next, q&a with david dalin. then the australian parliament. after that, a press conference with president trump in the president of vietnam. ♪ >> this week, the historian and rabbi talks about his book, "jewish justices on the supreme court." brian: why did it take until 1916 to appoint a jewish justice to the supreme court? david: great question. primarily because of anti-semitism. the supreme court was a protestant reserve until there

were one or two catholic justices on the court and, after the brandeis appointment and the beginning of the "the jewish seat," there was the catholic seat. that it was primarily a promise in court. one of the fascinating things is that justice scalia, when he was alive, before his death, you had a court of 6 catholics and 3 jewish justices, unimaginable at the time of the brandeis 's appointment, as it would be that there would be 3 simultaneous jewish justices, but the idea of a court without was just amazing.

it has been since 2010 until the gorsuch appointment that there was no protestant. and he is an at this the palin, of course. episcopalian, of course. it is primarily anti-semitism. in 1916, woodrow wilson nominated brandeis. brian: host: let me put up the numbers and you can see the protestants, 91, out of 113. unknown is 1.

there is a justice who turned catholic after he left the court. where did you get the idea of doing a book on this? david: i am an ordained rabbi. i have been an author and a scholar of american jewish history and my field is american jewish political history. i have written a book called the presidents of the united states and the jews and articles about the presidency. those articles focus on cabinet appointments and ambassadorships. i am fascinated by the supreme court. years ago, i went to brandeis university and, over the years, many biographies of brandeis, cardoza, and frankfurter made it occur to me that it would be interesting to have a book on the jewish justices.

there would have been 9, had merrick garland been confirmed. there were some great biographies of brandeis and frankfurter. i took this through the 2016 presidential election. my idea was that it would be a collective agar fee of the -- collective biography of the jewish justices. in terms of religious diversity, the court has changed over the years. brian: putting up on the screen your book, you have brandeis, cardoza, frankfurter, goldberg, fortas, ruth bader ginsburg, stephen breyer, and elena kagan.

of the jewish justices, who did the best legal work on the court? david: the overall legacies of ginsburg, breyer, and kagan, they are forthcoming. brandeis, in all probability. over the past 40 years, every so often, scholars rate the justices, in terms of judicial greatness, just like the presidency. invariably, the three greatest justices are john marshall, all of her wendell holmes, and louis brandeis. -- oliver wendell holmes, and louis brandeis. in 1890, when the harvard law review began publication, he had

a classmate and law partner who wrote an article about privacy that basically introduced a new chapter into law -- the rights to privacy. certainly, brandeis is widely recognized as the greatest of the jewish justices, serving 23 years. ruth bader ginsburg recently surpassed him and is in her 24th year. brandeis is considered one of the top five justices in all of american history.

brian: if we could do this briefly, we could get through all eight. i want to ask you about them on a personal basis. not legal. who was louis brandeis? david: he grew up in louisville, kentucky and his parents were german-speaking immigrants from prague. he was a prodigy, it in every sense of the word. he graduated harvard law at the age of 20 and was too young to be certified by the massachusetts bar.

they had to give a dispensation because he was not old enough to practice. they say that he had the highest scholastic average of any harvard law student before or since. some of this may be apocryphal and they say that about fortis at yale. in brandeis' case, he graduated at a young age and build a practice with a fellow student and law partner and live the rest of his life in boston. although much of his family -- i can come back to his jewish identity -- he made a fortune. his goal was to make enough money so that he could devote himself to pro bono work. that was his invention, so to speak, the idea that you would

work for worthy causes and cases. he was a millionaire before he was 35. in those days, it would be worth much more. he was a renowned corporate lawyer. he became one of the leading progressive reformers. the context of this -- i should give some background -- as late as 1908, he voted for william howard taft and his uncle, after whom -- his full name is louis brandeis -- was a founder of the republican party in kentucky and he was a delegate who nominated lincoln.

brandeis was a republican until woodrow wilson was nominated. brian: woodrow wilson nominated him to be -- david: on the supreme court. i discuss this in my book in great detail. he was a social and economic reformer and opposed the legal and corporate/business establishment in boston and it cost him a lot of problems in the wilson administration. brian: you talk about cardoza and he was a safartic jew. what is the difference? david: they trace their background to the spanish and the portuguese jews who were expelled from spain and portugal.

