Sell on cable tv this production they came up with called hillary the movie, about hillary clinton. And the Bipartisan Campaign reform act said that because Citizens United was a Nonprofit Corporation, they were limited in how much they could spend in the days leading up to an election. And and so, basically, this group i sued and said youre discriminating against us. Were not able to offer our message because of the Bipartisan Campaign reform act. Now, the court ruled in their favor by a 54 decision. And it was a very close decision and, obviously, hugely controversial. But one of the things that the justices in the majority said is that you cant discriminate against the viewpoint of a Nonprofit Corporation in this sense, you cant reticket them from getting restrict them from getting their message out. However, the justices in the dissent said that, you know, we put these type of restrictions in effect before going back all the way to buckley v. Vallejo. Its not that were keeping either nonprofit or any corporations from participating in politics, its just that if theyre going to do it, they need to do it through a political a action committee. And so for the dissenting justices, they felt that even within the framework of content neutrality, that the Bipartisan Campaign reform act was narrowly today houred to prevent tailored to prevent corruption and to prevent that distortion of the marketplace of ideas without restricting too much expression because corporations still had that outlet of going through Political Action committees to get involved. Its definitely the case that the Supreme Court is always going to take some tough cases, right . The easy cases dont need to go to the Supreme Court. And so what we tend to see is the court taking some very cuttingedging type of issues, right . Cuttingedge type of issues. What about lying about military honors, what about freedom of expression on internet, different areas like that where theyre continually forced to kind of evolve and apply their doctrines and their jurisprudence to new areas. And so overall, i would say today there is a pretty strong embrace of this framework of content neutrality but, again, content neutrality is not a straitjacket. Its just a framework, and different judges and Supreme Court justices can apply it differently and sometimes come to different conclusions in part, again, because they are motivated by their political values or their attitudes. For more information on booktvs recent visit to grand rapids and the many ore destinations many other destinations on our cities tour, go to cspan. Org citiestour. This week carla hayden was sworn in as the 14th librarian of congress. Shes the first woman and the first africanamerican to hold the position. [applause] in 1815 as senator blount just mentioned, Thomas Jefferson sold most of his library to congress, partly because he was a patriot, but mostly because he was broke. [laughter] the british had burned the original library of congress when they invaded washington the year before, and though a later fire destroyed most of jeffersons books, we still have some of them. They make up the heart of the library that we have here today. Jefferson, as you know, was a very, very unique man. Other people arranged their books alphabetically or by size. He divided his library into three sections that corresponded with the three main faculties of the mind; memory, reason and imagination. And when you stop to think about it, those are the very same qualities that define dr. Hayden. First, as a librarian herself she has the institutional memory necessary to run the Largest Library in the world. Thats a long way of saying shes a pro. [laughter] she knows what shes doing. Second, she understands the need to bring the library into the digital age. We have millions of documents that almost nobody knows a thing about. It would be a shame if they were lost to the world out of mere inconvenience. But its that third quality, imagination. Thats what i think is so important. We all think of america as this great land of promise, the place where people from all walks of life can get their start whether theyre farming the frontier or working in a factory. But the Public Library itself is the icon of opportunity. Its a safe haven where people can go to learn and to feed their everhungry imagination. I think of the writer James Baldwin. James baldwin, as a young man, would go the to the library and read every book he could get his hands on. When he was done, hed bring books home with him, and there hed be, holding a younger sibling in one arm and a book in the other. What would have happened to James Baldwin if there had been no Public Library . A great mind would have been starved of its essential material. Nobody knows this better than dr. Hayden. She was widely praised for keeping open her library during baltimores unrest last year. But for her, it was the only real choice, the obvious thing to do. And she really seems to come from really sturdy stock. One day when her 82yearold mom, when she told her mom that she was heading to the library which was right in the middle of all this chaos, all this trouble, her mother replied, oh, make sure you have some coffee. [laughter] our next librarian is an accomplished woman, and i have every confidence that she is going to make us all very, very proud. Jefferson once said i cannot live without books. Neither can we. The library of congress is our national treasure, and with dr. Hayden at the helm, i know it is in excellent hands. Congratulations. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the chief justice of the united states, the honorable john roberts, to administer the oath of office. Please also welcome dr. Haydens mother, mrs. Colleen hayden. [applause] please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, carla hayden, do solemnly swear. I, carla hayden, do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states. That i will support and defend the constitution of the united states. