the supreme court just mute might be playing a long game on affirmative action. supreme court's decision to substantially weaken the voting rights act, will have substantial impact on days, weeks, maybe years to come. the potential to significantly erode, maybe end affirmative action as we know it. the senate could say it is one long, slow bleed in the case of fisher versus university of texas at austin. a white student rejected for admission, claiming racial discrimination. nothing will have an immediate effect on affirmative action at texas or any other school. they want to reexamine

admissions policy. this is one of many factors and a stricter standard. anthony kennedy wrote the majority opinion, "consideration by the university is, of course, necessary, but not sufficient to satisfy strict scrutiny. the reviewing court must be satisfied that no race-neutral alternatives will produce the benefits of diversity. this will create a higher bar for any trying to justify race admission policies. raises the possibility of a firm rejection of affirmative action when the supreme court takes up a case like this again. the vote 7-1 this week, crossing a broad swath of the court beyond 5-4 ideological boundaries. and only justice ruth bader ginsberg dissented. and elena kagan recused herself, due to involvement while in the

obama administration. we are bringing in molly ball of "atlantic magazine," joan walsh of swan.com and harry bacon jr. at thegrio.com. the thing that jumped out at me first was the margin. a 7-1 decision by the supreme court. when we look at the liberals who joined with scalia, joined with roberts, thomas, it did surprise me to see this was 7-1. >> it felt like liberals were relieved that they were going to support a decision that didn't strike it down, but sent it back to the appeals court. we have this 10% program. and the other 25%, we'll set race as part of a lot of

factors. this is a pretty narrow affirmative action program and the court would not say we agree with it. people say it was a punt this week. it really wasn't a punt, but the court starting this gradual slow way eroding every possible way a university uses affirmative action. >> the top 10 percent of programs, anyone from any high school in texas that finishes in the top 10% gets admission to texas. it has done good things for diversity. what justices were saying this is an example of sort of race-neutral policies at their best. what ginsberg was saying, let's not kid ourselves, the top 10% program is defakko sellde facto. the majority, largely african-american will be -- it

is really a race cautiously increasing diversity. >> what it does, acknowledges segregation that exists in schools and says we'll get diversity, because we have primarily white schools or primarily african-american or latino schools, and because of that, we're going to insist on taking kids from all of those schools. so that's baked into the cake and she's basically saying this is a delusion to say it doesn't exist that way, and, you know, i agree with perry this is not a punt. this is the beginning of -- maybe not the beginning, but this is part of that conservative majority's desire to get rid of affirmative action, not convinced there wasn't some brokering going on to forestall a deeper assault on affirmative action, which roberts traded for a sense of more cohegs on the court. >> we heard a little bit of this

last year, sort of the speculation about the politics within the court. such a mysterious place. we don't have cameras here. we have weird artist renderings. that's how close we get to what's happening in the court. so many sensitive issues will be decided in the next yore we the court. it looks when we look back to bush/gore, that ruined a lot of illusions being above politics. clearly on justice's minds one way or the other. and it raises the possibility when you look at everything the court has been dealing with the past few years, maybe chief justice roberts is spreading out rulings a little bit, so it's not all happening at once. >> it feels that way. i don't know for sure he's doing that. i thought that on the voting rights act. a sense of relief at first that they didn't strike down section five, but then they struck down section 4, which means section 5

doesn't apply to anybody and roberts has been working to gut the voting rights act or did work to do that under the reagan administration. so there was this weird sense, you couldn't come out and say oh, my god, they struck down section 5, but they did. >> and if this gets returned to the lower court, they are still in place right now, and it will play outgoing back to the lower court. >> and there is a lot of hope actually on the part of the university and civil rights advocates, the affirmative action program will survive. crafted carefully enough that it can meet higher standard the court has set, and as much as we talked about this being a slippery slope to eroding and ending affirmative action, a huge amount of relief in the civil rights community, because they thought had you a conservative court that wanted to end affirmative action and

could have issued a sweeping decision, any racial consideration is not okay that would have ended affirmative action everywhere for everything. and the supreme court did recognize diversity as a legitimate goal for universities to be trying to achieve. so there was a sense that a bullet was dodged by affirmative action. >> my sense, we had scalia issue his own statement. he made it very clear, look, if i had my way, we would strike down affirmative action. a 20-page opinion where he likened the arguments of affirmative action, segregation and slave owners. my view on why it was set is, one, the whole thing about kennedy being the swing vote and if you were the liberal justices, looking at this and saying we can get kennedy to not quite go where scalia, where thomas is going, let's settle for that right now. >> the problem being, this will later on -- the "the new york times," roberts sort of

buildings his big coalition and said, oh, look, you said 7-1 here. you said we need much more scrutiny, and you liberals have agreed. and then they will use that to buttress the next case even farther. there is danger in liberal signing on to opinions that they fundamentally, i don't think soto mayor agrees, i think their comments are much more pro affirmative action than the opinion. was this necessarily the liberals joining and making see an overwhelming majority. if you actually believe in affirmative action, texas is a good long-term plan. >> molly says, the texas plan is really crafted pretty well, and the reporting, which i don't know how it factors in, the reporting on abigail furch ishe

like a lot of elite white kids who thinks affirmative action caused them their spot, when it does not. i saw this in the '90s in california. people really thought they should have gotten into berkeley, should have gotten into berkeley, and you ended affirmative action, kids with those grades were getting in. but the texas program really did seem crafted well. and she seemed like a terrible plaintiff. >> the court is following public opinion. in this area, gay marriage support is going up, and affirmative action support is going down, and the nexus in the public, with the court, not very surprising. a lot of people in the country, even democrats are weary of affirmative action. >> and to what joe was juan was saying, there is a mind-set that exists among white people that affirmative action is going to

take something away from me. the worst political ads, jesse helms, running forry re-electio. you want that job, you need that job, they need to give it to someone else because of affirmative action. should one of the leading liberals retire sooner rather than later, that's next. ve been. and some difficult ones. but, through it all we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our history matter to you? because for more than two centuries, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. ♪ and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is,

