there morning, my question in the battle of black church versus voter suppression, who wins? 43 years after stonewall, they are here, they are queer and we're getting used to it. plus, supreme decision. we don't know exactly when, we don't know exactly how, but the ruling on health care is coming soon. but, first, the president of the united states is the most powerful man in the world. and president obama is getting his voltron up. good morning, i'm melissa harris-perry. we await news out of cairo where the panel overseeing the first egyptian election since the outsting of hosni mubarak are expecting to make a decision. crowds are awaiting the news,

expected to come at any moment. what remains to be seen is if egypt's new president will have any power, the ruling military power resolved the presidency to near figure head status. we'll bring you news as it develops throughout the morning. right now, i want to bring the focus back to our shores and presidential power here in america. the obama for america re-election campaign is driving home the point we're living in a post w world, critics might say he's just wining or avoiding his own fate. let's face is, president obama walked into the oval office, freshly vacated by an administration that concentrated an unprecedented level of executive power, the election for it's was by and large exhausted. calling for change, president obama campaigned on the promise

to turn back the clock assan early critic of the powerful executive branch. >> you know, there has been a tendency on the part of this administration to try to hide behind executive privilege every time there is something a little shaky taking place, and i think, you know, the administration would best be served by coming clean on this. >> in march of 2007, senator obama was leading on an issue important to progressive americans, his statement was a response to the 2006 mid term elections, when democrats took back both chambers of congress. that mid term win was the result of one overarching theme, opposition to the war in iraq and by the fall of 2006, most americans understood there were no weapons of mass destruction, no broad coalition of the willing. there was just a war bent administration with unprecedented authority. granted to them, by terrified citizens in the aftermath of september 11th.

by 2006, voters expected to bring in the bush presidency and showed it with the clear referendum against the war. how did president bush respond? with a surge, sending 20,000 additional soldiers to iraq. in turn, then senator obama promised to be the candidate to bring more accountability and cooperation back to washington. a hard job for a man who is as spiring to ascend to the seat which had amassed such vast power. he really did work toward this goal at the start of his first term. seeking compromise and collaboration on the affordable health care act. the president brought all interests to the table, literally. to negotiate the health care reform publicly. but he bought -- he built a coalition in response to violence in libya and bipartisan bargaining on spending. this week, when president obama exerted executive privilege for the first time in his term, critics dug up the statement and decried the return of the

imperial presidency. while others were quick to point out, president clinton used executive privilege 14 times and president bush six, we could easily go back a lot further and see the precedent of exercising executive power. why the practice of refusing to release internal documents or presenting evidence related to the executive branch is not a constitutional issue, it is as old as the republic. president thomas jefferson used executive privilege to get out of testifying in the conspiracy trial of his own vice president, aaron burr. it seemed a little more nefarious than our current president's attempt to kir coki come vent the affect to protect eric holder. we expect paurnl political agendas to be jammed through the legislature no matter what, and now it's our turn, right? you didn't hear too many

supporters grumbling when the president presented executive order on immigration reform or when the president stood out front for same-sex marriage. yes, it's time to take off the gloves. but these days, that's only if your side is in that seat of power. not because deliberative democracy is served by unilateral decision making. with me, constitutional law professor and washington bureau chief of yahoo! news. thank you, i appreciate you being here. >> thank you for having us. >> i tried to lay out a claim, part of what happened with president obama's presidency is an attempt to think about reigning back in executive power by being a president of compromise, bringing folks to the table, and the fact is a lot of folks in his own party had an aggressive anti sort of compromised stance. we won the white house, the house, let's get going on our agenda. is that kind of let's just go, we've got the majority good for

us as a country in general, or ought we be focusing on compromise even if it's ineffective or inefficient? >> barack owe yama as we've seen as a candidate is never one to sort of charge the barricades. in fact, i think the 2007 clip that you played of obama on larry king that his critics put out this week, he's somewhat reserved about it, although he was clearing saying, he didn't come out with a very specific argument, because he envisioned himself one day at that point being president and wanted to reserve all the rights of abusing executive privilege when he got there. i think he was a little guarded in that clip, rather than it being sort of this exculpa tore that he was once railing against executive privilege. >> this is not a constitutional issue. there's no line that says the executive has the right to hold this kind of information. this has grown up over our

tradition as a people. >> it is a constitutional issue, but not ennumb rated within the constitution. to drive that wedge, there is no provision in the constitution that says executives shall have executive privilege over matters that relate to national security or so forth, so on. we look at article two for that, that's the article that lays out the powers of the executive. however, as you noted this has grown up, da tra decision, not just tradition, but supreme court precedent. the supreme court in the 1974 care, united states versus nix ob, says the separation of powers means there is a qualifies executive privilege that flows out of the basic structure of the constitution. the principles, even if not the text of the constitution, mean there is executive privilege. >> you bring up nixon. i want to pause. it feels like a lot of our angst is, i want to play what carney said. he's playing the president in a very particular moment, saying

this guy doesn't invoke executive privilege very much. let's listen for a second. >> in fact, president obama has gone longer without asserting the privilege than any president in the last three decades. >> so we've got the white house press secretary saying the president has withheld more than anybody else, not used his particular set of powers and authority, unlike, for example, his democratic predecessor who used it 14 times, that 14 times or in the nixon moment, the fact is on the other side of that, there was a lot -- a lot that the american public needed to know, should have know. >> right, there are competing goods. on the one hand, there is this idea that was stated by the court in the nixon case, the president needs to be able to have conversations that are candid and confidential to his closest advisers and if there is public transparency, it changes as we all know, the ways in

which we talk to each other. on the other hand this is the highest elected owe firvel in the land, we want public accountability and transparency, those are the two competing goods. the way the supreme court has reconciled those goods is to say this is not absolute immunity. in the nixon case, as we see, nixon had to hand over tapes. clinton loses, even on a civil matter. when it's criminal or civil, there are times that the qualified privilege is overcome? >> will that happen with fast and furious? >> we've seen a lot of claims. the claim is made, the court kicks them out, a deal is made. i don't know that there is going to be a deal here. i would imagine negotiations aren't entirely done. right now it seems politically this issue is playing really well for both bases. speaker bayner coming out and saying i've been involved with chairman isiah every day on this, every step of the way and this is an important issue, and

hear the nra is making this vote that they are going to score, so a lot of republican members want this. the right-wing blogosphere is totally into this scandal for a long while. it xwits aexcites and energizes. and then nancy pelosi comes out because of what eric holder was trying to do with voter suppression issues in certain states. she rallies here base by doing that. so fitz playing well for both bases, it's hard to see where people will come in the middle. >> in an election year, a fight can be really productive. a good enemy is sometimes a good way to deflect onneer side from one's own position. we'll talk more about fast and furious but the general question of executive power and executive privilege and up next, we'll add a couple more people to the stable to explain how the power of the presidency can be awfully popular. standing ovation popular. [ female announcer ] did you know the average person smiles