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That i take this obligation freely that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And that i will well and faithfully discharge and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which i am about to enter. The duties of the office about which i am about to enter. So help me god. So help me god. [laughter] [applause] [cheers and applause] recently, booktv sat down with the new librarian of congress, carla hayden, to talk about her life, career and her vision for the library. Cspan dr. Carla hayden, can you remember the first moment that you were asked about being the librarian of congress . Guest i can remember that moment because i was surprised. I had been advising and consulting because this was an opportunity for the Library Community to weigh in, basically, on what would be needed for the library of Congress Going into the next few decades. So my name was put forward as a person that they should talk to. And that went on for a little while, and then i was asked would you consider being considered for the position yourself . And it took me back a little bit. And i had to then think about what i was currently doing. Really Public Service in a state that had the Public Library be the state library cspan baltimore. Guest baltimore and maryland. So this was a situation, and i had become a baltimorean and was really working on so many issues, and i had to think how can i go from serving a community to serving the country . And what contribution could i make. And cspan why did you say yes . Guest because when i really thought about the treasures and whats contained in the library of congress and what i had been privy to as a librarian and what i knew was contained here and how excited i always am when i love history. And so to be able to share that with more people, was really turning point for me that its not just administering and doing something for the worlds Largest Library, but its an opportunity to make that library everyones library. And thats, that service at the, i think, highest level. And, in fact, thats how the opportunity was presented to me, would you serve as the next librarian of congress. And thats when it all came together for me. Cspan so when you first came to the library as the nominee, did you say to somebody here i want to see that . [laughter] and what was it, if you did. Guest i wanted to see Abraham Lincolns life mask. I had seen it years before, and i was mistakenly telling people all those years that i had seen his death mask. All right . [laughter] and then i found out, no to, it wasnt. He it was actually a rendering that he had four months before he was assassinated, and it was a life mask. And so i wanted to see that item again with the understanding that when that mask was cast, he was alive. And that was a moment. Because my familys from illinois, i have a couple of personal book shelves on lincoln [laughter] and i grew up with lincoln lore. My family is bury in the same cemetery that lincoln is buried in in springfield, and so that really resonated with me. Cspan whats the thing you like most about Abraham Lincoln . Guest his integrity and his struggle to and i loved reading more about, because the fact that he didnt come to some of these things that we admire so much about him now as easily as we thought. That he had difficulties in his personal life. I mentioned springfield. We visited lincolns home on a regular basis, and so to think about what was going on in that home and what he he lost a child and all of these things, that there was a human behind this person that did so much. And i think thats what draws a lot of people to lincoln and what he accomplished. Cspan there is a book in your past called bright april. Guest yes. Cspan what was the book and what year did you read it . Guest you notice that when you even mention the title, i said, ah. That, i was about and now this is where i talk about my age [laughter] cspan you dont have to give that away. Guest oh, but i was about 7 or 8, and so that was about 1961 or so, and i went to Grammar School in jamaica queens, and right across the street was a storefront library. And i cant remember if a librarian gave me the book or anything like that, but i just know that somehow this book, bright april by marguerite deangeli, was put in my hands. And be it featured a little africanamerican girl who was a brownie. And at that time i was a brownie. She had two pigtails, and the beautiful water color pictures and illustrations showed a loving family, there was a piano in the living room, there was a thanksgiving dinner, all of these things that just spoke to me as a child. To see myself reflected in a book and i thought i looked like her. Now that i look at the book, she was a little prettier [laughter] but it just meant so much to see what i thought reflected and later when i started as a childrens librarian, i thought about and worked with and we still are working on diversity in childrens books that children need books to have windows on the world, and we all talk about that a lot, to let them see something else. But they also need to see it needs to be a mirror. They need to see themselves. If we want them to think that books are important and books hold knowledge, if you dont see yourself in this important thing, what is that telling you . Cspan how did you were born in tallahassee . Guest yes. Cspan lived in queens guest yes. Cspan grew up in the chicago area . Guest yes. Cspan how did all that happen . Guest well, its interesting. I think we talked about my parents being musicians, and so my father was the, he started the String Department at florida a m university, and thats in tallahassee, florida. So i was born there. And then