republicans. what does the white house have scheduled this time? and is there any hope it will lead to a real compromise on capitol hill? that's just ahead. plus, senator john mccain visits the southern arizona border only to witness a woman scaling an 18-foot fence between the u.s. and mexico. we'll show you what the republican had to say about it on twitter. say about it? i want a picture of the woman climbing the fence. first, let's get to the news here at 30 rock in new york city. two days, two divisive cases on same-sex marriage. yesterday, the supreme court heard arguments over the federal law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman and procludes benefits from same-sex couples. the court seemed more likely to strike down the defense of marriage act than making a broad ruling on proposition 8. justice ruth bader ginsburg questions why same-sex partners should not enjoy the same benefits that heterosexual couples do. >> it's pervasive. it's not as though, well, there's this little federal

sphere and it's only. it's in the statute and it affects every area of life. and so, you are really diminishing what the state has said is marriage. you're saying, nope, the state, there are two kinds of marriage, the full marriage and then this sort of skim milk marriage. >> and justice anthony kennedy, a critical swing vote, also cited states rights as one of his concerns over the controversial law. >> whether or not, if congress has the power, it can exercise it for the reason that it wants, that it likes some marriage, it doesn't like. i suppose it can do that. but when it has 1,100 laws, which in our society means that the federal government is intertwined with the citizens' day-to-day life, you are at real risk of running in conflict with

what has always been thought to be the essence of the state police power, which is to regulate marriage, divorce, custody. >> justice elena kagan suggested congress's judgment was infected by fear when it drew up the law. >> well, here's what happened in 1996, and i'm going to quote from the house report here, is that congress decided to reflect and honor collective moral judgment and to discuss moral disapproval of homosexuality. is that what happened in 1996? >> does the house report say that? of course the house report says that. and if that's enough to invalidate the statute, then you should invalidate the statute, but that's never been your approach, especially under rational basis or even rational basis plus, if that's what you're suggesting. we're not going to strike down a statute just because a couple legislators may have had an improper motive. >> but attorney paul clement, who we heard there, said congress was simply concerned about preserving the uniform treatment of couples when it

passed doma. concerns of justice scalia and roberts questioned the idea of a change of national attitude. >> why are you so confident in that judgment? how many states permit gay couples to nine, your honor. >> nine. and so, there's been this sea change between now and 1996. >> i think with respect to the understanding of gay people and their relationship, there has been a sea change, your honor. >> i suppose the sea change has a lot to do with the political force and effectiveness of people representing, supporting your side of the case? >> well, the chief justice also faulted president obama for enforcing doma but not defending it. >> if he has made a determination that executing the law by enforcing the terms is unconstitutional, i don't see why he doesn't have the courage of his convictions and execute not only the statute but do it consistent with his view of the constitution, rather than

saying, oh, we'll wait until the supreme court tells us we have no choice. >> the white house press office responded saying the president enforces plenty of laws he doesn't agree with. the "wall street journal" editorial board, meanwhile, reacted this morning, writing in part, "america's cultural and media elites are attempting to browbeat the high court into coercing the country into recognizing same-sex marriage by casting opponents as bigots for holding a position that president obama held less than a year ago." let's bring in pulitzer prize-winning editorial writer for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor jonathan capar. do you want to comment on that first. >> well, look, the "wall street journal" editorial board was never going to be on board for supporting marriage equality or supporting, you know, doing away with the defense of marriage act, so i'm not surprised by what they're saying. >> all right. so, tuesday after the arguments are done on proposition 8, people were saying don't read into the tea leaves, but after yesterday, everybody's reading into the tea leaves like it's a

slam dunk. >> yeah, this one case, it's a little clearer. it's not on the question of whether the court will declare doma unconstitutional on the grounds of equal protection, a constitutional argument. you listen to a lot of the arguments, and i think you played one of them from justice kennedy. the question about states' rights and whether the federal government has used too much power in interfering in state decisions, because when it comes to marriage, and if we can get married, those are state decisions. and so, if doma falls, and it sounds like that it will, just given the questions that were asked, it will fall not on the equal protection ground but on the states' rights ground. >> did it surprise you at all that some of the justices actually took some time to kind of slap the white house a little bit and say, kind of step off our turf with what to enforce and what not to enforce? >> right. you can understand that, but you know, what's interesting, i came across a story back from 1990, the acting solicitor general had recommended to president bush

