in the afternoon, richard reeve is in mobiletrak7. last time we saw him he was creeping along 2 miles per hour. you made it across the legion bridge, huh, rich? richard: we made it, doug. we maid it. we are excited but we have been in the car for an hour and ten minutes. we are right near the river road exit. that gives you an example of how we are crawling merrily along for the red lights. my goodness gracious. look behind us. it's bad, bad, bad. everybody nice and slow tonight. might as well sit back and relax because it will be a long commute for everybody. back to you. larry: thanks.

richard reeve in mobiletrak7 with what he is seeing. how bad or how good is it? richard: look at constitution avenue. we are going nowhere fast. they are diverting traffic to 18th street. you can see eastbound we are not eastbound is going nowhere fast. the best idea is avoid this area. from mobiletrak7, richard reeve, abc7 news. jonathan: thank you. you can get warning about the traffic problems near you while you are out on the road. go to wjla.com/text. if there is a traffic jam you will know about it right away. what it has to do with the pittsburgh steelers. jonathan: plus video of a man that police say attacked a postal worker as they add new incentive to find those responsible. maureen: surveillance showing what happened before he smashed a bottle over a liquor store clerk's head. jonathan: "7 on your side" in the holidays to avoid the holiday pounds. we have a team of nutritionists standing by. who can offer up all kind of alternatives o and other healthy eating tips. give them a call. 703-236-9220. says it won't let up for a while. the cadillac xt5... wha

as richard reeve reports, his legacy will live on. richard: so much emotion at the loss of john glenn at age 95. many people are flocking to the air and the space museum to see the mercury spacecraft on display here. take a look at the amazing historical footage from 1962. this is when john glenn friendship 7 spacecraft. three times. that had never been done before. it was no easy ride. the spacecraft began wobbling. he had to take over manually flying two circles around the globe. he is at the controls. it's 162 miles above the planet surface. the about made him an american hero. >> that was the first flight in which an astronaut went that eke walt wad the soviet union -- equaled what the soviet union had done the year before. >> it was the sheer bravery it took to step in the unknown. no one else had done that and to take the leap is a huge leap of faith. >> he was also a four-term u.s. senator from ohio. but his second great achievement in space at age 77, iii years after the iii year -- 36 years after the historic flight he boarded

richard reeve is live on the scene with the latest. rich? orange markings show where it began. the car went off the road. this knocked off the power line and kept going along the sidewalk until it crashed in the tree. there was some question whether the injuries were from the accident. or not. here is what happened, folks. a nissan altima after is:00 this afternoon. i crashed into that tree -- it crashed in the tree.

richard reeve has more. north carolina's controversial "bathroom law" appears to be on its the state's incoming governor says he's optimistic that it will be repealed during a special session tomorrow. the law limits protections for gays and transgenders. and it requires transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to their biological sex. since the law was passed-- dozens of concerts and sporting events planned for north carolina, have been cancelled in protest. historically-- many people pledge to get back into the gym after the new year. well, one animal didn't want to wait that long. check this out. a deer came crashing through a window at this gym in south carolina. she scrambled through the treadmill area- and used the weight area as an obstacle course. the good news- no one was hurt. and after a few quick laps, the deer went out the way she came in. at xx time for weather. toss to eileen - quiet weather for the remainder of the week - - not as cold through friday - - rain chance saturday a

richard reeve is live on the scene with the latest. rich? richard: these orange markings show where it began. the car went off the road. this knocked off the power line and kept going along the sidewalk until it crashed in the tree. there was some question whether the injuries were from the accident. or not. here is what happened, folks. a nissan altima after is:00 this afternoon. i crashed into that tree -- it crashed in the tree. there was talk that something else could have killed the people on board. take a look. the impact destructtive. >> the house shook. >> the noise heard for blocks. >> a bang. i heard that and said probably our electricity will be turned off. >> the nissan slamming into a tree at 1:00 this afternoon. killing the passenger, 58-year-old sonya smith of baltimore. leaving the mail driver in critical condition. >> the kitchen window where the car is. >> his mother-in-law saw it sailing by. >> imagine preparing dinner and a car comes through and hits the street. >> they thought there were injuries not from the crash but so

