good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight with the supreme court back in session, we'll get an assessment of what to expect this term from ucla constitutional law professor adam winkler who's written on the supreme court decisions]x a author of "gun fight: the battle over the right to bear arms in america." workplace discrimination, redistricting and free speech and the internet and decision on voting rights may be forthcoming, as well and then a conversation with south african opera star pauline malefane and earned international acclaim. the company now on the first u.s. tour stopping here in los angeles to perform mozart's "the magic flute." those conversations coming up right now.

♪ ♪ the first monday in october marked the start of the new supreme court term and in just 24 hours they agreed not to overturn lower court decisions on same-sex marriage.

five cases they kicked to the curb essentially. nondecision decision with far reaching implications. other issues of the court to address this term is voting rights, free speech and the internet and workplace hw discrimination. joining us now to assess the drek of this court, adam winkler, author of "gun fight tmplt battle over the right to bear arms in america" and a constitutional law scholar at the ucla school of law. professor winkler, good to have you on this program. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to grab my blue card to get the cases right. i'll set them up and you talk about them. your sense of what the last term says in the story line about the roberts court? >> last year was a very interesting term for the roberts court. chief justice john roberts is chief jus fis for ten years, and he came in promising a lot of narrow, unanimous decisions, reaching consensus and keeping the court out of the political spotlight. the first nine years we didn't see a lot of that. we saw big, bold rulings and

citizens united that freed up corporations to spend on politics but last year é was remarkable u remarkable unanimity. is this just a blip or is this the beginning of sort of the real achievement of the consensus approach that he promised? >> there was some consensus and unanimous decisions and also a great deal of division on this court thinking of some of the pieces written by sotomayor, some of the dissents written by ginsbebeginginsbur ginsburg, this court is still split 4-4, 1 in the middle sometimes, kennedy. >> i think that's absolutely right and many of the unanimous decisions of last term were unanimous in result and not reasoning and you saw very significant divides between the liberal bloc of the court and the conservative bloc of the court. >> yeah. we talked about john roberts and

what7u this is saying and the court is starting to look like ten years into his term. route bader ginsburg appears to be in great shape and the progressives saying, please, retire now, please give president obama a chance to replace you with somebody like roberts was when he came on, still is young, she seems to resist that and said i'm going to be here until i'm here -- until i'm gone, rather. whats your read of 1this? >> she is going nowhere. many including myself is she needs to consider stepping down. if there's a republican president an enthat republican president, a rand paul or a marco rubio replaces her, it hurts her legacy but i think route bader ginsburg, the battle she fought, you have to be an optimist to think you can overcome thousands of years of pay tri ar i can and i think she is an optimist.

let's hope she's right. >> to the next term, let's throw cases out that this court is going to hear and you can just kind of top line them as the months roll along we'll follow and see what they say about the cases. he's start with young versus u.p.s. >> this is an interesting case, and one of the big themes of this year and the roberts court will be how to address discrimination. the court has three or four really important discrimination cases on the docket and this court has generally been hostile to those who claim to be discriminated against on the basis of their race or their sex or their religion. and all of those issues will be on the table this year. this young case versus u.p.s. peggy young was a delivery driver for u.p.s. and she got pregnant and she asked to be put on lightweight load, lightweight work and something that u.p.s. does for some categories of temporarily disabled workers such as those injured on the job and something they deny to people injured off the job and they said that her basic hw inability to work was something

that happened off the job and so she wasn't entitled to light work. she sued claiming that's a violation of the pregnancy termination act. >> what's behind the move of the roberts court to -- how do i put this? shift the burden of proof to the victimized instead of the victimizer? >> i think the court is committed to making it harder to prove victimization claims. the world view is that discrimination is something we're back. chief justice roberts said the way to get beyond discrimination is to stop discriminating on the basis of race and talking about affirmative action and some of the claims are that the claims are generally frivolous and we should make it harder for people to prove that the discrimination claims are genuine and,y meritorious. >> elonis versus united states. >> tony elonis posted on