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when president obama walked into the national association of latina elected and appointed officials conference friday, he received a 45-second standing ovation. i thought it would be fun to show the whole thing, but we have a show to do. he did have this to say. >> to those who were saying congress should be the one to fix this, absolutely. for those who say we should do this in a bipartisan fashion,

absolutely. my door has been open for 3 1/2 years. they know where to find me. >> a 45-second standing ovation. the president received a welcome that warm because he exercised his presidential power. serving both as a pragmatic policy initiative and really a savvy campaign move. perhaps it just comes with the territory when an incumbent is running for re-election and the skeptical assumption that politics trumps all decisions or maybe the president is exerting his power because he sees it can affect change. with me is professor of law, and washington bureau chief of yahoo! news and nbc contributor. criticism around the president invoking executive privilege around fast and furious, there is a great deal of enthusiasm, among progressives and in this

case, ma latino elected officials for the president using executive power for the purpose of moving forward this dream act that couldn't get through congress. running for re-election, do you go ahead and flex the muscles, get your voltron muscles up? make a big robot that can defend the universe? or write back and say i am doing the best i can, but i have congress that's my enemy? >> no, you don't. this president in particular tried to do the latter too often, and he has -- he even said i've been here 3 1/2 years, waiting for you to work with he mchl you haven't worked with me, he's at a place where not only from an administration stand point, but from a campaign standpoint, he needs to show what he's done. it's time for him to flex. this move over the fast and furious move was a better political move. those on the right would say, while we don't agree, we won't

argue the politics. >> we need to realize there is a ren why the president is using every tool at his disposal to have an efficient government that is inclusive of all americans, because congress isn't doing their job, if congress were to moved for example around the dream act, the president wouldn't have to do what he had to do to help the young people. >> they just moved to decline. no thanks. we prefer not actually. >> on the one hand, i love this, because i agree with the dream act position, but i started the show by saying, however, in 2006, when we had a mid term that put in this congress, we are against the war and the president's surge, i was amongst the group of people, that is an overreach of executive power. i'm wondering, do we really care about the process, or are we just interested in our side winning by whatever means necessary? >> i agree this is playing

politically a lot better than substantively, it's not the dream act. the president himsz said he couldn't by executive order enact the dream act. this is dream act like, and a? pretty segues. the threat of deportation goes away, but there is no access for funding for young kids to go to college. >> no path to citizenship. >> which is the ultimate goal for many who support this. so i do think -- politically, really smart and it probably has its biggest impact. i would argue that it's not just a stalemated congress that forced the president to have this. it was also the economy and what's happening in europe and what we're seeing happening in the middle east. so much out of the president's control, that if there is something he can control, he has to seize the opportunity to do that, because so much of his re-election prospects hang on factors that he cannot control. >> greek voters, right? it's interesting. you know, the republicans seem

back on their theelz about how to define this in terms of power. so let's listen, because i want to listen first to representative ben quail on "fox & friends." i want to listen to romney at the same conference on thursday. they have two very different takes on whether this is too much power or not enough. >> yet another unconstitutional power grab by this administration, because we have separation of powers, coequal branches of government. immigration laws are supposed to be written in congress, passed by the congress, signed by the president. we don't have an imperial presidency where he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. >> last week, the president finally offered a temporary measure. he called it a stopgap measure that he seems to think will be just enough to get him through the election. after 3 1/2 years of putting every issue from loan guarantees to his donors to cash for clunkers, putting all those

things before immigration, now the president has been seized by an overwhelming need to do what he could have done on day one, but didn't. >> republicans aren't sure, is it an imperial presidency with a power grab, or he was just busy dealing with clunker cars before he dealt with immigration? >> i think the answer has to be it's not just about one side or the other, that there are transpartisan values here, constitutional values, about the operation of powers that have to remain in impact and one of the other things so misleading about the debate, everyone talks as if article 2, the executive branch powers, is just a lucid document that lays out every presidential power, it's very short, incredibly abstract, spongy document. one of the things going back to executive privilege, i'm very excited about the partisan fight, because both sides have a

dog in the fight now, it could get to the supreme court without either side backing down and settling it. the supreme court really needs to give us guidance about what executive privilege is or the executive powers are. so. >> although i'm so nervous about this supreme court. >> that's the thing, melissa. this supreme court knows whatever rule it sets down is also going to have to be precedent and the rule for future republican administrations too. so if this supreme court lays down a rule that there is no such thing as executive privilege if there is a romney administration, romney will have to live by those rules too. >> if you say romney administration -- mitt romney hold nos office. we'll talk about actually what a romney administration would look like. when we come back. [ female announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role

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mitt romney will not be the nominee for the republican candidate for president until the no, ma'convention in august. what is his message to the gop? to stay on message, his main message on the economy, being all doom and gloom, being undermined by some bright spots republican led battleground states. the romney camp suggested that republican governor rick scott take off his rose tinted glasses when it comes to his state's economy. although the campaign denies this, it highlights the presumptive weakness. does romney hold any true presumptive executive power? we'll continue to discuss with our panel. jeff, i was really thinking

about the fact that when i look at romney in relationship to his base, i feel some of the discomfort frankly that i also felt with mccain. in other words, his discomfort with the base. >> yes. >> does he have room to push them to lead with soft power, even if he doesn't have any hard power? >> i don't believe some of i think what he's got the power to do is be a magician. and that is, he is doing james cameron like illusion optics, where he has right-wing conservative evangelicals, pretending they don't care about mormonism, and members of the base, who believe despite their thinking that they are not a great candidate, they will ride with him. the power is keeping them in line and mobilizing them to the polls to use imagery to say everything with the president is bad. beyond that, i don't see any power or his ability to be able to shift the hard core members of the party in the direction that he wants them to go in.