their synagogue that he was a member of is the oldest in america. it is known as the spanish-portuguese synagogue. he was a direct descendent of the one jewish clergyman who spoke at george washington's inauguration. his ancestor of his was a close ancestor of hamilton, who nominated him to be on the board of governors of kings' college. he grew up in the united states and they were descendent from jews who had not migrated from central europe, but from the

middle east. it is interesting. i talk about this a little bit in my book. when sonia sotomayor was nominated, she argued she was the first hispanic, but you could argue that cardoza was. he came from a venerable family and he was a first cousin of emma lazarus and he was at columbia university and columbia law school in the 1890's. two things about him. his father was a judge who got caught in the boss tweed scandals and his father was disgraced and forced to resign from the new york supreme court.

i have a part of the chapter called "redemption." cardoza's life was to redeem the family name and he did everything to doing this -- devoted everything to doing this. he is known for his years as the chief judge as the new york state court of appeals, in which most of the legal cases are the cases that he adjudicated while the chief judge of the court. brian: he was on the court for 6 years. did he die in office? david: he died. he went from washington to albany in already-declining

health. it was declining on the court and he eventually died in 1938. less than 6 years on the court. brian: hoover nominated him. david: hoover nominated. all of the jewish justices were liberal democrats, with the exception of cardoza. they were nominated by democratic presidents. cardoza supported al smith in 1928 against hoover. hoover did not have the greatest presidency in history and did a lot before he was president more notably. many historians of hoover say that his appointment of cardoza was a great achievement of his presidency, appointing a

democrat and also -- there were -- first of all, there was already a jewish justice on the court and that did not please some people, having a second one and there were already two new yorkers on the court. the senator who was the head of the judiciary committee said that cardoza was of such brilliance and so noteworthy that he represented the entire country, not just new york. brian: here is video of dennis hutchinson talking about this book that he put out on john knox, a clerk to james mcreynolds. i want to show a little bit of what he said and you fill us in. [video clip] >> he was a severe man and his

anti-semitism was notorious. there is no photograph of the court because he would have had to sit, as protocol required, no to louis brandeis and he would not do it. when cardoza was sworn in, mcreynolds was reading a copy of the washington herald on the bench. david: let me talk about mcreynolds. brian: we have talked about him before, but this is interesting. david: one of the things in my book is the decline in anti-semitism from the beginning to the time of kagan. mcreynolds was a tory asleep

anti-semitic. there was the portrait he did not sit for. from his vintage point, who would have the audacity to nominate cardoza? how dare you afflict the court with another hebrew, he wrote to hoover. it was said that, in the days of brandeis, if they ever saw each other, he would walk on the other side of the street. when cardoza died, he refused to sign the memorial. when brandeis resigned and retired, he, mcreynolds, refused -- also signed the customary tradition of, not a thank you note, but the thing to the justice that was retiring. he did not try to camouflage his anti-semitism.

brian: mcreynolds was not going to sit. in 1925, you see mcreynolds all the way on the left and brandeis all the way on the right. david: that is right. brian: in your opinion, why was he so anti-somatic? david: i have never been able to understand it. brandeis was one of woodrow wilson's closest advisers on economic issues. he supported mcreynolds and didn't realize that mcreynolds was so anti-semetic. he was a southerner, but there were a lot of southerners. if you think of the opposition

to brandeis' appointment and frankfurter, it was often veiled. there was not often someone as openly anti-semitic as mcreynolds. i know that there are letters and correspondence of his two different people. brian: was louis brandeis married? david: he was married to a second or third cousin of his, actually.

