it appears to be justice stephen breyer, will be among those in attendance, also justice kennedy. joining us on the phone is adam liptak. the headline this morning, the supreme work's new robust session could define the legacy of the chief justice. let me ask you first about this mass, this tradition, and what transpires. guest: it's a long-standing tradition where several of them gather for blessings and encouragement at the start of a new term. it is a long-standing catholic tradition to bless those responsible for the administration of justice. there are not a few people who think it is an odd juxtaposition to see this kind of tension between church and state, which some people think you might want to keep separate. religious freedom and the status of jerusalem, among the cases that the hype is expected to take up ash that the high high is -- that the court is expected to take up this season. guest: the status of jerusalem foreign contested policy. it is a clash between two branches of government. the first amendment to the u.s. constitution, freedom of speech. also another iss

justice stephen breyer worked for teddy kennedy on the senate judiciary committee. ed write the legislation that deregulated airlines. justice breyer gets and appreciates the congressional process. so individual justices have different relationships with congress just in terms of understanding and appreciating the work of congress. isn't it funny to appreciate the work of congress? when we think of how polarized it has been in recent years. they are different that way. elena kagan worked for senator joseph biden when he was chairman of the senate judiciary committee when justice ginsburg was being reviewed. interesting how the court reads the work of congress and understands in interpreting the law. the majority of justices do look at legislative history and do try to understand what congress wanted to achieve in a law. justice scalia is against that. justice sklar leah says, look at the black and white letter reading of law and what penalties are with regard to that law. at different times depending on the issue and there is tension among the branches and in some wa

stephen breyer, as i said who's jewish, often will attend. and it's quite ceremonial and it's mainly just a pray for good judgment. on the old days i would go on occasion just to see the justices there. >> host: and we're showing you this year's red mass -- >> guest: oh, good. >> host: you can see elena kagan -- >> guest: can i turn around and look? >> host: that's fine. >> guest: okay, good. >> host: john roberts and the whole gang. >> guest: there's elena kagan. >> host: so it's not official, it's just a tradition that developed. >> guest: yes. to say it's -- i'm not sure, i don't want to try to characterize what the catholic church is saying, but i believe it's saying, you know, here's to encourage good judgment and not necessarily religious judgment, but just good judgment for all who are involved in the law. it's not just for judges, lawyers will attend also. >> host: we have an hour and a half left with our guest, joan biskupic. she's written biographies on antonin scalia, sandra day o'connor and most recently on justice sonia sotomayor

for instance, in a 2013 decision, justice stephen g. breyer cited an amicus brief to establish that american libraries hold 200 million books that were published abroad... the figure came from a blog post. the blog has been discontinued. (laughter) so what if it's discontinued? i get all my legal research from cached geocities pages. from the 1990s! (laughter) that's how i know -- (cheers and applause) it's how i know it is my constitutional right to get jiggy wid gillian anderson. (laughter) and in carhart v. gonzales, justice kennedy wrote that women who get abortions can suffer severe depression and loss of esteem. quoting an amicus brief citing the work of dr. david reardon, who is an electrical engineer who holds a ph.d. in bioethics from an unaccredited and now non-existent school in hawaii. (laughter) (audience reacts) well, i say its lack of existence is irrelevant, and i have a doctorate in existential philosophy from the university of narnia online. (laughter) (cheering) and these are not isolated incidents, according to larsen. the

trucking deregulation, the leader in congress was none other than ted kennedy and his young aide, stephen breyer. one of the most influential supporters outside of capitol hill with none other than our guest today, ralph nader. flash forward to today and ralph nader once again sees interesting development in the blind spot of partisan conventional wisdom. the prevailing picture of american politics today is that of polarization. left is left and right is right and never between show me. ralph nader sees something else. he looks past the cable news and sees the possibilities of left right convergence and a number of key policy areas. in particular, he sees potential for principled libertarians, conservatives and progressives to form a left right alliance of outsiders against a corrupt and overreaching bipartisan washington establishment. the most promising cause for such an alliance that ralph identifies her in my opinion on opposing the massive civil liberties violations of the surveillance state here too, fighting hennig on spending and military overreach abroad and three, campaigning against c

she also served as a law clerk for justice stephen breyer. her academic writings have appeared in the yale law journal, the duke law journal, northwestern university law review, the washington law review, the american university law review and the yale law and policy review. she's one of the drafters of an amicus brief filed on behalf of members of congress and state legislatures. she received her j.d. from yale law school and m.a. from emory university. last, but not least, professor james blumstein is the university professor of constitutional law and health law and policy at vanderbilt university and also director of the health policy center at vanderbilt. he holds an m.a. in economics from yale and an l.b. degree from yale. he's elected member of the institute of medicine at the national academy of sciences, served as a member of a committee on the adequacy of nurse staffing in hospitals and nursing homes, and is a member of the advisory panel of the study of defensive medicine and the use of medical technology, office of technology asses