good morning, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. on the supreme court news. the court's 5-4 ruling in shelby county versus holder. free states and municipalities with a history of racial discrimination from having to clear changes in voting procedures from the federal government, effectively ending the practice. the so-called preclearance provision has stopped in nine states. today's decision does not invalidate the preclearance requirement. out right instead, the conservative majority ruled they failed to take account of changing circumstances in the south. i would like to bring in tom goldstein. tom, as we talk about the decision, as we examine it does not make the voting rights act

null and void, but it's up to congress to reinterpret what formula is best for the country. >> that's right, one is a traditional lawsuit. but the provision here involves a ruling where you said, the states and counties and localities have to get permission ahead of time. that's a provision of the voting rights act. and you're right that the supreme court effectively kicked this back across the street to congress and said update the list. but in practice. in reality. it's probably in the provision. it's unimaginable that a republican house of representatives would say we think there's too much racism in your voting design. so as a practical matter, this probably means the end of the provision of the civil rights voting act. >> so is this mainly equal treatment for states or voters? >> that's a really good way of looking at it. i think the conservatives here took this view. they said in 1965 when the

statute was enacted and this list was created. it was really important and absolutely and necessary, but the countries changed since then. and a lot of jurisdictions in their view that was covered by the preclearance rule haven't proved a lot. so there isn't this presumption of discrimination anymore, therefore applying this preclearance rule, it in fact infringes the rights of states to decide how they'll have voting. >> so tom, as i understand it, the civil rights act was reauthorized in '06. however, in '09 congress was instructed to come up with a better formula, but they haven't done their homework on that. so why should we expect them now, in 2013, to be mature enough to do that? >> i don't know that it's a question of maturity or just gridlock, which happens a lot obviously in this congress. what happened a few years ago, just as you said is the supreme court effectively sent a shot across congress and said we have huge concerns about this statute, but we're going to wait a minute. we're going to get congress the

chance to fix it if they want to. what happened in congress is always what happened in congress. and so the justices said today, well, you've had your time. you've had your opportunity. and by a 5-4 majority, conservatives against liberals, they struck it down. >> tom goldstein. great to have you with us. we really appreciate it. joining me now in studio we have the reverend al sharpton here on msnbc as well as chris hayes, who is the host of "all in". you sent out a statement calling this a devastating blow. you said you're going to mobilize to put the pressure on congress. i asked tom about the maturity in d.c. right now. is it there to take on the oeness of having to come up with a formula that better serves where we stand in 2013. >> i think on its own it is not there. aga again, if we go back to 1965, it was a people's moment that got the voting rights back up in the

first place. and that's going to happen to make sure we protect what is left of the voting rights act now. let us not act like the country woke up one morning and said, let's be nice to this the people in the south, or even those in new york, that is under the voting rights act, this came from a movement, and i think that what will happen is there will be a strong voter movement, and i think some of what we saw last year, when many of us mobilized around voter i.d. in florida and in ohio in early voting showed that that can work because we ended up with blacks literally outvoting whites last year. and i think that kind of momentum you will see across the board in this country now as a result of this decision. >> with those examples, why wouldn't preclearance be more necessary now than ever. >> well, in fact, the court uses the opposite reasoning, and in a perverse way the robert's opinion uses the success in the last election as precisely the reason to strike down the

clearance. they basically said in five states that are under preclearance, there was higher turnouts among african-americans and white. inty cities about this, and i want to make sure we're clear about this. let's be clear about what the court here does. congress spent hundreds of hours hearing testimony on this issue. congress also voted by massive overwhelming majorities putting huge thousands of labor hours into determine iing whether the problem still existed and whether it was a solution for the problem. and five justices of the supreme court and 20 law clerks sat down and made a factual determination that basically congress is wrong. they just wrote in, and justice ginsburg rightly says it's a stunning act. you have the entirety of the first branch of the entire states engineering a piece of legislation that hundreds of people work onto make these determinations and you have five justices of the supreme court,

and they're 20 law clerk saying no, actually, we've looked at a few tables and charts and we don't think that formula works. >> reverend, based on where we are today and as of what we saw yesterday on the affirmative action on the texas case, are we seeing an erosion of taking into account where we stand in this country with the proper supervision needed over diversity being accounted for? >> i think we are. i think we're seeing an erosion, which i think means that those of us that believe that we still need the government to protect those that have still faced discrimination than have historically, we have to mobilize and make sure that that is resisted and not allowed to happen. because when you look at yesterday, they say we're going to send back to the lower courts the question of atirmtive action, today we're going to say come back with a formula for everyone. but in the meantime, we're going

