U.S. Supreme Court

Sen. Trent Lott, the Republican from Mississippi, has a new memoir called Herding Cats: A Life in Politics. Lott was the Senate majority leader from June 1996 to January 2001. He resigned from his position in 2002 after making racially divisive remarks.

Cass Sunstein, the Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School, comments on Tuesday night's Supreme Court nomination of John G. Roberts. Early in his career, Sunstein clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse has covered the Supreme Court for The New York Times since 1978. She won the Pulitzer in 1998 for her coverage of the court. Her new book is Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey.

David Margolick, contributing editor at Vanity Fair, co-authored the investigative article in the October issue of the magazine, "The Path to Florida: What Really Happened in the 2000 Election. And What's Going On Right Now." For the article, Margolick talked to some of the Supreme Court law clerks working at the time of the decision in the 2000 presidential election.

Law Professor Cass Sunstein. An expert in Constitutional interpretation, he explains the US Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore handed down last night. He talks about the legal difficulties of the case, what the final decision means for each candidate, and what sort of historical precedent a decision such as this one sets for the future.

Journalist Jeffrey Toobin. A staff writer for the New Yorker and senior analyst for television network ABC, he’s currently working on a book about the election controversy. He talks today about the election in retrospect, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that was handed down last night, and what the decision means for Bush and Gore.

Anita Hill has written a book entitled "Speaking Truth to Power," (Doubleday) a reflection on the events surrounding the Hill-Thomas hearings of the fall of 1991. Hill addresses her difficult overnight transformation into a public figure, as well as the way her case has affected women and the work world as a whole. Hill is currently working on another book about sexual harassment, and lectures on civil rights and sexual harassment in the workplace.

"Wall Street Journal" senior writer Jane Mayer is co-author of "Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas,: She and fellow journalist Jill Abramson, investigated sexual harassment allegations against Thomas made by Anita Hill. They found other women who had had similar experiences with Thomas, but who were never called to testify. They wanted to write an objective account of the process, and they bring their harshest criticism on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

NPR and NBC legal affairs corespondent, Nina Totenberg. In covering the Thomas/Hill Judiciary Committee hearings some conservative senators accused Totenberg of ruining the lives of both Thomas and Hill. Totenberg also brought the fact that Judge Douglas Ginsburg had smoked marijuana into the public eye, costing him a Supreme Court nomination. Totenberg's reports regularly for "Morning Edition," "Weekend Edition," and "All Things Considered."

Incumbent Republican Senator Arlen Specter for the State of Pennsylvania. He's up for re-election this year, running against Lynn Yeakel. Yeakel has never served in public office, but says she was inspired to run after Specter's questioning of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings.

Weddington is the lawyer who represented Jane Roe in the Supreme Court. Weddington was in her 20s when she argued the landmark abortion case. She has a new memoir called "A Question of Choice."

Phelps is the Supreme Court reporter who broke the Anita Hill story (along with NPR's Nina Totenberg) in New York Newsday. He's co-written an account of the Clarence Thomas hearings, called "Capitol Games," which looks at how the press failed to see the whole story of now-Justice Thomas, including just how conservative he really is.

Two views of the Supreme Court's decision on "Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania V. Casey," the latest case that brought Roe V. Wade, and a woman's right to an abortion, into question. They'll react to the Court's decision to uphold most of the Pennsylvania restrictions, including parental notification for minors, a 24-hour waiting period, and provision of information about the development of the fetus and alternatives to abortion. The Supreme Court felt that notification of a husband was an undue burden, and that the precedent set by Roe V.

David Savage is the Supreme Court reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He's just written a book called "Turning Right: The Making of the Rehnquist Supreme Court," (John Wiley and Sons) about how the Supreme court turned conservative in the 80s, and what future decisions the court will make.

Duke law professor Walter Dellinger talks about the Supreme Court; big cases coming up in the next few months, Clarence Thomas' early performance on the Court; and how who wins the presidential election in November will effect the future of the court.

Pennsylvania's abortion law places restrictions on a woman's ability to get an abortion. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the law. Their ruling is expected to be an referendum by the court on the Roe versus Wade decision. On this edition of Fresh Air, we hear from both sides. Terry Gross talks with...
1) Kathryn Kolbert, the attorney who will be arguing against the Pennsylvania law before the high court, and

William Rubenstein ("steen," not "stine"), the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. He'll discuss yesterday's court decision that granted guardianship of a woman left brain-damaged by a car accident to her lesbian companion. This is the first case that has granted rights equal to a spouse to a gay or lesbian partner.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg has some thoughts on the literal meaning of "the body politic."

News anchor Dan Rather. As anchor of the CBS Evening News, Rather's probably the most visible journalist in America. He has a new memoir called "I Remember." (It's published by Little, Brown).

We take one last look back at the Clarence Thomas confirmation process, and look ahead to what future confirmation's may be like, with law professor David Kairys (pronounced "carries"). Kairys has a long history in personal freedom and civil rights issues.