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>> joining us now by phone, joan biskupic. you know the history of the court, let's talk about john paul stevens, his legacy. >> you know, anderson, just what pam said right now about how razor sharp he was, i just talked to him about a month ago. he had just finished his latest book, and he still wanted to be so much a part of the dialogue in america. and i think one thing he did was offer exhibit a to the kind of promise that chief justice john roberts has said, there are no such thing as obama judges or trump judges because -- gerald ford in 1975, and he certainly couldn't have been predict...

The way for george w. bush's presidency writing, quote, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear and as the nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the law. >> what are some of the other areas where the court ruled in a way you wish it really hadn't? >> do we have just an hour? >> reporter: stevens also disagreed with his liberal colleagues when the court ruled burning an american flag was considered protected free speech. he said, quote, censioning the public desecration of the flag will tarnish its values. >> i don't think anybody who heard him read that dissent, the...

Op-ed calling for the repeal of the second amendment. he was 97 years old at the time but john paul steven's mind and his words were still razor sharp. >> that was pamela brown. thank you so much for that. joining me on the phone jeffrey toobin, cnn's chief legal analyst. i appreciate you joining us. you know, we just saw you interviewed justice john paul stevens and not many americans got to see him up close like that. what was he like? what were your impressions? >> he was really part of a vanished tradition in american life which was the moderate republican. he was moderate in speech, in ap...

Considered protected free speech. he said, quote, sanctioning the public desecration of the flag will tarnish its value both for those who cherish the ideas for which it waves and those who desire to don the robes of martyrdom by burning it. >> i don't think anybody who heard him read that dissent, the passion with which he looked at the flag, could think about the flag the same way. whatever you thought about the legal issue. >> reporter: on the bench he was known as a soft-spoken midwesterner with a searing intellect. >> extreme gentlemanliness with one of the most acute minds that's ever sa...

>> do we have just an hour? >> reporter: stevens also disagreed with his liberal colleagues when the court ruled burning an american flag was considered protected free speech. he said, quote, censioning the public desecration of the flag will tarnish its values. >> i don't think anybody who heard him read that dissent, the passion with which he looked at the flag and what it meant for him could really ever think about the american flag the same way you look at it whatever you think about the legal issue. >> reporter: on the bench he was known as a soft-spoken midwesterner with a searing intell...