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so we're talking about how the supreme court has shifted to the right pretty significantly here in the last few years. the one dissenting opinion on the affirmative action case came from ruth bader ginsberg. a sensitive topic, but one worth raising. ruth bader ginsberg, 80 years old. if she left the court three or

four years ago, and there is a republican in the white house, the most liberal seat on the court, replaced by a conservative. could have radical long-term implications. ruth bader ginsberg talking about the idea -- talking about a retirement. talking about the idea of what the confirmation process of the supreme court justice is like these days. >> i hope for the day when we will get back to where the system was when i was nominated, and when stephen breyer was nominated. i was nominated in 1993, justbr in 1994. there was a true bipartisan feeling in our congress. i was confirmed 96-3, and i said frankly, nowadays, i wonder if

the president would even nominate me because of my long affiliation with the american civil liberties union. >> could someone with the liberal background like ruth bader ginsberg be nominated by a democrat today? what we saw in the obama era, almost every nomination becomes like a tribal loyalty. you will fight the nomination, oppose the nomination, filibuster or just vote no? and you are being reasonable if you just vote no. talk about ruth bader ginsberg. she decided two years from now to retire. late 2015, the year before the presidential election, given the politics of the senate today, would republicans say, okay, we'll stall for a year, try and get our own president in there, get our own justice. sort of an urgency to an 80-year-old supreme court

justice, timing retirement around presidential terms. >> i have such a hard time saying this woman who is such a batler, battled cancer, shouldn't have control of her own life, make the decision best for her and the country if she wants to stay on, should should stay on. i don't think we would retire right this minute, we would not get anyone nearly as liberal as she is, for good reasons and maybe not so good reason, the white house has put through more moderate cab dates, hoping they will get less opposition. it doesn't always work and so to lose a liberal reich ruth bader ginsberg and have her replaced by someone not so liberal, okay, better than scalia or something, i am pretty uneasy about it. >> the reality, every single supreme court pick since the eisenhower administration, more to the right than the person

they replaced, down the line. an inevitable trend there. cases this week which got very little attention, but things like the court really restricting the ability of people to take corporations to court in class actions. these are issues that no longer sort of have this supposed liberal/conservative divide. they are in agreement of what power corporations have. getting to the politics of it -- reality is, republicans will obstruct no matter what. closer to the election, may obstruct more. there could be back clash. president obama has challenged the republicans who obstructed his his appointments to the d.c. circuit court. this is where this will come down to a head. you know, i think -- i would -- i would rather call for scalia to step down.

>> yeah. >> temp kratz and liberals in d.c.? back in 2000, got reported. it got reported that sandra day o'connor, it looked like george w. bush would win the election. they said thank goodness, now i can retire. that wasn't con if i wered, always reported. what do democrats and liberals in d.c. think about this? what do they say about this? do you think any of them are trying to send a message to ginsberg? make sure the seat doesn't get filled by democrat chris christie or something? >> i haven't heard that. democrats are pretty confident in their ability to win elections. we're talking about the future of the republican party and if they can make a comeback. there is a sense they will have a hard time winning a presidential election, some of the may be a little bit of

hubris on the left. when you have a candidate things change. there is not a lot of freaking out about the incoming president and what he will do to the court. >> the future of immigration reform depends on republican controls house, that's next. drm about that tiramisu. what a night, huh? but, um, can the test drive be over now? head back to the dealership? oh, yeah. [ male announcer ] it's practically yours. [ wife ] sorry. [ male announcer ] but we still need your signature. volkswagen sign then drive is back. and it's never been easier to get a passat. that's the power of german engineering. get $0 down, $0 due at signing, $0 deposit, and $0 first month's payment on any new volkswagen. visit vwdealer.com today. on any new volkswagen. a meal like thiso save on fast from walmartd dinners. costs less that $3.50 per serving. and if a family of four like yours switches out fast food dinner just once a week you can save over $690 a year. unbelievable. it's believable. save on a kraft dinner backed by the low price guarantee. walmart

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bill. republicans are well aware of the long odds that the bill faces in the house. >> to our friends in the house, we ask for your consideration and we stand ready to sit down and negotiate with you. >> earlier in the day, house speaker john boehner reiterated his position that the house's own efforts wouldn't be affected by what happened in the senate. >> the house is not going to take up and vote on whatever the senate passes. we are going to do our own bill and for any legislation, including a conference report, to pass the house, that's going to have ato be a bill that has the support of a majority of our members. >> members of the house republican congress continue to ratchet up the pressure on bainer to keep that process. >> the american people elected a republican majority of the house of representatives. worry a leader of that majority to use his authorities to

circumvent that majority, would be cause for removal in my judgment. >> i have no inside information on this. no, you know, great sources republican loadership in the house and terrible at predicting things, i had go way out on a limb and say i don't believe what boehner is saying, i won't put this on the floor. what i believe is going to happen and it will be spectacularly, horribly wrong, and watch this clip to be played to humiliate me. i think what will happen is something before machine "b," where the republicans will come up with some con seventive bill that no democrat will poenl vote for. there will be a meltdown and in the chaos that ensues, boehner puts the senate bill on the floor. that's how we get immigration reform. that's what i think will happen. again, i'm an idiot. i don't know. >> i don't have a prediction.

