sandra day o'connor said we called it our own country. the king was mr. day, who was a magnificent man. a great, more than a cowboy, he was a manager of cowboys. a guy who could fix anything, handle anything, deal with anything and he taught self-reliance to his daughter and to anybody who was around him, and the story she liked to tell, sandra liked to tell, was when sandra day was 15 years old, one of her jobs was to take lunch to the roundup which was ray across the prairie. she got up at 5 a.m. and loaded up the truck. as she headed out there she had a flat tire. she is a slight girl. she had to jump on the jack to change the tire. she got there and her father looked at her, you are late. she said, dad, i had a flat tire. he said, next time leave earlier. that was the story she told her clerks. the message was pretty clear, no excuses. get it done. obviously mr. day had a huge influence on her and he was a loving, powerful father. he could be an intimidating guy. sandra's mother was maybe even more important because mrs. day was a elegant woman, out on

day, sandra day o'connor said we called it our own country. and the king of of this country was mr. day. who is a magnificent man. a great -- more than a cowboy. he was a manager of cowboys. but a guy that could fix anything, handle anything, deal with anything. and he taught self reliance to his daughter and to anybody who was around him. and the story that she liked to tell, that sandra liked to tell was that when sandra day was 15 years old, one of her jobs was to take lunch to the roundup which is way across the prairie. so she got up at 5:00 a.m. and she cooked the roast and cooked the cake and she loaded up the truck and as she headed out there on the rough road, she had flat tire. and she is a slight girl. she had to jump on the jack to change the tire and took an hour. she got there and her father looked at her and said you're late. and she said dad, i had a flat tire. he said next time leave earlier. that was the story she told her clerks. message is pretty clear. no excuses. get it done. and so obviously mr. day had a huge influence on her. he was a loving, powerful father.

so i have the joy and privilege of covering sandra day o'connor's time on the court. my far left is evan thomas. he is the author of ten books including the biography of sandra day o'connor. and then jay o'connor, the managing principle principal associates and governor board of the civics project that justice o'connor transformational civics project she brought to children in this country. and to my immediate left, needing no introduction, general edwin meese ii. he is the ronald reagan distinguished fellow and served as the 75th attorney general of the united states from 1985-1988. so please join me in welcoming this extraordinary panel. and this first panel really does have the absolute joy of setting the table for the rest of the day. and giving a sense of what it was like through the early arc of justice o'connor's then before justice o'connor's career what brought her to the attention of president reagan and then the world. and so we're going to try to break it down for you in the coming hour. and we're going to start by talking a little bit about her biography,

sandra day o'connor the first woman to serve on the u.s. supreme court. we first hear from supreme court justices ruth bader ginsburg ansonia sotomayor reflecting on the legacy of sandra day o'connor. then a look at what led to her appointment by president ronald reagan. afterwards, six former law clerks recall working with justice o'connor. you're watching american history tv on c-span 3. supreme court justices ruth bader ginsburg and sonia sotomayor talked about the impact sandra day o'connor had on the judicial system as the first woman to serve on the u.s. supreme court. they spoke at an event commemorating the 38th anniversary of justice o'connor's senate confirmation. the ronald reagan presidential foundation and institute hosted the program. [ applause ] >> good evening, everyone. on behalf of the reagan foundation institute thank you for joining us this evening. i have the pleasure of introducing our two panelists and ted olson in just a moment. we have a number of distinguished guests with us. i would like to take a moment first to thank justice b

i am curious if you have given thought to why rvg has such an incredible fan base when sandra day o'connorwas more muted? >> justice ginsburg deserves her fan base. both movies are great. i recommend them. she is a hero to many people. it is legitimate and miss o'connor is less well-known she is older and not a crusader or activist. she did a ton for women's rights but she did a behind the scene scenes, she was not out there the way o'connor was justice ginsburg is the least shy shy person i ever met. [laughter] and justice o'connor as many of you know, has dementia now probably alzheimer's. so she is not out there. this is the age that we live in as a bold crusader will get more attention than a compromising pragmatist it's almost quaint to that way. >> that is fair although o'connor did a great deal for women when she was on the court with roe v wade aside and the challenges to that but she meant toward a number of women clerks. >> she sure did half of her clerks there were over 100, half for women. she really cared about them, and the men to she is a little scary to work for. if you are