that he declare a telecommunications law unconstitutional, and who was that acting u.s. solicitor general? chief justice roberts. >> interesting. >> yes. >> did some digging on that. >> yeah, yeah, very interesting. >> you're good at what you do. >> i try. >> maybe why we invite you. still haven't figured out why sports yet, but -- >> well, of course we have. >> we'll find out later, too. thanks, jonathan, as always. we'll see you again on "morning joe" also. president obama will be spending more time with senate reasons. senator johnny isakson said they asked him to put together a list of gop members who would be interested in sharing a dinner together next month. the guest list will include senators unable to attend the outing a few weeks back when president obama invited a group of republicans to the jefferson hotel. that was followed by a series of visits by the president to capitol hill in an effort the white house hopes will yield new compromise on the budget, immigration reform and gun legislation. when it comes to immigration, senator john mccain says he got a firsthand look at the challenges facing the system. the arizona republican tweeted

yesterday that he "witnessed a woman successfully climb an 18-foot" fence. someone teach him how to use the camera on his phone, just a few yards away from him as he toured the border in arizona. he was there with three other senators, including chuck schumer, who are part of a bipartisan group on immigration reform. he followed up the tweet saying border patrol successfully apprehended the woman, but it served as another reminder that threats to border security are real. president obama, meanwhile, says he hopes the talks will lead to real action and soon. >> i'm optimistic. i've always said that if i see a breakdown in the process that i've got my own legislation, i'm prepared to step in, but i don't think that's going to be necessary. i think there's a commitment among this group of democratic and republican senators to get this done. if we have a bill introduced at the beginning of next month, as these senators indicate it will be, then i'm confident that we can get it done certainly before the end of the summer. president obama is set to

travel to mexico and costa rica in may. as far as the debate over gun violence in america, president obama will host an event at the white house today marking 100 days since the mass shooting at sandy hook elementary school. the president expected to play a more active role in the push for new legislation after several elements of his proposal failed to gain traction in congress. vice president joe biden spoke to supporters yesterday at an event hosted by mayor mike bloomberg. and during a conference call, biden said the upcoming vote in the senate is "just the beginning." he added, "the american people are way ahead of their political leaders, and we, the president and i, intend, and the mayors intend, to stay current with the american people." new development overseas. former south african president netson m o nelson mandela is in the hospital with what officials say is a lung infection. the 94-year-old was admitted just before midnight. the antiapartheid leader has suffered a series of setbacks in recent months. the president asked for prayers

for the former leader and his family. let us know why you're aw e awake. shoot an e-mail to waytooearly@msnbc.com or tweet me @billkarins. still ahead, could the bulls end the heat winning streak with them a few wins away from tying the all-time record? come on, chicago, don't ruin that run. highlights ahead in sports. plus, our political wake-up call. we're joined for a first lady look at the morning playbook, including new signs hillary will be running in 2016. that story and a check of your forecast when "way too early," what a good looking group, comes right back. it was shortly after 4:00 this morning at the three mile island nuclear plant where a valve in the nuclear power plant that cools the number 2 reactor blew up. the blowout triggered an automatic shutdown of the system, but before the plant was

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♪ amazing pictures. there used to be a lot of land here, beautiful backyards, even a couple homes, and they have all shifted. look at this one. this is in whidbey island, washington. huge, massive landslide. over 30 homes threatened as a lot of rain and just, finally, just the land gave way. incredible scene there. those residents have been told to leave, of course. let's take a look at your forecast. a rather quiet day as we head towards the holiday weekend ever so slowingly. there are rain showers south of boston, the cape, snow showers from buffalo to pittsburgh, but overall, as i mentioned, it's a tranquil day. any concerns for travel, none as far as travel concerns go. still a cold morning, but not as cold as yesterday. still at 38 in atlanta and the 40s in florida, but it's a little bit better than yesterday. as i said, each morning we'll

get a little warmer and warmer. today's forecast, besides a few showers, overall it looks like a pretty nice march day out there. let's turn to sports now. the heat just five victories away from tying the nba's longest win streak, but their trip to chicago to take on the bulls had been mentioned as a potential stumbling block. first quarter, luol deng pops the three. they go into a pretty early lead, too. the miami heat were down 13 at that point, but here's the comeback. mur chalmers with the steal and the slam. this gets the heat within five. chalmers off the miss. wade fines shane battier for the straight-on three, nails it. heat take their first lead of the night 59-58, but a minute left in the game, can't get it to fall. nice effort by boozer on that one, with the putback over lebron. the bulls pull away at the end, beat the heat 101-97. the streak is dead and the lakers are safe. they had the previous record at 33. 27 games. after the game, lebron maybe

