan of roosevelt who came over trying to win support for the war. Of course and sure. I certainly could not type. But then about two months later the rather large lady walked into the office and said there were looking for volunteers to man the boats out in the harbor and the south of england. So go off the harbor boat. And she a look to her and thought, she mustve been the one responsible. We had huge polymerous we take issue with and huge profits, you know, anyway, i put my name down as a volunteer. Of course then i got to promise. The very first group. They had no idea what to do with the spirit they give us six weeks training that they gave. And so then after the six weeks we learned navigation and clean the decks and clean the bad and everything. We were all in the harbor. But what was really wonderful about it, has worked on the boats the men walked off. So we really were taking their place. They went to fight the war. And then i was first assigned toss will ship. Couple of men stayed on. Slept in hammocks. And they had a hard time accepting it. So we plowed the Plymouth Harbor the ships were coming in. We were doing all the work. All of the torpedo boats and the submariners. We had two or three submariners. There really were tied up. And so that was particularly what we were doing. That that points the airplanes, when there were coming back. The things that they flattened. It would drop their bombs on their way home rather than take them home. So we had constant air raids every night. And so when you went to bed, we slept in one room. We had a curfew. He would have to put your valuables in your p. J. s. Your warm coat so that you could get up every night and go because you had to go to. Some number had to go to look for the incendiary bombs. And we would go down to the docks and would rise in the front of all those double decker buses and look at the people with all the damage on the way down to the dockyard every day. And then i was sense to a place where there were getting ready for dday. And we ran the liberty belle. There is no harbor. And it was quite different from the glamorous life we had led. Everyone was happy to be there. We were incredibly of the young men. And every night. And sure. Every night we had to take them back. If you can imagine, not a single one on cnn a single white on land. We had to find the different places for the sailors and the people. But i think the main thing well, the main thing at that time was listening to these people because they wanted to talk. There were young men. They had no idea. And theyve wanted to talk about their families. The one to talk about the mothers spirit and was thinking the other night, i dont think any of them ever talked about the future because they were unsure what the future was. I know, i sat for hours and hours talking to the hangman, many of whom, most of whom were lost about life and what it meant and what they wished they had appreciated more. So i really think that that was part of the world in those days, just visiting, listening to the people. We were having a hard time doing and so the queen you know her as the queen mum, Queen Elizabeths mother came to plymouth. Im sure she came. But she came on our but. And so that she could make us look more legitimate, more excepted as a part of the navy. Very good effort to do that. Of course she came in her ship and her high heels. It was very good effort to do that. I was struck that the sense of mortality that young people typically dont have that in a time of war, particularly with bombs dropping all around you, you all focus very acutely, and there was a real pressure to live for the moment, so you ended up getting married at the age of 19. Yes, i did. And after the war you came to america with her husband was a medical doctor training at the mayo clinic in rochester, minnesota. Two babies at the time, and you thought it would be a relatively easy transition because, after all, they spoke english in rochester. You discover that was not precisely true. Tell us about that. Has spent the first night was really quite irresponsible. My husband came home one day. We were to go to the mayo clinic. He had received a scholarship. I have no idea what the mayo clinic was. So he went off happily. I could not get the package until then. And i arrived in minnesota. I spent the first night in new york. Very kindly came many took me. Then she had this fantastic else. She took me on my first night there. Seventeen hours across the lentic. We ran out of food, of course. Little children. Bentonite in this extraordinary house. And then she put me at, took me on a plan to minnesota. And that had not even looked at the map. I had no idea. And my father put me on the plane. Tears were pouring down his face he gave me a bottle of brandy. And, of course, when i got to minnesota and there was 6 feet of snow and i have two babies, i knew what the bottle of brandy was for. Immediately we had this wonderful house that was provided. My has been said, you cant do that. I said never slept with a when the clothes in my life. And very, very different. People that are exchanging. I had never seen to the fish or casserole. Doing my best. The friend of mind who is a psychiatrist now lives in california, she and i were laughing about the other day because they have this wonderful houses with the washing machine and a vacuum. So the first night there they took me to the pigs would lead to buy food. And, of course, in england we have no food. The winter of 46. There was nothing in the shops. You could not buy anything. I got into the bigger wrigley and i was completely overcome. Like nothing ever experienced, but i could not get all that packaged food. Id never seen a can and chicken packed up like that, you know, chickens are running around. I had no idea what to buy. And the woman who was then a pediatrician said to miscoded carrots for the children. Grate carrots. The man next door, he wanted to take me fishing. This was the language there. And so as i was leaving his house, he was going to take me fishing at 5 00 a. M. To my turn to him and said, five in the morning. And he said theres nothing i would rather do. The had no idea myself. But the language really was quite funny. Hed take a course of remove. Its completely different. Anyway. We managed. [laughter] after the time in rochester you move to the washington area. Your children are growing up to be americans. And they wanted you to become an american. You hesitated. But finally in march of 1957 you went down and became a citizen. But tell us why you hesitated . Well, have raised them completely