right after that interview was when david souter was nominated. and i referred to him earlier in our conversation as someone who did not fulfill the hopes of conservatives affiliated with george h.w. bush. and that gave rise to that rallying cry, no more souters on the part of conservatives. looking for who would be on the supreme court. now presidents go through this extensive vetting process to make sure their appointees are going to fulfill their vision of what they want in the court. definitely since clarence thomas in 1991, that has happened. you have that. and while the rest of the country has become more transparent -- i am not convinced, despite the protests from the justices themselves, that they are transparent about the work that they do. they can act in very political ways also. brian: you have this quote. i want to ask you to explain it. justice rehnquist is one of the few members of the court who approaches a docket from a clearly conceived ideological perspective. this is from linda greenhouse at "the new york times," who we know no

david souter, y, who george h.w. bush put on. that was the way. president of one party could end up with an appointee who did not adopt all his ideology or policies. now, you really don't have hat. brian: these are the ages of all the justices. there are nine of them. justice ginsburg, 86. justice brier, 80. justice roberts, 64. justice sotomayor, 64. clarence thomas, 70. elena kagan 58. mr. gorsuch its 51. brett kavanaugh is 54. joan: you got them exactly right. brian: what does that say? joan:it says the younger ones are the conservatives the two in their 80's are the liberals. depending on what happens to any of these 9 and president trump gets another appointee, the court could move further to the right. so much hangs on who is going to be -- so much hangs on for the nation and for the supreme court of will becomes president in 2020 because of these ages. brian: how many years have you covered the court? joan: full-time, since 1989. when i started at the washington post as a supreme court reporter it was 1992. brian: your first appearance on t

name your president, and you had william brennan, then you had john paul stevens, than you had david souterwhen you tighten things up if you were republicans and he saw what they did on the court? joan: there are many strains to republicanism. i would say that is what happened. rich h dubya bush pushed it back, george w. bush did that and certainly donald trump. -- george h w bush did that, george w. bush did that and certainly donald trump. they have very strong outside advisement will handle a lot of vetting. brett kavanaugh and neil gorsuch were heavily vetted. more so than john roberts. john roberts was vetted by the federalist society. and samuel alito. you and i both remember the nomination of harriet miers. remember how that one went? brian: withdrawn. joan: she was one person who had not been vetted by the federalist society. robert bork, who also was a nominee at one point in his life, he went on the air after she was nominated and said something like she is a nightmare in every way. he meant it from the point of view, not that she was a woman, not that she had not had an extensive

justice point of view this is a total stitch up joyce knowledge will not face due process or justice souter going to face. a similar. also us democratic presidential hopeful says african american should receive financial compensation for the suffering of their ancestors on the slavery we debate the issue. because somebody is green day still something doesn't mean i'm responsible for you know who should have been able to catch him why they were laughing government has literally buried it paid out everybody else and turned it back on the black people of america. kerry seems to dan's present arrested and emergency room or in the space of twenty four ounce. hello that the latest developments and a look back at what's been happening over the last seven days to me watching weekly here and i see international now off to almost seven years hold up in the ecuadorian embassy in london we can leaks found it you know in this. was sensationally dragged out by police this week came shortly after the south american country suspended the whistleblowers says the ship and revoked his asylum video agency film

justice point of view this is a total stitch up joyce knowledge will not face due process or justice souter going to face. a simulacrum of it also to come.

and the other thing about it which david souter told me which is true is your always on duty . that's a little stressful sometimes. like having grandchildren around all the time. we love, but there they are, don't let the murder each other. and so it's, you're on duty. but it's very rewarding. it's rewarding. >> you ever get rather lonely on the court? would you like a few extra members of in court? it has been proposed lately that we expand the numbers of members of the court from 9 to 11 or 13, what you think of that? >> i think nine is fine. i'm not speaking about anybody's proposal but i've discovered that nine seems to work and the massachusetts supreme judicial court has seven. i've seen them at work, i think seven is a betternumber . seven is fine. it is fine, night is fine, and it's hard you know, because these are not shrinking violets, any of the members of the court. and yet they are going to be helpful really when they produce opinions which have more than five or more members signing on to those opinions. because basically, the country is not, maybe a few reporters

the other thing about it, what david souter told me is you are always on duty. that is a little stressful sometimes, it is like having grandchildren around all the time. whom we love, there they are. do not let the murder each other. so you are on duty. but it is very rewarding, it is a rewarding job. bill: do you get rather lonely on the court, would you like a few extra members? it has been proposed lately that we expand the numbers of members of the court from nine to 11 or 13. what do you think? justice breyer: i think nine is fine. i am not speaking about anybody's proposal. i discovered that nine seems to work and the massachusetts supreme judicial court has seven. i have seen them at work and i think seven is a better number. seven is fine. eight is fine. nine is fine. these are not shrinking violets. any of the members of the court and yet, they are going to be helpful when they produce opinions which have more than five or more members signing on to those opinions. because, basically, the country is not interested primarily in what sandra o'connor or i

i'm surprised by souter of the music was very somber. of the i'm going to do all these wonderful things. ainsley: we are waiting for him to announce. it was a little strange. ed: think about it we had heard he might launch in charlottesville and some of his advisors said that's a bad idea. look like we are politicizing it. so you don't do that but then in a big -- not the whole video but a big chunk of the video you are talking all about charlottesville. steve: as early as monday of this week the talk was he was going to start in charlottesville yesterday and go to pittsburgh and also philadelphia. he is not going to charlottesville. because of the push back on that. and he is not going to philadelphia. he will be at a union events on monday in pittsburgh. ainsley: i wonder if the video that wasn't favorable among some of the team if that was the video that he shot in scranton there were pictures of him in scranton where he grew up outside of the house that he grew up in and that didn't look like it was part of the video. then again we h