>> that immigration piece we were just talking about, it is -- you can see tension with him and the potential mv, marco rubio, is he kind of like, i'm with kind of with the president, i'm not with the president, i would have been faster with the president. you do sense the tension with romney and the guy who might end up being his vp. is there in history anybody who was a presumptive nominee, maybe didn't win, but pushed the party one direction or the other? >> wean don't have to go too far in history. let's do this race. the time we see mitt romney exercise the most "soft power" was right after he secured the nomination and santorum dropped out. the interest of student loan rates that will double next week came up. it was not clear if republicans would oppose that, try to work getting done. mitt romney came out knowing how it was polling. and a sure loser issue if you don't protect the rates from

doubling he came out and said we need to keep these rates at 3.4%. there was a whole partisan assembly how to pay for that $6 billion price tag. >> and while the clock ticks. >> being able to ride a wave doesn't mean you control the water. >> i'm saying the party had none not taken a stance. he was first out on it, and the party rallied to that position. i think you'll see more of that, by just being the titular head of the party, he gets to set direction, he has no mechanism to pull, no real leaver power, but that was an example of seeing him exercise some of that presumptive nominee power. around an issue. >> we can't forget that mitt romney has turned into a completely different mitt romney when he was governor. in terms of power, it becomes does the tea party and the conservative wing of his party transform who he is. he thought nobody was looking and started talking about voter

suppression, essentially and talking about the fact that, well, maybe we could start giving out ids at the polls. that's ridiculous, but he started saying, maybe we could give people voter i.d.s, completely against what his party believes in, and then he backtracked and pretended he didn't say it it happened on more than one issue. romney not necessarily setting an agenda. he is trying to become president because he kards about power, and he's doing whatever it takes. he is swaeing with whatever his voice siz at the time. >> interesting, since one of the lessons from the w. administration was that people who even disagreed with george w. bush appreciated the fact that he had sort of the stay the course mentality. i mean, obviously not everyone did. part of what meant that his party didn't win as he left office, but there was a sense of like, well, i don't agree with him, but, man he's a strong leader, that guy will just stay the course. you would hear people repeat that very language of stay the

course. interesting that romney is now being sort of represented as the ultimate flip-flopper, the opposite of stay the course kind of guy. >> that was an early talking point. >> a little bit of breaking news that is -- i'm sorry. actually we don't quite know just yet, but we have been following breaking news in egypt this morning, and the panel overseeing the recent presidential election has just announced results. i want to bring in nbc foreign correspondent live from tahrir square. are you there? >> you can probably hear the fireworks. i'll step out of the shot to give you a sense of what's taking place behind me. thousands erupting in celebration. you can hear the sounds of fireworks and explosions taking place. it has become a scene of great euphoria of the people. that is because the supreme elections commission announced that the muslim brotherhood

candidate will become the next president of egypt. he has outnobodied his candidate, the former prime minister and people behind me celebrating. a long day for people here. the vote came against a very tense back drop in the country. people not sure which way the results would go, as both candidates were claiming that they had won, but as you can see and hear from the results behind me, the muslim brotherhood's candidate has, indeed, won egypt's presidential election. >> what does that mean substantively at this point? giving the way the military has truly emass indicated the presidency of egypt? >> this is going to be a very important question right now. to what extent will mousi challenge some of the recent decisions made by the staff? the supreme council here, the ruling military council held on a lot of powers anticipating it

would be morsy that would win. they have stripped the presidency away from the most important powers, including oversight of the national budget, the ability to declare war, the ability to legislate. they felt the incoming president would simply be a symbolic position, not one of great power. the question now, how will the muslim brotherhood interpret victory and to what extent will morsi try to reclaim power? it marks a defining moment in egyptian history. the muslim brotherhood, for 0 years, a socioreligious organization, banned by the government here. they have been at times at war with the government. it is a very defining moment in egypt's history, they have elected the first islamist president.

to what extend will egypt now take a turn for a different tone in terms of legislation, in terms of outlook to the world, in terms of foreign policy. no doubt that the president, who is inheriting the responsibilities in in country has a tremendous amount of weight on his shoulders and more importantly, not only are the egyptian people in the region watching it, so too will people around the world. are. >> flimdss can be leaders in washington, d.c., must also be asking the question, do we have a preference for authoritarian secular government, versus democratically elected but religiously affiliated government? how do you expect washington to respond, given we have onnuously that enthusiasm we hear behind you that sends a democracy, a culmination of what began there this tahrir square in cairo, and anxiety on the part of not only washington's leaders, but also europe's.

>> no doubt that concern in washington and other european capitals is one muslim brotherhood is very much aware of. for the better part of the last year and a half they constantly tried to assure washington and other capitals that if indeed they assumed power in egypt if they are elected to power in egypt, they will work with and maintain all of their international treaties and obligations. they were also going to try and preserve, egypt's foreign policy outlook. to what extent will egypt turn to an islamic bent? that is a valid concern. not only to people outside those in egypt, but secular candidates, the muslim brotherhood candidate says its priority is not new social laws. they are aware the number one issue on every egyptian's mind is the economy and security. they promised to work to that extent to try and restore security, get the economy back

and up and going. the economy since the resolution, all but collapsed. they are aware of the concerns, and to some extent, the muslim brotherhood in connection with senior members of the united states. they are constantly holding needings in washington, they are aware of how the world is watching and they are to that extent deliberate in making sure they do not strike the wrong tone with european and american powers. >> thank you for sharing this amazing historic moment with us. viewers, stay with us, more when we come back. our cloud is not soft and fluffy. our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats.

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do you have any idea where you're going ? wherever the wind takes me. this is so off course. nature can surprise you sometimes... next time, you drive. next time, signal your turn. ...that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. breaking news out of egypt just now. a decision made on the presidential elections, leader of the muslim brotherhood, muhammad morsi declared the winner. emonday mon

go ahead. >> reporter: you can probably hear the fireworks behind me. the celebration is getting under way for the supporters of dr. muhamad morsi, because the supreme council, presidential elections council just announced morsi won, close to 52% of the runoff vote, making him egypt's next president, 48% going to the rival candidate, the former prime minister under mubarak. a defining moment for the refer solution and believe me, when i say though there are thousands in egypt, many going to be holding their breath in ternlz what this means, and long dominated by secular forces, now elected the first islamic president. the nature of the power he will have and what it means for society at large, but the celebrations are getting under way, military council has asked all of the parties on both sides to calm the situation down.

