Proud san franciscans the didntn franciscan dutch live in san francisco. Both ofappointed them still serve on the court today. Pretty much part of the liberal block of the court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who just turned 84, has now surpassed by few months. In terms of longevity. Stephen breyer had an he served in the 1980s. As the chief dutch both he Ruth Bader Ginsburg congeniality on the corporate he got along with everyone. He was able to get on famously orrin hatch on the other hand. Kennedy and orrin hatch agreed on not many things. They greet in their admiration with respect to steve breyer when he was nominated in the last days of jimmy carters administration. Domination. Anyones later who could get along with orrin hatch and ted kennedy must have been doing something right. From replace to elena cage, so we get through the introduction portion. Ok. Kagan, who is a graduate of princeton university, and Harvard Law School, was also a marshall scholar at Oxford University as was stephen breyer. Working in the Clinton Administration domestic policy staff. She then became the first jewish woman dean of Harvard Law School. Then she followed she probably would also qualify followed she became the next jewish solicitor general 2009. One of the efforts of president s r two point hopefully under justices. She was the exact same page, 49 going a few month bet that that neil gorsuch was. What expects the golden era to get nominated. Thats right. Now, of exhausted and with me except for if we halftime about miracle. We are talking about legacies in history. Perhaps will agree is a historian, it too early to talk about the legacies of the sitting justices. Process in my 20 minutes before opening it up to the audience. I want to ask you some things cherokee audience some of your learning about them. I need to have you when we talk about these people as jewish justices, we are using the convention here that they were born to jewish mothers. Yes, thats all correct. To what extent are we talking about people who for whom jewish observance, spirituality, billy, was a significant appeared to you to be a significant aspect of their lives, up to the time that they served on the court, and while they were serving . Their jewish their jewish because they had a jewish mother but a lot of people want to know this is the lead up to the question to what extent their jewish faith, may or, cultural judaism may not have affected, or influenced who they were as people, and how they performed as judges. With the singular exception of or does a coup came from a and goldberg,ly, who is very active in the Jewish Community and has an annual passover unit with washington. Fair to say, that was more like a Labor Movement revival meeting. [laughter] it was indeed. Erennial guest was george the labor leader. Rob george meany. To say that was an obvious is i was shocked. Goldbergs wife yiddish talk. I will come back later on to one anecdote. To question your question is well taken. Justices werewish not practicing religious jews. Ndeis came from a family he grew up in louisville, kentucky. His parents were germanspeaking jews. He was raised almost as a christian. Said to admire the ethics of all religions and the rituals and observances in their home, they never celebrated the jewish sabbath or christmas chronic and everything but christmas brand is continued in this tradition. If i can tell a quick anecdote we dont want to give away the whole book. Prenticeht ok was a prolific letterwriter. 1900 his two young daughters the days before christmas in new york. A letter to them saying, please dont worry. The Christmas Tree is set up and santa claus will be here to greet you. Was close it is, he with brother alfred, who remains in louisville. Month for six weeks our cousin alfred would send them a ham from louisville. There were no hands in boston, but there would be these wonderful brandeis saying thank you, we are overjoyed that grinned as household is overjoyed. We just received your ham. I want to come back after we get done with the addition kite of all of the justices, or the nonsitting justices. To get back to zionism, theres an interesting story year. No, cardozo. Ok. Cardozo is descended from probably the freeman and josh preeminent jewish family in america. Who is a direct descendent of he was the only rabbi at george washington, giving an indication there were 14 clergy. This was in 1790. He was the first you ever appointed to the board of governors of columbia university. At the recommendation of Alexander Hamilton until Benjamin Cardoza would another jew be appointed. Of his cousins was the deputy of new york. We know that has yet says. ,ut what about his jewishness practices question mark he belonged to the spanish portuguese synagogue in new york, the of this continuance synagogue in the United States. He cap the ticket. When he was in new york he is special occasionally went on the high holiday. He very rarely attended service. Yet his bar mitzvah there. For the most part of mike who surveillance a trait cardozo would never serve a fork pork or shellfish in his home. By the way he was taken aback when on his first imitation to the grand prize when he came to washington, thats what greatness thats what was served to him. Fair to say that didnt