all of the pride flags are flying high. you have parades and so many activities this weekend in san francisco. be safe, we have much more i had for test. ♪♪ good morning. major step. good morning >> the motion to concur with an major step. >> motion to amendment is agreed to. >> the senate passes the most o amendment is agreed to. >> the significant gun safety package in decades overnight. senate pas 15 republicans joining democrats significant gun safety package in decades to move it forward just hours t 15 after a landmark supreme court decision to expand gun rights. s to move it forward just hours after the house set to vote on that gislation today.a landmark suprt decision to expand gun rights. the house set to vote on that historic legislation today we are live in we've life with the latest. compelling testimony. washih the very former top just justice fifk officials lay out the pressure . compelling testimony former top justice officials lay out th they were under from then e prey president trump.were under where it all goes with more hearings to come. from then

unrelenting. president trump to legitimize false claims about the 2020 elections. >> it wa the record shattering heat wave rest to me expanding this morning. and the congressmen. >> where your full forecast and what youe with more hearings still to come. unrelenting. the record can expect over the weekend.-sh that's gripped most of the nation expanding this morning. the full forecast and what you can expect over the weekend. hero in action that hero in action. quick-think the american olympian who passed ou that quick thinking coach and american olympian who passed ou story after that dramatic rescue. >> she was going down, in the pool sharing their story immediately i know that somethin after that dramatic rescue.g wa. >> just ahead, new details just ahead new details behind behind the frightening moment, and wh the frightening moment and why they are able to laugh about it about it now. >> just so now. gratefu >> just so grateful.l -- to have her as a i have the greatest coach. all that plus, grin and bea >> all that, plus -- grin and bea it?r it the question dividing the question dividing one of e f america' america's most tranquil summer destinations.s most tranquil sur destinations should women be allowed to go topless on the beaches of should women be allowed to go topless on the beaches of nantucket? >> there is so nantucket.mething wron >> there is something wrong with that that concept. c >> i may not choose to go oncept

>> i may not choose topless.to go topless. go god forbid everybody run away.dd but i think other people should have that choice. >> we're there live with an but i think other people should have tha inside look at the heated t cho >> live with an insi debate. de look at that heated debate. and hoop dreams fulfil and hoop dreams fulfilled.d. >> the >> the orlando magic select paolo banchero. from duke university. >> a surprise at the top of the nba draft on a night filled with emotion for young athletes and their families. >> all the adversity and no one believing me in me. this is special. >> today, friday june 24, 2022. ♪♪ from nbc news, this is today with savannah guthrie and hoda kotb, live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. good friday morning everybody. we're happy you are joining us. craig in for savannah.

looking at that draft and watching someone's life change like that. it totally grabs you. >> amazing night last night. how about this morning? have you seen that crowd outside? >> i rolled in this morning -- they have been out since 1:00 in the morning and they are all here to see toning gray. what you are wondering who is he? -- harry styles easy but he's got his own a vibe and -- >> some of those kids are probably in line. >> yeah. we are going to begin with big breaking news overnight. the senate passed the nation's most sweeping gun bill in nearly 30 years. >> and the vote was 65-33 with 15 republicans joining democrats. it heads to the house where it is expected to pass. >> that movement on capitol hill came just hours after the supreme court delivered a stunning victory for gun advocates, striking down a new

york state law about carrying concealed weapons. we've got it all covered this morning. we're going start with nbc's peter alexander at the white house. >> reporter: let's start with the senate vote. this as major bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most divisive issue in the country. guns. amid new urgency following a series of recent mass shootings, morning. a vote expected today, and could be sent to senators on both sides of the to sig aisle faced growing pressure to act.n the house will take up the bill this morning with a vote soon a expected today.ssible overnight, the u.s. se meaning it could go to president biden's desk to be signed into law as soon as possible. overnight the u.s. senate voting to pass major new gun s major n restrictions. >> yeahs restrictions. >> the yays are 65, the nays are 33 yea the o >> reporter: 15 republicans f 65 nay 33. >> reporter: 15 republican including how minority leader mitch mcconnell joining all 50 democrats to move forward the bill.s including mitch mcconnel >> the gun safety bill we are passing can be described with l consided to be the most aggressive anti-gun legislation in more than 3 three adjectives.0 years. >> described with thre bipartisan, common sense, life

adjectives saving. >> reporter: it closes the bipartisan, common sense, life saving. >> reporter: it closes the boyf boyfriend loophole. incentivizes states to pass redd flag laws, includes enhanced federal background checks for ince gun buyers between 18 and 21 and provides funding for school ize flag laws. includes enhanced federal background checks for gun buyers between ages security upgrades and mental 1d provides health services. the package stopped short of f security upgrades and mental he banning or raising the age to buy assault rifles like the one. the package stops short of bans or raising the a used in recent mass shootings i assault rifles like the ones used in recent shootings i uvalde and buffalo.n uvalde and buffalo on an issu on an issue stalled by decades s of partisan gridlock touted by both sides as real progress. >> tonight - of partisan gridlock it is a compromise on both sides, as - suffered real progress. unthinkable lossf loved ones in some >> tonight, people who have suffered unthinkable losses of s shooting incidents -- i want to tell them that their advocacy ha loved ones and some of these mass shooting incidents, but i o something positive >> reporter: the nra opposes the bill wanted to tell them that advocacy has turned their pain

falls short at every level and does little to address into something positive. violet crime, but gun rights advocates are celebrating a major victor >> reporter: the nra opposes saying it falls short at every earlier thursday in a 6-3 decision the suprem level and does little to addres providing the right to carry a violent climb crime. concealed gun outside the home striking down a new york state law and furthering the second but gun rights advocates are celebrating a major victory amer arms according to the ruling states early thursday in a 6-3 decision, the supreme court can still ban guns in sensitive places like schools and rovides churches, brut that protection does not extend to all places where people gather. th a right to carry a concealed gue impact, especially in five outside the home. striking down a new york state r states law and further strengthening the second amendment right to >> i'm disappointed. >> reporte keep and bear arms.r: the presi according to the ruling, states looking ahead to new bipartisan gun legislatio can still bill guns in sensitive places like schools and churche statement kids a but that protection does not oo communities will be safer because of it. so the supreme court and congress going in optionre

directions on gun rights people gather. yesterday. another significant breakthrough, though the decision will have immediat. the senate impact, especially in five othet states that have concealed carro lead laws similar to new york's. the president biden reacting to the supreme court news. atf, bure td >> i'm disappointed. firearms >> reporter: but the president s first permanent leader in more than six years. >> peter alexander at the white house. is now looking ahead to sdw >> bring in senior corresp congress's new bipartisan gun legislation. saying kids and schools in ondet hallie communities will be safer because of it. so the supreme court and congress going in opposite ourt deci directions in gun rights yesterday. another significant breakthrough overnight. the senate tight end tooed up a teed up a vote on president biden's nominee to the atf, he's set to be confirmed for the first leader in over six years. hallie jackson now. has peter just outlined, you have the split screen day, with duelling developments on the gun issue. starting with the supreme court. set the scene for what happens right? keep in mind, it's not like there's a to next.n of state where does the debate go from sd by the decision. only about a half dozen, but gun here? reform adv >> it goes back to the states.ot they're st and then probably after that, back to the courts.es with big population so it is not like there is a ton

four americans in of states affected by the new saying wants to call a special session of the legislature decision. only about a half dozen but gun reform advocates point out this figuring how to restrict guns in sensitive locations. california's governor says his will effect one in four americans.state looking to updac carry laws to be consistent with a ruling a new york, the golf ar already rr newsom calls reckless. said she wants to call a special it's probabl session of the legislature to ee state houses take action, yo try to figure how to restrict u will see guns in sensitive locations. mo. that's what will happen i think in the month california's governor is lookin. >> at public carry laws so it can be consistent with the ruling.e connection between the two headlines on guns. weird they happened same governor newsom called reckless >> reporter: right. >> impact the supreme court ruling will have on the deal just passed by it is probable after the state ? >> reporter: experts at nbc news talked to suggest ther houses take action you will sige new scrutiny now on what has passed more legal action then. the sen expected to pass that's what's going to happen i peter laid out that's because the supreme court the months and years to cole. >> let's understand the connection. basically said, hey. anything now goes into place a it was weird they happened on the same day but the impact the a gun law basically needs to have some historical precedent right? supreme court ruling will have on the deal just passed by the n history. so you look at somethi senate. ng like, for example, a red fla

>> experts suggest there might t experts point out is be new scrutiny on what's passe concept. doesn't have a lot of precedent in the senate and what is expectedy that's omething, an area, a lo of people are looking to it's not going to pass the house as peter has s vote necessarily, right? almost certainly wil laid out.not, but that is because the supreme it is something to watch for down the road, hoda. court basically said hey, yeah all right, hallie jackson in anything now that goes into washington hallie, thank you. staying in was place that the gun law basicall, because the first round of pub luck hearings by theistorical precedent. january 6th committee wrapped up yesterday with new it needs a basis in history. so you look at something like, president trump tr for example, a red flag law that experts point out that is a modern concept. that doesn't have a lot of precedent in history. so that is something, an area i think lot of people are looking to. it is not going effect today's vote almost certainly. but it is something to watch fon result down the road, hoda. >> hallie jackson for us in rre joins us with details and what's washington. ne thank you.xt in those hearings garrett, good morning to let's stay in washington. because the first round of epor. the committe public hearings by the january 6 committee wrapped up yesterday.e with new evidence that former president trump tried to force hearings until mid-july but thursday laid out the justice department to help him over turn the 2020 electionc besigned-the-scenes pressure campaign at the department of justice that nearly led to mas results.s resignations when top officials refused to go along with the nbc's senior capitol hill former president's alleged plan to overturn the election.

