supreme court. >> not to divide but to end divisions. >> this decision strikes down a key part of the voting rights act. >> section 5 and the section 4 formula protected democracy. >> leaves it up to congress to try to fix it. >> this is devastating >> really focused on shelby keep the, alabama. >> we're not talking about 1965. we're talking about 2013. >> i'm more than disappointed. >> five justices of the supreme court say nothing, actually, we've looked at a few tables and charts and don't think that formula works. >> what they've done is revoked a lot of what dr. king's act is all about. >> it's a remarkable be act of hubris. >> how likely do you think congress is enough to do this? >> the president has to own this. >> we will prevail as we did in 1965. ♪ >> it was a keystone victory of

the civil rights movement. one that was written with the blood of american citizens. but today, in one swift motion of a chief justice's pen, the supreme court gutted the voting rights act of 1965. and the reaction of congressmen and civil rights leader john lewis said it all just a short time ago. >> what the court did today is stand the voting rights act of 1965 at its very heart. >> more from mr. louis ahead in response to the court's 5-4 decision. striking down the map that determines which states must secure federal permission before they change their voting laws. in effect, the decision invalidates federal enforcement over all or parts of 15 states with a rich history of voter discrimination. indeed, chief justice john roberts believes the voting rights act has been so successful that will such

diskrimmation is largely a thing of the past. citing the election of minority candidates and high voter turnout among african-americans, justice roberts writes in his decision "there is no doubt that these improvements are in large part because of the voting rights act. the act has proved immensely successful at redressing racial discrimination and integrating the voting process." with that said, roberts declared the 40-year-old coverage map obsolete and said congress should come up with a new one. nbc has learned that the senate judiciary committee will hold its first hearing to craft a response to the ruling. as we know, the current congress is such a master of efficiency, i'm sure that will take no time at all. as for the majority's rationale, justice ruth bader ginsburg wrote in her impassioned dissent, "throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to

stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you're not getting wet." this afternoon, attorney general eric holder named as defendant in the case shared that view. >> niece are just two of many examples demonstratining that these problems have not about consigned to history. they continue to exist. their effects are real. they are of today. our country has changed for the better since 1965, but the destination that we seek has not yet been reached. >> mr. holder cited the key role of the voting rights act in prompting changes to redistricting and voter i.d. laws determined to be discriminatory. and the impact of today's ruling was evident almost immediately with the texas attorney general tweeting, texas voter i.d. law should go into effect immediately because scotus struck down section 4 of vp r app today. and let's be honest.

that's just the beginning. let's get to justice correspondent pete williams at the supreme court. we've already seen the texas ag today say that the lone star state's voter i.d. law should go into effect immediately. what will kind i have impact do we expect to see from this ruling >> as an immediate one, no the much i don't think. you'll also see the texas attorney general said they may try to reimpropose the congressional an -- that the legislature re-drew here. and we're subject to challenge under section 5. there was still a court battle going on over texas voter i.d. law. now with the voting rights act, that part of it dead in the water, texas i think is right it legally can now start requiring voter i.d.s. but let's talk a little more about the. logic of the majority opinion just to make it clear. what the supreme court said today is that the voting rights act disturbs the normal

relationship between the federal government and the states. the constitution gives to states the power to determine how they want to conduct elections. what the voting rights act did the supreme court said today is say you can't do those. you're guilty till proven innocent till you justify them to the federal government. that's okay. that made sense the supreme court said when there was strong evidence that there was still a problem that would justify ta kind of unusual constitutional arrangement. but the court said that is no longer the case now. and if congress wants to continue to use an section five, it's going to have to get more up to date evidence and get a more contemporary picture of where the problem is still serious enough to warranty turning the constitutional relationship between the states and the federal government upside down. >> pete williams at the supreme court. thank you. let's bring in our panel now. with me in new york is contributor joy reid, the managing editor of the grio.com and in washington professor

michael eric dyson. professor dyson, we normal like to begin by being upbeat, even humerus. it feels like this is nothing but a sad day for the right to vote in this country. >> it's a sad and tragic day. this country has seen an extraordinary amount of progress as a result of vigilance and vision, and as a result of bringing in to play the virtues of american democracy. when we deny those systematically to others, we are the less as a nation. when we expand the parameters of possibility, democracy for others, we are stronger. we know that this cannot be left to the will and whim and caprice of the states. state's rights has often been a symbolic representation of the desire of the southern states in this country, which by the way, tried to leave the nation during the civil war. >> yes. >> and have committed treasonous and treacherous activities ever since against the best interests

