atticus finch represents the last republican lawyer. and i mean republican in the sense of the republic, of thomas jefferson, those kinds of people. the last lawyer who really believes that to enunciate the important principles of america is going to work. this is in a town where their first reaction -- i mean, tom ewell is an incredibly evil, disgusting person. everybody in town knows that. but they believe him. you know, they're willing to take his word even though they know he's lying completely, they're willing to take his word. they're willing to go out and try to lynch tom robinson, right? they have taken one of their upstanding citizens, bo radley, and locked him in the attic. he's been there for god knows how many years. has anybody in town done anything about it? no. lock your kids in the attic. that's the kind of town you're dealing with. as we're seeing this through the idse of scout, a child, we have -- through the eyes of scout, a child, we have to dig into it ourselves to see what's going on and once you do you realize tha

. >> atticus finch. >> this ring that belonged to your mother. you want to tell us what really happened? >> i got nothing to say. do nothing about it. you coward! >> gentlemen, i shall be brief but i would like to use the remaining time i have with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one. it requires no minute sifting of complicated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant. to begin with, this case should never have come to trial. this case is as simple as black and white. the state has produced not one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime tom robinson is charged with ever took place. it has relied instead on the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence is not only been called into serious question on cross-examination but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. the defendant is not guilty. but somebody in this courtroom is. i have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her puttin

we have a real-life atticus finch, tony serra, who is here and has motivated so many of us to do what we do. our second panel looks at abuse of power, abuse of power and how it happens and why it happens and most importantly what we can do and need to do to prevent it. whether it's a prosecutor or a judge or a defender render ineffective assistance to counsel or a police officer violating constitutional rights. this is not something we can tolerate, yet it happens each and every day. and our panel is going to delve deep into the issues that we're seeing not only here in the bay area but throughout the country and throughout the world. our third panel after lunch will talk about the future of the death penalty and hopefully its demise. you might be surprised that we are having a conversation here in san francisco about the death penalty. as you know, our district attorney has indicated that he may seek the death penalty in appropriate cases in san francisco, and that has not been the case for the past decade. but he's coming today to talk about his views. we also have a former warden a

atticus is that this is set in the 1930's, not set in the 1960's, and atticus was a court-appointed attorney. and what he really did was he gave his client a vigorous defense which is -- was not expected and in fact, what's great at looking at the movie version of "to kill a mockingbird" is the jurors -- some of the jurors sitting in the jury box reading the paper because everybody figured they knew how this trial was going. you know, it tells you something sometimes about what a trial l can do, not just for the people who are on trial but for everyone who's watching it. and atticus did something that his neighbors and parts of his family didn't expect him to do. i think what's interesting about the novel is america was a deeply divided place. especially in the deep south. segregation was still not yet against the law. and particularly for white southerners, this novel, which caught on, you know, famously and quickly, it gave white southerners a way to think about how they were raised and to think about the system in which they were raised. it did so perhaps in a way that a political speech

aties cuss finch -- atticus finch didn't have to deal with a 24-hour news cycle. tony serra didn't have to deal with bloggers in his career. i think what's going on in new york city where the head of the i.m.f. was arrested for doing some untorrid things in a big hotel. i found it ironic last night that eliot spitzer was interviewing people talking about these sorts of activities, and that cycle is going on and on. if you want to play a drinking game, you know, who wants to take bets of when we're going to have the first appearance of gloria allred? it's inevitable. i'm getting off the point a little bit here. but at some point i think it was around the time of the o.j. case where you had this confluence of a big public figure, it was a juicy trial, and cable news was just becoming a force. it changed the environment in which we operate, at least criminal system operates. because it's not just cases anymore, it's entertainment. it's a whole media frenzy on big cases. and i don't think that's a very good thing, but that is the environment in which we operate. and l

