while a new video from mark kelly and gabrielle giffords demonstrates just how easy it is to buy a gun in arizona. >> universal background check is the most common-sense thing that we can do to prevent criminals and the mentally ill from getting easy access to a gun. on the border, members of the gang of eight get a firsthand look at the challenges facing immigration reform. but the president tells telemundo he's not giving up. >> 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. >> dooming doma, the supreme court signals their skepticism over the federal ban on same-sex marriage. and justice elena kagan raises a red flag about just why congress pushed through that law in 1996. >> i'm going to quote from the

house report here. is that congress decided to reflect and honor a collective moral judgment and to express moral disapproval of homosexuality. is that what happened in 1996? >> and we are following breaking news out of south africa, where former president nelson mandala is back in the hospital today, suffering from a recurring lung infection, we'll have the latest. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington back home. and president obama made his latest public pitch for a new gun control law as the nation is hearing new details about a host of gun-related tragedies over the past year. first today, family and friends of the women and children massacred in the newtown shootings learn more about the arsenal that adam lanza brought to sandy hook elementary. lanza fired 154 bullets from his bushmaster assault rifle in the newtown school. connecticut police recovered nine separate 30-round magazines, the same size as those used by jared loughner in

the 2011 tucson shootings. among the items recovered at landsa's home, a holiday card from his mother containing a check with mop money pegged towards a firearm purchase and a copy of the book "look at me, my life with asbergers." today president obama talked about what the families in connecticut are still going through. >> that anguish is still fresh in newtown. it's been barely 100 days since 20 innocent children and six brave educators were taken from us by gun violence. the notion that two months or three months after something as horrific as what happened in newtown happens, and we've moved on to other things -- that's not who we are. that's not who we are. >> in colorado, james holmes accused of killing 12 and injuring 70 others in the aurora movie theater mass shooting relaid to prosecutors through his lawyers he will plead guilty

to the murders if the state does not seek the death penalty. staying in colorado where the state bureau of investigation is releasing new information on the weapon used in the killing of corrections department official tom clements. 22-year-old colorado resident, stevie marie vigil is accused of buying the weapon used in clements' murder from a licensed dealer and accused of giving it to evan abel a convicted felon who couldn't buy a weapon on his own. in washington, a growing skepticism that substantial gun legislation can make it through the senate and the house and on to the president for his signature. joining me is california congressman, javier bassera, chairman of the house democratic caucus. thank you for being with us today. there's fewer people in the polls supporting tougher gun laws, but there is a national day of action. clearly there is a national momentum behind this. still. the president is saying you know, we cannot forget.

what is your thought about whether the house and senate will go along with anything meaningful? >> andrea, i think it's more than just the president saying we can't forget. it's the families, it's the victims and it's the future victims if we do nothing. so what i believe the president is hoping to do is give us the impetus in congress to at least as he said, give a vote and we should have votes on a number of these measures. we certainly should have a strong bipartisan vote on making sure that we have no more loopholes in the background checks for folks who should not be possessing weapons and we should follow that up with further sensible gun laws that i think if we have courage in congress, we can pass. there's talk of a grassley amendment in the senate he's known to be an opponent of background checks. is this a feel-good substitute that will let people vote for gun laws, but not do anything tough? >> i hope not. feeling good won't stop the next deranged guy from getting out there and killing a number of americans. so what we have to do is have

real substantive changes to the law that makes it very sensible about who will be able to possess a weapon. and i don't think that's that difficult, andrea. right now virtually every american, nine out of ten americans intentionally support us closing the loopholes, that allow people who are deranged or criminals from obtaining weapons. we should be able to at least move there and go on it other things. in california we've gone to the step of saying weapons of war? you shouldn't possess those. assault weapons are not for the street. they're for war. >> ha do you say to members of congress, democrats and republicans, especially democrats, in red districts, who are the biggest problem, potentially the biggest hurdle to getting some sort of tough laws through. >> we have a few democrats in the senate who have some concerns they've always been very strong on gun rights. but i would say to them, respecting their views, we all got to suck it up and we can get this done there are a number of