next a look into the career of sandra day o'connor the first woman to serve on the u.s. supreme court. we first hear from supreme court justices ruth bader ginsburg ansonia sotomayor reflecting on the legacy of sandra day o'connor. then a look at what led to her appointment by president ronald reagan. afterwards, six former law clerks recall working with justice o'connor. you're watching american history tv on c-span 3. supreme court justices ruth bader ginsburg and sonia sotomayor talked about the impact sandra day o'connor had on the judicial system as the first woman to serve on the u.s. supreme court. they spoke at an event commemorating the 38th anniversary of justice o'connor's senate confirmation. the ronald reagan presidential foundation and institute hosted the program. [ applause ] o

(applause) >> in 1981, president ronald reagan nominated sandra day o'connor to be the first woman to serve on the supreme court, next on american history tv, panelists including one of o'connor's sons discuss the factors and qualifications that led to her appointment. this talk was part of

>> for 12 years, sandra day o'connor was the lone woman on the supreme court. d advocates were accustomed to there being a woman on the court. her name was sandra day o'connor, so they heard a woman's voice, it had to be justice o'connor. [laughter] >> she would sometimes say i'm justice o'connor. she's justice ginsburg. that happened not to just occasional lawyers who showed up, but even the solicitor general, he called me justice o'connor, realized the mistake that he had made. >> he said he wanted -- he wished there was a trap door under his feet. [laughter] >> but nowadays we are one third of the bench -- [cheers and applause] >> we're all over the bench because of my seniority, i sit next to the chief with justice sotomayor on one side and justice kagan on the other. people who have attended arguments at the court know that my two sisters-in-law are not shrinking violets. they are very active in the colloquy that goes on. in fact there was a rivalry between justice scalia and justice sotomayor on who could ask the most questions. [laughter] >> and sometimes

he made a nationwide search and came up with a spectacular choice in justice sandra day o'connor.avid: when president clinton became president, you were obviously somebody being considered, and then president clinton talked to somebody who was pushing for your appointment, daniel patrick moynihan, and president clinton said, "well, women don't want her." now, how could that have been the case when you were the leading lawyer in gender discrimination? why would women have not wanted you, or some women not wanted you on the supreme court? justice ginsburg: just some women. most women were overwhelmingly supportive of my nomination. but i had written a comment on roe v. wade, and it was not 100% applauding that decision. what i said was, the court has an easy target, because the texas law was the most extreme in the nation. abortion could be had only if necessary to save the woman's life. it doesn't matter that her health would be ruined, that she was the victim of rape or incest. i thought roe v. wade was an easy case, and the supreme court could have held that most extreme law unco

extraordinarily grateful to justices ruth bader ginsberg and sonia sotomayor for joining us to honor sandra day o'connor. justice ginsberg and justice day o'connor share an unusual distinction, interesting nicknames. justice o'connor earned the moniker fwotsc. justice ginsberg, crowned the notorious rbg. i'll leave it to you to decide which one is catchier. the justices also share a lifelong commitment for expanding opportunities for women. it makes sense when justice ginsberg joined justice o'connor on the bench, they bonded over their role in transforming the supreme court. both justices had to overcome discrimination and professional rejection. but justice o'connor once put a helpful spin on it. come of age where women could easily be lawyers, she told justice ginsberg, they would probably end up as retired partners at some law firm, but because that route was not open to us, justice o'connor explained, we had to find another way. and we both ended up in the united states supreme court. one woman they inspired was a young attorney in manhattan. she had been working in the d.a.'s office in 1981 when s

