stevens, nominated in 1975 by president gerald ford and confirmed unanimously, will turn 90 this month. only the legendary justice oliver wendell holmes was older when he retired at nearly 91. our chief legal correspondent jan crawford begins tonight's coverage of the man who leads the court's liberal block and who president obama may choose to succeed him. >> we're an illinois family. >> reporter: justice jon paul stevens has always been his own man. when he joined the court 35 years ago, he was considered a moderate conservative. he became a reliable liberal. serving under seven presidents, he forged his own path. >> when president ford was faced with a supreme court vacancy shortly after the nation was still recovering from the watergate scandal, he wanted a nominee who was brilliant, nonideological, pragmatic, and committed above all to justice, integrity, and the rule of law. he found that nominee in john paul stevens. >> reporter: on the current closely divided supreme court, with five conservatives and four liberals, stevens anchors the left wing. his impact on the law is broad.

former president gerald ford once said it would be fine with him if his entire presidency was judged only by the man he put on the supreme court. president ford had just one chance to name one justice and he chose john paul stevens of chicago. a recent poll showed only about 1% of americans knew his name, but his rulings as a justice affected every american in this country. today justice john paul stevens, the oldest member of the court, the most senior justice, the leading liberal announced he's leaving the bench. president obama now gets to appoint his second justice, but tonight when you read what the other eight justices are saying, you understand they're losing a close and valued friend on the bench. we begin our coverage here tonight with our justice correspondent pete williams. pete, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you on a windy friday. about the only surprise is the timing of this announcement, 11 days before his 90th birthday. justice stevens has been signaling for weeks that this term of the court would probably be his last. john paul stevens will leave t

nixon, when gerald ford was going to run for president, this man has been lying to me for a long time, there was never any relationship further. >> they much supportive of the president. he began by saying i think i should start over by saying dear dick because i am writing to myself as you will quickly detect. it was a letter he penned on his typewriter to talk about the people surrounding him in the white house and also said you need to come to congress. people need to know their president is listening to them. >> >> he did not -- and -- >> it is a long letter. and nixon knew. >> more than any other president and, how did the decision fits into that. >> i hadçç to read read it. i should actually read my books. it is a book it was the result of i am not in there and others are not in there. i put together a remarkable story which is timely right now. and we put another justice or two on the court. nixon has two seats to fill and the story itel and call it the william rehnquist choice for a literary device because william rehnquist doesn't come up until the end of the book. he is sel

he was actually nominated by a republican president, gerald ford.rphosis is too strong a word. but how do you see justices who go in and the expectation is they are going to take one sort of philosophical stand, and then their stand ends up being very different. >> well, in his case, he did not fulfill that particular expectation that he would be conservative or republican leaning. but in other cases the justices do sometimes fulfill what they see when they are appointed. sometimes they change. sometimes they change early. sometimes they change late in their career. a notable example of a justice who is living up to expectations and has not changed stripes is the current chief justice john roberts, who was appointed to be very conservative and has turned out to be that way. >> all right. paul rothstein, who is a law professor at georgetown university. professor rothstein, good of you to join us and share your expertise. i want to bring in on the right side ben ferguson with icon radio network. ben, let me begin with you. give me your reaction to joh

stevens' time on the court began after president gerald ford nominated him in 1975. over the years, he became a reliably liberal voice. he voted to limit the use of the death penalty and to broaden the scope of abortion rights. in 2000, he led the dissenters in "bush v. gore," the five-to- four decision that sealed george w. bush's election as president. and later, stevens won support from justices anthony kennedy and the now-retired sandra day o'connor-- the court's swing voters-- to rein in key bush administration policies. in 2006, he wrote the majority opinion in "hamdan v. rumsfeld," holding that using military commissions to try terror suspects at guantanamo bay was unconstitutional. stevens was asked in 2007 what his legacy might be. >> i suppose on the basis of the opinions i've written. there's an awful lot of them. they'll have to pick and choose between them. but you leave... you leave your record on what you've had to say over the years. >> woodruff: today's resignation now gives president obama his second high-court nomination. the chairman of the senate