richard reeve is at the shock trauma center in baltimore where the deputy is being treated now with whatolice are saying about the richard: the deputy is in critical condition. many police officers are arriving to give support to the deputy and the family. he is on the mend but it will be a long recovery. 32-year-old hogan shot at close range with a shotgun. take you to the scene. this is last night at midnight in chestertown, maryland. hogan arrived with a woman to pick up items. she had gotten in a physical confrontation with 50-year-old james rich the, home opener there earlier in the everything. once they got in the house rich got in an argument with the woman. he went in the back room and came out with a shotgun. he shot it once and he approached the deputy. the two men fired on each other. rich was shot death. hogan was wounded in the abdomen, injure bed low his body armor. >> it's sad. both sides, the he was on the offense the other way when it came there. >> you can see the police cars parked outside at the baltimore shock trauma. rich had a 2015 protective order issued against h

richard reeve is in mobiletrak7 traveling through the streets of d.c. you know what i'm talking about. richard: hey, jamie. constitution avenue, yeah, definitely. if you are traveling east. hitting 18, they will divert where we are, not too bad. anywhere near the tree, the ceremony area, boy, it's best to stay away from there. back to you. jamie: exactly right. let's talk about the closures right now. so constitution avenue currently closed between 18th street northwest and 14th street northwest. it is blocked between pennsylvania avenue. let's talk about the slowing. southeast, southwest freeway to the third street tunnel will take you 14 minutes. as a reminder we have the caps game so you will see a lot of volume near the verizon center as well. the big picture look. slowing in the typical spots but the focus is on the district. this is 395 approaching the 14th street bridge. all lanes are bumper to bumper traffic. one thing we don't have reported are accidents. if that happens we will let you know. jonathan: i york is starting to look like christmas.

live in northwest washington, richard reeve, abc7 news. michelle: speculation tonight that those sanctions are an attempt by the obama administration to box in the president-elect. it may not be the only controversy. q mccray reports that now the sitting president is calling for a huddle next week on the hill to protect the affordable care act. q: friction between the outgoing administration and the incoming trump is setting up the stage for one of the most contentious we have seen. trump saying i'm doing my best to disregard presi thought it would be a smooth transition. not." they turned on one of the strongest allies when john kerry accused benjamin netanyahu of preventing peace in the middle east. then president obama imposed sanctions against russia for allegedly meddling in the 2006 elections. the trump transition senior adviser kellyanne conway. >> i will tell you that even those who are sympathetic to president obama on most issues are saying part of the reason he did this today was box in transition. >> saying it's time for the co

richard reeve has new information for us. rich? richard: yeah, certainly an unusual crime for this area. a home invasion. then one of the bad guys is actually shot by the homeowner with the bad guy's own gun. we have police back at the scene this afternoon. this happened 6:00 thursday evening. an 1 amber -- 18-year-old amber knocked on a door and said her car broke down. they told her they couldn't help her. then she came back with 21-year-old jones. police say jones forced his way in the home. pistol whipped the homeowner >> the homeowner was able to obtain control of the firearm. mr. jones then began to attempt to get a knife out of a drawer that was in the kitchen. the homeowner was able to discharge the weapon. and struck mr. jones in the abdomen. they ran off but jones was shot in abdomen. he collapsed 50 yards later and hed police believe there may be more people involved with this situation. we will explain all about that coming up at 5:00. live in culpeper, richard reeve, abc7 news. alison: thank you. well after a gray start

we catch up with richard reeve live. do we know the officer's condition? richard: yes, he is in critical condition. you can see the cars behind me. the vehicles that are all rallying around the deputy and the family. the other man involved dead. this began with a domestic violence call. a quiet chestertown neighborhood witness to a horrifying shootout between a sheriff deputy and homeowner. >> a shot to everybody. killed in exchange of gunfire. >> you never know from day today. >> hogan required a woman to pick up personal items. after she got in a physical confrontation earlier in the everything. >> he continued to walk toward the deputy. >> rich was killed. if deputy wounded in the abdomen. >> a deadly end to the domestic call. the cop doing his job. jimmy on the defense on the other end when he came there. it didn't turn out too well. >> police say they went to the house protective order. rich has a history of the domestic violence dating back to 1997. the recovery for the deputy is expected to take week or months. richard reeve, abc7 news. michelle: tha

