All Weekend, Every Weekend. On C-SPAN3.

Encore Q&A: John Paul Stevens

Washington, DC
Saturday, September 29, 2012

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens discusses his book, "Five Chiefs," a memoir which details the workings of the Supreme Court from Stevens’ personal experiences with the five most recent chief justices. As the third longest serving Supreme Court Justice in American history, John Paul Stevens recounts his dealings with each individual chief justice, beginning with the 1947 term and culminating in his resignation at the end of the 2010 term. He relates his personal views of each chief justice along with stories of his own career including his attendance at Northwestern Law School. He shares information about many of the most complex and controversial decisions he was involved with including freedom of speech, affirmative action, and capital punishment. Stevens identifies the justices he was personally closest to, and shares the story of why he finally chose to submit his resignation in 2010.

Updated: Monday, September 17, 2012 at 11:58am (ET)

Related Events

Encore Q&A: Justice Stephen Breyer
Saturday, October 1, 2011     

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer talked about his newest book, Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge's View. In the book, Justice Breyer explains the workings of the judiciary in an attempt to gather support for the court and its role in American democracy.

Justice Breyer has been on the high court since 1994. Prior to that, he was a judge on the First Circuit Court of Appeals based in Boston. He previous books include Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution, Breaking the Vicious Circle: Toward Effective Risk Regulation, and Regulation and its Reform.

More Info »

Encore Q&A: Justice Clarence Thomas
Saturday, October 8, 2011     

Justice Clarence Thomas talked about his book My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir, published by Harper. Justice Thomas was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by former President George H.W. Bush and has been on the Court since October 1991. He talked about the development of his political philosophy, people who had influenced him, his reading habits, and the process of writing his memoir. Topics included media portrayals of him, his numerous appearances on C-SPAN, and aspects of his personal life such as religion, marriage, and raising children. The interview took place at the U.S. Supreme Court.

More Info »

Georgetown Law Symposium on Justice John Paul Stevens
Friday, October 8, 2010     

Georgetown University honored the life and career of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Former law clerks, law professor and U.S. Solicitors General discussed the philosophies and personality of Mr. Stevens as a Justice. Notable speakers included the dean of Georgetown Law William Treanor and acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal.

More Info »

A&C: Remarks by Justice John Paul Stevens & U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan
Saturday, May 8, 2010     

Retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan appeared together at the Seventh Circuit Judicial Conference in Chicago. After brief remarks from Justice Stevens, Solicitor General Kagan spoke on his life and legacy. Kagan is reported to be on the short-list of nominees to replace Justice Stevens.

More Info »

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens on Marbury v. Madison
Thursday, February 26, 2009     

Justice John Paul Stevens and Cliff Sloan & David McKean, authors, “The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams,Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court" discuss the landmark case Marbury v. Madison. The panel examines the court case that established a judicial right to review whether legislation is constitutional.

More Info »

Lectures in History: Iran-Contra Affair
Today     

Metropolitan State University professor Douglas Rossinow teaches a class on the Iran-Contra affair, which took place in the mid-1980s during the Reagan Administration. The Iran-Contra affair stems from Reagan administration officials funding the Contras - who were fighting against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua - with money from the sale of arms to Iran. The arms were being sold to Iran in the hope of gaining the release of American hostages held in Lebanon - hence the reason the affair is sometimes called as the “arm-for-hostages” scandal. Metropolitan State University is in St. Paul, Minnesota.

More Info »

James McCord Testimony - 1973 U.S. Senate Watergate Committee
Today     

Forty years ago, in May 1973, a U.S. Senate Select Committee began its nationally televised hearings on Watergate. James McCord was one of the five men arrested a year earlier attempting to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC. McCord was security director for the 1972 Committee to Re-elect President Nixon, and was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping in January 1973. In this portion, Committee Chair Sam Ervin questioned McCord about his January 1973 conversation with Jack Caulfield, a former White House aide.

More Info »

The Civil War: Union Spies in the Confederate Capital
Today     

Mary Elizabeth Bowser was a former slave who became a Union spy in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. She was part of a pro-Union underground spy ring run by Elizabeth Van Lew, the daughter of a prominent Richmond citizen. In this program, authors Elizabeth Varon and Lois Leveen talk about the life and story of Ms. Bowser, as well as her relationship with Ms. Van Lew. The two authors also discuss how they wrote and researched their books. The event took place at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond.

More Info »

History Bookshelf: Saul Cornell
Today     

Saul Cornell discusses his book "A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America."  He explores the opposing sides of the gun control debate, arguing that both base their opinions on a flawed understanding of the second amendment.

More Info »

"Operation Gold” Berlin Spy Tunnel
Today     

“Operation Gold” was a 1950s project conducted by the CIA and the British Intelligence Service to tap into Soviet communications by tunneling from West Berlin into East Berlin, Germany. Known as “Operation Stopwatch” by the British, the 1,500 foot tunnel was active for eleven months, and netted about 40,000 hours of East German telephone conversations - even though the KGB knew about the tunnel before it was built. Retired CIA officer Lou Mehrer tells the story of the Berlin Tunnel at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum in West Branch, Iowa.

More Info »
More Events »
Share This Event Via Social Media

Related Resources

Washington Journal (late 2012)
Questions? Comments? Email us at AmericanHistoryTV@c-span.org