>> schieffer: and welcome back now to "face the nation". here with our panel 0 kimberley strassel is a columnist for the wall street journal jeffrey goldberg writes for the atlantic jan crawford is our chief legal correspondence and we would like to welcome sherrilyn ifill to "face the nation", she is director president council of the naacp legal defense and educational fund and last but not least, white house correspondent for "the new york times", peter baker. >> i want to talk a little bit about civil rights and where we are on that and i am, i want to start by asking the panel, you saw the edmond perez bridge it has become kind of an icon in its own way in the whole civil rights movement. does anybody know who edmond perez is? >> >> yes. he was a senator. he was a confederate general and

he later led the ku klux klan in alabama. >> >> schieffer: he was the grand dragon. >> yes, he was. >> schieffer: of the ku klux klan in alabama. some of the things you don't know until you go to -- i had no idea -- >> is it marked? does it say that. >> schieffer: that is his name right across -- >> does it acknowledge anywhere -- >> schieffer: it just says edmond perez but it is one of those things up there and i think down through the years people had just forgotten. >> everybody there knows. >> schieffer: that's what i found out. >> #02: that's true why you should do something where something is happening to find out. where are we right now? jan you of course are a native of alabama, is alabama different than it used to be? >> oh, completely. and i thought, you know as congressman lewis said in the interview we can't lose sight of how much it has changed because that does a disservice when you think about how much people before us sacrificed for that change. but yet as we have seen on a number of civil rights issues

whether race, same-sex marriage, there still is a long way to go. but you also see in alabama, i have been there a couple of times in the last week, the same-sex marriage controversy you see great hope, you see people looking to advance change in the state of alabama, as you see across the nation, so while we have people sacrificing 50 years ago i think we still have that today. not only in alabama, but across the country. >> schieffer: well, you know i mean while edmond perez is still on that bridge, his name but judge ballard who is a probate judge in that courthouse, he got up saturday morning and went up and opened up the courthouse for us so we could conduct that interview and as often is in the south made coffee for everybody and when we came over there to do that interview as you saw which john lewis he came out on the front steps and said welcome. we are glad to have you. >> it is just incredible to think there are people alive today, our parents, their grandparents who couldn't drink

out of the same water fountains. >> that wasn't that long ago. >> to be able to keep in our head the two things, that we have made extraordinary progress but we have a really long way to go, and you really said it, bob, in the setup for this, when you said that these people walked across the bridge and they changed america for the better and i think that is what we have to understand. when we see these protests happening today about police violence against unarmed african-americans, it is going to make this country better, we are at a moment where change does have to happen, when you hear the fbi director as he did this week talking about implicit bias and talking about the way law enforcement does have bias that needs to be dealt with and there has to be training. we are at a moment when we have the opportunity to make real change and that's what civil rights does, it makes america better and we can't be afraid of the moment, as john lewis said it best we have to face it. >> it is nature of the problems have changed and in the comey speak got so much attention because it was the fbi director

saying police officers have bias, what is more interesting in the speech to me was him talking about why it is. he said we cannot reduce this into a debate about policing tactics we have to talk about why we have bias and that gets back to the fact that problems of change. the social and cultural anybody a lot of african-american communities across the country about violent crime and that was part of the speech saying how do we address those root causes? because this is part of the problem that people looking at each other, how do you actually deal with that? >> what was fascinating and what is fascinating to me is, how long this issue of police violence has kind of been really at the center of concern in african-american communities and how it has surfaced over the last year and everyone engaging it. what is interesting about comey's remarks it is the one thing that was omitted and that is so important if you talk to young people in communities all over, is about this issue of accountability. we still haven't heard any prominent law enforcement official saying, we understand the need for training.

