we talked with sandra day o'connor with her biographer. that is coming up next. s bloomberg. ♪ david: you are watching "balance of power." sandra day o'connor cannot find a paying job as a lawyer because she was a woman. she went from a modest job on a ranch in arizona to become the first woman on the highest court in the country. evan thomas has written a new biography of this influential figure titled "first: sandra day o'connor." we welcome thomas from washington. i have read it and it is quite a book. , you call ford the most powerful justice of her time. why is that. ?hat is her legacy she was the decisive vote 300 and 20 times in 30 years. that gave her a power you rarely see today. david: is this an era that will not be repeated? we had justice powell before her that was thought to be the swing vote. then justice kennedy. is the room on this court -- it is really partisan now. is there room for a swing vote? evan: not the way they choose judges. they look for judges who have a clear doctrinal preference, who will be faithful to some kind of doctrine. that d

. >> with us today, historian evan thomas on the first to break that marble ceiling sandra day o'connor. g sandra day o'connor. >>> and good day everyone. vice president joe biden facing a critical test as a new allegation clouds his political future. lucy flores, a former nevada assembly woman who vice president joe biden campaigned for in 2014 said biden made her feel uncomfortable with what she said was inappropriate, not sexual touching. she said she was mortified, shocked, embarrassed after biden allegedly inhaled her hair and kissed flores on the back of her head. >> this type of behavior while it doesn't rise to the level of sexual assault or the severity in which we are often times hearing about various violations to your body, we don't take oftentimes this lower level of invasion of space and touchings of your body, unwanted touchings of your body in the exact same kind of seriousness in which we do the other type of behaviors. it was unwanted. it was shocking because of the power difference. context is also important here. >> nbc news has not independently verified this incide

there she is sandra day o'connor. days where there were such things. let me go to you, jason. it seems to me you've been predicting off the air, white guy's going to be the nominee. >> white guy's going to be the democratic nominee. >> after all the women and ethnic opportunity and minority opportunity. >> doesn't matter. it's going to be a white guy. because the democratic voters are afraid. they're not going to do something risky. they're going to fit somebody white who fits the mold who they think they can sell to their conservative brother-in-law in minnesota. >> where did you get the data to prove this? it's a good thesis. >> historically if you look at it, when you have primary voters and they're trying to get rid of an unpopular incumbent, they don't go for howard dean, they go for john kerry. >> times have changed so much that a gay mayor, married guy from a small town in south bend, known only for football, really, and notre dame, is somehow zooming to the top because he's the safe bet, according to you. the s

that was how i viewed sandra day o'connor. brian: we have read that she is not well?oan: right, she is not. brian: do you know anything new about her situation? joan: no. the family put out a letter in 2018 where she was acknowledging alzheimer's. that was going on for a while, unfortunately. brian: you did a book on antonin scalia. what was your number one take away from being around him? joan: he completely owned who he was. he was proud of some of his outrageous statements. he felt that he was always right, never in doubt, as they say. i would sit with him for two to three hours as i did with the chief, and i would be exhausted. i would usually be the one who said, we are done. he was so interactive. he loved talking about his childhood. that was a real contrast. antonin scalia a loved talking -- antonin scalia loved talking about where he came from, his people. the current chief justice was much more reluctant. brian: what did you take away from your sotomayor biography? joan: that was more of a political history of how she got there. it was a tale of how someone

host: when did you take from the biography or autobiography of sandra day o'connor? guest: oh, she was fascinating. you might remember that the one in 2005 cast her not so much as the first woman of the supreme court, but as a politician on the supreme court. tenure, she5-year was the only one who had been an elected legislator before she came to the bench. i felt like she learned to maneuver among the justices, to coordinate to get those critical votes. that is how i saw her, and that was how i viewed sandra day o'connor. host: she is not well? guest: right. host: do you know anything new about her situation? guest: no, as you're probably aware, the family put out a letter in 2018 which was technology alzheimer's -- where she was acknowledging alzheimer's, but that was going on for a while. host: you did a book on antonin scalia. what is your number one takeaway? guest: he completely owned he was. he was proud of some of his outrageous statements. he felt he was always right, never in doubt, as they say. i would sit with him for two to three hours as i did with the