i think there is a lot of uncertainty. not the case that some mysterious path has been choreographed. boehner doesn't know what will happen. we have what was once a gang of eight in the house, nowist a gang of seven. they have gone back to work and do have some hope they will produce an actual house version of the legislation, but then what gets done in the committee? very conservative committee members in the house. will anything get to the floor, much less passed, and then go to conference? immigration reform opponents believe their only hope is to mobilize, go during next year's recesses or the august recess and put a lot of heat on them. and you have this large majority, they can't escape scrutiny. >> we think back to summer 2009 and health care, tea party

activists intimidating members of congress. seems like this could go one of two ways. >> that's exactly what i expect to happen. the antis will turn out and everybody they perceive as wavering will have it as todd akin said back in the day. >> we have people yell at mccain. mccain can take it, used to it. gives as well as he gets. do other members get indigestion the first time some tea party person -- >> the senate is running an entire state, and the house is running inevitably in a gerrymandered district that favors burglarization. i'm not convinced that the voting rights act being gutted doesn't cut against immigration, because there is a lot of republican politicians that are saying we will have new lines drawn or voter suppression that will end up helping me. when you look at a state like

texas, not necessarily that there were many texas congressmen in play, but you're talking about disenfranchising a lot of latino voters and talking about -- i'm not kwised that frankly the incentive structure for those republican congress people doesn't cut against this. >> speaking of incentives, if you are a house republican, probably against your self-interest to pass the immigration bill. y it is food for the overall party, marco rubio, paul rye an. not helpful for paul mcclintock or other house republican leadership. that's the challenge. boehner can talk about this all they want to. they believe this to be helpful of the party overall to get this

passed. not sure how you get the votes and this time, four times this year where boehner violated the hesser rule. members are looking for that now. basically asked to promise not to do it again. hard for him. what you laid out is working around members. two months ago, i said that's what will happen. they are watching msnbc. >> are house republicans watching msnbc or fox? the thing about the hastert rules, if we read it literally, i totally agree, but is there that extra wripgle where average republican congressmen from an average white conservative district, not in my interest to voet for this. but if i want my party to win the white house, it's in the interest of my party to do it. i had vote no on it, i won't get a primary challenge, but hopefully 30 or 40 of my

colleagues vote for it. >> when boehner made the announcement two weeks ago, he doesn't say whatever comes out of conference will be subject to house rule. he has gone further and to a certain extent, he has to be worried about his speakership. >> let's say they come up with the judiciary committee coming up with the piece meal approach. that will not be palatable for democrats. this is the plan that boehner puts on the floor and another one of the speck ta quells where we see this happening. the republicans can't pass their own bill. so much chaos, and boehner says i know what i said, things have changed. we have to think about the senate bill. >> let's talk about the bill with republican members of congress. grassroots activists that don't like the bill, why does boehner like this? the chamber of commerce wants this bill.

republican donors want this bill, the evangelical committee wants this bill. they have a lot of sway republican politics. you see them do this dance to blah indicate the agricultural interest. and they don't want people to think they will blindly oppose immigration reform. a of them are putting interest. >> those business interests are not going to support in a primary someone to the left of that existing house member, and they are not going to support the democrats, and you -- as a republican congressman, you have to be out of your mind to assume we will lose this. to assume i'll still get that money. >> we talk about the money coming from the business community, and you look at the story of someone like ted cruz coming to office, fueled by small dollar donors, grass root

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long-time democratic congressman ed markey won his race and brings to a close the five-month senate career of william cowen. he will join us on set for tomorrow's program. cowen's departure from the senate will slash in half the number of african-americans serving in the senate from two to one in all of modern history, only six african-americans who have served in the u.s. senate. half of them weren't eenie elected, appointed to their seats. and two others served almost 150 years ago. the only remaining african-american will be tim scott, republican from south carolina. appointed earlier this year and

running for a full term in 2014. in his farewell address, cowen talked about how slow progress has been when it comes to diversity in the senate. >> in my appointment and coincidence with the appointment of senator scott. two african-americans serving in this body concurrently for the first time in our nation's history. we are the seventh and eighth black senators to serve in this body. i believe this number to be far too few. i am hopeful that these united states will be represent eed by more diverse population. and the diversity of opinions across and within our diverse nation. >> my second bold prediction of the day, this one i feel more confident. there will be a second african-american, out of cory booker in new jersey. >> we have four or five dozen

african-american members in the house, and what do you make of how that's come about? >> it's still really hard as an african-american politician to win in a big state. this is not an accident. it's really hard. a lot of members in cbc districts are pretty liberal. don't have big fund-raising bases, and this is really gauling at this point and in terms of policy as well. think about the voting rights act this week, struck down who is the gnat will take that out? you watch the female senators are handling sexual assault in the military? the female senators are driving that. there are 20 of them. and cory booker, if he was here, would be the only one representing it. but it's hard to imagine reaching 20 black senators any time in the future of where we're going.

>> senator tim scott not saying i am outraged. saying the exact opposite and that sort of key to his republican appeal in south carolina. >> i think another issue, really gets down to money. i mean, this is a real problem, and not just i think for progressive candidates, and a problem for african-american candidates. you have a senate basically full of millionaires, and, you know, one thing about a millionaire, they know others with millions of dollars. and so it's -- it's a real problem, and i think the -- the lack of people who request speak to issues like the voting rights act and other issues that had an emotional connection that maybe others can't, others filled that. >> the voting rights act. one thing that the voting rights act facilitates, the packing of minorities in minority majority districts.

a case where they are very liberal democrats, and then it's very difficult for them to run a state-wide race where you generally have to be more moderate. there are a lot of democrats who are not such big fans of that part of the voting rights act. it makes it harder to get broadly viable minority candidates. >> and a few weeks ago, we were talking about cory booker's appeal, and cory booker from a majority black city. and the interesting thing about it, he is more popular outside the city of newark than inside the city. the base is the suburbs, a long-serving congressman named donald payne, that would talk about thinking about running for higher office and democratic office will say, you know, we won't run donald payne, he's not electable.

cory booker is different. >> he went for the constituency, the counts, which is wall street, in addition to african-americans. so he's very strategic in the way he's risen and that puts him in a special category. >> he's hedge funders candidate candidate, and this is a guy who was one of the people who came out in front and said don't criticize mitt romney for being a -- >> it was on "meet the press" during the 2012 -- >> this is where his backing comes from, wall street. this is as much of a wall street candidate as everyone and that's why he has that broad support. it really comes from the wealth. >> booker, a little broader, look at afirmtive action, and i think in the country overall, obama won, and then he won two elections, overestimated how much racial progress we've made. read roberts' opinion, we have

a -- obama won, all of these blacks vote the higher numbers than than whites in a lot of states, therefore, everything is great. the senate nobodies tell you what's really going on. african-americans struggling to advance in a lot of key races, we don't allow a lot of available candidates for governor. the pipeline isn't really there either. the real challenge, not just about today. not sure when the numbers will increase by a lot. cory booker and barack obama, very singular examples and unusual people in politics, viable african-american white candidates right now. >> i want to thank sam sear. chris christie is set to one a landslide in new jersey. that next.

