clear goal in mind, to serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. i have the same goal today. this is a tragedy. it is one of the great sore east of my life. with the benefit of hindsight, i wish i had done more. nbc's ron allen has more from state college, pennsylvania. i imagine there was a great deal going on at campus. what's happening now? >> reporter: i think a lot of people are absorbing that statement by joe paterno. he has a lot of support here, but there's been a strong feeling it is time for him to go. he is 84 years old. he has been here for 46 seasons. he has won more football games at this level than any other college coach in history, and all this sexual scandal does is tarnish that legacy. i should also point out penn state just has a few games left this season, four i believe it

is. paterno's contract was set to expire. so it seemed like a natural time for him to leave. bottom line, although he has not been linked to the criminal investigation that continues, there was a feeling here that he should have and perhaps could have done more to intervene when he knew about, when he was told by an eyewitness there was an allegation of sexual abuse by a long time and close aid, jerry sandusky. again, people are absorbing this. he was going to leave at the end of the season perhaps. board of trustees is still looking at this, governing board. they could ask him to leave immediately. the question remains what will he do at a game, will he be in the field, in the coach's box. it is a powerful symbol here. aside from the scandal of all this, you have to think of it as an incredible end f chapter in college football history. tainted by this awful scandal that came up in the last couple weeks, almost out of nowhere. and joe paterno in the middle of it.

>> ron, there are also folks calling for the head of the president of penn state university. what's the latest on that? >> reporter: that's true. there are calls for his resignation and others as well. there's a feeling there may be many more heads that roll. the board of trustees released a statement they were going to take swift and decisive action, which seems to suggest there may be more resignations or firings. the problem is this goes very deep, beyond the football team. it goes to the culture of penn state university. the bottom line criticism from the prosecutors in this area is that no one here at penn state called the authorities outside of this campus to say there was something going wrong, or suspected something was going wrong, and that's a big failing of what happened here at penn state. >> ron allen for us this afternoon. thank you. appreciate that. sarah gain a.m. is a

reporter with the patriot. i understand you are outside joe pa's house. what's happening? >> reporter: this morning, joe left and then came back. now family has started to trickle in. it appears this has become a meeting place for them. he left and then came back right after issuing a statement that said he was going to retire by end of the season, and sources tell us this is a decision made by him, not something that was forced on him. i'm sorry? >> i was listening to you. go ahead. >> it was not forced on him. he has had no contact with any member of the board of trustees or the body as a whole, so and that's very interesting they have not made contact with him at all. >> sara, is there a chance, are you hearing the board of trustees which is set to meet friday, that the board could

come back and say to joe pa you know what, we want you out now? >> reporter: you know, there's always that chance. they issued a statement last night saying there would be an investigation. sources tell us that that means that they are going to make a decision about the fate of joe paterno and the fate of the president by the end of the week. there's always that possibility. but i have to say in the last three, four days this has been unfolding, there have been a lot of rumors swirling. some of them have played out, some of them haven't. but it's pretty much minute to minute here things are changing on campus. >> we've spent a fair amount of time talking about joe paterno and the legacy that is penn state football. we have perhaps not spent enough time talking about the victims here who made the allegations. we know of eight at this point. one of the rumors i understand is that there may be at least one more, if not lots more.

what are you hearing about other potential victims out there? >> reporter: we know a man walked into a state police barracks yesterday and said i was a second mile child, second mile is the charity jerry sandusky founded, and similar things happened to me in a shower in the football building at penn state in the early 2000s. you have to remember the eight victims mentioned in the grand jury presentment, six have testified before the grand jury. it was a three year investigation. everyone is calling this victim number nine and it may well be that. but this person hasn't been vetted by police and hasn't testified yet, so no charges have come from that yellow light. >> sara ganim. appreciate your work. >> absolutely. herman cain raging against the democratic machine he claims is behind the sexual harassment allegations against him. last hour here on msnbc, the

first woman to put a name and face to the accusations talked about her motivations. >> if i was coming in this for money, i wouldn't be sitting right here, i would have sold my story and left. i was simply trying to give mr. cain a platform to come forward and do what is right. >> herman cain used a platform to hold fast to his defiant denials. >> i have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period. >> it's a denial we've heard before. >> the charges and the accusations i absolutely reject. >> this time more forceful. >> they simply didn't happen. >> a little more serious. >> they simply did not happen. >> a dramatic change from the night before. >> so how was your day?