about 15 years before he nominated sandra day o'connor, ronald reagan delivered one of his most consequential political speeches at a law day lunch in southern california. in 1966, outlining his decision in creative society, ronald reagan advanced an initiative to take judges out of politics and articulated his vision of an ideal judge. he called for judges to be "men with ability come up men of honor and men who are fair-minded". when it came to his first nomination to the supreme court, president reagan delivered a nominee who realized his vision. listening earlier today, we have gotten a taste of justice o'connor's remarkable ability and the earnest and decent the with which she approached her life and her life and her craft. as one of justice o'connor's clerks wrote, "without fanfare, she hones her craft, deciding individual cases, answering concrete questions and in the process of providing clear and enduring answers to the most important questions of the day". she was honorable because she judged and ruled without fanfare. she was fair-minded and able to decide individual cases answerin

[laughter] i would not even mention it, except ruth ginsberg and sandra day o'connor saw us there. [laughter] i won't tell you what happened. but lynn's secret service code name is now "dollar bill." [applause] but george and i are complete opposites. i am quiet, he's talkative. i am introverted, he's extroverted. i can pronounce nuclear. [laughter and applause] the amazing thing, however, is that george and i were just meant to be. i was a librarian who spent 12 hours a day in the library. yet, somehow, i met george. [laughter] we met and married and i became one of the regulars up at kennebunkport. all the bushes love kennebunkport. which is like crawford, but without the night life. [laughter] people ask me what it's like to be up there with the whole bush clan. let me put it this way. first prize, three-day vacation with the bush family. second prize, ten days. [laughter] [laughter and applause] speaking of prizes, brings me to my mother-in-law. [laughter] so many mothers today are just not involved in their children's lives. [laughter] not a problem with barbara bush. [laughte

>> for 12 years, sandra day o'connor was the lone woman on the supreme court. d advocates were accustomed to there being a woman on the court so they heard a woman's voice and it have to be justice o'connor. .. i realize from the state that he had made. >> he whic wished there was a trapdoor under his b entered feet. but now days were one third of the bench. [applause] were all over the bench because of my seniority, i sit next to "the chief", justin entered justice kagan on the other, people know that my two sistersm not shrinking violet. i'm very active on what goes on. and i think it was a rivalry between justice scalia and justice who can ask the most questions. >> a couple of times she went. >> is seems appropriate since we began the interview talking about justice scalia that we should indent in some way there because the two of you were such house for so many decades in such unlikely, such an unlikely friendship to people from the outside, what did you love about him so much. >> he was a very funny man. we had been buddies on the d.c. circuit before he wa

presidential foundation and institute, six former law clerks recall working with supreme court justice sandra day o'connor. this is part of an all-day conference commemorating the 38th anniversary of justice o'connor's senate confirmation. [ applause ] >> thank you. it's really an honor and a privilege to be here. so, i was asked just to say a few words to introduce the next panel. and i think i would start by saying something that probably we all know, which is the court is a fairly powerful institution. now, of course, it wasn't always so, though. one of the signs of how powerful it is is that you really do see in any presidential election people saying it matters who you vote for. you should vote for "x" rather than "y" because they're going to pick the next supreme court justices. but if you think about why that really is so, the court decides about 80 cases a year. and about 75 of them need to be decided, but they're not the reason the court is such a powerful institution, and they're not the reason people say that about who you should vote for in the presidential election. in any given term, there's

members of congress are in their districts due to the coronavirus pandemic, tonight we focus on sandra day o'connorhe first woman justice to serve on the u.s. supreme court. starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern supreme court justices ruth baden ginsburg and sotomayor will reflect on the legacy of sandra day o'connor. enjoy american history tv now and over the weekend on c-span 3. >>> every saturday night american history tv takes you to college classrooms around the country for lectures in history. >> why do you all know who lizzy borden is and raise your hand if you ever heard of this murder the jean harris murder trial. >> the deepest cause where we'll find the true meaning of the revolution was in this transformation that took place in the minds of the american people. >> we'll talk about both sides of this story here. the tools, the techniques of slave owner power and also talk about the tools and techniques and power by enslaved people. >>> topics range from american revolution to september 11th. lectures in history on c-span 3 every saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv and lectures i