families who expect us to do our work. so suck it up, be courageous and let's do the right thing. >> congressman yarmish told chris jansing that you all are close to an agreement on imdepression reform? >> i think all the conversations have been great conversations. bipartisan conversations. i think finally republicans have caught up to the rest of the public and said, we got to get this done, it's time to fix our broken immigration system. i thought it was good that senator mccain and other senators, saw a woman climb an 18-foot tall fence and then get apprehended. that raises the question that you build a tall fence, someone will find a way to climb it. and also our border control is enforcing the laws and did catch that person. you're never going to stop someone who wants to climb a wall and it's better to fix the system altogether, enforcement at the border, enforcement at

the workplace and dealing realistically with the 10 or 11 million people who have been working here for a long time and want to come out of the shadows. >> the talk that rubio's solution would be border control and it would be years before people could even be eligible for a green card? >> first, i don't think this country ever wants to return to the days of separate by equal. where we have an underclass of people who are essentially given second-class status in america. so i would be against any proposal that would tell people who were working very hard, who we will require to pay taxes, they will now be treated, the way in some countries. the underclass are treated or in the way of this country, centuries ago, we treated folks, we're not going to dial back the clock. i think it's time for us to recognize we can solve this in sensible ways. that the public has been quite some time. move forward. we'll get there without being harsh and mean to people. >> the congress is way ahead on this. we just showed a new pew research poll, 71% of those

polled said people should be eligible for citizenship. only 27% say not be allowed to stay illegally. i want to ask you about the supreme court, we're talking about access to equal rights here. when we talk about immigration. talking about the argument, you were there in the courtroom yesterday and you brought your daughter. tell me why you brought your daughter to hear the historic arguments, first of all your interest was prop 8. and of course, as a californian you wanted to see what happened there. >> i was outside with the folks that were waiting to see the white smoke come out. but of the supreme court, we were there because principally because my daughter, who was is on easter break said, i would love to be there, dad, i would want to be part of history. even if i'm just standing there outside the supreme court. so we went. i was not expecting to speak or do anything with the crowd that was there. but it was great when i had a chance to say a few words to the crowd. i said one thing -- i was here 17 years ago in washington, d.c.

when 435 members of congress took a vote on doma. only 67 of us took a vote saying no. >> you voted against it. >> 67 of the 435 members in the house voted against doma back then. i did it because i didn't think it was appropriate for to us discriminate. now today i feel very confident that the supreme court will finally catch up to the rest of america in saying that's not the way to go. but the best thing about it was to have my daughter there. and let her feel the vibrations of folks who are saying history is going to be made this year. >> thank you very much, congressman, always great to see you. thanks for joining us. joining us for our daily fix, chris cillizza, msnbc managing editor and nbc news white house correspondent, kristen welker. thanks to both and chris, thanks to you for being here when i was not, on the road all week. first of all, let's talk about guns, the reality check. kristen, you were at the white

house where the president, you're at the white house where the president just made that appeal. some are criticizing him for not following up aggressively enough. there have been a lot of events, joe biden, mike bloomberg. but the president himself, has he lent enough of his moral authority. hitting the road and trying to campaign for this and keeping the spirit of newtown alive? >> there's no doubt that there's sort of been a lapse in terms of his pressing this issue is he was on his foreign trip in israel. this is the first time we have seen him speak about this issue in quite some time. what was striking about his comments today, they were emotional, they sort of were reminiscent of his comments during the state of the union address. when he used that emotional appeal to try to press lawmakers to vote on some of these stiffer gun measures. so he's signaling that this is sort of the approach he will continue to take moving forward. to your point, though, andrea, when you look at the polls, there is a dip in support for

the stiffer gun laws. a dip than there was in the days immediately after newtown. so president obama today sort of acknowledging you heard him talk about the fact that he read an article, that he brought up the point that he may have missed the chance. what i can tell you is we expect to see him hit the road as potentially as early as next week to continue to press this issue because there's no doubt that public support has been waning in the wake of newtown. andrea? >> well public support in the polling, reportedly waning, but we see the national day of action and we see events state by state. how does he tap into that, chris cillizza, and also how does he mobilize the senate and the house? you've got all of these red state democrats in the senate. who are afraid of this vote and i now he's inviting republicans to a second round of dinner. trying to follow up on his outreach to republicans. >> first of all, welcome back good to see you in your rightful place in that chair. i would say this, andrea.