of democracy. we are now expected to believe we should trust them to police themselves. and the very success that our vigilance has won us has now been used against us to suggest that we don't even need the very law that made the success possible. and by ending clearance thomas's actions here today, though consistent though tragic to me, are even more so in light of the bulk of decisions he's rendered in the name of a judicial vote on the supreme court. a symbolic jew has invited a metaphor rick hitler to commit holocaust and genocide upon his own people. >> thank you, professor. joy, can you explain how the chief justice cametom regard this section of the voting rights act as obsolete? because it's been a success? i mean, we've got 5/6 of promp cases of discrimination according to a study by the california institute of technology have taken place in

jurisdictions covered by the preclearance rule. yet he now says it's obsolete. >> the only thing miss interesting his decision was a mission accomplished. he essentially declared the end of history. this is a trend of declaring that because barack obama is african-american and president, therefore there is no such thing as discrimination, it is an artifact of history. therefore no remedies need apply. whereas we've traditionally see the supreme court in its post ferguson era as there to protect the rights of minorities from the caprice of the majority, we have in the roberts court increasingly and in the rehnquist court too a court whose real goal is to protect the powerful from everybody else. they will do it in their corporate rulings. what they're saying is they are going to stand at the vanguard and protect political leaders in these states in the south their right to perpetual power despite the demographic changes

buffetting them. that they can protect themselves from those changes forever and maintain their power with the protection of this court. >> congratulations, chief justice. professor dyson, i wonder if the words that dr. martin luther king wrote from birmingham jail today resonate with you? 50 years ago, this is what he wrote. as in so many past experiences, our hopes eps had been blasted and the shadow of deep disan buttonment settled upon us. we had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. i'm afraid to say, do we not have to do that again now? >> absolutely. look, against our will. one boy's body lies in the recent memory of florida on trial now is the man who willy-nilly deprived him of his life and murdered him i believe

in cold blood but we allow the justice system to take its course. so our bodies must be reenergized, remobilized to the front of american democracy to protect our interests. and for all of those who thought that president obama ushered in a post racial era, for all of those who believed we no longer -- >> please, professor, please. who believes that nonsense. >> you know what? paula deen and her ilk believe that. we're supposed to trust the paula deens of the world to make sure that the voting -- because listen, paula deen is a symbolic representative of an outlook and perspective that has not yet settled into the dust. yes, we must vigilantly oppose this kind you have historical manipulation and this kind of amnesia. yes, our bodies must be mobilized. we've got to say as much as we're proud of barack obama in the white house, we've got to work on the streets and say again that we must take back

the -- to find the best of democracy for us. as joy indicated here's a court that basically wants to have the mission accomplished sign in the back. the last time we heard that it was george bush saying mission was accomplished over in iraq and look what happened there. >> briefly joy, finally, what must john lewis feel ood? >> i suspect. >> his friend's killed himself brutalized and attacked. >> 50 years to the month in the month that medgar evers was killed, the march in washington took place 50 years ago in august. >> this is a seminal year in our history because it's 50 years later. i do think republicans may come to regret this. i suspect they're going to go full throated against the rights of people to vote and the backlash is going to be as enormous as the loss today. >> we pray so. thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up, the future of voting rights now in the hands of congress. good luck with that. >> my state is not covered by

the voting rights act. there may be others who want to comment on it. at this point, i think i'm going to have to read it first. but i would say i do think america is very different today from what it was in the 1960s. [ male announcer ] this is betsy. her long day of pick ups and drop offs begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪ all aboard. did you i did. email? so what did you think of the house? well it's got a great kitchen, but did you see the school rating? oh, you're right. oh hey babe, i got to go. ok. come here sweetie, say bye to daddy. bye daddy! have a good day at school ok? ok. ...but what about when my parents visit? i just don't think there's enough room. lets keep looking.

