>> rehnquist recused himself. and after it became apparent there was going to some ruling in favor of nixon, the function of the executive that the grand jury would prevail over this claim of executive privilege, then berger, who was not on that side in the beginning, in order to assign the case, in order to control the case, if the chief justice is in the majority, he has the control. if he doesn't, up to douglas to make the assignment and there was no way berger was not going to be in the majority at that point. you then have the question of on what basis -- frankly, white wanted a very narrow ruling and there were -- the center controlled ultimately, but it became a coalition of, a coalescence of the intellectual forces that said we're going to rule against nixon here, but we don't want to open this up where people are going to constantly be coming to the supreme court to raise questions about presidential power, and so there were then questions how to limit the decision and the evolution of those drafts is des

. >> guest: the biography of chief justice william rehnquist but truly of the man not simply his time on the supreme court. he interviewed requested for "the new york times" magazine and did the piece that got a lot of attention and but it rehnquist was frugal with interviews and referred to the peace as the reason he may have decided but john captured something and did not let go of the story. he did not make it easy for anyone to write a biography. he did not organize papers or leave the a memoir. he had to go to a lot of different places to find material, talk to people. the was very interested in who was the as a young man as a goldwater republican? how did he get to the court and what did he do before that? and his career with the jt's he brought a certain partisanship that was the passion of the point* of view but to politicize the poor as that started with the point* of view and his ascent is a picture of how the poor develops. people can say what does it matter? the last argument you can use people are getting some a call -- senate call is that the president's elect the justic

his books include the rehnquist choice, warren g. harding, worse than watergate. the secret presidency of george w bush, broken government, how republican rule destroyed the legislati legislative, executive and executive branches and pure goldwater. while working on his next book, he continues as a visiting scholar and lecturer at annenberg school of communications and regular contributor on "countdown with keith olbermann. he also examines the impact of the american bar associations model rules of professional conduct on select historic events like watergate. at this time i am privileged to introduce mr. john dean and our panelists alexander butterfield and scott armstrong. [ applause ] . >>> this is really a unique panel this morning. take a special delight in being able to moderate. i'm the guy who thought i was taped. scott's the guy who thought there might be taping. alex is the guy who knew there was taping. they have been together once before almost 40 years ago where they sort of, one, brought this information to the public, but also realizing the importan

how, justice rehnquist asks could we not expect elections to matter. we still expect legitimacy to flow from the presidency. and that's not just something that goes back to the reagan administration. it also goes back in time. i just want to read a very little bit from some documents, circa is roosevelt administration, and then i'm going to briefly quote some testimony from the truman administration, that will show you what was afoot in the reagan administration was not that different at all. all of us have heard about the badless that the roosevelt administration had with congress, vis-a-vis a court pack. a parallel battle, just as intense in pitch at the time, probable comparable to the -- reflected the -- reorganizing the executive branch. roosevelt was clawing for authority to reorganize the executive branch. when congress slapped that down, just as it did the court packing plan, interestingly enough, the roosevelt administration did not take another run at cork packing, but it did take another look at executive reorganization. if you want to hear

i did another book called the rehnquist choice that i'm going to follow that model. it was my worst selling book because it came out -- it was shipped three days before 9/11. it was not a good time to have a book out. if you didn't have osama in the title, your book was bound to fail. over time people have discovered this book where i used the nixon tapes, i had been involved in the selection of rehnquist, and i was able to fill in a lot of the gaps, and most historians and lawyers who read all of my books say this is the greatest book you have ever written. i think that is probably true. it was -- it was what i was able to do is take the transcripts and convert them to dialogue. in other words, what you actually might take away from a conversation if you were making notes rather than the transcript. >> the other thing that coincides and conflates with that is the fact that it prompted me to call a friend and say i'm waiting for this process to complete. well, we can get all these transcripts prepared. he said this is one of the best cle's i have been to. i had been

i did another book called "the rehnquist choice" that i'm going to follow that model. it was my worst selling book because it came out -- it was shipped three days before 9/11. it was not a good time to have a book out. if you didn't have osama in the title, your book was bound to fail. but over time people have discovered this book where i used the nixon tapes, i had been involved in the selection of rehnquist, and i was able to fill in a lot of the gaps and most historians and lawyers who have read all of my books, say this is the greatest book you have ever written. i think that's probably true. it was -- what i was able to do is take the transcripts and convert them to dialogue, what you might take away from a conversation if you were making notes rather than a transcript and it works beautifully. it keeps it moving. it's more almost like reading a novel. and that's what i'm going to do with these transcripts this time, is not a book of transcripts but where appropriate because there's 2,000 conversations, i can't tell you, there's a lot of material to deal with, w

