johnson and brandeis skirted what one might call the pits of hell. they crafted things that looked a little strange but also had a beauty. they did what i think is in the best tradition of the court, to find a way to give meaning to the notion that while we are technically a court of law, what we are really are looking for is a court of justice. thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> american history tv is on c-span3 every weekend. all of our programs are archived at c-span.org/history. see our schedule of upcoming programs. that is c-span.org/history. >> soldiers, sailors and airmen of the allied expeditionary force, you are about to embark upon the great crusade towards which we have striven these many months. the eyes of the world are upon you. the hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere arch with you. in company with our allies and brothers in arms on othe

he is a professor at history and african-american studies at brandeis university.rican and modern united states history, world war i, and african-american intellectual history. he is the author of "torchbearers of democracy: african american soldiers in the world war i era."

and augustus specter professor at history and african-american studies at brandeis university. he specializes in african-american and modern united states history, world war i, and african-american intellectual history. he is the author of "torchbearers of democracy: african american soldiers in the world war i era," which received the 2011 liberty legacy foundation award from the organization of american historians and the 2011 distinguished book award from the society for military history. he is also a part of so many projects that i continue to be talking about around the nation as we are giving these teacher professional development workshops. one of those is called world war i america. you can find a video with him as well as some questions and things that he helped curate to really change how our students think about world war i. so it is a true pleasure to have dr. williams back. he is currently completing a book on w.e.b. dubois and world war i, just completing a radcliffe fellowship with harvard university. this morning, dr. williams will discuss african-american soldi

and augustus specter professor at history and african-american studies at brandeis university. he specializes in african-american and modern united states history, world war i, and african-american intellectual history. he is the author of "torchbearers of democracy: african american soldiers in t

i think we are at that tipping point, former supreme court justice brandeis said that when governmentomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for the law. it invites every man to become a law unto himself. it invites anarchy. and so we can afford to have the government become a law breaker. the police who executed george floyd, mr. arbery, those were basically lynchings. my wife, 15 years ago, was very much involved in going to the united states senate and begging them along with her friends to say pass a resolution, apologizing for the united states senate failing to condemn lynching, failing to pass laws that prevent lynching, you know what, the republican majority at that time said, okay, only by a voice vote, only on monday night, so the members who didn't want to go on record as being opposed to lynching didn't have to be seen. and here we are today, the senate debating making lynching a federal crime, and one senator saying, no, goes too far, these were lynchings that took place in minneapolis, and in georgia. and we ought to stand up and condemn them. that's a case of extra judic

enables all 50 states to be what supreme court justice louis brandeis laboratories of democracy. means so i think lockerbie was wrong, i don't think if new york wants to set minimum wage rules for bankers, i think that's a bad policy idea and i think new york has constitutional authority to do it. if california wants to and ask socialized medicine at thermal policy and yet california as a constitutional authority to do it in the beauty of federalism is if you don't like it you can pack up and move and come to a place to protect your economic liberty so i don't think we should have judges making policy decisions even if it's striking down bad policy. instead it ought to be democratic accountabilitywith constraints that are in the constitution . >> senator lee. >> federalism and separation of powers tend when we follow them to give more americans access to more of the kind of government they want and less of the kind of government they don't want. when we hear people in this day and age talking about how unfortunate it is that it's grown so contentious in washington it should be no

in our constitution and federalism enables all 50 states to be what supreme court justice louis brandeis called democracy. ... idea and i think new york has constitutional authority to do it. if california wants to and ask socialized medicine at thermal policy and yet california as a constitutional authority to do it in the beauty of federalism is if you don't like it you can pack up and move and come to a place to protect your so i don't think we should have judges making policy decisions even if striking down bad policy, instead it out of the democratic accountability with a structural constraints that are in thecy constitution. >> senator lee? >> federalism and separation of powers tend, when we follow, to give more americans access to more of the kind of government they want in the last of kind of government they don't want. when we hearle people in this dy and age talked about how unfortunate it is that it's grown so contentious in washington, there should be no surprise to them that this is occurred as a result of our concentration of power excessively in the hands of the few withi

we have a number of disclosure, disinequity iffing to go with the brandeis thing but to say we can't and this and that you can do whatever you want no one is going to call his mom and say, jay, you can't say that jay could have said, this is ridiculous, and i don't think it's good, and that would be it. you don't have to hide behind the 33 act nobody tells you that you can't just say it like it is i mean, are you afraid of getting fired? if you are afraid of getting fired, don't take the job. >> yeah. well, i think he came as close as he could within the boundaries of the law and their place in it. and sort of saying hey -- >> instead of saying who is this guy, got me some hertz. >> then hertz said we won't sell stock until we answer these disclosures. to be fair in their disclosure they said listen this could be a worthless piece of paper it wasn't stopping the people you were talking about from buying it. >> i said don't buy it i think it is stupid to buy it mr. clayton can come on "mad money" and explain why he said it his way i said it is a losser for you but it could help save j

as justi brandeis says gore foo or ill it teaches the whom people by example. crime is contagious. if the government becomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for the law. it invites every man to become a law unto himself. it invites anarchy. before i began my own opening statement, i want to take a moment to play a video compilation of egregious attacks on protesters caught on camera over the last several weeks of protests. folks, please go ahead and play the video. . >> back it up. >> back up. >> back up. >> hey! >> oh my -- . >> please keep these images in mind as we begin these briefings. now i will recognize myself for an open statement. because as a professional of institutional law many people ask me what is the best part of government and i will talk about separation of powers and judicial review and these days the foreign andeiee emol emollyents clause. it is the heart of our constitution and the first amendment contains six rights and amazingly president trump and attorney general barr managed to violate and offend every single right contained in the first amendment when

states are what justice brandeis called laboratories of democracy. testing different policies for their individual circumstances. i look forward to learning about your successes in responding to the pandemic. the remaining challenges. what you got right, what you got wrong. and how the state and federal partnership can be strengthened to ensure these challenges can be successfully addressed going forward. there is no question facing a once in a century global pandemic federal, state, and local health systems encountered difficulties in ramping up diagnostic testing, working out the logistical details of complex global supply change. however it is only fair to acknowledge that tremendous progress has been achieved over the last few weeks. the efforts of the white house, president trump, federal agencies to get full visibility into various supply chains in a very short period of time, and then obtained necessary supplies for the nation's testing and other needs, while competing for them globally with the rest of the world it's been nothing short of rem

professor chad williams, the chair at the department of african and african american studies at brandeisonnie greer, let me ask you about what boris johnson said in that video? is britain much less racist than it used to be? well, when people say things like that, and people have said things like this to me a lot in the last week, and the subtext is that we are better than the us, right? no. and i think that is what the people in the street are saying, and he should listen. boris has said some things in the past that were unkind, that we re in the past that were unkind, that were hurtful, that were racist, and he festival should begin any speech he festival should begin any speech he gets on the subject with an apology for his past mistakes and a personal vial to do better, that is how i feel. you are referring to older articles where he has talked about watermelon smiles... and letterboxes. he is the leader... sorry to interrupt you, he says those comments are taken out of context. he should stand in front of us context. he should stand in front of us and say those things were taken out