>> well, all things considered, i'm still alive! >> cain joking about the news conference where his fourth accuser, sharon bialek gave specifics. >> he suddenly reached over and he put his hand on my leg, under my skirt, and reached for my genitals. >> that was a surprise. >> but his republican rival called it no laughing matter. >> any time charges like this come forward you realize it is a serious matter. >> cain agreed. >> sexual harassment is a very serious matter, as i've said. >> he also called bialek a virtual stranger. >> i don't even know who this woman is. i didn't recognize the name at all. >> but said he thinks he knows where she's from. >> the democrat machine in america has brought forth a troubled woman to make false accusations. >> and said there's probably

more where that came from. >> there will probably be others, not because i am aware of any. >> michael sheerer has been writing about this for "the new york times." good afternoon. you wrote about the cain campaign going all out to undermine bialek's credibility. give us some specifics. >> well, what they've done sort of throughout the course of the last couple days is as soon as miss bialek came forward was to ship around to reporters and to supporters allegations that she had been involved in multiple lawsuits, that she had financial problems, had declared bankruptcy, all in an effort i guess to sort of buttress the claim that mr. cain made during his press conference, which is that we should all consider the financial implications of maybe she's doing this for the money. she said on this network earlier today that's not the case, but that's clearly what the cain campaign was trying to do was to put at least a seed of doubt in

people's minds about why she might be saying these things. >> so we have by a lek, and also shar sharon kraushaar. what have you heard about the latest women? >> she was one of the accusers, didn't know her name at the time, but her attorney came forward last week to describe the fact she entered into a settlement many years ago with the national restaurant association. she decided ultimately i guess to come forward yesterday, in part because a couple of news organizations had started to reveal her name out there, so she decided to come forward. you know, part of that story is a little more compelling, maybe a little more dangerous to herman cain because she did have this settlement, because the restaurant association paid her tens of thousands of dollars to go away essentially, and signed a confidentiality agreement, all of which suggest that there was at least something there.

that's the problem politically for mr. cain. >> what are you hearing about the campaign in terms of its efforts to control this? what are you hearing about damage control. >> you know, this is one of those all encompassing things for a campaign like this. you can't move forward as has been proven repeatedly in the last several days until the story completely goes away. we did find several people in iowa where mr. cain's campaign is the most active, using scripts designed to have volunteers call supporters, say look, do you still support mr. cain, these allegations are not founded, you should still support him, that sort of thing. try to get the message out there at the grass roots level that perhaps his core supporters at least should look past this. >> what's next for the times in terms of their reporting? are you currently looking for other women? >> i mean, look, i think to the

extent that there seems to be a pattern of women that have sort of either come forward anonymously or now with their names, that's something we're going to try to report out. there's also a question about whether miss kraushaar and other women will suggest a press conference, that's been suggested by her attorney that they all come forward, that would be a big moment. we're also shifting focus to the debate tonight where we're waiting to see whether this subject comes up. >> michael shear, thank you. who will win the gop circles. newt gingrich's name popped up. the reason nbc, "the wall street journal" poll has newt gingrich at 13%, up 5% from three months ago, good enough for third place in the poll, but how big a come back will it be. joining me, peter ferrare,

senior economic adviser to newt's campaign. >> glad to be here. >> i know you love talking herman cain. no secret that newt gingrich and herman cain have gotten along very well on the campaign trail. debated saturday night. joked about possibly being on a ticket with each other. at what point do these allegations, at what point does the back and forth become too much? at what point should herman cain get out. >> i don't have any way to address that. i am here to talk economics and public policy. that's meant for herman cain to address. >> let's talk about economics and public policy. your candidate dramatically improved in the polls as we mentioned. to what do you attribute the climb? >> his substantive approach to campaigning where he offered very credible detailed substantive economic policies, entitlement reforms, he has the experience to back it up, the

