clarence thomas tried very hard to hire people who aren't just from the ivy leagues. the university of georgia, i want to go more others. and justice byron white was that way too. he liked young beyond the ivy league. so it is -- you're getting the elite of elite students in all chambers, and i would say including in justice sotomayor's chambers. she certainly has her own elite markers with princeton and yale. and all of them do now, you know, because we're not talking about anybody who attended anymore even north western, and northwestern's a very fine school, but that's where justice john paul stevens had gotten his law degree, and he was the last of the non-ivies for a while. >> host: i don't know if you did this on purpose or not, but on "breaking in," i noted two significant references to the ivy leagues. number one that justice sotomayor chose an ivy league school on purpose -- >> guest: she did. >> host: -- and that it has become so exclusive. >> guest: she, see, this is where i understand how much she appreciates having those markers. she's not going to lose h

we had two terrific nominations and clarence thomas and david souter. they were really hot, contentious moment, especially for the clarence thomas won in 1991. so i kept breaking off as much as it could to cover the core. in 1992 i was hired by the "washington post" to be its supreme court reporter. then i shifted into supreme court full-time. and really haven't left a. i pick up other things along the way. and in 1989 is when i started doing law school at night at georgetown. normal reporters can't do that now because of the 24/7 culture we have, but at the time i could because i was writing for a weekly magazine and i could, i could sort of pace my schedule but even i switched over to the "washington post" in 1992, i had about a year and have more to finish up my law degree. and it somehow worked out, so that was good. i state of the "washington post" for eight years and switched to "usa today." now at reuters i am not our main person covering the supreme court. that's my partner, lawrence early. i do write about the supreme court but i brought obliga

the experience of clarence thomas at yale and the experience of sonia soto mayor at yale. r sun about how painful it was any and he felt like he didn't get a good education that everyone there at the time and afterwards i see god in only because affirmative action and i use some of his passages from his memoir in this book about how he felt as if he was really mistreated by people who thought they were doing him some good by taking him under certain conditions and signaling to others that may be he might not be as credential this white students that graduate from yale. it was a pretty painful experience. i do know that he know that via skype know for certain degree of that enough that he has gone back to yell now. for a long time he would not go back to yale and in october, mid-october or maybe it's october 25 a reunion weekend for the yale law school. justices sotomayor, alito and clarence thomas would all be together at yale and all three had very different experiences. the most notable would be clarence thomas with the time felt like the school had let them down. >> host

tonight, the move by the supreme court, you'll never guess what clarence thomas didn't say this time.st in the war against isis. then to cheer you up, the latest on ebola. ( cheers and applause ) and my guest is comedy legend carol burnett who isno

tonight, the move by the supreme court, you'll never guess what clarence thomas didn't say this time. in the war against isis. then to cheer you up, the latest on ebola. ( cheers and applause ) and my guest is comedy legend carol burnett who is now starring on broadway. oooh! i bet she makes a great mustapha. the neiman marcus cag lot is selling a custom purpeople for $475,000. it's the perfect gift for anyone who wants to smell like an idiot. it's the "colbert report." captioning sponsored by comedy central

tonight, the move by the supreme court, you'll never guess what clarence thomas didn't say this time. plus the latest in the war against isis. then to cheer you up, the latest on ebola. ( cheers and applause ) and my guest is comedy legend carol burnett who is now starring on broadway. oooh! i bet she makes a great mustapha. the neiman marcus cag lot is selling a custom purpeople for $475,000. it's the perfect gift for anyone who wants to smell like an idiot. it's the "colbert report." captioning sponsored by comedy central ( cheers and applause ) >> stephen! stephen! stephen! stephen! stephen! >> stephen: thank you, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the report. it's good to have you with us, nation. ( cheers and applause ) thank you, folks. thank you so much. i need-- i need-- i need the strength you give me, because, folks, this is a dark day. a dark, day, day for cultural conservatives like myself. that day-- hump day. because god decreed in the bible hump day is between one man and one woman. now it's anything goes. on monday the supreme court refused to hear five gay marriage case

tonight, the move by the supreme court, you'll never guess what clarence thomas didn't say this time.the war against isis. then to cheer you up, the latest on ebola. ( cheers and applause ) and my guest is comedy legend carol burnett who is now starring on broadway. oooh! i bet she makes a great mustapha. the neiman marcus cag lot is selling a