correspondent garrett haake the january 6 committee at's unveiling what next in those hearings. witnesss described as good morning to you. a presidet to use the >> the committee plans to pausee to is hearings now until mid july n but on thursday they laid out200 detail what they called a electn dramatic behind the scenes g mrf trying to strongarm the department. >> responded q pressure campaign at the ckly, g you to say it was corrupt and leave the rest t department of justice that o mee republican congressmen. >> reporter: former senior doj officials test nearly led to mass resignationsy refused to when top officials refused to g investigatio along with the former i prosecute's alleged plan to ovet voter fraud claims, president trump sought to re turned the election.place the department's acting head and is it january 6 committee replace him with an inexperience unveiling what witnesses described as the presidential plot, to use the department of clark. the doj environment attorney who drafted a letter justice to help overturn the 2020 election. accusing mr. trump of personalls falsely claiming elections irregularities. >> finished discussing what he planned on doing, i trying to strong arm the id goo- [ bleep ] -- sorry deal. congratulations, just admitted department. th >> he responded very quickly anl committing a felony. >> said well i'm just asking you tt

enviro do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and tha republican congressmen. >> reporter: former doj officials testifying. replacing the head with an inexperienced loyalist, who drafted a letter to key states falsely claiming election irregularities. >> and when he finished discussing what he planned on doing, i said good [ bleep ] a d ite house sorry, congratulations you just -- admitted your first act as a attorney general could be committing a felony. >> reporter: when doj leadership threatened to resign mr. trump . >> jeff clark left leading a graveyar backed down. >> on wednesday, federal agents or federal agents searched clark's virgin searched clark's virginia home,m seizing his electronics. clark pleaded the 5th in e seiz electronics. february, but spoke to fox news last night. clark pleaded the fifth in his february committee >> i don't recognize the countr but spoke to fox news la anymore with these kind of st night. >> i don't recognize the country anymore with these kind of things happen. things happening. >> reporter: the committee also sharing text >> reporter: the committee sharing texts from pennsylvania republican scott perry republican scott perry, connecting clark to white house connecting clark to white house chief of staff mark me chief of staff mark meadows. one of five lawmakers later nam. perry, one of five lawmakers late by a white house aide as havinge aide having sought presidential pardons. >> sorry - sought presidential pardons.- s- >> yes, he did. >> reporter: p perry denies he ever asked for a pardon telling nbc news, quote,e ever asked for a pardon telling this never happened. nbc news, "this mr. trump responding to the hearing on social media, callin" mr. trump responding to the hearing on socia it a kangaroo court the likes of which we have never seen in thi

it a country. "kang >> as you mention, the next arot the likes of which we have never seen in this country". >> hearings aren't until mid july. do we know why they decided to next hearings, mid-july. do we know wait till then? why >> the committee says they havee this is an nbc news special report. here's lester holt. >> good morning, everyone, we're coming on the air with breaking news. we have just received words with a decision on one of the most consequential cases before the supreme court in decades. the justices have reached a final ruling on the mississippi abortion law that prohibits nearly all abortions after 15 weeks and directly challenges roe v. wade. let's go right to nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. pete? >> lester, in this historic decision, the supreme court has now overturned roe v. wade. overturned roe v. wade and the follow-on case called casey, in

which the abortion right was made nationwide. those two rulings stood for the proposition that states could not ban abortion before the age of viability. they could restrict it during that period up to about 23 weeks, but they couldn't ban it. now the supreme court has taken that guarantee away. lester, this is the first time the supreme court has ever granted a constitutional right, which did so when roe was decided in 1973, and then took it away, a popular right that was widely recognized. so the immediate effect of this will be to uphold a mississippi law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks, but this also now means that in roughly half the country, abortion is as of now, or soon will be illegal. 13 states have what are called trigger laws that were intended to make roe abortion illegal in those states. once the supreme court reached this decision, in a few of those states, the law takes effect

immediately and some they have to wait for the state attorney general to certify that this is what the supreme court has done. that's 13 states in which abortion will shortly be illegal, and in the rest, about half the states, they are expected soon to make it illegal. so we're about to become a divided country, lester, where abortion is legal in about half the state, illegal in half the states. this is a 6-3 decision. it's written by samuel alito. we haven't had a chance to track it yet, but you may recall, justice alito was the author of the draft opinion that said the supreme court was going to overturn roe v. wade. lester, i have to say, while it is certainly going to be surprising to some, pleasing to others that have worked for this day for many years, it can't be too much of a surprise for three reasons, first of all, the fact that the court agreed to take this case in the first place. this was a decision from lower courts that said, no, you can't

strike down abortion that early because it would go against supreme court precedent. there was no division among the circuit court. why did the supreme court take it. the logical conclusion had to be to overturn roe. secondly, what they did in the texas case when they allowed the texas law to go into effect that we restrict abortion, and third, the comments that the justices made when the roe v. wade case was argued. supreme court overturning roe. this is one of the most significant, historic decisions in modern times, and now it means that abortion is no longer the law of the land. it's up to the state and it's about to become illegal in about half of them, lester. >> pete, as we watch the emotion, the reaction outside the supreme court, let me continue to talk to you about this. you have noted as recently as yesterday, the super majority at the supreme court now really flexing its muscles.

>> did he dissent from that part? >> pete obviously getting some lately information. the ruling coming down a few minutes ago. a lot to go through, but you can see some of the emotional reaction outside the supreme court, the fences have been in place there for a number of days in anticipation of reaction to this or any other decisions handed down this week. let me go to mora barrett right now, with the crowds gathered outside the court. mora. >> reporter: lester, tension has been building here between protesters who are both for and against abortion rights this morning. i want to bring you into the crowd with me. as you can see, members who are against the right to an abortion were kneeling down, praying to see women crying tears of joy, they said that this is a huge relief and a huge step forward for what they call the right to human life. i want to also note we saw marjorie taylor greene also

walking through the crowd just over my shoulder, just over here. she was also praying with protesters, celebrating the decision, and though i do want to paint a picture, just before the decision came down, there was a police presence here. they had established a police line between both groups of protesters and then about five to ten minutes before we expected the next decision to be released, the police left the area, and so prior to that, we did see about an even divide of both protesters who are for and against the right to an abortion, almost to the context in which mvp polling shows that americans support the legalization or support abortion rights that are against it. even though there's a smaller group, a smaller representation of americans, it was an interesting picture to be painted. because of the lack of police presence, it's a chaotic situation. we did see this people against a right to an abortion, jumping up

and down, extremely excited about what they saw today, and then on the flip side, talking to people about looking to see the right to an abortion protected. one woman said she felt like she knew it was coming but felt like an absolute gut punch. she told me in tears that she was very concerned about fact that women will still be seeking abortions but they might not be able to get one safely, lester. >> the reactions we see there being mirrored likely across the country as news begins to filter out of the supreme court ruling in a mississippi abortion case, but essentially ruling overturning roe v. wade, a major decision we have braced for, as every few days, more rulings come out for the court. we want to go to our nbc news senior washington correspondent hallie jackson. walk us through what this means in terms of, you know, the differences between states right now based on this ruling. >> this idea, as pete referenced, we are now entering what is essentially a divided

nation when it comes to abortion access and rights in this country. let's talk about the practicalities here. remember before today, roe protected abortions through viability, when a fetus can survive outside the womb, generally thought to be around 24 weeks. that viability line, essentially and while today's supreme court decision was specifically about this case in mississippi, because of what we are seeing now, what pete is reporting on and what we have seen from the justices, this is going to have a big impact in about half the states. nearly right away, you're going to see 13 states put in place so called trigger laws. those ban nearly all abortions. some laws have no exception for rape or incest. these laws were specifically passed by the states on your screen here to go into effect for this exact instance. if and when the possibility arose that roe will be overturned. even if mississippi, which in today's case was fighting for a ban after 15 weeks, has a trigger law prohibiting abortions all together. the next bucket of states, ten

states at least that will severely restrict abortions. they would restrict them after 20 weeks, to as few as 6 weeks, in that range. ohio and georgia have six-week bans that have been blocked in court. you are likely going to see abortion opponents seek the enforcement of those laws. so if you're a woman who is looking for an abortion, the states you see here in blue, those are states where abortion will probably remain legal at least through viability. if you're a woman who does not live in one of those states that would create a hardship if you cannot travel, for example, that is a point that abortion rights advocates have made. take, for example, a woman who lives in mccowen, texas, she would have to drive 11 1/2 hours in southern new mexico, and with some states barely holding on to democratic control of their legislatures, remember what we have coming up in november, midterms, could mean a switch from abortion accessibility to an outright ban. >> we feel like we have been here already since it was may of

that draft opinion was leaked, and there was a reaction much like you're seeing right now. so are there any surprises here, anything that you're seeing differently than what we anticipated in may. >> i think the question for me is what else we're going to see outside the supreme court, throughout the course of the day and the weekend. you're right, when this draft opinion was leaked about a month and a half ago, that is when the nation essentially got the impression that a majority of justices were prepared to overturn roe v. wade, what i'm looking for is how much is today's decision reflective of what was leaked, how many changes were made in the interim let's say six weeks if any. that is one of the things we're looking for. we're going to be looking for reaction from some of these blue states, and i have spoken with folks in those states. they understand that they are becoming a haven now for women who will seek abortion access, now that it's become harder for women in roughly half the

states. this is undeniably, a blow to abortion rights advocates who have been bracing for the moment before the leaked draft opinion ever since the supreme court did get the conservative super majority with the appointment of former president trump's justices on the court. it was anticipated this moment could come. the other thing to look for, and i know you'll talk to folks on capitol hill. what is happening on the federal level. what if anything does congress have the ability and the will power to do to shore up federal abortion rights protections for people in this country. >> we will continue to talk to you. but let's go back to pete williams. you have had a bit more time to digest in ruling. what can you tell us. >> reporter: a couple of things here, lester. first of all, number one, this is a 5-4 decision on overturning roe in casey, because chief justice john roberts did not join that part of the decision. he said that goes too far. it's 6-3 on upholding the mississippi law, which is of course what brought the case to

the supreme court in the first place. mississippi's law that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and you may recall chief justice roberts during the oral argument was trying to find a middle ground, trying to uphold the mississippi law without overturning roe. he doesn't join the majority opinion. it's 5-4 on overturning roe, 6-3 on upholding the mississippi law. based on a quick look at this, this does seem to closely track the first draft of the decision leaked in may, written by justice alito who writes this majority opinion. it's the same kind of arguments against roe that were made in the draft opinion. it doesn't appear that it has changed a lot in the last, well, that draft opinion was dated in february. it doesn't look like this has changed a lot since then. we'll know for sure when we go through it. among the things still in it is this.