we understand there has to be supervision. and when something goes wrong and a life is taken, an innocent life is taken there has to be accountability and i have talked to people all over this country that is what they are waiting to hear. that means -- >> schieffer: well, isn't that what comey was saying, though? i thought this speech, which made the front page of most newspapers, i found it may be didn't get as much attention as it should have. i mean, i think it is going to be remembered as a remarkable speech in the history of this country. >> it is fascinating if you look back at fbi history you have to place this in context the day after the i have a day speech, martin luther king i have a dream speech, the top aide to j edgar hoover wrote him a memo saying we must target martin luther king as the -- we mark him, we must mark him as the most dangerous negro of the future. i mean, that was the language that they used. so it is an incredible leap forward for the fbi and i would rather be uncharacteristically positive about this in the sense

that i am a journalist so i look for the negative obviously, but the fact that this was an fbi director talking about inherent bias or racial bias that is uncon shopable is quite a remarkable achievement, i i i think you are right on the edmond perez point it is remarkable we have a debate in this city about the name of the washington football team. but when you two to the south and you find on bridges and highways you have the names still of grand dragons of the ku klux klan, that's a remarkable thing. i find that remarkable. >> lewis is asked if we should change the name of that bridge and he suggested no, that it is important that people remember what happened. >> it is actually the point that was made earlier, what would be great is to have the plaque that says who edmond perez really was so people get the full context. >> right. >> i think that is part of the history of this country needs to be kind of explained in a way you know, there are all of these

places we have these encounters "the new york times" did a story about lynching where these things happened we leave kind, we need these notices so we understand later. >> it is important to remember that because we are negative as journalists public speech was important, landmark and said a lot of interesting things but go beyond the speech. where is the fbi today in terms of its own difficult verity? our colleague, our friend wrote a piece understanding there is still under five percent of the fbi is african-american at this point. >> and in 2015, i think part of it is we have a president who is african-american we think okay so diversity is more or less taken care of because of the guy at the top, it doesn't actually mean throughout, various layers of government, various layers of authority that that has, in fact, taken hold in fact, president obama is going to go to selma i think in a few weeks to bring up this issue, which is interesting for him because it is a topic where he has had some interesting back and forth on how out front to be on it. >> it is a catch-22 on diversity

and policing because i think the enter seen piece suggested and i think comey has said the fbi has a hard time at tracking young african americans to want to be in the fbi and the ferguson police department has a little difficulty attracting african-americans to want to be police officers so that is part of why changing and trance forming whole law enforcement really is an african-american communities is going to be important if you want to move that diversity. >> let me ask you about this awful thing that happened down in chapel hill where you had the three muslim student who were shot execution style by this boy. they are saying they are going to investigate it as a somehow it

was two muslim women in hijab and a muslim man that got the brunt of it i am not speculating or not trying to not speculate about it but clearly it is worthy of investigation. >> schieffer: here is another -- what business did he have being out there with a gun? i mean if he went out there with a baseball bat he may have hit one of them in the head, you know. but with guns like they are today, you just -- you know, and you kill six, seven people. >> we should be cautious that the justice department actually isn't investigating it as a hate crime. >> they are studying the predicate of the crime to see if it is a hate crime and taking slow steps to figure this out. there are three muslims killed

at the end of the day and i heard a muslim young person say our parents now feel they have to have the talk with us that african-american parent have with their children. you know to invoke that feeling, it is a very serious moment, and so i think we will see as the justice department goes through this investigation what really happened here, but i think there is enough there that we should be deeply concerned about the implications of this killing. >> there is also in alabama in the last week an indian grandfather visiting his son who was studying in huntsville was beaten thrown down and now hospitalized now of course law enforcement there fired the officer, it was videotaped. so obviously these are affects people across the board. >> schieffer: we are going to take a little break and come back and talk about some of the other issues of the day in a moment. >> ♪ ♪

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today the chief justice of the supreme court wrote a letter to the 67 probate judges saying, don't do this. you have to follow the state law which says marriage is between a man and a woman, and do not listen to this federal judge. so it created a situation in alabama where you had this patchwork, some judges started issuing licenses some refused, there was some clarification toward the end of the week, so now most of the counties, including the populated counties, the big centers like birmingham huntsville, mobile, montgomery, they are issuing marriage licenses about three quarters of the state, but you have the chief justice of the supreme court who said we don't have to follow a federal judge so it is harkened back to the days with, when we started this program off, you know, with george wallace defying a court order, standing in the schoolhouse door of alabama so i think it does show that demagogues are alive and well in the great state of alabama. >> in dallas county where i was yesterday, judge ballard told me that what he is doing right now he is issuing the licenses but he is discontinued performing

