you could make a phone call and it john mitchell on the telephone. i have a phone number for him.ccasion, the white house, as it had throughout the first weeks after the break-in, had made our conduct rather it in the conduct of the president and his men. the president and others would get up and attack us at the washington post for making up fiction and having any political agenda. they did it on this occasion, too. we wrote the story that said mitchell controlled of this fund. i called mitchell and said we have a story -- >> you got him, he was asleep. >> he said what time is it? i said 11:00. he said 11:00 when? i said at night. he may have had a pop or two. i said we have a story a would like to read to you. i began reading. john mitchell while attorney general of the united states controlled a secret fund. he said jesus. i read a few more words by which time it said john mitchell well attorney-general controlled a secret fund and paid for undercover activities against the political opposition. i got that far and he said je sus. i got to the end of the third paragraph by the t

you could make a phone call and it john mitchell on the telephone. i have a phone number for him.ught i could get him. on that occasion, the white house, as it had throuout the first weeks after the break-in, had made our conduct rather it in the conduct of the president and his men. the president and others would get up and attack us at the washington post for making up fiction and having any political agenda. they did it on this occasion, too. we wrote the story that said mitchell controlled of this fund. i called mitchell and said we have a story -- >> you got him, he was asleep. >> he said what time is it? i said 11:00. he said 11:00 when? i said at night. he may have had a pop or two. i said we have a story a would like to read to you. i began reading. john mitchell while attorney general of the united states controlled a secret fund. he said jesus. i read a few more words by which time it said john mitchell well attorney-general controlled a secret fund and paid for undercover activities against the polical opposition. i got that far and he said je sus. i got to the end of t

john mitchell while attorney general of the united states controlled a secret fu. he said jesus.read a few more words by which time it said john mitchell well attorn-general controlled a secret fund andaid for undercover activities against the political opposition. i got that far and he said je sus. i g to the end of the third paragraph by the time the draft was clear, he said jesus christ. you are going to print that crap if you run that, then a person from the washington post is going to get her tit caught in a big effect render. i was not accustomed to talking to an attorney general. i mped back from the phone myself because of fear ofy own parts because this can certainly have the power to squeeze them. he went on to say when this campaign is over, we are going to do a little story on you boys, too. in retrospect, it is an amusing story, but i was 28 years old at the time. it was about the most chilling time in my 50 years of journalism that i ever experienced. this was a man of enormous power and the threat was real. i believe to this threat in terms of being intimidating. i

i began reading john m. mitchell while attorney general of the united states controlled a secret fund, and he said, gee -- jesus. i ran a few more words by which said john f. mitchell attorney general of the united states controlled the secret fund that paid for undercover activities against the political opposition. and i got that far and he said jeeee-sus. and i got to the end of the first paragraph by that time the drift of the story was unmistakable. and he said jesus christ, all that crap. it's been denied. are you going to put that in the paper? if you print that, katie graham, referring to katherine graham, the publisher of the "washington post," will get her tit caught in a big fat wringer. i wasn't accustomed to speaking to towns -- to attorneys general , and i kind of instinctively jumped back from the phone myself because of fear from my own parts aside from mrs. graham's because this guy certainly had the power to squeeze them. and then he went on to say, when this campaign is over we are going to do this

. >> and john mitchell jumped out of the vending machine. [laughter] >> i said oh, my god, this president is coburn to be impeached. this is about eight weeks after the break-in. you said you are right. i do not know where it came from. woodward said we can never use that word impeachment around this newsroom, lest anybody think we have some sort of agenda. awe of that moment stays with me. one of the rsons is, and bob can talk about this, watergate was not a keeper. it was about a fundamental attempt by the president of the ited states to misused and abused the constitution, obstruct justice, and more than anything, to try to underme the very electoral process of our government. >> this is the important part. there were dirty tricks. there were all kinds of things aimed at t democrats who were going to run against nixonnd they wanted what they perceived, i think accurately, they wanted the democratic nominee to be george mcgovern. they really went after senator muskie who was the front rner and spied on him. they had 50 spies out in the cam

they called john mitchell and agreed to accept the president's nomination.let's come towards the end. let's look at patterns of court involvement. the court's early history, based on my research so far, the court involvement in nominations seems primarily to be in a post- colorado phenomena. little evidence points to -- - post-bellum phenomena. why? played aacfactors role. several justices were closer in time to the birth of the constitution and its process for judicial appointments, which created nor formal role for incumbent justices. second, think about institutional rank order among the three branches.3 sent to the court, it could not claim parity with the executive or legislative branch of the federal government and prestige or power during the first 10 years of the court's assistance, no one, including court members, were impressed with the authority of the federal judiciary. the lack of the buildings symbolized the courts status as the third branch. why would a sitting member of the court recommended the nomination of a colleague to an institution tha