he says to ensure that our decision is not misunderstood, we emphasize our decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right, nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that don't concern abortion. there were many people who were saying, well, if the logic of the supreme court is that you can't have a constitutional right unless it's deeply rooted in the nation's history, and tradition and concept of ordered liberty, that casts doubt on decisions like same-sex marriage, the right to contraception and so forth. alito says, no, it doesn't. >> the fact that roberts didn't go along with this, does that speak to a change going forward in how this court operates? >> reporter: well, it didn't yesterday on the gun question. he was fully along with the majority of the second amendment, having a gun outside the home, but yes, it does. we saw it last term as 3, 3, and

3. three of the most conservative justices, three in the middle, and three liberals, that's changed this term, but roberts is not fully on board with some of the most conservative positions the court is taking. we've seen that in previous decisions, and we certainly see it most dramatically illustrated in this case. >> pete, stay with us right now. also with us is president of the susan b. anthony list, an organization that aims to end abortion in the u.s. can you give us your first reaction to this ruling and what you have seen. >> yes, it's the culmination of almost 50 years of work. back then, 50 years ago, every single pro life law was wiped off the books in all 50 states. it was the court saying we don't care what your opinion is on this deeply moral and difficult position. today the court has reversed that decision saying, yes, what the people care about does matter, and it should be allowed to make its way into the law. that is how democracy works in our nation, and the reason that

it has been so divisive, so difficult for almost 50 years, building in difficulty is because that has not been allowed to happen so today is a day of hope, and certainly a day of celebration for the pro life movement, and we will stay focused exactly as we always have been, and that is saving every life and serving every woman. >> does this end it for anti-abortion efforts or is there a next goal here? >> oh, no, this is just the beginning. we have been waiting to open the door for 50 years. now that the door is open, we go to every state and the congress and the territories and make sure that we are doing all we can to be as ambitious for women and unborn children in the law and that we're serving them every step along the way. >> as we have noted, this decision was telegraphed a few months ago, the draft leaked opinion, when you saw that, did you anticipate that that would be what we would see today or were you concerned that something may change along the way? >> well, we were certainly

hoping that it was. we thought it was probably leaked so it would put pressure on roberts, that there would be a lot of violence, and civil unrest, based on the leak, that it would put pressure on the court to do something different. that was certainly a concern, but i think probably it had the opposite reaction, which is perhaps just cement some of those decisions, but basically those decisions were made on the terms of the history of the constitution, not on what is happening in front of justices' homes or the fire bombing of pregnancy care centers. that did not work, and that is a vote yes for democracy, and i think that we will see this as something really important as we move forward in trying to depolarize this world. >> abortion rights supporters will look to congress. what do you anticipate could happen there? >> what i've seen first, and working on with our allies in

the movement for many months is movement in the states. right away there will be pre-roe bans on the books, 15 weeks, from conception and trigger laws that will allow laws to go into effect in 16 states or so, and then there will be battlegrounds where there's great hope and possibility for unborn children and their moms in other states. the reality on the federal level is that we have a lot of work to do over the last several election cycles, we've had votes on the cable bill in the senate, and it's barely gotten a majority. we have a lot of work to do there, and it will certainly be in the center of midterms, and in a way that will advantage our pro life candidates all over the country, especially u.s. senators and governors and house members looking to take over the house and senate. >> thank you for your time being with us. joining us is msnbc political

director, and "meet the press" moderator. you heard part of the conversation about what may happen in congress. characterize this day, what it means, and what happens next. >> well, i mean, it is -- we are already in a very polarized political climate. we are in a -- we have been in the middle of a massive social disruption, thanks to the pandemic. this is not going to sort of calm the waters. we are a divided country. this is going to divide us more. i think this is going to, you know, if it's possible to super charge polarization in this country, this will do that. i think you will see this sort of animate the left in the judiciary and supreme court. this has been one of the concrete ways that republicans have been able to get out the vote and fire up their base over

the years is this moment, this goal. they got it so now the question i'm watching here is does this flip the debate for years when it became legal, the entire conversation became what are the limits. and now that essentially the supreme court is saying you can make it illegal, the question is going to be what else is next. you asked the head of the pro life organization what was next. she was focused more on states. she talked about passing a federal law of 20 weeks. she didn't bring up contraception, but i promise those on the left are going to be worried about that, concerned about that. there are some that have talked about the issue of contraception, the so called abortion bill, and i think you're going to see a lot of challenges on that. some trying to make it illegal.

the biden administration i think is going to do its best to try to find ways to get access to that pill and make that easier. but i think that it is going to certainly super charge the midterm conversation in certain places. not in every state. in a couple of states, michigan and wisconsin, those are probably the two states that i would say politically will be ground zero for this debate. both of those states have immediate bans that are going to be triggered in the next couple of days. who is governor, who controls the legislature will matter a lot on the future of women's rights in those two states. >> chuck, stay with me. i want to bring into the conversation, nbc washington correspondent yamiche alcindor. talk about how this can affect the midterms and change the general political debate. . >> this is a sea change in

abortion access to women across this country for generations. this brings abortion to the center of the midterm elections, the center of the conversation. there were women i talked to on the ground in places like louisiana and mississippi who are going to have to drive hours and hours for abortion access. those women, when i was talking to them, they were not focused on abortion. they didn't even realize that abortion rights were possibly something that could be taken away. this focuses their minds on that, and focuses their minds on what the conservative movement has accomplished. the ncaa calling this an egregious decision. one in four women have had an abortion. 54% of americans want abortion access to be legal in this country in some form. that being said, the conservative majority of course has made it very clear that this is going to be something that they're going to be sticking by, and this decision is really seen as devastating to so many women across this country by four people who are of course advocates of abortion rights. i also sat down with shannon

brewer, who is director of the women's health organization in mississippi. that's the clinic at the center of the decision. she told me that she believes women's lives are going to be put at risk now because they're going to be forced into unsafe abortions or they're going to be forced to have children that they do not want to have and they have not planned for. she tells me she's going to be moving this clinic at the center of the case. she's saying now that they would have to close their doors and moving to new mexico. that's going to be the case in louisiana and so many other states that are part of this. 26 states that are going to restrict abortion or very much ban abortion here. so what we see here is a political movement that is celebrating on the conservative side a big win, but on the democratic side you see now this coalescing, people, this may not have been their number one agenda, they're going to make the case that conservatives have

gone too far. we want to know who is impacted here. i can't state enough that shannon brewer, sitting in mississippi told me she is most concerned about black women, poor women, women who simply do not have the means to get an abortion, and she told me that she doesn't have any hope at all that congress will be able to do anything legislatively to change this, to fix this, to have abortion access in the country. she believes there will not be abortion access in the way we had before the decision in her lifetime, lester. she believes at this point the only way for abortion access to happen is for women to get in cars and help other women and men in some cases to help women access this, but that is of course part of this political decision, there aren't really that many political options here. democrats are going to be trying to argue they need to get more power to do something about roe. this 6-3 majority on the court, they have the final say on so many things, including abortion access in the country. the politics are uneven.

it's unclear what the white house plan is. we have had lawmakers pushing the white house to come out with a plan, executive action to protect abortion rights. the white house does not know how to deal with this, and cannot give women back rights that have been taken away. >> yamiche, i'll ask you and chuck to stand by. let me go back to mora barrett, the folks who have gathered outside the supreme court, a lot of passion and emotion there. tell us what's being said and characterize it for us. >> reporter: when we spoke earlier i was on the side where i watched people jumping up and down in celebration of the decision, people that were against right to an abortion. i have moved to the other side where we're seeing tears, instead of tears of joy, anguish. i want you to meet sky. she's 19 years old and came in from virginia. she told me that she feels like her country doesn't love her.

can you tell me what you're feeling and if you have hope about lawmakers taking action going forward today. >> i feel betrayed and i feel lost. i feel like i'm 19 years old, i've had my first year of college. i should be feeling excited and happy, and especially at this time, with so much life ahead of me, i shouldn't be worried about my rights taken away from me. and it hurts that i have little hope for the future, and right now, i feel like i'm cling to go that. hopefully in the future we can have progress and not move backwards. we're moving backwards, and we need to move forward instead. >> reporter: thank you so much. that is a lot of the same message we have heard from people talking about the feeling of moving backwards. you might not be able to see. just behind me there's a group of women standing with tape over their mouth that reads second class citizen, and so that is the sentiment we're seeing here from women and men who are very

very upset about the decision here today, lester. >> mora, thank you very much. let me go back to chuck todd, if you're still with us. the question of whether roe v. wade was settled law was asked certainly in confirmation hearings for supreme court justice nominees, we have been through the controversy over ginni thomas, the wife of justice thomas, and her apparent efforts to support overturning the election. what does all of this collectively do to how we perceive the supreme court? >> i think the supreme court -- there are no many black robes. i think the robes are red and blue. this is the -- we have been watching this happen particularly in an aggressive way over the last 15 years. it's been a concern on the lower courts. you have started to see, you know, we lowered the threshold to just 50 votes in the senate, which guaranteed you wouldn't

get center left or center right. it means you were going to get something a little more hard core. it's been an aggressive obviously political movement on the right in particular on judges, and if you look at these back-to-back rulings on guns and abortion, i think it really does sort of -- i think what's striking about roe is it's the first time in my lifetime that i can think of where a supreme court took away a right. supreme courts, i can't think of another court in the last hundred years that has done this. a right that was there, taken away. you know, we're used to the supreme court granting rights, same-sex marriage, sort of reinterpreting things. this is a specific right being taken away from slightly more than half the population. i think it's going -- we don't fully know the consequences yet. that's why we love the phrase unintended consequences, and i think there's going to be a lot of them, short-term, medium

