Them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Very high standard. It is not that they were blameless. Its not that they were innocent. But we say we would rather let 100 guilty go free than convict one innocent man. We are loading it to a high standard. The other thing that lawyers argue, which the public sometimes has trouble with, is procedure. If you need to get that evidence if you did not get that evidence into the courtroom properly, then it cant come in. If you did not share information exculpatory information properly with defense, those are which can violations equally invalidate a verdict. And i am happy to argue both. That is kind of what we are going to go through. One word from last week. Last week was the allure of the white house tapes. I went through a bunch of them with you. Perhaps too fast. What i find fascinating about this because i transcribe them. I worked word for word for hours in tracing what they were saying and the points they were trying to make. Trying to underst
Welcome, welcome. As we just noted, we are here to talk about constitutions and the rule of law. With a particular focus on a few got a rule of law, how do you keep it . How do you nurture it . How do you make it stick . And we got three extraordinarily distinguished panelists to lead these conversations. Each of them is directly involved in the workings of constitutional democracy studying it, thinking about it, writing about it, teaching about it, and in judge gregorys case, actually directly involved in its workings. Let me introduce this triumvirate. Roger gregory is the chief judge of the court of appeals for the Fourth Circuit. And judge gregory has served on that court for 20 years, almost 20 years, and is now the chief judge. He has the distinction of having been nominated for the court by both president clinton and president george w. Bush, and he was confirmed by the senate 931. [laughter] judge gregory is the first africanamerican to serve on the Fourth Circuit. Before going
Covered the coverup trial. I understand people were convicted. But you need to understand that lawyers, lawyers donts play fair. They argue two things. They can argue, look, the person didnt do the crime. The person wasnt guilty. But usually in a political scandal the argument is there wasnt enough proof to find them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Very high standard. Its not theyre blameless, its not theyre innocent. But we say wed rather let 100 guilty go free than convict one innocent man. So were were loading it to a very high standard. The other thing that lawyers argue, which the public sometimes has trouble with, is procedure. If you didnt get that evidence into the courtroom properly, then it cant come in. If you didnt share exculpatory information properly with defense, those are procedural violations which can equally invalidate a verdict. And im happy to argue both. So, thats thats kind of what were going to go through. One word from last week. Last week was the allure of
Lawyers, lawyers donts play fair. They argue two things. They can argue, look, the person didnt do the crime. The person wasnt guilty. But usually in a political scandal the argument is there wasnt enough proof to find them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Very high standard. Its not theyre blameless, its not theyre innocent. But we say wed rather let 100 guilty go free than convict one innocent man. So were were loading it to a very high standard. The other thing that lawyers argue, which the public sometimes has trouble with, is procedure. If you didnt get that evidence into the courtroom properly, then it cant come in. If you didnt share exculpatory information properly with defense, those are procedural violations which can equally invalidate a verdict. And im happy to argue both. So, thats thats kind of what were going to go through. One word from last week. Last week was the allure of the white house tapes. And i went through a bunch of them with you, perhaps too fast. What i fi
Ever, with it also seems more difficult than ever. With it also seems more difficult than ever. What does this all mean for the future of the democratic experiment . America 400ere in years ago. Around thees it mean world . To help us examine these thorny issues, please welcome the moderator for this panel, chief Foreign Affairs correspondent for nbc news andrea mitchell. [applause] ms. Mitchell thank also much. It is wonderful to be back in williamsburg. A dozen years at the Colonial Williamsburg foundation as a trustee. Let me tell you how proud and happy i am to be here today. Commemorating this important anniversary. Panelists. Th these i want you to welcome place former United States secretary defense in both the bush and obama administrations, the chancellor of william and mary, robert gates. Bob gates. [applause] and also distinguished journalist, my colleague, my , robin wright. Or [applause] all, i want to say how pleased i am to be here today with both of you. And how importa