The following podcast contains explicit language.

Hello and welcome to this late political gab fest for the second of July.

I'm John Dickerson in Washington.

Emily Bazelon is up in New Haven in her traditional spot, and we are joined this week to our great pleasure by Dahlia Lithwick,

who has been living in Washington over at the, is it in the heart building? Is the hearing in

the heart building? She's been in the heart building at the Supreme Court nomination hearings of

Elena Kagan. And then there's also been Supreme Court decisions and all kinds of other things that she's been involved in. And we're very happy to have her, not just happy that David's not here. David is away on vacation and we look forward to his returning whenever that is. All right. Let's start with Elena Kagan. What do we know? Oh, Adelaia, let me start with you, which is to say... Wait, wait, we have to say topics, John.

Right. Okay, sorry.

The topics will be Elena Kagan and her appearance before the Judiciary Committee.

Then we'll talk about McDonald versus Chicago, an important gun rights case.

And then the third topic will be about Al Gore, the former vice president, who is

involved in a very messy situation with a licensed massage therapist, not to be confused,

with a masseuse, who charges that he groped her in a hotel in 2006. The Portland police have reopened the investigation into the alleged groping, and we will grope for an answer to what that all means.

So, Dahlia, Elena Kagan once wrote that these hearings were a charade. Was this one a charade? And, well, was this one a charade?

You know, she will never, ever forgive herself for writing that. She was questioned about it

about a hundred times. Although if she gets away with it, it seems to me like it is the best

joke ever. Yeah, but I think it was very embarrassing for her. The single most embarrassing thing

for her was having that red back at length and then declining to answer questions about that

over and above everything else she declined. She really looked like a hypocrite. Having, I mean,

this was, you know, a brutal, brutal law review essay that

really called the senators onto the carpet, the nominees onto the carpet. She had nothing

nice to say about anyone. And she said, in fact, in the same essay, you know, I just can't wait

...