term, and long-term, but the trust in the court and the erosion of that and making it be viewed as an extraordinarily partisan institution. we already have that in the house and the senate. i think now particularly what happened this week, particularly how donald trump appointed the supreme court, how he went about it, in the whole scalia thing, mcconnell, and all that, there's a lot of people who believe this is a rigged court. this this court's make up isn't fair and square. it isn't representative of the where the country is and even was, and i think that is only going to add to cynicism. it's only going to add to that, and it is really -- look, john roberts has been concerned about this, you know, he clearly attempted to create, to try to find a middle ground here, and he failed. he was trying to redefine roe, rather than have it overturned

because i think he realized that it would royal -- roil the country. another point, i'll let it sit out there like a meat ball, lester, i don't think we can fully ever appreciate the 2016 presidential election is going to turn out to be perhaps the most consequential election in more than a hundred years. the fallout from that election, right, particularly you look at courts. we can go through a whole thing. i'm going to go through that on sunday, just think about what has changed in america, in culture and society, due to the results of the 2016 election. >> i think many would not disagree with that assessment. it will be interesting to hear what you have to say about it this weekend on "meet the press." let me go back to pete williams. we're left with a checker board now of states and how they regard abortion rights, and then

there's the issue even with some of those who plan to ban it, rape and incest, where does that leave us right now? >> it leaves, without any constitutional protection for that. remember, the mississippi law did not have exceptions for rape or incest, and that is the law that the supreme court today has upheld. the majority opinion doesn't say anything about it directly. the dissents say that because of the decision, there's no longer any constitutional support for the idea that there has to be some exception to abortion laws for rape or incest. justice brett kavanaugh in a footnote in his concurrence says that he thinks the court leaves open an additional question about whether there has to be an exception for cases when an abortion would save the life of the mother. but in terms of -- in terms of rape or incest, there's no longer any constitutional protection or requirement that any of the states that are going to ban abortion make an

exception in those cases and the dissent decries that, and let me quote one other sentence from the joint dissent written by stephen breyer. he says he concluded his dissent saying this, with sorrow with this court, and more for the many millions of american women who today have lost a fundamental constitutional protection, we dissent. this is one of those days, lester, if we were still in the days the supreme court was open to the public, which has been closed since the pandemic hit, you would see the majority opinion announced by justice alito, and it tracks so closely with the draft that was leaked in may, the majority calls the roe v. wade decision, not only wrong, but egregiously wrong, and explains why it overturns 50 years of precedent. but you would also have seen a long spirited dissent read from the bench. we don't get to hear that because we don't, you know, the justices don't take to the

bench, the decisions come out on the web. that's the dramatic division these opinions represent here. this is as divided as the supreme court can be. >> if i can bring up something i was talking to chuck about, the image of the court, clearly they're not playing for popularity. you presume they want respect. the leak of the draft opinion, i know it shocked you and a lot of people. the questions over ginni thomas, and her efforts to overturn the election. all of these things have taken a -- perhaps given a collective hit to the court. how do you see the future of the court going forward after this ruling? >> well, i mean, this is a supreme court that is newly emboldened. what i think you see here so vividly represented in the decisions that we got this week, but most especially on the abortion decision is years of sort of pent up frustration of the conservatives that they couldn't get a majority, and i think that's why they are not taking the go slow approach that

the chief justice advocated here. they have been waiting to do this for years, now they have the votes to do it, and they're not going to be held back. what does that mean for the next term, possibly means affirmative action in college admissions is dead. conservatives have been opposed to that for years. they have been chipping away at it. there are two cases from harvard and the university of north carolina. it seems pretty likely that affirmative action will bite the dust next term. it's the conservatives now have the votes and they're going full throttle. >> pete williams, we'll continue to channel on the way here. actually, let me first let you know that we understand that speaker nancy pelosi is going to be coming before the cameras to react very shortly. we are standing by for that. let me go to nbc news chief white house correspondent, peter alexander, is there officially early reaction from the white house, peter. >> we haven't heard from the

white house just yet, not from the president but based on the conversations i have been having privately, and what i'm seeing as i look at the west wing where white house staff are removing chairs from the roosevelt room. highly likely we'll hear from president biden on this issue at some point today. the white house, the president have been embracing for the ruling over the course of the last several weeks, meeting with lawmakers and stake holders, abortion rights advocates among others. we have yet to hear from president biden, we have now just heard from his democratic predecessor in the white house, barack obama who are released a statement that says today the supreme court not only reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues,chuck schumer called this one of the darkest days our country has seen. and while we're wait to go hear

from house speaker nancy pelosi in a matter of moments, she posted a statement moments ago, and puts the blame directly on republicans. because of donald trump, mitch mcconnell, the republican party, and their super majority on the supreme court, american women today have less freedom than their mothers. president biden, what can he do? there's been a lot of pressure, growing calls from abortion rights advocates for him to take executive actions to try to do whatever he can to help protect, and expand women's reproductive rights. specifically the calls have been asking him for the ability to use federal lands, to expand reproductive health care for women where possible, and separately, to try to increase access to abortion medication, abortion pills, right now, a majority of abortions in this country are done with the use of abortion medication. so i think that's going to be where you're going to see a lot of the focus. it's unclear whether president biden today will announce any

new steps he's willing to take, how he's prepared to react to this. the white house did not react preemptively to this ruling even after that leak came out, a matter of months ago. but again, as we stand here at the white house on what democrats are calling one of the darkest days in your country's history, it does appear increasingly clear that we will hear from the president at some point over the course of this day. >> keep us posted, peter, thank you for that. blayne alexander is in jackson, mississippi, where the state's only abortion clinic is located. the same clinic that went to court to challenge the mississippi abortion ban at the heart of today's decision, and it's not lost on us, we're looking at protests now, we're hearing from leadership in washington, but what this will impact is the people in that community and communities like it across the country. tell us what reaction is there. >> reporter: you know, lester, this a polarizing case no matter where you look, perhaps no more so than right here in

mississippi. this is a case that launched this to the supreme court. as i have spent time talking to people on both sides of the issue in mississippi, people have spent years in the antiabortion phase, who have been fighting for years to essentially takes down row, there's almost a sense of pride that mississippi was the case in one woman's words to essentially bring down roe. there's a sense that it originated in mississippi, their state was the one that played a key role in this. i have been talking to people, some who have spent 30 years advocating for the end of abortion, and their reactions are striking, tears, lots of tears, that's what one person texed m -- texted me, saying this is just the beginning. we talk about the opinion across the country. the majority, in fact, of americans, believe in a right to abortion, access to abortion. that's not the case in mississippi. recent polling shows that some 59% of people here in the state of mississippi believe that abortion should be illegal in

most cases. so what we're seeing here, and while people have told me they're not going to be out in the streets celebrating, they're not going to be necessarily holding grand press conferences or celebrating publicly, they say that this is just the beginning, but they're focus is to kind of go out and give access and resources to women who now are going to have a different path forward. lester. >> blayne, thank you for that. joining me on the telephone is u.s. senator from minnesota, amy klobuchar. thank you for being here. i know this ruling deeply disappoints you, but the logical next question is, what are you, you being congress, going to do about it. >> well, i think that's a good question to ask our republican colleagues who put these judges on the bench who are working against the interests of the american people. we have 80% of the people with us on this that want roe v. wade upheld, and we also have women who are going to be affected all over the country, over 20 states

already have laws in place that could be used to restrict access to an abortion, include 13 states which will automatically go into effect. literally they have said in this decision that a woman shouldn't be making her own decisions, but instead, politicians should be making them. what's next, lester, the big thing that's next is the election, and women and the men that support them are going to be going in droves to the ballot box. because this supreme court is taking us back to the 1950s. it's taking us back to the 1850s. >> do you think this has animated democrats to the point this could be a decision maker, a turning point in some of these races we're following. >> you know what, i'm not going to make a political analysis today because this is literally, fundamentally about a law that has protected women for 50 years. but i think the answer is pretty

obvious, that the public is with us, that the republicans have put these justices on the supreme court that are so out of touch with americans that they literally have issued an opinion in which they note that the word abortion is not in the constitution. you know what else isn't in the constitution, lester, woman isn't in the constitution. the word she is not in the constitution. there are many things, air force wasn't in the constitution. that is the basis of their opinion, and they have literally turned back the clock on 50 years of well settled precedent. >> is there anything that democrats can do, in my opinion, to change this tide. >> there's a big thing we can do, and that is reaching out to independent, to moderate republicans, in states across the country, and say enough is enough. join us so that we can get enough people in the u.s. senate for starters and in the house

that can basically codify roe v. wade into law. that we can make very clear that this protection will remain. >> none of us can say we didn't see this coming. in may, of course, there was that much talked about leak of the draft opinion that has essentially mirrored here in this final ruling today. many would argue, if there was no other warning shot, that was it. did some of these mechanisms begin then or are you starting from scratch now. >> i think that a lot of people became educated on what this means. for so long, young women assumed that this was the world. they never thought there could be a world where their mothers and their grandmas had more rights than they did. and i think it's already, as you can see, people are ready, many of them had read that opinion. they've read reports on the opinion, they knew exactly what was coming their way. >> i hate to interrupt, speaker

pelosi is speaking. we want to hear what she has to say. >> the supreme court is eviscerating american rights and endangering their health and safety, but the congress will continue to act to overcome this extremism and protect the american people. today the republican controlled supreme court has achieved their dark, extreme goal of ripping away a woman's right to make their own reproductive health decisions. because of donald trump, mitch mcconnell, and the republican party, their super majority in the supreme court, american women today have less freedom than their mothers. with roe and their attempt to destroy it, radical republicans are charging ahead with their crusade to criminalize health freedom. in the congress, beware of this, the republicans are plotting a

nationwide abortion ban. they cannot be allowed to have a majority in the congress to do that. but that's their goal. and if you read, and again, we're all studying all of this, you read what is in the very clear, one of the justices had his own statement, it's about contraception, in vitro fertilization, family planning. that is all what will spring from their decision that they made today. such a contradiction. yesterday the states cannot make laws governing the constitutional right to bear arms, and today they're saying the exact reverse, that the states can overturn a

constitutional right for 50 years a constitutional right for a woman having the right to choose. the hypocrisy is raging, but the harm is endless. what this means to women is such an insult. it's a slap in the face to women about using their own judgment to make their own decisions about their reproductive freedom. and again, it goes well. i always have said, termination of a pregnancy is their opening act, their front game, but behind it and for years i have seen in this congress opposition to any family planning, domestic or global. when we have had those discussions and those debates and those votes on the floor of the house.