do you think you stand a chance with john roberts, clarence thomas, antonin scalia, samuel alito andennedy, all of whom basically believe that it's the politicians, the state legislature, who should resolve these issues? >> i have optimism that this will go through. in my own state, you know, we got dismissed from the trial court. the judge said it wasn't in his jurisdiction to, you know, follow through with the case. we appealed. and the court of appeals turned it around and said, no. this is -- you know, the court has every right to follow through. this is in the court's power. the whole theory about having lawsuits and legal actions in, you know, throughout the states, and there are international cases as well, is that we hope it'll be what we call a domino effect. you know, a win here will hopefully influence allxae'g]%9 across the states. because really, it just takes one brave judge to say, yes, >> so how did you feel when the court of appeals said, gave you a second opinion? >> you know, it was the last day of high school for me. and senior year, so huge celebration. and also

george bush who is really friendly and decent and bright person, he looks you in the eye and says clarence thomas is the best person he can find to be on the supreme court and that the appointment had nothing to do with race and that's not true. the press recognizes that and as a result a way of that single statement. enemies.g to make him >> is that story throughout george bush asking you to the white house? >> he asked me to lunch at the white house one day. and told me in the course of , that he wasn't making any said -- with mary and i i forgot what i said. i think i said it was a credit to marry. >> the way the story went, he had a dinner and said, try to talk her out of those things, saying things about me. >> well, good luck. if you tried really to understand mary and mary, well, you can't help but listen. mary is a great listener. >> why do they care about one columnist? >> they want them all. they don't want handful of columnists who agree with them. they want 100 of them. kennedy would get sore as hell at one correspondent for 20 minutes and then get sore as the heraldbanned tribune, bu

who was definitely a friendly and decent person, he looks you in the eye and says clarence thomas is the best person he can find to be on the supreme court. and the appointment had nothing to do with race. that is not true. press recognizes that and as as him in a way -- result of that single statement. that is going to make him enemies. >> is that story true about george bush asking you to the white house? >> he asked me to lunch one day. not making anyas progress with mary. i said, i forgot what the hell i said. i said that is a credit to marry. >> the story is -- this is the way it was written. have a dinner and talk to her, try to talk her out of saying those things to me. >> good luck. >it wouldn't do good. if you try to understand the mary. -- understand mary. she is a great listener. >> why does he care about a one columnist? >> they want them all. they don't want a handful of call masts -- columnists. they want them all. that is human nature. get sore as hell at a correspondent for 20 minutes. he would get sore as hell at papers. he banned the new york world tribune. and was

a, chief justice john roberts, justice samuel alito, c, justice clarence thomas, or d, justice antonin justice john roberts. >> i will let one of the plaintiffs give us the answer. >> i'm very delighted. i can't believe we got both kennedy and roberts to rule in our favor. >> that means the answer is a, chief justice robert, just like shawnna said. >> all right. i know there's tons of suspense here, nick, you obviously are very good at math. you can tell just by looking at you. did she get enough answers to win the swag? >> carry the one, yes, she did. >> i was hoping to get a question about mo the baby river otter. but this is okay, too. >> the thing about mo the baby river otter is he's just mo the baby river otter. there's nothing wrong with mo the baby river otter. thanks for watching the show all week and memorizing all the stuff. i'll appreciate it and we'll accepted you your tiny cheap shaker. >> excellent, thank you, rachel. >> it worked. if any of you out there think you have what it takes to survive the friday night news dump, head over to maddowblog.com for inen instructions

ask clarence thomas or herman cain. they ask them about that, but liberals who speak and act and sound and e-echo what the white liberals say get their incredible task in america's newsrooms and that is a major factor of making obama who he was and how he could get away with things no one else could get away with and the story in october of 2007 reported this and i'm here freezing behind closed. no addresses, no friends or relatives. and then they just move on. as though it didn't matter that they wouldn't provide would provide all these things but that's the way that he rolled. i'm going to grab a drink hang on one second. >> i have a cold but i chose not to take an equal medicine that i would be loopy appear tonight. that had a lot to do with how he became who he was. and it started right off. early in the campaign he started in ways that no one else could have possibly gotten away with and so in september of 2007 when he was still a long shot, obama vowed if i am a democratic nominee i will aggressively pursue an agr

