the national museum of african-american history and culture for a look at the exhibits and artifacts. we'll also hear from staff curators and the author of a book on the creation of the museum. that all begins tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on c-span3. the supreme court has a new justice after justice neil gorsuch was sworn in monday more than two months after being nominated by president trump. he replaces the late justice antonin scalia who died in february of last year. chief justice john roberts administered the constitutional oath of office in private monday morning before a public swearing-in at the white house which was administered by justice anthony kennedy. in a 2009 documentary, some of the current justices talked about their first experiences on the court. here is some of what they had to say. >> the court is about to welcome a new associate justice.

how long does it take? you talked about walking into conference for the first time. when you've watched new justices come on board since you arrived, how long does it take before they get it? >> oh, i don't know. i think we all learn at different paces, but when i came to the court, i asked that same question, because it was very important to me to figure out when would i get my sea legs. and the common number was five years. and justice white would often say it takes about that long to go around the full horn of all the cases, kinds of cases that we get. that was their number. and that may be about right. it doesn't mean you can't do your work, it just means that things are sitill new for the first five years. you may not have had as many

jurisdiction cases involving water rights or boundaries. you may not have had a lot of admiralty cases. so you get all of that. it was chief justice renquist when i was complaining, oh, my goodness, what am i doing here my first year? i look around me and i see people like him who had been there at that time almost three decades, you see justice white who is legendary, justice o'conn o'connor, and he said, well, clarence, in your first five years, you wonder how you got here. after that you wonder how your colleagues got here. i don't know whether that's true exactly, but it certainly is an indication that that five-year period was fairly well accepted as the break-in period. >> i remember when justice briar, who had been the junior justice for almost a record

length of time, i think 11 years before i started, he took me aside and he sort of briefed me. but it took him a while to adjust to not being the junior justice. i remember very distinctly at the first conference, there was a knock at the door, and i was sort of processing this. someone is knocking at the door, it's my job now to get up and answer the door. before i could even start to get out of the chair, justice briar was out of his chair and headed for the door, and the chief justice had to say, steve, sit down, that's not your job anymore. i hadn't been in that role quite as long but i bet i'll feel sort of the same way. >> what about the supposed practice that a new justice writes his or her first opinion after it's been a unanimous decision on a particular case? >> i think that's something the court has tried to do. they did that with me. my first opinion was an opinion in which we were unanimous.

and i think it's a good practice. i remember when i sent it around and i had gotten back approvals from everybody with a few changes. somebody said, don't think it's going to be this easy all the time in the future. and that certainly has proven to be the case. but i distinctly remember drafting that opinion. before i came here, i had been a court of appeals judge for 15 years and i had written hundreds of opinions. and i thought i had done my best on all of those. but when i drafted that first opinion, realizing where i was now, i went back over it and over it and over it. i have never revised an opinion as many times as i did before i sent that out. >> justice sotomayor, the

justice would remember vividly things that happened in the room. what are the impressions you'll take from yours? >> the moment that i sat down and was able to look out and see all of the people in the audience, that's probably the moment i will most intensely remember. because there were lawyers who i've known for years sitting at the table in front of us ready to argue, but then watching the intensity of everyone's face, and i had forgotten how much people believe and know that they're affected by the court's decisions. and you see the anticipation. and i can't actually say that it's pleasurable. you note in people's faces their concerns. and clearly i knew the sides

some parties in the audience were in because some of the actual parties were there. and i forget how important it is to people sometimes. because when you're in your office reading the briefs, you understand the voices that they're giving you. but when you see their faces, it just reinforces that importance in a way nothing else can. what's the other emotion? absolute fear. you don't know what it's like to sit with eight other colleagues. i've sat in bonk when i was on the circuit court. but to sit on the supreme court and listen to the questions of your colleagues is somewhat humbling. it's somewhat completely humbling. so yes, just like justice o'connor, i will always remember that day. >> you had to have awareness that everyone in that room was waiting for your first question.

>> yes. and what is interesting is that i had gone in prepared with any number of questions. most of them, except the two i asked, were asked by other justices. and so, yes, i was aware but i didn't know what the first question would actually be, because i didn't know what direction my colleagues were going to go with their questions and what would be left for me to ask. and so the questions i eventually did were a product of the flow of the conversation. >> announcer: c-span where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. and it's brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider.

in case you missed it on c-span. oklahoma congressman steve russell on the 100th anniversary of the u.s. entry into world war i. >> on the 6th of april, 100 years ago today, where i am standing with concrete evidence of german hostility to the united states, to international peace and to liberal democracy, the congress of the united states declared war on germany. >> homeland security secretary john kelly on the building of the border wall. >> i have no doubt when i go back to him and say, boss, this will make sense over here, high fencing makes sense over here, technology will make sense over here, i have no doubt he will tell me to go do it. >> sir thomas clarence. >> has your assessment included looking into the morales of the agency and put into place initiatives to actually improve

mo the morale? >> it's what i do, yes. >> actress holly robinson peete. >> they're showing just how amazing kids with autism are. and love coming through the "sesame street" friends makes it acceptable in sesame str"sesame magic. >> bureaucracy is when you care more about the rules than you care about the goals. that is killing us as a nation. so we are working very hard to get the inappropriate things out of the way. >> representative bruce poluquin at the consumer protection bureau's semi-annual report. >> you guarantee that neither you or anybody at the cpfb have

used commercial devices, text, e-mail, cell phones and fully complied with the record, yes oe at cspan.org, on our web page and by sifting through the video library. values of the founding fathers starts now by gordon wood who looks at the founding fathers and the shaping of their values. this is from the society of the four arts in palm beach, florida. >> i am so energized by all your enthusiasm about the for arts founders program. thank you for coming. now, today's speaker, dr. gordon wood, is considered the foremost expert on the american