they were -- can i mention a couple of facts? one of the things that talks about anti-semitism is his law partner who came from a very socially prominent place, the daughter of a senator. anyways, she was tremendously anti-semitic. even though brandeis was one of the closest friends, she would never invite the brandeis family over and, when she got married, she refused to invite brandeis and his wife and that says something about the social anti-semitism of the era. much of the great law practice of brandeis and warren had to do

with -- the warren family were multimillionaires from a shoe company -- but it is interesting that brandeis is considered as the first jewish justice, but he came from the least jewish background of the others. brian: we have to move on. felix frankfurter, what is the best thing about him? or the worst thing about him? david: he was appointed to the harvard law faculty in 1915 and he was the only jewish member of the law faculty and his initial mentor was henry simpson, the secretary of state, and he managed the campaign. when he went to the war department, frankfurter went

with him. frankfurter and fdr were the same age, born in 1882, and they met at the harvard club in new york city. fdr had graduated and they were both tremendously politically ambitious. it started a relationship that later evolved into a friendship in world war i, one frankfurter was working for the war department and fdr was the assistant secretary of the navy and he became an advisor to fdr, when he was the governor of new york.

what is interesting is that he was a flaming liberal, a defender of sacco and vanzetti. he was a writer of the new republic magazine and he was viewed as a radical. it is interesting. one of his closest friends was dean atchinson. part of the opposition to him was that he was so radical. when he retired from the court, he was the most conservative member of the war in court. -- warren court. dwight eisenhower said that his biggest mistake was appointing earl warren. he became one of the greatest civil libertarians on the court. i think that, if fdr had lived, he would say the same of felix

frankfurter. brian: married? did he have children? david: married to the daughter of a protestant minister, they never had children. although he grew up in orthodox-jewish home, as a teenager, he was no longer a religiously practicing jew and never stepped into a jewish synagogue in his adult life, except to give a talk. in his will, on the nose to his wife and friends, he asked that the traditional jewish prayer of mourning be recited in hebrew by a law clerk who became a distinguished professor at columbia university and he was a son of one of the preeminent orthodox rabbis.

frankfurter was an agnostic and was always so impressed by henkin taking the sabbath and he considered him this his only close friend who was a practicing orthodox jew and he said, you know, i came into this world as a jew and i lived most of my life not as a jew, but want to leave as a jew. the rest citation was a link to that tradition. -- the recitation was a link to that tradition.

. brian: you say that frankfurter began the 18 jewish clerk. she appointed coleman. david: in became a leader of the american bar and there is an interesting footnote here. in 1959, albert sachs, who recommended law clerks, recommended a credentialed young woman named ruth bader ginsburg. frankfurter refused to interview her, saying that he had never appointed a woman as a law clerk and he was set in his ways and could not imagine even considering her. brian: you quote ruth bader ginsburg and here is the video of what you quoted her saying. [video clip] ruth bader ginsburg: and became a bulwark against the kind of oppression the jews have endured throughout history.

jews in large numbers became lawyers in the united states and some became judges. the best of the lawyers and judges use the law for personal gain and to secure justice for others. brian: why did you quote that? most people know who she is. david: it is an important point, because jews have always chosen the legal profession -- lawyers are a legal profession. many of the jews who entered law and went to law school -- lawyers come from backgrounds where grandparents or great-grandparents were rabbis and they have been imbued in a

study of jewish law and there is a natural affinity between those who grew up religiously or whose families had. in america, there was a transition from torah to constitution and there is that aspect. some have often been called "secular rabbis." but it was an avenue of upward mobility for the children of immigrants. frankfurter came at the age of 10 and did not speak a word of english.

for ruth bader ginsburg, it was a different story. i don't know if we will get to goldberg and fortas, but when they graduated law school in 1929 and 1930, respectively, they were at the top of their law classes and could not get jobs. fortas went into the new deal and goldberg went into a jewish law firm. because of anti-semitism. this was a problem that frankfurter had. he was number one at his law school and could not get a job in a big city -- 20 out of 21, whatever the number was of firms he applied to. the firm's did not appoint jews or, for that matter, catholics, in those days.

the one firm that offered him a job that he worked for four less than one year, the department took him aside and said to him that they would consider him, if he would change his name. frankfurter does not fit in here. he refused to, saying it was his father's name. him [video clip] >> peace in the area.