credibility, and he has proven a valuable spokesperson. >> for newt to go higher in the polls, do you need another candidate to stumble? >> i don't think so. i think he needs to stay focused what he is doing, advance ideas that worked spectacular. there was an iowa poll that had him second place ahead of mitt romney. he is the guy that's surging, he has the momentum now. >> one of the concerns that some expressed about the gingrich campaign in terms of fund raising, his performance at this point has been lackluster. right now, when you compare him to other candidates, he doesn't have a great deal of money, cash on hand. and he had trouble raising money as well. >> fund-raising is soaring, a million dollars last month. that just takes care of itself. he has a campaign strategy that is unique where he's a man of substance, ideas, credibility. he has been there, done it before in the 1990s, led the balancing of the budget, and sustained economic boom at that time, and so he's got a record

to prove, back up what he says and has the substance. and that's what resonates with voters. recognize america is in trouble, they need new ideas that will bring back the booming traditional american prosperity. >> i want to show you what gop strategist mike murphy tweeted this morning. take a look. karma meets cruel irony alert, staffers ditch crashing newt for perry. perry collapses, newt starts to slowly rise in polls. is there a bit of an i told you so going on in the gingrich camp? >> newt stands for the proposition that serious candidates don't need all of the consultants, just need good ideas and to articulatly express ideas to the public. it will be a big boone for the republican party to learn that lesson. >> thank you very much. moments ago, president obama signed an executive order to cut waste and promote efficient spending in washington, d.c. let's listen. >> one of the commitments to the

american people was we will do a better job in washington in rooting out wasteful spending at a time when families have had to cut back, had to make some tough decisions about getting rid of things they don't need in order to make the developments that they do. we thought that it was entirely appropriate for our governments and agencies to try to root out waste, large and small, in a systematic way. this is more important given the deficits we've inherited and that have grown as a consequence of this recession. this makes these efforts even more imperative. now, this does mean making some tough choices. it means cutting some programs that i think are worthy, but we may not be able to afford right now. a lot of the action is in congress and legislating budget. i know the joint committee on

trying to reduce our deficits are engaged in a very difficult conversation right now, and we want to encourage them to complete their work, but in the meantime we don't need to wait for congress in order to do something about wasteful spending that's out there. cutting waste, making government more efficient is something that leaders in both parties have worked on from senator tom colburn to claire mccaskill. we haven't seen as much action out of congress as we'd like. that's why we launched on our own initiative the campaign to cut waste. not just to cut spending but make government work better for the american people. for example, we identified thousands of government buildings we don't need. some sat empty four years. so we're getting rid of those properties. and that's going to save the american people billions of dollars. as part of this campaign, i also asked federal employees to do

their part and share their ideas in making government more efficient and more effective, and two of them are here today. so i want to introduce them. roger rhodes, from department of commerce. raise your hand. there's roger. he found a way to save the department almost $2 million a year on its cell phone bills, and i'm sure there's probably consumers out there that would like to talk to him, find out what they could save on cell phone bills. celeste steele is here. she works at the department of homeland security, and is helping save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars by changing the way the department buys goods and services. so we received nearly 20,000 suggestions from federal employees. i just completed a video conference with the four finalists of the annual save award. 20,000 submissions of ideas from federal employees how to reduce waste, eliminate duply

indication, redundancy, paperwork, and these four finalists have some terrific ideas, putting books that have been ordered every year online instead of continuing to incur the shipping costs to having a tool library at nasa so instead of buying very specialized tools over and over again for different projects, we keep an inventory of those tools. in addition to soliciting ideas from federal employees, i also tasked vice president biden to work with the secretaries of all our agencies to identify some systemic areas of potential improvement. travel, transportation, it services, all that can save billions of dollars. in september, joe convened the cabinet and pushed them hard in