weekend has been tense, the egyptian military deployed around various parts of the city and warned people not to disrupt the public good. we can expect in the coming hours, particularly with the announcement that morsi won, the situation to remain a celebratory one, but in other parts of the country, not everyone will be happy about this victory. >> i was going to ask you about more. it sounds like nothing but enthusiasm, but that's because our cameras are in one place. in egypt, landscape a little bit, what part of the country do we expect it to have a different reaction to this announcement? >>. >> reporter: in almost every city, you find the country has become polarized among presidential elections, take a big picture approach about what these meant for egypt. the candidate, doctor mohammed

morsi, a member of the islamic brotherhood, an organization banned in egypt for many years, there are people that don't want egypt to take a turn and inject that type of religion in politics, particularly from an organization like muslim brotherhood. many supported secular candidates through first round of voting and particularly in the second round, others, particularly those supporting dr. morsi and others, saw other candidate, the rival candidate who lost, saw him as a representation of the military establishment, the old regime, for nm egypt, that's what debate boiled down to, it did not boil down into an issue of policy or which one can lead egypt better, but which one represents the ideas that every voter wanted to see egypt adopt? that's why you will get a sense that not only in cairo, a short distance from where we are standing late last evening, thousands of protesters gathered

in a square similar to tahrir, supporting shafik. >> in some ways this is the final vanquishing, the final moment on mubarak, but they are still so much more to watch. thank you for being there. your reporting this morning has been incredible. >> thank you. >> up next, nerdland goes to church. for the salvation of democracy. religion, democracy, egypt, the u.s., that's what we're doing. time for "your business" entrepreneur of the week. nicholas brand wanted to start a window washing business in seattle. to stand out, he wore a scottish kilt, called the company men in kilts and went door to door offering his services, that attention grabbing idea has grown to seven franchises with more in the pipeline. for more, watch your business

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the brita bottle with the filter inside. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. african-americans will be disproportionately affected by a restricted number of voting laws enacted by states since last year. according to the brennan center, 34 states have introduced legislation that would require voters to show i.d. that means 25% of voting age

african-americans that have no current voter i.d. may be disenfranchised on voter day in november. and registration drives and early voting compound the impact on communities of color. that potential problem has sparked action. black leaders have responded from the threat of voter suppression with action. jeff johnson dug a little deeper into this issue on a report that we'll show you now. >> reporter: black churches have organized souls to the polls voter drives after sunday services. after a new ohio law, voters no longer allowed to cast ballots on the weekend before the november election. ohio state representative, alisha reece of cincinnati voted against the bill. now ohio churches will need to step up and spread the word. >> nothing beats word of mouth and the churches have hundreds and hundreds of people that come

every sunday and can get the information out to them in a nonpartisan way. >> you have to change your situation. you have to change your condition. it's up to you. >> reporter: bashir jones, a youth activist in cleveland, says the black church needs to take things a step further. >> voting it good, but change doesn't end with the vote it may start there. but, you have to educate them on what they are voting on. >> reporter: education, not just about the issues, but the process as well. with new voter access laws in more than a dozen states, minority voters in particular are facing more scrutiny across the country. this year, an estimated 5 million voters will be affected by these new laws. many black churches planning to guide congregants and even help them pay for valid i.d.s in some cases. >> the church has to make certain we give the people copies of what they need, that we take them to the supervisor of elections office, we walk them through the process.

>> reporter: with more pressure to register in time, black leaders know they are on the front line this election year. >> we must register all that we can, because turnout, numbers in america really count. >> reporter: jeff is back with me on the table, along with kenji, david, and aisha. we're just getting news out of egypt, democracy works, people have a vote, but we're nervous about the role of religion in this new democracy and turn back to the united states and say, oh, maybe democracy is not working so well. and people don't have access to the polls and religion may be conduit, and, jeff, this realistic that churches can push back against something as powerful as these voter suppression efforts? >> churches traditionally have. the real question, can the black church have a renaissance of sorts? moving away from the apolitical activity that a lot of churches

have done to hard core mobilization and some of the pushback is because the irs went hard in the name of partisanship. you have a lot of black ministers that are gun shy about being involved, because they are worried about the irs. but they understand this is a real fight, and as much as we don't want to talk about a lot of these racial issues, there is an african-american president under attack in many cases, because there are people who are afraid of an african-american president, regardless of what people want to say and there is a community of african-americans that did support the president. that did help him get elected, that want to see him elected again, but beyond that, want to exercise their right to democracy without republican state legislatures standing in the way and blocking them at every turn. >> on the one hand, i love the notion of part of the civil rights movement, the work of the church against the ultimate voter suppression issue, jim crow, but i'm nervous about the church for the same reason i'm

nervous about the muslim brotherhood it comes with its own ideological package that may be beyond partisanship. they may sort of generally end up registering people who are going to vote for president obama, but they might also be registering people just after preaching a service, it's adam and eve, not adam and steve. >> this is not -- we're not talking about a religious fundamentalist running for office. we're talking about a base of people mobiling followers, which shouldn't make us feel uncomfortable. it should encourage us. it increases the number of people participating in the electoral process. that's what we're talking about. not religious fundamentalism from a leadership process. >> i think to your point about the wedge issues that conservatives try to exploit to utilize the black church to get votes, we know the reason why we see voter suppression efforts is

because when black folks turn out en masse, they will generally be more progressive in ideology. sure, a couple of wedge issues that might divide a little bit, but at the end of the day, we know conservatives are pushing, because that is probably not the biggest fear. when black people come out and vote, democrats will probably win. that's why they are trying to keep them home. >> any reason to have church/state anxiety, or is this a reasonable way to expand and make sure our democracy is functioning? >> the problem i have with it, i don't think churches should be bearing the burden of this. we should all be outragesed. from a constitutional perspective. we have four constitutional amendments, each one of them expanded the franchise on the basis of race, gender, age, and wealth. so that there would be fewer and fewer restrictions, and have the clock turn back in this way, is really unnerving. of citizen should be outraged. >> the concern too is the

retribution, we really jumped over the point of this retribution by the congress against holder for challenging them on these voter laws. we haven't talked about that enough. this is a long conversation and one i hope not just with the church that all of us are aggressive on moving forward to november. >> the church of one kind, but this is a space where all of thus us should be outragoutrage. thank you no david chalon. the rest of will be back. later, pride of the city. you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind spot monitoring that helps remind you that the highway