just a little sour. >> lebron, now that it's over, i mean, how much did you guys really want that streak? it looked like a ton at the end. >> i mean, honestly for us, we never talked about it. if it happened, it happened along the way while we were winning games. we were going to be extremely excited about it, but we weren't pressing every game saying we have to win so we can get the streak. >> and the celtics lost five straight heading into the game with the cavs. final minutes, celts down by one. jeff green drives to the basket, gets it to go right before the horn. c's take it 93-92. currently sit in the seventh playoff spot. they'll likely face either the pacers or the knicks in the first round. to college hoops now. the elite eight will begin to take shape tonight as four more teams will move on in the big dance. in the east, three seed marquette takes on number two seed miami, followed by top seed indiana versus the number four seed, syracuse. it's always annoying when those anchors wear the colors of the teams they root for, too,

especially like orange and blue like syracuse? >> yeah. >> it's really pathetic. in the west, sixth seed arizona plays two seed ohio state in one of the most unlikely matchups in tweet 16 history. shockers verse explorers. 19th wichita state faces 13 seed lasalle in the nightcap. i like that. you are a fashion consultant. this one's for you. finally, it's official, the miami dolphins have confirmed they will make a change from this logo -- >> it wasn't bad. >> that's not bad. >> the helmet. >> the dolphins with the little helmet. here is the new logo. >> ooh! i actually kind of like that. >> a little more sleek, right? >> that's what i was going to say, it's sleek. yeah, no, that's really good. you know what it reminds me of? the u.p.s. supersonic eagle? >> oh, great. we could have shown that. >> well, people know what it is. it's a field of blue with the eagle. >> i know what it is. >> rocking in through the atmosphere, like this. no? way to go, miami dolphins.

that was great. >> a lot of the previous dolphins do like this. this is jared o'reddick sporting it to a team function. kind of hip. >> i'd buy that. >> don shula liked this, too, tweeting "glad to see the new logo for the miami dolphins has all the same colors from our great '70s and '80s teams. a new look for a new era. go dolphins!" >> go dolphins. >> you're a big dolphins fan now. >> well, yeah. you use green, orange, blue -- >> coming up at the top of the hour on "morning joe," the fate of same-sex marriage in california. the federal defense of marriage act rests in the hands of the supreme court. the crew breaks down yesterday's argument and what it means politically moving forward. and when we come back here, stay tuned for this, the political wake-up call. we have a first look at the morning playbook. "way too early" coming right back. [ male announcer ] this one goes out to all the allergy muddlers.

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♪ what's odd about this case is that the plaintiff, edie windsor, who had to pay a large amount of tax because the internal revenue service doesn't recognize her marriage, and the federal government -- whoa! >> when umbrellas attack. you have to have an umbrella. it's raining men out there. >> nice line. well, do you think you know a lot about politics? try sitting at this breakfast table. time for the "politico wake-up

call." jim vandehei, mike allen and senior political reporter maggie haberman are here to reveal the morning playbook. jim, what's driving our day? >> bill, thanks. you know, mikey gets up at 4:30 in the morning, hits send on playbook, he's read all the papers so no one at home has to. you have a scoop on immigration and marco rubio. >> yeah. if marco rubio gets a deal, if the gang of eight can come out with something, he's only halfway home. he has to sell this to conservatives. and you and i have talked about what it's going to be like when he goes out there and conservatives say this is the obama/schumer/rubio amnesty bill. >> right. >> so, he's got a plan. one, he has to hope john mccain puts a sock on it. they know that -- republicans know that if john mccain is the face of it, that that's like waving a red cape of conservatives. >> right, and we had justice alito, one of the most powerful conservatives in town, and he said listen, everyone thinks immigration reform is going to happen. just wait until we start running ads that say immigration reform

will create 10 million new democrats, all of whom are here because they broke the law. then talk to me about whether it can pass, and that's the pressure we're seeing put on marco rubio. and rubio is a linchpin. if rubio backs immigration reform, i think we collectively think it happens. >> absolutely. >> if he backs out, it's done. >> absolutely. i think if he backs out, if he's not up there as one of the faces, i think it is over. >> and speaking of rubio, obviously, he's going to run in 2016, and hillary clinton probably is going to run. >> probably. >> and is very worried about a marco rubio, young, obviously new face for the republican party. in a meeting last week, you were saying you've now come full circle to thinking that hillary clinton is going to run. you were skeptical before, why? >> i was skeptical because of her health, because i didn't think she wanted to do this again, because i think this is a scary movie we've seen before, and that's the case with marco rubio, right? as you said, young, fresh face. i now think if those signs, her health is good and the economy is good -- that's very important -- i think signs point to her running.

