american customs and felt more at home in her adopted company. i'm sorry, because i'm not a trained arizona official. >> the congressman joins me tonight. >> and the fate of the nation's health care will be decided tomorrow. either way, single payer is making a comeback. good to have you with us, folks. the house of repsentatives will take the historic step tomorrow of holding the u.s. attorney general in contempt. darrell issa continued his year long campaign to spear holder in a meeting of the house rules committee today. >> over the last year and a half, the committee has found the department of justice to be uncooperative at every step of the way. >> but despite the contempt charges, republicans have not been able to link the attorney general, eric holder, to any wrong doing whatsoever. issa admitted it today.

>> we're holding him responsible to fix what is broken. i have never called for his resignation nor said that he has specific knowledge. >> issa has no evidence the attorney general knew anything about the controversial fast and furious case. last sunday, he said there's no evidence the white house was involved either. the lack of evidence had democrats on the rules committee today wondering why the house is going to go through with the contempt vote. >> as i get deeper and deeper into this and i go over the documents that have been released and i learn about the willingness of the justice department to continue to cooperate, i mean, this idea where in the rules committee, an emergency meeting to rush this to the floor tomorrow, just doesn't smell right to me. >> we're getting ready to save this institution. with this particular kind of undertaking. >> darrell issa and the republicans are trying to nail eric holder and the white house

by linking them to a federal gun trafficking operation. we know the attorney general had no involvement. we know the president had no involvement. and now, thanks to a report by fortune magazine, we know the gun trafficking never even happened the way the republicans claim it did. the investigative report is called "the truth about the fast and furious scandal." it reaffirms everything we already suspected about this bogus congressional investigation. republicans and right wing media charge the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms with deliberately sending guns into mexico to break up trafficking rings, but according to agents involved with the case, they never purposely allowed guns to be illegally trafficked. just the opposite, they said they seized weapons whenever they could but were ham strung by prosecutors and weak laws which stymied them at every turn. the fast and furious case was one of a dozen the agency was were pursuing.

they were trying to stop trafficking in one of the most difficult places in the united states. one agent said buying a gun in arizona is like buying a sandwich. there are 853 federally licensed firearms dealers in phoenix alone. the city is only 200 miles from mexico. a gun control group said arizona has the weakest gun prevention laws in the country. no waiting periods, no need for permits, and buyers are allowed to resell their ns. 87% of illegally smuggled firearms seized in mexico are originate in the united states. they also make it harder for law enforcement to stop gun trafficking. the aatf is prohibited from establishing a comprehensive electronic database of gun sales. the agents focused on straw

purchases, people being paid to purchase large amounts of gun foillegal trafficking. well, according to the report, by january 2010, the agents had identified 20 suspects who had paid some $350,000 in cash for more than 650 guns. many of these sales were clearly suspicious. one suspect on food stamps bought 476 firearms in six months. another suspect with no job paid $10,000 for a sniper rifle. go figure. at each turn, prosecutors blocked the atf's attempts to go after the guns. at one point, the supervisor in charge wrote, we conducted a field interview and after calling the assistant u.s. attorney, he said we did not have sufficient probable cause to take the firearm, so our suspect drove home with said firearm in his car.

the fast and furious case led to numerous dead ends. but there is no evidence in the entire program showing deliberate attempts by the agency to walk guns. the issa investigation makes great fodder for republicans and the national rifle association, but it also makes a mockery out the truth. what the congress is going to do tomorrow is absolutely political and it is shameful. i think we pay congressmen to do other things than this kind of garbage. get your cell phones. i want to know what uthink. will tomorrow's contempt vote go down in history as a national embarrassment? text a for yes, b for no. 622639. you can go to our blog and leave a comment. we'll bring you the results later in the show. key player on the program tonight, joining me now is elijah cummings, the ranking member on the house overcite and reform committee. good to have you with us tonight. first of all -- >> good to be with you.

>> let's talk about the vote if we can right off the top, politico is reporting that the congressional black caucus plans to walk off the house floor during tomorrow ps vote. will you be participating in that and is this going to happen? >> that decision is still being made. there had been discussions with regard to that because black caucus members feel that this is such a travesty that they do not want to dignify the vote by being present to vote for it or against it. we're all against it, but i think that strategy is still being worked out, ed, but there's a good possibility. >> what is your reaction to this report by a fortune magazine which is one of the most detailed pieces of journalism we have seen so far on this? >> i think it really does go hand in hand with my contentions all along that eric holder and the president, and by the way, we're in total agreement with

mr. issa on this, did not know about this, did not authorize it, did not condone it. this whole situation, so that's why this contempt vote tomorrow is so unfortunate. and keep in mind that there's been only -- no one has, no cabinet member in the history of the united states of america has ever been voted in contempt and so this is really sad and very unfortunate. >> i want to play what congressman issa said about you during today's hearing. here it is. >> i believe mr. cummings has not lived up to his promise. i wish he had, to the terry family. i believe in spirit he thinks he has, but in reality, this truth, the full truth, is too painful for, in fact, him to take on his own attorney general. i think that's one of the problems that goes on in every administration. >> i want to give you an opportunity to respond to that. >> i responded in the hearing and told him, and i'll say it

