50 or so years ago, especially back in the new deal days before that, confirmations were fairly unexciting. it was not until 1953 that justices -- that nominees regularly appeared before the senate judiciary committee. now we know especially since the board hearings in 1987, it is a passion of political contests, guerilla theater between contending forces that. has politicized the process of nomination confirmation. i think today we know a great deal more about what goes on in a court than we did in 1969. i mean in my clerking days of the '60's that justices rarely talked to the press. they didn't go on cam rax they didn't make a lot of speeches. today there is increasing transparency. it looks like the closed chambers or the benign justices i think do more traveling and make more appearances in general, so the court is more, i think, available in effect to the general public. sixth, changes in the court he's internal process, something that one is not necessary hi aware of that was touched on again in the conversation this morning, that i think the court is a very different place in terms