richard reeve is live at the smithsonian museum of air and spas with the news. richard: a lot of folks flocking here to see the mercury aircraft on display at the museum. an amazing life that john glenn was an astronaut. politician. look at the video. the stuff that made him famous. "the right stuff" as you saw glenn flew the friendship space capsule three times around the planet. it had never been done before. two circles around the planet were in manual mode when he was having issues with the equipment. he is flying that spacecraft 162 miles above the planet >> it's interesting, his flight, he was the third american in space is the one that people wanted to remember from the mercury program. that was the first flight in which an astronaut went into orbit. that was the achievement that equal what soviet union had done the year before. richard: folks may not remember he had issue with the heat shiel atmosphere. that complicated matters. he was the only astronaut ever in space, john glenn dead at 95. reporting live, richard reeve, abc7 news. larry: thanks for that

richard reeve, what do we know? richard: behind the doors they continue to debate this situation.king inside. jack evans is one of the people who will support an amendment that would have called for employees to essentially pay most of the employees' cost for family weeks, eight weeks of family leave. it's a packed house in the council chambers with supporters and opponents of the two versions of the bill. one version of the bill and some both would allow for eight leaves of family leave in district of columbia. the original version called for .62% payroll tax city wide. the version as we said championed by jack evans and the councilmember that mandated out of pocket expense paid for by the employees for the workers who wanted paid leave. they would pay 90%. one of the big concerns is where would the rest of the money come from? eight weeks of leave for minimum wage worker would cost $4,000. the businesses would get $200 yearly tax credit for each employee. but it's very divided. >> the evans amendment we feel is going in the wrong direction. is it a leave killer. i would make it

richard reeve is live outside shady grove medical center to explain. rich? richard the r.s.v. infection is an issue every year but it is a real problem for a lot of the pediatric i.c.u.'s in the area. there is not room for the young patients. this is at the pediatric e.r. they have 18 beds he it does not rise to i.c.u. one of the doctors here decided a patient needed intenseive care. he called children hospital, inova fairfax hospital, georgetown university. all of them he said were full up completely. the respiratory syncytial virus, or r.s.v. for short is not usually a problem for patients under 2 years old. for some at-risk patients it can cause serious problems. pneumonia. he tried suburbans but they have no pediatric i.c.u. he found one bed left at the children's i.c.u. at the johns hopkins center in baltimore. >> i would love to have more resources available to send my patients. we have an excellent relationship with the primary transfer. medical centers. very rare that we can't get a patient to them. richard: the doctor says he hasn't seen anything likehi the lack of th

in the afternoon, richard reeve is in mobiletrak7. last time we saw him he was creeping along 2 miles per hour. you made it across the legion bridge, huh, rich? richard: we made it, doug. we maid it. we are excited but we have been in the car for an hour and ten minutes. we are right near the river road exit. that gives you an example of how we are crawling merrily along for the red lights. my goodness gracious. look behind us. it's bad, bad, bad. everybody nice and slow tonight. might as well sit back and relax because it will be a long commute for everybody. back to you. larry: thanks. the storm watch 7 app. alison: right now the owners of comet ping pong are getting ready to reopen for the first time since the man with two guns burst in the restaurant over the weekend. stephen tschida is there live. they have seen outpouring of support for the local spot since it was dogged by the fake news stories. >> oh, yeah. we have people lining up to get into comet. you can see there throughout the day, though, people have been coming by to sh

richard reeve is live now with an update on the mother's condition and how the 11-month-old girl was saved by her car seat. rich? richard: michelle, that is right. a horrible crash. but also somewhat of a miracle. with this little girl. now we are using the news car to demonstrate what happened here. ortiz was pulling the girl out of the car. the little girl was in the baby seat when she was struck. if you can see behind me, a vulnerable situation. take you now back to the scene. this was in aspen hill yesterday. about 3:is a in -- 3:15 in the afternoon. you may see the orange markings. a mercedes veered off the road and side-swiped ortiz's car. her injuries were horrifying. one of her leg nearly severed off and the other legh sofia was literally unhurt even though the car seat went airborne and landed on the other side of the car. most people think she ruse protected by -- she was protected by the car seat. >> i heard a screech and car impact. it sounded like the engine was accelerating again. i heard a woman screaming. it was terrible. it was terrible. we are glad to hear the lady a

reporting live, richard reeve, abc7 news. michelle: president obama plans to huddle on the hill next week in an attempt to protect his signature affordable care act. it's setting a stage for one of the more contentious presidential transition we have seen. he is trying to disregard president o statement and roadblocks. john kerry accused if prime minister of preventing peace in the middle israel. yesterday president obama proposed unprecedented sanction against russia for the meddling in the 2016 election. in a tweet today trump called vladimir putin smart for delaying any retaliation. jonathan: we are getting our first look at the participants in the trump inaugust parade. the tragedys saytant marching unit from arlington is among the high school and the college bands and the other organizations participating. for the full list and coverage of the inauguration, go to our website wjla.com. jonathan: "7 on your side" getting results after a family reached out to us with a serious problem. the house way -- they were living was