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first in trenton, new jersey, at the state capitol. the democratically controlled state legislature rubber stamped chris christie's budget. even though barbara buono railed against the budget. >> as he looks ahead for 2016, this governor has left the people of new jersey behind. and i ask my colleagues not to follow -- not to follow suit. >> but the vote for christie's budget, 52-25 in the assembly, and 25-11 in the senate. the skd thing that happened monday night was an hour later. a report on "the new york times" breaks, says commodities future trading commission, that let the biggest names at the biggest banks off the hook is preparing a civil case against jon corzine. he was running mf global, a

brokerage house that made some bad bets when it lost more than a billion dollars in customer money. he is chris christie's predecessor as governor of new jersey. if you are a democrat anywhere in america, are you dismayed by what happened in trenton, u.s. a sign of how politically strong chris christie has become. two reasons he passed that budget with such ease. he is very popular right now. 70% approval rating. barbara buono, his opponent, can decry the budget all he wants, but he's still 30 point ahead. the second reason he is working his will in new jersey, become a national political star and has a real chance to be president in 2016, he has a lot more democratic friends in new jersey than you realize.

they were with him long before superstorm sandy decimated the shore and made christie a simly about of unity. they quietly helped him win his first race and helped him craft his agenda and give him bipartisan coverage on issues like pension reform. it makes him palatable to voters. this bruings us to the corzine part of the story. if you lost money with mf global you are probably not happy. correspond sfwlin w corzine was responsible for the results, but the full story of jon corzine's political demise and chris christie's political assent is the story of what happens when the dominant party in a one-party state gets lazy

and greedy. new jersey democrats couldn't lose an election, no matter how hard they tried. believe me they tried. robert toricelli had to drop out after a wave of devastating revelations about lavish gifts from a south korean businessman. he walked away, and voters elected a different democrat. in 1994, newt gunning rich in a heavily southern and religious band of southerners grabbed a hold of congress. and george w. bushy elected in 2002, that process intensified. powerful democrats in the state stopped caring about what their nominees stood for and started worrying about what they would get out of the deal. in 2000, an open senate seat,

correspond sfwl corzine just pushed out of gold map sacs and wanted redemption. mcgreevey resigned in 2004. trenton needed a steady hand. and it had one, richard j. cody, state senate president, next in line to be governor. from the old school. a self-deprecating irishman, a mortician, a basketball coach. he got coalition politics, the public loved him. the tip o'neill of trenton. wanted to run for a full term in 2005. up with big thing that cody didn't have. jon corzine's wall let and that's all that matters. in new jersey, powerful county machines still call the shots in party primaries. one by one corzine picked them off, bought them off. the nomination and election went to correspond sfwlin. correspond sfwlin had no idea

how to work with the legislature, the economy collapsed, so did his al lines of convenience with the power brokers, lacked cody's charm. voters found no comfort in their governor. corzine's money mattered for nothing and he lost to chris christie. he the platform he had been craving his whole life to bluster, bully, force his agenda to become the national political figure is now is. and corzine had nothing left to do but head back to wall street. watch democratses try to make the new jersey race interesting, just remember, they did this to themselves. things turning out a little differently for another republican that won national fame in 2009. that's next. [ female announcer ] the best thing about this bar

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virginia governor bob macdonald was being talked up as a rising gop star. these days, all the talk about macdonald involves something else, a federal investigation to a series of gifts he and his wife reportedly received from a wealthy donor, johnny r. williams sr., of a supplement maker called star scientific. williams purchased a $6,500 rolex watch for macdonald, which the governor did not disclose. i want to bring in jeremy bird. field direct for for obama's re-election campaign in 2012. and we have a founding partner of the grassroots firm 270 strategies. his story is fascinating. last year, we talked about him being on the short list, talk of

him running for president. this is one of the quintessential swing state. appeal to the christian right, and, molly, looks like it's collapsing before our eyes. >> i am a virginian, and something like the rolex, this drip of revelations, stuff about other gifts, his daughter's wing, the executive chef, all kinds of favors the family was taking from the mansion. and a powerful symbol like the rolex just looks tacky. >> apparently his wife suggested -- this poor johnny williams sr., dietary supplements, she suggested, oh, maybe you could take me to bergdorf goodman for a shopping street. $15,000. he has poured so much money into the macdonald family. i guess you know the state

really well as a battleground. give nor's race going on this year. probably the top political race of the year. macdonald not on the ballot. does this affect the race? >> hugely. the republican nominee has the same problems with johnny williams. took $18,000 that we know of in gifts. didn't disclose at least $5,000. he has more than $10,000 worth of stock in johnny williams company, and as torn general, supposed to regulate companies like johnny williams. they owed the state of virginia 1$1.7 million in taxes. sat on it while ken kucinelli investing in more stock. will totally affect the governor's race. >> i don't get it. i've seen stories like this. where i alluded to the toricelli story a moment ago. you see the politicians with real power in washington, in

their state capitols. we can talk about the unseemly but legal ways they can do that. what would make a politician to say, oh, yeah, $6,500 rolex watch, good idea, let's not report it. >> i think it speaks to a sense of entitlement and the sense that either are you above the rules, not going to get caught, who among us hasn't had someone buy them a $6,500 watch or take our wives or spouses on a shopping strepree it's all ickyd tacky and the kucinelli connection really hurts. >> two years, where everyone is fund-raising and duking it out. bob macdonald lost in year one.

he the running for president in 2016 and now he certainly cannot be a viable national candidate. >> it's part two for virginia politicians. anyway, state senator wendy davis' dramatic filibuster this week may show a larger progressive shift in the south, that's next. you hurt my feelings, todd. i did? when visa signature asked everybody what upgraded experiences really mattered... you suggested luxury car service instead of "strength training with patrick willis."