finding savings across all agencies. today i'm signing an executive order that builds on their good work. it directs agencies to slash spending in each of these areas, travel, printing, i.t.we can get better using less technology. overall, spending is covered by the executive order will shrink by 20%. and members of my cabinet will keep reporting on progress to joe biden and ultimately to me. we're going to hold them accountable for meeting this 20% reduction goal. these are important steps that can save taxpayers billions of dollars over the next several years. it doesn't replace the importance of the work that congress needs to do in coming up with a balanced, bold plan to reduce the deficit. but it indicates once again that

there are things we can do right now that will actually deliver better government, more efficiently, more consumer friendly for less money. and we're going to keep finding every possible way we can do that, even if congress is not acting. so with that, i'm going to sign the bill. but i want to thank all of the officials behind me here today for taking this project so seriously. >> president obama signing the latest executive order there, that one targeted at reducing government waste. after conrad murray's conviction, the question of blame in michael jackson's death now shifting to the family civil suit. why the promoter plays a roll. his sister rebbie joins me in

the studio. and world markets are reacting to italy's economic woes. berlusconi is stepping down. here are how the markets are reacting. the dow was down at one point nearly 300, now down about 241. s&p 500 and nasdaq down as well. be right back. you want to save money on car insurance?

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or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant, conrad robert murray, guilty of the crime of involuntary manslaughter. >> the verdict in conrad murray's murder trial set the stage for a civil suit brought by michael jackson's family members. katherine jackson and jackson's three children brought a wrongful death suit against aeg, the corporation behind michael's come back series "this is it."

michael jackson's sister rebbie joining me. let me start with your reaction, you were in the courtroom monday when the verdict was read. what was going through your mind at that point? >> actually, when they read the verdict, i became numb. they informed us, that is the judge, not to michael jackson any noise or reaction whatever the verdict was. my sister, you hear, and my daughter, and me going sh. even though many feel there is closure to some extent, it brought everything back, the reality of what actually transpired when they read it off, and i was numb. i started crying. >> you were there in the courtroom every day. >> yes. >> did you think the jury would find him guilty or did you think there was a chance he might walk? >> three-fourths guilty, one-fourth i didn't know. >> let's turn to the civil suit and aeg. why does your family hold aeg responsible? >> i really can't speak about

that, especially now. i would love to, but i can't. >> at all. >> no, i can't, i'm so sorry. >> and again, we should note here, we're talking about an l.a. times article that came out today. >> yes. >> that talked fairly extensively about the suit, but you acknowledge there is a suit. >> yes, most definitely. >> let's talk about the film, the documentary. during the criminal trial, film makers had exclusive access to murray and his defense team. msnbc will be airing that documentary friday night. i want to play an excerpt from that and get your reaction on the other side. let's take a look. >> i have seen him cry so many times, and i told him it's okay to cry. it's okay. it's okay, michael.

you can cry. >> dr. conrad murray there telling your brother that it's okay to cry. do you think that dr. murray ever truly cared about your brother? i think in the very end, no. i think he was interested in the financial position, the money, and i think that that is what overruled and took precedence over everything else. >> $150,000 a month is reportedly what he was being paid to be your brother's personal physician. a judge says that his sentence could be anywhere from probation to four years. what would you like to see a judge hand down. >> well, nothing will bring my brother back. that's what took place in my mind when the verdict came through. it was murder and it's sad because he would be here if it

wasn't for that, even though there were other issues that were involved as far as him being sick, but the problem is that he was practicing medicine, administering it in an atmosphere that shouldn't have been taking place. it should have been in a hospital, and not for the reason he was giving it to him. >> prince, paris, blanket, how are the three kids doing? >> they're doing great. i mean, they're holding up fine. they have been introduced to a new society, a different way of life around kids their age, and they're doing okay. >> do you think one of them if not more get into the entertainment business as well? or do you think they pursue other interests? >> i think they will be involved in the entertainment profession. however, i think prince will probably go into directing and i don't know what miss paris is going to do. she's out there all the time. >> rebbie, good to see you. thank you so much for your time. >> you're welcome. >> catch that documentary, michael jackson and the doctor, here on msnbc friday at 10:00 eastern. be right back. sure wish you guys would bring layaway back.