richard reeve, abc7 news. michelle: thank you. 96-year-old taylor swift super fan got to see his favorite star perform from the comfort of his own home. [singing] michelle: swift heard about how badly world war ii veteran cyrus porter wanted to see her again so she showed up in his living room. she pulled out a guitar for acoustic. and he says he has been to multiple concerts to see swift. despite being diagnosed with cancer, he still plans to see her during her next tour. that is beautiful. q: a great story! michelle: taylor swift always takes good care of her fans. q: she does. michelle: especially in the she does pop-up concerts. it's great to see. q: well, switching quers -- switching gears. police are looking for three suspects accused of stealing millions of dollars in fur on christmas eve. they used a concrete block to smash the store window and the store manager believes they cased it before. they knew exactly where the priciest pieces of fur were. some nearing $100,000 each. >> they have done their re

richard reeve is live from frederick. there are two different theories on how it happened. richard: john, exactly. fair officials believe this may have -- fire officials believe it may have been an electrical issue. the family of the property believes it was an arson, deliberatery set. a hate crime. this is where the naytivety scene -- nativity scene was. it's buried now for safety reasons. look at the metal fence, melted because of the heat. >> when straw burns, it's like 2,000 degrees. >> a metal fence bent from the heat. >> it's just ablaze. >> recommend nants of a tuesday evening -- remnants of a tuesday evening fire that destroyed their nativity scene days before christmas. >> it's a hate crime. that is all it is. richard: fire investigators believe it was started by an electrical light or wiring issue. but they suspect it was deliberatery set by someone who doesn't share the christian beliefs. >> it tells people that jesus, he was born for us. he lived for us. he died for us. >> couple who put up the scene nearly every year since 18965 point to the sign -- 1925 point t

alison: richard reeve is live with a health alert. this is a scramble to find treatment for the infants and the toddlers. richard: yeah, that is right. friday night a doctor frantically trying to find i.c.u. for his parents. but step back a little bit to tell you what happened. this r.s.v. infection as we have been saying is an issue every year but a real headache for a lot of hospitals around here. they just don't have the i.c.u. bed for the young patients. now the facility where we ar pediatric e.r. at vens healthcare, shady grove medical center. they have 18 e.r. beds here. they don't come to the level of an i.c.u. friday night, the doctor we mentioned, had a young r.s.v. patient who he felt needed intensive care. he called children's hospital. he called inova fairfax and georgetown university. all he said were fill up as of friday night. this is no laughing matter for some of the patients. it affects the respiratory system. you said of the patients under 2 years old. for most there is no problems but in a few cases it can lead to p

reporting live, richard reeve, abc7 news. alison: very sweet. all right. thank you. with christmas around the corner, porch pirates have been nabbing packages across the area. in montgomery county, four of the criminals were just picked up. "7 on your side" now fighting back against crime. ryan hughes is in germantown where the victims are being reunited with the packages here. hey, ryan. ryan: it's looking like a department store. dozens of packages now lining the take inside the conference room. kitchen towels and even a chair that were stolen off the porch of the home. today, the people who ordered those gifts online as you said, getting a chance to stop by here to pick it up. montgomery county police say they have seen a big increase this year of porch pirates stealing gifts from home. they made a handful of arrests over the past few weeks but the majority of the items being stolen happened two days ago. 18 and 17-year-old were charged after police say they were following a delivery truck. officers were able to nab them. recover 30 packages. they notified the peo

richard reeve has been stuck in delay after delay all night long. he drew the short straw. starting on the g.w. parkway on the outer loop of the beltway near great falls. you see the big picture from the traffic watch maps on the right-hand side. the best advice if you can do it, stay home. take it easy. if you got to go outside, please, please be careful. remember you can get the latest news and the traffic and the weather anytime you like in the palm of your hand. download the news app from the alison: a lot of people trying to get home. moving on to other news of the day. 48 hours after becoming the scene of a crime that drew national attention, a d.c. restaurant is back open tonight. it was sunday when the armed vigilante opened fire inside the comet ping pong restaurant in northwest d.c. stephen tschida was there as the doors reopen today. i understand that you spoke to the owner. what do you have to say? is targeted. he believes it's with the association of john podesta, hillary clinton's chief of staff that people got ahold of the e-mails that went to wikileakss. the

