he was a democrat from broog -- brooklyn and chauncey reid was the senior minority member and he was a republican from dupage county, illinois. i was hired by chauncey reid. >> last question on that, what role does the legislative history, not the law, play when you think bay case that comes to new >> i think it's all significant. our job is to figure out what congress intended to do in enacting a statute and i can remember being asked by members of the committee about rather tricky questions that might be presented in the case. i remember explaining to one congressman some of the difficulties that i saw in a case. he answered, well, we'll let the judges figure that one out. because it's a cooperative venture. congress expects the judges to help fill in the holes in statutes as it goes along, realizing it's not just trying to word words -- read words in a sterile piece of paper. it's important for a judge, i think. >> thank you, justice stevens. >> thank you. >> if you'd like to own a copy of our original documentary on the supreme court on d.v.d. it's part of the american icons thre