facebook all of these very hostile, angry, vile threats, threatened his ex-wife, threatened his employer, fbi agents and even a group of kindergarten students and being outrageous online and prosecuted and he claims that his facebook posts were an exercise of his freedom of speech. and the court's going to have to confront this question. internet speech is often very vile. when does it go too far and become a threat to someone or just hyperbole and exaggeration? you know, the justices generally when they approach speech issues are afraid of killing speech. i don't know if you read the posts and comments, maybe chilling would be a god thing. >> this case involves rap lyrics as you know. mr.rv elonis saying basically se of what he was posting the rap lyrics of eminem and if eminem can say it on a record and he can't quote eminem on facebook? >> right. well, look, the same eminem rap

if you're doing in staples center sounds like one thing. if you're confronting the president of the united states with a gun in your hand it sounds like something else. and so those kinds of context really does matteru@ but he was kind of -- he even wrote posts about whether the supreme court would say that the posts are protected by the freedom of speech. >> now they're in the middle of this in some ways. alabama conference versus state of alabama. >> this is a troublesome case in part because it raises an issue that the roberts court, one of the legacies may be the cutting back of voting rights act, maybe the most important piece of civil rights legislation in american history and two years ago in a case out of shelby county, alabama, the court gutted one of the mayin provisions of the voting rights about and the question is bl the remaining provisions of the act will be read broadly to protect minority voters or read very narrowly to leave them on their own and alabama packed as many

minority voters as they could into a few districts making so there's certain safe african-american seats but the democrats were wiped out in all the other seats and the question is, can alabama pack all of these minority voters and claim that, hey, we were just doing it to pack the democrats? >> what's behind the hostility that this court does, in fact, seem to have to voting rights? >> well, there's a variety of motives we could suggest. if i wanted to give a favorable one i would say in the view of a lot of justices we have come a tremendous way in the racial heritage in america and toward racial justice and the president obama's election, first african-american president and re-election probably only fortifies their view that it's timea[ that we get beyond race. it's not a few phenomenon in the supreme court. back in the 1880s, the supreme court ruled on a case striking down a civil rights law and said, hey, it is about time that african-americans stop becoming the special favorite of the law.

>> what's fascinating about this and we have had this conversation before on radio, and it's still fascinating to me that with a court that had nine white males on it and certainly not true for the entire history given the point you've just?p me but with a court of nine white males we passed some of the most progressive civil rights and human rights and voting rights and women's rights legislation. now the court has more diversity and elt nisty and history on it and we're right back vis-a-vis the law where we were fighting issues we thought we won years ago. >> it's really a sad irony. the court has tremendous diversity compared to the past. there's women, catholics, jewish justices. among the five justices that make up the majority in the roberts case, four conservatives and anthony kennedy and generally leans conservative, their world view is not that

diverse and i think that their .(jju blindness.ending towards we need completely color blind and not recognize the fact that some people had a harder time in life and overcome special advantages because of their identity. >> one more in here, i think, but some squarely put the onus back on congress but this supreme court is saying as you're the expert here but my read and some of their decisions basically is here's how we rule on the law. if you want to change this, congress, do your job. so a lot of this is kicked back to congress. many of us don't have hope for congress to take up voting rights and et cetera. any number of the cases to cite as examples but what's your read about the burden it's shifting to congress to correct the stuff the court views a certain way? >> we have seen a lot of this phenomenon. i mentioned the shelby county case that struck down a major provision of the voting rights act. the court reached a much more narrow decision and roberts said to congress, you need to revise

