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A mark of bipartisanship, consensus building, that few believed was possible. that's what i believe elena kagan will bring to the court. she was tough and tenacious in argument when necessary but she also knew when it was necessary to strike a compromise. she had a in that knack for wing people over and ability to make people see the wisdom of a argument. i remember walking off the senate floor to meet with my staff and alien in a would have a new idea, a pretty much approach. it was a tutorial in consensus building from someone for whom it was instinct and won her the respect republicans and ...

Uncommonly sensible and smart. >> reporter: she worked on gun control, native-american affairs, tobacco legislation and immigration reform. she advised mr. clinton who branded her memos with the distinctive left-handed check marks on ways immigrant can be permitted to detall deportation. most are approaching the issue cautiously, she said in 1998 -- kagan suggested he offer his own bill. >> i think one of her greatest strengths is consensus building. on the court, it's an important virtue, would be important virtue. i witnessed firsthand her ability to bring people together even when they didn...

She is, as i say, just uncommonly sensible and smart. >> reporter: she worked on gun control, native-american affairs, tobacco legislation and immigration reform. she advised mr. clinton who branded her memos with the distinctive left-handed check marks on ways immigrant can be permitted to detall deportation. most are approaching the issue cautiously, she said in 1998 -- kagan suggested he offer his own bill. >> i think one of her greatest strengths is consensus building. on the court, it's an important virtue, would be important virtue. i witnessed firsthand her ability to bring people toget...

>> it may sound shakespearean. give me the principled loser every time. i'll tell you why. once you start to treat the first amendment as something to barter, you validate the views from the other side. it's fluid. i would rather have justices who state the constitution as it is, as i believe it is, that the first amendment may not be absolute, but it's the thing that holds us together. and compromises are dangerous. the fourth amendment where so many exceptions occurred there's more holes than cheese in parts of the fourth amendment. we can't afford that in the free nation as there is in the ...

Years, or a centrist compromiser that sometimes win? >> i may sound schayes speerian, but give me the principled loser every time. i'll tell you why. once you start to treat things like the first amendment as something to barter you validate the views of the other side. you suggest that it's all fungible or fluid. i would rather have justices that state the constitution as it is, at least as i believe it is, that the first amendment may not be absolute. but it's the thing that holds us together. and compromises are dangerous. we saw that with the fourth amendment where so many exceptions occur...