augur well for a close relationship between the two on the court. Thats an understatement. On the court or off the court. Remains when he died, the Memorial Service was bad spanish portuguese he remained a nonpracticing orthodox jew. If and when he went to a synagogue, it had to be orthodox. Worldosest friend in the was ernie lehman does lehman brothers, the other brother of herbert lehman, the governor and senator from new york. When brandeis when cardoza died, he died at the lehman mansion. They took care of them he and his wife sally in his last week. They were so shocked when they had the funeral chair of israel one of cardozas other closest friends with stephen wise. One of the great sinus. One of the preeminent rabbis in america. Stephen wise was a reformed rabbi. Leaders of church and sheriff israel would not permit him to officiate in any way or give a eulogy. That shocked lehman, who was a committed reform jew even his close friend friends didnt realize how orthodox jew he really was or was not, because he never practice his orthodox judaism. Felix frankfurter born in the old country, comes to the United States at age 12 not knowing one word of english. Correct. Bar mitzvah . Bar mitzvahed. Goes to yeshiva. For a while. In bedside, they thought it was the Safest School for him. At 15hat question mark he decides, judaism is not for him. It becomes that she becomes a selfproclaimed agnostic. He doesnt to Harvard Law School. Hes the top of his class. Ive of photograph of him and his dorm. But, he wanted very much to become part of the protestant belief in the company country. He married the daughter of a protestant minister. The mother did not attend their wedding. He never set foot in a catholic synagogue in in a synagogue in his adult right life except to give an occasional lecture. Heres the paradox. In his will, to the shock of his protestant life and most of his friends, he asked that the traditional jewish career be recited at his funeral. Bayliss henkin. Lewis henton was one of his favorite law clerks, not only approximate practicing orthodox jew but one of the preeminent rabbis in america. A preeminent legal scholar. Was jewish a law professor at columbia university. One of the great authorities on international law. At one point he consulted the state department. Hewitt said one friend was a practicing orthodox jew. So frankfurter, very jewish until 15. Cast it all off, becomes jewish again at his funeral. He says to a friend, shortly wantntis staff to live as a jew but i want to die as a jew. So much for jewish influence during his 22 years on the court. So, were up to justice goldberg. He didnt belong to synagogue his whole life. He and his wife were Close Friends they were in chicago. Milwaukee. As teenagers in the Zionist Movement. He grew up in chicago. In his class at northwestern university. Could get a job in one of the big law firms, but got a job in a small jewish law firm founded by the two picture brothers. If this sounds familiar and the family that eventually started the hyatt hotel chain. Can we get back to spirituality . Oh yes. Im going to take my watch up to remind me. Spirituality was interesting. It is a much more jewish jew than any of the other justices. Didnt seem like he was saying it wasnt saying much. It wasnt. I will give you one example, then one great anecdote. He did notwas keep kosher. He would great insist if any of the law clerks observed posh roots, you would all make strictly kosher. One of the years alan gershwins who was then a strictly kidding jew for this culture in washington. Get a very extensive kosher caterer. By the way, his Supreme Court letterhead hear about the Goldberg Family recipe for corruption. Traditional to spiritually a jewish jew. As was his wife. One quick anecdote, very quick i hope. Its five minutes to eight and we are not up to four to say. Justin yiddish ok. Lys told the story of secretary of labor. His elderly jewish mother in chicago. While he was slipping one day, his mother asks who is this. Its president kennedy. So he answers, the president. To just a border to babita spread of justice that im i know youre not a legal scholar in your research you are able to discern any of the fact that they were born jewish. Fortresslike frankfurter was born into an orthodox family in memphis, tennessee. He also premuch cut his ties orthodoxy in high school. Really ined to be different to anything and jewish religious practices. His wife is not jewish she was not particularly interested in judaism at all. She pushed him in that direction. Was the first in his class at you law school. By the way, the same legend has it that what brandeis was first in his class at harvard scholastic average has never been met since, they say the same thing about fortis. William douglass waiters on the court he also couldnt did a job in the law firm in a big city lot law firm. He went to work at the new deal. As i said before, thats what he did helped lbj. He eventually get a new law firm in washington. Hisfortis imported wife was a tax specialist. That she will take a 90 salary cut. Never go short his wife was tremendous in that area. When he visited, they never had children his jewish nephews and nieces they told him about what it was like to live a jewish life. He knew very little about that. He was