How to get it assigned to me. I was the longestserving junior justice in history almost. I could get it assigned to me. Here is how. It breaks down forfour. How do i get it to me, which i certainly did not want. I said, i am not sure. They have to assign it to me. That will determine the outcome. I better be more certain than that. Nonetheless, he has to try to get the court, do it by the numbers, and that he has some discretion. Then we sit down, we write, i get my law clerk to write a long draft or memo, and then i will go read it. I will sit down and then write my draft. I often say, i know you think yours was better. In give mell go another draft, and i will probably do another draft. I was a law professor. I am picky. Then we go back and forth and get a draft and circulate it. I hope i pick up before you are more votes. If i do that, it is the opinion of the court. I am always willing to change, even when i have the majority. When i have the majority signed up, i am a little less willing. Nonetheless, somebody may write a dissent or concurrence. Eventually everyone either joined or writes his own. And the opinion comes out. It is mechanical. That plays a role. My name is alexis from juniata college. My question is in regards to your view on education. Last week, we discussed how approximately only two percent of the National Budget is spent on education. How do you feel about the amount of money that goes to Public Education and what you feel we could do to improve the Public Education system if we were allotted more money to do so . I declare my bias this is my fathers watch. Irving breyer, legal advisor, San Francisco unified 19331973. Rict, i grew up with the Public Schools. Obviously, i cannot think of anything more important. There are a lot of very good schools, and a lot that are not so good. Those that are not, i am really startled. Of course, i do not have the answer. When i listen to experts in the field, they say nobody really has the answer. The person who is the principal or the headmaster makes a difference. Experiment. See what works. That is what frank and roosevelt said. Try something. If it does not work, try something else. But of course we should. Places they many are. I cannot think of anything more important i would like to spend more money on. We know money alone does not do it but it does help. I tend to agree with where you are coming from. Good evening, my name is jeffrey from miamidade college. You mentioned the process in which you make decisions. Sometimes they are very challenging. Which kays have you decided on that was the most difficult . Another rule, nobody speaks twice until everybody speaks once. Another unwritten rule is tomorrow is another day. Court, youoth on the and i would have been the best allies on case one, but that has nothing to do with how we may be total enemies in case two. The fact that it is onto the next one means i do not go back and again on those two often. Occasion, but i have had some terrible times on difficult cases, but i tend to drive them out of my memory. There is one where i had to. Ecide something about kansas there was some kind of rule about Mental Illness in prisons and what they could do. I ended up thinking it was a. Iolation of the clause here is how the psychology works, and it will work the same way with you. You have a difficult decision to make. Not concern yourself. Who knows once our own ego gets into it. Not concerning yourself. I have asked businesspeople to make this decision. My goodness this is difficult. Then you go back and forth and decide. You decide. The next day, you thought it was difficult. Ityou think the next day, was so difficult, i should have decided differently . That was very difficult, but i am glad i decided the way i did. Two weeks after that, i am glad i decided the way i did. Two months after that, how right i was. That is how the human mind works. That is why it is tough for me to find one case. This willry to say have to be the last question. I am from quinnipiac university. Comesupreme Court Justice aware you have to make difficult decisions, what is it about the judicial system, where many people may see it as flawed or broken, that you love so much . It is a good job being a lawyer. Everybody has views on something. Being a lawyer or a judge, you have to bring your mind to work as well as your heart, both. You are helping individuals or you are helping communities, you are trying to be helpful, but in a particular way which requires thought. It is that combination of head and heart that i think makes law a great interest to people. As far as the courts are the primaryrobably characteristic is what i have said before, a rule of law. I get this question so often. We had a group of african judges faso, a group from , and a woman from ghana, who is the president of the Supreme Court asked the same question. Why do people do what you say . It is very hard to answer. You have to look at history, they do not always. Think of the history we have been through. , where youttle rock had a governor, in my lifetime, standing in the schoolhouse doors, saying those children will not come into this white school and integrate. And then you had a president called the 101st airborne out. They were the heroes of world children wereose taken into the school. And that was not the end of it. A year later they closed the school. But it began a series of things like the freedom marchers, Martin Luther king, and all sorts of things. What i say to people is do not talk to the lawyers. Do not confine your discussion of the rule of law to lawyers. Belief, to popular there are 310 million americans