Arlington County Government, VA Here/Now, 25 Jun 2009

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From YouTube: Here/now: Jeffrey Toobin

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This special segment of AVN's monthly magazine show, "Here/now", features Director of Arlington County Library Diane Kresh and a host of Arlington high school students interviewing Jeffrey Toobin, author of this year's Arlington Reads book: "The Nine."

A

The idea of a town book is one that has really swept across the nation in the last few years. Getting whole cities excited about reading and about engaging in community discussions based on those books. Here in Arlington, the Arlington reads: program has been running for four years and as successful as it's been in the past, we think this year is the best one.

A

Yet because this year we actually got Jeffrey Toobin the author of the nine to come to Arlington and talk about his book and one of his stops here was a fascinating discussion with Arlington library, director Diane crèche in an auditorium full of high school students.

B

Welcome to our discussion this afternoon with Jeffrey Toobin, who is the author of the nine I understand you guys are all from government classes around the county, whoo. Okay, we're delighted to host this program this afternoon, which is an interview with Jeffrey Toobin who's, the author of the nine, but he's also a noted journalist, CNN commentator writer for The New Yorker and the author of a number of other books, including too close to call the thirty-six day battle to decide the 2000 election a rich and varied legal career. We're very pleased to have him.

B

As our author for celebrating Arlington read, I.

C

Think you mentioned in your book that that when it comes to the Supreme Court, there are abortion cases and there's every other case. What exactly do you mean by that and why do you think abortion rose is sort of the most important issue in the court? Well,.

D

I mean that's it that's a great question, because it really goes to the intersection of law and politics, which is you know really what the book is about. In 1973, the court decided a case called roe v wade, which I'm sure many of you know, and that was the case that said states could not ban abortion, that women had a fundamental right to make that decision for themselves and that the state could not interfere with that right.

D

Well, that certainly ranks probably in our lifetime, the most controversial case ever because a lot of people feel very deeply and very passionately that abortion is wrong and evil and state should be allowed to ban it, and there has been tremendous political mobilization on that issue on both sides and people feel very strongly about it, and so that issue really became the big issue in the Supreme Court.

D

And if you watch the confirmation hearings that, whether you know Chief Justice, Roberts and Justice Alito, the last two they're, almost all about abortion, trying to figure out what these justices would do if they were called upon to overrule roe v wade. But look if John McCain had won the election.

D

Roe v wade would have been overturned, no question about it and there were a lot of people who voted with that in mind on both sides: people who wanted r overturn people who didn't want it over turn to me now, that's a big issue, so I mean I, just think it infects our politics at every level. I was.

E

Just wondering how you think that you know sex and gender is taken into consideration when appointing a new person to the Supreme Court and if you think that that plays any part at all, and maybe how you know Obama if he does a point new people to the Supreme Court well, if that will affect his decision at all. Well,.

D

The answer is, it certainly will affect his decision. I remember, hearing Justice, Ginsburg say something was really poignant. I thought I heard her say once she said you know it never even occurred to me that I would ever be the only woman on the Supreme, Court I. Think it's shocking I mean you could make the argument say in the 70s or even in the 80s look law. Schools have not been sexually integrated for so long that there is a big talent pool of women to draw on that argument is totally obsolete.

D

Now I mean there are more at more than half the law. Students in the country now are women. I mean something like more than a third of the lawyers in the country or women. If Justice Ginsburg, the only woman leaves and she's 75 years old and it's been ill, I think it is a 100% guarantee that she will be replayed and Obama will replace her with a woman. The woman, the Supreme Court, cannot be all man again simply cannot I think he will be very interest.

D

I mean look, Obama is someone who was committed personally and politically to diversity, so I I think he will be very interested in appointing racial minorities and women to the court. There has never been a Hispanic justice on the court. I think Obama will be very interested in in in appointing the first Hispanic justice. There's a a woman on the Court of Appeals in New York City named Sonia Sotomayor, who is a Puerto, Rican, descent and she's. You know certainly a possibility in.