proisrael. His closest friends in washington for many years was the former israeli ambassador to the United States, later produce and debate some of his best friends were jewish. Some of his best friends were jewish. I should have put that in the book. May be answer to this question is obvious, since the justices we have talked about so far, none of them either they had no jewish up ringing as in the case of Louis Brandeis, or they had jewish upbringing which they forsook. As was largely in the case of the others. Fair to sayly not about cardozo, he just became a in different and an observant. Or fortis,kfurter, which was just a categorical rejection, this is a disability of my birth that i will try to overcome think thats fair to say. If its fair to say that its hard to discern an effective their judaism on their cherish prudence. It is fair to say. , as mr. K caveats gilbert, the justice the grandson of Justice Brandeis is here his parents had children , when Justice Brandeis in the late 20s and 30s had jewish grandchildren, then he began to write to them from russia shauna and hanukkah. That was a jewish influence late in life. I think its fair to say that little, if had very anything, impact on their jewish prudence, judicial opinions. Even in the case of cardozo. You,ne thing it did to which is a legacy of both brandeis and frankfurter, for the first time the of pointed jewish law clerks. Religiosity,ut of some of the law clerks were much more religious its fair to say, with possibly one exception with frankfurter, that it was negative actually but their jewish background had no effect on their jewish prudence. On church state issues for goldberg goldbergs jewish background did have some influence on his opinions. Think a couple things more about Justice Brandeis. You talk about this in your ank but Justice Brandeis had uncle with whom he was very close, close enough to take his middle name. He was buried there. S uncle boosted her brandeis eventually changed his middle name from in honor of his uncle. His uncle in louisville was one of the leaders of the orthodox Jewish Community. He was a jewish scholar who published a couple books on the bible with jewish publication society. Josh herthodox do was an orthodox jew. Race recalls in his letters his traditional suboxone are some friday or saturday would be at his uncles home. Didnt emulate his uncle in this way. It was his uncle who acquired him to pursue a career in the law. Now his uncle also was an abolitionist. This is interesting. Two of his sons, Abraham Lincoln davis, and henry clay denver. [laughter] was one of the founders of the republican party, the party of lincoln and the abolitionists in kentucky, was one of the three people who put lincolns name and nominations in 1860 republican convention. Closenesswas a great between the two. Was his uncles regal scholarship that inspired and ice. His religion religiosity and practice did not. He separated the two. For a fewurn now minutes to zionism. Zionism is important theme i think with the justices weve been talking about. Brandeis,than louis who was the president of the American Jewish scientist movement. Yeah. Heyour point continent contemplated resigning his Supreme Court seats in order to assume leadership of the world scientist organization. This is the 100th anniversary of the tougher declaration, in november. He was on the court it was an extrajudicial activity. Pushing and persuading Woodrow Wilson and the Wilson Administration to support this declaration. How do you explain the fact that we have somebody raised in a resolutely secular family, in kentucky. Of a descendent of the germanjewish immigration, living in a community, very unlike the shtetl existence that frankfurter came out of and moved into, Bedford Stuyvesant in the lower east side. Zionism, he discover and what does that have to do with Louis Brandeis is persona and beliefs question mark while the first 50 years of his life, he had no jewish connection at all. He was in areas with no jewish neighbors. He had one or two jewish friend thats it. Invited to be one of the negotiators of a strike in new york in 1910. For the first time in his life, he met east european jews. He found an affinity with them. His otherut jewish friends had always been a simulated german jews. Sudden, somehow, it struck a chord with him. He became interested from that experience and zionism. Some of this you mentioned there later played aroma Senate Confirmation battles moving political figure in new york at the time. Who was at their proposal, the founder political representativest in the United States they told him more and more about financing. Thisll told him more and more he did know about is on his uncle, who was a profound zionist leader. Early zionist leader. Time went on, he began to she was jewish legal most illiterate. He began to read more and more about it. His famous phrase at one point was that oh, what is that to be a better american this. An remember he said to be a great american, first you have to be a great you and to be a great jew, have to be a great scientist. Exactly. And that is an amazing proposition. Not only are there Many Americans who do not feel like they have to be a great jew to be a great american. But in any event do not have the tools to be a great jew. He