this is deadly serious. but we are not going to let this pass. a woman's right to choose, reproductive freedom is on the ballot in november. we cannot allow them to take charge so that they can institute their goal, which is to criminalize reproductive freedom, to criminalize it. they're saying in states that they can arrest doctors and all the rest. what is happening here? what is happening here, a woman's fundamental health decisions are her own to make in consultation with her doctor, her faith, her family, not some right wing politician that donald trump and mitch mcconnell packed the court with. while republicans seek to punish and control women, democrats will keep fighting ferociously

to enshrine roe v. wade into the law of the land. this cruel ruling is outrageous and heart wrenching, make no mistake again, it's all on the ballot in november. the supreme court has ended a constitutional right, this is 50 years, proclaimed a constitutional right. what happened today was historic in many respects, historic in that it had not granted, recognized a constitutional right and then reversed it. this is a first. and again, just before it imposed a constitutional right to allow for concealed weapons. how about those justices coming before the senators and saying that they respected starry desis

is, the right of privacy and the constitution of the united states. did you hear that? were they not telling the truth then? again, just getting to the issue, because really in preparation for this morning, i was really in an exalted state about what happened in the united states senate yesterday. counter point to the dangerous decision of this trumpian supreme court that they made yesterday, but a way to take us to as the bill is called community safety. the bipartisan safer communities act. right now, and i'm going to have to leave momentarily because we just finished voting on the rule, we will be debating the

bill on the floor, and we expect a good bipartisan vote on it in the house. we congratulate the senate on the work that they have done and the timeliness of it to be passed in the senate and the strong bipartisan way on a day when the court made such a dangerous, dangerous decision. we will -- many of our house democrats proposals that were included in this package, keep deadly weapons out of dangerous hands but encouraging states to establish extreme risk laws, otherwise known as red flag laws. close the boyfriend loophole, many good things in there. itst not everything that we wanted. we must keep moving forward toward background checks, but universal background checks which will save the most laws,

but this will save lives and to listen to lucy mcgrath, and other family members of those who have lost their loved ones, this is a giant step forward. maybe not so much a giant, but a strong step forward. and if it's good enough for them, then we rejoice in passing it. as i say to members all the time with legislation, do not judge it , respect it for what it is, and there's much to be respected in this legislation. on a happier note, yesterday we celebrated 50 years of title 9, which has transformed equality and opportunity. >> speaker pelosi talking to reporters at the capitol reacting to the supreme court decision today. near the end you heard her celebrating the expected passage of the gun safety legislation. bipartisan legislation, but she reserves some very strong words

for the supreme court decision to overturn roe v. wade, calling it a trumpian >> oh we are just thrilled by the supreme court overturning roe v. wade. it is long past due. but respect to what the speaker says, i know its been a very emotional issue. but she continually overlooks the fact that women support overturning roe v. wade. democrats support overturning roe v. wade. not all democrats are

celebrating this. not all democrats advocate for roe in maintaining abortion. we have an opportunity here as a party to bring people together on this issue and look to see how hi can support women. i hear a lot of talk about shipping women off to other states to get abortions. how about helping women where they are? how about looking at ways to help women stay in school, to keep their jobs and have their babies and providing women with real choice rather than abortion as we have done. >> the speaker mentioned criminal zigs. is that where this is going? and something you would support. >> absolutely not. we do not want to criminalize women for seeking abortions. unplanned pregnancy in that situation deserves compassion, love and support and not criminalizations. so we think i the pro life women and, men and women i work with are united on that front.

we want to help pregnant women. we want them to have the opportunity to parent. when you look at statistics, it is poor women who are most likely to seek abortions. we need to do better as a nation in propheting equity for those women and allowing them the same opportunities as we do of wealthy individuals. >> would you like more clarity? what do you think should happen in congress going forward? >> i think congress should stay back for a little bit. let the states work this out. each state is going to have their own challenge. for example, california, new york and new jersey have the highest abortion rates in the nation. what are they going to do to lower those rates and provide women with real choice? states that are limiting abortion to 8 weeks or 15 weeks, what are they going to do to support those women who no longer can seek abortion? how are we going to provide them with the opportunity and support to parent, keep their family, keep their jobs. and we don't have affordable

healthcare. affordable child care. continuing this fifty year fight of legality of abortion. let's put women and children first and provide the support, compassion to help them with a real choice to become parents. >> thank you for coming on and giving us your views. we appreciate it. >> thank you very much. so it is a little after 11:00 in the east. let me recap the extraordinary and historical decision that came down just after 10:00 a.m. eastern. roe v. wade a women's right to abortion has been overturned by the supreme court after almost 50 years and will lead to nearly total bans on the procedure in about half the states. the majority conservative supreme court overturned roe in this morning's decision. a victory of opponents of abortion. supporters were bracing for the loss after an early draft of the opinion was leaked in may. and call it an assault on the reproductive freedoms of women. the ruling came in a dispute

over law passed by mississippi's republican controlled legislature to ban abortions after 15 weeks. joining us now is nbc news senior walcott hallie jackson who's been monitoring reaction and also trying to put the puzzle pieces together. because the rule of the land is going to be very different in various places. >> it is an almost instantaneous change now that this decision, this anticipated ruling has finally come down, lester. you had a taste of it in the last hour and ten minutes of conch here. but we heard from mike pence. former vice president. someone who speculated to be a potential 2024 candidate. this is obviously a decision that is going reshape not just the mid terms but the next plex. who said that today life wonpre.

who said that today life won. he also says the supreme court has given the american people a new beginning for life and commends the justices in the majority for having the courage of their convictions. this speaks to an important point lester which is something you and chuck talked about a couple minutes ago. the consequences of the 2016 election specifically. i was out on the campaign trail in that campaign talking with all of the republican candidates and at every campaign i vent i went to just about when i would talk to voters in the room and talking not big rally bus small rooms in iowa and south carolina and beyond. i heard all the time about the supreme court. it was a mobilizing factor for republican voters. 70% of those voters in 2016 said the supreme court was a very important issue for them. compared to just 62% of voters who lean democratic that campaign year. you are seeing that now come to fruition. you heard nancy pelosi reference it here. the justices, gorsuch, kavanagh,

amy coney barrett who in confirmation hearings said roe v. wade was a precedent of the united states supreme court that had been reaffirmed. that is something spooerk pelosi is raising now. were they not telling the truth if she's hoping this will be for democrats a mobilizing issue in the midterms. we're also hearing reaction from the 2016 candidate hillary clinton who say this is decision will live in infamy as a step backwards for women's rights and human rights. one of the others pieces of this as we look at this live shot now outside the supreme court where i imagine the crowd is growing by the minute is what this means for role of the supreme court in our political discourse and in society at this moment? you have seen the impact in the last few months lester. recent polling has found only 44% of americans see the supreme court as a non partisan entity, essentially. have trust and faith in the court. that is down 11% from where the number was in march. you are seeing that throughline happen for the court lester and

that is going to have political implications down the road. >> halle, thanks. joining us now is nbc news chief washington correspondent andrea mitchell. . you were there at the beginning of roe and as this historic decision has come down i'm curious your thought at this moment. >> well, it's obviously life changing in many so many ways. profound ways, as pete was pointing out earlier, then chuck. never before has a constitutional right conferred by the court been taken away and this one after nearly 50 years. and i was recently covering a group called the janes. it is a group of women who organize pre roe in chicago to break the law and to organize an underground network of so called janes, of women with medical backgrounds who could provide illegal abortions safely because

there were so many deaths in those years by women across the country by women trying to self abort and so many botched procedures and so many maternal deaths. this is obviously changing the politics. state likes pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin where you have governors races now with democratic governors are either running for reelection or term limit and are opposing republicans determined to ban abortion. in fact in pennsylvania, the candidate there has said it would be an outright ban. no exceptions. legislature in pennsylvania has repeatedly passed such laws which has been repeatedly vetoed by the democratic governor the incumbent who is term limited. major states not just in red states but in blue or purple states where you are going to see major changes. so it is not just half the country. it is more than half the country. where presumably after the mid terms and after '24 you could

have more than half the country. and of course the 13 trigger law states where it will almost immediately become banned. and is it they will be safe with no exceptions at all. this ruling does preserve the life of the mother when that is in jeopardy but not rape and incest. let me just point out to follow up on something that was just mentioned by hall hall lee. hallie. -- position today on a women's right to choose. . he answered it is an important precedent of the supreme court. by it, i mean roe v. wade and planned parenthood v. casey. they have been reaffirmed many times. casey is precedent on precedent which is an important factor to

remember kavanagh said. commit that i will obey all the rules of stare decisis referring to the doctrine. then went on to say for -- in article as she's defined it so she left some academic wiggle room there. gorsuch as well in 2017 said i would tell you that roe v. wade is decided in 1973 is a precedent of the u.s. supreme court. it has been reaffirmed. there is the issue of whether these trump justices actually misled the senate of the united states and the public in what they said during confirmations.

the country is already divided. we are seeing it now in the hearings that we've been living through for the last few weeks, the fifth one just yesterday. there is such a division of this country politically red versus blue, trump versus anti-trump. but this clearly is making the issue of a woman's right to choose the preeminent issue in the midterms and the 2024 elections and further dividing the country in a hugely polarizing way. lester. >> andrea mitchell. greatly appreciate your historical perspective there. kristen hawkins is president of students for life of america and joins us now. kristen good morning and thank you for joining us. can you give us your reaction to what -- the ruling and some of what you are hearing today. >> this has been a rule that's 49 years in the making to see the court reverse the wrong of roe v. wade.

