reuters legal editor joan biskupic joins us to detail the findings. start by telling us, exactly what does it take to become a lawyer who argues at the court? >> you can be admitted to the supreme court bar by virtue of being a lawyer. this tight group, the repeat performers, the people who come up mostly, perhaps supreme court law clerks themselves, work behind the scenes, work for the prestigious office of the solicitor general, those are the people come nateing now. generally speaking, anyone who's a lawyer who's admitted to the supreme court bar who covers tens of thousands of americans, we found more and more clients are turning to the select group and the justice system themselves seem to be signaling they're interested not just in the merits of a case presented to them but the merits of the lawyering just because to have what the data had shown. >> ifill: you narrowed it down to the elate eight? >> in terms of people who argue, right. we went from 17,000 to 66 people getting the petitions heard. over the last decade, these eight had 20% of the

. >> host: "breaking in" is the name of joan biskupic's most book, "breaking in: the rise of sonia sotomayor and the politics of justice." >> and "civil rights and the making of the modern american state," megan ming francis examines the civil rights movement and specifically the naacp effect and the american political landscape in the early 20th century. this event corded at ucla as an hour. >> i am going to introduce and again. we've known each other for quite some time. you'll been it for the professional and personal. on a professional tip, megan ming francis as an assistant professor at the department of political science at the university of washington at seattle. she earned her ba in political science and economics at rice university in 2003 and soon after a 2008, francis earned her doctorate in politics at princeton university where she worked with paul framer, kelley mendel burke and cornell west. she held two distinct postdocs at the university of chicago and indiana university school of law before joining the faculty at pepperdine university where she garnered quite the students f

joan biskupic, what have we learned about sonia sotomayor? >> guest: >> we learned what she's been doing. this book is a political history that tells you how she got out of the supreme court of what her life has been like since. it picks up where her memoir left off. you learn in the opening chapter how she persuaded her fellow justices to solve with her. you also learn how she has been in effect did behind the scenes on the law and sometimes she hasn't been so factor. >> host: you've also written a biography of antonin scalia. how are they different? how are they the same? >> guest: they are a lot the same in some ways. both new yorkers. run from queens, one from the bronx. very distinctive personalities. both shaking up the joint in their own ways. of course justice kalina has been there since 1986. she's been there since only 2009. i would never underestimate what she is about to do. she's a very good agent for herself. they both understand the importance of being visible. look at how visible justice kalina has been with his own vote and l