nieces and nephews have attended hall and i don't think it freedom of choice is now the majority is blackmun. when i left the university of arkansas and i went to art for ibm and interesting how i got the job because i did a whole lot of things are wrong in terms of stress and i refer the first time i went to interview. dave: had on is whether because i didn't know anything about ibm. they basically wanted to talk to african-american students and i remember when they asked me what i knew about ibm and i said they made typewriters and so i thought that was all i really knew. so the guy who interviewed me told me about the tests i have to take in his home and you are a liberal arts major and are going to do well on the test but in any way and maybe we will introduce you to people in the province of is and so i went into this has ever felt the pressure because it's only evidence you well on that. the next morning about 730am and the guy who had given me the test called again and he said in committee was in shock and said to me in all the years i have been giving this as i have never seen a negr

who sat at circuit judges like she did, john paul stevens, who is now on the high court, and harry blackmunquite different. it may be a little bold to extrapolate from a rather mainstream and not any kind of activist decisionmaking as a circuit judge to indicate that's how she would vote on the supreme court. >> from the questioning we saw from the senators, many are saying we saw missed opportunities from republicans and democrats who could have probed more and focused more on what kind of justice she might be. >> you remember the justice -- maybe perhaps properly so, rather reticent. they don't want to forecast how they would actually vote. president lincoln once said if we asked a man he would do and he answered, we should despise him for it. that's kind of the dilemma you have with the nominee. they don't want to be so specific before they've heard argument that they will decide this way or that way. i think my own view knowing her philosophy and basically judicial thinking, she will certainly be in the mold of ruth bader ginsburg, the other woman justice, or david souter. she will be o

i would rather starve but his way of dealing with it let's get, you know, blackmun together. it was a huge struggle, you know, but he did it. there were also people like william arming, jr., a black attorney, who wrote about -- he was a graduate of the university of chicago law school. he wrote about fha policies like in the late '40s, one of the first people to write about it, very critical of it. but, you know, he pursued his own career. he was part of the naacp. he participated in a lot of important suits but he didn't get into organizing contract buyers. he did become one of the attorneys who represented them when they filed those two lawsuits. so that gets to the second question. what happened, you know -- partially i don't want to tell you because i want to leave some suspense, you know, because, you know, the book goes through, you know, the ups and the downs and the whole courtroom drama and i don't want to give it all away, but, you know, it's hard to win a case like that. it was brilliantly argued and they found lawyers to represent them for free not only bob ming b

justice blackmun had empathy for convicted criminals.t of people have empathy for criminals, very little empathy for victims of the criminals. he was against the death penalty for criminals, but he helped pass a law that tortured, tortured and killed innocent babies, justice blackmun said that every execution lessons of all. we have been lessened 50 million times as little girls and boys are tortured and killed with taxpayer money. isn't that sad? host: let me ask you this. what you are saying the constitution should be interpreted today as it was written more than 200 years ago? caller: absolutely, yes, especially article 10. article 10 is the most important thing. here is where we made the big mistake. it is interesting, july 4, they have terrific programs on. life was first, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. these have now been taken away by enormous government which was the opposite of what our founding fathers properly wanted us to do. we need freedom, freedom is the call, and that has been taken away from us, especially now. inclu

justice blackmun spoke in a way that to get beyond race they must take it on the account of race.tant? >> it depends on the context of the case you are looking at. in the gance case, for example, there were a variety of challenges brought based on the alleged conduct the the school engaged in. dismissing in some of the claims, not consistent with of the law, there was a disc and treatment element, presenting evidence of such. that is the quote that you are reading from. this one child was treated completely different from other children of a different race in the services that he was provided with, and in the opportunities he was given to remedy or receive remedial help. that is obviously different, because what you are looking at is the law as it exists, and the promise that the law makes to every citizen for equal treatment in that situation. >> i agreed. you need to take a look at all the facts in the circumstances. in ignoring race, you ignore an important point of the facts. talking about privacy, the justice describes it as the right to be left alone, that this right must be

justice blackmun spoke in order to get beyond race we first must take race into account of race. and if you ignore race completely, aren't you ignoring facts that are important in a particular case? >> well, it depends on the context of the case that you're looking at. in the gann case there were a variety of challenges brought to the plaintiffs by the conduct that was alleged the school had engaged in. i joined the majority in dismissing some of the claims as not consistent with law. but in that case, there was a disparate treatment element, and i pointed out onto the set of facts that showed or presented evidence of that district treatment. that's the quote that you were reading from, that this was a child treated completely different than other children of a different race and the services that he was provided with and in the opportunities he was given to remedy or to receive remedial help. that is obviously different, because what you're looking at is the law as exists, and the promise the law makes to every citizen of equal treatment in that situation. that situation. @ @ @

the instruction book debt and blackmun is named after him.re is an award, the most prestigious award that goes to judges, named after him, he was actually one of my mentors when i went on the southern district bench. was sworn in as fbi director by judge frank johnson who, as someone mentioned before, was a legendary judicial hero from winston county, alabama, who with a handful of other republican judges, really change the tide of history by their commitment to the law, there fearlessness, and the honesty and integrity with which they took upon their office. so is my pleasure to recommend to the committee the confirmation of this outstanding judge. i want to talk about her judicial experience. i think i have been listening to these proceedings the last few days, i may be the only lawyers who has been with her in the program. since experience is the best indicator of what someone will do in the future, how they behave and conduct in written and decided manners as a judge, as has been mentioned before, this candidate has an enormous, rich judi

she is the author of the book becoming justice blackmun, who is one of my heroes, and currently linda is the ninth distinguished journalist residents at the a lot school. it is indeed an honor to welcome linda. [applause] >> thanks very much. i have had the most -- which one of these is working? i had a most interesting day here. and enjoy hearing that you've are really deep and interesting talk at lunch. some of the points i'm going to make some of you have been here today, will have her today few broader context because my interest of course is in women and judging, but it's also in judging. and my inquiry is how the judges know what they know? what are the sources of their knowledge? but first i will talk a little bit about his more specifically our topic of this conference. 25 years ago the great shirley abramson -- that's the sound system problem. >> how is this? no? i think they try to cut the feedback and maybe cut it too much. who here knows anything about this? does this work? yes, okay. we will go to that. 25 years ago, the great shirley abramson who was just reelected fortu