the new book, "reading law: the interpretation of legal texts." >>> justice skelea, welcome. ron, welcome to you, too. the book is very much a template for the way that you conducted your legal life. you are a man that believes fundamentally that the law in america should be based rigidly on the letter of the constitution. that's what you believe? fundamental? >> yes, give or take a little. rigidly, i would not say. but it should be based on the text of the constitution reasonably interpreted. >> people who criticize you for this say a lot of the constitution was phrased in a vague way. that they visualized that things may change which may put a different impression on a particular piece of text. >> why are you not prepared to say that remains with the times? >> well, i do respect that with respect to the vague terms such as equal protection of the laws, due process of law. crucial and unusual punishments. i clearly accept that those things is have to apply to things that did not exist in the past. as to the phenomena that existed, their meaning then is the same as their mean

do you think that is the kind of -- again, justice skelea says he sees nobody involving politics to compare with the founding fathers. the guys who created the federalist papers, it was a fascinating moment that this guy has been in the supreme court just 25 years, clearly believes there's a malaise in ability and principle. >> i think there is probably in the actual, you know, the body politic. but i think if you look at individual senators like patrick leahy or like olympia snow, there's so many individuals that i admire. i don't know why they can't seem to get things done. but i know that, for instance, senator snow is retiring because she said it's -- it's just too discouraging. >> ho do you think president obama has done? >> well, i think -- i thought it was very interesting that he said he's really concentrated on policy. because that makes sense to me with his character. and one of the things that's come up with this show is to what extent any of these people are political animals. and i have a feeling, for instance, clinton, johnson, maybe nixon, some of these people were real polit

. >> tonight, justice skelea on the right to choose. >> that was the theory used in rowe versus wade.court in the land where the issues who died america are decided. this is "piers morgan tonight. . >> good evening, it isn't often a supreme court justice invites a journalist to come and sit down with him. i'm here to interview the longest serving justice. they just rolled on and are pending. that still left a lot of ground to cover. his thoughts on campaign finance and politics.