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and that law passed the senate unanimously. think about that. it passed the senate unanimously, it passed the house of representatives, 375 to 1. you can barely get that number of votes toe name a post office today. >> congress no longer tackles greenishes in the bipartisan way it did in 1970 with the clean

air act. he might, as well have been talking about student loan rates or the voting rights act because in today's climate, even a conservative farm bill that will strips $21 billion in food assistance from needy families cannot pass the house because 62 republicans didn't think it was severe enough. joining us now is democratic congressman chris van hollen of maryland. >> good afternoon, martin. >> i want to start with the supreme court decision. chief justice roberts said if you want a functioning voting rights act, congress feeds to come together to create one. given what you witness every day at work, will june 25th, 2013 go down as the day the voting rights act died? >> that's what worries me, martin. this was an outrageous display of judicial arrogance because you just talked about the very few times when we've had big overwhelming bipartisan votes in the congress. one of them was in 2006 for the

extension of the voting rights act. we had a vote of 98-0 in the united states senate. we had a vote of 390-33 in the house of representatives. when's the last time that's happened on any kind of big legislation like this? and what the supreme court has done here is to ignore that entire record built up on a bipartisan basis. so this was a huge amount of judicial overreach. and it's going to dramatically undercut the act. i don't know the answer to your question. i don't know whether we'll be able to re-create ta bipartisan spirit we had to pass the extension of the voting rights in 2006. >> given what we know about the chief justice's anti-pathy to the act in the past and the way republicans have paralyzed the congress in the present, isn't this a dlabtive and decisive attempt to gut the voting rights act? >> there's no doubt that's the

intent of this because what they did was cav out the very heart of the act. and what is particularly arrogant about the decision is that they totally ignored this record that i'm talking about. i happened to serve on the house judiciary committee at the time. we accumulated over 12,000 pages of records of testimony to the ongoing need for the voting rights act because of what we know, that there are still lots of these states and jurisdictions trying to put up barriers to voting. the only way to make sure that we secure the rights in the constitution to everyone's right to vote is to have the voting right protections which the court has just very clearly tried to throw overboard. and they know that they were throwing it into a congress that unfortunately has become dysfunctional. >> of course. you have your 12,000 people and pieces of research. and that was overturned by five people. let's turn to the immigration bill. i want to play you something that john mccain said today

about the new border control mechanisms that are proposed. take a listen. >> first of all, the legislation concerning beefed up border security removes any validity to the argument that border security is not sufficient. i mean, this is not only sufficient, it is well over sufficient. we'll be the most militarized border since the fall of the berlin wall. >> the most military tarized border since the fall of the berlin war. isn't that really what this bill is about, sir? >> well, that's what that senate amendment would do. and that's why those who argue that this bill does not address the issue of border security obviously are opposing this bill for other reasons. so we can no longer take seriously from the opponents of immigration reform that they're opposing this because lease a lack of border security. we can only read into that they're opposing this because they refuse to allow people to come out of the shadows who are here and as we learned last week

from the congressional budget office, it will actually boost our economic growth right here at home. look, short of building mile wide moat and putting alligators in it and everything else, this is, as john mccain said, this is a huge amount of border security, probe more than the example i just gave. >> i'm sorry to remind you of speaker boehner. but he's shown that he can't get past a conservative be farm bill which is unpopular with democrats. so why is there any reason to think he can get past a bipartisan bill that's popular with democrats? >> well, look, he's going to ultimately have to allow the people's house to work its will. it's really important that the public understand that what some republicans have asked john boehner to do is totally anti-democratic. what they're saying is mr. speaker, you cannot bring a bill, an immigration reform bill to the floor of the house unless

a majority of republicans in the house support it. that's anti-democratic. i mean, on its face. so i would think that people around the country who care about a functioning democracy set aside the supreme court that obviously wants to toss out the voting rights act. everybody else who wants to see a fair democratic process would say, mr. speaker, let the people's housework its will on this very important and fundamental issue. don't kowtow and indicator to the farthest right and most extreme elements of your caucus who are not looking out for the interests of the country but are simply responding to a very small very vocal extremist group in their congressional districts. >> i hope that the speaker was listening to what you just said. democratic congressman, chris van hollen, thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> coming up, darrell issa caught with his pants down. >> my gut tells me that too many people knew that this wrongdoing was going on. >> yeah, my gut tells me the