to take out the medicine, that was healing the patient. you have in many ways revoked a lot of what was gained in the civil rights moment in the '60s. you've done it in a very polished way, but the bottom line is that is what you've done. and james crowe jr. esquire is doing his work today. gl we are going to conduct a national experiment in the midterms election in 2014 in which for the first time in 50 years we do not have the protections of the voting rights act that people shed blood and die for. we are all going to run a national experiment in 2014 in which we have, we conduct a national election without the protections of the voting rights. >> so what states are you concerned about? >> i'm concerned about the the states that were there and other states. i'm not saying the this are not be a new formula. but you don't withdraw what was there and say come up with a new

formula. the patient was sick. the patient was doing better. i think you can do more for the patient, so let's take all the medicine out of the patient and let the patient lay there until we figure out what medicine is going to save the patient. that is ridiculous. >> well, the instructions from yesterday with the court and punting back to texas, and as tom pointed out, they're punting across the street to congress. is there a congressional will that they want to see the formula. >> let's be very clear here when you talk about the decision yesterday and this decision. this is not a punt in this sense. they have ruled part of the act unconstitutional. chief justice john roberts, we have memos showing tremendous antipathy to the voting rights act. they know full well what they are doing. they understand that the united states congress has currently constitutioned particularly given the incentives of the two parties and the house gop is not going to produce a new formula

absent some kind of grass roots mobilization. they know very well what they have done today is kill section five of the voting rights act in a crafty way that allows them to keep their fingerprints off the murder weapon. >> gentlemen, it's great to have you here. we'll see you tonight for politics nation at 8:00. chris, we'll see you at 8:00 on "all in". we'll have more on the the decisions coming up. you can watch the rev tonight, weeknight at 6:00 and chris hayes, "all in", weeknights at 8:00. it's great to vu you in here in the early morning hours. we have new development fls the edward knowden case. new comments for russian president vladimir putin saying snowden is still in the transit area of russia's airport. >> plus serving up apologies. paula deen's sons coming to her defense against allegations of racism saying they weren't

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we want to bring you back to our breaking news on the supreme court's decision, widely considered to be the most important piece of civil rights legislation ever passed in the country. joining me now, mark morial, president of the national urban league and in washington, d.c., julia bond, naacp chairman. gentlemen, it's great to have you all here. this is certainly a lot to take in this morning. the court is striking down,

leaving congress to redraw the map. a portion from chief john roberts and his opinion stating our country has changes and while any discrimination in voting is too much, congress must ensure the legislation speaks to current conditions. so i would like to get all of your reactions to this. chairman, i want to start with you. what are the chances that congress will agree on what it means for a new map? >> i think they are probably slim to none. this is a dysfunctional congress. it's not doing anything now. it hadn't done anything for a number of years. it's not going to do anything in the future. i heard, i think chuck todd say today it was immature. it's not capable of doing this. this is something that has to be for the people of the united states. they have to say as loudly as we can, we want protection for people, we want a registered vote. we want them now. >> the chairman is saying it's coming from a people. from the legal standpoint, where

does this process begin? >> well, there was a formula used to identify which of the jurisdictions were the most likely to have some type of voting violation. so what the court is saying is now that is outdated and we no longer have those types of discrimination at the polls or literacy tests to exclude some african-american voters. so now it's 201. we need a new set of circumstances. >> so, mark, the vote was 5-4 with the opinion from justice ruth bader ginsburg. the current law still uses election data from 1972. fast forward to 2012, when black voter turnout exceeded that of white voters, is that the evidence? >> no, this is what is incredible from the court's decision. the court ignores the voluminous testimony that was presented to congress in 2005 and 2006 when the act was rethorsed. it makes a passing reference to

that and goes back to 1965. this law has been updated numerous times with extensive reiteration of the fact by the congress. and the justice is exercising its preclearance options on numerous times. i think what the court did is the court had simply a fixation that it wanted to undermine the voting rights act and did not give consideration. i submitted testimony to the congress in 2005 and 2006 on the experiences in my home state, louisiana, where i served in the legislature when we reapportioned. i served as mayor of new orleans, and on numerous occasions in the period of time from 1965 to the present, louisiana has engaged in unfortunate and regrettable discriminatory voting practices that emanated from the legislature.