this to be acceptable. congress couldn't act. there's a question of whether john roberts is naive about politics saying congress can come in and change this problem and solve this problem or really smart about politics and understands that congress]$ is t going the solve the problem and the court can say, hey, congress can revise this and change it if it doesn't like and don't blame us the supreme court, blame congress. >> you mentioned the jews on the supreme court. there's a case of israel i find funny. not funny but interesting. >> zibatoski versus kerry. >> it's an interesting case of passports and what happens is zibatoski was born in jerusalem in israel and he wants the passport to say he was born, native country of origin is israel. there's a federal law passed by congress saying that, if you're born in jerusalem, your passport should say israel and every

who has the right to control that policy and that's the president. the congress passed the law saying you have to do this. does the president have the authority to just disregard that? >> should be a fast tating term. every one of them is but this one particularly fascinating in the roberts court. tenth anniversary of the chief justice and we'll see. professor winkler, good to have you on the program. >> thanks for having me. coming up, opera star pauline malefane. stay with us.

the distance between the south african townships of apartheid to opera houses around the world is one that pauline malefane traveled with grace and artistry. co-founder of the isango ensemble and created a company known for groundbreaking african reinterpretations and the company is known, now i should say on the first u.s. tour and can be seen at the broeg stage here in santa monica of mozart's "the magic flute." let's take a look. ♪c÷ ♪

>> a bit of history for me tonight. i'm honored over the course of my career to talk with and be friends with so many great south african artists. i think of mary mckeba. i think so many great south africans, so many africans. but this is the first time i've talked to an opera star from that part(& of the world. how brought up in south africa are you turned on to opera? >> it's probably the first time you've talked to an ordinary person. >> no. i think -- >> because the people you have mentioned extraordinary people. >> well, so are you. you're doing -- your work is wonderful. we'll talk about that in a second. how did you fall in opera, though? >> to be honest, i grew to love

opera. where i grew up, we -- i had no knowledge of opera. >> where is where? >> in capetown. >> love capetown. >> yes. and what we knew or what we still know is quiet. and traditional singing. and so, through school we were taken to the opera house for a day outing. and we got to see an opera. excuse me. and i have to say that was not a memorable experience f;r me because i completely forgot about it because to me it was -- it was quite an odd, you know, set-up situation. coming up from -- coming out from the township with no electricity, no running water and going into an opera house with big lights, chandeliers,

carpets and, you know, sofas. i was like, where am i? and then, you know, watching these people who are supposed to be talking to each other but singing to each other, so i sort of put that memory at the back of my stg in the school choir. i remember i did my metric which is -- metric. i don't know what it is here. where you finish and then you go to university. finish high school. i finished high school and i went to register for local administration, a degree, and i spent the whole year going up and down, up and down. didn't know what i was doing and seemed to be lost and a friend of mine came to me and said, why don't you come and addition. there's auditions. they want people to sing in the chorus. i said, yes.

but i've been singing all my life. why would i want to go sing, you know, there? he said, you get paid for it. so i said, i'm on it. so count me in. so i went -- i went to audition, but, you know, because of the ackground, ow, because of the you know, education, education is the key. >> sure. >> and so even though i auditioned and got in but i had the mentality i need to go to school and, you know, study for something that is maybe sensible. >> your parents expected that, as well? >> exactly. excuse me. and so, i disco>mred that -- i found out that the university of capetown has a music department and so i went to audition there. so at the same time while i was at this opera house, i was studying, as well. so during -- >> sure. >> -- the same time. but when i told my parents that, i'm, you know, i'm living the

local administration rubbish, they said, where are you going? what are you doing? what are you going to do? i told them i'm going to do music. and they were not happy with me. >> yeah. >> my dad was not happy with me at all. >> yeah. >> he's the money person, the business person. >> sure. >> what are you going to do? how are you going to live? how are you going to make a living out of yourself? you know? with singing. i said, i don't know. i didn't know. i really honestly did not know and funny enough i did not know what opera was. i had forgotten i had seen an opera while i was still in high school but because at the time, you know, we needed, you know, i needed money. >> yeah. >> you know, i needed basically money. >> yeah. >> and everyone was working and everyone was doing stuff. and so, you know, i just said i'll give it a go. >> turned into a career. >> and it turned -- >> your calling, in fact. >> i'm loving it.