ginsburg, later on -- >> we will come back to her. >> grew up in chicago. first member of his family to ever go to college. his father barely eked out a living. he went to northwestern and then for school. he graduated top of his class, could not get a job for example adlai big law firm that stevenson that he would be linked to later on that life, graduated from northwestern, got a job. one of the most prestigious gentile law firms. the firm he joined was a law the woman by and by thef commerce

partners then two eventually branched out, buying a hotel chain and now they are the of the wealthiest, on 400 but a jewish law firm in chicago. brian: why did arthur goldberg leaves the court? david: this is something that nobody has an answer for. i tried to answer in one chapter. it could be a psychobiography. it had to do with lyndon johnson. lyndon johnson basically ruined the lives of two justices, goldberg and fortas. lyndon johnson wanted desperately to appoint abe fortas to the court. can i mention this just briefly? why? goldberg was appointed and serves for less than three years. he was appointed by jfk to

succeed felix frankfurter. in 1948, lyndon johnson had a safe seat in congress in texas. he ran for the senate. in the election, there were about 1,560,000 votes cast. he eventually was determined to win it by 87 votes. had he lost that election, none of us would have heard of lyndon johnson. it was his make-or-break election. it was so close that a blue-ribbon commission of attorneys in washington was called upon to adjudicate it. it was headed by abe fortas. he went to the supreme court, which ruled after fortas's advocacy for johnson by 87

votes. in fact, lyndon johnson used always be called later on "landslide lyndon" because of that. fortas remained his closest political advisor throughout johnson's tenure as majority leader in the senate and as he was vice president. johnson always wanted to reward fortas for what he did. there was a so-called jewish seat on the court. he had to persuade goldberg to resign. no one resigns the court after two and a half years. goldberg lived til 1990, 1991. he was in good health until the last year. he would have been on the court for 28 years. he might very well have succeeded earl warren as chief justice. everyone close to him, from his family, friends, tried to persuade him. lbj offered him the position of u.n. ambassador. brian: that's what he was in that video.

david: that is what he was in this picture. that is a position that is up to the pleasure of the president. everyone assumed that johnson would run for another term. it wasn't lifelong. goldberg had a falling out with johnson. goldberg was not known for his humility, let us say. he thought he was a great labor negotiator. he was profoundly anti-vietnam. he thought he, as the great negotiator, could negotiate meaningful peace to the vietnam war. he did not count on lbj. they eventually had a falling out. but no one could take a month the court. goldberg, to goldberg's wife called alan dershowitz, one of his clerks,

i have pictures of him and goldberg in my book. to try to persuade him. no one has been able to understand. the feeling is part of it is that you couldn't turn down the president. lyndon johnson was known for his persuasiveness. but there was another thing. lyndon johnson gave -- made goldberg assume that, when earl warren retired, he would renominate him as chief justice. that is the thing he dangled out before him. the problem is he and goldberg had such a falling out over vietnam that he resigned before lbj fired him. brian: arthur goldberg married? david: yes, married with children. grew up in chicago. he had a very close relationship. can i mention this passover seder?

or is that ok to mention? david: ok. goldberg was probably the most religiously-involved jew on the court. he and his wife used to have a passover seder every year in washington. brian: what does it mean? david: the passover holiday is one of the main religious holidays in the jewish community. it is probably the holiday that most jews, however religious or nonreligious, whether you belong to whatever kind of temple, the more liberal or the more orthodox, or even if you don't belong to a temple or synagogue, it is in the evening service and an evening meal. most of it revolves around the meal, to be honest. it's a very traditional jewish holiday. it always takes place at the same time as easter in the spring. it's often a very celebratory

occasion. so it was a big event in washington. he invited senators, cabinet members, fellow justices -- walter meany, his friend the labor leader, was there. brian: not all jews. david: not all jews. walter meany actually regaled the members with irish songs. his wife was very involved in yiddish. she sang yiddish songs. when i was looking at the goldberg papers at the library of congress, they have a list of all of the rsvp's. what is interesting is -- and this is just an interesting footnote -- he did not observe the jewish dietary laws, keep kosher. he did not keep kosher. but when his law clerks were