i think there's a record. it is true that many of the schemes, many of the types of things we see today may not match what you saw in 1965. but i do think that the court was wrong in striking down section four. and i think as the chairman said, you're going to see a mobilization from people who will say this is a democracy issue. we want congress to act now. >> but chairman, is it a democracy issue as mark is pointing out, is the supreme court really putting this on the american people, reminding them what democracy is all about? and we're going to have own it individually. basically fast forwarding from 1965 where obviously the voting rights act was needed but to a present day where we are living in 2013, we have to fast forward somehow. correct? >> we have a good opportunity coming up on august 24th with the reenactment of the 1960s where dr. king made a great

speech. they believe the voting rights act ought to be reinstated, to gather here in washington, d.c. and have their voices heard. that's what ought to happen around the country. we are americans. we want the right to vote. we want the congress to do it. we want to do it now. >> chairman, thank you so much. great to have you all here. i really appreciate it. still ahead, developing news on the groebl mlobal manhunt for e snowden. and vladimir putin raising new questions about where in the world the nsa leaker fled to. plus, we have this. >> we will respond to the threat of climate change knowing the threat to do so will betray our children and future generations. >> now president obama is delivering a major address

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more now on the developing news on the high stakes global game of hide-n-go seek. russian's president vladimir putin says snowden is in, quote, a transit zone of moscow's airport. and russia will not be extraditing him. this hours after officials insisted snowden wasn't there, calling u.s. claims ungrounded and unacceptable. today we are learning much more. one of snowden's attorneys claiming in a new interview that it was as simple as this. >> evidently, he went through the official channel instead of being arranged to come through this cham. nothing unusual happened.

everything went on as usual. as normal. >> seems simple to me, right? joining me now, michael issikof. a lot of people will be scratching their heads about that one. but explain what is going on here. >> well, first of all, the statement from putin does seem to clear up what was mystifying a lot of people t statement from the foreign minister that he never crossed the russian border. i spoke to kristen shortly after that statement who is the official spokesman for wikileaks who confirmed one of wikileaks's staff members, sarah harrison, was with snowden when they flew from hong kong to moscow over the weekend. and he said at that point that perhaps it's a question of definition about being in russia, and i think putin may have cleared that up by saying he's in the transit zone.

he is not officially on russian territory, but he did cross into russian air space, so that is hard to reconcile with the foreign minister's statement. that said, reading between the lines, snowden's options may be a little more limited than people think they are for one thing putin did say he expects snowden to leave as soon as possible. so what are his options we know he has an asylum application with iceland. the iceland asylum application, in order for that to be granted, snowden has to show up there. he has to fly to iceland and make the application in person.

that may be difficult to do given that he has no certainty it would be accepted. ecuador is processing it. if he has to leave the moscow transit zone, it's not clear at this point where he will go. >> certainly being run by wikileaks right now. but in essence, is russia laughing off this extradition request by the u.s.? and this is coming after just one day of tough talk that we're hearing from secretary kerry as well as jay carney from the white house. i want to play it for everybody. take a listen. >> we continue to hope that the russians will do the right thing. we think it's very important in terms of our relationship. >> this was a deliberate choice by the government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant, and that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the u.s./china relationship. >> so through diplomatic channels and others, what are

the real recourses the u.s. has at this point to get snowden back on u.s. soil? >> well, not a lot. first off, the u.s. officials are most upset with the chinese for letting him go. and he's gone. so, you know there's not much pressure we can put on the chinese to rectify what's already happened. with the russians, putin's comment about he wants snowden to leave fairly quickly is probably a good indicator that he doesn't want this to blow up and be a major roadblock in what are already frosty relations between the united states and israel. >> up next, we're going to head back to the supreme court where the justices gutted major parts of the civil rights law in the country. pete williams will talk about the decisions that remain on the

docket. plus the president is planning to deliver a major address on climate change. can he get anything accomplished or will he have to go it all alone? and a major fight in the george zimmerman trial regarding his previous non-emergency calls to police. we'll tell you what happened to break down the latest testimony from florida straight ahead. when visa signature asked everybody what upgraded experiences really mattered... you suggested luxury car service instead of "strength training with patrick willis." come on todd! flap them chicken wings. [ grunts ] well, i travel a lot and umm... [ male announcer ] at visa signature, every upgraded experience comes from listening to our cardholders. visa signature. your idea of what a card should be. visa signature. so wof the house?hink it's got a great kitchen, but did you see the school rating? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go. bye daddy! ...but what about when my parents visit? ok. i just love this one... and it's next to a park