>> ron klain was responsible for the character assassination of clarence thomas. >> what -- how is he-- >> ron klain is, really, the only person who's responsible for how thomas was treated in i mean, how -- >> ron klain being -- >> the coach of message coaches, al gore. >> i don't understand where you're getting this information that a ron klain is like this nefarious person. >> he's a hack. >> it's character assassination. >> he's a political hack. go ahead, harris. >> you were asking me about leadership styles, and i do find it interesting that after all of the medical speak that we have heard, and some would say untruths that we've heard from the lectern where the cdc has stood at times and told us different ways that this was contagious and then given us other ways, told us that this would not spread to health care workers and that it did, out of all of that, what we've been calling for is a point person who could talk to us like human beings. i would say and, judge, i know you pretty well, that an attorney at least can do one thing, and that is put forth an argument that the jur

if we had not had current time -- the claris's comments -- clarence thomas situation, we would not have had to grapple with the reality of sexual harassment in the work is in the way that we do. going back to ferguson, my most recent frame of reference, i think what we're looking at there is reflective of a broader set of trends. talking historically for a minute, we saw in 1967 the commission report that said there were large scale riots in the country, disturbances, that where a product of the systematic exclusion of african-americans from opportunity. out of that we have kind of reform, people consider them to be superfluous, the supreme court effectively said the voting rights act was discriminatory against white southerners. so we have debates around things like affirmative action and whether or not people of color actually belonged in any position in which we are, which we found a niche. i see that in academia all the time. but the kind of question that is implicit in that is, if you remove those circumstances and replicate the circumstances that existed, do you not have the same

clarence thomas was 43 years old when he was confirmed for the supreme court in 1991.remains until he's 90, the age which justice stevens stepped down, he will be a supreme court justice for 47 years. elena kagan, john roberts were each 50 when they were confirmed. if they stay until they're 90, they'll be there for 40 years. that's too much power for one person to exercise for too long a period of time. >> brown: jeffrey rosen, what do you think? does the system need changing? >> there's a decent argument for term limits. irwin has made it very well. it would requirement a constitutional amendment, and that's not going to happen. justices can emerge and change. one thing that emerged, i asked her, when you were appointed, people thought you were a minimalist, a judge's judge. now you're on fire, you're the leader of the opposition. i feel as a longtime observer and friend of justice ginsburg that she has found her voice. that she's gained the confidence to really not only be a legal technician but a powerful voice for liberal constitutional ideals that she's grown on

there was clarence thomas, anita hill, remember that whole thing? >> seth: right.e on tv. i don't know if i could -- they talked a lot about pubic hairs. >> seth: yeah, they did. >> and 20 million people watched to hear about pubic hair and 77 came to my film, which was not no good. [ laughter ] >> seth: no. >> but it wasn't nathan lane's fault. >> seth: no, it wasn't nathan lane's fault. >> it was just luck. and then we thought, get him back when we sell the dvd. and of course my luck, when the dvd came out was the big night weekend of l.a. riot. >> seth: oh no. >> and i was at the laker game and they burned my car. and i had to hitchhike home, you know. it's hard. hi, i do "happy days", right. [ laughter ] nobody cares. >> seth: nobody cares. >> "happy days" this, you know. >> seth: right. one of the things i love talking about when we got to work together is when you write, you're a writer and i was a writer. you sometimes actors want to know more that as an writer you even know. and you told me a great story of working with tony randall on "the odd couple." >>

. >> ifill: she is so different from the other minority member to have the bench clarence thomas whoks at affirmative action as being in drag and she calls herself an affirmative action baby. >> chance thomas feels stick nay advertise bid it. sonia sotomayor says i was the perfect affirmative action baby because i was given a boost and showed i could compete. >> ifill: why is being the first latina justice more significant than being an italian justice like scalia? >> first, you have a growing population that by '09 when president obama put her on the bench was really clamoring for this and the nation was ready for it. she's puerto rican, but when she was appointed she stood for all hispanics and was embraced that way. it's not just this breakthrough but also the fact that, for years, hispanics felt on the down-side of the justice system and she recognized that. she recognized it have been people of color, her people who have been on the down-side of justice that gets this representation. >> ifill: you talk about her people, certain celebrity other supreme court justties do not have.