and evan thomas is with us to discuss his latest, "first: sandra day o'connor." >> schieffer: evan, i want to started with you, because in a rave review in the "new york times," jeffrey to toobin, the legal analyst, said that she was perhaps the deciding vote in so many crucial cases, abortion, affirmative action, and the vote that gave the presidency to george w. bush, for example, that she was the most consequential woman in american history. >> yes, in terms of her impact. obviously there have been a lot of great women, so maybe that's a beat too far, but she had a big impact. if you preserve abortion rights and affirmative action for 25 years and you're first woman on the supreme court in history, that's a lot of power. >> schieffer: could she have been confirmed today? >> no. i don't think she would be chosen today. she had no particular track record. i don't think that a moderate republican president, this one or anyone else, would name her, because now they want a track record. they want to know how you're going to vote. and with her, it was a guess. >> sc

and author evan thomas recounts the life of america ace first female supreme court justice sandra day o'connor. watch live coverage of the annapolis book festival saturday morning at 10:00 eastern on book tv on c-span 2. >>> the speaker of the council of representatives of iraq visited washington, d.c. recently to meet with u.s. government officials. he also spoke at the u.s. institute of peace to lay out the new parliament's priorities. here is a portion of that event where he takes questions from the moderator and members of the audience. [ applause ] >> mr. speaker, thank you very much. thank you again for joining us and for those comments. you have had a very busy visit here in washington, d.c. so far. i understand you've had meetings with speaker pelosi, with secretary pompeo, vice president pence, members of congress, other members of congress, acting defense secretary shanahan. can you give us a flavor of how those conversations have gone and how you see this visit setting the stage for the future relationship between the united states and iraq? >> translator: thank you, nancy. we found

journalist and author evan thomas recounts the life of america's first female supreme court justice, sandra day o'connor. aturday on book tv on c-span2. >> this week on

and then a recollection of the the first female supreme court justice, sandra day o'connor. watch live saturday morning it on c-span two. >> c-span's road to the white house coverage continues friday ryan launches his presidential campaign. he will speak with reporters in youngstown. see that tomorrow at 2 p.m. the eastern on c-span. there was a joint meeting of congress to hear from the un's secretary-general yen stoltenberg. we will show you that at 10:30 a.m. sunday on c-span. weekend, a discussion of "american moonshot: john f. kennedy and the great american space race." fdr did wast what to big. kittyat fdr did well -- is thinking what will be my administration's -- kennedy is thinking what will be my administration's big infrastructure legacy? he picked technology. modern aviation starts kicking in. by the time jack kennedy starts running, the will be no classes at universities. the time he is killed in dallas, there's computer science classes everywhere. and more, flying more of airports all across the country. so went the jet age, the space-age. kennedy made that a c

] >> i am from indiana, and the quote i wrote down is when justice roberts was referring to sandra day o'connorhe said she said you cannot be indecisive, you've just got to decide. this quote is important to me and i think to all of us, because in such a divided country, in such a divided world, it is up to us to have that dialogue, it is up to us to critically analyze what is being said through different lenses and use that critical thinking to make a decision, stick with it, and continue to advocate. brian: where are you from an indiana? >> a suburb of it indianapolis. brian: we talked earlier, you are the speaker tonight, this better be good. >> just a little preview i guess. i am one of the delegates from oklahoma, from stillwater. instead of talking about a speaker's quote, i'm going to talk about a delegate quote. my friend from new york. [applause] he is very intelligent and he asked thought-provoking questions. he asked most of us a deep philosophical question which is said, is a ship is to set off to sea and all of the old planks are replaced with new planks, is it the same ship? i can

the quote i wrote down is hen chief justice roberts was referring to sandra day o'connor.said you can't be indecisive. you just have to decide. this quote is important to me all of us because in such divided country, in such a divided world, it is up to us to have that dialogue. us to critically analyze what's being said and to different lenses use that critical thinking to make a decision, stick with it, to advocate. > where are you from in indiana? a suburb ofindiana, indianapolis. earlier.oke you are the speaker. water.kate from still instead of talking about a a aker's quote,ly talk about delegate's quote. if anyone knows david who is from new york. a very, very intelligent asked us e thought-provoking questions. he asked us a deep philosophical question, if a ship is set off o sea and the old planks are replaced with the new planks, is it the same ship? a philosophical level on the answer, but i as ted to think about it people. we are going to college and professions and we will never see each other again. o matter how much we add to your selves, will we still be the