he said that gerald ford was very ambitious, but he concealed it. this town is full of people who do not conceal it. one of the secrets to his success and why he was so liked, was this shrewd attempt on ford's part but not to come across that way. >> i remember you doing to eight hours with neil armstrong. >> we did a long interview with mr. armstrong at johnson space center right after 9/11. he flew his own plane in from cincinnati where he has a farm and he was turning 70 and agreed to do one nasa world history interview and the late steve ambrose and i got to do when we had that marvelous opportunity to talk to him. neil armstrong and john glenn, i love john glenn, they were both boyhood heroes of mind. we would do world war two oral histories and i like talking to soldiers a lot because it is hard to understand battle from one general perspective, but if you can get a sampling of 60 people, for example, i just got back from haiti and it was our first ranger. if you hear the stories of differed soldiers and what they encountered after the earthqu

he was one-time press secretary to president gerald ford. igned over ford's pardon of richard nixon. long before that, he was a newspaper man, reporter and columnist. he was in the motorcade, in fact, when jfk was assassinated in dallas. he covered nixon's trip to china. he was a marine officer in world war ii. he was 87 years old. >>> when we come back here tonight, a name change. name change. ♪ [ female announcer ] nancy decided she can't afford so many bathroom detours when sixty percent off is at stake, so today, she's talking to her doctor about overactive bladder. teri decided she's tired of always stopping to "go," so today, she's talking to her doctor, too. if you have overactive bladder symptoms, today is the day to talk to your doctor and ask about prescription toviaz. one toviaz pill a day significantly reduces sudden urges and accidents over 24 hours, all day and all night. plus, toviaz comes with a simple plan with tips on food and drink choices and training your bladder. if you have certain stomach problems or glaucoma, or canno

he was an appointee of republican gerald ford. he's always been a moderate who has tried to interpret the law, which is his job, in an intellectually honest way. and you do get the sense that this idea of trying to sort of build majorities across ideological lines on the court is becoming a thing of the past. there are some very talented justices still on the court, but they don't have stevens' ability to work with people -- i don't want to say both sides of the aisle, because they don't have an aisle at the court. but on the different ideological extremes of the court to bring them together as stevens has done in many, many cases over the many years. >> specter appealed to stevens to wait until after the election, is that so things will be calmer in 2011 than they are in 2010? >> i think the latter. i happen to think senator specter is mistaken about this because the democrats are only, as we all know, only one vote shy of having a filibuster-proof majority after the midterm elections, they might be a few votes shy. and should th

this man was no flaming liberal when gerald ford appointment to the court, was he? >> he was a moderate conservative. he has changed a little bit of a couple of issues but he argues very strongly that it is not he who has changed, it's the court that has changed, the competition -- the composition of the chip accord. -- the composition of the court. >> did he write the opinion banning george carlin's seven dirty words? >> he did. >> didn't he vote to reinstate the death penalty? >> he did and they came to say that he thought the death penalty was useless but in view of the fact that the court had upheld a for many years, he was not prepared to change that theme that is not a change in the court. that is a change in him. >> at one point he said there was a school desegregation case. he said that he did not know a single person that he had ever served with money came to the court who would have voted in the manner the supreme court did. to not allow this formerly segregated system to take the steps to desegregate. i think that is a fair observation. i still don't thin

gerald ford went to his speech wriletter and say said i don't know if we can use that line. it's kind of hard on dick. and he said s of evil, which is debatable whether you can have a three-point axis. but it's remembered about the bush presidencies, george bush that is. >> actually started out as axis of hatred. one of them said that's terrible. let's make it axis of evil. and sort of patted himself on the back for saving history from this awful phrase. >> can i just have a moment for the benefit of our wonderful listeners on sirius x.m. radio, i would like to identify the program. it is "white house chronicle," with myself llewellyn king, linda gasparello of this program. chuck lewis, roger slesinger, and terrence samuels who is a book writer and journalist. lovely, back to the subject. who do you think has been the great speech writers? some have gone onto success. i was once asked to write a speech for a particular president. i didn't think he could deliver it and i'm not going to tell you who. i don't think it would have gone down in history because i couldn't imagine t

he insisted he was the same conservative republican gerald ford nominated. >> i don't really think i've changed. i think there have been a lot of changes in the court. >> reporter: born into wealth and privilege in chicago, stevens is a life long cubs fan. he is known for his trademark bow ties and polite midwestern manner. >> is this a country in which people can disagree without being disagreeable? i try not to be disagreeable in my opinion writing. i think for the most part i succeed. >> reporter: he is also fiercely independent. when the justices put on their robes before taking the bench, tradition calls for an aide to assist them. as in this old photo of chief justice earl warren. but not stevens. he is the only one who refuses help. he does it himself. but the courtly justice also can be harsh. he wrote a scathing dissent in "bush v. gore," criticizing the court's decision that stopped the florida recount saying the decision would damage the court he wrote: stevens notified the white house in a letter this morning. sources say the leading contenders to replace him are elena kagan