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we got new reaction from a senior white house official telling nbc's peter alexander this is not a welcomed decision by any means. the official went onto say, quote, that may be gift to do given the current conditions. it's great to have you here. certainly this is catching a lot of people by surprise knowing the supreme court did not strike down the preclearance, yeah, the approval requirement of this law. so explain what it did today and how it took geography into account more than americans. >> the preclearance said the inertia is on the side of the individual voters and not on the side of the states. before the states can make it discriminatory against an individual, they have to go to washington and preclear it with

some district judges. that part of the law remains intact. what got struck down was section four of the voting rights act that says we are going to do this formula. without section four telling us which states need to be precleared, section five doesn't have a lot of bite. so now as we just heard this is being sent back to congress to create a new formula for which states should be covered and which states should not. but it's not clear that the congress will have the will to do that. >> what do you think about the statement from the white house? they are saying this is not a welcomed decision by any means. is there has the political will in d.c. to take on the challenge the supreme court has put at their feet? >> i don't see it, thomas. do you? we haven't seen it on gun control. maybe we'll see something on

immigration. the hope on what is a really troubling day for the country. the voting rights act is a crowned jewel. the hope is people will say voting is a fundamental right. that will light a fire under people in a way that's different. >> what do you think this means for state and local laws? the r the recent voter i.d. laws that have not received justice approval. >> i think we'll see more of those. the impediment was that they were in covered jurisdictions. therefore before you made any kind of change that made the law go in that direction you have to go to washington. now you no longer need to go to washington if you're in one of those jurisdictions. we'll see a speak in those laws in the future. >> i'm learning that eric holder will be making a statement at the top of the hour at noontime. we'll have that in reference to the supreme court voting down a

major part of the civil rights law today. thank you so much. in just a few hours president obama will lay out his vision to address climate change. it's been five years since then presidential candidate barack obama declared the beginning of a healing for the planet in his plannings to prevent the worst effects of climate change by specifically reducing carbon pollution while also preparing the country for the unavoidable impacts of climate change and postponing the u.s. or positioning the u.s., rather, as a global leader in these efforts. and joining me is carol brown. carol, it's good to have you here. and certainly on the heels of this there's a lot of chatter. here we go once again. the attempt to start the conversation on this. we know the president is doing everything he can with executive orders without giving congress a new issue of legislation. so how far can he get without going through congress? >> well, the good news is that the president has a lot of

authority to cut these dangerous conditions. things that are hard on the children and the the communities. there's a law on the books. today he'll be talking about how he's going to use the law to achieve common sense and cut dangerous pollutants. >> among this is the economic growth aspect of all of this. also job creation. cut reliance on foreign oil. these tr the benefits that are projected. but how can we get to the benefits if people aren't willing to come to the table and discuss that there is actually a problem? >> well, i think people will come to the table. we can modernize the plants. that will create jobs. it will protect the citizens from dangerous pollutants. i think what the president today is doing is laying out a plan that will bring people to the table. just like he did in setting fuel efficiency for greenhouse gases and automobiles. that was doable.

now if you buy a new car, when you fill up at the pump, you will save money. your tank of gas, a gallon of gas will go further than it used to go. >> do we look like we're trailing behind other countries as they are taking on renewable energy issues and what they're doing. what do we stand in comparison to other leaders on this? >> well, i think we're doing well. we can always do better. part of what the p t will announce is a commitment to double the number of homes that will rely on renewable. he will be talking about 6 million. he'll be talking about more efficiency. how do we save family's money on their monthly, their annual electricity bills? this is all doable in a very chon sense way it's what the law calls for. it is what makes sense. >> building on that, obviously all of these people take time. people are watching this issue

closely. and time is of the essence here, carol. president obama needs to act because of the length of time it may take to get this through. >> well, i think he can move forward with requirements on power plants to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. we're seeing the impacts and more and more complicated and dangerous storms. so to the degree that the president can put in place requirements that begin the process in a thoughtful way of reducing these dangerous pollutants is hugely important for families and communities. >> highly anticipated speech coming up. carol brown, thanks so much. we'll have live coverage of president obama's address on climate change here on msnbc coming up today at 1:55 p.m. up next, the latest testimony in the george zimmerman trial. just back from their recess. and then the backlash that keeps building for the queen of southern cuisine.