always invited, or people who did, he always provided a completely kosher seder meal, dinner. alan dershowitz, who was a strictly orthodox jew, he and a few others -- he got the most well-known kosher caterer in washington, d.c., to cater their seder. i guess this was 1964. or 1965. 1964. he wrote on his supreme court letterhead the goldberg family recipe for a traditional jewish dish served at the center. -- served at the seder. this is on the supreme court letterhead. he sent it to the caterer and that became part of the meal. brian: alan dershowitz clerked for which justice? david: alan dershowitz and steve breyer both clerked for goldberg. brian: we have to go on to abe fortas. and there's a connection with

abe fortas and justice goldberg. what was the date abe fortas was nominated by -- david: 1965. brian: here he is on the court. [video clip] >> as i look out this morning over the sea of upturned faces, i thought nostalgically of the time before i was appointed to the supreme court of the united states, when i would have been sitting out there with all you affluent people, counting my clients, adding up the fees, calling the waiter for another order of caviar, and smoking big black cigars. [laughter] >> and because of an act of friendship, i am here. [laughter] [end video clip] brian: was he married to a jew? david: no, he was not. his wife, carol, also graduated from yale law school. brian: was he a practicing jew?

david: not at all. he, like frankfurter, grew up in an orthodox family. it was my -- it was more at his wife's behest. he had a little more interest, but there was no practice of judaism in his home. but what he said here is very revealing. he and his wife -- and this led to the scandal that led to his resignation -- he and his wife in the 1950's, his wife had an especially extremely lavish lifestyle. they had twin rolls-royces. his wife had in one closet alone 150 pairs of shoes. he had been offered by lbj to be attorney general. his wife said, not on my life. you can't. he would have had to take such a big salary cut. he took a 90% salary cut to be on the court. his wife was livid.

in fact, when she heard this -- he had written two letters to lbj saying he would not accept an appointed to the court. johnson invited him to the oval office to have a discussion. it was about the vietnam policy that he was an advisor on. he said join me, i'm going to the rose garden. there is an announcement i have to make. on the way over, unbenknownst to fortas and his wife, he said i'm appointing you to the supreme court. at that point, there was nothing they could do. -- wife, at the law firm they had a shared law firm. in the 1950's, they made over $400,000 together, just translated in today's dollars. his wife was livid and furious. she calls the white house. one of the white house aides said they had never heard anyone

talk to lyndon johnson like that. she berated him for half an hour. she said, how dare you? i thought we were friends. you cannot -- you promised us you would never appoint abe to the court. she was still making $200,000, etc. he was nominated to the court. they insisted on keeping this lavish lifestyle, his wife did. so he started taking honorariums from different people, especially one from a financier, louis wolfson -- brian: let me stop you right there. he did teach while the was on the court. david: at american university. the salary was given by louis wolfson, a financier, who was one of his clients, who later was indicted for a whole host of things. but i should say, this puts into context the notion of extrajudicial activities, which began with brandeis and frankfurter. when you are on the court, you are not supposed to be advising a president. you are not supposed --

in my book i talk a lot about the situation with brandeis and frankfurter. it was said of abe fortas he spent more time in the white house than he did in his supreme court chambers. brian: you say he had a private line to the white house from his desk in the supreme court? david: from his office. yes. and he also -- not only did he have a private line, but he was included on -- --re is a photo i have their their --a photo i have he was included on policy matters, on policy decisions. there is a photo of vietnam policy in the book. brian: he managed bill in the congress for the president while he was on the court? david: yes. he completely drafted lbj's 1966

state of the union address. it was written by abe fortas. brian: while he was on the court? david: yes. in the photo i haven't my book, you have all the people there. mcnamara, bundy -- he shouldn't have been there for the major vietnam policy committee. brian: went brandeis was on the court, who did he advise? david: brandeis advised wilson and advised fdr. but in advising wilson, he did that himself. in fact, he helped convince the wilson administration to support the balfour declaration. in 1917, 100 years ago. importantly, when wilson was out of office, he helped wilson write a new manifesto for the democratic party. but what really became today