who are not lawyers. It is the fact that they support this rule of law that is the tremendous asset to our country. Go out to villages. Convince people why it is a desirable thing to have a group of judges who are human and can make mistakes decide things that will make a difference to your life and could be very unpopular. That is hard to do. But we have this asset in our country. Not perfect, but it is there. We participate in a system that can transmit that from generation to generation, and allow so many people to live together without killing each other. That is a wonderful thing. Which is probably that see as you can see, i feel this. It is probably that that i see as the major virtue of these courts, and it is the rule of law. Thank you all for your questions. Justice breyer, thank you very much. [applause] if you could, maybe indulge us a colleague of mr. Williams recommended that, justice, you might enjoy the opportunity in this situation to ask mr. Williams a question. [laughter] is usewhen you can do your influence. Can you keep the professional journalists at work in the Supreme Court . I certainly hope so. As one, i would like to continue doing it. The news media is changing rapidly. Where people get their information is changing so fast. I learned the other day, we have a website, nbcnews. Com. Most people find stories on that website not by going to it, but i what is passed along to them by their friends in social media , or what they find in a blog. What we find more and more is our audience is not coming to us , we have to go to our audience. Room, youou in this probably do not watch television or read a newspaper as much as Justice Breyer and i did when we were growing up. The news media are changing because of that. What we cover, government, the Supreme Court, is till tremendously important, still an enormous amount of interest. One last anecdote. When the Supreme Court decided blogcase, the website scotus got over a million hits that day. There is enormous interest in the court. It is a Great Institution to cover and i love every day that i am there. Tank you. Thank you. [applause] on behalf of the Washington Center, Edward Kennedy institute for the senate, students and faculty here, thank you for a wonderful evening. Appreciation,our a fashionable Washington Center back, guaranteed to hold many pounds of legal brief. [applause] thank you so much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] 4] we are looking live at the king memorial in washington, d. C. The park is open to the public 24 hours a day. Itself got started when the u. S. Congress passed a joint resolution in 1996 allowing out of five off of paternity to honor dr. King with the monument. We will continue to watch the scene for a few moments. As visitors continue to browse, we have recorded several events today focused on the holiday. President obama and the first family to work in a Service Project in the d c area. We will have that for you later on the cspan networks. The National Action network held its annual mlk day breakfast. Among the speakers, joe biden and al sharpton. Coverage coming up at five 40 5 p. M. Eastern. Later tonight, lawyer and philanthropist steve phillips, who helped to create the first super pack will be speaking at the city club of cleveland about changing demographics, race, politics, and the legacy of Martin Luther king. Here is a look. I want to get peoples attention. One way to do that is to be blessed about issues of race and at the city. Ist of why it gets attention because addressing race touches on deepseated fears and insecurities of how the country is changing. Fears about how a cherished way of life is pretty perceived to be disappearing. In fact, you cannot truly understand politics in America Today without appreciating the interplay between the demographic revolution and the efforts by too many demagogues in congress who whip up fear and stoke insecurity in an attempt to foment opposition to anything that is proposed by our African American commanderinchief. Let me close with the good news that you have nothing to fear. You know that people of color like good food. You know we make good music and culture. Turns out many of us are sociable and smart and share the same values. In fact, those of us who come from communities that have faced discrimination and oppression are actually often the most hopeful and idealistic of all. Speech, hes famous said even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, i still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the american dream. So if you are worried, put aside your fears and lets Work Together to build a better america. If you are a progressive white, your time has finally come. As my friend van jones said about blacks to not vote, greens do not win. Watch the entire Program Starting at 8 00 eastern right here on cspan. Because i know, truthfully, that every single problem in better if moree people could read, write, and comprehend. We would be able to compete with the rest of the world. We would not have these children ,ho are committing crimes because their families do not have jobs, they do not have jobs because they cannot read. They cannot write. They do not understand. Every thinking american is coming to that conclusion. We have got to educate our children, and we have to educate their parents. , it is a just a whim necessity, if we are going to compete in this world. First lady barbara bush, tonight at 9 00 eastern on c span and cspan three, and c span radio and www. Cspan. Org. Next, a house subcommittee hearing looking at Stem Education initiatives conducted by the private sector