first is about supreme court justice sandra day o'connor, why thomas believes she is the most influentialerkeley it happened at 10:20 last night at martin luther king jr. way and adaline street. the driver of the car is reportedly cooperating with investigators. >>> another pedestrian, also hit by a car last night just after 9:00 in san francisco. it happened at 37th and fulton near golden gate park and the person was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. >>> the search continues for this man accused of a bloody attack in denny's in fremont. >>> news updates on your favorite platforms including our website, kpix.com. and you find the same style you knoyou saw there... ross ...here? that's yes for less. yes! say yes to those spring trends you love, at 2every day.storic at ross. yes for less. >>> good morning. we are tracking trouble spots for you. we have a new accident to report. that's on 680. there's been a lot of trouble there this morning. this new accident is in place, and we are going to get to that in a moment. but in the meantime, we are going to track this acciden

and author evan thomas recounts the life of america ace first female supreme court justice sandra day o'connorve coverage of the annapolis book festival saturday morning at 10:00 eastern on book tv on c-span 2. >>> the speaker of the council of representatives of iraq visited washington, d.c. recently to meet with u.s. government officials. he also spoke at the u.s. institute of peace to lay out the new parliament's priorities. here is a portion of that event where he takes questions from the moderator and members of the audience. [ applause ] >> mr. speaker, thank you very much. thank you again for joining us and for those comments. you have had a very busy visit here in washington, d.c. so far. i understand you've had meetings with speaker pelosi, with secretary pompeo, vice president pence, members of congress, other m

journalist and author evan thomas recounts the life of america's first female supreme court justice, sandra day o'connorh live all the coverage of the annapolis book festival this morning starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern on booktv on c-span2. historianek on "q&a," douglas brinkley talks about his book "american moonshot: john f. kennedy and the great american space race." douglas: he goes back to fdr, but fdr's new deal was stupid, so what fdr did well beyond social security endings and things, he built this grand coulee dam. eisenhower had the highway system. kennedy is saying what is my administration's big public works thing? i admire that he took technology. the computer chip that we think about today was developed in the late 1950's. martin aviation starts kicking in. by the time jack kennedy runs in the 1960's, there are no computer science classes. by the time he is killed in dallas, there are computer science classes everywhere. air travel is replacing automobile and train travel. people are flying everywhere, openedports are being across the country. so what is the jet age, the space-age, and ken

i wouldn't mention it except ruth ginsberg and sandra day o'connor saw us there.code name is now dollar bill. >> speaking of suspects, where is the great white hunter? i'm sorry vice president cheney couldn't be here tonight. i agree with the press that dikz was a little late reporting that hunting episode down in texas. in fact, i didn't know a thing about it until i saw him on america's most wanted. >> it will be so successful that even john boehner will consider becoming a democrat. after all, we have a lot in common. he is a person of color, although not a color that appears in the natural world. no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the donald. and that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter like did we fake the moon landing? what really happened in roswell? and where are biggie and tupac? some folks don't think i spend enough time with congress. why don't you get a drink with mitch mcconnell, they ask. really? why don't you get a drink with mitch mcconnell? i am determined to m

i once had the pleasure of interviewing sandra day o'connor after she left the court.she was not a raving feminist, she was in many ways a traditional woman but she was a pretty determined traditional woman, so she like to say it's good to be first but you don't want to be the last. she had to be both acceptable to men but also somebody who paved her own way. she was smart and tough and she was a compromiser. it was a minefield because she was the first woman and she could not afford to screw up, and she didn't. is her confirmation the reflection of her or of the time? 99-0. of her or of the time? 99—0. ronald reagan who put her on the court was smart enough not to pick a fight with the right to life crowd, so they kind of finesse that issue and made it go away but partly because she was so charming. she was with the senator from north carolina who was the fire breather at the time and she was good at men in sort ofa time and she was good at men in sort of a non—sexual way she flirted with him and put them at ease, at the same time as being tough. a legislator was mad