and elena kagan are all harvard law school graduates and in clarence thomas, samuel alito, and sonia sotomayorre yale. even though ginsburg graduated from columbia, it is really three schools, but really only two. what does it say, if anything? certain --eaks to a this is an elite group of justices. least is noton, at very diverse or varied. it used to be justices had a varied background come of -- b them were some of from congress and some of them came from other law schools. we have a uniformity now that we haven't seen before. all of them except for elena kagan has been judges before. brian: circuit court judges? tony: yes, circuit court judges before they came to the supreme court. some people believe there should be a greater diversity in law schools and in backgrounds. we had someone who was a criminal defense lawyer, well, not on the current court. we had people even from different legal backgrounds. brian: here is another chart from the court. the nine justices come in tomorrow. this is somewhat diverse head shows you who appointed them. on the screen, antonin scalia and anthony kenned

has been there 27 and clarence thomas, 23, stephen breyer, 21, john roberts, 10, alito, nine, sonia sotomayorfive, etc. you have covered all of these folks and which one on the list do you know the least from a personal standpoint? tony: from a personal standpoint, i would probably say clarence thomas because he never gives interviews to the press. at least as far as i know. he, i mean literally, i could write a story saying he robbed a bank yesterday and i would ask for his comment and he would probably not comment. he just has no interest in responding or participating in news stories. so i really don't have any personal connection to him. although he is great as a public speaker when he does get out and talk to the law school audience or something like that. he really speaks from the heart and he bears his soul quite a bit. so we have learned a lot about him from those kinds of appearances, but nothing, nothing -- brian: what about media coverage, you write, who reads your stuff? tony: i write for the "national law journal" and also for a subscription newsletter called "supreme court brief

long enough to sit on the set at sesame street and share a coffee with supreme court justice sonia sotomayor. >> yes, yes. and i wrote that bit for her too. i have to pat myself on the back about that. >> and also a bronx girl, also a puerto rican, and someone that you could teach the audience a few words of spanish. >> right. the fact the she's noyurican just pleases me beyond belief. it's wonderful to be from the island, but that she's from here. and we refer to each other as the other sonia from the bronx whenever we get together to help initiate a bronx children's museum is when i see her once a year. and it's just wonderful. >> but isn't that a sign that america is a different place from the days when you and the other cast members thought that part of sesame street's brief was to change the world. >> well, sure, ray. i mean things are better. i'm an example of it. she's an example of it. you're an example of it. but certainly when african american boys are profiled and we see these horrible footage of what's happening to certain young men, i always wonder what about the footage that we

ii think she is glad for company command i am very glad for sonia sotomayor or to be on that. i would have tried to write about her that she retired to jersey with that. 's. >> okay. [applause] 's. >> and we have another book. this is justice stephen breyer.

it's what chief justice -- supreme court justice sonia sotomayor said about going to -- when she would go to the island of puerto rico, she would see people like her. she would see the lawyers, the doctors that she wouldn't see in the bronx. >> exactly. >> so how important is that -- to have those mentors, to see people like you? >> well, i was fortunate enough to spend my life going to venezuela very often, so i did get to see this incredible culture, professionals. my cousins were taking incredible classes and doing so well in the universities, and the art of venezuela i owe so much to seeing what latinos can achieve in the arts. so for me, that was really instrumental in pushing me forward. >> and it's a beautiful country. >> it is. >> and so how do we get people to understand that we have to invest in these kids now for the future of california? 15 seconds. >> sure. i think economics. giving a child an opportunity will not only change that child's future, it will change that family's economic forecast, period, and by extension, that community's forecast. so by extension, some of th

ii think she is glad for company command i am very glad for sonia sotomayor or to be on that. i would have tried to write about her that she retired to jersey with that. 's. >> okay. [applause] 's. >> and we have another book. this is justice stephen breyer. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the national constitution center. the only institution in america chartered by congress to disseminate information on a nonpartisan basis, and this really is a remarkable day because we have a tremendous honora tremendous honor of the visit by the supreme court justice stephen breyer. [applause] among his many distinctions, many books that he has written including one that we will talk about today, member of the national constitution center's scholarly advisory board, central to this creation to bring together people of different perspectives to debate the constitution, to learn about it, celebrated. we are thrilled to announce a new interactive constitution that we believe will transform constitutional education in america. withamerica. with the help of the federalist society

justice sonia sotomayor wrote the food and drug administration has not approved midazolam.opinion was in the minority. >> ladies and gentlemen, the u.s. supreme court has denied the stay of execution. the process will begin shortly. i need the witnesses to prepare themselves for transport. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com . >>> a nation in disbelief. sorrow and anger overflow in turkey after two bombings leave 95 people dead. a live report ahead. >>> spiraling violence in israel. where is this going? we bring you the latest from jerusalem and the kremlin claims to focus its attacks on isis. russian officials meet to discuss russia's operations in the region. from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, i'm george howell. this is cnn newsroom.