liberal leader on the bench, despite being appointed as a moderate conservative under president gerald ford. some law makers say president obama needs to choose a truly moderate candidate in order to get senate confirmation. >> if he will, he's going to go down in history as a better president. if he doesn't, there's going to be a whale of a fight. >> i will pick someone in the coming weeks with similar qualities. an independent mind, record of excellence and integrity, a fierce dedication to the rule of law. >> white house aides say the president is considering about ten people to replace justice stevens, who will turn 90 this month. >>> at the upper big branch mine in west virginia tonight, efforts are accelerating to find four miners who are still unaccounted for after monday's deadly explosion. west virginia's governor is promising a conclusion to the search by midnight. steve hands elelsman has the th story. >> reporter: are any of the four missing miners alive? >> we will know if we have that sliver of hope, that miracle and bring finality to this closure tonight. >> reporter: earlier

this man was no flaming liberal when gerald ford appointed him to the courting was he? >> no, sort of moderate conservative. he has changed a little bit on a couple issues. but he argued very strongly that it's not he who's changed, it's the court's that's changed, the composition of the court. he was sort of at the center of the court. the court moved dramatically to the court and now he's at the left wing. >> didn't he write an opinion banning george carlin's seven words? >> he did. on statutory grounds. >> did he vote to reinstate the death penalty? >> he did. he came to say that he thought the best death penalty was useless, but that in view of the fact that the court upheld it for so many years, he was not prepared to change that. >> that's not a change in the court, that's a change in him. >> yeah, but he said at one point there was a school desegregation case. involved the systems that had once been segregated. he said he did not know a single person that he had ever served with when he came to the court who would have voted in the manner that the supreme court d

>> it shows how a president's legacy, 1975 in december was when he came on and gerald ford obviouslygone and -- here is -- his man's life-time appointment. and a little of both, gwen. the court shifted. we had a court in 1975 that stevens looked like he was on the right-wing but he was a centrist then and the court shifted with almost every appointment since he came on, with maybe one or two exceptions , the court became more conservative and he likes to point that out more than he likes to say that he changed but he did a bit. you compare his votes on affirmative action when he was new on the court to where he was today and he shifted to the left. he took seriously his role as the leader on the liberal side. >> could we talk about who comes next? this is president obama's second nomination for the court. he's getting a chance to shape a chunk of the court, presumably it'll be a liberal, but what will he look for? >> jimmy carter never had an opportunity in the four years of his presidency and here's president obama. this is important. now, he is again going to -- succeed a liberal.

and it was not just for me, it was the same way with ronald reagan, the same way with gerald ford, the same way with bush senior and also blended johnson obviously. and even i would say as late as bill clinton. there was a bipartisan support on many issues. but i think the hard partisanship and division that now exist last year or so is unprecedented. >> howard may -- >> i do agree with that. i am reluctant to agree with that, but i do. and that's really what i advise when i made my remark at the opening, that politics is a confrontational contest, to test ideas. but you've got to have along with it a decent respect for the other fellow's point of view. there is a bare chance that he may be right, as much as it bothers the negative. and that is missing now. it appears to be missing. i hasten to say nobody really knows the senate and less than and the senate. and i'm not in the senate. so i yield to other judgments, but my impression is that the idea of the benefit of the doubt, so to speak, is virtually missing. and that's too bad. >> how did we get in a situation? >> well, i have a th

court, and he may end up being the last liberal on the court nominated by a republican, president gerald ford. in his early years, stevens was considered a loner. but as the court became more conservative and his seniority grew, he became a far more potential force on the left. >> i don't think i've changed. there have been a lot of changes in the court. >> reporter: stevens views have moved left on issues like the death penalty, affirmative action and led the charge against claims of executive power in cases whether the u.s. government can hold detain needs at guantanamo without providing evidence against them. >> he was very strong in ruling against what he said were excessive uses of presidential power. >> reporter: stevens has not always been predictable. the former naval intelligence officer opposed the court's ruling that states had no right to prohibit flag burning. >> do you think the federal government has any power at all to regulate how this flag is displayed in public places? >>> don't see any state interest whatsoever. >> i feel quite differently. >> reporter: stevens felt differ

