meaning of the 14th amendment about the post-civil war change to the constitution, interviewed by a yale law professor. watch tv and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at book tv.org. >> c-span shop.org is c-span's online store browse our latest products, apparel, books, home to court, and assessor's. there is something for every -- and assessor rees. -- and assessories. there is something for every fan. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are bad for our open form segment, where you can call in and talk about what you think

is the most important political topic of the day. we will open our regular lines, democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. and you can always text to (202) 748-8003. let's start with gary who is calling from cherry valley, massachusetts, on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i would like to go back to the eviction moratorium issue. the government advised people not to pay their rent on their mortgages, and i just want to understand, no one has explained the rationale behind that when you are getting enhanced unemployment, child tax credits. you are taking more money to sit home and not go to work, why

would you not be able to pay rent? host: when did the government tell anyone not to pay their rent on their apartment? caller: they advised that right from the start of the pandemic. host: the federal government -- i should ask which government you are talking about. i'm pretty sure the government didn't say to anyone do not pay your rent. caller: i guess you are implying don't pay your rent when you are saying you can't be evicted. there is an application there. host: ok, all right. let's go to kathy calling from maryland on the republican line. kathy, good morning. caller: warm. thanks -- good morning. thanks for taking my call. the most important issue is the hearing of yesterday to the supreme court on the mandates at the workplace.

i hope and pray that the supreme court rejects the mandates. i have worked this entire time, every single day throughout this pandemic, and i don't think it's fair to mandate anyone to get a shot in their arm. host: kathy, would it make a difference to you if the corporation or business mandated the vaccine rather than the federal government? caller: yes, it would, because i have been very careful. i wear my mask wherever i go. we wear it at our job. our job has been excellent in providing sanitizer, and they wipe everything down every day. everyone is very careful, and i work for a huge company with a lot of people, and we have been

very, very good about not spreading covid. we still worked every day. i work in a huge warehouse, so i don't believe that the government should make us get a shot. host: all right. let's go to rob who is calling from phoenix, arizona, on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. thank you for taking my call. i would like to say something about something that is taking a larger view on what has been happening over the past few years with this rebellion and division in the country, and that is that i have noticed our society is kind of putting a mindnumbing atmosphere into the public with the media. if i turn on the cable

television, which we pay a lot of money for, there is just a real absence of human programs and things that occupy people's minds. if i drive in the car and listen to the radio, i noticed 30 years ago that the classic rock stations had just been taken over and complete repetitiveness of music that just stopped everything. so i just think that we have to look at a larger view of what has happened over the longer term, how are our -- how our popularity has been numbed. i just wanted to bring out from my observation. it really needs somebody to pay attention to these things.

host: let's go to john, who is calling from massachusetts on the independent line. john, good morning. caller: i would just like to find out why there is such pushback against anybody who is a republican or pushback but never any questions for the liberals or democrats when they start saying all sorts of crazy thing about donald trump and what he has done. host: ok. let's go to james, who is calling from central florida on the democrat line. james, good morning. caller: i could go over everything, but we will talk about being vaccinated. i am and my wife is from the very beginning. this last summer, my wife did

get covid and she has had some underlying health, asthma. she came down with a fever but was moderate, where i could take care of her at home. i did not catch it at all, and i did not where my mask, either. however, i believe the vaccine did do exactly what it is supposed to do. it prevented her from being put in the hospital. she is 61 years old and i am 67 years old, and i hope they do mandate it, the vaccine, because it protects everybody. and this will really stop this nightmare for the last two years. host: one of the things i want to bring up during this segment is that the funeral for former

senate majority leader harry reid will be -- former president barack obama will deliver the eulogy for a majority leader harry reid. according to a story in the nevada independent and i will bring you a little of the story. former president barack obama will deliver the eulogy for harry reid, the family confirmed wednesday. other speakers will include president joe biden, nancy pelosi, and chuck schumer. reid family members are also expected to speak as well as elder russell ballard, president of the quorum of 12 apostles of the jesus christ of latter-day saints. two of reid's former artists will perform as well.

harry reid is lying in state in the rotunda of the u.s. capitol on wednesday. coverage of the saturday funeral will begin at 2:00 p.m. on our homepage at c-span.org and on our app. highlights of the funeral will air on c-span at 8:00 p.m. on saturday night. if you want to see it, you can turn to c-span or go to our app, c-span now, to see the funeral for former senate majority leader harry reid. let's go back to our phone lines and let's talk to donna, who is calling from orlando, florida, on the democrat line. donna, good morning. caller: good morning read thank -- good morning, and thank you for c-span. my concern on my mind this morning is the disinformation problem that we have in this country. since the former president him