kristen has hit on it. president obama, this was almost sort of the politics of guilt. it's a shame on us if we forget. the rhetoric is very sort of emotional as kristen said. it's not as political why this would be a good vote. the reality is, for some folks, mark pryor in arkansas or max baucus in montana or kay hagen in north carolina, folks, democrats who are up in 2014. it's not clear that this would be a good political vote. you had congressman beccerra, what he said was great. suck it up, be courageous, do the right thing. that's the argument i think you're going to hear from democrats and from gun control advocates. between now and when we get a vote in the senate. which is put the politics aside and vote on what you think is right. easier said than done and easier for people who are in a safe district, don't have to worry

about the re-election, put the politics aside, this vote could wind up hurting politically. >> and speaking of hurting and not hurting politically. ashley judd decides republicaning against mitch mcconnell in kentucky. how relieved is mitch mcconnell, chris cillizza? i'm going to ask you about that. >> sure. >> you broke that story. >> i beat her to the tweet by two minutes, so i'm taking credit for it. in the twitter verse, that's a big beat. >> i actually think, andrea, there's an argument to be made and a lot of smart folks advising ashley judd on a potential candidacy. her personal charisma, her star power, her ability to draw money and attention to the race. would make it difficult for mitch mcconnell. i would put myself on the other side. mitch mcconnell has been elected and re-elected, ever since 1974 by making the race about his democratic opponent. ashley judd she has lived her

life in the sort of entertainment world, not the political world. many of the statements she made are perfectly fine in the entertainment world. but they would not have played as well in the political world. i think it would have given mitch mcconnell lots and lots of fodder to paint her as an out of touch, liberal hollywood elitist who didn't know kentuckyians. democrats may be, maybe if they can get the secretary of state a woman named allison grimes into the race, they might be better off. >> and allison grimes has the support of hillary and bill clinton. it looks like that would be a race where hillary clinton may well weigh in. the daughter of the democratic official helpful to clintons. >> her father, former democratic state party chairman and close to bill clinton. >> thank you both so much. great to see you closer at least. chris cillizza. up next, the latest on nelson mandala's condition as

the 94-year-old former south african leader and world icon returns to the hospital. this is "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc.

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former south african leader, nelson mandala is back in the hospital today after being admitted late last night for a recurring lung infection. mandala has become increasingly frail in recent years and has been hospitalized numerous times for various ailments. "time" magazine's richard stengel collaborated with mandala on his 1993 autobiography, "long walk to freedom." and stengel is also the author on "mandala's way." rick stengel joins me now. i want to talk about the "time" magazine cover out today. and first about nelson mandala. you know him better than almost

anyone in terms of a journalist and a biographer and a correspondent. tell me about mandala, what you know about his state of health and also just the legacy if we can start talking about the icon that he is. >> andrea, i don't know much more than you do probably about his condition right now. what i do know is how frail he has become. i saw him last year. i've seen him a few times in the last few years and he's a big, robust man and the last few years he's, he's just gotten very frail. he's very weak. and i think as you know also, he first got tuberculosis when he was a prisoner 40 years ago and he's also had problems with his lungs because of the lgcy of tb, and for him to have lung problems at 94 years old, is a bit dangerous. his legacy is assured, he saved his country from a civil war. he presented a model of

reconciliation between the races in a way that we've almost never seen before in history. i think his iconic status is assured. the role of mappedlea, is there -- mandala, is there anyone in the south african hierarchy now who is able to take that, that role, that political role and also, the nationhood aspect of mandala? what about the successors? >> well, you know, the vice president, who had been the head of the anc, he was very close to mandala, before mandala was president, while he was president. i think in many ways he -- holds nelson mandala legacy more than anyone else on the political scene, even more than jacob zuma, the president. >> then senator obama visiting mandala. if we can go back to that slide as well. that was a picture from 2005,

when senator obama visited mandala, already frail and you can imagine the role that mandala played just in the imagination of a young barack obama. and all of his generation. but continue, rick. >> i think you know, there are similarities between president obama and nelson mandala in terms of their temperment and approach to problems as pragmatists. i don't know this for a fact, but i think that the president looks to mandala as a model in that respect. >> i want to ask you about "time" magazine's covers, because i should say, covers, not cover. very exciting, i was just watching on "morning joe" today, jonathan capehart's response to the covers. tell me why you took the approach you did. to the issue of gay marriage. >> two covers, a male same-sex