i don't see myself doing anything else besides what i'm doing. >> isn't it funny how you find your way into your purpose? >> yes. >> the route in is different for all ofs. >> exactly. i was talking to a -- i have a 11 year. i have a 16 and 11 and 4-year-old. >> right. >> and the middle child, she loves singing. ea1zez them, they love singing and the middle child i found one day and she was crying and people do not understand, mommy, that i want to be a singer. i want to sing. i want to go to america. i want to go to england. i want to go to "britain's got talent." i sat down with her. i said, it does not happen the same to all of us. you know? all those programs that you see, there's only one person who wins and other people find ways of making, you know, show that they get what they're passionate about. >> because you win doesn't mean you're a star anyway. >> exactly, yes. >> give me -- my time with you is so limited and i could talk

with you for so long because i'm fascinated with your back story but give us an idea for those of us coming to see "the magic flute," that clip gave it a good sense but what are we going to see? what are we going to ufhear? >> you are going to see 25 or 26 young, talented south africans and some not so young like me but very talented, very passionate and love, you know, telling good stories. we took mozart which is a classic, you know. and we injected it with south african culture, feel, rhythm, music. you know? you know? there's li. we got away with the traditional instruments. the violins and everything else.

>> you got marumbas. >> we play and act and sing and we do everything ourselves. you won't get there and find me singing and disappearing to, you know, my dressing room which i share with 15 other girls. and no. you know? i'm on stage, play, go out,gs g changed, go back in and sing, go out, change, get into my basic costume. go and play and accompany someone else. everyone is on the stage until the curtain goes down. >> i have to imagine this is without -- i would say without question but i don't want to be too bold but to my mind might be the most high energy version of "the magic flute" i have ever seen. the energy on this thing is unbelievable. the audience has to love it because the acting, the singing is beautiful but the energy in the room is so palpable.

>> it is all about the energy because, you know, you have to give energy to the person on stage. you know? because the person on stagefogw relies on the energy that's coming from the wings. because, you know, when you go on stage, you get nervous. you get stage fright and you need the energy of the 25, 26 people so, you know, energy, that's pumped throughout the performance. even though it's just so overwhelming but it's nice. it's fun.it's vibrant. it's lots of music. lots of dancing. but also, you know, the story is there and the music is there. >> so you only here in l.a. thankfully and also going to new york and traveling between now and the end of the year. >> yes. the next stop now is baltimore. >> baltimore? >> and then boston, and boston new york and then we go home. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> by the time you get back home, you will have away from home how long total? >> nine weeks. >> nine weeks? long time to be away from home. >> but it's a joyous time. it's been fantastic.

i cannot imagine, you know, who wouldn't be here. you know? traveling america. it's enormous. >> what do you make -- i have a minute to go here. what do you make of -- i know the audiences love you. what do you make of american audiences as you perform around the world? what do you make of the american audience and receiving this play? >> it's fantastic, very exciting and each city is different. you know? the way it's received. you know,8e sometimes you get reactions to, you know, places that you don't normally get reactions to and it's just fantastic. i think the overall part is at the end when they just stand up. you know? if they were told to get up. they just stand up and they cheer and they whoop and, you know, it is just amazing. it really is. it's a very good audience. >> we are excited to have you here in the states. >> thank you. >> a moment ago, here in l.a. once again and then boston and baltimore and then to boston and wrap up in new york before they head back home to the lovely

city of capetown, africa. love capetown. i could live in capetown. >> you have to come. >> i'll come back again. congratulations on a wonderful run. >> thank you. >> and we look forward to having you back on our show again when you have another project. >> next year. thank you. >> "the magic flute" is the play. that's our show for tonight. thank youá7 for watching. as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit pbs.org. join me next time for a conversation with jose bargas and shena e. that's next time.

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