among those attending chief justice john roberts, associate justices clarence thomas, kennedy, scalia, brier and kagen and white house chief of staff dennis mcdone hue. here's a look at some of those leaving after the service. >> on "washington journal" we talked with the reporter about what to expect in the new term for the supreme court which egins later today. >> joining us on the phone is adam who is following the court for the "new york times." the headline this morning the supreme court's robust new session could define the legacy of the chief justice. thanks very much for being with us. >> it's great to be here. >> as you watch them arrive, let me ask you first about this mass, this tradition, and what transpires. >> it's a longstanding tradition where several of them typically five or six of them gather for a blessings and encouragement at the start of the new term. it's a longstanding catholic tradition to bless those responsible for the administration of justice. they're -- there are not a few people who think it's an odd juxtaposition to see this kind of tension between chu

you have supreme court justices like clarence thomas. maybe we should have public financing where judges are not allowed to accept gifts, where their campaigns are publicly funded. so that way when they get on the bench they won't be beholden to anybody and they would have to run on their record as a lawyer or whatever. that's my comment. thank you. guest: i think as we noted before, there was a public finance regime in north carolina that was repealed by the republican legislature. this also happened in wisconsin, but there are some problems with that legally because the supreme court a couple years ago looked at a public financing scheme in arizona and struck down as a violation of equal protection saying they gave an unfair advantage to certain candidates. sore i'm not quite sure. there's probably a way to do it where it passes this constitutional muster but it's a challenge for -- republicans will tell you or conservatives will tell you -- >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. i'm bob thompson, visiting scholar here working to devel

justice scalia says nobody is going to cover my speech, what happens is someone tweets it or -- clarence thomas came to uva and was off the record, you were sworn to secrecy. every word was published the next day with mistakes, because we don't have a record of it. a justice goes to speak at a dinner and someone just takes a photo of him and suddenly the media has captured it. it seems to me that more and more when the court puts up these barriers to transparency, what happens is that what rushes n in is less than what they would afford us if they would just let us in. i wonder if anyone has thoughts about, is there some tipping point at which the court says -- i'm thinking of the healthcare cases when they were handed down. for the first couple of minutes, it was wrong. maybe the court has no obligation to help us get it right. but is there a cost to the court of these work arounds that aren't working? >> last friday, the atlanta legal newspaper got it wrong. they covered the event and they got it wrong. on this case, they did it to his benefit. it could have been to his detriment. it would ha

they reflect on their career post-yale and clarence thomas says, i must admit, i did not get as muchof law school as i should have. and that was simply because of my attitude. our last caw on the question this morning: is the american dream leaving america? from nebraska? andrew is on the phone. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. i live in south city nebraska. i graduated here in 1986. midwest values, hard working people. south dakota two years ago, i brought my son back. i am a single father. i have raised my son since he was two years old. it's now 17. he attends high school here in a recent survey done, over 90% of the student body is spanish. now, i am by no means racist. my son's not raised that way. we are not raised that way. however, when i go to the local store or the local wal-mart and stand in line surrounded by 90% of spanish or other than i guess caucasian races and i am standing in line while the ebt cards are being used. they can't speak english, yeah, i would say the american dream is being lost and with these borders being open like they do and you just come ov

then you have the federal system where you have supreme court just at thistests like clarence thomas, goes on trips paid by lobbyists too. maybe we should have public financing where judges are notis allowed to accept gifts. where their campaigns are publicly funded. so that way when they get on a bench, they won't be beholden to anybody. and they will have to run on their record as lawyer, whatever. that is my comment. thank you. >> guest: as we noted before there was a public financing regime in place inre north carolina that was repealed by the republican legislature. this also happened in wisconsin. but there c are some problems wh that just legally because the supreme court a couple years ago looked at a public financing scheme in arizona and struck it down as violation of qualpro technician. it gave unfair advantage to certain candidates. so i'm not quite sure. there is probably a way to do it where it passes constitutional muster. but, it is a challenge for, you know, republicans will tell you, or conservatives tell you they don't like public finance because they feel like it i