couple and a female, same-sex couple. the idea is no matter what the court decides, the idea, the reality of gay marriage, is something that is present. and will be eventually overwhelming. if you look at the demographic changes in america, you know, four times as many people below the age of 30 believe gay marriage is a right and that people should have it. i wanted to celebrate this notion, with these two couples. where the idea of the love that is at the heart of the institution of marriage, is demonstrated by same-sex couples or heterosexual couples and i wanted these covers to demonstrate that. >> just to note that senator markowski from alaska is the latest republican to say she has evolving views on this. we haven't heard since rob portman, who has a personal connection through his son, we haven't heerd a lot of republicans, other red state democrats coming forward in the last 48 hours, but now merkowski

saying she has an evolving view of it she hasn't quite stated what the view is. but obviously she's signaling a change. where we're waiting to hear from other republicans. but it seems to me and i'm sure it seems to people in the house and senate, they may have wanted the supreme court to take the burden off of them and make these decisions that is less likely now based on the oral arguments at least if we can read anything into it. that congress is so far behind the american people. and particularly the younger generation, rick. >> and again, if you listen to justice kennedy's comments and even the comments of some of the more conservative justices, what they are seeing are that the people themselves are voting for this. it's not necessarily the legislature or even for the high court to rule. in the sense that what they're seeing across the country are individuals communities and states that are saying you know what, this is the right thing to do, this is the just thing to do. this is an example of equality before the law. so in some ways, you know, the higher institutions in society

are just catching up with the people. >> rick stanger. we thank you today and i want to say on my shelf of must re-reads today is your latest book, "mandala's way: 15 lessons on life, love and courage." when did that come out? >> two years ago. >> well, we will get on it. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. next on this day of national action -- just what are the chances for new gun laws? maryland democrat elijah cummings joins us next. we're here! we're going to the park! [ gina ] oh hey, dan! i really like your new jetta! and you want to buy one like mine because it's so safe, right? yeah... yeah... i know what you've heard -- iihs top safety pick for $159 a month -- but, i wish it was more dangerous, like a monster truck or dune buggy! you can't have the same car as me! [ male announcer ] now everyone's going to want one. let's get a jetta. [ male announcer ] volkswagen springtoberfest is here and there's no better time to get a jetta. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease one of

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i used to be scared of the basement. but when badger's with me, it's not so bad. [ barking ] [ announcer ] we know how important your dog is to your whole family. so help keep him strong and healthy with purina dog chow. because you're not just a family. you're a dog family. kids make stains i use tide boost to super charge our detergent. boom. clothes look amazing, and daddy's a hero. daddy, can we play ponies? right after we do foldies. tide boost is my tide. what's yours? she just wanted to teach little kids and that was her goal and she died doing it. how wonderful. >> that was of the last day i ever saw jesse alive. >> i want to prevent any other family from having to go through what we're going through. >> don't let the memory of

newtown fade without doing something real. >> demand action now. heartbreaking testimonies from family members devastated by the newtown tragedy. lending their voices to michael bloomberg and mayors against illegal guns in their new ad. making the case to ban high-capacity clips and assault weapons. maryland congressman elijah cummings is the ranking member on the house oversight and government reform committee and joins me now from baltimore. congressman, thank you very much, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> what is the impact of the bloomberg advocacy, the families, what the president did today, the call to action -- do you think it will change any minds and hearts of members of congress? >> i certainly hope so. andrea. the key is is that it will remind them of sandy hook and hopefully put them into a mindset where they'll try to do whatever they can to answer the call to control some of this gun

violence that's taking place. the question becomes you know, we do know that there is a lot of these incidents, like sandy hook are copy cat type situations. the question is what will the next situation look like. and that's why the legislation that, that i've been working on actually for two or three years, along with cullen maloney of new york is a piece of bipartisan legislation, which hopefully will help to make sure that people who are getting guns illegally are stopped from doing so. >> what about, what the republicans and other gun opponents, because some are red state democrats, what are they telling you from the other side in terms of whether they're willing to go is the background check the possible bottom line? or given the grassley amendments on the senate side, are they going to go watering it down even farther? >> i think that certainly the move on the part of senator grassley is to water down things further. we've got a number of democrats who want to do something, they