. >> host: alexander haig recently passed away and gerald ford's press psychiatry one of the viewers from illinois says what did his resignation mean in terms of the protest of the nixon pardon? >> guest: i think a lot of people were stunned when a ford did this. there was no surprise he hinted he was going to do it in donner was one who was about to the wall to be incarcerated. i never did go to prison but i was in a witness protection program a long time and i was allowed to go off and make a safe house. my regular residence where i would be brought to the city almost every day which i was so i wasn't real happy about it. my wife was quite upset with it and most of those who were involved in watergate were quite shocked that it wasn't even broader. but something i never asked for or wanted. but i think that in the long run it was the right decision and i think while ford suffered his ability to win the presidency on his own as a result of the pardon was just enough people who felt strongly about it and would have made a difference in that election had that not have been the key iss

. >> host: alexander haig, who recently passed away, and so did gerald ford's press secretary for about a month. randy reid from illinois saying, what does his resignation mean in terms of the protest to the nixon pardon? >> guest: the, it was, you know, i think a lot of people were stunned when gerry ford did this. it was no surprise. he had hibted he was doing it -- hinted he was going to do it. i was one who was about to go off to be incarcerated. i never did go to prison, but i was in a witness protection program for a long time, and i was about to go off and make a safe house my regular residence where i would be brought into the city almost every day, which i was. so i wasn't real happy about it. my wife was quite upset with it. and most of those who were involved in watergate were really quite shocked that it wasn't even broader. but it was something i'd never asked for, nor wanted. but i think that in the long run it was the right decision, and i think while ford, obviously, suffered his, his ability to win the presidency on his own as a result of the pardon, there's just enough

. >> justice stevens was appointed by gerald ford, a republican. >> judges feel very freed up once they get to the court. after that, it is a lifetime appointment. >> university of maryland law school professor michael greenberger said stevens is the perfect example of no matter who you elect, you don't know how the justice will turn out. >> he gave no indication that he would be a progressive judge, but he's the leader of the progressive movement on the court. it is hard to predict where people mr. be. >> who will president obama nominate? >> i think all of those would be deemed to be on their face, moderate judges. >> it will be soon. justice stevens has asked for his replacement to be confirmed by october. proffer greenberger said despite the political climb ate in washington, he thinks it will happen before the congressional elections in november. if it were a conservetive stepping down, though, it would be a different story. >> if there ever were a judge that could change the make-up of the court, move it from center right to center left, that would be a very, very difficult battle

in other words, when you go into an interview -- and you're also doing some work for the gerald r. ford foundation? >> yes, we're doing close to 200 interviews with people who have known president and mrs. ford. >> how do you do it? i mean, how is it set up and what kind of rules are there about people that talk? can they -- i mean, do you release it right away? >> no, you -- no, again, everyone has their own approach to this. you want people to be candid. you want people to feel comfortable. and particularly there is a debate about whether you should use a camera or not. and there are those who will say well, people will be less candid if they know they're being videotaped. my experience is exactly the opposite if they're comfortable with the interviewer and the subject. and so basically, for example, the ford project, all of these are being videotaped. they will be held initially by the foundation which is the private organization sponsoring this. none of them will be released before 2013 which is the ford centenary. they may be held for a biography. they may wind up on the web. they

>> in 1975, gerald ford signed an executive order that says we do not assassinate period.er 9/11, that really became obsolete. we have been targeting osama bin laden and everyone associated with him for quite some time. it is not surprising and it is not illegal that an american is not on that list, because the argument is our military requirements are that we kill al qaeda leaders. if it's an american, so be it. >> fred, is this the first time that you have heard of an american being targeted? >> no, campbell. if you look, we've had asam the american, adam gadahn has been a target for quite some time. if you look at this from a strategic perspective, this is to be expected. if you think about it from the concept of these predator drone strikes hit, they're going to take out whoever is in that building or hut or cave. i think you're looking at just a counterterrorism strategy where this individual has placed himself where he's going to be at the receiving end of a missile strike. >> that may be the case. that doesn't change the fact that a lot of jaws dropped today hearing