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good wednesday afternoon. i'm craig melvin. we are following fast moving developments out of state college, pennsylvania. legendary football coach joe paterno will retire at the end of this season. all of this coming amid allegations of sexual abuse against a former assistant coach. just a little while ago, paterno talked to his players, informed them of that decision to step down. he reportedly broke down in tears. the players gave him a standing ovation when he walked out. joepa, 84 years old. it is his 46th season with the anytime kn nittany lions. an investigation found two instances of lost body parts between 2008 and 2010. attorney jenner i can holder

acknowledges some serious justice department mistakes in arms trafficking sting that allowed guns to end up in mexico. and bbc reports rupert murdoch's news of the world conducted surveillance on prince william. royal protection officers had no idea about it. and western alaska is getting hammered by an epic storm there. winds up to 80 miles per hour and offshore waves to 40 feet. widespread damage is expected there. al roker referred to it as a snowi-cane. the democrats in ohio, they defeated an anti-union bill so handily, even the major supporter conceded defeat. >> it is clear that the people have spoken. my view is when people speak in a campaign like this and a referendum, you have to listen when you're a public servant.

there isn't any question about that. i've heard their voices. i understand their decision. and frankly, i respect what people have to say in an effort like this. >> 61% said no to that law passed in march, that restricted bargaining rights and prevented unions striking in negotiating collective bargaining rights for benefits. in mississippi, a controversial anti-abortion amendment was also defeated. 58% said no to a law that defined personhood as occurring at fertilization of the egg. opponents of the constitutional amendment said it would effectively outlaw all abortion and some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization. in arizona, the architect of the immigration bill was recalled. russell pierce became the first sitting state senate president in the country in the first arizona legislator ever to lose

a recall election. one big set back in virginia for democrats. votes are still being counted, dems appear to have lost two seats in the senate giving control of that body to republicans, and wins in the house of delegates give republicans a two-thirds majority there. a new poll finds that more than 60% of americans see the gap between the rich and poor getting bigger. not only are corporate executives getting richer, so are members of congress. their net worth rose by 25% in the past two years, but there's a gender gap here as well. the gap for female members down by 20% in the same period. paul, we should note off the top, you say for the most part there's one woman to blame here, congresswoman from california, correct? >> yeah, that's right. when you talk about small

numbers of people like this, female members of congress, 93 people, jane harman left congress and took with her a net worth of at least $100 million. that suddenly reduces the net worth of female members by a third. >> that will do it. >> big numbers skew the curve. >> out of curiosity, where is that money from? >> it is her husband's money by and large. he was in the, come on, the audio business, electronics. >> how much money in congress is held by men? >> most of it. it is now $2 billion total minimum net worth. about 1.8 billion of that held by men. but it is funny, craig, because we say that john kerry is one of the richest members of congress, but that's really his wife's money. so it is hard to say where the money, which gender the money travels with, you know what i

mean? >> yeah. that's a good point actually. >> when you break it down, you'll see most of the money is with male members of congress. >> you're right the mid point is probably the best way to look at this. when you look at the median perhaps, what did you come up with? >> the median is where you see a fair description. and there women are doing better than men. the woman in the middle of the pack as it were in congress is about $600,000 and the man at the middle of the pack about $400,000, and then in both those categories we saw that their median income increased 15 to 20% in the past couple years. again, trend of growth is the same no matter the gender. and i would mention we did the gender breakdown only because we were on an msnbc program last week talking about this growth on the jansing program, and some of the viewers asked us well, how does it break out by gender, and this is what we came up with. >> paul, we appreciate you responding to the viewers. thank you so much.