F

In your book, you talk about how several of the clerk's to the justices are. Homosexual and I was just wondering how that dynamic between the clerk's and the justices as there have been more more homosexual clerks. How is that affected the justices, behavior and attitude kind of around the court in in their decisions, and what's the timeframe that we could have an openly gay Supreme, Court justice? You.

D

Know one of them one of my favorite stories in the book. It actually goes back before the the main period covered by the book, but I sort of I tell it just because I think it's so interesting 1986 the court had a case called Bowers V Hardwick about in in the state of Georgia consensual sex between men was illegal.

D

You know, obviously wasn't prosecuted very often, but there did come a case where men were two men were prosecuted for what was called sodomy and the case went up to the Supreme Court in Lewis Powell, a judge from Richmond Virginia, very distinguished, very eminent judge, who was old, then said to his law clerk.

D

You know what what it had it. What is this gay thing I mean was like what are there really gay people said that I just tell that story by as an example of how much the world has changed. I mean the most conservative justice on the Supreme Court couldn't possibly say that he's never met a gay person before every sitcom has a funny gay best friend right. You know Minoo.

D

That does not mean that the legal rights of gay people are in any respect, have caught up to that now. I'm sure. As you all know, one of the hot political and legal issues in the country is gay. Marriage and some states have it and some don't and I. Don't think that the current Supreme Court is gonna, get anywhere near that controversy, they're gonna, just let the states deal with it and some haven't some will not as for an openly gay Supreme, Court justice.

D

One of the the this is this subject is, does being discussed as we speak, not in terms of the Supreme Court, but in terms of lower courts, because Obama has a lot of vacancies to fill in the circuit courts and the district courts, and it is virtually certain that he will pick an openly gay person for some or some of those, and that's never happened before and forgot the Supreme Court.

D

We have never had an openly gay federal judge period and it will be interesting to see if that becomes a an issue in the confirmation of the lower court judges and then we'll see about the Supreme Court. Thank.

G

You I was wondering: were there to be a case that reached the Supreme Court? How do you think they would rule? Do you think that they would rule that the methods used at Guantanamo were in fact, torture and or were, and with that ruling, do you think they would perhaps rule that there should be prosecution of the people who participated in those in those acts? Well,.

D

That again, another great question: another really hard issue, one of the really most dramatic series of cases from throughout the Bush presidency from 2000.

D

Basically after 9/11 involved the detainees at Guantanamo and the Bush administration said these people have no rights at all in our legal system. They have no right to sue. They have no right to lawyers, they have no right to.

D

They are simply beyond the reach of the American legal system and in a series of cases from 2003 to 2007 the Supreme Court.

D

Each time in these cases said no said, these people do have some rights and they do have the right to challenge their incarceration and then in later cases they said that the procedures that the Bush administration set up were insufficient to protect those rights when it's really gonna be seen, I think as a very historic period in the courts history, because you know many of the courts worst moments in history have been during wartime where the court kind of got swept up in in patriotic feeling and did things that the court later regretted.

D

Now the precise question that's before President Obama now is: should anyone who authorized the torture be prosecuted for that? That's, not a decision for the court. The court doesn't decide who gets prosecuted and who doesn't if someone happens to get convicted, that conviction might be appealed to the Supreme Court, but they don't decide whether to initiate it or not. Personally, I think, given what we've seen so far, Obama is not gonna.

D

Have these people prosecuted I think he feels like they've been exposed, they've been embarrassed, but the country doesn't need a you know, there's so much going on. He doesn't need that distraction. So I, don't think the Supreme Court is gonna get the torture case, but if they did I think it'd be very close, I don't know exactly how they highly would rule I.

B

Wanted to thank all of you, kids, for reading the book and, being here and being so engaged asking great questions. Your questions were actually way better than mine keep reading and keep asking those really great questions. Thank you very much. Thank you all. If.

A

You haven't read the nine yet you're gonna want to pick it up after you watch this program and now, with justice, suitors impending retirement, it's just becoming more and more topical, so make sure you read Arlington.