has been there 20, and clarence thomas, 23, stephen breyer, 21, john roberts, 10, alito, nine, sonia sotomayor, five, etc. you have covered all of these folks and which one on the list do you know the least from a personal standpoint? tony: from a personal standpoint, i would say probably clarence thomas because he never gives interviews to the press. at least as far as i know. he, i mean literally, i could write a story saying he robbed a bank yesterday and i would ask for his comment and he would probably not comment. he just has no interest in responding or participating in news stories. so i really don't have any personal connection to him. although he is great as a public speaker when he does get out and talk to the law school audience or something like that. he really speaks from the heart and he bares his soul quite a bit. so we have learned a lot about him from those kinds of appearances, but nothing, nothing -- brian: what happened to the media coverage, you write, who reads your stuff? tony: i write for the "national journal" and also for a subversion newsletter called "supreme court

justice sonia sotomayor wrote the fda has not approved the use of midazolam as the use of and aestheticthat no one should be subjected to an execution that causes searing, unnecessary pain before death. but justice sotomayor's opinion was in the minority. >> ladies and gentlemen, the u.s. supreme court has denied the stay of execution. the process will begin shortly. i need the witnesses to prepare themselves for transport. >>> on this episode of death row stories. >> what's going on, ma'am? >> a mother's throat is slashed, and her two young sons are murdered. >> it was a bloodbath. and when a crime like this happens, someone in the house did this. no motive, no explanation. >> by god, somebody is going to pay for these two boys being murdered. >> materialistic, a temptress. >> there was a body on the water. >> it just didn't seem

as i watched those 11 hours, i kept thinking about sonia sotomayor, you know, being grilled in this way often rude, even around her name, her ethnicity, while sitting there with a cast on her foot. i was remembering joe biden's less than spectacular moment with anita hill during the clarence thomas senate confirmation hearings. i thought, actually, we might not be better than this. especially for young women thinking about some day running. are they watching this spectacle and thinking this is going to be the price i will have to pay if i ever want to go to the -- >> i hope if they do, if they were watching that and they watch hillary clinton what they came away with is, if it happens, i can handle it. as women, we can do it. i saw this woman get up there and do it and answer the questions. part of the reason we didn't see or hear new information and part of the reason you got some of those faces is because the whole investigation has been a sham. if they'd really been doing their work and come up with new lines of questioning instead of did you call this person or did you call that per

>> sonia sotomayor. >> ruth bider ginsburg. >> elena kagan. >> what is the bill of rights?on't know how to describe it. >> it's just the blood and bone and sinew of this democracy that some great man handed down to the human race, that's all. >> what is the bill of rights? >> the first ten amendments to the constitution. >> yes. >> how old are you? >> i'm 11. >> wow. you know more than me. that's pretty impressive. >> know more than your uncle, too. >> the big reason why we did the segment is because they did a study that college graduates know very little about the constitution, once they graduate with that degree they still don't know. >> exhibit "a," ladies and gentlemen. >> what was that overall experience like for you? >> it was pretty difficult. because a lot of the people, they -- they were very foreign. like they came in from different places around the world. so, they didn't speak a lot of english and they didn't know a lot of the answers, because they knew more about their -- >> sure. >> their form of government. whereas you were doing it for american kids -- >> h

instead sonia sotomayor got her copies from her mother for good behavior. new york public library did not drop nancy until 1976, san francisco public library not until the 1990s. pulp paperback titles from the 1950s and 60 had many gays and lesbians reading voraciously to consider survival literature were never reviewed in library publications were required by public libraries. what libraries give them instead was misinformation. cannon house office building for areas where the place where we can be most anonymous and delve deeply into areas we wish to uncover in secret, one 15-year-old later recalled. it was the library in 1969 to uncover the meaning of my lesbianism and what i found was not similar to my own experience. the information she found their frightened me and convinced me this was not lesbianism my was experiencing but something else. remember in the 1980s when many information technology predicted the demise of public libraries by the turn-of-the-century? they were wrong. dead wrong. in 2012 the latest year for which we have national statistics

>> sonia sotomayor. >> ruth bader ginsburg. >> he lena kagan. >> what is the bill of rights?ce,s that all. >> what is the bill of rights? >> the first ten amendments to the constitution? >> yes. >> how old are you? >> i'm 11. >> wow. you know more than me, that's pretty impressive. >> very impressive. >> we should out you were basically on the campus of new york university where did you this. it's not like this is at coney island or something. >> that surprise you these folks didn't know the fact? >> yes. a lot of them they surprised me because after a mom came up after and her -- very upset because she didn't know the answer and that's what they were studying right now the u.s. government and how it works and stuff like that. >> so what did you find the most interesting about this whole experience, nicholas? >> i mean i found interesting what i find interesting is i found that people don't know how their government even works. people were born and educated in the u.s. they don't even know how their system of government works. >> that is sad. are you going to grow up to be a

sotomayor in sonia that case issue her first dissent from the bench. she was very much opposed to that in giving a very emotional anceent about the import of diversity, calling from her own experience. we know that there is a divide their and we know that there are some justices in the lower cou rt that in the first time the case went up that the court was an agreement seven-wanted justice kagan would sit out because she was a general at the first time the case was brought. and now it will be a justices, bring up the possibility of an even split. will, this like many cases rest with how justice kennedy and whether iton is narrowly tailored in his view. host: if it's an even split, does it go to the lower court again? guest: the lower court automatically a friend. the policy would be upheld. host: in michigan, it's gregory for our guest. caller: i was wondering why hisd a person do all requirements for being a well accountable citizen, why does the court system not give him justice and why is it that we backs have to get sent three times just to move ha