she has also appeared surprised analyst and author of books on sandra day o'connor and sonia sotomayorore, her most recent book is achieved, internet connectiointernationalchain. it's available for purchase. we are also very pleased indeed to welcome marcia quayle back to new york historical as our moderator this evening, she said chief washington correspondent for the national law journal and she covered the u.s. supreme court for more than 30 years. she is a regular contributor inches written for publications such as vogue, ms. magazine in the new york times, she is also the author of the roberts court, the struggle for the constitution. as always before we begin i want to ask that you please make sure anything that makes noise like a cell phone is switched off and now please join me in welcoming our guests this evening. thank you. [applause] >> good evening, it is wonderful to be back with all of you here tonight. an especially wonderful to be here with my friend, my colleague, my supreme court watcher as a.m. to talk about jones terrific new book about the chief justice of the unit

next, a look into the career of sandra day o'connor, the first woman to serve on the supreme court.

justice really is and that was a quote from potter stewart who was a supreme court justice member sandra day o'connor took over for him afterward fairness is what justice really is so as we look at these bailouts and the lack of fairness that we've seen. since the intervention of the fed days so say in 1907 when the plunge protection team and alan greenspan came to the rescue the bad bets made on wall street chicago. and ever since and we've had more and more and more unfair system it starts off a little bit unfair and as we see like a little change of direction way back then in history becomes a huge gap we see that with the wealth and income gaps and we see that with every single crash and the subsequent bailouts gets worse and worse towards the very wealthy.

justice really is and that was a quote from potter stewart who was a supreme court justice member sandra day o'connor took over for him afterward fairness is what justice really is so as we look at these bailouts and the lack of fairness that we've seen. since the intervention of the fed days so say in 1907 when the plunge protection team and alan greenspan came to the rescue of the bad bets made on wall street chicago. and ever since and we've had more and more and more unfair system it starts off a little bit unfair and as we see like a little change of direction way back then in history becomes a huge gap we see that with the wealth and income gaps and we see that with every single crash and the subsequent bailouts gets worse and worse towards the very wealthy and the connected so when we've already covered the trillions going to the banks instantly and the fact that the ordinary person is struggling to read well you know waiting desperately for the stimulus checks to arrive to them the measly little ones you know when the fed is buying these collateralized loan obligations you have to realize tha

justice really is and that was a quote from potter stewart who was a supreme court justice member sandra day o'connor took over for him afterward fairness is what justice really is so as we look at these bailouts and the lack of fairness that we've seen. since the intervention is fed days so say in 1907 when the plunge protection team and alan greenspan came to the rescue of the the bad bets made on wall street chicago. and ever since and we've had more and more and more unfair system it starts off a little bit unfair and as we see like a little change of direction way back then in history becomes a huge gap we see that with the wealth and income gaps and we see that with every single crash and the subsequent bailouts gets worse and worse towards the very wealthy and the connected so when we've already covered the trillions going to the banks instantly and the fact that the ordinary person is struggling to read well you know waiting desperately for the stimulus checks to arrive to them the measly little ones you know when the fed is buying these collateralized loan obligations you have to realize tha

justice really is and that was a quote from potter stewart who was a supreme court justice member sandra day o'connor took over for him afterward fairness is what justice really is.