today. in my 61 years in life, i have had nobody to challenge my integrity. mr. issa gets confused, when you stand up for the law and you say that, and i say that we should not be trying to subpoena documents that would be unlawful for the attorney general to give us, give to us, and when i say we should not be subpoenaing documents that reveal informants, confidential informants and documents that might interfere with the trial, he automatically thinks you're trying to defend the attorney general. i'm trying to stand up for the integrity of the house and for the integrity of the executive branch of government. i make it clear, i hold the executive branch to a very, very high standard, and so i told mr. issa during that hearing that i was insulted by what he said and he owes me an apology.

>> it's gotten pretty personal down the stretch here leading up to this, but it's also personal on the president of the united states. they seem to be ignoring the executive privilege the president has invoked here as if it doesn't even exist. one can only wonder if this is all about, you know, putting the president in a bad light, putting the attorney general in a bad light, and i will go so far to ask the question, is there an element of racism here? >> i'm not going to say that. i leave that to other people to make the determination. let me tell you, i think what they're doing is very political. and i think that if you -- they need to take a step back. one of the things i have said is that speaker boehner ought to get involved in this case personally. this is a case that could easily be resolved. and keep in mind, ed, the attorney general has provided 7,600 pages of documents, given another 1,300 pages of the

documents that are what's called deliberative documents that normally are not exposed at all, not given away at all, and he's tried over and over again, as late as yesterday evening, to try to work this out. yet, it's still -- mr. issa is trying to bring him up for contempt, and the implication is that he's not been cooperating and not been working with us. he has. and he's done quite a bit to help us. and so -- with regard to issa, it's always his way or the highway. and that's what this boils down to. >> that's how the republicans have been acting since this president took the oath of office. >> and keep in mind something else, ed. this started under the bush administration. and the same people that were running it under bush in the phoenix office are the same folks that tried to run it with regards to this attorney general, under this attorney general, when this attorney general holder found out about it, he immediately stopped it.

and ordered an investigation. >> i notice you're at the white house tonight. i understand there's a bipartisan picnic going on. >> yes. >> i understand that all of the key players are there. >> yes. >> what's that atmosphere like? >> you would think everything was going well. you have issa, you have boehner, you have the attorney general, the president. you would not think that we were in the kind of situation we're going to find ourselves in now and tomorrow. >> yet tomorrow they're on the verge of doing something very embarrassing to the country, would you say? >> their aim is to embarrass the president, embarrass this attorney general, and i think they figure that if they can do that, they'll be able to help romney win the precedency. i think americans will see through this and see how political it is. >> congressman elijah cummings, thks for your time tonight. i appreciate it. a sad day in politics tomorrow in america. that's for sure. remember to answer the question

at the bottom of the screen. we want to know what you think always. next, the national rifle association is using its political powerhouse to bully house democrats into voting with republicans tomorrow. jonathan alter and bob shrum will weigh in on that and i'll have commentary. stay with us. we're right back. yes. they're still so tired looking. with olay challenge that, with regenerist anti-aging eye roller. its hydrating formula with caffeine conditioning complex, perks up the look of eyes. it works in the blink of an eye. and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound? [ meows ] or if a tree falls on your car and no one's around to answer your call, do you make a sound? the answer is probably "yes" [ growling ] and "like a howler monkey." unless you're calling esurance. they have live humans on the phones to help 24/7. so you might make different sounds, like happy human sounds. esurance. insurance for the modern world.

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coming up, the nra is putting pressure on house democrats to vote for contempt tomorrow. my commentary on that and why the democrats should not cave to the pressure for the sake of political careers. luis gutierrez gives his colleagues a pop quiz to draw attention to immigration and arizona's papers please law. the congressman will join us on "the ed show" later. >> and tomorrow night on this program, democratic leader nancy pelosi will join me to give her reaction to the supreme court's ruling on health care. share your thoughts on twitter using the hash tag ed show. we're coming right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." well, the national rifle association is hell bent on selling a botched gun running program as a left-wing plot intended to take away your firearms. and it looks like the nra's snowjob is going to get a boost from some house democrats who are pretty nervous. the gun lobby represents just a fraction of gun owners in the country, but it's politically positioned to put pressure on democrats to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress. the organization says it will track how members vote tomorrow.