richard reeve was live in frederick to explain why. what do they think it is? richard: i'll tell you in a second but first we will show you th this is some of the pieces from the few things that's left. you can see the nativity scene was right here. they have covered up the area with straw. look at this here. this shows you and it gives you an idea of the heat from the fire, buckling the metal fence here. let's show you video first. they covered the area up with straw. this fire began at 6:30 yesterday. last evening. firefighters got here fairly quickly after the family members saw the flames and called 911. as we discussed if fire investigators believe that this may have been wiring or lights or display. but the family believes it was deliberately set by someone who does not share their christian beliefs and they point out to the display sign outside. they say rocks and eggs have been thrown at it. it's been shot at they said. they had display 12 years ago and the same thing happened. >> it's hate crime. we have heard from so today that really wants to help us.

richard reeve was on the scene. rich, really tense moments for a good part of the afternoon there. richard: yeah, a stress. and a difficult afternoon for hundreds of people. this whole area filled with evacuees. there was a suspicious pack knowledge their midst. then they heard the words "code red." skytrak7 high above as an urgent evacuation ordered from the courthouse, nearby daycare and businesses along main street. dozens of county employees given the code red to get out. workers, civilian and children. >> you hear about the different things on the news or whatever. you never want it to happen to your own child. dropped everything i did. i came over here. >> moments before a trio of k9 security dogs detected something suspicious about a package on a delivery truck. a truck not familiar to courthouse security officers. >> we have some a surety of the trucks we see all the time and sur ray that we know who they are and what they are. this is not that. it was a little ankst. richard: authorities went on high alert and activated the bomb squad and x-ray techs. getting the building c

reporting live, richard reeve, abc7 news. maureen: thank you.that is a look at people arriving in the area. but those who had leave the area had a very pleasant day to pack up the car. what is waiting at the destination? stormwatch7's chief meteorologist doug hill has a look at the travel forecast. doug? doug: hi, maureen. it's all quiet here. if you are traveling locally. but a good question. what is happening around the rest of the country. let's tell you about this evening. what we have is what we will keep. clear skies, temperatures in the 40's. turning corner in the morning -- turning colder in the morning. it will be beautiful. sunshine in new england. temperature in the 40's. in the midwest, 30 was the area of the rain and snow mix. but the temperatures are above sneezing. so most of the country is above freezing and above average. florida wins the prize here. sunshine for the peninsula. temperatures are 80 degrees. quiet through the southeast. central plains are quiet. an area to keep an eye the west coast. it will develop tomorrow and m

richard reeve has today's news and the new development of the sanctions. rich? e clock is ticking away. an impressive site at the embassy. we saw line of trucks here on the wisconsin avenue trying to beat a friday deadline making sure they get out of those two russian come pounds. >> at the russian embassy on wisconsin avenue, a cavalcade of cars and trucks arriving here from a russian compound in centreville, maryland, on the eastern shore. >> i hope relations get better in the future. >> isabelle whose father immigrated from russia has been watching the news about the white house order to expel 35 russian operatives from u.s. they -- >> it is a strong slap on the wrist. >> the c.i.a. and the f.b.i. saying the investigation found hacking was in an effort to help trump win the white house. >> he is not retaliating by expelling the u.s. diplomats from moscow. >> i think we ought to get on with your lives. >> president elect trump not agreeing with the u.s. intelligence agencies about the assertion about the hacking. >> the computers complicated lives greatly.

richard reeve is in mobiletrak7 and he knows what i'm talking about when i say how slow it is. we turned to 18th street. this is what is happening. no one is going anywhere fast. they are going eastbound. they blocked off several blocks that way. you are not heading that way. you are getting on the road we are. no movement here at all. if you are not already at the tree lighting area you may want to walk or get some kind of transportation. boy, oh, boy, it's tough out alison: it is tough out there. stay with abc7 news for live coverage of the national christmas tree lighting. you can see we have the camera ready to go. we'll take you there as soon as the obamas get ready to light it for the last time. larry: wow! well, covering metro tonight marathon meeting today for board of directors transportation director brianne carter was there when the committee voted for the first time on plans to cut back hours. brianne: cut late night train metro committee. board members debated the impact the cuts would have on low-income writers. calling for 1:00 a.m. closing on friday and saturday