then you have supreme court justices like clarence thomas as well.maybe what we should do is have judgesfinancing, where are not allowed to accept gifts, where the campaigns are publicly funded. that way, when they get on the bench, they will not be beholden to anybody and they have to run on the record as a loyal whatever. that is my comment. thank you. publicthere was a financing regime in place in north carolina. this happened also in wisconsin. there are legal problems with that because the supreme court financinga public regime saying it gave an unfair advantage. there is probably a way to do it , but it is a challenge. conservatives will tell you they do not like public finance because they feel like it is dollars to fund candidates. you do not have a choice as a taxpayer. if you are republican, your money goes to the justice and you never would have given a donation to her as debt on your own, they see that is unfair. it -- and a distortion of the tax system. to their point, public financing may be something where the time is already past. hos

requiring upgrades at the facilities, many of which could not comply, justices samuel alito and clarence thomasuled in favor of the law. the democrats, candidate for, yep, joe, did you chime in? >> i just want to say, really quickly, i think this is pretty stunning, a lot of people won't be paying attention to it. roberts courts, look what they have done over the past week the two most pressing social issues for the conservative base. they basically waved off challenges to bans on same-sex marriage and threat same-sex marriages go on in the lower courts by denying certain. then in this case, they have actually actively overruled at least in the short run what the fifth cirque has done, in effect, allowing a lot of abortion clinics if texas to reopen. the conservative base is waking up this morning, i'm sure on certainly issues an feeling like a quote republican supreme court betrayed them once again. i to the it was a pretty extraordinary ruling. >> the democrats governor for texas is defending her campaign's controversial ad targeting her opponent we talked about this on monday. wendy davis at

>> he's a democratic operative working in the senate on the you dish area committee when clarence thomasng confirmed and all of that chaos there back in the '90s. so i think that it tells you a lot about the white house's perception of what they need to do with this ebola crisis, that it is a p.r. crisis and something they really have to have explained to the american people. but it doesn't really sort of justify a new position. i actually called the white house on friday to try to figure out what exactly is ron clayt clayton's position. i don't think they have been very clear who he is answering to and what his authority is. i think that's a real problem if we are doing or dealing with a public health crisis, to be what this is. >> richard, is this part of a broken promise from the president who said he wouldn't have any lobbyists in his white house and he was a lobbyist for fannie mae. >> the truth of the matter here is that the federal government nor could anybody do anything to stop ebola from getting to our shores. this is not necessarily a crisis. let's be real, there are three ind

thomas eric duncan, the ebola patient in dallas, died today. how is this affecting the mindset of the electorate? for that we are joined by the round table mother jones. gene cummings and clarenceage, the pulitzer prize winning columnist and author of the great book, culture worier. >> some pal of his. you know, it is hard to get this. i got so mad today. i'll be madder when i think about it only the. that guy with the pistol in isis country over there somewhere in syria. it was like the holocaust movies. these people going around digging their own graves. they're going to die in a couple minutes after the tape runs out and what are we doing? the congress won't even vote! don't we get steamed up about anything? did we rally around the flag? or do we want new leadership? >> the reaction to vote orders isis is isis scares them. but they don't want to put anybody -- >> what do they want to do about it? >> they're happy with the bombings. go bomb. that's why this congress that read the republican opinion right and they walk away from it with what the president was doing. the ebola stuff is a little different. there is movement in the public polls on that. >> who are they mad at? >>

. >> caller: clarence thomas and i believe scalia went to a koch brothers planning strategy convention in palm springs. samuel alito was seen at a republican political fund-raiser. there is even footage of it. and reporters tried to stop him as he was leaving to talk to him and he just was scooted down the back -- >> host: any liberal justices attend these type of meetings? >> caller: honestly not that know of. i don't want this to appear this is partisan question. i just wonder if there is going to be any move in the court to, you know, at least use the same rules for ethics that, are, the district court judges. >> host: thank you, ma'am. >> guest: this comes from time to time. the justices actually are not supposed to attend fund raisers. that is part of their own internal rules. the caller hit on something having to do with exthicks rules for -- ethics rules of government. supreme court justices operate on their own rules. they don't follow all the rules lower court justices do but effectively follow them. their their own masters. they don't usually attend fund-raisers. they try not