i want to end with going back to judge harry edwards who says that the more judges assessed in terms of political decision making, the more likely this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. even if you are able to resist the temptations to conform to a false perception, the continued assessments of performance in political terms will promote a new reality. most people will come to believe that the judicial function is nothing more than a political enterprise. this would be ahorror to behold. do you think we are at the point of the whole of the that horror? is there a widespread public perception that judges are just politicians in black robes? are at thebelieve we threshold but i can see how we might get into -- get sucked into the vortexes of it. i think that will happen if good people do nothing. it goes back to the question of what can lawyers do. lawyers can help combat that view when that view seems to be promulgated by the media. if they are giving that message and if it gets to the public, i think that is largely a factor of misinformation and not being informed. judges are

i wanted to end with going back to judge harry edwards.e judges are incensed with the hearing, the more likely it is it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. even if you are able to resist the temptation to conform to a false perception, the continuous assessments of performance in political terms will promote a new reality for most people and they will come to believe the judicial function is nothing more than a political enterprise. this would be a horror to behold. do you think we are to the point yet of be holding that horror? that there is a widespread public perception that judges are just politicians in black robes? >> i do not believe we are at the threshold, but i could see how we might be getting sucked into the cortex. i think that will happen if good people do nothing. by that, i mean a goes back to the question, what can lawyers do? lawyers can help combat the view when the view seems to be promulgated by the media. i believe the media is promulgating that message to the point that if it gets to the public, it's largely a fa

the late judge harry edwards offered a definition that i'd like to throw out to you. he said i don't mean that all judges are friends. i do not mean that the members of the court never disagree. collegiality is a process that helps create the conditions for principalled agreement by allowing all points of view to be aired and considered. specifically, it is my contention that collegiality plays an important part in mitigating the role of partisan politics and personal ideology by allowing judges of different perspectives and philosophies to communication, listen to, and ultimately influence one another in constructive ways. would you agree with that? >> would you repeat the question? [laughter] >> well, which part? >> is there a part that you don't agree with? >> you know, the -- one the people in the collegiality is often to say you really don't like what you are saying. and a tone it down. i'm always a little skeptical of those comments. it seems to me that our judges are for the cause of justice, and to the parties and to call them as we see them. and if we worry t

harris, congresswoman edwards. glad i made it back in the nick of time.uch to the witnesses. the question i ave actually regards oversight issues that came up during the 111th congress and related to the smoke rate and the variations of the slow rate estimates and the impact on response coordination. there were some questions that came out in our oversight in the last congress about risk assessment and contingency planning and particularly, i raised issues related to the worst-case scenario which didn't even seem to come close to the scenario the was reached in this bill, and so i wonder if you can talk to me a bit about the recoendation that you have made and how we can improve the independence of theassessment that are done so they have a little bit more validity because that's also related to what the financial liabilits far as well and so if you could shed some light on that, i would appreciate it. >> sure. first of all, you are right. if we did address this isue of the flow rate. first of all, with respect to the flow rate estimates, it probably had

harris, congresswoman edwards. glad i made it back in the nick of time.uch to the witnesses. the question i have actually regards oversight issues that came up during the 111th congress and related to the smoke rate and the variations of the slow rate estimates and the impact on response coordination. there were some questions that came out in our oversight in the last congress about risk assessment and contingency planning and particularly, i raised issues related to the worst-case scenario which didn't even seem to come close to the scenario the was reached in this bill, and so i wonder if you can talk to me a bit about the recommendation that you have made and how we can improve the independence of the assessment that are done so they have a little bit more validity because that's also related to what the financial liabilities far as well and so if you could shed some light on that, i would appreciate it. >> sure. first of all, you are right. if we did address this issue of the flow rate. first of all, with respect to the flow rate estimates, it probab

harris, congresswoman edwards. glad i made it back in the nick of time.thank you very much to the witnesses. the question i have actually regards oversight issues that came up during the 111th congress and related to the smoke rate and the variations of the slow rate estimates and the impact on response coordination. there were some questions that came out in our oversight in the last congress about risk assessment and contingency planning and particularly, i raised issues related to the worst-case scenario which didn't even seem to come close to the scenario the was reached in this bill, and so i wonder if you can talk to me a bit about the recommendation that you have made and how we can improve the independence of the assessment that are done so they have a little bit more validity because that's also related to what the financial liabilities far as well and so if you could shed some light on that, i would appreciate it. >> sure. first of all, you are right. if we did address this issue of the flow rate. first of all, with respect to the flow rate esti