reporting live, richard reeve, abc7 news.till ahead, a university of maryland basketball player battle through injury to make it back to the court. michelle: shoveling out. if nightmare a white christmas jonathan: a turbulent year in the world of entertainment. michelle: david daniel has a look back. >> ♪ i'm in heaven reporter: the year began with the shocking death of david bowie. few had known the 69-year-old music pioneer was ill. no one was prepared when prince died in april of an accidental opioid overdose at age actor yelchin was 27 when he died in a freak accident and we lost beloved figures as gene wilder, gary handling and florence henderson. it also saw the most famous couple de-couple. branjelina broke up. angelina jolie filed for divorce of brad pitt. they are still negotiating custody of the six kids. another star couple with a star-crossed year. kanye west was hospitalized for exhaustion after delivering a bizarre on-stage rant and then canceling tour dates. earlier, his wife kim kardashian was robbed at gunpoi

richard reeve is live outside the wilson building with the result of the vote. what happened? richard: yeah, you can see behind me the celebration going on the, for the supporters of the bill. it passed 9-4 by the d.c. council. eight weeks for the folks. we have video of the celebrations going on in the hallway. this would be paid by a .62% payroll tax that would be city wi required for the employers that have people with the family leave to pay for the bill. that did not happen, though. it would have cost some employers as much as several thousand dollars. the supporters are ecstatic. >> this is huge for d.c. residents. my husband and i have a house here. we want to have a family and having access to paid leave is something neither of us have. we work for small non-profits. >> this drama is not yet over. mayor bowser made it clear she does not like this particular bill. she has not set if she would veto it. i would take nine votes to override the veto. they had nine votes today. we will see what happens. repor abc7 news. alison: thank you. so for people who do get paid vacatio

richard reeve is live outside of police i understand the baby was barely injured. when you consider the circumstances, that is a miracle. richard: unbelievable. the baby essentially completely unhurt. this was a horrible, horrible crash. we are using the news car to try to illustrate what exactly happened. that mother, m's ortiz was taking her daughter out of if car. you see if you are parked on the street, traffic goes back and forth behind me. it's a vulnerable position. let's show you the scene now. this took place on saturday. rather yesterday in aspen hill on the 1300 block of parkland drive at 3:15 in the afternoon. the orange markings show how a mercedes veered off the road and sideswiped ortiz's car. she sustained terrible injuries. her leg was almost completely severed off. the bones in her other leg multiple bone breakages in that 11-month-old sofia was completely unhurt even though her car seat went airborne and landed behind the car. we spoke to a man who heard the impact and yelled for his granddaughter to call 911. >> this had to be a horrible scene. >

shoe bomber richard reeve is asking the judge to declare him bomb in his boot on a flight from boston to paris in 2001. he was also fined more than $260,000. in a letter to the court, i here by request i will not now nor will i ever be able to pay this fine, that a declaration of bankruptcy be entered in my favor. they have two weeks to respond to that request. >>> charged with accepting text messages encouraging a teenager the tragedy on an antidepressant. the attorney told the judge in taunton that carter and her boyfriend roy were taking celexa at the time of his death in 2013. she is charged involuntary manslaughter. it has been linked to suicidal behavior in other teens. >> this is a look at some of the damage caused by the wild fires in tennessee. and as of now, they have killed seven people. and there's brand new drone video of the d it gives us a closer i am view 6 what's left behind there in gatlinburg tennessee. as laura ingalls reports, 70,000 acres of land so far have been scorched. >> reporter: the deadly wild fires raging in tennessee continue to pose a threat to residen

richard reeves used the same word in praising justice scalia's dissent in morrison back when ken starr was investigating as independent counsel president clinton. i think there was a connection there that caused some rethinking here. for the most part, however, liberal commentators have not praised justice scalia's opinions. most often detractors have used the word, uncompromising. in a negative way to describe the justice's opinions. of course, admirers, you heard from justice alito, use the word "uncompromising" in a praise worthy sense when talking about justice scalia. what the usual detractors do not understand is justice scalia was able to be prescient, far sighted, prophetic precisely because he was uncompromising in looking backwards. now, of course, virtually everyone knows that justice scalia looked back to the public meaning of the words of the constitution as understood at the time of the -- they were drafted. also most here in this convention will know that justice scalia's originalism was tied to constitutional structure, as judge pryor just talked about. but how many of