one final comment about what judge will -- wilkinson. if congress is going to run for reelection and they can run on the basis, boy, was i tough on crime. i passed a law that said we're going to put everybody in jail for life if they cross the street against the light. if that's going to get them elected, they'll pass the law. they won't say, are there enough federal judges to do it. [laughter] >> they will say, do we have enough prosecutors to do it? [laughter] >> and they'll increase the number of prosecutors. they won't increase the number of public defenders and they won't increase the number of judges. i do agree we shouldn't have as much criminal jurisdiction in the federal courts since we do but i don't think there's anything we can do about it, and i don't think it has any relationship to the number of federal judges that we have. >> i want to give judge wilkinson a chance to respond but before i do, i want to make a comment and here we've heard from six judges in terms of the challenges facing the courts, not a single one of you

he is joined by judge harvey wilkinson. serving on the fourth circuit court of appeals. it is over 30 minutes. >> could we have you take your seats, please? >> good morning. we have a very extra special program this morning. and it will focus entirely on the supreme court. chief justice marshall worried that the supreme court's role in the tripartite government would not be fulfilled if the court continued issuing multiple opinions. one from each justice. as was the custom in england at the time. he thought it important that the court speak unanimously as an institution. his strategy for achieving this basic and it was a fundamental strategy, he conference cases after dinner. after serving wine which he personally purchased and brought to the court. in that state of euphoria, the court was able to work through the problems and issue and resolve differences and issue opinions that were for the large part in natomas. in retrospect, the chief justice was impressively successful during a particularly active period from 1811 to 1823. the supreme court decided 457 case of whic

harvey wilkinson, who was appointed by president ronald reagan to the fourth circuit in 1984, which i guess makes you the senior -- no, judge ryan heart. to judge wilkinson's right was is judge -- a judge who brings a scourt perspective. >> last but not leeth, judge reinhart who was appointed by president carter in 199. to plunge in and taking them in that order, i wanted to get people talking about the topic of improving the courts. what are the major challenges facing your circuit? i would like to bring out the fact that, just like not all judges are the same, not all circuits are the same. they face different kinds of problems. sketch out for us what are some of the major challenges, problems, aspirations of life on your own circuit? >> first i would like to begin by noting, which is obvious, that we are all circuit judges, which means that although this is billed as a discussion about the federal government, it is really a discussion about the federal courts of appeals, and the escort -- zorte issues are quite different. secondly, although there are more things we can talk about,

i might add one other thing to what judge wilkinson said. i think he's right. this is one of the arguments that goes on -- one of the endless problems that judges think there is a certain level of incompetency in the bar and they're correct. [laughter] >> and i should also add that lawyers always feel there's a certain degree of inadequacy in the judges. [laughter] >> right. >> and they're correct also. [laughter] >> judge tatel, why don't you give us the final add -- >> i was just going to add one additional factor that hasn't come up if i could quickly, linda, in terms of judging and how these courts work and actually marsha mentioned it to me yesterday at dinner. you know, i agree with judge wilkinson about the importance of the size of the court, at least from my court. the fact that there's only nine of us, i think, makes a big difference in terms of our ability to produce quality work. that said, i'm not prepared because i haven't served in a large court to say it couldn't be judge just as well in a large court. but judge berzon mentioned to me something

he is joined by harvey wilkinson, a federal judge serving on the fourth circuit court of appeals. this is part of the judicial conference. it is a low " -- a low over 30 minutes. >> could we have you take your seats, please? >> good morning, we have a very special program this morning. chief justice marshall worried that the supreme court's role in the trial apartheid -- in the tripartite government, one from each justice as was the custom at the time. he felt that the court should speak unanimously as an institution. he conference cases after dinner, after serving wine, which should personally purchased. in that state of euphoria, the court was able to work through the problems and resolve their differences and issue opinions that were unanimous. in retrospect, the chief justice was impressive as successful during a particularly active. -- during the particularly active time. 437 people -- for the 37 were unanimous. chief justice roberts shares justice marshall's view. as chief justice roberts observed in the years ago, if the court and marshals era issued important cases the wit

will begin our session with an interview with the chief justice by our former chief judge, james wilkinson. following that, we will right into our traditional panel on the supreme court, which is moderated by professor dick howard to discuss the supreme court's term. there are still three courses that the court in handed down. i understand we are looking to monday to hear about those. at this time, i would now like to welcome to the stage judge wilkinson and the chief justice of the united states. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. . . and we're going to have a wonderful panel that will be moderated by a long time friend of howard. i don't think you can find any better panelists than london greenhouse, it john mcginnis, and ted olson. we're going to discuss some retirements and the past supreme court term. we're very proud of that panelists of this caliber would join us for the occasion. we are especially delighted as always to have our friend and circuit justice, the chief justice. as i mentioned last night, it is sometimes very hard to get judges to be unanimous about anything. i think