on the scene, i have had breaks and breaches with friends and family because we get our news and our information from different sources, and we seem to be locked in. i would love to see what other colors have to say about how we could possibly find a solution to this problem, because it just seems to be deadlocked, gridlock, with the division in the country. so that is all i have to say, and thank you for c-span. i wish everyone would watch. host: yesterday in colorado, president biden toured the area damaged by the fire and will meet with some families impacted. here is some of what he said about the situation during a news conference on yesterday. [video clip] pres. biden: working closely with government to ensure colorado has every single resource available to help keep

people safe. i want to think the governor and his team, and i mean this sincerely, and the congressional delegation for their leadership. members of the delegation rode out with me and i would say i am proud. you're laughing, mary, but i don't think you want me. when i come, 20 cars come with me and i don't think you needed. [laughter] all kidding aside, we cannot thank them enough. their commitment to you a strong, deep, and real. the situation is a blinking code red for our nation because a combination of extreme drought,

the driest period from june to december ever recorded, ever recorded. unusually high winds, no snow on the ground, created a tinderbox, a literal tinderbox. even though it was in your backyard, you could feel the ripple effects of what happened. think about when the grizzly creek fire hit colorado in 2020, helping trigger the massive mudslide and massive mudslide that washed out an entire section of i-70. we cannot ignore the reality. that these fires are being supercharged. there being supercharged by changing the weather. host: let's go back to our phone lines and talk to jane calling from stafford, virginia on the republican lines. good morning. sorry, james.

there we go. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes we can. go ahead, james. caller: i basically wanted to talk about the vaccine mandate. i do not think there should be one, and i'm not republican. i am a middle-of-the-road kind of guy. i am definitely independent but right-leaning. so i kind of go back and forth on what i think is the right position when it comes to democrat and republican. i am probably on i guess the republican side of the mask mandate. i do not have a problem with the masks so much but i do not think anybody should be able to tell us that we have to have a vaccine. the flu is a very dangerous virus. it is not going anywhere. many people die from it every single year, but there is no mandate for the flu virus.

there should not be a mandate for this, because this flu -- excuse me, this pandemic has dealt with people differently across every single region there is. different people deal with it and live with it or die with it or whatever in different ways. the majority of people who are dying have underlying issues and therefore i think mandating this just makes it a hotspot of contention between the democrats and republicans that are not supposed to be there. there are two sides that are basically supposed to work together whatever and ideas to make the country better. host: let's go to pam calling from clearwater, florida on the republican lines. good morning. caller: yes good morning.

i was calling about january 6. are you there? host: yes, go ahead, pam. caller: ok. the media only showed the an hour just violent things over and over, breaking windows. i never saw the peaceful demonstrators interviewed. i know the majority of the people there were demonstrating how the election turned out. why didn't the media ever interview those people. that is what i'm wondering. i never did see an interview of someone who was not a violent person. something is wrong there. host: let's go to nick calling from louisiana on the democrat line. nick, good morning. caller: thanks for c-span. i have three things i want to say.

wine, when y'all was talking about [indiscernible] we have a pandemic going on here. people sometimes have to double up just to make it. the other thing i want to say is remember the united states is supposed to be one person under god. and we are not doing that this particular time. the pandemic is dividing. all of our children, all of us have been getting vaccines for many years. i'm 58 years old. this has been going all the time. how do you get to a point where you see the ongoing pandemic, you should not take a vaccine? i know you have rights, but when it even -- when it affects

everybody, you should be able to understand these tools we put in place should be used. i understand your rights, but the right of the majority should be looked at. the other thing i want to say is these things we are doing, the united states [indiscernible] it is going to go on. you can keep going the same route. i'm speaking of the legislation going on in the capitol right now and those two democrats. host: let's go to karen calling from florida on the republican lines. karen, good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to change the topic right now about college tuition. there's plenty of students that are not able to attend campus.

i would like to want to have education paid for, at least two years of college, which is probably about $50,000, and to reimburse students that have graduated from college. $50,000, i think that would help the economy and help them get ahead. host: i know some states offer free community college for their graduating students. does florida do that for its graduating students? caller: no. they have high school they offer two years in high school if you can cope complete -- can complete an associates degree in high school, they will give it to you for free. and also the tests you take for the courses, a place to take a test. host: ok. let's go to lawrence calling

from jacksonville florida on the democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am under retired military, and there is a big difference in our country. we can blame about the government mandating people getting their shots, but at the same time, we do not complain about people not serving in the military and doing something for this country, right? they want to stand up and scream, whether they are democrats or republican. they want to scream with the government should do. my question is, what should you do? thank you. host: the schedule has been set for president joe biden's first state of the union address. i will bring you the story that was published on fox news --

foxnews.com. president union will deliver his first-aid state of the union address march 1 the white house confirmed friday after nancy pelosi sent the president a formal invitation to speak to congress and the american public one year into his term. it will mark the latest any president has delivered a state of the union address. the speech is normally timed for january or occasionally february. the delay is driven by a busy legislative calendar, a winter spike in covid-19 cases from the omicron variant, and the upcoming winter olympics. which ties a broadcast network time. the last date of the union address was delivered by then president donald trump on the eve of his acquittal by the senate in his first impeachment trial. so president joe biden will deliver his first state of the union address on march 1, and of course he will be -- of course you will be able to watch here