>> absolutely. they were good questions. >> paul singer, as always, thanks for your time. >> thanks. have a great day. a market alert, folks. the dow continues to plunge today. it is down 244 points. it picked up a little. at one point it was down around 300. s&p 500 and nasdaq also down. all of this volatility after the italian prime minister said he would step down after parliament approves his reform bill. the end now of a colorful leadership there. nbc's chief correspondent richard engel joining me on the phone from rome. richard, good afternoon to you. >> reporter: good afternoon. italy's economy has almost been in free fall the last 24 hours or so. berlusconi said he would resign, but he didn't say exactly when. he said he would resign after the country, after parliament specifically passes his series of reforms.

a lot of people don't take berlusconi at his word because of his sexual scandals, because of his more than 2500 appearances in court and all the charges against him, and they thought well, this will go on a long time. today a short while ago, the italian president napolitano said they will try to pass the reform measure that would allow berlusconi to resign as he said he would do in a matter of days, perhaps even over the weekend, but it doesn't seem to be doing much to stabilize the italian economy. borrowing rates are going up and up and it is close to what required other countries to have international bailout if not already incompetent that territory. >> richard engel from rome. thank you. iranian president mahmoud ahamdinejad said the country will not retreat from the nuclear program, and he dismissed reports from iaea that

iran may secretly be working towards building nuclear weapons. in that report, the agency cited credible intelligence that directly contradicts iran's claims that nuclear projects are entirely peaceful. well, it may be a few weeks before officials know precisely what killed the dwight airing ton meyers. that was his given name. he was the overweight lover, heavy d. he collapsed at his beverly hills home yesterday morning and died at a los angeles hospital a short time later. his hip-hop career started in 1987 with heavy d and the boys. we all remember them. besides four platinum albums, he acted, too. music videos, tv shows, and in several movies as well. heavy d was 44. what's better than gold ? free gold ! we call that hertz gold plus rewards. you earn free days, free weeks and more fast. that's a plus.

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with cold and flu season approaching, a new report reminds us germs lerk in very common places. survey finds 71% of gas pump handles and 68% of mailboxes are highly contaminated with sickness causing germs. atm buttons, escalator rails, vending machines with high levels, too. best way to avoid them? wash your hands and use plenty of sanitizer. jobs and the economy will no doubt be huge topics at tonight's debate in detroit. the big three automakers and the local economy hit especially hard by the recession. more than two years after massive taxpayer funded bailouts, gm and chrysler appear well on the road to recovery. phil lebeau live from a plant in romulus, michigan. phil, start us off here by

giving us a snapshot of the auto industry right now in america. >> reporter: far better shape than a couple of years ago, craig. you have all three of the detroit automakers profitable, a huge change from a couple of years ago, but they're far smaller than they used to be, in part because they shed so many jobs. look at the number of jobs the detroit automakers had in michigan ten years ago. more than 200,000. bottomed out in 2010, at just over 100,000. yes, it has come back 9,000 to 110,000. but overall, when you look at the upper midwest, because the auto industry is not just in michigan, it is illinois, indiana, ohio, there are plants there not only for manufacturing of cars but the parts, suppliers. look at the change particularly from four years ago. people always say listen, jobs are coming back. yes, they've come back in the last year and a half, but not to the degree of where they were four years ago. that's why when you talk with

economists, particularly ones in the midwest, they point out there's still a lot of anger by people in the manufacturing sector and who lost their job. >> still very angry, still very frustrated and the frustration is compounding. it is not a situation that feels like it is getting better to the bulk of the people in this region of the country, and that's important to understand because they're still feeling left behind. >> reporter: the bottom line when you talk about the upper midwest and manufacturing jobs, they have started to come back a bit, craig, but they're nowhere close to where they were four years ago. many of the jobs have gone to other countries and other things have happened simply to make the jobs disappear. companies are leaner now, and as a result it's a tougher environment for people in the upper midwest who have been dependent on the manufacturing jobs for decades. >> phil lebeau from michigan there. here is the thing, phil, the economic picture continues to be bleak for that part of the

country especially, but there's one thing all of them seem to be rallying around these days, those detroit lions. >> reporter: absolutely. you talk to anybody here. i talked with a worker here in the plant earlier, i said how about those lions. he said we have been waiting forever. yes, they have something to celebrate. >> phil lebeau from michigan. thank you so much. appreciate that. again, folks, see the gop debate, the ninth gop debate 8 eastern on cnbc. an instance of a major republican contender standing up for the environment. he proposes the repeal of a clean air law that takes effect in january. gop critics of the law say it costs jobs. alexander says the law is needed to clear pollution from state and national parks. and if you need to know the latest on your favorite cuban

