floyd abrams book is called "friend of the court: on the front lines with the first amendment." we talk about what it means and important definitions about it >> what it comes to mean is that we protect speech across the board more than any other country has ever done in the history of the world. particularly political speech, but also cultural rl, artistic, low speech, dangerous speech, nazi speech. we're the only country in the world that protects anti-semitic speech. >> rose: we continue be this evening with t-bone burnett, stephen king and jol mellencamp. they are the team behind the new musical "ghost brothers of darkland county." >> charlie, these three guys right here are like three guys down in the basement with our first soap box and it would be like "steve, how do those wheels go on?" because he's never dean musical. i've never done a musical. the only one that had any sense in their head was burnett. >> i always try to make singers sing very conversationly if i can. i love sinatra, i love listening to sinatra sing "in the wee small hours." you feel like the guy is jus

. >> rose: floyd abrams is here. for over 40 years, he has litigated some of the most high-profile first amendment cases before the supreme court. he represents the "new york times" in the pentagon papers case. most recently, he successfully defended the rights of corporations and unions in the controversial campaign finance decision citizens united. the late senator patrick moynihan described him as the most significant first amendment lawyer of our age. his new book is a collection of his speeches, articles, debates and other works spanning his entire career. it is called "friend of the court: on the front lines with the first amendment." i am pleased to have my friend floyd abrams back on this program. welcome. >> thank you. good to be here. >> rose: so what does the first amendment say and what does it mean to you? >> it's so short and the part that this book deals with is even shorter. "congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." that's it. that's all we know. we know some of the

floyd abrams, so good to talk to you again. new book out "friend of the court, on the front lines with the first amendment" out this month from yale university press. floyd, good to connect again. if you're in washington any time, please get in touch and come by and see us in the studio. >> i'll do it. good to talk to you again. >> bill: thanks for your time this morning, floyd abrams, the best and the most knowledgeable on the first amendment. so good to have him on the show this morning. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >>

floyd abrams with a new book coming out tomorw friend of the court on front lines with first amendment. it will be released tomorrow, it is great to see you. >> good to see you >> that quite a spectacular seriesf statements from attorney general was on the and justice department. principle department s deputy. this is what attorney general said. how could it not be contravention of truth. >> the way i view it, he may be telling the truth but ty never manad prosecute -- images prosecuting, the problem they told a judge in a signed affidavit by fbi submitted by department of justs they the journalist, was that i probable caus toelieve that journalist was violating the espionage act, and at the ver leastn aider or abetter of someone doing it. @%ey were trying to persuade a jue to give them a search warrant, and whether or not that believed they were going after the journalist, to me is not the realoint, the real point is that there was no bases forever saying to the judge, thathe the journalist was an aider or abetter. lou: the big deal for me is attoey general, an fbi agent and a judge s