The American Civil Liberties union for several years. The vote was 963 in my favor. My biggest supporter on the Judiciary Committee was not the then chair, senator biden, although he was certainly in my favor, but it was orrin hatch. I think today he would not touch me with a 10 foot pole. [laughter] we are still friends, but if it came to a vote on me, i dont think he would be the supporter he was in 1993. It was similar with Stephen Breyer when he was nominated the next year. This was well into the 90s, a vote in his favor. It has not been that way for the four most recent members of the court. And it has been on both sides of the aisle. I wish there was a way i could wave a magic wand and put it back to when people were respectful of each other and congress was working for the good of the country and not just along party lines. Someday there will be great people, great elected representatives who say enough of this nonsense, lets be the kind of legislature the United States should h
Christmas million optional museum, here in washington d. C. Its just over an hour. So its absolutely a thrill to see so many people here for this kind of a program, my name is johnny gray, and i have the wonderful privilege of being the director of your National Museum of American History. Particularly on nights like tonight, and which we really can look at American History in unique and unusual ways. We are really honored to be joined by tonight panel Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg applause Supreme Court Justice Sonia sotomayor, applause catherine fit, applause and Supreme Court Society Publications director claire kushner, applause it is now my privilege to introduce the 13th secretary of the smithsonian institution, doctor david horton. Hes on Board Certified cardiologist a jazz musician, and doctor scorching with most recently the president of cornell university, and previously served as president of the university of iowa. Doctor gordon has interest in learning as wide
Guest well, the R Street Institute is a fabulous Public Policy Research Institute in washington, d. C. Many people may never have heard of it. It is relatively new as far as think tanks in washington, d. C. Go, and it really is extraordinary. It explores solutions, Pragmatic Solutions and its motto is free markets and real solutions, and its not overly ideological, and it really tries to take a step back and look at whats not working in our policies and our society and why havent we figured out how to fix it. Fix. Thats what i do there at the governance department. Its a really great place. To go toge you the website and check it out. I work in the center for over a decade i love the institution and i wept like a baby when i left my last day. I probably shouldnt say that a National Television but on its worst day, the senate is next ordinary institution. When i was there, i ran the Steering Committee for a number of conservative senators, mike lee was the chairman when i left and pat t
Justice ginsburg when i was growing up, the first branch was very different than it is today. And that persisted. I think back to 1993, when president clinton nominated me for the good job i now hold. I had been general counsel to the American Civil Liberties union for several years. The vote was 963 in my favor. My biggest supporter on the Judiciary Committee was not senator biden, although he was certainly in my favor, but it was orrin hatch. I think today he would not touch me with a 10 foot pole. [laughter] we are still friends, but if it came to a vote on me, i dont think he would be the supporter he was in 1993. It was similar with Stephen Breyer when he was nominated the next year. This was well into the 90s, a vote in his favor. It has not been that way for the four most recent members of the court. On both sides of the aisle. I wish there was a way i could wave a magic wand and put it back to when people were respectful of each other and congress was working for the good of th
This philosophy that some historians have called right related liberalism. The idea that liberalism was primarily devoted to the protection of individual rights. As a result, the Supreme Court became an important mechanism for this. One problem, which is that if you are going to govern, you have to be able to appoint Supreme Court justices. This becomes an increasingly fraught prospect for liberals. So the backdrop. Lbj. After 1964 with the Civil Rights Act, 1965 with the Voting Rights act, he has a sense that the Supreme Court will be significant. Unlike with kennedy, there are no openings on the court. Johnson essentially creates one. The first one comes in 1965. It is a custom which dates back to the wilson administration. There was one jewish member on the court. The jewish member on the court in the early 1960s was arthur goldberg. He had been appointed by jfk. Johnson however wants to appoint this man, his longtime lawyer and fairly close personal friend and advisor, abe fortas.