and for all of us in the pro life generation who could have been aborted for the price of a play station, it is a significant moment. one we have a lot of responsibility as we become the first postroe generation and ensure no woman stands alone in the postroe america as we support -- >> does -- in your view does your work end now? is this the ultimate victory or where do you see this going? >> absolutely not. this was phase 1 in our objective in the pro life movement to make abortion unthinkable throughout our country. this is why we have more than 1300 chapters in college and high school campuses across the country. not only are we talking and engaging with those who are directly targeted by the predatory abortion industry but we're the ones actually transforming the campus policies women ever again feels like she kristen --

>> -- very progressive view. this is 2022. >> in some of these states they don't recognize rape or incest. would you like more clarity? where do you stand there? >> i would say that my very good friend ryan who was conceived out of sexual assault, his life matters. and the circumstance of your conception does not deem you unworthy of life? >> is that going divide the movement. >> -- my father today would go -- no. i think there are going to be lot of conversations in the pro life movement as we move forward state by state. today hopefully 880 babies will be saved tomorrow in 26 states who should move quickly to make abortion a thing of the past and end this violence. but we're going to have lot of strategy conversations in the coming weeks and months. reverses roe v. wade doesn't end our fight. we'll no now go straight by

state. and ready do that. >> thank you for taking time and being with us and expressing your views. i want to go right to nbc news justice correspondent, pete williams. we've had little over an hour now to digest this. you have had a chance to go through the entire ruling. what stands out? what should people know? >> well first of all, i think we have to say again this is 5-4 on overturning roe. 6-3 on upholding the mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. and secondly. chief justice roberts doesn't join the majority saying it is going too far too fast. and just alito who wrote the opinion said nothing in this opinion should be read to cast doubt on any of the court's other precedents that found constitutional rights that were not explicitly mentioned. such as the right to interracial marriage t right to contraception t right to same sex marriage. he says abortion is different because it involves a potential

life. and only justice clarence thomas, of all of the nine so far said, well, the court should actually go back and look at those precedents too. secondly as we've noticed before roughly half the states will ban abortion and 13 have laws already on the books. and its attorney general eric schmidt already issue a.d. letter. many soft state law, trigger laws said the triggering event would be the supreme court decision followed by some kind of done. he's already got a letter out saying it is now first state. there is a couple of others that will follow very quickly in the other trigger states it is a matter of 10 days or 30 days. so it is not going to be -- abortion is now not immediately illegal in all of those states

which it was likely to become illegal. but it will be probably within a month to take full effect lester in terms of all those other states. >> let me go back to what you said though about this notion that this wouldn't be used as a precedent to undue other constitutional rights. it's set in the ruling but is it binding? >> not at all. that's what concerns advocates of same sex marriage. because the logic of the supreme court's decision in this majority opinion is precisely what we read about in the leaked opinion that was written in february. this opinion here, this majority opinion is largely unchanged. is there is some references to the dissent and other things. but the logic is still what was laid out in february. what justice alito and the majority says today is that there is no explicit mention of a right to abortion in the constitution. so the question is, did it somehow, was it somehow granted

by the 14th amendment. and he says the test for that is, it has to be deeply rooted in the nation's history and traditions and part of the concept of ordered liability and he says it flunks that test. well of course same sex marriage would flunk that test too. there was no protection for contraception at the founding. by the court's logic those precedents could be in danger. several justices go out of their way to say no it won't make any difference. justice kavanagh says today overruling roe does not mean if overalling of precedents and does not threaten or cast doubt on the precedents. take them at their world but you could argue the seeds of those if this opinion. >> thank you. on the right side you continue to view protests, celebrations, you how describe them really

depends where people are. but clearly lot of emotion has spilled out on the steps of the supreme court after this historic ruling. the court overturning roe v. wade. dr. cheryl hamlin with the mississippi women's health organization. can you tell me what this means for you and your organization. >> well i guess as soon as the attorney general signs it. e we have a few days before the clinic is closed. and so, you know, for the women of mississippi and the other 13 states that have trigger laws, they will no longer have access to abortion in any form. and so for them, you know, it means that -- i mean, i'm sure that if, you know, women are having miscarriages, especially -- you know, especially, you know, poor and

women of color, they will be placed under scrutiny. did they do this to themselves. i'm sure women who make it out of state for procedure when they return will be afraid to seek medical care. some will self abort. some will continue dangerous pregnancies. so i mean it is obviously devastating for these women. >> doctor, tell me what are the options for a woman in your community who has decided she wants an abortion? what do the options become in terms of how far travel may be? >> yeah. so illinois is probably the closest state. i think probably a seven hour drive or something to the closest clinic. new mexico is about a 10-hour drive. massachusetts. is a 22-hour drive. there is always an option of getting pills through the mail. and you know i'm sure a lot of

people are going to be seeking out how to do that. you know i'm also sure the state will make that illegal. but it may be hard to enforce. you know those will be the -- >> are you hearing from patients even today even since this ruling? >> i. but you know i'm -- obviously people that already have appointments are going to be calling and figuring out what they need to do. >> okay. doctor, thank you for taking a moment to speak us to. we appreciate it. nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander joins us now. are we going to hear from the president? >> yeah lester we have now just learned that president biden will address this abortion ruling from the supreme court at 12k 30 eastern time. that is roughly an hour and ten minutes from now. he'll be speaking inside what's called the cross hall, that's within the white house residence

where he's delivered remarks before. the white house i think was caught off guard by this ruling coming today, not anyway the decision would come. they had expected it based on frankly that draft that came out about 6-8 weeks ago. but as i spoke to an aid earlier, i told them that the ruling had been made on abortion. they were leaving the campus and quickly turned around to gather in preparation for the president's reaction to this. but they have been bracing for this moment to take place in some form for a matter of weeks. meeting with abortion rights advocates and lawmakers and others. and there's been growing pressure on the white house to react not just preemtively. there was a hope the white house would make announcements in advance but certainly as soon as the ruling came in.

>> increase access to medication, abortion medication specifically pills right now which account for more than half of the abortions in this country at the time. as you try to get a better understanding of where the country is on this issue, nbc news recently completed a poll on it. and just to be specific. 60% of americans said in that recent poll that americans believe that abortion should be either always legal or legal most of the time compared to 37% who said abortion should be illegal either with exceptions or without exceptions. so that gives you a sense broadly of where the country is on this issue. among the biggest concerns at the white house has been communicating is how this is going to impact those poor, minority women, low income women across this country whose access, particularly in the south and midwest they have said was already limited. even before this ruling on roe v. wade.

the struggle to get abortion care was limited due to a variety of things including insurance conch in some places. it was impacted by what's called a -- federal money to be spent on abortions and also due to waiting periods that exist as well. we have heard from the white house in the course of the last several weeks. they have been very upset and frustrated by this expected ruling, by -- by the decisions taking place earlier in mississippi referring to them as unconstitutional attacks on women's reproductive rights. lester? >> peter alexander at the white house where we will be hearing from the president about 12:30 eastern time. little over an hour from now. if remains on schedule. nbc news legal analyst carroll lamb, former u.s. attorney and federal prosecutor. carol, the nuts and bolts here. i want to get the terminology right.

abortion is not illegal, but it is no longer a constitutional right, correct? >> that is correct. this is not a ban on abortion. a total ban on abortion decided by the supreme court. it changes the approach to abortion. it says women no longer have a fundamental constitutional right to make the decision regarding terminating their pregnancy at any stage of the presidency. that no longer a protected right. and what that does is throws the decision back to each individual state. each state makes the decision. at what stage of the abortion or whether there is a ban on abortions in that state entirely. that is now an issue for each state legislature. >> stepping away from whatever side you may fall on, the fact that the supreme court has now

taken away a right that it had originally granted, can you talk to the significance of that legally? >> you know, lester, this has to be the -- a co-equal headline in addition to the fact that the decision impacts so many people in the country all at once. the co-equal headline really has to be what does this mean for past cases in other areas where the court has relied on a personal privacy and personal liberty right of an individual. pete wilson talked about this earlier. birth control. contraception. gay marriage. sodomy laws. there are a lot of laws that have been struck down in the past 50 years because the court has found a right to privacy and personal liberty in the constitution. what happened here today is that one school of thought about how you interpret the constitution has prevailed over a different

thought. in the past 50 years justices on the supreme court have said that there is an implicit right to privacy in the constitution. it is not enumerated the way the second amendment protects gun rights in the constitution. and what the court said today is no, abortion rights are are not explicitly called out in the constitution. and when that happens, you have to look to history and tradition in the nation to figure out whether there is such a right. and they found that there was no such right in the history and tradition of the nature. but that could be said as well for homosexual marriage and gay rights in general and most specifically contraception or birth control. there are some states now that have proposed bans on iuds because of the way iuds work. in some cases they can interfere with the embedding of a fertilized egg in the woman and

they say that is a form of abortion. so you can see the cracks already beginning to occur. >> right and i -- >> -- thought were fundamental -- >> i justiant to go back and look at justice alito's thinking. does the logic follow when you start taking that piece by piece, does it become a harder argument he makes? and is the door still open no matter what he says, is the door still open to go back and revisit other rights? >> exactly cha you said right now. that door is still open. because justice alito said this both in the leaked draft in may and this opinion. he said oh this applies only to abortion. it doesn't apply to those other decisions. that is what is known as dicta. which means that is saying something that is not essential to the holding of this case. and when it is not essential to the holding of the case, it has no binding precedent shl value.

so justice alito might be trying to make it go down easier but the logic of his opinion, but these cases are now vulnerable. >> is there a case that could reopen the door on this ultimate decision? >> that -- it would require what happened in this case. it would require a case being keyed up and a case is not going to be teed up for revisiting this decision until the side that tees it up thinks that it has the votes to make a revisiting happen. and that is likely not to happen for a long time. >> carol lam, thank you. we appreciate it. i want to bring back nbc washington correspondent. we've heard reaction from speaker pelosi and heard from those on the right obviously celebrating what for them is a long, hard battle and final victory here.