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congressman darrell issa, chair of the house oversight and government reform committee, has had some goodnous and some badnous this week. let's start with the goodnous and carding to his financial disclosure, mr. issa earned almost $60 million last year. that pushed his total net work the to more than $355 million. so congratulations to mr. issa who continues as one of the wealthiest members of congress. but unfortunately, though he enjoys cash, his credibility is

now bankrupt. as you know, mr. issa has been leading the charge against the irs. for targeting conservative groups for special scrutiny. he's made it clear that this was orchestrated by the very white house. >> the administration is still their paid liar, their spokesperson picture behind. he's still making up things about what happens and calling this local rogue. this is a problem that be was coordinated in all likelihood right out of washington headquarters. >> unfortunately, all the evidence has shown that this had absolutely nothing to do whatsoever to do with the president or his administration. indeed mr. issa deliberately withheld certain transcripts because he knew that the person responsible was an employee of the irs who happened to be a republican. but now, matters have got even worse because new documents reveal that the irs not only targeted groups with names like tea party in their title, they

also gave special attention to left-leaning groups with names like progressive and occupy. unfortunately, mr. issa had jumped to conclusions, smeared the white house, attacked democrats, selectively disclosed evidence and purposely ignored facts that didn't fit with his narrative. in a word, he lied. so what must a man do when he's loaded with cash but empty of credibility? well, given his affection for cars both his own and those he covets, we found some helpful advice from one of the characters who starred in the herbie feature films. >> you listen to me. you listen good. you and i didn't come out of moth balls to be the laughing stock of the continent. either get the lead out of your pants right now or i'm going to ship you back to the states, have you stuffed and hung on and a wall in retirement vil. >> given it's a tax haven, maybe mr. issa can also take a trip to

monte carlo. stay with us. much more on the search for a straight answer from one paul ryan. >> what would you recommend the president do to instill those consequences? >> well, i don't want a knee jerk. clients are always learning more to make their money do more. (ann) to help me plan my next move, i take scottrade's free, in-branch seminars... plus, their live webinars. i use daily market commentary to improve my strategy. and my local scottrade office guides my learning every step of the way. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade... ranked "highest in customer loyalty for brokerage and investment companies."

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the red panda here are today's top lines. is that a raccoon. >> while it may look like a raccoon. >> it's a panda, a rare red panda. >> this is a big one. >> named rusty. it apparently busted out of the national zoo. >> this could be the big story of the summer. >> last seen last night at dinnertime after going missing. >> i'm not going to talk about where i think he's going. >> we continue to hope that the russians will do the right thing. >> it's rel nissent of the days of the cold war. >> i didn't do nothing. what i do? >> vladimir putin is an old kgb colonel. >> these guys are special

branch. >> the old kgb officer putin. >> oh, come on. >> putin of russia. >> would love to have a little bit of coffee and a few conversations with mr. snowden. >> milk him for every piece of information that he has. >> basically, most common slip-up in espionage. we walked right into enemy hands. >> liberal groups were part of the screening process. >> were they ever asked for their book clubs. >> do they not read? >> allies are supposed to treat each other in decent ways. >> don't shake hands. brothers got a hug. >> putin eager to put a finger in the eye of the united states. >> stick his thumb in our eye in a broad variety of ways. >> it was finally spotted apprehended in a nearby d.c. neighborhood. back in the joint tonight, no worse for wear, but with stories to tell. >> it doesn't look like the voting rights decision or the guy marriage decision comes down today apparently.

>> they have to give us something to talk about the rest of the week. >> we'll make something up. >> thank you, judge. >> let's get right to our panel now. joining us is the laughing david corn, mother jones magazine and dana milbank, equally laughable political columnist with the "washington post." dana, first we discovered the whereabouts of rusty the red panda. now it appears putin has cleared up the whereabouts of edward snowden. the spy turned russia president told reporters in finland today that mr. snowden really did fly into moscow. for us it was completely unexpected. he also claims russian intelligence services have had no contact with mr. snowden whatsoever. i'm sure you'll take that as great comfort, won't you, dana? >> oh, absolutely. yes. i wish i could get as enthusiastic about the snowden chase as i was about the rusty the red panda because that one was at least in my neighborhood. >> it was. >> and you know, i think we all