know they should be doing. the republicans know they should be doing something, too. and have said it to me. they seem to be concern about backlash from the nra and comparable groups. keep in mind, andrea, the legislation we have in the house with regard to gun trafficking, that is making sure that somebody who is forbidden from getting a gun, then gets somebody who has no record to buy that gun for them. we, our, our bill would basically impose a 20-year penalty, not only on the straw purchaser who buys it. but also the kingpin who may be getting the gun or cartels who may be getting the gun and anybody in the line of when the gun is transferred. this is a bipartisan piece. we have over 100 co-sponsors. five of them are republicans. in fact congressman reginald of virginia is a member of the nra.

and me han, of pennsylvania is a former federal prosecutor. they are republicans, it's the only republican piece that we have, that is available in the house that has bipartisan support. a comparable bill has already passed the senate judiciary committee. i think we've got a pretty good chance on the trafficking bill. the thing i worry about most, andrea is we end up doing nothing. and that's, that's real problem. i think the country is tired of us not acting on things that concern them. most people want background checks. the vast imagine orlts want traffic laws and i realize that we've had some difficulty with the assault weapons in high capacity clips. the head of the senate has said he would allow amendments and they'll be voted on. but i do not want to end up with nothing. i think it sends a horrible message to folks who are intent

on committing these crimes. if they see something like sandy hook, where you've got 20 children who were murdered point blank, and six adults, who were murdered and we do nothing? what's going to happen next? >> you and i discussed this before, your own family experienced a terrible loss, your nephew was murdered. >> yes. >> how does that insight inform your ability to persuade your colleagues and to maintain your passion behind this. >> sure. as i watched the firms you were just showing the commercials, i started to feel emotional. what happens, when you lose a relative through that kind of violence, as i did, my 20-year-old nephew, almost two years ago, what it does, is it makes you mourn every day for what they could have been. so my nephew was 20. imagine a child five years old.

every birthday, every graduation, every you know, christmas, easter. it all wells back up because you're mourning about what could have been. that passion, i'm telling you, will drive those parents at sandy hook, will drive people who have had similar experiences in our inner cities will drive them to continue on this trip to make a difference. it's hard to go against that kind of passion. we're mourning for what we have lost and what could have been. >> which never ends. >> which never ends. elijah cummings, thank you, congressman and wishing you a good easter holiday. >> same to you. >> up next, the legal strategy to try to stop states from rolling back abortion rights. planned parenthood, cecille richards joips us next and the dangerous landslide in washington state.

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[ breathes deeply ] ♪ oh, what a relief it is [ angry gibberish ] north of seattle an unpress kented mudslide has destroyed one home and threatens 18 more homes on a whidbey island hillside overlooking puget sound. a thunderous mudslide believed to be caused by ground soaked by snow melt sounded like a sonic boom. ghost is for more rain ahead. after the latest threats from north korea, the u.s. sent a brushback pitch, flying two stealth bombers from whiteman air force base in missouri to south korea and back. ongoing joint military exercises. tensions are high after north korea's leader kim jong un threatened to attack the u.s. and south korea with nuclear weapons. banks in cyprus opened today for the first time in two weeks following a near meltdown of the

country's banking sector. the banks reopened under very tight controls imposed on large depositors and others as part of a rescue package to prevent the country from defaulting. lawyers for oscar pistorius won a victory as the judge lifted the tight bail restrictions after he was charged with premeditated murder of his girlfriend. with today's ruling, pistorius will get his passport back and will be able to compete overseas. this week, north dakota became the latest state to challenge roev. wade, moving to ban abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy on the heels of arkansas and other states chipping away at abortion access. those caught up in the debate think that abortion could soon be headed back to the supreme court. is that a good thing? joining me planned parenthood president, cecille richards joining me from new york. good to see you. >> great to see you.