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and ears of law enforcement. they're not supposed to take matters into their own hands. >> zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges. joining us now is lisa bloom. our producers in the courtroom made notice of how the jurors really reacted to this witness, saying they were diligently taking notes in the testimony, much more so than others who testified yesterday. is the state trying to portray zimmerman as trying to take the law into his own hands? >> there's no question. they god good testimony from the witness. she said zimmerman was instructed not to follow suspicious people, certainly not to confront suspicious people. but on cross-examination, they say zimmerman was supposed to call in if someone was

suspicious. he had done that numerous times in the past. he calls in on this occasion, according to the defense, because he thought there was suspicious behavior. >> earlier the judge put off the decision of whether to allow the jury to hear some of those calls. nonemergency calls that zimmerman made to the police, reporting suspicious behavior that he was witnessing. here's what he had to say about the calls directly. >> they always get away. those aren't any words but his. and the fact that he said them that night in that context makes this relevant evidence. >> they're going to be asking this jury to go from good responsible behavior to seething anger. >> explain, lisa, what are both sides trying to do here? especially when it comes to the nonemergency calls? what portrait of zimmerman are they trying to paint about his whaifr? >> yeah, this is another piece

of evidence that is so vexing because it could really help either side depending on how you look at it. we know zimmerman called the nonemergency police number numerous times in the past because a garage door was open. because there was a stray dog in the neighborhood or because there were suspicious walking around in the neighborhood. he was again instructed to do that by the neighborhood watch commander. well, the prosecution says he had done this so many times in the past, and by the time of the night of the incident with trayvon martin, he was frustrated and that frustration had built. and that led to the motive for second-degree murder. and that's what he is charged with. the defense says no, he was simply a good citizen. he called in and reported as he was supposed to. he did it numerous times in the past without incident. what was different this time is that trayvon martin attacked him. >> we're understanding that reuters is reporting what could be the key state witness in owl of this could be taking the stand today. that is the young girl who was on the phone with trayvon martin talking with him as he was

walking home from the 7-eleven that night. how important could her testimony be for the case? >> her statement is what turned this around from the beginning. gorge zimmerman was not charged by the police. they bought the story of self defense later. she says she was on the phone with trayvon martin. she advised him to run and then she heard the phone dropping. unfortunately she has the problem that she's going to have to face on cross-examination. she says she did not attend his funeral because she was in the hospital, ha turns out to be untrue. >> lisa, thank you. developing now, the latest on the condition of president nelson mandela. you can see there on the full screen crowds gathering outside the hospital where mandela is being treated. they are singing and chanting. and on the right you can see there family members of mandela,

or the the left, excuse me, they were arriving to gather at his home. this is to discuss delicate matters pertaining to the icon. mandela's condition remains critical. saying when she told him of president obama's upcoming visit to south africa that he opened his eyes and smiled. three guards have died after a b brazen assault. nbc news crew was inside at the time of the attack. they were able to shoot this video from inside the compound. the nbc crew was not hurt. men's warehouse founder george zimmer has quit the company's board of directors. he was fired at ceo last week. he says he was concerned over recent board decisions and the company's future direction. new york city city police commissioner says stunts like his tight rope walk won't fly over the big apple when asked

about the possibility between the chrysler building and empire state buildings, ray kelly said it would be too dangerous. and a close call during the nba championship pa trade. low bridges from a double decker bus. they just don't mix. especially with lebron james and other players all doctoring to duck to avoid getting heard take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button?