american. And given a great deal of thought. It should not be divided. And so. [inaudible] i didnt tell a single one. I went down and became a citizen. In those days s. C. All sorts of questions. And this wonderful husband of my friend in california said its all right. You can do it. They never mention the queen. And so i went down. They asked me. Then they asked, would you give up king and country. I said, yes, i do. By that time the queen was clean and it was really, i found it very hard to do. You know, i have been a school with churchills daughter. He was part of my life. He had done nothing. [inaudible] it was all very emotional. Never mentioned. [inaudible] put me in jail or barred my religion. So it was hard for me to give up my citizenship. The land behind me. Is it great to be an american . And dont know. We open the book with a vivid scene for 1968. Just flown to reno nevada to get a Quickie Divorce in the days before nofault divorce, very, very difficult to get a divorce back then. It had to be someones fault, and it was not easy. She came back was in a bit of a state. She drove her car directly into the middle of downtown d. C. The morning after the night Martin Luther king was assassinated in this city, they just exploded. The 1960s in 1968 was a time of major turmoil and change in the that states, and it was also a huge time of change in your life because you get you did something that was difficult, you get a divorce after a very long marriage. It was the time when the Womens Movement was really beginning to get under way in the United States. I was impressed that you were not inspired by the Womens Movement. It was something else. [inaudible] said to a lot of reading. And i was very inspired by the people who sell this country. I read. Coming from england, you know, i had a listed. And coming to this country and reading the stories of the pioneers and the women and what happened to them,. [inaudible] she was a woman admiral. But i really love the stories of the pioneers. It meant much more in my life than the womans movement. It irritated me, actually. It did not think much. Exactly. In marriage at the end of 1968 ushered in one of the most fruitful and productive and rewarding times in life. He finally had the opportunity to really have a life of your room. Your children had grown up enough member do well in school. You were involved in environmental organizations and then you get your first real paying job. What did that mean to you . It was really a wonderful time in my life. Sitting on the couch. But aside to join the environmental movement. Pesticides and all the packaging. And we worked incredibly hard. We also. [inaudible] no doubt about it. We made money in we went on television. We went on all sorts of shows. Put out a catalog. That did that today is a week. But the other job i had at the smithsonian, and volunteered. The smithsonian to my left hip. I interviewed people. I had all sorts of wonderful people who would call me. And i would interview. Anybody who could find i wouldnt you. And when they. [inaudible] he said, you dont know anything about the topic. What you doing . I said, well, i had people come down. He mustve done all right. The one test how you were. It was a wonderful job. I interviewed people. But talked about the sex life and all sorts of exciting things. It was incredible. Art museums. He was known as the man who kept the secrets. Probably his commitments we discussed a few times in the course of doing the book how you were surprised the spouses of people who work in the cia had a difficult time. They knew was never an issue. A have to say that i would not come up through the ranks. Obviously very difficult for some people. Nothing much more difficult that they did not know what their husbands were doing. I can understand. It is difficult for people. I think its incredibly difficult. You have to be i did not find that. I was busy with my own life. And it did not bother me. He was known as the man who kept the secrets. He was always quiet. He loved to talk about things that were nothing to do with this classified life. I did not feel any great need to know what was classified. He was the sort of person that you could ask him anything. He never crossed the line. There was no point in making his job more difficult than it was. People were giving him our time about vietnam at that time and about anything. I didnt feel a great need to know. I was happy talking about the things that we were allowed to talk more. So i think you can live with them and after all kind of with a doctor and did not know what his patients and thing. I dont think it should be an issue. And know its hard for some people to live with that. I want to be sure and ask you a question. He spent almost four years there as the ambassadors wife at the end of the regime. The United States role in overthrowing a democratically elected leader in the early 1950s is still hotly debated, the significance of that. In fact that history is reviewed in the opening scenes of a new movie that is just out which is actually quite good. What do you think is you look back and have seen the passage of time, the lasting implications of u. S. Policy decisions . I think its complicated. The way the two and the Prime Minister was ousted in 53. He was really installed and put back in power. [inaudible] the need the british needed the oil. I think all sorts of people have discussed but that was a good idea to interfere in another country. Think its still very questionable. I do think given the present situation you can understand or one should understand a little bit that the country has been overrun all its life says alexander and told what to do by the greeks, the russians, the United States, the british, and i think they feel its time i like to have a say in their own lives. Eleven a community surrounded [inaudible] you know, they feel they would like to be in charge of their own destiny. In i read very carefully in the book and now she would read it carefully because i think its a very complicated subject. Also the iranians are very good negotiators. They have been negotiating for 3,000 years. Our people are fearful if theyre up to the negotiation. [laughter] i think its incredibly important to understand there culture. I do think that in times and is not fully interested. There were not understood. Two things come out of this command a think that we should not interfere in other countries. This should lead by example. I could ask your million mark questions, but im sure people the audience have a few. Someone has a microphone. Raise your hand. [inaudible]