so at this point, i would now like to welcome to the stage judge wilkinson and the chief justice of the united states. [applause] thank you. good monk, everyone. we are -- good morning, everyone. we are delighted to have the chief justice here with us to kick off the review on the supreme court term. we are going to have a q&a session, a few questions from me to start off and then i would like to throw it open to the audience to ask some questions of the chief justice. surely you have one in mind, and then we're going to have a wonderful panel, which will be moderateed by a long-time friend, dick howard. i don't think you can find any better panelist than jan crawford greenberg and lizzie greenhouse and john mcginnis and ted olson. they are going to discuss replacements an retirements, and the past supreme court term. we're very proud that our pals of this caliber would join us for the occasion, and we're especially delighted, as always, to help our friends to serve as the chief justice. as i mentioned last night, sometimes it's very hard to get judges to be unanimous about anything. i

harvey wilkinson. i might be the chief judge, but he is the dean of this court. i also want to thank sam phillips and the staff of this office for the fine job they did in planning this conference and making sure that everything went so smoothly. i want to thank you, the membership, at this conference. all of us a judge's look forward to getting to know you and form lasting friendships. this is our 76 conference. i hope that you all had a wonderful time. our 77 conference is tentatively scheduled to take place next year june 24-26. we look forward to seeing you there. that is in 2010. i wish each of you safe travels home, and we now stand adjourned. thank you. [applause] ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> you can watch the fourth circuit judicial conference again with remarks from chief justice john roberts later today at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on c- span. hearings on judge sonia sotomayor's nominations began june 16. now a look on talks about the supreme court nominee highlighting

so at this time, i would now like to welcome to the stage judge wilkinson and the chief justice of the united states. [applause] >> thank-you, col. 90. thank you. us in the judiciary one thing that those of us are unanimous about is our respect and admiration for the chief justice, someone of great humor and enormous legal skills, and one of the things i think we respect so much about him is he has an essential sense of the dignity of the job. those of us in the federal judiciary are absolutely feeling great goodness fortune to have some of his caliber leading our system. i have a few questions of you, chief. you mentioned last night that one of the things you had accomplished was to follow the calendar a little bit so everything would not be jammed up in may and june, but one of the problems you worked on, if there is one aspect of present operations and practice, one you feel could be improved, what is the one single thing about the present supreme court practice that you would change if you had a chance to? >> the chief justice should have two votes. and that would solve a lot of th

to my good colleague, judge wilkinson. i might be the chief judge, he is the dean of this court. i also want to thank sam phillips and the staff of the executive's office for the fine job they did planning this conference and making sure everything ran so smoothly. finally, you, the membership at this conference call these judges look forward to being with you. the opportunity to get to know you and form lasting friendships. this is our 76 conference, and i hope you all had a wonderful time. our 77 conference is tentatively scheduled to take place. on june 24th if to the 26, we look forward to seeing you all there. in 2010. i wish each of you save travel home and we stand adjourned. [applause] >> the associated press reporting senate democrats are urging minnesota's governor to certified democrat al franken's the election to the senate following the state supreme court's ruling that the former saturday night live comedian defeated gop incumbent norm coleman. he will sign the certificate afforded to do so by the court. the court's ruling stopped short of ordering the governor to s

harvey wilkinson. i might be the chief judge, but he is the dean of this court. i also want to thank sam phillips, karen and the staff of the circuit executive's office for the work they did in planning this conference and making sure that everything ran so smoothly. and finally you, the membership at this conference. all of us judges love being with us, and it gives us the opportunity to know you and form lasting friendships. this is our 76th conference, and i hope you all had a wonderful time. our 77th conference is tentatively scheduled to take place at the greenbriar june 24-26, and we look forward to seeing you all there again in 2010. i wish each of you safe travels home, and we now stand adjourned. thank you. [applause] pplaus [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> up next, stan kansas ten. after that, a senate panel looks at regulation foss a banking derivative. >> this week on prime minister's questions, prime minister gordon brown discusseses the fate of british hostages in ira