over the last hour and a half, tell me how this is, you know, some of the themes that you are seeing strike up. >> well this really of course is culmination of a goal of nearly 50 years. and we've been hearing this is a really big win for the conservative movement. vice president mike pence said this is righting a wrong. and looking for reaction from former president trump. and while he's not put out a message yet, what he has done is put out a message from yesterday when the supreme court ruled on guns. and he said there, and i want to read it because i think it is incredible important. he said elections have consequences. i promise to appoint justices and judges that would stand up for the constitution. and today the supreme court upheld in that case the second amendment right of all americans. but you can imagine that same language about elections having consequences and about the fact that the justices are standing by the constitution can also be applied to today so we should

expect former president trump to also take a victory lap here because of course this is because he was able to put on conservative supreme court justices that now roe v. wade has been overturned. also been listening to democrats of course. nancy pelosi in particular who talked about the fact that this really is not going to stand, talking about the fact that reproductive freedom will be on the ballot in november. that says something about where democrats want to message this and the idea they are going to be making the case in states, in elections that people should vote for democrats to try to get some rectification from this, some sort of change rather when it comes to access to abortions. but i should tell you in talking to democrats they are sort of scrambling. the political will is there to do something but the actual plan to do something is not clear. i also heard from a number of people calling this egregious, saying black women in particular, women of color, poor women that they are going to have to really figure how to mobilize them to vote in november but also of course the at the same time as they are

mobilizing them to the ballot box they are going to have to mobilize them to different clinics. they are going to have to be balancing what is now such restricted access to abortion so there is a lot here on the political side here to talk about. one last thing and when it comes to the politics of this in the midterms. its been democrats who have not really been able to culminate and focus their energy on abortion in the way that republicans have. this has been a talking point for republicans over and over again. so many people that i interviewed when i was talking to them about former president trump and his brash nature. people would tell me they didn't like it. that they didn't lake the way he tweet order talked or the revolving door of people leaving the white house in and out but they were with him because they believed abortion could be overturned. that was the conservative messaging. a well oiled machine they have really been working on but for democrats they are now going to have to build a machine to explain to people and to make the case to people in the middle of inflation, in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of gun

rights and all sort of debates that abortion should be the thing on their minds that is the most important thing. the priority for them. and we know that of course there are a lot of women in this country who will now be using their voices and stories to be making the political case that this decision should be tried to be over turned in some way through polit ticks. but it is a very very hard, complicated and rough road ahead for democrats who are going to be trying to change what the consequences of this decision will mean for women across the country. >> thank you. joining us, hallie jackson with more on what the decision could mean. hallie, we're hearing from speaker pelosi and others on the left. we're going to fight this. we're going to make this part of the midterms. but bottom line is, democrats are demoralized today. >> if you are a democrat. you are going where do we go next? you are trying to figure that out. but there is not an easy ore clear answer given the makeup of the supreme court as it sits

now. on the executive branch side we're going hear from president biden in about an hour from now. he's been pressured from democrats to try to do something unilaterally. on the slejtive branch you have action from congress mgt we're learning we're going to see some of the first action next month in a matter of weeks when the senate is back from recess with the judiciary committee set to hold a hearing. we're just learning this in from the chairman, to explore what they call the grim reality of a postroe america. the judiciary committee led my democratic chairman. that will be some of the first glimpses we'll get from a practical concrete level as to what democrat could do particularly on the senate side in order to take some kind of action to shore up protections of roe that speaker pelosi has talked about. let me put numbers behind the conversation that we're having lester. data here. according to nbc news polling. when you talk about the number of americans who believe that abortion is the most important issue facing this country.

it was practically non existent if you were to ask say six months ago. only three percent of americans said it was the most important issue. that jumped last month to 10%. right after the leaked ruling. the leaked decision, i should say. came out, in early may. you saw that number rise. that is a number i think democrat wills looking at to say okay. now we have the decision. it is no longer theoretical. it is real and practical and we'll see the real implication of that across the country. i think there is a bet that number will go up and more people will feel mobilized by it. the question that comes up is the court out of step. 63% of americans thought roe v. wade should not be overturned. compared go about 30% who thought it should be. that gives you a sense of where people are across the country. for republicans the numbers are

inverted. only about a third of republicans believe abortion should be legal in all or most instances. that is the landscape that we're in at in moment in time. what we should be looking for, in addition to next month, what congress is going to do. what specific actions they will take. because right now and you heard it a little lester in your interview with senator amy klobuchar, the sense that this isn't a time for politics, this is the time to sort of grieve the loss of this right for women. i hear her saying that. but also there is undeniably a political angle to this moving forward for abortion rights advocates who see this fight as not being over. abortion, anti-abortion activists also see the sfiegt as not being over because they want to go even further and they have side to you and me and others that they see the fight now as trying to shore up anti-abortion support in many states and more ways. including on the federal picture too. so that is why we're seeing this

coalesce. >> there were a lot of conversations about expanding the court. what happens to that. >> there was not much appetite for that at all. came up a lot in the primary. in this instance you didn't see any appetite from the white house on that. there was a report that came out. that is a politically tough discussion to have. because of specifically some more moderate democratic senators, for example, who would resist that and said they would not be open to changing the framework. you asked does this change the game. i'm looking at a response from senator joe manchin, for example, who's been as you well know one of the thorns in the side for his fellow democratic colleague who is have been wanting him to take action on things the rest at party wants. senator manchin and sinema have been one of the people who resisted some of the moves, for example, changing senate rules

to allow democrats to get things down unilaterally with 50 votes instead of 60 which is the threshold now. he said he's disappointed the court voted to overturn roe. he talked how he was raised pro life. and he say i will always consider myself pro life but he would support legislation --. if the question is it enough? we don't know at this point. >> thank you. joining us is nbc news contributor and editor and ceo of the dispatchy. steven hayes. we appreciate you joining us. you have heard a lot of this conversation about the political implications. i'm curious to here hear your views. >> if you asked pro lifers before this what results they would like to come out of this, one would be the kind of things you heard in yamiche and hall lee. aie. a political discussion, a

debate. conservatives, republicans, pro lifers have made the argument that this is a decision, that this is a debate best had in a political context. now make these decisions have these dega debits. it would be very interesting to learn whether the up tick that we've seen in the number of people responding to pollstering saying abortion is the most important issue, or one of the most important issues, if that continues you see a sea change in the way we look at abortion culturally in the country over the past 50 years, even as the laws have remained the same. it will be very interesting to see if that cultural change turns into a political change. >> and the immediate pressure on democrats to do something. and there will be that call to do something. in the short-term what can they do? >> yeah, i think, you know, as hallie was pointing out you are already seeing statements look

to be take steps they can take politically either in federal legislation, in state houses around the country to try to codify some of the rules that were in place with roe v. wade. certainly i think democrats are going make this a politically issue. democrats want to run on this. certainly for political, i think practical, political reasons like to use to it avoid conversations about the economy, inflation, some of the other things that have president biden's approval ratings sort of cratering at this point. but i think that we'll see a very quick move from democrats to try to introduce these kinds of additional codifications of roe at both the federal level and states around the country. >> steven, thank you. we've been watching that crowd on the steps of the supreme court. and as i said, it is a microcosm of this country right now. there are people who are celebrating, there are people who are upset, angry and

somewhat bewildered by all this. let's bring in nbc's mora barrett. i know you are hearing it from both sides. >> yeah lester. the way you contextualize it is very accurate. a very mixed bag on the ground here. and the crowd has quadrupled since the decision came down just after 10:00 a.m. i'm so right in the middle in front of the supreme court. and what i have noticed. we've seen a mix of opinions is a plurality of young people. and i want to bring in nina. she traveled in from pennsylvania and she was one of the people that was celebrating the decision being overturned. so i want to ask you. what drove you to come out here today? what are you looking for. >> i'm very excited. i drove down here for students for life. we have a bunch of collectives and leadership programs focused

on making sure women have the necessary resources that they need throughout their pregnancy. and i'm -- i'm excited but we all -- as you can see the celebration. but we all know this is not where the work ends. this is where it begins. because from anyone you can ask, this is what we'll be working for for the rest of our lives to make abortion illegal, unthinkable and unnecessary. >> and our nbc polling has shown 60% of women -- of% of americans think abortion should be legal in some capacity. 30% on the other side of it. what do you make that your group is kind of in the minority on this? and what do you want to say to other people who don't share the same opinions as you? >> there is a lot to -- obviously there is a lot of nuances, a lot of different opinions. but at the end of the day, human rights begin at conception, and they end at natural death. and that is what we're fighting for. so no matter what you believe,

we're here to protect the woman and the child. >> thank you for sharing your thoughts. lester like we talked about, there is a big variety of opinions on the ground right now but we do hear a lot of celebration and music playing here today. and people that weren't necessarily expecting this to come down today. most people that i've talked to are thinking there was going to be early next week that this decision would come. so it is interesting to see as the crowd continues to grow now that the decision has come through. we'll continue to talk to people on the ground especially as we know that the president had the decision coming down that he was hoping that congress would take action to restore roe. we have heard rumblings about house democrats coming down and we'll keep an eye out for lawmakers here as well, lester. >> thank you for the update there from the steps of the supreme court reaction. to today's ruling. and joined now by michigan's

democratic governor gretchen whitmer. thank you for being with us. your state's had an anti-abortion law in place since the '30s. but essentially lived under the world of roe v. wade. what is your reaction? >> well it is devastating. i know it is not surprising but it is devastating. and this is not the end of the story. we've got a lot of work to do. we're fighting like hell here in michigan to protect michigan women's access to abortion, reproductive healthcare. but this is a really stark moment in america and a huge setback for every generation younger than me who now will have fewer rights than my generation's had our whole lives. >> a republican legislature there. can you give us an idea of the battles to come? >> well yeah. absolutely. they have already -- they are at work already. so reverting to this 1931 law is part of the story. it would be michigan would go in being a pro choice state to being a felony, no exceptions

for rape or incest. every republican running for governor has endorsed that law. and my current legislature's already introduced bills to criminalize doctors and nurses and put them in jail for 10 years. this is how high the stakes are right here in this important battleground state. and i'm going continue to fight and veto every effort to make it harder for women. but this is a very scary moment. >> we've been talking throughout the morning that we all saw this coming. certainly that leak draft opinion. and this alongside it. what have you done in michigan in anticipation of this ruling? >> i filed a lawsuit a few months ago and lot of people said oh it is too early or it is not right or maybe this won't happen. i'm glad that i did. i'm waiting for our supreme court to take action. we are anticipating that we'll be having a briefing soon. but time is of the essence.