>> what is the best legal strategy for you and your advocacy in terms of all of the incremental changes in abortion rights, state by state by state. are you prepared to risk a test case that would go all the way to the supreme court and especially with this court, risk overturning roev. wade. >> andrea particularly the state of north dakota they've passed a series of bills and the governor has signed bills that are absolutely unconstitutional. so i think whether it's the north dakota case or another, something will be going to the supreme court. it's so ironic that we would be in a week in which we're talking about advancing the important right to marry in this country, that the state of north dakota would now be rolling back a right that women have had for 40 years. governor dalrymple has managed to mang north dakota the most unsafe state in the country for women's health. >> there's a legislation pending in florida which would define life at fertilization. >> that's exactly right. >> i don't know whether that's

going to go through the florida legislature or not, but that's another example, is it not? >> that's the same legislation, or ballot initiative that will be in north dakota as well. essentially a personhood initiative that would declare a fertilized egg to have the same rights as a human being and this is something that's so extreme it was defeated handilly by the vot voters in mississippi. for some reason ewe can't get away from the war going on against women. and what we're hearing from planned parenthood supporters is enormous alarming and that somehow women's rights would depend on their zip code and that's what's frighten about what's happening in some of these states. >> and governor mcdonnell of virginia has announced a procedure which would basically keep abortion out of the coverage from the state's federally funded, federally run health care exchange. which is of course part of obama

care. >> well, how does that play into it? >> you think there's a series of bills. andrea, since this legislative session started in january, we've seen more than 300 bills introduced. 42 states are considering bills that would restrict women's access to safe and legal abortion. i think what's really of concern here for planned parenthood as a health care provider. is the dangerous situation it would put women in. we don't want women in north dakota or any other state, to resort to desperate measures because they can't legally go to a doctor. >> now, i know that abortion services are only 3% and separated from the rest of planned parenthood services, the clinics that you run. give me an update on texas, your home state, which had one of the broadest restrictions on women's health services. >> well of course the thing that's happened in texas and we're seeing in other states as well. is it's not about abortion any more. it's about birth control. you know the governor of texas has restricted women's access to

birth control to cancer screenings, everything he could do to prevent women from being able to go to get preventive care at planned parenthood. this week the federal government announced they would be funding women's health care providers outside, in the state of texas but not through the state government. so that in fact we're hopeful that women in the state of texas will be able to get birth control again and their cancer screenings that they've been missing for several months. >> cecille richards, thank you very much. for that update on women's health. coming up, the fate of california prop 8 now in the hands of the supreme court of course. we'll talk to california attorney general pamela harris. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. i'm telling you right now, the girl back at home would absolutely not have taken a zip line in the jungle. i'm really glad that girl stayed at home. vo: expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they're looking for. one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours.

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so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. the supreme court appeared ready this week to strike down the defense of marriage act. during yesterday's oral arguments, but it was a different story for prop 8, with justices signaling they may take

a narrow approach to avoid setting a national precedent on the issue of same-sex marriage in that california proposition. california attorney general pamela harris refused to defend prop 8 before the court. but was there for the proceedings and joins me now. bring me up to date on what your impression, coming out of the supreme court argument yesterday. >> rather it was tuesday. >> tuesday, you know, a number of thoughts. one, that obviously the court is acknowledging that 14 times in the history of the court since the 1880s, it has recognized marriage as a fundamental right. and so there was some discussion of that. and i believe in it certainly our position. that this case, what they do with prop 8 and what they do with doma should be consistent with those other 14 cases which described marriage as a fundamental right. and therefore, entitled to great protection. the other point is on the issue of standing.

and in the prop 8 case, in particular, the point that we have made, that i think the court will hopefully appreciate, that the proponent of prop 8, his life will not change. his life will not be impacted by allowing same-sex couples to marry. for that reason he has no stake in the outcome of the case and for that reason, he should not be allowed to bring the case on appeal to the united states supreme court. on doma, i think that justice ginsberg was brilliant in simplifying it and bringing it down to a basic one, we're creating two systems one, one full marriage and the other one skim milk marriage. and we'd have to have a really good reason to treat people differently when it comes to what otherwise should be an equal protection. and i hope the court, is in the end, recognize that as we have

recognized in california, 61% of californians are in favor of same-sex marriage. the majority of americans and catholics are in favor of same-sex marriage. and it is important that we continue on a path as this country has acknowledged. we have to be dedicated to equal rights and equal protection under the law. >> justice kennedy, who arguably could be a key vote on this case, on the case of prop 8. did voice skepticism about standing. about the jurisdiction. this was part of his comment. >> you're really asking particularly because of the socialological evidence you cite, for us to go into uncharted waters. i wonder if the case was properly granted. >> that brings me to the point, attorney general harris, that it's conceivable that they will decide it on a very narrow basis and that prop 8 could be overturned. but it will not be a national precedent for the rest of the country.