any marriage ceremonies. >> and that is what most judges are doing. that is what most judges are doing. >> and of course the supreme court is going to resolve this issue. they are hearing arguments. >> maybe. >> in april. >> in june and justice thomas in the court's decision refused to get involved on monday. they had an order refusing, saying the court has signaled it is not going to allow these bans to stand but it has created just a controversy -- >> how they could reverse that -- having allowed so many states -- >> i agree alabama is the 37th state, i think it would be very difficult. >> >> schieffer: think about how the court -- >> we could hope they would resolve it but they haven't until now and in. i would argue everything happening in alabama is precisely because the supreme court has just completely punted on this issue go back to 2013, they had two cases extent to them, straight out one that would have decided this question of state's rights and gay marriage they said the people didn't have standing and refused to rule on the merits and then

they issued this equally confusing case that had to do request the defense of marriage act, the federal law that just was all over the place in terms of legal arguments, and it has allowed all of these federal courts to make their own decisions about whether or not states have the right to do these bans or not and it has led thomas confusion, so now they are going to hear cases from four states in april and hopefully will make a decision in june, but there are a lot of people watching this, thinking they are going to try to split the baby and again -- >> i don't know. >> i think last year the, what the supreme court wanted or two years ago to be clear, they didn't want to get out ahead of the country, they wanted some things to happen in the states to kind of figure out where things would wind up, so things have happened in the states so now we have got, as you said, 37 states where a marriage equality has moved forward, and so in a way, it is kind 0 it has kind of set the stage for the supreme court at least probably a bare majority of the supreme court to not look like they are getting out ahead of the country to

kind of move into this issue in a way that puts them squarely in the center of it. >> you heard a legal motion over two years ago. >> that's right. you heard saying we are ready for marriage equality. >> in a way, it is not been pretty and you are right it has left, you know, people like this judge kind of, you know, sitting there with this ruling, and as i understand it, there is also an alabama supreme court action that is going forward at the same time, so it has created confusion, but in terms of what the supreme court seemed to want two years ago, i think this is what they wanted. i think they wanted the stage to be set. >> i find it very difficult to imagine that justice kennedy, he he has kind of been the key architect of these decisions over the last 15 years, is going to reverse course now. i mean he sees that as his legacy. >> i think he is very ambivalent on this, which is part of the winter decision on doma he actually didn't want to take a position so i think it is very possible you get in a situation where, for instance, the court maybe rules this is a state's rights issue but other states have to recognize each other's

marriages. i think you could get a mixed ruling on this. >> schieffer: jeffrey and peter, let's talk a a little bit about this resolution that the president sends up to the congress looking for a unified front -- >> clarity -- >> and the supreme court -- [laughter.] >> schieffer: am i wrong in thinking this whole thing may blow up in his face and leave it looking more ununified than ever? >> right. he set up a very interesting resolution. few presidents have proposed to restrain their own power but he said the resolution says you the congress give me the power to do what i am already done doing and have for since months but a three-year time limit and they will rule out what he calls enduring ground combat operations. now, in some ways, that is a restriction, no president, lyndon johnson didn't send up gulf of tonkin resolution with a three-year time limit but with that he was leaving in place 2001 authorization for force

that still allows him to do anything, or his successor what he wants to do, so congress is in the middle. >> democrats are saying this is way too permissive and the conservatives are saying this is way too constrained you are not really fighting this war and you don't have a consensus at this point. >> you a very bizarre situation in which you have some republicans who complain as a matter of course that the president should seek their approval for taking military action complaining the president isn't seeking enough approval for enough military action. and you also have a situation in which, in this this is keene, akin to the administration asking congress to give it to the, give it the the power to collect taxes. >> it is collecting taxes, and so the administration wants kind of a theoretical debate in congress in real-time. we are already fighting isis on multiple fronts, and you have this bizarre, really bizarre debate on something that is already happening as if it is not happening. >> i don't think it is theoretical what the administration want. i think what they want is to be able to say they have partners,

to not be hanging out there by themselves. >> political -- >> i don't think it is just political cover. i think it is exactly what you described, you are getting it from every side, people say you haven't asked us so now we are asking, that's what you said you wanted. yes, we are doing it but we are saying it is going to be limited. people don't want us out there forever. i think it is a way even if it doesn't show unity it is a way of kind of spreading this around. >> people come out of this saying look, i am the executive, i am dealing with this problem while these people in congress are arguing among themselves about these fine points of principle so he could come out looking rather decisive, i think. >> schieffer: here is the part that bothers me. and i will prepass this by saying i certainly don't want to see the president of the united states put 0 on a military uniform. no president of the united states has ever put on a military uniform, and there is a reason for that, and we all want to keep it that way, as far as i know. but after that jordanian pilot was killed in that horrible way here you saw the king put on his