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the end of most of texas' abortion kilnins. >> at the end of the day, this creates fewer and fewer options for women to exercise their constitutional right. >> davis hoped to speak until the legislative session ended at midnight, which according to rules would have prevented a vote on the bill. republicans raised points of order and claim she committed three violates. davis' democratic colleagues and the hundreds of activists took over. 15 minutes until midnight.

. >> at what point must a female senator raise her hahn or her voice to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room? >> that cheering and applause continued uninterrupted for at least 15 minutes. the republicans scrambled to call for votes before midnight. >> if we could have order in the chamber so that the members can properly cast a vote. >> midnight came and went without a vote, leaving davis and her allies to sell brought an emotional if temporary victory. rick perry called for another special 30-day session to begin monday. rick perry had comments about wendy davis and said he will keep pursuing this.

like everybody else, i stayed up late watch this happen and try to figure out, you know, sort of the broader implications of this in texas. texas is a red state. a state that gave us rick perry, ted cruz. george w. bush, here is an issue dealing with abortion, a heavy pro life vote in texas. something about watching this woman stand up against the power structure in texas. it was sort of inspiring about it. and i wonder if it's the sort of thing that captures people's attention in a rare way. >> i think it did. i think it does, and i think it really matters. also the day we got the bad voting rights act news, progressives really disspirited, you saw it on twitter. i wasn't watching it for a while. live stream came around, and i couldn't go to bed until 3:00 in the morning, and i think there is that sense that pro choice forces have been ground into the

dirt in texas. and that specific -- that it's hurting women's health generally, and some of us are old enough to remember the texas of ann richards and barbara jordan and have a dream that texas could be a blue state again. a lot of forces coming together to make it a galvanizing night for progressives and i hope more than a night. >> was it something, you know -- molly, was it -- do you see it something that fires up or wakes up the progressive base, or something that bleeds over and in effect affects voters who aren't pro choice, democrats, who looked at this and woke them up more generally. how do you see it? >> something inspiring about the image of the little guy standing up against the majority powers against him or her. what joan was saying sounds exactly what i heard conservatives say about when

they saw rand paul do his filibuster. people in iowa said you are the first one who stood up to obama like that. it's not about the issue, not about drones in the case, but about the image on that sort of lonely crusade, willing to go to extremeds to stand up for something they believe in. you have the other state senator's comments, saying she is just a teen mom, it's unfortunate, any time have you women seem going to be belittled and condescended, it's very powerful. they may not win on late-term abortion, but they win on the image of standing for women in general. >> democrats have talked for years about making texas blue, and some demographic factors that go into that. we look immediately at 2014, no one know positives are sure if rick perry will run against.

the democrats need a candidate. last democrat to win state wide was ann richards in 1990. this is talk about wendy davis in 2014. is there a move for her to run for governor in 2014? >> there is a lot of that, you see it online and some folks talking about it. what we're talking about with battleground texas this say long-term process. i mean, this is a state where we lost by 17 points in 2012, but a state where the demographics are favorable to democratic process. why freedom works committed $8 million. and the rnc committed $1.2 million. the national committee not putting $7 million into california or new york. demographics shifting and that's why they are putting their money

there. how quick can the shift happen? and catch the electorate up to the population? this week was helpful for that. three things you saw there. one, the republican extremism. two years ago, when wendy davis stood up, it was over the $5 billion they took out of public schools. you saw the bench that you see, whether all the state senators standing up there. a bench of democratic leadership and the activists, and an activist base is growing. we've seen it across the state. all things coming together. this week put a spotlight on things, the question, how quickly can we speed up the process? >> to put numbers on this, democratic issue, this is really striking. first thing, the demographics of texas. according to 2010 census. 5% white, 38% latino, 12% black

and 4% asian. look at the turnout. 67% white, 17% latino, 13% black, 1% asian. perry, i have seen this trend for a while and been asking myself when is the dam going to break, so to speak? it is still voting 16 points for republican in the presidential election. why so wrong for numbers to catch up? >> latino vote not trending as strong as the population. that's part of what is going on in texas and california. the latino group is helping democrats. the sort of main factor, and also the obama campaign, they didn't put a lot of time or money. they had all of the money in the world, they could probably have lost by only eight points in texas there, say margin. i remember being in a meeting with david plouffe.

we all laughed at him. and in the line, 2020, when democrats can really think about running a winning campaign there. striking about this weekend in terms of issues themselves, republicans are very confident about abortion views. think about the gay marriage decision, hard to find a republican to reply on the record, how do you feel about gay marriage? but on abortion, you see across the current very confident. they can be aggressive pro-life party and win elections. they can put this on the floor. rick perry is loud and proud. >> it seems to come back from this break. 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. ♪

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you were about to say? >> one of the things going on in texas not only as perry said, latino vote underperforms so to speak, but latino women are particularly less likely to turn out than latino women in other states. a lot of attention paid to why is that and how to educate, mobilize, empower them. and the other interesting thing is where these things come together is that young latino are the most pro-choice segment. and this is sort of a coincidental issue that comes up. this is important to mobiliz el. in the end, it carried opponents over the midnight line, and i think it's very -- that's why it's important what jeremy is doing. with enough education and enough mobilization and enough outreach

and concern, this could turn around faster than -- >> this is a broader theme too. talk about demographic change in texas. about demographic change in some of the southern states. you wrote something very interesting this week about the deep south. and in my mind, i've written off the deep south. the one that will never go republican, mississippi, beam, states like this, and you have a different take. curious if you can share that. >> sure. what i wrote about, in particular, a municipal election in mississippi that happened a few weeks ago, republican party targeted four cities that are republican strong holds. democrats won all four. they have been talking about it as blue tuesday. obama lost texas by 16, 17 points, only lost georgia by 8

points, better than any democratic nominee in 30 years in mississippi and georgia and south carolina. and had -- and he didn't campaign in any of the states. in north carolina where he did camp palm a small amount, he lost by two points. won in 2008. demographics in southern states are changing faster than demographics in texas. could come on line sooner than texas. >> if you take mississippi as an example, vote down the race, people -- 2012, 2008, among black voters, 96% for obama and among whites, almost the same. 89-11 for romney. 80-10, and jeremy, and the case we heard. and in texas is that -- the more that you are able to mobilize latino voters and black voters

in texas. and we've seen what we've seen in alabama. where white voters are that much more republican. >> i think it's certainly a risk. but the better comparison is to florida. florida is much more similar to texas. and u.s. hugely diverse, texas, a large asian american population that doesn't get talked about much, a large black population and hiss pan population. and republicans are alienating all those groups. we have to in texas win more white voters in rural areas. what barack obama did in ohio. you don't have to win those counties, but instead of 25%, you have to get 32%. the big key, republicans started winning women in the suburbs.