just like rehnquist keeps the underwriters close-knit and at this point* we talk about a track recordas opposed to a candidate. that is the difference. a lot is the difference from the past four years. >> host: also a question question -- . >> we say it is easier to publish books outside looking in and with regnery it is easier with the party of the white house. people are more passionate and feel more bode -- motivated to vote to win they feel they have something to argue with or complain about. that is more than i am in favor people look at a book to say it is positive about nit romney. i don't need to buy the book. i am done. >> host: from the business perspective and obama being reelected is good for you? [laughter] what is bad for the country is good for business is what we often say. [laughter] and. >> host: susan weinberg have you looked into a book of mitt romney? >> guest: behalf. but in the early part of the year with his biography, we look the other things. but information has been disseminated. it will be done to quickly people are doing short e-book. >> host: what do you

william rehnquist says all nine justices do the bulk of the work themselves. after oral arguments, they meet inside a conference room and take turns debating the case in order of seniority. and inside that room, it's just them, no clerks, no staff, or u.s. marshals. >> only time that that sanctity was really violated was when someone rushed in and said that president kennedy had been shot. otherwise it's just the justices, they're doing their own work, they're making their own arguments and debating amongst themselves. >> after that the justices exchange opinions in writing only. if you want to listen to that full interview from tom hudson, you can wait for the 7:00 p.m. newscast. >>> well coming up, new hope in the fight against obesity, what you need to know about the first new diet drug released in more than a decade. >>> and we have some breezy changes happening outside right now, and just as quickly as the temperatures have warmed up into the 80s earlier today, looks like we're going to cool on down. your weekend temperatures may surprise you, we'll have

her so with warmer weather midweek come your way we have a little bit of rehnquist's hour.s good of this is a high it definitions own. we might get a sprinkler to tomorrow but not much accidents over the pacific northwest to get a jaw and northwesterly flow and we'll see mostly sunny skies tomorrow a few buildups the moisture in the hemisphere dries up and to give you a time lapse but the atmosphere should do northwesterly flow here sunrise and then it all pops except the east bay hills again see a few buildups. mostly sunny skies gusty northwest plays in high 58 in some of the major hubs around the country last angeles looks funny in new york looks at rainy back in the day will be mostly sunny for the day that the cool side will have to wait for midweek for things to warm up to tomorrow's highs mostly in the '60s and is a look at the forecast in linarias and the low 80s and the rest of the week will go with stress the usual low clouds along the coasts and visit: u-verse high speed internet. you know, in my day you couldn't just start streaming six ways to sunday. you'd get

much more powerful argument in favor of the constitutionality of the ethics act than chief justice rehnquist made in morrison against olson. the editors will have to read that when i submit the manu script. the bottom line that we should take away from this is that if we think that there are problems with the way the ethics act unfolded, we ought to have those arguments on the basis of pragmatic policy considerations. there was monthing perfect about the special prosecutor in watergate. nothing that was so fatally flawed or so much worse under the ethics act. if we think that the ethics act was misconceived we should make that argument on policy grounds. the ultimate lesson, i think, is that it's really hard to design institutions. we ought to take these less -- the constitutional terms that were in the pragmatic approach that i think we have perhaps lost many our public discourse more recently. thank you. [ applause smchlt [. >> thank you very much. there is another case that came after that in the grand -- the supreme court said it was unconstitutional for congress to have a role in the re

in white's memorial service, chief justice rehnquist explained, given the force of his powerful intellect, his breadth of experience and his institutional memory, justice white consistently played a major role in the court's discussion of cases at its weekly conferences. his comments there reflected not only his meticulous preparation in rigorous snanding of the court's precedent baring on the question, but also expressed his sense of the tactical effect of a given decision. for those not familiar with the chief justice's testimony, which was echoed by several other justices, white's mark on the court will always be measured by what hard evidence remains. the opinions he wrote. to lawyers who follow the court, white is probably best known for his work in field's critical to the economy, but unworthy of splashy headlines and television. anti-trust law, tribal sovereignty, water rights, federal jurisdiction. the general public, he will probably be remembered for two biting disents early in his career and one dismissive majority position later many his career. when byron white assumed judici