tonight we focus on sandra day o'connor, the first woman justice to serve on the u.s. preme court. starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern ruth bader ginsburg and soto sotomayor reflect on the legacy of sandra day o'connor. enjoy american history tv now and over the weekend on c-span 3. >>> every saturday night american history tv takes you to college classrooms around the country for lectures in history. >> why do you all know who liz yes borden is and raise your hand if you heard of this murder, the gene harris murder trial before this class. >> a deepest cause where we'll find the true meaning of the revolution was in the transformation that took place in the minds of the american people. >> so we're going to talk about both of these sides of the story here, right. the tools, the techniques of slave owner power and also talk about the tools and techniques of power that were practiced by enslaved people. >> watch history professors lead discussions with their students on topics ranging from the american revolution to september 11th. lectures in history on c-span 3 every saturda

tonight, we focus on sandra day o'connor, the first woman justice to serve on the u.s. supreme court. starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern, ruth bader ginsberg and sonia sotomayor reflect on sandra day o'connor. join us on american history tv now and over the weekend on c-span3. >>> every saturday night, american history tv takes you to college classrooms around the country for lectures in history. >> why do you all know who lizzie borden is, and raise your hand if you had ever heard of the gene harris murder trial before this class. >> the deepest cause where we'll find the true meaning of the revolution was in this transformation that took place in the minds of the american people. >> so we're going to talk about both of these sides of this story here, right, the tools, the techniques of slave owner power. we'll also talk about the tools and techniques of power that were practiced by enslaved people. >> watch history professors lead discussions with their students on topics ranging from the american revolution to september 11th. lectures in history on c-span3, every saturday

tonight, we focus on sandra day o'connor, the first woman justice to serve on the u.s. supreme court. starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern, justices reflect on the legacy of san da day o'connor. enjoy american history tv now and over the weekend. on c-span3.da day o'connor. enjoy american history tv now and over the weekend. on c-span3. >>> every saturday night american history tv takes you to college classrooms for lectures in history. >> why do you all know who lizzy board borden is? >> the deepest cause where we will find the true meaning of the revolution of the jean harr murder trial. >> so we'll talk about both of these sides of the story here. right? the tooshlls, techniques of sla owner power and tools and techniques that were practiced by enhe slaved people. >>> watch professors lead discussions with their students on topics from american revolution to september 11th. every saturday at 8:00 p.m. on american history tv and lectures in history is available as a podcast. find writ you listen to podcasts. >>> up next on american history tv a discussion about how our unders

tonight we focus on sandra day o'connor the first woman justice to service on the supreme court. and ruth bader ginsburg will reflect on the legacy of sandra day o'connor. enjoy american history tv, now and over the weekend, on cspan3. >> every saturday night american history tv takes you to college classrooms around the country for lectures in history. >>> next the u.s. holocaust memorial museum host a panel discussion looking at the continuing quest to bring former nazis to justice and raise questions such as if perpetrators are too old to prosecute and whether it's too late for accountability. speakers include a holocaust survivor and i pull pulitzer journalist and documentary filmmaker. >> good evening, everyone. my name is jessica abrahams and i'm very pleased to welcome everyone in the audience in the theater as well as those watching online to tonight's program entitled," limits of justice" i want to thank the embassy of canada you will hear

sandra day o'connor, ruth baiter ginsburg and sonia sotomayor, in interviews years apart and independent of each other when they were asked what set you down the path to a life in the law they all said nancy drew. which book did dorothy parker write, this is the greatest review of all time. this is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly, it should be thrown with great force. that's interestly enough the novel was by the only forsay by mussolini the book was called the cartinal's mistress. what do dan brown, scott tur o, and richard quilledder have in common. they're all graduates of amherst? when bob dylan won the nobel prize in literature in 2017 he became the second nobel lawiate to be awarded both that prize and an academy award, who is the other? george burnered shaw, won the academy award for best-writing screenplay for the 1938 version of pygmalion, with windy hillered and leslie howard. when this news was brought to him in london he reported said i have never been so insulted in my entire life. who invented the phrase stream of consciousness? that was william james. what naturalis