in this last session in texas, things like the lilly ledbetter act. republicans opposed to that. that is further alienating women in the suburbs. it can't just be about hispanic voters, black voters, asian american voters, it has to be about youth. we have to put together the coalition. >> the other interesting opportunity. the story of the south going con seventive and republican, a reaction of generally white voters to the national democratic party. now we're in a new phase where republicans control almost everything in the south and reaction to republican leadership. that's what the wendy davis thing spoke to. one thing that it's getting them. >> we talked about this a little bit. we talked about this about to end.

and there is in obama to vote in some way. is hillary clinton able to change numbers in the south a little better. ty and tennessee it will make it easier in the south. given the nomination of hullry. if that were the person. i think there are factors to look at. >> thanks to jeremy bird with the obama re-election campaign. president obama found a way around congress on climate change. the honest company. i was just a concerned mom, with a crazy dream. a wish that there was a company that i could rely on, that did all of the hard work for me. i'm jessica alba, and the honest company was my dream. [ male announcer ] legalzoom has helped a million businesses successfully get started, including jessica's. launch your dream at legalzoom today. call us. we're here to help.

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[ french accent ] antacid! sorry, i have gas. but you relieve gas, no? not me... that's his job. true. i relieve gas fast. [ male announcer ] gas-x is designed to relieve gas. gas-x, the gas xpert. president obama moved forward on climate change, using executive powers to order the epa to crack down on carbon pollution that coal fired power plants pump into the air. it will take a year to begin implementing rules. nobody of it will require congressional authorization. it will help that if the epa confirmed an administrator. but congress is still sitting on

the naomination. >> unfortunately, she has been held up in the senate for months, forced to jump through hoops, because there are too many in the republican party right now that think the environmental protection agency has no business of protecting our environment from carbon pollution. >> the president lamented the lack of bipartisan cooperation on the environment. and recalling the politics around the clean air act. >> that law passed the senate unanimously. think about that. passed the senate unanimously. passed the house of representatives 375-1. i don't know who the one guy was. i haven't looked that up. you can barely get that many votes to name a post office these days. >> we looked up who that one guy was. nebraska republican glen cunningham, the youngest mayor in omaha history. a fun fact for you.

i want to bring in the director of the climate and clean air program and special correspondent for "newsweek" and the daily beast. dana, i will start with you on this. a lot to talk about here. we have a basic issue of no epa administrator. of the nomination held up by republicans. everything president obama announced of what he would like the epa to do will meet a lot of resistance and complicate efforts to gelt her confirmed. if she isn't confirmed and become as a protracted process, how much will that cut into what the president is trying to do? >> an acting ahead monday straight -- administrator who can carry this out. they don't need new laws, they need to make sure congress doesn't get in the way and presidential leadership will be

critical to make that happen and public support for the standard, which is very high. >> talk about the big legislative push a couple of years ago on cap and trade. got through the house in a watered down form. died in the senate in a more watered down version. i have heard people make the case what obama is trying to do through executive action would be a lot more dramatic than the watered down cap and trade bill would have done. >> in the short term, what president obama can do under current law is similar to what would have happened under the legislation. the key to that legislation, it actually set the country on a long-term course to reduce emissions 80% by 2050. we have to get back to legislation to do that. but there is awe lot the president can do. heart of that is epa standards that for the first time set carbon pollution limits for power plants. right now, they can dump

unlimited amounts of car upon into the atmosphere. it's wrong, dangerous, has to stop and will with his plan. >> so, michael, it's -- i guess one question, what took them so long to do it? why in year five? i tried congress for four years, 4 1/2 years, and go to executive action. >> he has a few things on his plate. and another, he didn't want to do this before re-election in part because of ohio. this will affect ohio and ohio is a crucial state. i don't think that's a crazy theory, but he's done it, he's done it, they are a very admirable goals, i don't understand the criticism that this doesn't go far enough. congress isn't isn't going to do anything. the thing i was disapointed in the speech is this. a surprising amount of industry is ready to play ball on this

stuff. leaders -- some leaders in utility ceos, leaders of energy companies, they know this day is coming and are ready to go on carbon regulation, on emissions regulation. most american people don't know that. they just think that the republicans are representing corporate america's interests, but the republicans aren't representing corporate america. they are very moderate compared to republicans, who are way over here. >> and they made the case that executives, and regulations and put new and we see the executive, and the industry, to go to congress, and and more manageable for us. and i have hear the same argument. the industry not nearly as

resistant to cap and trade like the republicans would suggest. where is the republican opposition coming from? is it because it's an obama priority, or something more philosophical to it? >> i think it is largely philosophical. and really saw the coal industry, and studio ahead much station in the 2012 campaign. drama in ohio, where really one of the coal country voters, by convincing that mitt romney hated coal even more. wasn't being the environmental president when he went to southeast ohio. the decline of the coal industry, that ship has already sailed. an industry that's resigned to a status quo that already come on line and they can't fight it any

longer. >> and what about this p, obama won't have to run again. you talk about coal country in ohio, virginia, and rates might go up for consumers in the midwest, democrats can debate what price democrats paid in 2010 for cap and trade. >> there are definitely risks, we all know that, but i think there is a strong environmental constituency here, people know it's the right thing to do. and he couldn't have left office without making this a major initiative. so, you know, i'm less worried about politics, west virginia was off the table, we talked about texas. sadly, we'll get texas back before west virginia. >> i would accept that. >> i know, i know. i'm less worried about the politics than i was. >> i wanted to set this up. a surprise about the keystone

