But the technical details of the law and the Constitution were only part of a free-wheeling discussion lasting nearly two hours in which the seven justices repeatedly interrupted the lawyers, demanding that they parse and defend their positions.
Two of the busiest people in the Australian media are also the most widely read, and their event, Our Reading Year, was a free-wheeling discussion about the best writing they've pored over this past year.
Their free-wheeling discussion covered a host of issues facing him and police executives nationwide, post-Ferguson.
Catch "The Drummer and the Professor," a free-wheeling discussion of politics, music, sports and emotions, featuring Marty Beller, drummer for They Might be Giants, and Jonathan Weiler.
The meeting, which had no agenda and no structure, took the form of a free-wheeling discussion between the President and his advisors on one hand, and MacArthur and the CINCPAC, Admiral Arthur Radford, on the other.
Other senators downplayed the exchanges as a small part of an otherwise positive and free-wheeling discussion with the presumed GOP nominee. "I don't feel there was this tense exchange, even with Flake," said Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb).
After the more conventional studio section of the show ends, personalities from the show's set (they include ESPN soccer veterans such as Bob Ley and Darke) will migrate to an informal space nearby and continue a more free-wheeling discussion.
But Mr. Bush is still expected to hear much about it during a free-wheeling dinner discussion with European leaders.
He decided to assign "1984" after a free-wheeling class discussion on where information comes from and how it shapes what people believe.