she's immersing herself in foundation work, the clinton global initiative, and she's been sort of looking at that. she's got a six to seven-person transition team helping her with her book. she's got some upcoming appearances. you will see her doing more and more political events, very carefully crafted just like the gay marriage. >> i'll put you out a limb. you said there's an 80% chance. there were two ifs with that. >> mikey, you said if republicans, when they run, it's going to be a different field and it's not going to be bringing the clowns this time around. >> no, that's right. last time, just about any clown with a website could run. >> right. this time you can't. >> with a website or not a really good website, just some clowns. >> but the table stakes are going up this time. we're told it will cost $50 million to $100 million for the nomination because you have a big field, very well-funded, ill-defined candidate. it's going to be much more expensive. that helps your marco rubio, jeb bush, your chris christie, who can raise tons of money, makes it very difficult for rick

santorum, who's running, even rick perry who says he's running. bobby jindal down in louisiana, no finance base, very tough. >> one of the nice things about doing "playbook" so early is you get all these scoops. we have a first look at one of bloomberg's new ads that's going up in connecticut on his favorite topic right now, gun control. >> guns. >> we dropped jesse off in the morning december 14th. he gave me a hug and a kiss, said "i love you, dad, and i love mom, too." >> our daughter grace was 7 years old and she couldn't wait to go to school. she would skip down the driveway. >> my sister loved teaching at sandy hook. every student would say i hope i get miss soto next year. >> don't let the memory of newtown fade without doing something real. >> demand action, now. >> joe and mika get mad because they sound like a broken record saying very little is going to happen on gun control. what's your take? what do you think is doable in the next couple minutes?

>> it's looking harder than anyone would have thought. the momentum is fading. that's why mayor bloomberg is spending like this. that's why we'll see the president today also doing an event. his organization for action is teaming up with the mayors against guns to do 100 events around the country today. in fact, for the parents out of that ad are going to be back at the white house today. what used to be the bottom line, used to be universal background checks, now even that is on the wish list and gun people are very down. they think that the president didn't act fast enough. >> you know who doesn't like gun control? mitch mcconnell, one of our favorite characters in washington, one of the most powerful, not necessarily the face of the republican party. he's not known as the great communicator, but he's got real juice and a tough race. >> he's got real juice and real problems, issues in his state of kentucky. >> like a 17% approval rating? >> somethingish. our colleague did a deep dive on how mitch mcconnell is getting out early, putting up big

fund-raising numbers. ashley judd went bye-bye yesterday. i think most people think she wasn't going to run, but he's also concerned about a challenge from the tea party, from the right. he's working hard to make sure that doesn't happen. most people right now think his most formidable opponents on the right are not going to run. congressman tom massie, for instance. but if he does, this is going to be an interesting year. >> and there's nothing finer in politics, right, than beating a sitting party leader. republicans did it with daschle. >> right. that's why they're craving it here, and that's why the mcdonnell people actually were fine with ashley judd, because it would be such a circus act, like san francisco. you can't make it up. lives in tennessee. but now they're going to have a real, more conventional race, which makes it tougher for mcconnell. >> if you want to sound smart today, remember, there are seven democrats in states that are running for re-election 2014 in states that mitt romney won, and many of them he won decisively. that's why democrats are nerv s

nervous. >> you're fast. >> we're quick. that's what we do for a living. >> we're fast. >> i appreciate it. >> this is kind of like a hint, like the oscar music. >> it's nice. >> go oh, get out of here! >> hey, we didn't play the music, at least, right? we want to thank maggie, mike, jim, politico's finest joining us here on "way eartoo early." why are you awake? your morning e-mails, tweets and texts are next. ♪ some people will do anything to help eliminate litter box odor. ♪ discover tidy cats pure nature. clumping litter with natural cedar, pine, and corn.

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