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here in new york, it's pride week. and in about an hour, the annual celebration will culminate in the world famous new york city gay pride parade. june is also national pride

month, in commemoration of the birth of the lgbt movement in 1969, and this has been an amazing year for the movement, with the repeal of don't ask, don't tell in november. the number of states passing laws in fave of statemeame-sex marriage climbing to nine, and the president evolving his position to support of same-sex marriage. my, oh, my. it wasn't always that way. in an effort to show how far we've come, we've dug into the vault and found this clip from wnbc's 1973 special report of the nacent report. oh, such a special report. take a look. >> if this were a man and a woman holding hands it would be considered perfectly natural. even if it were two women. but these are men, and for men in this society to hold hands in public, is at least shameful and more often offensive. but men who want to hold hands in public or private are emerging from the shadows. they are homosexuals, men who relate sexually to other men,

and women who relate sexually to other women, lesbians, have begun a battle for civil, legal, and personal rights. homosexuals who acknowledge homosexuality and pattern lives accordingly are known as gay. and the gay liberation movement are challenging a society that abhors homosexuality. in new york, the law known as the sodomy statute, provides that even in private, consenting adults may not engage in deviant sexual contact, which includes homosexual behavior. >> oh. thank goodness. 39 years later, things are different. but we are talking about the movement in a much, much different way. more on that when we come back. the president from interview: i talk to folks on rope lines and in coffee shops. people who have been out of work. you can tell it wears on them. narrator: he's fought to pull us out of economic crisis for three years. and he still is. president

obama's plan keeps taxes down for the middle class, invests in education and asks the wealthy to pay their fair share. mitt romney and his billionaire allies can spend milions to distort the president's words. but they're not interested in rebuilding the middle class. he is. i'm barack obama and i constipated? phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... thanks. cuban cajun raw seafood pizza parlor french fondue tex-mex fro-yo tapas puck chinese takeout taco truck free range chicken pancake stack baked alaska 5% cashback. signup for 5% cashback at restaurants through june. it pays to discover. if someone took mid-sized sedans and broke the mold? if we took our best-selling altima back to its essence, kept its dna, then reimagined nearly everything in it?

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waiting for results, the egyptian people know their new president will be dr. mohammed morsi, leader of the muslim brotherhood. he was declared the leader of egy egypt's presidency, and thousands have gathered to celebrate the news. democracy in egypt goes from here is a bit unclear, but for now, what we're seeing is that that square is a celebration of the culmination of a movement to move toward democracy. which brings me back to a different kind of movement. here at home. only on "mhp" do we go from tahrir to pride week. it's pride week in new york city, and it ends with a series of parades across the country. but pride month doesn't end until this saturday, thanks to this proclamation from president obama. first president since president clinton to declare an lgbt pride

month. this is my niece chris holding the proclamation. the white house has hosted one of these events, but the first reception since the president uttered these words. >> for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> that endorsement arrived way too late for some, and it did arrive. the advancement has been about more than symbols and rhetoric, considering the unprecedented steps has taken to advance lgbt americans. six months after he took office, president obama made sure same-sex partners received benefits offered to heto couples. he offered the hate crimes prevent act. signeded the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, and signed a newnt housing. those are the highlights.

in february, the white house made it clear that it believes the defense of marriage act is unconstitutional and will no longer defend it in federal court. seeing that proof positive is just how far up the white house has progressed, also, how much pressure from lgbt activists has helped to change the attitude toward the entire community. you watch ellen degeneres, don't you? and one of the companies that employ her, jcpenney, put up an ad featuring two moms more another's day, and one this month with two dads for father's day. they talked about jcpenney employing ellen, and the religious right should be shown the back of jcpenney's hand. how could be imagine a thing a decade ago? you may not have noticed the jpp

ads or thought ellen being gay if the one million moms haven't had a fit about it. progress looks normal. but does normal count as progress. jo join, president and ceo of the liberal women's organization. my executive editor of "the nation.com, aisha moody mills and kenji oshino. glad to have you all. happy pride week. seriously, this feels in a certain way like a really good moment. you were also at that event at the white house, and sort of surprisingly gleeful, wasn't it? a level of electric enthusiasm, i had to remind myself, marriage equality hasn't become the law of the land yet. it seems like there is a lot of enthusiasm where we are right now. >> absolutely. i was there. thrilled, i was there with my wife. who would have guessed, five,

six years ago we would be standing in the white house together, as a married couple, legally married couple with the first black president of the united states affirming our love? it was really powerful. still a lot of excitement. a lot of firsts that are happening for us, yes, we are seeing big gains across the country and some key states. >> kenji, one of the important ones doma, and the position on doma. where is that progressing? the administration taken a position on it, but it's not over yet. >> absolutely this will be a blockbuster term, the upcoming term, even though everyone is focusing on this one as understandably with health care being such a huge term. next year will be a huge one as well. civil rights issues. both the perry case and douma case will get appealed. the perry case is the california prop 8 case, and the doma case is from massachusetts. the issue on doma and everyone is hoping on the progressive side that the doma case goes up

first, it's a smaller bite to ask for from the supreme court, on progress and gay rights. >> because it's just one state? actually, because all it's doing is saying that if a state allows for same-sex marriage, then the federal government has to abide by that decision. so it would not actually change the definition of marriage in any of the 50 states. whereas the other case, the california prop 8 case if it goes up to the supreme court, potentially the supreme court could alter the law and the 44 states that don't allow same-sex marriage. so if we want to take an incremental strategy, a much smaller ask to get this court in particular to say the doma, defense of marriage act unconstitutional. in a way there, say pincher move if i can say one more thing on this. a really fascinating moment. it's like states rights versus equal protection. >> but in the reverse. >> but it's flipped. exactly. all of the conservatives on the court are states rights.

family law has traditionally been an issue of states rights. in 200, we lost the women's rights litigation, because they said family law is about states rights. >> if they stay on that, this ought to be a win. >> exactly. if you say what you said, family law are states rights, and marriage is certainly family law, you should strike down doma. >> even if cases go forward and there is a go ahead outcome and there is some optimism, particular well justice kennedy, we know from studying the civil rights movement, having formal legal equality and substantive equality and substantive justice on the ground is very different. we have to look at a broader map, including passing the employment nondiscrimination act and providing support for the most marginalized in our community. i read that 30%, 40% of homeless

youth are lgbt and are homeless because their families abandoned them. as we approach pride month and the parade, i hope they are out there, i want us to look to those children and those kids and say, what do we, as a community, as a country need to do to ensure there is justice and equality for all of us. >> part of why my favorite -- as we sort of did a listing of the things that the obama administration has done well on, my favorite is the hud rule. because it says you cannot deny housing if are you gay and/or trancegend trancegendered, or self-gendered presentation, you cannot be denied housing. that's section 8:, the folks th most vulnerable. it feels much of the progress has been made for those within the most privilege of that position of relative disprivilege of gay identity.

>> and we have a wonderful opportunity in the conversations around marriage and changes. in talking about the ininclusiveliness and how expensive our community is, and work very hard to use this opportunity to talk about lgbt kids and gender nonconforming, self-expression kids which normally tend to be left out of the equation, it's true that the homelessness of youth in new york city is exceedingly disproportionately that burden borne by lgbt kids. it's an issue. >> and it almost happened. >> most of them are black and latino kids. and it's not just -- it's the issue of a family. and you really need to work with an overall consensus and moving everyone to understanding the value of our lives. but there is also the educational system, the foster care system, all the institutions that touch the lives of kids, need to become

weigh more competent, way more aware, and may more validating of the breadth of our youth. >> and health care. if there is one thing that ought to be critically important, it is the health care act. we'll talk about the intersection of ration and class, along with clear identity when we come back. more on this the lgbt movement has come a long way. a lot of ground to cover and not about marriage. we've talked about marriage, talk about the rest of the when we come back. it's time to live wider awake. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long.

