he wrote his colleague justice sandra day o'connor's decision was, quote, irrational and, quote, could not be taken seriously. >> cantankerous, i expressed myself vividly. both criticisms are criticisms of opinions, not of my colleague. i'm a good friend of steve breyer. i like him a lot and of sandra day o'connor and of anyone else whose opinions i criticize. >> if they call one of your opinions pure apple sauce? >> that's fine so long as they can demonstrate that it's true. >> reporter: unafraid, a bombastic character who wrote with a vivid, vivid imagine shup, shannon. >> we will remember him that way. brian, thank you so much. >> reporter: no problem. >> our responsibility to shape up the executive and make sure they're doing what they're supposed to or shaping up the congress, that's not our job. our job is to prevent people from being harmed. if nobody is being harmed, we don't get into the matter. and even if somebody is harmed, unless he comes to us, we don't