earl warren. earl warren is in many respects, i think, misunderstood. sometimes by those who do not know better, and sometimes by those who do or at least should. day, -- few people know earl warren's father was murdered in 1958 and the assailant never found. he was accused of sympathy toward communism, but he was a fierce patriot, a veteran of world war i who prosecuted communists during his days as a district attorney. he was accused of sanctioning lesson justice when in fact he was a bit of a prude. earl warren was a deeply practical man, showed by his experience far more than any ideology -- shaped by his experience. his life offered powerful evidence that a person's upbringing can shape a life and a life can in turn shape history. in his case, he was formed by early 20th-century california and came to embody its values. he then exported those values to the nation and to a remarkable degree, those values helped shape our lives today. if you will bear with me a few minutes, i would like to talk about who warren really was an in the process, i hope to

. >> next on history bookshelf, jim newton talks about his biography "justice for all: earl warren and the nation he made." justice warning provided over supreme court cases brown v. board of education, which desegregated schools, and chris ward versus connecticut, which established a constitutional of privacy. c-span recorded this event at duke law school in 2007. tremendous pleasure to introduce a dear friend of mine, jim newton, who is the author of a splendid new biography, "justice for all: earl warren and the nation he made." jim is a reporter and bureau chief at "the los angeles times." i first became familiar with his writing in the 1990's when he was the lead reporter for

remember, earl warren was a republican from california, you know, considered a conservative at the timejurisprudence, again, followed the constitution. so i think at the end of the day, if you're looking at this from a political perspective, elections matter and if you want to see and have some impact on the type of justices that are appointed and judges on lower benches, then you to pay closer attention to that. and get in that game. >> eddie, last word to you, this has been a massive week, wrapping on this day, juneteenth. what message do you want it relay? >> well, we stand at the crossroads. juneteenth is such an important day because it is so full of irony. it gives us a sense of the after life some scholars say, the after life of slavery. it is a moment in which the enslaved hear they have been freed. the 13th amendment passed in january of 1865, the emancipation proclamation two years earlier, but they hear it. but yet they have still been exploited. they have still been kind of under the yoke of slavery. one of the ironies, even in the moment of so-called freedom is being expres

to be an extremely liberal justice, going back even further, dwight eisenhower's appointees of earl warren and william brennan turned out to be very liberal. john f. kennedy's appointment of byron white turn out to be pretty conservative, so, you know, justices to change over time, but certainly in the modern era, in the last 20 years, we have not seen justices change dramatically. now, these are three very big cases. you know, john roberts is going to be chief justice for a long time. i don't know if we can say that this means a sea change for decades he's likely to serve of on the court, but for this year and for very important cases, you know, the future of discrimination against gay people in the workplace, that's a huge issue. the future of 700,000 daca young people is a huge issue, and abortion i hardly say is the most controversial issue before the supreme court. to see john roberts side with the liberals on those three cases can is an extraordinary thing, and it -- it will -- i think it will in part shape the presidential campaign because it will inject the supreme court back into

the earl warren court said, well, wait a second.long as they are acting in good faith, whatever that is, then they shouldn't be libel. then they later case in 1982 i believe further broadened that exclusion to basically say, you know, you can do anything you want as long as there's not a case with virtually identical circumstances that says you can't. the court i would emphasize is from 1871 to 1967 we did just fine without qualified immunity. that should not only apply to police officers. it would have to apply to all public officials. the victims of lowest learners should be able to go in the federal court to sue lois lerner for her misusing her powers to deprive people of their constitutional rights under the first amendment. for example. that's an issue that i think is absolutely essential for preservation of our constitutional liberties. host: less than 10 minutes left with congressman tom mcclintock. republican of california. member of the house judiciary committee. did want to ask you, congressman, about that hearing set toda

. >> next on history bookshelf, jim newton talks about his biography "justice for all: earl warren and the nation he made." as chief justice justice warning , provided over supreme court cases brown v. board of education, which desegregated schools, and chris ward versus connecticut, which established a constitutional right of privacy. c-span recorded this event at duke law school in 2007.