and i also am add saddened to heart the passing of the husband of justice ruth bader ginsburg and i offer my condolences to justice ginsburg and her family. and i wish to congratulate miss kagan on her nomination. it is an honor to introduce her today. i had the pleasure of meeting her last month and found her to be an impressive and pleasant individual. %%indicated then and i look forward tore attending this committee's hearings to learn more about her record, her philosophy, and her qualifications. as an attorney myself, i recognize an impressive legal resume when i see one, and there's no doubt that miss kagan has gone far since graduating from harvard law school magna cum laude in 1986 and following her law school days in cambridge, she clerked for appellate court judge and u.s. supreme court justice thurgood marshall and entered the private legal practice at the prestigious washington, d.c. law firm. before joining the faculty of the university chicago school where sheer anded tenure in 1995. from '95 to '99, she served with the clinton administration first as an associate white hous

john paul stevens' 35-year tenure on the high court, and it was a day of mourning for justice ruth bader ginsburg. her husband martin ginsburg passed away over the weekend. >> brown: we continue our look at the gun rights decision now with marcia coyle of the "national law journal." she was in the courtroom today, and joins us now from capitol hill, where she's been covering the elena kagan confirmation hearings for us. marcia, first a case in washington d.c. and then this challenge in chicago. what other background do we need to know to understand how this came to the court? >> jeff, this case came to the court because of a challenge brought by a group of residents of chicago and its suburb, oak park, illinois, as well as local and national chapters of the national rifle association. these suits were ready to go really after the supreme court ruled two years ago that the second amendment protects a right to keep a gun in the home for self-defense. >> brown: what was the key issue in this case? and what did the majority decide? >> well, justice alito pointeded out in his opinion today that the bi

kagan, whether you'd be more like john roberts and more like ruth bader ginsburg. so i think we need to know a little bit more what we can expect of you as a judge. >> reporter: rhode island democrat sheldon whitehouse tried to get at that point, asking about high-profile split decisions, driven by conservative justices. >> i want to ask you what you think about all these five to four decisions and what effort the court should make to return to a collegial environment that the court, where even these highly contentious decisions, like "brown versus board of education" and "roe versus wade" are driven either by unanimous or massive majorities of the court rather than the slenderest possible majority and to try to reach across the partisan divide on the court so it's not just republican appointees acting together. >> senator whitehouse, it's a hard question you pose, because on the... on the one hand, every judge, every justice has to do what he or she thinks is right on the law. you wouldn't want the judicial process to become in any way a bargaining process or a lo

coming up next, supreme court justices ruth bader ginsburg and samuel alito take place in a mock triall then remarks from actress ashley judd. then weekly addresses from president obama and john boehner. . >> up next, supreme court justices ruth bader ginsburg and samuel alito take part in a mock trial looking at whether henry v was justified in killing french prisoners of war after the battle of kagen court. they are joined by other federal -- battle of age in couagincour. they are joined by other federal judges. this was held in march. it is about two hours. >> oyez, oyez. the supreme court of the amalgamated kingdom of england and france is now in session. you may be seated. >> the court has convened to hear the case of the french civil liberties union against henry v. the arguments will open by the petitioners, and i will call upon mr. garre. [laughter] >> merci, madame chief justice. [laughter] may it please the court, 10,000 -- the tally that king henry announces at the battle of agincourt. that figure alone underscores the gravity of the offense that he committed when he waged hi

sandra day o'connor and ruth bader ginsburg paved the way for me and so many other women in my generationtheir pioneering lives have created boundless possibilities for women in the law. i thank them for their inspiration, and also for the personal kindnesses they have shown me and my heart goes out justice ginsburg and her family today. everyone who ever met marty ginsburg was enriched by his incredible warmth and humor and generosity, and i'm deeply saddened by his passing. mr. chairman, in law school i had the good fortune to lead has a kind of motto spoken each year at graduation. we tell the new graduates that they are ready to enter a profession devoted to those wise restraints that make us free. that phrase has always captured for me he way law and the rule of law mattered. what the rule of law does is nothing less than to secure for each of us what our constitution calls the blessings of liberty, those rights and freedoms, that promise of equality that have defined this nation since its founding and what the supreme court does is to safeguard the rule of law through a commitment t

sandra day o'connor and ruth bader ginsburg paved the way for me and so many other women in my generation. their pioneering lives have created boundless possibilities for women in the law. i thank them for their inspiration, and also for the personal kindnesses they have shown me and my heart goes out to justice ginsburg and her family today. everyone who ever met marty ginsburg was enriched by his incredible warmth and humor and generosity, and i'm deeply saddened by his passing. mr. chairman, in law school i had the good fortune to lead has a kind of motto spoken each year at graduation. we tell the new graduates that they are ready to enter a profession devoted to those wise restraints that make us free. that phrase has always captured for me the way law and the rule of law mattered. what the rule of law does is nothing less than to secure for each of us what our constitution calls the blessings of liberty, those rights and freedoms, that promise of equality that have defined this nation since its founding and what the supreme court does is to safeguard the rule of law through a commit