whendy the rehnquist choice, he is funny too. his take on women in his presidency was really -- he wanted to put a woman on the supreme court. he has these conversation with mitchell who martha his wife is pushing to get him a woman on the court, and they have these conversations together saying, you know, mitchell -- or nixon saying, you know, john, i got -- i don't have any women in my cabinet, thank god, but then my cabinet is so awful, it couldn't get any worse, you but can you imagine putting a woman on a court? you know how small those chambers are up there? i mean, it would be like putting women in a capsule in a spaceship with men, but then again, on the other hand, warren burger gets wind that he is thinking about a woman, sends a note down through mitchell that if he puts a woman on the court, burger will resign. what's nixon's reaction? tell him to send his resignation down. so he is on both sides of these issues. >> all this month on american history tv, we're featuring programs on the 40th anniversary of the watergat

when i did the rehnquist chis, i mean, he's funny, too. his take on women in his presidency, he wanted to put a woman on supreme court and he has these conversations with mitchell who martha is pushing him to get a woman on the court and they have these conversations together saying, you know, nixon saying, you know, john, i got -- i don't have any women in my cabinet thank god, but then my cabinet's so awful, it couldn't get any worse. but can you imagine putting a woman on a court, do you know how small those chambers are up there any me there? i mean, it would be like putting women in a capsule on a spaceship with men. yet there's a note through mitchell that if he puts a woman on the court, berger will resign. nixon says tell him to send his resignation down. so he's on both sides of these issues. >> thank you very much, john. >> thank you. >>> all this month on american history tv, we're featuring programs on the 40th anniversary of the watergate break-in. including panel discussions and oral history interviews recently released by th

loopholes you know it's like creating a very clean my senate you call it carried interest of justice rehnquist said of voiding taxes not evading but avoiding taxes is the duty of every american this is written by the chief justice of the supreme court mitt romney was there for it's god's work by big oil is by in the united states house of representatives on thursday the house voted on the domestic energy production act passed two hundred forty eight two hundred sixty three big well spent thirty eight point six million dollars as the center for responsive politics to get that bill passed get with it well that's that's the that's going to go on to bring up already the oil industry spent more in the house of representatives eighty eight percent their campaign contributions going to republicans. and in fact of the two hundred forty eight members who voted yes on this deal that would reduce the protections. communities of oil spills and things and that would open up national parks to drilling one hundred fifty thousand dollars was the average campaign contribution was two hundred forty people who v

chief justice rehnquist spoke to us, and then senator al gore spoke to us. i met my senators from pennsylvania, arlen specter. the secretary of commerce at the time. >> you were 17. >> i was 17 or 18. >> do you remember your reaction? was there ever a time were you said i'm going to do that some day? >> i do not know if i ever said i will do that some day. i do still remember the sense of magnitude of what these people did every day. i have learned about government, it took advanced placement classes in government and high school. to really look up from the page when you are in high school. you can read about the supreme court. here is the chief justice explaining to you how they go about making decisions. it surely was a profoundly positive experience for me. while i never thought i was one to be one of the speaker some day, i certainly thought these people are working on things that matter. that to me was inspiring as it is now. >> you said you were the first person in your family to go to college? >> ps. >> what did your parents say to you about college?

and remember william rehnquist did that in the bill clinton impeachment trial, and when he was lateramounted to, he said i did nothing in particular and i did it very well. so, the duties of the chief justice are undefined and much about the supreme court initially was undefined. so it really had to create itself and it has done so not in a straight line progression, but it is done so through cases. the cases that in the early years had to decide because it had very little discretion over what to hear and the cases these days that it chooses to decide. even that was a choice by the supreme court. most appellate courts today in this country, they have to take what comes. and so they act sort of as courts of review, courts of appeal, courts of error correction and that was the supreme court's initial stage or so it seemed that william howard taft, the capstone after his presidency was becoming chief justice of the united states and he sized this up. he thought the court would greatly benefit from the ability to write its own ticket, create its own docket, not have to take every case th

you have to remember that william rehnquist, his predecessor as chief justice, occasionally surprisedple by joining the liberals to uphold the family and medical leave act. joining the liberals to say miranda is good law, against the conservative attack. so, you know, it's a big decision. it certainly would be an important one in his career. but he's pretty young. he has a long way to go before he has a full legacy here. >> well, it's one of those days in washington that we will all remember and our thanks to you, the all-star team, who watch our coverage tonight. thank you, pete, great work. chuck, chris cillizza, and david gregory. of course, watching on "meet the press" as you have more time to absorb all of this. bring us the latest. >>> our special coverage today of the health care ruling continues next with msnbc's rachel maddow. >>> plus, still ahead, dr. zeke emanuel, massachusetts governor deval patrick,ç virginia goverr bob mcdonnell. plus, jay rockefeller, mark halperin and john heilman. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] this is rudy. his morni