how would that departure, the nominee of president gerald ford, affect divisions in the court. pete williams joining us now. pete, justice stevens holds a unique place in the court, obviously. almost 90 years old. but how much of a major figure is he in the court in terms of the divisions? does he lead the liberal minority on the court and how would any replacement affect that division? >> before i get to that, i have to note that justice stevens threw out, is a person who has thrown out the first pitch before at white sox games. he just did it a year or so ago and you know, you could look at the tape and compare his pitch with president obama's. i'll leave that up to you. >> and one other fact about justice stevens, he, at age 12, watched babe ruth hit that home run where he pointed to the stands and that's part of the lure of justice stevens. >> yes. he does very much lead the liberal wing of the court and the way it works at the supreme court, the chief justice assigns the person to write the opinion assuming the chief justice is voting with the majority. if not, the court's

justice stevens, who was appointed by republican president gerald ford turned out to be one of thosestaunch liberals on the court. people on the left of center part of the political spectrum love him, but the likelihood is that his replacement will not change the makeup of the court not all that much because it will be a liberal for liberal trade whether you're talking about elenaicationen who is the u.s. solicitor general or diane wood or garland. all of those would be justices to replace stevens. i think the real impact on business, larry, could come from the political oxygen that is taken up by the fight to replace justice stevens on the court this summer. that could be the death now for comprehensive energy and climate legislation that cap and trade, you and i discussed many times, that has been a long shot. that long shot got even longer. i was just talking a few minutes ago to boon pickens, the oil man who is pressing his own energy plan which involves natural gas. he has some concern about the extent to which the political tension is going to be consumed by this fight. i talke

he was named to the court by gerald ford in 1975. >>> tiger woods returns to the spotlight as masters week gets under way. woods made an unexpected visit to augusta national yesterday. he hit the driving range, then played nine holes on the famous masters course. the tournament, which begins thursday, will be his first since his sex scandal erupted. woods holds a news conference later on this afternoon. >>> tonight in indianapolis, it is duke versus butler for the ncaa men's basketball national title. hometown butler can expect most of the crowd's support. the bulldogs have never played in a championship game before. duke, on the other hand, is seeking its fourth national title. right now the oddsmakers are saying duke with a seven-point lead but i hope it goes to butler, your wife's alma mater. >> they want to be the underdog. they've been the underdog all the way through. why not tonight? fingers crossed for butler. >> i can't wait. >>> here's a look at your monday forecast. kansas city and des moines could see severe weather with possibility of strong winds, hail and even an isolat

despite being appointed by president gerald ford. senate republicans want a more centrist nominee. >> he has a propensity to choose people that don't care what the law is, they will make the law from the bench. judges are not supposed to do that. >> reporter: stevens made a series of headline-grabbing decisions. writing the i did sent in bush vs. gore. leading the court in three decisions rejecting the bush administration's prison policy at guantanamo bay. among praising stevens, john roberts who praises intellect and independence and justice stevens will officially step down sometime in late june early on july. i'm live at the supreme court, jennifer johnson. >> jennifer, thank you. >>> next on news4, it is just getting started here. performance by tiger woods at the masters today. live in augusta with the latest. >>> at 4:15, how the rules of the road could soon be changing in maryland and what could soon be illegal behind the wheel. >>> at 4:30, a successful reality tv show producer now suspected of killing his wife. >>> at 4:45,

and gerald ford appointed him in 1975. plus, stevens is a liberal and this would give the president the ability to keep the ideological balance of the court. the break down five conservatives to conservatives leaners, one if he left by the fall term, he hired only one law clerk instead of the usual four. he told, i to have to cut-- fish or cut bait. and the president and the senate need plenty of time to fill vacancy. >> will it get through this summer? >> i think the gridlock and the senate lock may well produce a filibuster which may tie up the supreme court, if a year passes there's a much better chance we could come to a consensus. and if he doesn't nominate someone who is overly ideological you may see republicans voting against the nominee, but i don't think you'll see them engaging in a filibuster. >> stevens would be the second justice president obama replaced after sonya sotomayor. >> and told his replacement could be one of the people interviewed for the job last year, beat out by sotomayor. >> caroline, thank yo