sandra day o'connor, ruth gator binns s berg and interviews apat when there all last what said to down the path of the life in the law and they said the teacher. which book did dorothy right, this is the greatest review of all time. this is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly, it should be thrown with great force. that is interestingly enough, the novel is the only fiction of muzzle leaning, it was called the cargoes mistress what do dan brown in gretchen wilber have in common. they are all graduates of amherst when bob dylan won the nobel prize in literature in 2017, he became the second one to be awarded that size and in an academy award, who is the other. george brennan shaw won the academy award for best ratings screenplay with wendy hillard and leslie howard. when this news was brought to him in london he reportedly said i have never been so insulted ie my entire life. who invented the raised stream of consciousness. that was william james. >> what naturalist has more than 300 plant in 1000 animals name for him in more places on earth then heavens than any other person in histo

sandra day o'connor could not get a job out of law school except for a secretarial one. >> how did she find the strength? barbara was running the office of women's issues and those who worked in the white house new -- knew how she worked within the white house office and the departments there, thanks to leadership with armstrong and others that were very conscience of the women's movement and mrs. next and realized republicans were losing some ground and democrats were proposing legislation built to support women and she worked very closely with the office of women's issues to help get more appointments of women in the federal government and as you said spoke publicly. she was disappointed that was not the president's decision and discuss that private sleep -- privately. again, that was her character and the appropriate way to do it, but she was responding to what was going on in the country. >> can you come up in and join us? we have a chair up front for you. >> make no mistake about it, she was what i would call quietly politically astute. she was not about to brag about what she cou

. >> women did not have -- sandra day o'connor couldn't get a job right out of law school, except a secretarial one. so, how did she find the strength, any of you, think how she -- >> i'm going to point to barbara franklin, because barbara was running the office of women's issues. so, i'm going to tell your story. and bobbie kill borne and susan porter rose, these women who worked in the white house then knew mrs. nixon, knew how she worked within the white house office and the departments that were there, thanks to leadership with you, ann armstrong, others, that were very conscious of this burgeoning women's movement. and mrs. nixon, because she's politically astute, realized that the republicans were losing some ground on this. it was the democrats that were proposing legislation and bills to support women, and she worked very closely with the office of women's issues in the white house to help get more appointments, right -- >> she did. >> -- appointments of women in the federal government. and as you said, spoke publicly about women, a woman for the supreme court. she was disappointed that

reagan fact -- presidential foundation and institute, six former law clerks recall working with sandra day o'connor. this is part of an all-day conference commemorating the 38th anniversary of justice o'connor's senate confirmation. [applause] >> thank you. it's really an honor and a privilege to be here. i was asked to say a few words to introduce the next panel. i would start by saying something that we probably know. the court is a fairly powerful institution. it was not always so, one of the signs of how powerful it is, is that you do see, in any presidential election, people say it matters who you vote for because they will pick the next supreme court justices. if you think about why that really is so, the court decides about 80 cases a year. about 75 of them need to be decided but that's not the reason the court is powerful and not the reason people say that about who you should vote for for the presidential election. there typically five or six cases in any term which is why we care about the court. those are the cases that have truly significant impact on our politics, society, and governme

think we are the biggest panel so we will dive right in and for those of us from a certain age, sandra day o'connor was the rope that we hoped would be cast our way. in disclosing her alzheimer's to the country last year. last year, i thought she was typically forthright and aspirational. i hope i have inspired young people about civics engagement and pave the way for people facing obstacles in their careers. now, even though we have a little time we will talk about her lasting legacy and i will start with chief justice mcgregor because you knew her than anyone here from her days as a state legislature and nomination and into her retirement. i was wondering how you think she changed over time. i don't mean ideologically, but her own self-confidence and her own being as a justice. >> one thing did not change and that is the fact should brought to the supreme court the same characteristic every job she had -- her demand that everyone do the best they could, but what i think changed the most and was probably a result of growing confidence for her, those of you who remember from 1981 know there were a