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. i want to show you an actual

headline from what is you in known as the "new york daily news." july 4, 1969. homonest rated. queen bees are stinging mad. the headline appeared a week after the stone wall rebellion in 1969. that resistance is the main reason pride week falls in june and stone wall is the montgomery bus boycott to the racial civil rights movement. that is then, this is now, last night, new york city lit up the iconic skyline in symbolic support and visual manifestation of the city's enthusiasm for pride week. let's talk more about the transformation with richard kim, aisha mooney-mills and kenji. it feels like we've come a long way. stonewall and the angst around hiv movements in the 1980s and then sort of where we are now. a bit on that? >> we definitely have come a

long way. those are very important victories, and when we look at history, we should be dipping very -- you know, in the depth of our struggles, our victories, but we are not all the way where we need to be. it's a tricky thing to celebrate, but not become complacent, and i think where we are, is that we understand the wholeness of our lives. our lives are also struggles around education. around violence, around employment. >> imgation. >> around immigration. so there comes a time in social movements in which we fight the specific contributions. lgbtq movement contributes to the whole world in challenging gender, in how we define all of oursz, how we create boxes. but this is way beyond feminism. we're in a police where we need to understand poverty in our ranks. we need to understand races and

need to understand immigration issues. we need to understand homelessness. we need to be embedded in all of those. in all of them. >> exactly where i want to push. michael recalled the trouble with normal, right? the idea that part of why we assembled this particular table is everyone is a queer person of color and to remind us, sometimes the visual image of gay activists that we get are you know, sort of privileged white men. but to kind of expand our notion of what counts as lgbt and particularly queer. literally making things more difficult than those normal boxes. >> right. you know, there are two things that are happening. a civil rights fight as it relates to laws and equity, but there are quality of life issues we need to address when we look at lgbtq folks that are also

people of color, we look at black youth that are homeless. black lesbians and transgendered women and transsexual women that would benefit from the american care act. we're not having as many conversations in the national sphere about quality of life issu issues with lgbt issues. we home doma will get struck down in the courts, likely before we get rid of the defense of marriage act, we're not going to pack our bags and move away, just because we get marriage. marriage is not the silver pullet that will solve all of our problems, but at the same time, it is an important civil right component we need to deal with we need to learn how to chew gum and walk and address lots of issues. >> it's important as a movement, we continue to focus on issues, even after they have passed us by a little bit and i'm thinking of the hiv/aids epidemic.

my partner wrote "how to survive a plague" it tells the story of act up and how a group of activists worked with the cdc, protested and also went on the inside to fast track the approval of medications. what happened since then, as we know, here in the united states, almost everyone who is hiv positive has access of those drugs, but it's under threat because of budget cuts, look across the world, millions of people don't have access to these medications, in the u.s., a disproportionate impact by race, color, and class of hiv and aids. as a movement, we need to stay on these issues, we developed the expertise and pressure to continue to advance causes, even if our own community is not the most impacted by them. >> it's such an important point, particularly around the anti viral medications, at the moment, fastest growing populations of persons with hiv

medications are heterosexual women. but they are actively benefiting from the movement that came before them that had a different identity and about kind of increasing access. >> i think that the trick for us is what we define as success. right? when do we define that the work is done? so i think we need to learn as we are, our incremental gains are necessary gains, but they are not sufficient. so that we have an incredible opportunity to not leave part of our very large community out. as we are talking about. because of color of their skin, immigration status, economic status, because how they express their gender. so we have an incredible opportunity to really underground, and i want to talk about that kind of really joining richard, we have the legislative victories and battles which are critical, we need to be in there, get them, and incidentally, we need to make sure that the law is

implemented, that the law is followed, and there is a lot of work to be done there. and in addition to that, we have the lives of folks on a daily basis that are -- that need to be responded to, that need to be supported, so it's really important that we -- all of us support lgbtq organizations that are making the political changes, but also are first responders and in particularly concerned with youth, because the amount of violence that we, you know, we need to make this a crisis, need to label this as a crisis, as much as we label hiv and aids crisis. >> and this isn't just about the lgbt movement, it's about everyone that touches these folks. for example, around the stop and frisk laws, naacp and other civil rights are banning together with the lgbt community to stop the stop and frisk

issues. >> my niece is gender nonconforming. and i'm constantly in terror. i don't know that she is terrified. i want a world that is safer for her. thank you for joining us. everybody else back a little bit later. first, a shocking white house engagement and we've got the video to show you. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. new venus & olay. olay moisture bars help lock in moisture... while five blades get venus close. revealing smooth and goddess skin begins. only from venus & olay. revealing smooth and goddess skin begins. [ dog ] we found it together.upbeat ] on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk.

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i met liz, a fan. she introduced me to her boyfriend scout and we went off separate ways, had our day, great fun, but in leaving the party, i saw liz one more time and this time was different. she came up to me and said, me lisa i'm engaged. scout had proposed at the white house during the pride reception. and, at first, liz had no idea what to do, as you can see in the video, but then the big finish. and i could not be more than thrilled to introduce my next

two guests, liz and scout are here, newly engaged. and so you know, they are not lovely newly engaged. liz is the executive director of the national lgbt cancer center and scout is at the fenway institute. welcome to nerdland. >> we love nerdland. it's the best. >> skwout, the white house? >> i thought go big or go home. and i want to do something amazing and do something at the white house, and i've been thinking that for a year and telling her for a year. is a and the only problem is i wasn't invited to the white house. >> as we were walking out, on the one hand, so excited. i'm engaged. but that pause felt like -- particularly when i saw it on youtube, i felt long to me. and i'm sure it felt extremingly long to you. what was that pause about? >> my whole life flashed before

my eyes. as members of the lgbt community, scout and i have lived as outlaws our whole lives. and the law has been outside our personal relationships, and as a second way feminist, i come with very complicated feelings about the institution of marriage. and on the other hand, there was my scout, down on his knee, and i really love you, and we've been through so much together, including a recent tragedy in my family, and he showed himself to be so much more than a boyfriend. so what was i going to do? and then i realized, just as we've done everything we could invent our own kind of marriage and then it was easy to say yes. >> and i literally saw it like when you watch it, you can see the whole process occurring, sort of saying, wait a minute, i'm