and universities. Stem education includes the academic fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. They first heard from directors the firstorg, organization to hold robotics competitions. They also heard from a panel of High School Students who took part in the program. This is about two hours 45 minutes. Subcommittee on research and technology will come to order. Good morning, everyone, welcome to todays hearing titled private sector programs that engage students in stem, which we all know is an important subject. In front of your packets containing the written testimony, biography, and disclosures for todays witnesses. I now recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement. I am happy to call to order the First Research and subcommittee Technology Hearing of the new year. Today we learn about private sector initiatives in science, technology, engineering, and Mathematics Education and how these companies, businesses, and organizations engage students in these important yields. A report released by the National Science board in 2012 indicates the science and engineering workforce historically grows faster than the total workforce. Although the cited in sharing growth rate has maintained a higher rate than the total workforce in the last decade has seen much lower growth. In one of the most essential atects to keeping america the forefront of Stem Education advancement and development is engaging students at a young age and keeping them interested in pursuing stem degrees and careers. As a cardiothoracic surgeon and father of four children, i understand such programs and activities are necessary to enhance americas Economic Growth and competitiveness. With a federal Government Spending nearly 3 billion across 13 federal agencies on Stem Education programs each year, we must ensure government is leveraging rather than duplicating private sector Stem Education initiatives. Our hearing today will provide a unique opportunity for our first Panel Witnesses to discuss the innovative projects and programs their privatet sector businesses and educational institutions, and for the second panel of witnesses, to discuss their personal experiences with these types of initiatives. I look forward to hearing from all of our witnesses and i want to thank them for their participation and offering their time and insight in private sector success in Stem Education. At this point, i recognize the Ranking Member, the dutchman from illinois, for five minutes. Thank you. I want to thank the witnesses for being here today. One of the reasons i have joined this committee, my first in congress, was because i have a strong interest in working to improve math and Science Education in this country. I am one of only a dozen engineers in the house and was a mathmy wife major in college. Unlike me, her stem training let her directly into a career actuary. For my own Family Experience and what i have seen and heard from others, i am aware of how important it is we do a good job engaging and educating students at all levels in stem fields. But with the release last month of the latest results, we were reminded of the troubling statistics on the state of u. S. Math and Science Education. Rank in theudents middle of the pack in International Comparisons of math and science aptitude. We see the problems at all job levels. I am constantly hearing from Manufacturing Companies in my district that they have a hard time finding employees who have even basic math and science skills. In higher education, we have far too few students are suing degrees in certain stem fields to meet the needs of domestic industry. For example, less than 2. 4 of College Students redolent with a degree in commuter science, despite tremendous demand for these skills. That number has dropped over the last decade. Our trouble start from the earliest grades and are part of a negative feedback cycle that we have to break. Students who are not learned the necessary skills by the time they graduate high school are much less likely to pursue and succeed in stem fields in college. When they lose an undergraduate student from a stem field, we lose a scientist or engineer who can potentially pursue a career teaching the next generation. We know these to become sex problems. There is no easy or onesize fitsall solution. That is why partnerships during the private sector, federal and state government, colleges, universities, local school district, national labs, science museums, zoos and aquariums, and all types of nonprofits, are more important today than ever. The u. S. Still has some of the best k12 schools, colleges, universities in the world. Our top students at all levels compete easily with the top students from around the world. That is why i am glad we are Witnesses Today who can speak to the types of partnerships needed to engage young minds at an early age and keep them engaged in stem fields. Northwestern, universitys office of Stem Education partnerships and x k 12 teachers and students to worldclass resources of Northwestern University. To corporations across the state such as hewlettpackard, ibm, and more. Especially proud as a graduate of northwestern with my degree in Mechanical Engineering. Ontodays hearing, we focus private sector and University Stem engagement programs. I look forward to hearing from these a compass individuals who have dedicated their careers to improving stem engagement and learning in their communities across the district. Across the nation. I also look forward to hearing from students who participated in the first robotics competition. I also want to say a few words about the federal role