when i was about 5 or so, he always liked he played classical music, but he liked jazz too. And there was i love jazz, so classical by day and jazz by night. And he connected with another musician in a musical family, the atterly family. He was down in tallahassee too. So off they go to new york with my mom, whos this classically trained pianist, and me. And the next thing you know, im at birdland sitting on a, the stool in the front having shirley temples while miles davis and the group were will. And that was were there. And that was quite an experience. But my parents divorced when i was 10. I think my mom that was just a little too much. [laughter] so then we moved back to illinois. Cspan by the way, your moms very much with us guest yes. Cspan i want to know what she said to you when you called her and said im going to be the librarian of congress. Guest the first thing she said was your grandmother was right. My grandmother always said as i progressed in the career of librarianship, i never thought being a librarian would lead to this. My nickname was squirrel. [laughter] i liked books b i she never good, shes going to be a librarian. She has no musical talent. [laughter] thats good. But she was still amazed. And be to think that and to think that my love of books and all of this turned into something, that required her to hold the lincoln bible and have me sworn in was something. Cspan now that you brought it up, its sitting right there on the table, lincoln bible. Guest still gives me chills. And, in fact, my mother was very nervous about holding the lincoln bible. It symbolizes so much to not only our family, but just what it meant. She was very nervous about that because youre touching history. And this is something that touched a person used that you respect so much, and that connect and i have to say thats something that i hope that in my tenure ill be able to do even more of, to connect people with history, to touch history, digitally and to make sure that they understand that these were real people. Cspan how much do you read . Guest probably a little too much because i have matured. My eyesight has matured. [laughter] so i require stronger lenses. And im a reader that will read just about anything that has text, a cereal box [laughter] a sign or Something Like that. I connect it, and it took me years to the really realize that i was, i connected with text same way my parents connected with notes, with notation. And one day i said, wow, they can look at notes and hear music, and i can look at text and hear words. And its almost the same thing. Cspan where do you read . Guest i well, i just now have a balcony where i can sit out, and i found a reading spot and a chair, and i read in bed, and i can read at a table or, but so usually i can tell when im very tired, if i cant read in bed. Thats the signal. Cspan now, when folks found out that i was going to be talking with you, i think three people three different people, for whatever reason, want to know are you going to continue to live in baltimore and commute to washington. Guest yes. Cspan how big a deal is that . Thats, what, how big a commute is that . Guest its 35 miles. And i think because im from the midwest, mileage is viewed in a different way. You have to go 35 miles to go from one end of chicago to the other end, and in the southern parts of illinois, going from danville to champagne to do something is not unusual. So i think thats so i will stay in baltimore because baltimore has really become home. Cspan how many years . Guest ive been there now 23 years, and my mother has moved from illinois to baltimore. Sometimes i joke its a place where Everybody Knows your name, and im looking forward to being a civilian in baltimore. But its a city that really grabs you. Its a city with so many characters. Ann tyler was there when you read about, when you read her books, you get a sense of don waters. Theres so many characters there because it nurtures creativity and caring, i think. Cspan if you have to make a choice, would you rather read fiction or nonfiction . Guest oh, now, thats a hard choice. However, i would go for nonfiction. I love history. Now, i can read wolf hall and all those things because anne boleyn and all that, but id really like to read things like the queens bed which is about, its about Queen Elizabeth i and all the intrigue around that. So history can sometimes be more exciting, i think, than fiction. Cspan over time whats been a couple of books in the history, nonfiction category that you really liked . Guest doris kerns goodwins no ordinary time. I really connect with eleanor roosevelt. I went to Roosevelt University, the only school that was founded by eleanor roosevelt, Public Service, all of that cspan in chicago. Guest in chicago. And so to read doris kearns with history, its like reading fiction. And thats the best type of history writing sometimes. And so that book i heard her speak at the library, got the book, read it that night, and i could hear her speaking. Cspan all about fdr in the white house. Guest fdr in the white house, it made you want to know which room was where and all this, and it just was, wow. Cspan when did you first meet michelle and barack obama . Guest in chicago. I was working at, i had left the university of pittsburgh, i was teaching, and there have been certain points in my life where ive had to make decisions about do i continue in the academic and then go back to Public Service and that, so this was one of those times. And i had arrived back in chicago from pittsburgh to be the deputy commissioner, chief librarian of the chicago Public Library where i started. And the first lady was Michelle Robinson then working with the city administration. And so thats when i met her and then, later, her fiance. And so that was something years later, to meet in a professional setting in different roles. Csp