pupline. you want to pray that and ask you about it. >> allowing the keystone pipe line requires a finding that doing so would be in our interest. our national interests are served only if the project doesn't significantly exasser bait the problem of carbon pollution. >> the other big decision the president is facing, apro-or not approve the keystone pipeline. that statement is rorasch test. some say he's not going to do, others say he's laying the ground work. >> we didn't expect him to address it at all, a decision teed up for later in the fall, after hundreds of thousands of comments are viewed on the draft impact statement. the keystone pipeline was said not to increase carbon emissions. but the epa says "that is an

inaccurate draft. if will increase carbon emissions. we think the president will reject it. >> and natural resources defense council and anthony wiener no joke, and the messiest mayor's race in more than 30 years. every day we're working to be an even better company - and to keep our commitments. and we've made a big commitment to america. bp supports nearly 250,000 jobs here. through all of our energy operations,

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that's a hot dog you can trust. hebrew national. new poll jolted the new york city mayoral election with anthony weiner taking the lead. tuesday's "wall street journal"/marist poll showed weiner beating christine quinn. the first time quinn has fallen from the lead. bill thompson, the democrat that ran against michael bloomberg in 2009 at 13%. the public advocate, bill demrazzo, with 10% and john liu

with 8%. another poll showed a throw-way tie. quinn at 19%, weiner at 17%, and thompson at 16%. some are drawing parallels to 1977. a wild race that played against the back drop of son of sam killings. and in that race, seven democrats ran in the primary, and ed koch didn't even crack 20%. it is fascinating that when weiner first got into the race, running at 15% and conventional wisdom, that's the ceiling. all downhill from here. i don't know if this says anthony weiner is a talented retail politician, he has made himself into a contender into mayor of new york. >> i think it is mayor of new

york recognition. i'm on record saying weiner will not be the mayor of new york. i admit i could be wrong about that. but i think none of the other candidates has caught fire or put together the kind of coalition that they need to, but there is constitutional a lot of time, and he loses in a head-to-head with quinn. once we get the -- >> that's the other issue. in new york, if nobody gets 40% in the primary, they go to runoff for the top two. tested in the journal poll. quinn versus weiner, 44-42. thompson versus weiner, 42-41. i'm fascinated by the bill thompson, anthony weiner runoff. bloomberg had the limits rule change, christine quinn helped

him with that. do you run anyway? and he basically backed out. didn't want to do it. i don't think he thought he could win. bill thompson ran. bill thompson and anthony weiner in a runoff. he can say i took on the tough fight, you backed down. >> i don't understand what democrats are thinking. only in new york, a tough talking alcoholic/bulimic running, and to colorless and boring for voters. not exciting enough. we need the dirty selfies guy. i have had had a lot of new york democrats tell me the story in the poll is the surmg by bill thompson. voters looking for a liberal alternative to christine quinn and a lot of confusion about who that will be. she is seen as the bloomberg candidate, a lot of new yorkers don't like that. thompson, once the weiner bubble

pops, i guess if that's not too horribly mixeded metaphor, they will say, gosh, we can't do this, we'll be a laughing stock and more gravitate to thompson if his momentum continues. >> something more basic going on. i live in washington now, but i lived in new york for almost 20 years and covered a lot of new york state and city election campaigns. and it was extremely aboutet knicks and identity politics. who is leading this poll? annen from american candidate, jewish candidate, and woman candidate. really. >> there is talk that polling in new york has struggled in recent years to account for frun and increasingly hispanic participation. one of the reasons that bill thompson caught people by surprise. this is the headline of "the

tale news" today, con to verial stop and frisk program and bloomberg actually said we're running too many people people. he does worse with nonwhis than whites, and the candidate most associated in the race with mike bloomberg is christine quinn. >> who gave him the third term. and christine quinn, a front-runner, not a front-runner at all. she has to distinguish herself. i've heard she is not going to do a job embracing bloomberg fully. you have to pick one of the other. al gore wouldn't pick. if he wanted to be bill clinton's successor. quinn not doing a good job distinguishing her message. different than bloomberg? finishing out that question is a key thing in her winning or losing. >> how she became the boring candidate in the case.

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two months we've heard how the irs applied extra scrutiny for tea party groups. a document shows that the agency also flagged terms like progressive and green energy organizations and medical marijuana, terms associated with left of center causes as it decided whether groups deserved tax exempt status. danny werfel confirmed new revelations on thursday jay russell george, treasury inspector general that carried out the irs probe insisted his investigation found no evidence that the irs proved that. new revelations, notwithstanding public attitudes toward the

story are breaking on partisan lines. in may, 37% thought the irs con ha controversy lead to the white house, and 49% think that the white house ordered a crackdown, and 49% think the ifrp rs acted on its own. when it first broke and the first reports two months ago, i didn't think this was a white house scandal, an agency scandal. it looked like as an agency jumped con seven tv groups. there be be some more scrutiny. a lot of scrutiny applied to liberal groups as well. >> it looks like the irs is concerned about the growth of 501 c 4 and 5 0 01 c 3 groups.