that's why we miss people like william rehnquist and sandra day o'connor who had some experience with -- with congressional and other races, with political -- >> you think allison himself will have undue influence on mitt romney? >> not any more than other people who give lots of money? not any more than the trade unions, labor unions have. the whole system is broken and it's a wash. i don't pick out mr. edellson any more than i pick out mr. trump. so the fact is that the system is broken, i predict to you there will be scandals, and i predict to you that there will be reform again. >> before you go, syria is a deteriorate being and violent situation. the president will meet with vladimir putin, seems to be a frosty relationship over the issue of syria. what do you advocate at this point that you think is the most responsible course here to try to end the violence? >> most responsible course is first for the president to stand up and speak for these people? when was the last time the president of the united states spoke out and said, these people deserve our moral support? the second

roberts court and they heard 88 cases involving the chamber of commerce, more than in the entire rehnquistere was a great editorial in "the new york times" yesterday that i would commend people to check out. >> one of the big stories in the paper today is how massively right wing super pacs are outraising left wing superpacks and it's almost 10-1 at this point, how much the pro-romney super pac is spending and this is part of what's when liberals refuse to cooperate in corrupt institutions. >> they are having a hard time to get wealthy liberals to give to super pacs, because they oppose super pacs. >> of course. >> liberal millionaires, get corrupt and get corrupt fast. >> on friday, "the invisible war" was released, about the staggerly high rate of sexual assault in the military. it is so powerful and we need to treat female soldiers with the same respect. >> i've heard amazing things. not seen it yet. michelle goldberg, talked about, they have been on "morning joe" and people should check it out. pace university political science university. george martinez, sam seder, michelle goldberg,

famously was called out by the press corps, and the reporters came to him and said chief justice rehnquistfor tomorrow's news. so maybe just we could just only report on two cases today. so i think there is kind of a disjunction between their paleozoci view. i will put it a little bit on the court. >> the more the supreme court is up to the better as far as we are concerned because it's more opportunity to talk to dahlia dahlia lithwick from slate magazine. slate.com is where you can follow her good work year-round. it's great to see you in the studio. >> thank you. >> when we come back the next united states senator from massachusetts, we declare right here and now. so, tell us what yesterday's decision means for the american people. of course, we are talking about the one and only, the great elizabeth warren next on the full-court press. >> heard around the country, and seen on current tv, this is the bill press show. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] we must save the country. it starts with you. >>it's the place where democracy is supposed to be the great equalizer, where your vote is worth just as m

sam alito were appointed, they started reversing the precedent that was firmly established by the rehnquist court, which was not liberal or radical. it was a conservative court in itself, but in the mcconnell verses ftc decision, they said congress knows better about this than we do, so we will defer to congress and uphold the mccainfeingold law. three years later, roberts gets in there and they start striking down not only what congress had done, but even with the supreme court had done before them. host: hall of president obama and mitt romney handled this topic -- how have president obama and mitt romney handled this topic? guest: everyone because the state of the union address where president obama literally scolded -- remembers the state of the union address where president obama literally scolded the supreme court, and at the same time he has been outspoken against the decision and has suggested perhaps we have to go to a constitutional amendment. i really had hoped for more action out of the president when it comes to trying to deal with some of these issues. he has supported the dis

. >> former clerk for justice william rehnquist completed his undergraduate degree princeton university and earned his law degree from arizona state university. >> joining us throughout our coverage of the supreme court oral argument, richard wolfe of usa today. medicaid is the heart of the last argument. what is the court being asked? >> accord is being asked uniquely by the challengers the state 26 state governments to knock out the portion of all this is a state that will lock out the entire law. the portion that extends medicaid to about 16 million more people. the reason is that the states or to it is coercive because it is such a good deal in that the federal government would initially pay i think it is 100% of the cost of the expanded coverage which is much more than dhaka program that is normally split in the government. it's not exactly 50/50 but split and the even though the federal government would pay 90%. the states don't even want to pay the 10% they are also skeptical that the deal would remain that way. and they also say that by making this expansion it also entices peop

on july, 1986, president reagan asserted executive privilege over documents written by william rehnquist when he was head of o.l.c. at the d.o.j. in 1991, george h.w. bush asserted executive privilege regarding an aircraft development contract. december, 11, president george w. bush asserted executive privilege over materials relating to prosecutorial decision making. it's been done many, many times before, many times by republican presidents. what we are doing here is a travesty to this institution -- to this institution and to this country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. nugent: i reserve. sproy gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: can i inquire how many more spookers the gentleman has? we have no more speakers on this side. mr. nugent: we have no more speakers. mr. mcgovern: i yield myself the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two and a quarter minutes. mr. mcgovern: there isn't a single person in this house who doesn't honor the service of agent terry. there isn't a single person who does not wa