fatigues, he executes two prisoners that they were holding in jordan and launched bombing raids. we have another american hostage killed and congress and the president and the president goes off to california to do a fund raiser and some other stuff and the congress goes on vacation and they say yeah, we will debate what to do about all of this. but we are going to do it as long as it fits into the schedule. there is no reason to do anything out of the ordinary. >> i am sure i am overstating -- >> the king of juror than is the leader of the country named after his family so -- >> in force in the weeks before they intended to use it. what is happening here is sort of a theoretical, political, it is important but it is not going to change what is happening on the ground. the president already made clear that pass or not he is going to continue doing the exact same thing. >> this is political cover it reminds me of the syria thing a

few years ago, the president said don't cross my red line and bashar el-assad did and the president said tell me if i can do anything about it, because he didn't want to act on his own. he wanted them to have to take responsibility as well for what happened, and, you know, the republicans, if they wanted to be smart here, what they ought to do is just call his bluff and not take this up at all. i mean, he is already operating under an authorization that he claims gives him all the authority -- damage. >> that's why they are taking it up. that's why they are taking it up except i think their goal in the end is use it as a debate to try to force the president to actually elucidate his strategy. >> schieffer: how it is perceived outside -- >> i am not sure that this is going to affect how we are perceived in the sense that we are who we are. we are a nation that has the rule of law. i think that there are a lot of people who perceive us badly for not following the rule of law in previous about a engagements.

so the extent there is a debate and a discussion, we will be revealed and i think that is not going to affect our view outside of the country. what it is going to do is organization us in the country to call the question that you have been asking, these terrible things are happening. do we want to do this or do we not want to do this? >> something we always forget because we are sitting here is that in the greater middle east, people understand what obama is doing. he is killing terrorists in eight or ten different locations right now as we speak. and we often sort of lose sight of that fact, in part because of the way he so hesitant to talk about it in grand terms and because of these debates in congress. but he has been killing terrorists for years now and he is doing it whether or not congress lets him do it. >> he has been criticized for it because of the drone strikes and so forth so even when he does it he gets criticized for it. that is part of the reason -- >> this is less about a legal restriction on the president than a political statement of intent. this is how i perceive this war to be. it will be restrained. it will not be on the ground and he is trying to set the parameters in effect for his successor right a three-year

time limit, which the next president could ignore but a three-year time limit means the president will at least have to question one year into his presidency. >> schieffer: all right. we have to wrap her up right there. thank you. this is all very interesting for me, and i hope it was for others. i am sure it was. and we will be back to talk a little bit about cbs newsman bob simons. >>

>> schieffer: in a news organization like ours, you get to know some of your colleagues well and others not at all. you are in one place, they are in another, so for me, that is how it was with bob simon who died last week. he came to work here in 1967 two years before i did but we never really worked together until 1982, when we covered the falklands war together in argentina. it was there i really came to appreciation just how good he was, in a medium where we tell the story so much of the time with pictures, he knew how to make the pictures more meaningful with words. there is an old saying that one picture is worth 1,000 words but

i always that that depended on the words. bob always shows the rights words and he was never afraid to go where the news was to find them, that's what the good ones do. and he was a good one. bob's final "60 minutes" piece airs tonight on cbs. > ♪ engine rev. ♪ i obviously haven't slowed down at all! what do you think?

>> schieffer: that's it for us today. we will see you right here next sunday on "face the nation". captioning sponsored by cbs

saw as the plane came down. good evening, i'm ann notarangelo. and i'm brian hackney. kpix 5's christian hartnett is at the skywest golf course in hayward. he says the plane missed slamming into some homes. christian. live - moving live shot) it's amazing to see how little time the pilot had to make the this plane made an emergency landing. >> the skywest golf course in hayward is where the plane went down, the plane just missed homes. >> -- >> reporter: it is amazing how close he made it. just over here is the runway for executive airport. they take off this way and over our head here. if we swing over here this is the fairway where this