amassing more power, she is more in the camp of chief justice berger and her old pal from stanford william rehnquist to at the time is an associate justices and will become the chief justice, she is aligning herself with conservatives and resisting pressure from william brennan, the reigning liberal at the time, justice o'connor had a little bit of reaction to what is going on. the more justice brennan tried to push her to the liberal side, the more she would in her early years stay on a right wing. once william rehnquist became the chief, and left the court, once we had more conservatives to the right, she found the subject to be quite comfortable. what happens in 1986? william rehnquist becomes chief, scalia comes on far to the right of her, she is not happy with the way britain is pushing her to the left but she's not happy with the waste khalil want her to go more to the right and i think she found a very comfortable homes there and very much aligned with the late conservative lewis powell who is also much more of a centrist conservative. >> do lawyers tailored their cases to sandra day o'connor

once william rehnquist became chief, once william brennan left the court, once we have more conservatives who were farther to the right come on, i think she found essential to be quite comfortable. think of what happens in 1986 but rehnquist becomes chief. scalia comes on. scalia is far to the right of her. she's not happy with the way brin is pushing her to the left budgets are been that happy with the way scalia wants you to go more to the right. i think she got a very countable home there and she very much aligned with the late conservative lewis powell, who was also much more of a centrist conservative. >> host: do lawyers tailor their cases -- did they tell him to sandra day o'connor and now do they tailor them to anthony kennedy? >> guest: completely. this is the vote to get. his is deathly the vote to get. he wants it to me i think that's way overstated. but face it, he is the critical swing vote, and on things like affirmative action, on abortion, on same-sex marriage. he has been the author of the leading key opinion on the rights of gay men and lesbians, and he will probably hol

once william rehnquist became the chief, once he left the court and we have more conservatives who are farther to her right i think she she found at the center to be more comfortable. what happens in 1986. rehnquist becomes chief she's not happy with with the way that brennan is pushing her to the left with a disability i want her to go more to the right and i think she sounded very comfortable home and she very much is aligned with the late conservative lewis powell was also much more of a centrist conservative. >> host: do lawyers taylor their cases and now do they tailor them to anthony kennedy tax >> guest: completely his is the votes to get. he once said to me that is overstated but face it he is the critical swing vote, and on things like affirmative action and abortion and on same-sex marriage he has been the author of the leading opinions on the rights of men and lesbians and he will probably hold the key to whether this supreme court takes up the marriage and how this court rules and the lawyers would tell you directly it's no secret they are trying to figure out what does ant