. >> justice stevens, when you think of his career appointed by gerald ford in 1975, what comes to mind? the kind of justice he has been? >> an unexpected liberal. someone who moved to the left as the court moved to the right. someone who became the leader of the liberals on the court, a staunch defender of abortion rights, a staunch defender of affirmative action after being skeptical earlier in his tenure. probably the opinions he will be best remembered for are those that struck down the bush administration's treatment of the detainees in guantanamo bay. another decision he will be remembered for is the dissenting opinion. he wrote the lead dissent in bush v. gore, a decision that rangels him to this day. >> and you asked justice stevens, in your tenure have you changed or has the court changed? how did he answer the question? >> he said the court had changed. he said the court had moved to the right and he had stayed in the same place. i think there is something to support that view. there are certainly areas of the law where the court has changed. i also think he has changed. he wa

i remember gerald ford's friend asked me, should he go after the media as agnew did., he can't do it, he won't do it. it's not him. he won't follow through. barack obama is what you saw up there today. >> my question is this -- it's an american question. it's totally logical. it's the same question we asked after 9/11. after all the precautions, after all the homeland security, fighting terrorism and all that stuff, could it happen again, exactly the same way it happened where the guy's coming down from portland, maine, same four guys getting on the plane. what's it stop it this time? what's to stop the masters of the universe from coming up with some new gizmo, some weird scheme and doesn't it all over again? >> it could happen again. suppose you had the eu, spain and italy, gone just as greece did. the banks would start down and if jp morgan, we would go in and rescue jp morgan. >> because? >> because if they go under, they drag everybody under with them. >> so in the end, the argument was made today by one of our commentators in real-time, joan, your thoughts, that

>> the first one is a picture of gerald ford's funeral that his family gave me. the casket was passing by. then there are a couple of letters that he wrote to me that i am very proud of. this is a picture here that was taken at the swearing-in of the vice-president in january. then i have a picture of my colleagues part of the seventh circuit. the one at the top is the vincent court, for which i clerked. >> so you clerked for rutledge during the vincent court, 1947. if you come down on the pictures, this court right here? >> i served on that court from 1970-1975. this was the court i joined, the one at the bottom. >> where is the seventh circuit located? >> it is in wisconsin, illinois, indiana. and all of southern chicago. >> what was -- what was your experience sitting on the seventh circuit? >> i learned a great deal, an awful lot about federal law clerks. i served with some awfully good judges and i learned a lot from them. tom fairchild, a chief judge for years, i learned a lot from him, and others of my colleagues. >> what is a difference between a circuit

he was appointed by republican president gerald ford but he was hardly beholden to conservatives."the new york times" wrote that he may be the last justice from a time when the independence rather than perceived ideology were perceived a identification for seat on the court. he dissented in the famous case of bush versus gore saying although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear, it is the nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law. today speaking from the rose garden, president obama praised justice stevens contribution to the court. >> he has stood as an impartial guardian of the law. he has worn the judicial robe with honor and humility. he has plyed the constitution and the laws of the land with fiddleity and restraint. he will soon turn 90 this month but he leaves his position at the top of his game. his leadership will be soarly missed. >> the president also said that the search for successor had begun. >> while we cannot replace

stooefbs said perhaps the best he said since gerald ford. i think that's irony there.s. it seems to me we have not had a tradition of using the filibuster. court appointments were made where the confirmation is people, low 50s. no one said that the opinion shigs has a right to veto the appointment by denying it through filibuster. what is your thinking on that state of play right now in terms of picking a nominee and getting them confirmed? >> i think that is right, chris. i think there's only two judicial nominations in the history of the united states blocked by the filibuster and both done by the democrats. first was in 1968 that was president john's nominee for the chief justice of the united states supreme court and the second back in 2003 when the democrats filibustered the nomination of estrada to become a member of the d.c. court of appeals. so there have been only been two instances where that's taken place. i don't think it's good for the country. i'm confident that the president will send a qualified nominee should he have a nominee, vacancy to fill and work