would be unacceptable and the height of impropriety, in the 1930's, he worked out a relationship and a deal with frankfurter. brandeis was a millionaire. frankfurter struggled most of his life. he paid a monthly stipend. whatever you would call it. a salary so that frankfurter under his name articles for the new republic and the harvard law review and other places. brian: this is when frankfurter was at harvard? harvard. then, in the 1930's, that is how brandeis helped shape part of the early new deal legislation. he would draft things that

frankfurter would take to fdr. brian: what was his extrajudicial activities? fdr onhe tried to advise everything, particularly judicial. worked for years trying to pressure roosevelt into nominating learned hand. federal judge at the time. to nominate him to the supreme court. that did not work that he lobbied with roosevelt, which you are not supposed to do, to appoint a series of federal judges, which i talk about here. many of them students at harvard law school. that was the big thing. federal judicial appointments. also, appointments to the supreme court where he was less

successful. ironically, and i talk about this in detail, during the holocaust frankfurter had relatives in austria who were rescued. including his favorite uncle, who were arrested by the nazis. rooseveltd not bother about. he had no reticence to call roosevelt in the middle of the night almost on judicial appointments. famousn -- and there's a meeting. in 1942, when the representative of the polish government in the comes to washington and the west, he had been in britain, to tell them about the final solution. he had been smuggled into the ash what's death camp -- into the auschwitz death camp and was able to get out. he met with frankfurter, and he abruptly said -- he told him about what was happening, the mass murder of jews in the death camps. frankfurter stood up and said, sir, i cannot believe what

you're saying. he said, mr. justice, i am not lying. he said, not that, i cannot believe this is happening. he later sabotaged a meeting that it might have been had with stinson and fdr. brian: let's put the book back up on the screen so people can see the jewish eight justices in the history of this country. the first catholic was roger tawney. in the early 1800s. david: he was later nominated to the court. i guess he was appointed by andrew jackson. he had been attorney general. brian: and led the court in the dred scott decision. david: yes.

brian: what kind of jew are you? david: i'm in eskenazi jew. my family came from lithuania. brian: what is the precision of eskenazi versus safardi? david: i don't know. brian: how did you become a rabbi? david: my father is a rabbi. kind of a family business. my father, his father, his grandfather. actually, my brother is a rabbi. my parents said they never pressured me to do it. but i was expected to do that. kind of a i was expected to do that. brian: where did you grow up? david: i grew up in san francisco and i went to uc berkeley. i have my phd from brandeis university where i first wrote biographies of brandeis. then i was ordained at the jewish theological survey.

where i later taught as well. i have been interested in the education and it was a natural career path. you know, you grow up, many sense of lawyers grow into law because one of their parents or wereof their parents lawyers. and i have always been interested, but never necessarily having a help and or congregation. i call myself a rabbi without portfolio. i have been a scholar in residence at many synagogues throughout the country but i always felt that i wanted to write. this is my 12th look, i guess. brian: stephen breyer was here in 2010 when he had written a book and we were talking about the fact that there are a number of jews on the court. compared to the past. let's watch this.

[video clip] >> after i was confirmed, i went back to logan and senator kennedy was with me. brian: the airport in boston? >> yes. and a young reporter from a jewish newspaper came and said , "well how do you feel about court?"s being on the my reaction and his were identical. fine. fine. just like that. you recognize it. it's a fact. and then the question is -- you find them here or there, so? david: i've never met justice breyer himself. he is also from san francisco. brian: his brother is a judge. david: his brother is a federal judge, charles breyer, who was also appointed by bill clinton. my late father and his late father knew each other. his father was an attorney. very involved in jewish work. they weren't close friends, but acquaintances.

went to meetings together and everything. i know members of his family. he is interesting for so many reasons. first of all, he worked -- he was on the watergate prosecution. on archibald cox's staff. he later became chief counsel for the judiciary committee. his great mentor was ted kennedy. but he had and he still has this -- a very affable person -- this great ability to get along with everyone. the person he was closest to was orrin hatch. the two of them together push lobbying for his appointment as a federal judge, just before jimmy carter left office. and, then for the supreme court. people said that anyone who could get along so well ted orrin hatch deserves

to be on the court. brian: you wrote in the book that he married a non-jew. david: he married a non-jewish woman. she is part of the british aristocracy. her father, lord something or other, was not only in the house of lords, but the chairman for several years of the conservative party in britain. he served in two of harold mcmillan's cabinets. i was a more of a centrist democrat, but a lifelong democrat. what's interesting, his children have been raised as protestants, episcopalian. one of his daughters is an episcopal priest. which is interesting.