wanted rusty's safe return. i think the people are a bit more ambivalent about snowden right now. perhaps it's time to for our government to stop making this guy into some sort of a martyr and some sort of a hero and quietly negotiate these things. >> yes, it would be helpful. david, are paul ryan doesn't have the faintest idea of what he should do with edward snowden but he's not averse to taking cheap shots. this is an answer he gave attempting to be somewhat constructive earlier today. listen to this. >> and what would you recommend the president do to instill those consequences? >> well, i don't want to knee jerk. >> so he prevaricates there. he mentions an extradition treaty which we don't have with russia. but he doesn't seem to have any other substantive alternative. >> i thought the best part of that interview was he got all over barack obama because snowden had gotten clearance. this government's incompetent.

people like snowden are getting clearance. access to documents. step back, mr. congressman, because snowden is a private contractor and the reason he will has this clearance is because we profitized so much of the national security establishment. even the people giving the clearances are private contractors. so mr. privatization himself paul ryan is all upset about this system now and blaming it on barack obama. okay. let's go back to the old way and rip that out from the contractors and give it back to the government. but i doubt he wants to do that either. >> i'm sure he doesn't. dana, speaking of republicans behaving badly in public, talk about your latest column all about the schoolboy antics of supreme court justice samuel alito. you write on monday, justice alito read two opinions both 5-4 decisions that plit the court along its usual right/left divide. but he didn't stop there. when justice ruth bader beginnings berg read her dissent

from the bench, alito visibly mocked his colleague. you say he's pulled the same stunt with the other women on the court, and this is behavior that you wouldn't tolerate in a child as you know. here we are, talking about a justice of the united states supreme court. is that right? >> and maybe this is why they don't have cameras in the supreme court room for these hearings because then people would be playing the clips of this just as they did in the 2010 state of the union address when you saw the same justice alito shaking his head and saying not true to the president. he's got a few different moves. he's got the eye roll and the look at the ceiling, he's got the oh, like he's deeply offended. in each of the days i've been watching the court waiting for these big opinions, really the largest bit of entertainment is what sort of middle school antics justice alito is going to come up with next. i was pleased to see he toned down a bit today. >> i think we will submit that clip for an emmy because your

performance there was excellent. was this is contempt, david? >> what's his view of this elderly jurist? is that the way you treat your colleague? >> i was talking to a supreme court justice this past weekend. i asked her, so i'm giving it away a little bit. i asked her what it was like working with this group of people. she goes, you know, it's kind of like a family. and both the good and bad ways. i'm thinking alito is like the bratty cousin who can't help himself and everyone sort of shrugs at him. i think dayne is right. it's past time we had cameras in the court. if we can watch the guys on the house republican party make fools of themselves on the house floor on c-span, no reason why we can't watch alito raise ageyebrow when he shouldn't be. >> dana, you mentioned that supreme performance by samuel alito. and by a piece of madge, be pry my colleague producers have managed to find the very tape as

the president delivered his state of the union address in 2010. watch this. >> for special interests. including foreign corporations. to spend without limit in our election. >> are you able to define for us the psychology of that man as he was looking? >> you just sort of want to say, use your words, justice alito. it's not like they have a shortage of them these justices on supreme court. in fact, he read several hundred of them and that wasn't enough because when ginsburg read her dissent, that's when he felt like he had to make the mocking gesture. so i think he may learn if he's criticized over time to save those for the back room deliberations. alternatively, we could just have everybody start making faces at each other on the court and shooting spitballs and i for

one would go to more supreme court arguments. >> i feel like there's a lot of acting out on the court nowadays. yesterday you had a court justice clarence thomas compare the arguments for affirmative action to the arguments for are slavery. and segregation. you know, justice roberts who wrote the opinion slamming the voting rights act as you've mentioned has spent decades trying to undermine the voting rights ac. these guys all seem to have a lot of issues and they play out all sorts of weird ways, unfortunately with some terrible decisions as well as eyebrow raising. >> indeed they are. gentlemen, thank you. coming up, the latest in the george zimmerman trial. what the an woman who advises the neighborhood watch program says she told him about taking justice into his own hands. stay with us. this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills.