how much stigma and hatred is still out there? what really rocks us with that s is the youth. and the transpeople that think this is the way the world feels about me, upsets us. we work in health all the time. we need to have access. too many of my people have been denied access to a doctor. that's the kind of stuff we really need to move on quickly and let the youth know they are loved. >> that's right. and they are loved and have access and equality. so i just want you to know, we have one goal here at nerdland to get beyonce on our show, we

have now added a second goal, and our second goal is to get you guys not only engaged, but hitched at the white house. when are you planning to actually get married? >> well, we have no plan yet. i mean, if you get us a white house marriage, that will certainly complicate it deeply. >> we'll clear our schedule. >> but being engaged is absolutely enough for now, and we've spoken about maybe not even getting married until the rest of our people can. because scout's legally male, we can get married, and as a resident of new york state, we can. but that's not true for most of our people, and we want civil rights first. >> yeah. >> we will come with you. >> and maybe civil rights can be a wedding gift. it will be nice. >> exactly. >> thank you, both, linda and scout. you've waited long enough. we've all waited long enough. the supreme court ruling on en health care is here. what you need to know is next. ,

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ladies and gentlemen, the wait is finally over, almost. we will have a supreme court health care ruling this week and no exagation to say this ruling could change everything, at the center of the debate is the individual mandate and whether congress exceeded its power in passing it. if the mandate is struck down, is it the pulled thread nah unravels the entire sweater, could the supreme court's health care ruling put us back at square one with millions of american lives hanging in the balance? at the table, jonathan couples, senior editor of "the new republic" and author of "sick." aisha moody-mills and kenji hoshino of nyu. we don't have a ruling yet, but,

jonathan if individual mandate is struck down, what parse ts o the bill can stand without individual mandate? >> it's a little complicated but important to understand. no question, if you take the mandate out of the law, it becomes weaker. we want to make sure everybody gets coverage so when they get sick and show up in the emergency room, they have a way to pay for it it allows insurance companies to charge lower rates, we'll tell the insurance companies you have to ensure everybody, th. take the thaw out, no question, the law becomes weaker, if you think about it what purpose does the mandate serve? to encourage those who might not otherwise get health insurance to get it. >> particularly young and healthy people. >> that's right. >> one reason people don't get health insurance, it's too expensive. the law has subsidies in it, very important. the subsidies are there, and as long as they keep those requirements, saying insurance

companies, have to give coverage to anybody because of preexisting conditions. the law can still work. it won't cover as many people. >> this is at subjection that health insurance is a good, that people want to buy it, and they have a subsidy to buy it, they will, even if they are not -- you don't have to mandate people buy food. turns out people get hungry, they buy food to the extent they can afford it. >> some people. the difference without a mandate, as long as you keep everything else and you have to keep everything else, you can't let go of requirements you still get a lot of people insured. if you are sick, preexisting condition, don't have money to buy insurance, that's all still there. and over time then the next year, five years, ten years, however long it takes, state lawmakers, federal lawmakers can go to work fixing what's wrong. a huge blow constitutionally as

policy. but it's not catastrophic. >> and constitutionally, u.s. a big blow. have you been here before. you promised me that even if individual mandate goes down under the commerce clause this is not the end of the voting rights act and civil rights act and everything else. but people keep suggesting there is a possibility that the decision constitutionally will reach far beyond the affordable care act if they say that the federal government has overreached itself under this commerce clause. >> i'm just going to stick to my guns here, because i think what's at issue here is really the federalism, so let's assume for the sake of argument which i'm not endorsing and not even supposing, that this is necessarily going to be struck down. let's say the individual mandate will get struck down. will it so transform congress' commerce power such it will stop them from engaging in broad federal legislation. i don't see it. what this case turns on, act

omission. can you force somebody to buy broccoli sort of stuff. when we go back to the civil rights act, that civil rights act had to do with people already being in commerce. so if you look at the heart of atlanta motel case in 1964 it had to do the fact that all of these were already in commerce, serving guests, food traveling through in interstate commerce, those organizations. so you weren't creating a market. so assuming for the sake of argument, that the supreme court says are you creating a market that didn't exist before, that won't have implications for markets that already dis exist and nobody is saying those markets didn't exist in the case of the civil rights movement. >> why in the world would the chamber of commerce, the republicans, right, be against this? the chamber of commerce been winning. basically the answer to who wins, the chamber of commerce. 15 years ago -- >> republican idea. >> create a market for our

product, right? >> part of this is a political calculations. have you a president who passes a piece of legislation. that everyone in the country is affected by and part of. most people are. but it creates a generation of real political support for that party and that president. i'm worried not about the constitutional ramifications of a decision that strikes down the mandate, but the political ones, if you read the piece in the "new yorker" magazine, he documents how the chamber of commerce, created from whole clothe, this mandate question in a space of two years really and shifted public opinion and created the legal framework now, where we're at this brink where we may have the mandate stricken on monday or tuesday or wednesday or thursday. so -- >> and it happened this week. >> i know. but as a political accomplishment, that is a stunning achievement. and i think, you know, that really emboldens the right, who

brought this forward by doing it on fox news, using the presidential primaries to hammer home the talking point and we're at the brink, and hasn't told them they can get away with living in la la land with creating reality from whole clothe. >> and let's say it doesn't get struck down, it goes forward and now everyone must buy insurance. that doesn't create access to health care, right? so because i can now afford it being doesn't mean i can actually access it, right? i'm so worried about the other piece of it, we've been talking about the other side if it stands, will it get to a place where we generate accessible health care. >> i want to go back to something and come back to the question. we can't underscore this is a political debate we're having in the supreme court. we're creating a space where conservatives are more interested in making sure the president doesn't get a second term, coming up with lawsuits against him and his policies and

they are talking eric holder and doing so much to distract us from the fact that they are not legislating. not exactly concerns about the health and wellness and health and welfare of actual people. gay and trancegendered folks who are suffering crazy health disparities, big disproportionate health outcomes. they are not concerned about outcomes, about people on medicaid and insuring more folk they are creating political gain to distract us. it's important we talk about that. >> and that -- and the very fact that as a political game, i want to come back in the next segment. in fact there, say presidential election going on, and -- and there are fol folks saying we h to have some kind of health care act. alternatives out there. let's talk about them when we come back. >> absolutely. as soon as we come back. time for our business

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and congress should work on a new health care reform bill. the bottom line? americans still want and need health care. but if he's elected what will mitt romney be offering? that is my question, jonathan. romney care is the standard for obama care, but this is romney 2.0. what is the new romney plan look like? >> the new ram knee plan looks nothing like the old one. it's bizarro romney plan. everybody knows he wants to repeal the affordable care act. right off the top, you're telling 30 million people who are supposed to get health insurance, no insurance for you, and not just poor people. middle class individuals buying on their own, people with preexisting conditions. what i think -- a lot of people will probably recognize that. what people may not realize, he also wants to do two other things. he wants to change the taxes and regulations around group health insurance. so that means if you get insurance from a large employer, he is going to change the incentives around that.