the more i think that the irs is concerned about the right things, that these groups are popping up. more tea party groups than progressive, and more scrutiny, and that's bad. the irs focused more on one party than the other is not great. but it looks like actual concern is that they are focused on nonprofits. >> we had darrell issa, leaking out stuff selectively, fanning the flames as much as he could, this was the scandal that led to the white house, took down the president, all sorts of things and any rational discussion, it's possible impossible to hav. darrell issa has completely j f oversold it. >> i took a day or two i took it

too seriously. i don't think we know there was more scrutiny. >> yes, there may have been more. i should have said, right. >> they tended to be more consistent in using tea party and patriot, and the left was all over the map. with progressive and occupy and green energy and god knows what else. so maybe there wasn't as easy a target to look at and put cases together and scrutinize, say what's going on here. and to some extent, i blame democrats too. they are so scandal whipped had to be said immediately this is wrong and conceding that. it sounds like they did target con sevservatives more than liberals. the only group that was denied status for new groups and lost status was old groups was emerge, which elects democratic

women. >> the media has some complicity in this. and this is absolutely an agency scandal, and i can take that and are they going to correct a little bit in terms of a dana mill bain column that really went hard after darrell issa, his history of overselling scandals, look at poll numbers now and is the media going to correct in light of new information and maybe this thing will no longer be seen as a scandal in half of the eyes of the country. >> i personally have not done my own vest divisioinvestigation, wait, but in terms of the positivelitic politics, let's assume darrell issa is right and this went all the way to the top. what does it get them? republicans are worried this will be a sugar high for the

republican party. drives down obama's ratings sure, what did destroy clinton get the republican party in the late '90s? won mid terms and arguably the general election in 2000. the next candidate for president won't be tainted. >> i said that very thing. they overreached with cluinton, got punished. but they kept him from getting anything done with the mandate for the second term and they can do that to obama too. i certainly hope that they get punished as a democrat. but we'll impeach this popular democratic president and this other democratic president, clean as a whistle, personally and politically, we'll tie him up in knots and make sure he cannot move his agenda, because all we talk about on all the cable shows is scandal.

is there a scandal? >> i'm not sure they can drag this out that long. because all i have -- >> there will always be something, michael. >> there is a if i night number of witnesses. darrell issa is interview ifrp rs employees. a finite number of people, in fact, the number is 20. interviewed around half. you know, around half to go. a handful to go and interviewing them over the next couple of months, and unless someone produces some smoking gun, that points at the white house, the investigation is over. that's it. so they can't go very far, but to get back to your point about the polls, probably going to take public opinion a long time to catch up with reality. >> it's inversely related. this thing fallen apart and more people have bought into the idea that there is something to it. what do we know now that we didn't know last week? my answer next.

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so what do we know now that

we didn't know last week? we now know that former democratic senator william hathaway of maine has passed away. he died monday at his home at the age of 89. hathaway's election to the senate ended the career of his opponent, the nation's first female senator, margaret chase smith, a republican. according to "the new york times," upon beating smith, hathaway's own mother told him, quote, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. hathaway's accomplishments in the senate included leading military academies to accepting women. we know his mother would be proud of that. and the former senator and failed presidential candidate is getting into the movie business. this week, santorum became the new ceo of the faith-based dallas film company, echo light studios. santorum acknowledged that he's not the most obvious choice to lead a movie company, what with his lack of any relevant experience, but that he's not deterred from the task in front of him. he wrote, quote, for too long, hollywood has had a lock on

influencing the youth of this country with a flawed message that goes against our values. now we can change that. echo light studios has the resources and commitment to produce, finance, and distribute faith-based and family-friendly films. we know that hollywood better watch out, but that we can't quite say the same for washington, at least not yet. we now know how house republicans are planning to deal with the bad image their policies and rhetorics have created for them with women. according to rollcall.com, members of the house gop have come up with a plan to increase the number of women in their ranks. right now 8% of the house gop is female, compared to a third of house democrats. rather than changing its policies, though, the house republican plan is to ask republican women to run for congress. as freshman republican ann wagner told rollcall, quote, women need to be asked, they have to be encouraged. fellow freshman susan brooks said, more often than not, they fear they are not qualified and they can't raise money, which is something that many women have not been involved in. and finally, we know that soon to be former gop congresswoman

michele bachmann was very unhappy with the supreme court's rulings in favor of gay marriage and that nancy pelosi really doesn't care what bachmann thought about it. on wednesday, pelosi was asked about bachmann's comments and had this to say. >> congresswoman bachmann put out a statement and she essentially said that the decision today cannot undo god's work. how do you guys react to that? >> can you? >> exactly. moving on. i want to find out now what my guests know now that they didn't know when the week began. >> i think we know now that texas has some really tough liberals led by senator wendy davis and that they think that women's issues are good issues to run on. so it will be interesting to see what the next year brings. >> and if she runs in 2014, interesting to see that too. >> very. >> i think we know rick perry is relevant. we thought he was a laughing stock after he lost the presidential primary so badly, but he's in some ways the most important conservative in the country. looking at what he's done on

abortion and blocking obama care, he's a big impediment to liberal agendas. >> michael? >> i learned that some past lopsided votes of congress are very important to scalia and others not so much. >> fair point. >> going with the supreme court theme, i think we learned that the gay marriage train is not going to be stopped anytime soon. not only did california get gay marriage this week. in fact, just yesterday, gay couples started being married, but the language in the doma decision leaves a door open and advocates are now saying they believe they can get gay marriage nationwide within five years. >> it is amazing, right? because when doma was passed in 1996, they're the first poll i ever saw on gay marriage. it was like 21% support or something. it is amazing so few issues can public opinion move that dramatically. so it's something we'll be talking about a lot more on the show. my thanks to joe walsh of salon.com, michael, and molly ball of the atlantic magazine.

thanks for getting up and thank you for joining us today for "up." join us tomorrow, sunday morning at 8:00, when i'll have democratic senator, yes, he'll still be a senator, mo cowan of massachusetts, pat schroeder, and ijerry nadler. up next, melissa harris-perry. how five justices have put our very democratic process in jeopardy. that and why melissa thinks the president should be scrambling jets to find edward snowden. that is "melissa harris-perry." she's coming up next and we will see you right here tomorrow at 8:00. thanks for getting up.

this morning, my question, who the hell does putin think he

is? plus, the fears of a hollow victory in the supreme court rulings this week. and a huge step forward on immigration reform. but first, this week in voter suppression in a supreme way. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry. thank you for joining us. the supreme court giveth and it taketh away. it was a mixed bag this week for members of the diverse progressive coalition, whose lives hung in the balance while the court rendered its decisions on its foremost highly anticipated history-making equal rights cases. on the one hand, unbridled joy and celebration as windsor versus united states took its place alongside other outcomes that have become synonymous with human equality. the court struck down the defense of marriage act and affirmed federal protections for same-sex couples in states