which strikes some people as interesting. but since he has been on the court, he has been a major voice on matters relating to the jewish community and especially to israel. he has been a great supporter of the state of israel. he wrote a article in the new republic, talking about the fact that two of his predecessors, brandeis and frankfurter, were leaders of the zionist movement. brian: i want to make sure that you say something about elena kagan. she was appointed in 2010 by barack obama. david: she grew up on the upper west side in manhattan. she went to princeton, graduated at the top of her class, graduated in 1981, was one of the first generation of women graduates at princeton. she then was the marshall scholar at oxford, as was steve breyer, who had gone to stanford. then she came back and went to harvard law school, clerked for thurgood marshall, then became

-- worked in the clinton administration. when the bush administration took over, she worked at a short time at the university of chicago. that's where she met barack obama. they both had a shared experience at harvard. they were both research tribe.nts of lawrence larry tribe. she became the first woman dean of harvard law school in 2003. she met larry summers when they were both working in the clinton administration. she was a very successful, by all accounts, -- liberals and conservatives loved her at harvard.

in fact, more balanced appointments. then she became the first woman solicitor general of the united states, and the third jewish solicitor general in 2009. then she was appointed to the supreme court by obama. just to last things. and ruth bader ginsburg have the same physical trainer. they work out together. interesting. 30 years apart. they are very close friends. i didn't get a chance to talk about ginsburg and scalia. but also, she was appointed at the age of 49, the exact same age as neil gorsuch, just shy of her 50th birthday. so she will probably stay on the court, if she has good health, could be another 25 years.

brian: guess what, we are out of time. ruth bader ginsburg is 84, --, elana kagan 57. your book is called "jewish justices of the supreme court, from brandeis to kagan, their lives and legacies." we missed 95% of what is in your book. we thank you for coming and we enjoyed having you on the program. david: i thank you very much for inviting me. ♪ announcer: for free transcripts or to give us your comments about this program, visit us at q&a.org. q&a programs are also available as c-span podcasts. ♪ [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] announcer: if you enjoyed this week's interview, here are some other programs you most -- might like. book.n breyer's book and avivas kempner's book. timean watch these the any by going to our library at c-span.org. up monday morning, discussing the status of tax reform efforts on capitol hill. then, lines for manufacturing scott paula and american-made movie producer talk about the state of u.s. manufacturers. eastern mondaym.

morning. join me discussion. joined the discussion. >> monday night on the communicators we will discuss sexslation on online trafficking. in wagner talks about her bill to fight online sex trafficking. and discussing why another group prefers a different approach than the house and senate bill. >> many different actors can be affected. with my pieceing of legislation is to make sure we are very narrowly going in and amending section 230 to make sure the congressional intent is clear when it comes to sex aafficking because right now lot of these online the internet actors and providers, websites like backpage.com and a whole actors have been

blossoming, sadly, over the last handful of years. to make sure they cannot hide behind the communications to see act. he -- decency >> we're been told a lot of this is coded language, hard to identify. we suggested a clearinghouse website or civil society a identify certain types of codes, languages, ip addresses, it will adjust his, phone numbers, that are known to be sex traffickers you put that into kind of a central repository that can be scanned against to better identify these coded languages. >> watch the communicators monday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span two. >> the british parliament was in recess last night. the prime minister's questions will not be seen tonight. oflook at the latest session

the estonian parliament. topics included australia's handling of asylum-seekers, the government role in fighting the ice's in iraq and syria and rising energy costs. this is 30 minutes. ♪ >> hello. welcome. we've have had a bipartisan approach to offshore processing. for some years now, this has been a process labor came to reluctantly. [indiscernible] some of them languishing for more than four years. this is too long and they want something done about it.