we have -- we won an injunction. one of our allies won aun injunction so the 1931 law is not in effect at this moment. women stihl have the same rights of yesterday but it is on appeal and that is why i'm hoping the supreme court will take my lawsuit up asap. >> do you think this changes the equation of the midterms as we march towards november? >> you know, i know that 70% of people in michigan support a woman having the right to make her own decision regardless o of how they feel individually, supporting that right for women. and so i do think that this is something that will bring a lot of people out and a lot of people will be very upset and angry about the state of jurisprudence in our nation and roll back of women's rights. so i anticipate that a lot of people will be activated by this. >> governor whitmer, thank you. >> thank you. joining us now nbc news politically director and "meet

the press" moderator, chuck todd. is this going change the equation of the midterms? democrats would like it to but what is the liked of that it's going to be front and center because of those trigger laws. so the political fallout to this, it's certainly going to help the democrats find a way to

sort of fire up the democratic base and fire up people on this issue, when i would say is it's not going to level the enthusiasm playing field, the right is fired up right now, believing they have a chance at winning control of congress, pushing back against biden, the economy, the economic -- the shaky economy we're in right now with inflation, they certainly have those advantages. but i think this is the beginning of a leveling of the playing field, if you will, politically, on the activism front and on the enthusiasm front. but again, i think it is more acute in places like michigan and wisconsin. and here's another thing, lester, to think about. you know, so for the longest time, politicians, elected officials have been able to duck specifics on the abortion issue. they've simply said i'm for roe or i'm against roe. if anything, it would be the democrats that would get sort of wedged, well, what about late term abortions, is it 20 weeks,

is it 24 weeks. there was not a debate on that front and republicans didn't have to think about those nuances. well, now sort of the roles are going to be reversed. and every candidate for every elective office for a legislative body is going to have to get specific. okay, what are you open to? that's where i think you're going to see probably more divides on the right than on the left. and you're going to see a lot of, look what we've seen with the gun debate. john cornyn tiptoed into gun regulations and the former president called him a rino. is that politically feasible in this republican party today? and those are the type of potential wedging and political fallout here. i think the political consequences that i think you'll see play out. i think republicans are not as unified at banning all abortions

as the conservative judges are pushing or even some of the most hard core sort elected state legislatures are pushing. but are they going to sort of run and hide on this? are those divides going to sort of roil republican party politics in a way we haven't seen before? i just think that's among the political consequences. look, there's a lot of consequences to this. but just on the political side of it, that's one i'm focused on. >> chuck, we've already heard some democrats trying to whip up folks with the idea that it may not stop here, that gay marriage could be a backup for another consideration. justice alito tried to address that in the opinion, saying, well, those other things don't involve a life. but is that going to be a genuine fear, is it one you think democrats will go to try to animate the base? >> oh, i think clarence thomas just handed them that opportunity, because in his concurring opinion, he put griswold, he put lawrence, those

cases that enshrine rights to contraception and enshrine same-sex marriage into law. so the fact is, it doesn't matter what alito wrote, thomas wrote that, and by the way, in the -- the first time we saw this sort of in this century, it was during the bush v. gore decision when the majority said this should not be precedent and it doesn't matter what you say, a ruling is precedent. you can say it shouldn't be, but that's not up to you. and so i think it's a legitimate -- i think it's going to be a legitimate fear, that those on the left bring up, because again, they're not making it up. justice thomas wrote it in his concurring opinion. and so i think it will be -- and there will be some state legislatures, i believe idaho already had some legislation in the works on contraception. and i think that is where i think this is going to roil conservative primary politics in ways that i don't think we fully

appreciate just yet. >> chuck, let me go back to pete williams, if i can. pete has some more information for us. >> yes, a couple of things, lester. first of all, on that question of the supreme court decision today casting doubt on other precedents like contraception, like same-sex marriage, the dissenters say today the majority can't have it both ways. either the logic of their decision, the dissenters say, the opinion the three of them say together, either the logic is that a right has to be deeply rooted in the tradition or the words of their dissent, don't worry, this won't count, it's one way or the other. they say this is hypocritical, the majority tells us not to worry, they say, but either the mass of the opinion is hypocrisy or additional constitutional rights are under threat, it can't be both, it's one or the other. also, lester, attorney general merrick garland is out with a statement today, he says the

just department strongly disagrees with the decision. it's a long statement. i think the key part of it is this. he says, women who reside in states that have banned access to comprehensive reproductive care must remain free to seek care in states where it's legal. he also says under first amendment principles people must remain free to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that's available in other states. and indeed one of the things the dissenters say here, lester, there's nothing in today's decision to prevent states from doing that. they worry that it's something that states might do. and the dissenters also say, you know, there's nothing in today's decision, while the majority speaks of leadleaving this up te states and returning this issue to the states, that's sort of how justice alito frames his decision, the dissent says there's nothing in this decision that would stop congress from

banning this nationwide, lester. >> hallie jackson has more on this decision. >> former president donald trump, lester, in many ways is central to the decision we're seeing today because it was of course the justices appointed under his administration, that he elected, that were confirmed during his time in office, that ultimately have proven to be the deciding factors here in overturning roe v. wade. i want to be clear about where we're getting this from, this is former president trump in an article, speaking apparently with fox news, in an article that fox news has posted online. so donald trump tells fox that this decision is following the constitution and giving rights back when they should have been given long ago, he says. he goes on to say this brings everything back to the states where it has always belonged. and when asked whether he feels he played a role in the reversal of roe, again, given the backdrop we just laid out, lester, the justices appointed by him under his administration, he said god made the decision. that's what he told fox. he also went on to say -- you

know, what his message would be to his own supporters who are pro-choice, keep in mind that the former president has hinted very strongly that he is going to run again in 2024 to try to recapture the presidency. so there obviously is a political component to the way that he is viewing this decision as well. and so when fox asked about what he would tell his supporters who are pro-choice, the former president said this, and i want to quote it here, he says, i think in the end this is something that will work out for everybody. i think it's incredibly unclear what the former president means by that, because this is a decision that carries the weight of the supreme court, lester, the highest court in the land that has now effectively overturned roe and in half the states, roughly, you will see abortion not become a legal procedure for women who are seeking those procedures. they will have to travel. that's just the fact of the matter that's laid out in front of us right now as we see today, lester. i this there's more questions to answer on that front too, and to explore, when you look at the landscape of that abortion rig

antiabortion and abortion access advocates are going to be making this something that they hope will motivate voters, that goes twice, right, for what we're going to see in 2024 in that presidential race, lester. >> and chuck, if you're with us here, we don't lose sight of the fact that this was a court that was shaped in tremendous ways by donald trump. >> oh, and mitch mcconnell. remember, you could argue that two of the three appointees that donald trump had were sort of done out of bounds, right? the first one was a vacancy that occurred basically with nearly a year left on barack obama's term. and then, you know, whatever precedent mitch mcconnell came up with to somehow say that couldn't be filled until after the presidential election, he didn't believe it, when ruth bader ginsburg died, essentially a month before the 2020 election. so, you know, i think there's a

lot of folks who feel as if gorsuch and barrett, two of the five on this opinion, were sort of there unfairly or sort of out of bounds. now, it technically was done within the bounds of the constitution. but was it ethical, how it was done? and i think that that's what's going to -- why there is i think such anger, more anger than normal. but i'll tell you, it is donald trump's legacy. i find his discomfort with his legacy on this to be fascinating. he really is sort of new to this. he's been on both sides of this issue. when he was a politician, when he tried to enter the political arena in the late '90s, he talked about how pro-choice he was, then all of a sudden he had to adopt this pro-life political language, he wasn't very good at it, there was a famous change he had with our former colleague chris matthews were he started

talking about, okay, if you're going to criminalize it, and he said, you know, you may have to charge the woman who has the abortion, and of course he ends up having to walk that back. but it was a reminder that he's just unfamiliar, he never was really deeply informed or passionate on the life side of things. and that reaction, that sort of word salad reaction he had on all this i think tells you he's likely very uncomfortable with this but doesn't know how to communicate it. you and i both know donald trump very well. there's a part of me -- the fact that he's not spiking the football, "i'm the one who overturned roe," tells you how uncomfortable he is, because he likes to spike the football and take a lot of credit for things when they're done by people he's appointed. and he's not on this one, which i think tells you how uncomfortable and really that this was not what he wanted to do on that front. >> interesting thought, yamiche

alcindor, we hear the term all the time, elections have consequences. will democrats run with that to really try and excite their voters? >> certainly democrats will be saying to voters, abortion is the thing to have on the top of your mind when you think about how rights can be taken away from you and why elections have consequences. former president trump made the case that he could be the republican nominee and that he would carry the torch of republican goals into the white house and into the supreme court. and that's how he got to be president of the united states with a lot of evangelicals telling me at the time they were very worried about former president trump. now you see him, as chuck just said, clumsily somewhat taking credit for this. but it's a credit he has to take, because he was the one who delivered this generational goal to conservatives, the culmination of so much work. i'll also just say that democrats of course will be making the case in the midterms for sure that their candidates

need to be elected in order to reverse this. >> yamiche, thank you very much. i want to let our viewers know, some of you will be leaving us here to join your midday local news, others will continue with the coverage on nbc news. it is noon here on the east coast. if you are just joining us, let me recap the extraordinary events of this historic day, just about two hours ago the u.s. supreme court overturned roe v. wade, a woman's right to abortion. the decision comes after almost 50 years and will lead to near total bans on the procedure in about half the states. the majority conservative supreme court overturned roe in a 5-4 vote. it is a victory for abortion opponents, many celebrating outside the court at this hour. but it is not a total surprise to supporters of abortion