before joining yale law school, professor amar clerked for george -- for judge stephen breyer. he is also the recipient of the award for teaching excellence and is the author of several books, including his latest, the law of the land, granted to her

clerked for then judge stephen breyer. yale'slso a recipient of highest award for teaching

clerked for then judge stephen breyer. yale'slso a recipient of highest award for teaching the author of is several books including "the law of the land: a grand tour of our constitutional republic." i akhil was voted most popular professor at yale. at least he is my most popular professor. and you are all here because he is your most popular professor. before we welcome the popular professor upon the stage, please turn off cell phones or electronic devices and join me in welcoming akhil reed amar. thank you. [applause] dr. amar: good evening. welcome. thank you so much for coming. york historical society. we're going to be talking about the supreme court and we will be talking about these supreme court history, but also talking about the new york angle on all of this, because this is the new york historical society. and, yes, why is this night different from all others? is one thought. it is really only this week -- it has become, i think, pretty apparent that the upcoming presidential election will be a subway series bet

before joining yale law school, professor amar clerked for george -- for judge stephen breyer. he is also the recipient of the award for teaching excellence and is the author of several books, including his latest, the law of the land, granted to her of our constitutional republic. -- a grand tour of our constitutional republic. we are also thrilled to welcome richard pildes, a member of the american academy of arts and sciences and the american law institute. he is best known for his casebook, the law of democracy, legal structure of a political process, which effectively created a new field of legal scholarship on issues concerning democratic elections and institutions. in addition to the law democracy, his work focuses on american political polarization, the voting rights act, structure of america's political processes, and the oversight of the u.s. supreme court. before we begin, i would like to ask everyone to turn off cell phones, anything that makes a noise, and now, please join me in welcoming our speakers. thank you. [applause] professor amar: lots to talk about. we're

please join me in welcoming justice stephen breyer. [applause] >> thank you, thank you. thank you.ting me here. i've learned so much already. what was that can the branch that turn from the tree will soon die? i'm going to tell that to my children. [laughter] and what you said except what i think. it never stops. he said he knows every person,e, every kind of person.person. what they think, how they feel, d -- what how they express themselves your he takes all those characteristics and shares you their thinkings, their feelings and actions better that they can doelings a ndthemselves and he l in poetry. it all in poetry. that's what you said, and i take it in. and i often get asked by law students -- not law students, undergraduates. they want to be lawyers, you know, there we are, some have to -- and there we are. [laughter] they want to be lawyer, and they say what should i study as an undergraduate? they were doing what you were just saying, how do we get up on this ladder here? and i say, well, you know, you don't have to study something leading to law. i can't tell you what to

please join me in welcoming justice stephen breyer. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. me here. i mean, i've learned so much already, it never stops. it never -- what was that, the branch that turns on the tree will soon die. i'm going to tell that to my children. [laughter] and you said exactly what i think. it never stops. that was said, i think, about shakespeare, he said he knows every person, every kind of person. and -- what they think, how they feel, how they express themselves. and he takes all those characteristics and shows you their thinking and their feelings and their thoughts and actions better than they could do it themself, and he does it all in poetry. that's what you said, and i take it in. and i often get asked by law students -- not law students, undergraduates. they want to be lawyers, you know, there we are, some have to -- and there we are. [laughter] they want to be lawyer, and they say what should i study as an undergraduate? they were doing what you were just saying, how do we get up on this ladder here? and i say, well, you know, you don't hav

before he clerked for the supreme court for justice sandra day o'connor and justice stephen breyer and as you know we have now retired justice o'connor and we should be having a full nomination hearing. secretary rodney slader is a former secretary of transportation under president bill clinton. he previously served as the first african-american administrative highway administration. judge timothy k. lewis is a former judge on the u.s. circuit court of appeals with the third circuit so he knows very well how circuit courts work. he was appointed by president george h.w. bush in 1992. i had the privilege of voting to confirm him. he also served as a federal district judge of the western district of pennsylvania so what i would suggest we do. we will put their full statement in the record but we could ask questions of the witnesses and i wonder not just because of the vermont connection or the fact that you are both former prosecutors. >> you could say because she is a woman. >> as we also have ancestry. >> and she is a woman. she should go first. >> i will be the last person to argue wi

sandra, david, tony, nino. , deep fryer -- stephen breyer. >> and pamela. >> that was a lot of change. >> yes, a lot of change. kagan, you have been on the court not quite as long. forwardwe are looking to this anniversary in the future. one of the things that has changed, certainly since i was a law clerk is the way the court uses technology. we used to have typewriters, which was a device, for those of you who are young, it was not hooked up to the internet. you created text rackley -- directly. how has technology changed the way the court does its work? >> can i say something about collins? congratulations collins. now i know to come to you for a caddy. [laughter] can i also say something about being up here with john? the last time we were in public together was six years ago. date, john wally b 102.- will only be it is a special thing to get a phone call from the president and he says he would like you to be on the screen court. but it is a special thing to know you are the successor of john stevens. that is a special honor and it makes a quite extraordinary. i think all of the t

breyers gelato indulgences it's way beyond ice cream. what knee pain?? what sore elbow? advil liqui-gels make pain a distant memory nothing works faster stronger or longer what pain? advil. ,,,,,, >> stephen >> ♪ everybody shut up, woo! everyone listen up! ♪ hey, hey, hey hey, hey, hey uh ♪ hey, hey, hey if you can't write ♪ in the proper way if you don't know ♪ how to conjugate maybe you flunked that class ♪ and maybe now you find that people mock you online ♪ okay, now here's the deal i'll try to educate ya ♪ gonna familiarize you with the nomenclature ♪ you'll learn the definitions of nouns and prepositions ♪ literacy's your mission and that's why i think it's a ♪ good time to learn some grammar ♪ now, did i stammer work on that grammar ♪ you should know when it's "less" or it's "fewer" ♪ like people who were never raised in a sewer ♪ i hate these word crimes like i could care less ♪ that means you do care at least a little ♪ don't be a moron you'd better slow down ♪ and use the right pronoun show the world you're no clown ♪ everybody wise up! say you got an "i", "t" ♪ followed by apostrophe, "s" now what does that mean? ♪ you would not use "it's" in this case as a possessive ♪ it's a

chief judge garland 40 court on the supreme court for justice sandra day o'connor and justice stephen breyer. i do know, the professor is now retired justice o'connor said we should be having a full nomination hearing and a vote of merrick garland. and secretary rodney slater is the former secretary of transportation under president bill clinton. he previously served as the first african-american meditative federal highway administration as an old friend. and judge timothy lewis is a former judge on the u.s. court of appeals for the third circuit. so he knows very well how circuit court to work. he was appointed by president george h. w. bush in 1992. i had the privilege of voting to confirm him. he also served as a federal district judge in the western district of pennsylvania. so what i suggest we do, probably has each of the witnesses say why they are here. we will put their full statement in the record, but if we could then ask questions of the witnesses. and i wonder, and not just because of the vermont connection or the fact we are both former prosecutors, but let me -- [inaudible] >>