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ente less than 24 hours before paula deen makes an appearance on the "today" show to address racism scandal, her sons are defending their mother against accusations that she used the "n" word in the past and suggest what they think is behind all these charges. >> neither one of our parents ever taught us to be bigoted towards any other person for any reason. i'm disgusted by the entire thing, because it began as extortion, and it has become character assassination. >> so obviously her reputation, her empire are both at stake

here. deen's contract with the food network, restaurants and cookbooks all worth an estimated $6.5 million a year but could she lose it all? we know that the food network has decided not renew her contract after june. smithfield foods is the late toast cut their ties with her as their spokesperson just days after the food network said it wasn't going forward with a new contract with her. others like qvc are "reviewing" its deal with deen while sears, target and valentine books are taking a wait-and-see approach. but some are calling for a boycott of the food network for not renewing her contract. joining me now, torre, author of "who's afraid of post-blackness, what it means to be black now." she abruptly canceled her "today" show appearance last week. this is now going to be on the heels of releasing those youtube

statements that didn't go over so well. how do you think she can redeem herself tomorrow? obviously a lot of time and effort has been put in to her coming out tomorrow on the "today" show. >> let me say this first -- this story is not disconnected from what's going on from the news you already reported today. the supreme court talked about the voting rights act and justice roberts conceding discrimination still exists. you just talked about the george zimmerman trial, right? where a young black man had somebody talking about black stereotypes and then he gets killed. these sorts of ideas we fear still exist, impact us. when we see somebody come out and say, yes, these are things that i still believe in, that i still dream of a southern wedding, this traditional southern wedding. this is not stuff that makes don imus look bad, this is trent lott, stuff. this is really ugly. >> this is a lady who cooks butter sandwiches on the food network. she's not some type of

ideological leader. she is a chef. >> but she's a representative now of an ideology that we thought was dead that we hoped was dead that some of us feared still existed in some people. and she now becomes a symbol where if you continue to support the restaurants and the empire, then are you saying racism does not matter to me. i only look at food and i would support somebody who would support those sort of things. now look, there is an audience that will be defiant, that will say, i'm still going to the restaurants. i only want the food. i don't care what she thinks. all i care is what hits my plate. but she's no longer going to be able to be sort of ready for prime time, she's a not-for-prime time player now. she cannot be on a national stage because a national corporation cannot be associated with somebody who's feeling like that. >> unfortunately, because national corporations don't care about what she's saying around her kitchen table. they care about the fact that she's not worth dollar signs anymore. "weather center" her books are going to sell or people are going to tune in or butter sandwiches to see her cook them

up. >> that's true. let me say one other thing. when her say says she didn't teach us these things -- well of course not. that's not how racism is passed down from generation to jen wags. it generation. it's not she'd sit at the kitchen table -- that's not how it goes. this comes in more subtle, nuanced ways. not everybody who has a racist parent becomes racist but these messages come through in ways that they are not really alluding to. >> you can always watch tourre at 3:00. >> tomorrow definitely after the "today" show. >> it is going to be interesting to see how she comes out. "today" show wasn't too happy about the fact that she -- >> she made an apology. >> yes, this is round two or three or four on that. we'll see how it goes. but we asked and you answered -- not you, tourre, but our viewers. we asked them about paula deen and can she redeem herself. susan wrote on facebook i have lost respect for her and i don't know just how genuine this

apology is or if it is to save face on her career. another on twitter -- some people like to see successful people fail. she apologized. anita said this -- actions speak louder than words. keep the comments comings. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. "now" with alex wagner is next with joy ann. what you got coming up? >> buckle up for another busy day. supreme court delivers a 5-4 blow to one of the key pillars of the landmark voting rights act. we'll get analysis from nbc's pete williams and richard cohen. debbie. edward snowden's whereabouts

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the supreme court trusts congress to make the right decision on your right to vote. but the jury is still out whether the court made the right call. it is tuesday, june 25th, and this is "now." i'm joy reed in for alex wag fler. this morning in an historic ruling, the supreme court struck down section 4 of the voting rights act, a key provision of the civil rights law that designates which parts of the country must have changes to their voting laws pre-cleared by the federal government or federal court. in a 5-4 decision featuring the usual five and the usual four, court ruled that section 4 cannot be enforced until congress comes up with a new way of determining which states and localities must get permission before they change the way feel vote.

the law still uses laekz delecta from 1972 to determine which states, cities and counties are covered by the voting rights act. in his opinion, chief justice john roberts wrote, "our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions." the court did not strike down section 5, which allows the federal government to require pre-approval. but without section 4, section 5 will have no actual effect. in the past two decades alone, just tis department officials have used section 5 to block for than 2,000 proposed voting changes in the pre-clearance states. in her dissent justice ruth bader ginsburg wrote "throwing out preclearance when it's worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away an umbrella in the rainstorm because are you not getting wet." joining me