became involved, it became a passion. He had wealthy jewish friends , the foundereyer of the washington post, others he brought them into the Zionist Movement. It should be noted, a tnote benjamin to do so officiated at the wedding. But brandeis was a charismatic speaker. He spoke in support of zionism and he made zionism respectable among christians as well as jews. In fact ok, i am going to give you the hook. I need to ask you to tell us one i am givingnk myself the hook in two minutes. People in the audience get ready your questions. I can pass around all of the on asked questions i have. Ut frankfurter while frankfurter in many ways brandeis, very, very different as a personality, very, very different in background. But was actually, for many, many years, actually paid by brandeis yes. To write and publish as a very progressive public intellectual and deputized by brandeis to get involved and andote the Zionist Movement the book recounts a fascinating story in which frankfurter negotiates a letter from the then king of saudi arabia saying the, you know, arabs favor Balfour Declaration and favor the creation of a jewish homeland, for which frankfurter took an outsized amount of credit, for whatever value it had. Hist fair to say that devotion to design his of was more the nature of an assignment . Yes, very much so. Brandeisankfurter to your book recounts beautifully how unbelievably tight end they were to the administration of the president s that appointed them and probably none of them were profoundly than felix given ther, i mean, long scope of fdrs tenure. You could probably say no one more profound than a and by the way but to the point that his law clerk felt free to take nap set the Supreme Court because they felt sure he was not going to show up. I did not know this. It was fortis who drafted lbjs state of the union address. There is no reason to think, is there that Felix Frankfurter had an overwhelming degree of influence, both over fdr and his, frankfurters own many proteges in the administration . I would just like, before we open it up to questions, i would like you to recount for us the episode you described in connection with the holocaust of jan car ski and he was who he was, what he discovered, and what he did in washington. This was something i did not know and find amazing. Certainly. I some of you may karski was the first, was the representative of the polish government in exile. He he had gotten into the auschwitz death camp and realized in secret what was being done there, so then became the emissary to tell the rest of the world was happening in the holocaust. And he comes to the united 1942 withthe end of the report that he wrote, but also his firsthand account of what was happening in the final solution. Frank was told porter is a very close friend of the polish ambassador. I, you tells jan karsk have to meet with judge frankfurter, who is come of course, jewish. Arski documents in detail the horrors that he has witnessed firsthand against the jews, and after speaking for close to half an hour, frankfurter gets up and says, sir, i cannot believe what youre saying. Arski says, mr. Justice, i would not lie to you. You misunderstand me. I cannot believe that in the 20th century something as horrible as what you are saying is actually taking place. He then turns his back on karski and walks back. Now the polish ambassador asked them to set up a meeting with fdr. Frankfurter basically meets with fdr before and tells him, well, he himself cannot believe this is taking place. What is incredible about this, frankfurter never lobbied fdr. It must be expected frankfurter, who lobbied the president on a whole host of issues, including appointing students to federal a campaign to appoint learned hands to the Supreme Court he is the close friend of apr of fdr. When it came to the holocaust, he did nothing. He had an elderly uncle who was his favorite uncle. He was arrested by the nazi police in austria, in vienna, and was held prisoner for several days. He expected frank porter to go to the president and say, please do something to help my uncle, my favorite uncle. He didnt. Instead, he went to an agency connected to lady astor in england, who he knew was a friend of the ambassador. Last thing. He was a protege of henry simpson. And close friend, John Mcquarrie, the deputy walked toof war, he work with John Mcquarrie almost every day. John mcquarrie was the War Department official responsible for vetoing a proposal to bomb auschwitz the death camp. He would see mcquarrie every day. He never tried to persuade him to change that. Correct, this is at a point in time in which allied bombers were bombing the industrial sections within five minutes of auschwitz. Theould have this was in in late 1944, when there was jews 750 hungarian being deported to auschwitz. Railroads toed the auschwitz, it would have slowed bythe process of murder many, many months. But mcquarrie successfully felix frank and porter, as far as we know, never did a thing to try to persuade friend henryod simpson. Ok. We are throwing it open to the audience. We have a member of the audience who has been sitting patiently by the assigned microphone. Sir, if you could identify yourself and let us know what your question is. Thomas. Rishaad did any of the justices and counter antisemitism after they became stream Supreme Court justices . And is there something distinctive about their jewishness that contributed by and large to their liberalism . I think most of the justices on the court who have been jews are left of center in philosophy. Does their jewishness play into that . Only brandeis in court does cardo and court does a za. Once they were on the court, they did not face it. All liberal. Even frankfurter when he started out. Writtener ginsburg has about this, attributing her support of social justice and for so many liberals, social and Economic Issues to her jewish background. Said me andcle, she haveny of my colleagues inculcated this. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the exception. Many liberals, they are jewish justices am a for example, like brandeis. Lets say brandeis and frankfurter even, in the early days he did not know enough about judaism to know the predisposition for helping the poor was coming from a tradition they really do not understand. But they were all nominated by liberal democratic president s. Get Ruth Bader Ginsburg has written about this. This is in their dna. Not all, but most of them are dissented from strongly religious families. Stronglyscended from religious families. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she was the rabbi atbi the camp her summer camp. [laughter] thank you. Im a student in the washington, d. C. Area and my name is nathan. I have been deeply interested in jewish history for several years. Inually, since i was elementary school, and your book is one of the most meaningful books i have read in a long time. I have read it cover to cover. Thank you very much. Just but youre very welcome. You are very welcome. My question is, throughout your research, what did you find most about the advocacy or ending the Death Penalty . That is interesting. Arthur goldberg went on a campaign he tried to get a Campaign Going to render the Death Penalty unconstitutional. The problem was, had he not resign from the court if he did, he might have achieved it and some of them, you know, some were really attacking the constitutionality. There was a famous harvard law review article. And i would say that is one area where he was most knowledgeable in the jewish religion. , i think, from his jewish understanding of what were thought of as jewish values. Thank you. Sir . I live in louisville, kentucky. I beg to disagree with you slightly. Louis brandeiss entire family lived within walking distance of congregation and the entire Jewish Community lived in a central area of louisville, which was very open at that time to german jews and especially polish jews. Present ake to slightly different perspective on this rabbi. Talmud and ied the proceed to the obligations of a jew to the treatment of , and i read the decisions of Justice Brandeis and then i look at justice not necessarily when he was on the Supreme Court, but his decisions on the court of appeals from new york, and i see the what is it . Requirement of honor among oftners the relationship partners, and i see the falls graph case, what do these things result from . Stem from how we have contractual relationships, commercial relationships. I can draw a relationship to the the jewish lawf to our civil law. Your comment, rabbi . I think there is a relationship in the case of Justice Cardozo. There is the example of the standing under jewish tradition, tell mood it talmudic tradition. Brandeis did not have that kind of jewish knowledge or education. Can draw ae if one connection between his decisions and those areas and they inculcated subconsciously, but they did not have the knowledge of biblicalstanding teachings that, for example, Justice Cardozo did. So, that would be the only thing. Brandeis did, you are right, on those decisions. It was one of the leading in america atices that point. And brian dodges name stays alive with the Louis Brandeis law school. Yes, and that would change within 20 or 30 years. We have one from the left. Now we get one from the right. So, i guess this is in a different way. Actually, i am on my way after this venue to another venue. I have some brandeis cohorts who are unfortunately just angry in white instead of red, white, and blue. Maybe can write a book about his influence on American Culture one day. Wilson, there was a program put together some time famous author the name escapes me right now it will come to me on second. If focused a lot on wilson. Unfortunately some aspects of his race am some racism, his antisemitism, his , and a lot ofs his upbringing from that point the first part is what really drove him, i mean, from everything we learned about him to sort of beyond that way that he thought . That smallmindedness, which is exemplified in the show about wilson, 14 points, he wanted them to go exactly the way he wanted them. He wanted congress to pass them the way he wanted or not have them done it all. Excusecond part is do with paul fro graph. What jurisprudence did particularly Justice Cardozo and brandeis add question i made to forge my legal colleague here about that decision or my soninlaw. [laughter] and a brilliant one. It would ber to say more challenging to pick somebody here who does not have Legal Training like myself. Is, woodrowronies wilson a racist. That