there was discussion this morning, judge wilkinson asked the chief justice about important cases, which cases he would identify. when he stepped down from the supreme court, chief justice warren was asked if he would name the cases that he thought during the time of the warren court were the most historical. which ones had the most impact, and he picked three cases that he thought the warren caught ought -- the warren caught out to be remembered for. the top of the list was baker versus carr, one person, one vote decision, and the second was brown versus board of education, the desegregation case and the third was gid onversus wainwright, the case that if one could not afford a lawyer, one be appointed counsel in felony cases. this is not to be a lecture on the warren court, but if one tried to sum it up, one would have to say that the warren court was not especially concerned with technical doctrine. i mean, i think the current -- if you could sum it up, the warren court wanted to do the right thing, and get it right and solve the problems and basically move on, and it's fundamental th

there was discussion this morning judge wilkinson asked the chief justice about importing cases, which cases he would identify. when he stepped down from the supreme court chief justice warren was asked if he would name of the cases that he thought during the time of the one car or the most historic, which ones have the most impact and he picked three cases that you thought the warren court ought to be remembered for a top of his list was baker vs. carr. the one-person one-vote decision. a second case he mentioned was the brown vs. board of education, the desegregation case, and then the third and was in gideon vs. wainwright, the case that required if one could not afford a lawyer that one be appointed counsel in the on the cases. this is not to be a lecture on the warren court but if one tried to summon up, i think one would have to say that the warren court was not especially concerned with technical doctrine. i mean, i think if you could summit of the warren court wanted to do the right thing, and get it right and saw the problem basically move on. and is fundamental themes seem to

and to my good colleague, judge jay harvey wilkinson. i might be the chief judge, but he is it is dean of this court. i also want to thank sam phillips, karen and the staff of the circuit executive's office for all the fine job they did to plan this conference and making sure that everything ran so smoothly. and finally you, the membership, at this conference. all of us judges look so much to be with you, and it gives us the opportunity to get to know you and form lasting friendships. this is our 76th conference, and i hope that you all had a wonderful time. our 77th conference is tentatively scheduled to take place next year at the greenbriar, june 24-26, and we look forward to seeing you all there. i wish each of you safely travels home, and we now stand adjourned. thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> coming up next on c-span, stan kasten talks about his role as president of the washington analysis baseball team. a discussion with chief

as the chief said in his conversation with judge wilkinson, on some of these issues, you don't want to be always looking to the supreme court. but the law in some of these places is pretty unclear. obviously, the court in this case, seven states have outlawed all strip searches. but in this case the court put limits on strip searches saying you had to have basically a really good reason and really good suspicion that they're going to be in underwear and ibuprofen and most kids really don't put ibuprofen in that is not a good reason. it gives schools flexibility when there is danger to students, as the court said, to conduct a strip search, if there's an urgent danger. they can still do it. a lawyer told us that they were worried that he would have preferred justice thomas's descent, which gave schools deference to do these searches. it really kind of walked a pretty narrow line. that is the implication of that. >> if they are wrong and they do the search, they now get sued. >> right, because now the law is clear. we will talk about qualified immunity and that issue. john has a couple o

as the chief said in his conversation with judge wilkinson, on some of these issues you don't always want to be looking at the supreme court but the law in some of these places is unclear. obviously, the court in this case in some states, 7, in fact, have gone on to outlaw all strip searches n this case, the court put limits on strip searches and said you basically had to have a really good reason, and they better be in the underwear and most kids don't put ibuprofen in their panties, but it gives schools flexibility when there is a real danger to students, as the court said, to conduct a strip search. if there is an urgent danger, they can still do it. a lawyer for the school board association told us they were worried that they would have preferred justice thomas' dissent which gave schools quite a lot of deference to do these kind of searches. at the end of the day, it walks a pretty narrow line. anyway, that is the implication of that. >> if they are wrong and they do the search, they now get sued. >> now the law is cheer. we're going to talk about qualified immunity in that issu

success and is about the greatest hitter in american history but one of fleet complex man named james wilkinsono was a revolutionary war hero. the tilt -- the youngest general in the continental army to became the leading general and american army of the same time he became the age of 13 in the spanish speakers service and was a spy for spain for the next 20 years of the same time he led the american army but the amazing thing was every president you work for, washington, adams, jefferson, madison all knew that he was a traitor and a captain in his position for a very strategic reasons. it is a fascinating untold story and on . and then another biography of and on number of fascinating figure in history, and joanna, queen of naples, sicily and jerusalem, the only clean, the only woman to rule in her own name in the 14th century. she was every bit as dynamic ever as a list of the first of england. rolled over a glittering court to in naples, had an incredibly turbulent time in as a very revealing look at the 14th century through the lens of her life. >> finally there's something on your catal