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ahead of my daughter. ♪ so today, i'm finally talking to my doctor about overactive bladder symptoms. [ female announcer ] know that gotta go feeling? ask your doctor about prescription toviaz. one toviaz pill a day significantly reduces sudden urges and accidents, for 24 hours. if you have certain stomach problems or glaucoma, or can not empty your bladder, you should not take toviaz. get emergency medical help right away if your face, lips, throat or tongue swells. toviaz can cause blurred vision, dizziness, drowsiness and decreased sweating. do not drive, operate machinery or do unsafe tasks until you know how toviaz affects you. the most common side effects are dry mouth and constipation. talk to your doctor about toviaz. >> you're looking at live pictures inside the courtroom as witnesses continue to testify in the george zimmerman trial.

as you'll recall, zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder and claims self-defense in the shooting death of the unarmed trayvon martin. and for legal analysis now, we go to our expert lis za bloom closely monitoring the trial for us. lisa, what are the biggest developments that you've been able to watch today? >> hi, martin. the prosecution is continuing to lay out its case in order. today we heard the beginning of law enforcement witnesses. especially interesting was a crime scene technologist as well as a civilian liaison from the police to the neighborhood watch in that community. and we know that george dim zimmerman was the coordinator of the neighborhood watch. that will woman named wendy dorival testified that neighborhood watch people were supposed to be the eyes and ears of the community for the police. they were not supposed to follow suspicious people. they were not supposed to confront suspicious people. but they were supposed to call in. and on cross-examination, she did say that george zimmerman calling in a report of a

suspicious person and that's what she thought trayvon martin was was appropriate under the guidelines she had set out for that community. >> is it your view, lisa, that this witness's evidence has been more beneficial today to the prosecution or to the defense? >> you know, it's a close call because the prosecution says that george zimmerman followed trayvon martin, that he set out to go after him to confront him. that hasn't been proven yet. but it does help them that this witness testified that she made it very clear and the witness after her confirmed in that under no circumstances were the neighborhood watch people supposed to follow or confront suspicious people in the community. that's a job for the police. >> msnbc legal analyst lisa bloom. thank you gep. coming up, 2014, the first major elections in 48 years that won't have the protections afforded by the voting rights act. ♪

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it may be difficult to remember, but just seven years ago, the voting rights act to which the supreme court dealt a severe blow today, was uncontroversial and popular with both parties. the reauthorization bill was introduced in the gop controlled house in may of 2006. by the middle of july, are both the house and the senate had passed their versions of the bill with the ayes collectively totaling almost 500 votes. the day it passed the senate, president bush spoke before the naacp at its annual conventioning to declare how necessary the law still was. finally signing it into law just a week later at a ceremony on the south lawn, no less, to symbolized its continued importance. ing >> in four decades since the voting rights act was first passed, we made progress. toward equality, yet the work

for a more perfect union is never ending. >> he was right about that. joining us now is karen finney, my colleague and co-host of msnbc's "disrupt with karen finney." and professor james peterson of lehigh university, a contributor. >> karen, can you name the republican senators and kongmen who.halle put up their hands and admit they need voting rights act in their district because of a propensity to discriminate which is in fact what the supreme court is now asking them to do? can you name one? >> i can't name a one unless they are no longer in the house or the senate i would say. no, i mean look, i have to say, martin, essentially what this decision said is, we agree there's still discrimination. we just don't care. that's really what this decision said. if you noticed they did say they understand there's still discrimination but don't think this is necessarily the way to handle it. i think this is a rallying cry

for progressives, center left and left people for 2014. we have got to take this as a very serious sign that if we don't start now with all the voter i.d. and all the shenanigans we know we'll start to see again and all the things we need to do to make sure that people aren't disenfranchised in 2014, we're going to have a very different looking congress. >> they've already started. in teches, they announced the voter i.d. goes ahead. >> assets exactly right. i find it astounding like many others that the supreme court could look at what happened just in the last presidential cycle. i mean somehow the very idea that because so many african-americans and latinos turned out that means there's no longer a need. what they completely ignored is exactly what we're just talking about in texas the measures taken to try to prevent people from having their opportunity to vote. >> dr. peterson, let me read you a few of the gop names who voted yes for the reauthorization back

in 2006. then majority leader john boehn boehner, paul ryan, eric cantor, darrell issa and my personal favorite, louis gohmert. doesn't this decision put the gop in a quandary because failure to adequately address it could only exacerbate the party's problems with black voters as well as with immigrant voters? >> yeah, i think they're taking a completely different tact strategically here, martin. i don't think any of those gentlemen you just named are going to work to try to push the congress to address the now gaping hole in our voting rights at the supreme court has just left us with today. here's what i'm thinking. i know this is going to sound very, very sinister. republican politics has been much more effective at the local level in gerrymandered districts where state legislatures can partner up with governors to overturn all kinds of laws. if you're looking at north carolina which is incredibly recess aggressive situation.