>> the first one is a picture of gerald ford and's funeral -- of gerald ford's funeral. there were a couple letters he wrote to me that i was very proud of. this was a picture that was taken at the swearing in of the vice president in january. i have a picture of my colleagues on the court of appeals for the seventh circuit. the one at the top is the vincent court, for which i clerked. >> you clerked for rutledge in 1947. this court here -- >> i served from 1970 to 1975. this is the court i joined, the one at the bottom. >> the seventh circuit -- where is it located? >> wisconsin, illinois, and indiana. >> what was your learning experience on the seventh circuit? >> i learned a lot about federal law, of course. i served with some awfully good judges. for example, in that picture, tom czech -- tom fairchild was the chief judge. i learned a lot from him. >> what is the difference between a circuit court of appeals and a supreme court? >> on the circuit court you are more bound by precedent then you are here. if there is a decision, the court of appeals is required to follo

april and he's the second-oldest justice in the court's history after oliver wendell holmes and gerald ford appointed him in 1975 and he still plays tennis and swims and told the "washington post," i can tell you i love the job and deciding whether to lift is a difficult decision but i want to make it in a way that is best for the court and if he retires this year what is best for the court could be getting someone in there and settled before the next term begins in october and the court retirement announcements often come in june and that would be a tight turn around for confirmation hearings and as far as the makeup of the court a liberal stepping down under obama would give the president to ability to keep the ideological balance in the court and the break down, four liberal and four conservative and moderate to conservative leaner as the usual tie breaker and he'd be the second justice the president replaced after sonia sotomayor was confirmed last year and another hint that he is not planning on serving in the courts, full term and, heard one... instead of the usual four. >> jamie: hap

>> the first one is a picture that was at gerald ford's funeral that his family gave me. happened to be there just as the casket was passing by. there are a couple of letters he wrote to me that i am very proud of. this is the picture that was taken at the swearing in of the vice-president in january. i have a picture of my colleagues on the court of appeals for the federal circuit. the one at the top is the vincent court, for which i clerked. >> you clerked for wiley rutledge in 1947. as you come down, this court here -- >> i served from 1970 to 1975. this is the court i joined at the bottom. >> let me go back to the seventh circuit. where is it located? >> it covers wisconsin, illinois, and indiana, and the city of chicago. >> what was your learning experience, sitting on the seventh circuit? >> i learned an awful lot about federal law, of course, because it was our work. i served with some awfully good judges and learned a lot from them. for example, in that picture, tom fairchild was the chief judge. i learned a lot from him and others of my colleagues. >> what is the

heavily democratic-controlled senate was the nomination of a conservative republican president -- gerald ford -- for the u.s. supreme court, nominating a republican from chicago, well-respected but a republican from chicago, seen as conservative, john paul stevens. we took that nomination to the republican president. two and a half weeks after that nomination arrived here, we all voted for john paul stevens for the supreme court. i was one of those -- in fact only one of three senators still here who voted. senator inouye and senator byrd are the other two. now what have we come to when we have a nomination who is as extraordinarily well qualified as professor schroeder, who is going to be confirmed but he has to get past a republican filibuster? this is a far cry, incidentally, from the way the democrats treated the last president, president bush's nomination to run the office of legal policy. a democratic majority confirmed president bush's first nominee to head that division by a vote of 96-1 only one month after he was nominated and only one week after his nomination was reported by the c

he talks about his life after being nominated by gerald ford. it airs at 7:00 p.m.l show first lady michelle obama meeting with students to talk about preventing childhood obesity. she is joined by c-span studentcam winner matthew shimura, whose documentary focused on obesity and children in america. she talks about reading healthy and -- eating healthy and reading food labels. that is tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. tomorrow on "newsmakers." congressman brad shares -- congressman brad sherman discusses the status of nuclear weapons in the world, the chairman of the subcommittee on nonproliferation. he talks about u.s. nuclear weapons policy after president obama signed an agreement to reduce nuclear arsenals. see that sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> this week and, on c-span2's "booktv" -- what has happened to the sunnis following the fall of saddam hussein? the war on terror, democracy in india, an india-pakistan relations -- her book is called "field notes on democracy." we also talked to a fox news correspondent who looks at u.s. forei

president gerald ford appointed him. not as if he looks at the case and says, what would president ford do? nobody could imagine. that is the way it works. it is -- my relationships with the two presidents who have been in office since i have been here have been friendly. again, we represent different branches of government and i have to maintain that significant separation. we have time for a couple more. yes? >>>> justice o'connor and justie souter have taken it upon themselves in their retirement to better educate the public on a fair, impartial, independent judiciary. is there anything the court itself can do to improve that education process for the general public? >> first of all, it is a very valuable service they are both doing. i suppose what ever you do, you think people do not know about its -- i suppose whatever you do, you think people do not know enough about it. we do a lot. we have a lot of groups into the court through various connections to come and learn -- third and fourth graders. we try to teach them