well, i know there has been some talk of that. and in my perspective is pretty simple. the majority of americans, the president of the united states, the former president of the united states, the former secretary of state, leaders of fortune 500 companies as well as athletes, so many have weighed in on this issue. on a way that makes it clear, it was not a controversial issue for most of america. it is important that the highest court of the land declare that treating two groups of people differently on the basis of their sexual orientation is simply not going to cut it. when we read the constitution and understand that we have to be dedicated to equal rights for all people, regardless of the orientation. >> it does seem at times listening to the audio of the argument on prop 8 and on doma. first of all on prop 8,

principally that the liberals as well as the conservatives on the court seem to be trying to find a way out of going too far in this. because the liberals may fear that if they liberals may fear f they pushed it to the obvious conclusion, they would not have the vote. perhaps they're looking for a much smaller step initially to avoid having some kind of ruling that will set a press debit that they don't support. >> i don't think there is such a thing and i don't think we can allow such a conversation as a small step toward equality. we either step toward equality or we don't. and that's just the bottom line here. there is a real significance to the passage of time. as i've said before, 50,000 california children are asking why can't their parents be married, too. 18,000 california families who were married in california want to be recognized as being married for the purposes of

receiving federal benefits. and a day in the life of each of these guys is a very long time. there is no time to wait. we cannot tell people to wait for their civil rights and their equal rights. >> cam la harris, the attorney general from california. thank you very much for being with us. what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? that's next right here on "andrea mitchell reports." or just seem to fade away, day by day? don't compromise. new vidal sassoon pro series from the original salon genius. starts vibrant, stays vibrant. precision mix formula saturates each strand for 100% gray coverage. hydrablock conditioner helps fight fade out for up to 8 weeks. new vidal sassoon lets you say no to compromise and yes to vibrant color like this. new vidal sassoon pro series salon genius. affordable for all.

new vidal sassoon pro series want to save on electricity? don't use it. live like they did long ago. or just turn off the lights when you leave a room. you can conserve energy wisely. the more you know. which political headlines will make headlines in the next 24 hours? you've got tickets to the sweet 16. >> reporter: so excited. i am going tonight to the verizon center to see a little basketball and to see, i might add, chuck todd's team. the miami hurricanes play a big east rival in marquette. so i'm very excited. >> what about syracuse and indiana? >> oh, yeah, there's that but i'm very focused on, plus, i'm

an early person. that's the early game. i don't know if i can make it all the way to that late game will. >> it has nothing to do with syracuse and georgetown. >> i'm not familiar with syracuse university. it rings a bell. >> you can't remember. >> yeah, no. and i've actually erased all remembrance of georgetown playing the ncaa tournament. it was a complicated process. i was able to have it done. the pain was too much. >> as someone who has spent a lot of time there, tonight is also lasalle versus wichita state. we have to think about the philly five. >> philly! >> thank you very much. >> good luck tonight, i think. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." i'm so glad to be back. thank you or the everyone who helped out. remember, follow the show online and on twitter @mitchellreports. my friend tamron hall has a look at what's next. i can't believe this.

we keep matching our colors, sight up seen. >> i knew you would be back. great to have you back. coming up, president obama surrounded by victims of gun violence, delivers perhaps the most emotional remarks since he was in newtown days after that shooting. >> shame on us if we've forgotten. i haven't forgotten those kids. >> and just before the president's remarks, chilling new information coming out on the investigation into the newtown massacre. officials now say adam lanza fired 154 rounds within five minutes. and new reaction today from the nra on the case. plus, today's "news nation" gut check. "time" magazine's dual cover on this week's historic gay marriage cases in court. some thought the covers were too sensational. too in your face. what does your gut tell you? [ male announcer ] you know that guy who sells those remote control helicopters at the mall.

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