he reintroduced segregation into the capital. On the other hand, he was in his somatic. The first jewish new jersey state Supreme Court justice. And in addition, besides brandeis, he did not abandon him. He appointed several jews. One of his closest advisers to im trying to the whole Federal Reserve system was the closehild of one of the advisers. In yet many jewish advisers. So, there is no record of him being antisomatic. Antisemitic there is certainly a growing record. As a growing effort to take off the name from the Woodrow Wilson school, etc. My answer. It is seems to be a paradox that he was not antisomatic from antisemitic from any record that we have, but he was certainly a racist. Last question from the left . You talked identify yourself. You talk a lot about Harvard Law School and yell law school. We know that all the justices have graduated from harvard or yale. Did any of these justices not go to one of these elite law schools and talk about the role of the elite law schools in normalizing or culture rising these justices on the Supreme Court . Ok, whats interesting i will just mention Merrick Garland for a minute. When he was nominated, his religion was not mentioned at all. To think. Brandeis, of course, harvard. Ok. Dozo went to columbia, i fairly good law school, might i say. Frankfurter, top of his class at Harvard Law School. Booker went to northwestern. A very good law school. Not officially ivy league, but very good law school. Ginsburg by the way went to harvard been columbia. Harvard then columbia. She followed her husband when he went to new york to get a job, she went to columbia and shes the only not only woman, but the only judge in history and two law reviews. Stephen breyer went to stanford. Kagan went to princeton and Harvard Law School. Acculturation, there was the decline of antisemitism in the law and legal profession. And brandeis later achieved much more notoriety, try to execute a court order on jewish admissions to harvard in the 1920s, but it was through these jewish withnts who grew up goldberg,r, ford or, the first members of the family to go to college, and then they prestigiouse very law schools. Greateras part of the perception in the law school about the bring decrease of antisocial video new legal profession. , and iandeiss daughter believe it was mr. Gilbert felt mother graduated at the top of her class, brandeis was very interested and she, of course, was interested to have gone to harvard or yale or columbia. The problem was there were no said and each of the deans that they would love to admit her but it would be another 10 , so she went to not a bad law school, the university of chicago where she met her husband, a number one student. Said think it is what she the gradual the klein of antisemitism. And all of these lawyers were either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants whose parents had never gone to College Going to the top law schools in the country and doing well and having distinguished legal careers. Thank you all very much. Youve been a great audience. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] it resulted in a naval after pearlthe u. S. Harbor. On june 2, American History tv will be live all day from the Macarthur Memorial Visitors Center in norfolk, virginia for the 75th anniversary of the battle of midway. Speakers include the author of the admirals the fivestar admirals who won the war at sea Elliott Carlson with his book , the odyssey of a could break who outwitted yamamoto at midway, the coauthor of untolded sword the story of the battle of midway, and timothy or, coauthor of a legendary a hero american dive bomber pilot remembers the battle of midway. Midway more real special on june 2, beginning 930 9 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan3. Words,ght on after hayes on his book a colony and the nation. He is interviewed by author elizabeth hinton. I am wondering how your experience reporting eliminated what you are talking about growing up in the bronx in the 1980s . Chris the thing about ferguson, if you grew up in the city and he grew up in the bronx you have the conception of cities. In cities there are racial frictions in bad neighborhoods and good member hoods. All kinds of loaded ways in Communities Police differently. All these different ways the borders interlocking overlap and cause the sandpaper friction. All that was tied very deeply to either the bronx, new york, or cities. All of these things pertained. The thing that blew my mind about ferguson was like, is just a municipality of 20,000 people. Its totally it is anywhere, usa. It is between the Northern Edge st. Louis and suburbs. You just drive through it. It looks like anywhere. It is just strip malls and parking lots and houses and the idea that what i experienced there was the level of exploitation on the level of friction,ression and the level of invasiveness of policing, the intensity of the humiliation, all of this in a place that was heretofore anonymous. Something about that blew my mind. Rwords at 9 p. M. Eastern on cspan2s book tv. Centennial ofthe the u. S. Entry into world war i. Anext, men of bronze 1977 documentary about an allblack unit that served with distinction with the french army. The regiment was assigned to the french army because they needed in