regular meetings here at the white house hosted the by senior white house officials including john brennan and others to continue planning for what the president and his administration talked about earlier this year, that what we saw building up and then that i did communities throughout the country and honestly affected countries throughout the world, hit in many ways at the back end of our own police susan. which in many ways probably likely give us a preview of its depth and severity of what we will face come the fall. we are taking steps working with state and local officials, working with communities, working with school districts to ensure that have the best information about what steps can any to be taken to get ready for what we know is coming. obviously many countries around the world we have seen a preview of the the tax, the taxing major this is going to provide in, the ability with which two this is going to test how the infrastructure. and i know the team is working through decision making in the development of antiviral our production for antiviral in the development for a va

our second panelist is margaret brennan, and anchor and reporter for bloomberg television news in new york. she was a general assignment reporter for nbc and a contributor to nbc's today show and nightly news as well as an best nbc. she is also a graduate of mr. jefferson's university of virginia. alan murray is managing editor and executive editor on line for the wall street journal. he was previously managing editor of a wall street journal and author of the weekly business column. he has served as washington d.c. bureau chief for nbc and the wall street journal. we are very fortunate to have alan on our governing council at the madison of public affairs at the university. a member of distinction for many years. next we have robert sanders, contributing editor of newsweek and the washington post where he has written about business and economic issues since 19707. his articles also appear in the los angeles times, boston globe and other reading newspapers. his latest book is entitled the great inflation and its aftermath, past and future of american capitalists in case you are wonder

i think the last cross party appointment was president eisenhower's william brennan, lewis powell was obligated because he was a southern democrat, still in the early 1970s. but presidents pick members of their own parties certainly for the supreme court. certainly by and large for what the constitution calls inferior federal judiciary. so how do you answer the letter, how do any of you answer the letter writer saying, look, what you believe this want to do is substitute an alternate form of politics for a transparent? >> that is so wrong because under a merit selection system, which i helped design for my home state of arizona, we set up a bipartisan commission of citizens to consider applications of people who want to be a judge. they let anybody apply. now those applications and those records are open to the public. everybody can find out who has applied and they can weigh in. the hearings when the interview these people are open to the public. and they ask that the person who wants to be considered filed forms and answered questions. that is also open to the public. and the commis

the nonpartisan brennan center for justice reviewed all of judge sotomayor's constitutional law decisions and said, "based on this exhaustive review, the conclusion is unmistakable in constitutional law cases that judge sotomayor is solidly in the mainstream of the second circuit." judge sotomayor's former law clerks wrote a letter endorsing her nomination in which they said, "as former law clerks to judge sotomayor, each of us can attest to her intellectual prowess, extraordinary work ethic and commitment to the rule of law. working for judge sotomayor is an awe-inspiring experience. we each have the privilege of working closely with her as she confronted and resolved incredibly complex and intellectually demanding legal challenges. judge sotomayor approaches each case with an open mind and arrives at her decision only after carefully considering all of the pertinent facts and applicable rules of law. the law clerk said that they agree with mr. of judge many ofe sotomayor's other colleagues who he say they respect her collegiality and balanced and fair jurisprudence. mr. president, i wou

. >> frederic schwartz, professor schwartz's chief counsel at the brennan center for justice at the new york law school. his legal career, he has a high level of private practice with a series of critically important public service assignments. mr. schwarz served as chief counsel of the church commission, has been a time when i came to the sate and when i think what first appeared hee has also served as chief counsel to the senate select committee on intelligence. he chairshe board of either institute of justice. recently received the gold medal award for distinguished service to the new york state bar association. he received an a.b. magna cum laude from harvard university law degree from harvard law school where he was editor of the law review. mr. schwarz, it is always good to see you here. pleaseo ahead, sir. >> that was quite a few years ago when we first met. >> yes, sir. was. >> i actually had hair back and. it was a little bit darker. >> and i had solid black hair back then also. so thankou for convening this hearing. thank you for your proposal for the commission which i suppor

brennan," judge lynch admonished the successors of judge brennan that they must engage in constitutional interpretation -- quote -- "in light of their own wisdom and experience and in light of the conditions of the american society today." close quote. in that same article, judge lynch stated that he personally believed it was a simple necessity that the constitution -- quote -- "be given meaning for the present." skwrufrpblg lynch's -- judge lynch's quote included the opinion that justice brennan's -- quote -- "long and untiring labor in the principles of the constitution in the way that he believed made most sense today seems far more honest and honorable than the pretense that the meaning of those principles can be found in 18th or 19th century dictionaries." i had a problem with that speech in 1997 when he came up. such strong statement of adherence to the doctrine that justice brennan was the foremost advocate of of the living constitution that words don't have fixed meanings, that you can make them say what you want them to say to affect the result you think is appropriate today. b