the souter seat came up when the berlin wall was coming down. the following year he nominated thomas. >> he didn't say i will nominate someone that was a moderate swing vote. the conservatives thought they were getting one of their own. >> souter's decision was clear. if you go to ginsburg, sotomayor, kagan, they're as promised. >> who would obama appoint. >> i think did you val patrick is a -- duval patrick. janet napolitano, former governor of arizona. >> the last would be probably last controversial of the three, janet napolitano because republicans have had it in for her -- >> after the speech at the convention. >> clear partisan. that would be pretty controversial. if obama goes the judge route. i think goodwin lou. >> he was filibustered. it is different to filibuster someone for thh supreme court. you really have to talk. the way the senate works, i mean, it is so completely dysfunctional is that a senator who objects to who is going on said i'm going to filibuster and they just simply give up. a supreme court is such a high-profile kind

heather gerken clerked with supreme court justice david souter, practiced law, then taught at harvardfore joining the faculty of yale. she is the brains behind the "democracy index," a new plan for fair elections. heather gerken, it's good to meet you. >> thank you so much for having me. >> what's at issue in this case? >> as you know when you give in a campaign, you can only give a certain amount of money to a candidate. but there's also a limit that most people never notice because most people don't have nearly enough money to reach it, but there are limits on how much you can spend in the aggregate. so you can spend about $123,000 on federal elections all told. >> in one election cycle -- >> in one election cycle. >> in one two year period -- >> exactly. but what's being argued in this case is that you should be able to spend as much as you want, that is you can have limits on the amount you can give to each candidate and each party committee and each party, but you can give to as many candidates as you want and as many party committees as you want and as many pacs as you want. all

justice souter is sitting several times a year with the appeals court in boston.ustice o'connor since she retired has sat with every single one of the courts of appeals. that law clerk will help the justice with his or her post- justice work. there will often be borrowed by one of the current justices as a fifth law clerk. host: on twitter in new jersey, democratic caller. thanks for hanging on the line. go ahead. caller: i want to know why they haven't investigated justice thomas's wife more for illegal activities. it is the highest court. he has been lying on his income taxes for seven years. host: either one of you follow that? >guest: not with any sufficient -- host: ok. guest: certainly not in appointing clerks. the justices have a lot of criteria they apply. they're looking for collegiality, hard work. i don't think they're looking at where you go to church or whether you go to church. host: we're looking at -- talking with 2 former law clerks at the supreme court. argued before the supreme court. taking a look at the new term, what stands out to you for cas

even home can become an obstacle course of souter.ization building homes for heros is hoping to aalleviate. recently i got to check out some of their work firsthand. >> >> thanks to building homes for heros, double amputee sergeant greg karen and his wife nina are about to move in to their dream house. >> it's very overwhelming and i just -- i appreciate everything that everybody is doing for me. >> sergeant karen's life changed forever in november of 2011 when he stepped on an ied in afghanistan. >> i lost both my legs below the knee and i have laceration on my right arm and shrapnel amputated the tip of my right middle figurer. >> greg was an easy pick. he came highly recommended from high ranking u.s. marine official. so it was an easy introduction. that's how a lot of men come to us. and you know, when we met him, we just fell allove with greg. nina are so nice. they are humble. >> you think i see this stuff on tv all the time. is this really happening? >> exactly. that's why this was great. they allowed me to scene and pick out e