Associate US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer speaks at the Nixon Library and Final Resting Place—funny and wonderful in so many ways, not the least of which is the “Tricky Dick turning over in his nearby grave” joke, or, best of all, that the new, improved Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, formerly a Disney-style ride (think “HagiographyLand”) as administered by the fawning Nixon Foundation is now a legitimate, Library of Congress-sponsored research site employing actual historians. Sure, nice Republican ladies in red, white and blue blazer-skirt-scarf ensembles still greet you, but isn’t this what Breyer—here to flog his book Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge’s View—is talking about? The liberal Supreme weighs in on the legitimacy of the big daddy of courts, its rulings historically often ignored, resisted and disobeyed, including by RN himself! Come to learn, to gloat, to see your taxpayer dollars, and our democracy, at work. Afterward, shop the weird Foundation gift shop for Nixon tchotchkes including a “What Would Nixon Do?” bumper sticker. What, indeed? You could ask him. He’s lying right there. Lying. Get it?
Wed., Sept. 14, 7 p.m., 2011