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should police have the right to use gps tracking on anyone they deem a suspect without

getting a warrant first? tuesday, the u.s. supreme court heard arguments on that issue. and according to one defense attorney, the very question made a few of the justices nervous. >> one of the justices said do you really mean you could have law enforcement decide they want to track all nine members of this court? all nine justices to find out where we go in our cars. >> attorney steven mccar joining me. you were involved in a 2005 case where the issue first came up. tell us about that. tell us how the we got here. >> well, we got here because my client, antoine jones, was con investigated at retrial of engaging in a narcotics conspiracy. one of the things in the trial and retrial was the warrantless gps device attached without his knowledge or consent to the underside of his jeep cherokee yielded evidence that was improperly seized and searched in violation of the fourth

amendment. the trial court disagreed with us in large part and the u.s. court of appeals reversed that. the united states government, appeal to the united states stream court and court heard argument yesterday on that important issue. >> this is an interesting case, not just because we're talking about global positioning devices here, but because of the broader implications. we're talking about gpss. i understand cell phones could be the next step. >> cell phones, blimps, drone technology, almost anything. it's a slippery slope if the court decides to allow this to go forward, what's to stop police agents from using a dart to shoot a gps or a more sophisticated device on a purse or briefcase and follow you. >> the classic argument for gps is that it is needed for effective crime fighting. what's your response to that?

>> we're not trying to make the police any less efficient than they were before gps came into being, we're simply asking them to adhere to the fourth amendment's warrant clause. the whole fourth amendment is designed to prevent police abuse and ensure that there's somebody, a judge or magistrate, evaluating the police request for access to people's property or information before the police go ahead on their own. >> how did arguments go yesterday? >> it was exhilarating, it was actually a lot of fun. >> was that your first time before the high court? >> it was. i got asked a lot of tough questions, but the justices asked a lot of tough questions of my opponent. >> what did the justices seem most interested in. they're giving us insight, we don't hear a lot about inner workings of the u.s. supreme court. >> the questions that were posed indicated the justices are

deeply concerned of implications of this technology. on one hand, the justices want to uphold law enforcement practices as much as they can, as long as it's consistent with the constitution. on the other hand it was clear their concern was what are the long range implications. immediate implications of gps and there are other technologies in the waiting. cell phones was certainly an issue brought up yesterday. >> attorney steven mccory. have you heard on when you may hear about a decision? >> if the supreme court will rule when the supreme court rules. >> we have heard that many a time. thank you. appreciate your time this afternoon. >> thank you. i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching this wednesday. i will see you back here tomorrow, noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. out west. up next, andrea mitchell reports live from michigan. the site of the debates tonight. hey, andrea. >> craig, thanks so much. we're live at oakland university

in rochester, michigan where hours from now the eight presidential hopefuls will go head to head over who has the best fix for the economy. we will get a preview with maria bart loem oh and michigan governor rick snyder, state republican chair, robert show stack and debbie wasserman schultz, all that next on andrea mitchell reports next on msnbc. ] ananjanust how many applias

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d hay teer gfrgudiar d t lee n d right now, your money, your vote. we are live in rochester, michigan at oakland university, home of the golden grizzlies, site for the cnbc republican debate. it is the first show down for the candidates since europe's debt crisis rolled u.s. markets into a nose dive, and the first time herman cain will take the stage since he was publicly accused of sexual harassment. will mitt romney have a home state advantage, even