on c-span and on our c-span now app. let's go back to the phone lines and talk to our next caller on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. thank you. i think more people would be into getting the vaccine if companies were liable if their product did not do it it said it would do. it sounds like a lot of people are having a lot of adverse reaction to the shop. why aren't the pharmaceutical companies liable if their product is not what it says it is? host: i think right now all of the vaccines are under emergency use orders because of the pandemic. say that again? caller: how long will this emergency last where they are not liable for their product? host: good question. i guess the assumption is that it will last as long as the pandemic.

caller: i think everyone would get on board if they were liable for their product like everyone else in the world. it seems that there are issues if they're not liable when there are issues with their product. if they were, i think people would take it so people would get reassurance that it is what it say it is. so i just want them to tell me how long and why it isn't liable? host: let's go to janet on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm talking about the news media, how biased they are. i have subscribed to four newspapers that i love to read, and they are so biased. they talk about the charm campaign lying but they never wrote a thing about the biden affairs. so i've canceled three of my newspapers.

it was the most wonderful newspaper. host: ro don't know where vine mond, alabama as but i used to work for the birmingham post terrell. what are the other newspapers you are subscribed to? caller: the blunt county newspaper, and i love to read the newspapers but there so biased now with their left-wing dogma. the everett times is the paper you should read. it's wonderful. host: let's go to eric calling on the democrat line. good morning. caller: good morning, america. i would like to talk about the 2020 elections, about the individual that, we had an election and there were thousands of individual names on ballots and different issues regarding the election.

there is one person, for some reason, they were cheated out of the names put on ballots across america and all of the different issues, there was just one person that claimed he was cheating. even the media, why do you let this person get away with something so stupid? even the people calling in. out of america, all the names on the ballot, there was one person that is claiming somehow he got cheated. that is ridiculous. even as i listen to people call in, they say we go to the same place we go where our ids from to register to vote. we register to vote at the state where we get our ids from. most people i know, since they have left at a high school, the majority of people have not left a 75 mile radius from their homes where they went to heise klein register to vote.

most people have been in the same spot for over 50 years in their residence. explain to me, people, if you go to the place where you put your stay id and register to vote, and you want to require people to have an id to vote, that is crazy. host: let's take on one more story before the end of the segment and that is the story from the washington times talking about the supreme court's hearing of the vaccine mandate on friday. with an i on omicron and a surge number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, the supreme court struggled friday with whether the biden administration cap -- administration kept trying to slow the virus through unprecedented vaccine mandates. the majority schemes skeptical from the occupational safe and healthy administration covering every company with more than 100

employees requiring the demand vaccine compliance or compel weekly testing. "this is something the federal government has never done before, right? mandated vaccine coverage?" john jeter roberts junior challenged the government's lawyers. justices are racing toward a monday deadline for the end limitation of the mandate and must decide on whether to issue a delay or let the case developing course. for any of you interested in hearing what the supreme court justices said, you can hear the arguments and see the arguments by going to c-span.org where you can hear a recording of the arguments from the supreme court. let's go back to our phone lines and talk to george calling from whitehall, new york on the independent line. george, good morning. caller: good morning. people keep referring to taking 10 years for the vaccine to be developed.

actually, the development and testing and technology has increased so much the time for developing it has been shortened so much so they don't have to do 10 years worth of developing and three years worth of testing. the testing is still going on, but the development -- technology brought that forth. even the lady before was an i.t. but she has a medical degree. thank you. host: we would like to thank all of our viewers for those calls during our open form segment. up next, conservative commentator michael knowles, host of the the michael knowles show at the daily buyer will discuss his podcast and news of the day. stick with us.

we will be back. . ♪ ♪ >> exploring the people and events that tells the american story on american history tv. scholars discuss the history of the mayflower compact, rules for governance established by the mayflower passengers. things that can be learned from it today. on the presidency, the book the moralist. woodrow wilson and the world he made. it recounts the struggles between woodrow wilson and senate majority leader lodge over the 1919 versailles treaty which ended world war i and created the league of nations. watch american history tv every weekend and find a full schedule on your program guide. then watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. ♪

>> can human genes be patented and owned? george contrary stack -- tackles that sentence. sunday, the professor tells a story of the 2013 supreme court chase that challenged biotech company's rights to patent human genes. >> i didn't think the case had a huge chance of success when it was first brought, but as it rolled on year after years through different appeals and machinations, it became increasingly clear there was something important going on here. by the time and got to the supreme court, i knew this was going to be a very important landmark case and one that i definitely wanted to tell the story of. >> the author of the genome defense, sunday night on q and a. you can listenal