strategically, they're going to live with this. they may not get another president or in the foreseeable future but they are able to make a lot of hay and move politics backwards in quite a few different ways just by working from state legislators and local politics. this kind of decision will allow the south in particular to take a little bit more sort of unfair control over some of those houses and state senator positions. >> professor, forgive me for challenging you. you're not being sinister. according to the california institute of technology, five sixths of cases of discrimination having taken place in jurisdictions covered by the preclearance rule. of course, they wanted to get rid of it. >> that's right. including shelby county which is the county that took this to the supreme court. the ironoff is laughable. but the results are horrific. you're going to see and especially at the local level, you're going to see people disenfranchised. as the republicans are thinking

about it, they're going to be able to disenfranchise all of those undocumented folks coming into the system, as well. we're going to see all sorts of tricks and traps people have 0 go through in order to vote in this country. >> karen, finally to you, what does this bode for 2014 in the elections? >> you know, what it bodes for 2014, martin, frankly and this is a historic moment where people of all backgrounds, this is not just a black/whitish. not just a latino issue. this is an issue where in america, we have got to come together and stand up against this and make it clear that it will not be acceptable for congress to do what they have done so well, which is nothing. we've got to have a action on this and we've got to turn out to vote in 2014 and folks have got to see this across the spectrum as something in our rights. >> karen finney and professor james peterson, thank you so much. you can catch "disrupt" every saturday and sunday. best time of the day, 4:00 p.m. here on msnbc.

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[ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase every day. told you i'd get half. what's in your wallet? a short time ago, the president delivered his remarks about climate change taking a strong stance to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. and tomorrow morning, he'll board a plane for a week long trip to africa where he'll visit senegal, tanzania and south africa including a possible visit with the ailing former south african president nelson mandela. peter alexander, let's start with the president's remarks on climate change. a number of executive orders to reduce greenhouse gases. is the president going to rely more on the use of executive orders as congress remains frankly unable to do anything, specifically as it were on this issue of climate change?

>> yeah, martin. i think you're right. he said this is the global threat of our time during his speech last week when he was in germany and right now he's meeting with congressional leadership. we had heard from leaders on the house side both boehner and mcconnell they would make it clear in their conversation with the president today these were actions they largely oppose that they refer to as job killing measures that they say the cost is too great. the president and his team insist $100 billion was spent last year alone dealing with natural disasters in this country. the president is making it very clear he's going to pursue these executive actions that do not need congressional action. among them he said that he will be proposing the first limits on carbon pollution by both existing power plants that exist right now and new plants that should soon be coming online. >> now, the president's trip to africa will take him to several countries. perhaps the most significant moment of the trip will be his visit to south africa.

do you know if the president plans to meet with president nelson mandela particularly since he's so unwell? >> officials at the white house say it's in the hands of the mandel lal family. the president would very much like the opportunity to visit with nelson mandela in person but they await word on whether mr. mandela is any position to visit with him. we did learn some information i think at least heartening today, we heard from his daughter zindzikwa, the president hoped-eyes and gave me a smile. the president will be paying tribute to the legacy of any son mandela with a visit to robin island where he spent 27 years as a political prisoner. >> peter alexander at the white house, thanks so much. >> and thank you for watching this tuesday afternoon. chris matthews and "hardball" is next.

>> good-bye, voting rights. let's play "hardball \5 good evening, i'm chris matthews up in new york. me start with this. a happy day for reince priebus. today the united states supreme court lopped off the head of the voting rights acthat removed a key weapon used to stop states from suppressing african-americans and other voters they don't like showing up at the polls. what a joy this must be to the republican national headquarters where reince holds way and opens the door for far more voter suppression by republican dominated state legislatures. . in 2011, 41 states