. >> i think atticus has 99 pounds on yours. >> he's feared in the neighborhood.ame? >> teddy. >> teddy, atticus, nicolas. >> three important animals. no doubt about it. outside today raincoats required for everybody who's going to be spending a lot of time outside. if you got a slicker for the dog, maybe put it on him. nicolas loves the rain. outside we go. a little bit of rain starting to sneak into your weekend as well. today is going to be the rainier of the two days this weekend. if you have things to do inside, today the better day. book reading, movie watching, card playing. competitive. how about competitive uno. one of my all-time favorites. 62 outside right now with mist and drizzle works its way into downtown washington. a light breeze at 8 miles per hour. blossoms passing peak quickly. i think they'll be done today or tomorrow at the latest. 70% of the blossoms out. and the showers and the wind spell trouble. plus all those 80 degree days did not help the cherry blossoms at all. helped us. didn't help them. 64 with the rain showers in fredricksburg. he

not because atticus finch is the smartest guy on the block, but because the movie makers are the smartest guys on the block. [applause] >> once again we have all the books by our novelists here and our writers here in the front. or you can find them on amazon.com. i'd like to thank mary mcdonagh murphy, who joined us from new york via skype, and john -- john is actually a descendant of the first chief justice of the u.s. supreme court. paulette frankl, "lust for justice," tony serra, and sheldon siegal. so before we take a break, i do have a surprise. a few years ago, i guess six or seven years ago, i met an amazing artist. i was visiting his home. and he had created this wonderful sculpture. i immediately recognized it as being clarence. it turned out that he had created a number of just amazing sculptures of trial lawyers. and he went on to do one of clara fults, the first woman attorney in california and became the leader of the public defender movement. and just by happenstance, he called me and had this idea of encapsulating one of the greatest trial attorneys of our times. so, bill?

and atticus did something that his neighbors and parts of his family didn't expect him to do. i think what's interesting about the novel is america was a deeply divided place. especially in the deep south. segregation was still not yet against the law. and particularly for white southerners, this novel, which caught on, you know, famously and quickly, it gave white southerners a way to think about how they were raised and to think about the system in which they were raised. it did so perhaps in a way that a political speech didn't do because it was told through the eyes of a child. it was a popular story that wasn't just about race, it about growing up in a small town. it was about coming of age. it was about love. it was about lonliness. it had all the suspense. the novel had so many elements with which to draw people in. >> so the tremendous amount of -- about harper lee. i know she never wrote another book. it was a pulitzer prize-winning book, and the film won the academy award. and yet she never wrote another book. what did you learn about harper lee and her reasons? >> w

clearly, the hero of this book isn't scout or atticus. it's tom robinson. n-not boo radley?iffer. (suspenseful music playing) oh, yeah? when's the last time you actually read this book, oprah? no, you di'int. do you actually read them? or do you just have people in your club read them? you're asking me when's the last time i read "to kill a mockingbird"? yeah, exactly. aah! uhh! oprah, you--aah! hey! that's my husband! aah! uhh! (smack) ow! book club fight club! (heavy metal music playing) (all grunting) oh! ooh! uhh! boo radley! pow! pow! you're pounding! you're just pounding them. uh, thank you so much for coming, jimmy. no, no, no, no, no, no, no. i-i have one more idea. i think it's-- it's the best one yet, okay? can i just--one more? please? this better be good. okay. doctors--you love them, right? dr. oz, dr. phil. and they're both great, but let's be honest, neither one of them is a real doctor. actually, they're both-- so great ready for an appointment with the best oprah doctor yet. hi, ladies. i'm dr. vajayjay. open wide! quack, quack! no! but wait. there's--there'

the author of "to kill a mocking bird" is from my home in monroeville, alabama and the story is of atticus finch and the example he set at a difficult time in our nation's history. one of my favorite lines out of "to kill a mocking bird" is, the one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience. i believe we can all agree that while we have rules in this house and no one more than the parliamentarian helps us abide by those rules and to follow the spirit of them, that john sullivan has set the example of being an outstanding parol. tarian by using the rule but also by using his heart and his conscience. his rulings have sometimes been questioned but never disputed. in a real sense. because his rulings and the rulings of the men and women who work with him have been seen by those of us who have been given the privilege of serving as members of congress as the gold standard. truly it's the good housekeeping seal of approval. if the ruling were appealed to the chair and the chair turned to the parliamentarian, as was often the case, we knew the answer was as good as gold.