and so a lot of employers less likely to offer coverage if you have insurance from a major employer, you might lose it. and he wants to end the federal guarantees that exist for medicare and medicaid. he likes the paul ryan plan. the irony, if you listen to republicans, this is a version of what paul ryan want to do, they go on and on. president obama wants to radically change the health care system. affordable care act takes the system we have and fills in the holes, the republican plan actually would change health insurance. >> radically change it. >> for working americans, elderly americans, poor americans, and they are the radicals. >> if i'm employed with coverage right now there, is some possibility a romney presidency means my employer is less likely to offer coverage next time? >> the plan is just die. romney 2.0 plan, straight from the presidential debates, just

die. >> how does private industry -- the one thing that makes me not nervous about this, won't insurance companies fight back and win? i mean -- >> because they want customers. >> romney want to give full reign back to private companies. we're at the disposal of whatever the insurance companies want to do. if i have a preexisting condition -- my father is a prime example of this. he has a disease there is no cure for, and if he were to go to, you know, get health insurance, he wouldn't be served. is he on medicaid right now. that system isn't necessarily working well for him. they want us not to be able to make our own decisions, kind of not let doctors make decisions. they want to allow companies -- insurance companies to say i'm going to cover this person, this person, not you and i'll charge whatever i want for prescription drugs. >> to narrow the risk pool to the healthiest. >> yeah. >> and that's always the game with health insurance. if you are healthy, that's where

the money is. and the extent they can do that, they want to. >> will the supreme court take any of these sorts of issues -- not meant to be politicized, thinking about the politics of it. and yet it feels so politicized. wondering if they are taking into account what is likely to happen after, even after they take into account case law that happened before. >> right. richard was talking about the political ramifications of this. and i think it's important to think about the health care case in that context. i think if the supreme court strikes down health care, it is going to look so politicized so many 4 5-4 partisan decisions, again, the kind of mantel of legitimacy slips as a neutral body. we know that -- >> people are not loving -- >> the court as a neutral arbiter has gone down over time as we get one after another of 5-4 decisions. it used to be, the supreme court -- if we go back in the

early history of the republic. every supreme court justice used to write ab individual opinion, following english practice, and john marshall stop this, he wanted to enhance the prestige. we'll issue one opinion, no dissents, a collective, neutral body, we'll say what the law is, and that succeeded for a time in shoring up the power of the court. and then now i think we're seeing kind of a return to this idea of its politics. >> is health care once again going to become the -- the issue of2012 campaign as it was before? >> what happens with the decision, it's all a political issue. if the whole bill is upheld, the republican party will use this as their primary get out the vote strategy, if it's struck down, it creates a big headache for the obama administration and campaign. people think it's a go ahead idea for obama to run against the court in a way.

he sort of trotted out that line of citizens united. and as much as i agree that the decision is terrible if & if the mandate is struck down, that's a terrible discussion. there is political peril there, but it's perceived to be, you know, nonideological or ought to be nonideological. >> it's easier to run against congress or wisconsin's scott walker than the supreme court. >> it's not just a health care decision. people will see this in the context of bush versus gore, in the context of citizens united. probably going to get a decision on the immigration case that cuts 5-4 in this direction and there is a long-term perception issue, what this court is going to be, retrograde, stick it to the democrats' institution. and maybe whatever the immediate reaction is to this decision, i think the long-term legitimacy as kenji said, is at stake. >> we talk about the institution of the presidency, the

institution of the supreme court. up next, the institution of marriage, it changes all the time. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.

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for today's footnote, a reflection on marriage, that terrain where the personal is indeed political. marriage is not solely about lovely attachment. it's also about state recognition and a specific bundle of rights and privileges. but these rights are not enough to explain why people choose marriage. the desire to express love, to commit, and to consent is more deeply human than that. take black american slaves, who were legally barred from marrying. but who created their own ceremonies and adhered to their own commitments, by choosing whom to love, how to love, what to sacrifice and how long to stay committed, they arrived out space for themselves, as human beings, in a system that attempted to reduce them to beasts of burden. people desired marriage and understood themselves as married, but without the protect

of government, their marriages could be disrupted, their spouses sold, their families separated. they could love each other, but they were vulnerable. to be gay in america today is not the same as being a slave in the 19th century. little compared to intergenerational slavery. there are important connections on the issue of marriage. many same-sex couples in the united states, live in a fraught contingent space of loving attachment, unpredicted by state recognition. they too are vulnerable. as they fight for equal access to marriage, marriage as an institution declines, fewer people who can marry are choosing to do so, and more people who do marry are choosing to divorce. contemporary heterosexual marriage is a bit of a mess. and the current state of straight marriage is a reminder that simply to have the right to marry is not sufficient to generate social equality, create economic stability, or ensure

personal fulfillment. as we move toward marriage equality for same-sex couples, we need to reflect on marriage as an institution itself. our work is not just about marriage equality, it should also be about equal marriages, about equal rights and security for those who opt out of marriage altogether. advocates of marriage equality reassure the voting public that same-sex marriage won't change the institution. that's a pragmatic strategy, i hope it's not true. i home same-sex marriage changes marriage itself, the way no fault divorce changed it. i hope it changes it the way it allowed women to own their own property and seek credit changed marriage. i hope marriage equality results in more equal marriages. and i also hope it offers more opportunities for building meaningful adult lives outside of marriage. we have to do more than simply integrate new groups into an old

system, let's use this moment to reimagine marriage and marriage-free options for building families bearing children, crafting community and contributing public goods. that's our show for today. thank you to my guests. thanks to you at home for watching. see you next saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. house former speaker, democratic leader nancy pelosi will be my guest and claire underwood. a must-see show. up next, "weekends with alex witt." what was i supposed to wish for? why am i wearing a bow-tie? where did i leave my bicycle? after all, when you're enjoying the beefiest, juciest bite of pure kosher beef, nothing else matters. goodness gracious, that's kosher. with no fillers, by-products, artificial flavors or colors. hebrew national. the better-than-a-hot dog- hot dog.

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good sunday, everyone. high noon in the east. 9:00 in the west. i'm craig melvin. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." alex is off. here are the first five stories trending this morning. history in egypt, a hurricane threat in the gulf coast. looming health care decision, as tried hunting and olympic hopeful lo lo jones,