i say, sowhat? so far, four democrats are willing to cave to the nra's power. the four have received endorsements from the group in the past, and according to opensecrets.org, all have accepted donations from the nra. the nra has been setting the stage for months. the nra president was out pedaling the conspiracy theiry that the fast and furious program was designed to restrict gun laws back in october. >> the president and attorney general and secretary of state would be running around going 90% of the guns come from america. in an attempt to seek political advantage and in an attempt to enact more gun control laws on honest american citizens and use this whole issue politically against the second amendment of the united states. >> that is so alien to the truth. that's his opinion. he has no facts to back it up.

congressman darrell issa followed suit at the nra convention in april. >> they have trampled on the constitution, on the first amendment, on religious rights. if you don't think this fast and furious and things like it are the beginning of an attack in the second term on the second amendment, you really haven't evaluated this president. >> just read meat to the het shaking crowd. he has relaxed gun laws in this country, yet the nra is so anti-obama, it doesn't matter what the guy does. they're going to attack him any way they can, and now they have managed to get members of his own country to throw the country's first black attorney general under the bus, and many democrats are afraid of that 30-second commercial that might show up in their backyard. democrats willing to stand up to the right-wing fearmongering have a very simple message to share with their constituents. here it is. i'm not going to vote for

contempt and i'm not going to take away your firearms. that's all they have to say. and stick with the truth. for those four democrats to turn, and there may be more, it's an abomination of government in this country. i'm joined by bob shrun. jonathan, what can we expect from democrats in tomorrow's vote. how many do you think will turn on the attorney general and the president? >> well, the indications are five of them. they should be ashamed of themselves. ed, if you read the article in fortune, it is an astonishing piece of journalism, and what it tells you is that everything that everybody thinks they know about this case is untrue. and they nail it. there actually was never any gun walking program to start with. it's hard to believe that when you read the piece, you know, i really urge viewers to read this article.

what's happened here is you have a committee chairman who is basically joe mccarthy on steroids who will twist any fact, bend any piece of information he can, to try to destroy the attorney general and the president and to get himself in the headlines. i don't say that lightly. you know me well enough to know i'm not a bomb thrower, but this is really disgusting. we need somebody like a joseph welch in the mccarthy era to say, have you no sens of decency, mr. chairman? presidents have been invoking executive prevolog for years. ronald reagan did it six times. i didn't see them saying his epa should be held in contempt. this is a witch hunt of the first order. and democrats need to stand up and oppose it, and those who don't should be ashamed of themselves. >> bob, peter welsch told me he was surprised how many members

of congress don't even have the facts in fast and furious and haven't been paying attention to this and they're ready tavote on contempt. >> a party that has trafficked in death panels, with the birthers, and issa is a clown in my view. he's a dangerous clown, but he's a clown. what he offered was not an opinion. it was a lie. the fact of the matter, jonathan is right. if you read that article, what is being alleged here is wrong. in terms of the nra, there was never any connection with this program with gun control. in fact, it started under the bush administration, all these kinds of programs, and that administration was not exactly for gun control. >> what role does the president play in this in talking to his party members in the house to get their heads screwed on right about this? does he play any role at all? >> i you know, i don't know that the president is going to be persuasive of these guys, from west virginia, theuy mathison

from utah, but john dingell, the dean of the house, and always stood with the nra had the decency today to stand up and say i'm not going to vote with this. it's out of bounds. this is an improper investigation. if the nra really cared about gun walking whicdidn't happen here, but really cared about gun walking, guns getting into the hands of drug dealers, they wouldn't be stopping background checks at drug shows because an awful lot of guns walk out of those shows. >> what is the political fallout of this? >> it will be overshadowed by the health care business tomorrow, and i'm not sure that longterm there's a huge amount of fallout except for people who care to take the time to look. we have a house of representatives that's in the grip of extremism. this is not something that has really happened a lot in our history. >> what would you compare it to? >> we're in new territory here. well, actually, the historians, the congressional historians

don't really find any precedence for this kind of behavior in the house. there's been a lot of awful stuff in the house over the years. people beating each other over the heads before the civil war. but this kind of antics, using the apparatus of committee investigations, to basically make stuff up. that's what's going on here. >> i'm amazed at how intimidated they are by the national rif association. >> that's been going on for a long time. >> going on for a long time, but this is such a clear cut opportunity to tell them to stick it. >> they don't want to tell them to stick it because they take their marching orders. one of the democratic congressman got an a-mus instead of an a-plus from the nra scorecard. why even be in office if you don't think a little bit independently? if you just take your marching orders from interest groups? >> that's the fundamental bottom line here. i understand some of these guys come from difficult places where

the nra has a lot of power, but at a certain point, you have to take your oath of office seriously. the nra shz change its name to the national republican auxiliary. they're an extremist republican party. you can compare it to joe mccarthy. some people in the senate were scared of him, but the whole senate wasn't as crazy as this house of representatives is. >> great to have you with us. coming up, a u.s. congressman is using justin bieber and selena gomez to make a point about immigration. the stars are part of a pop quiz. we'll put you to the test next. and 80 million americans believe in ufos. but they don't have much faith in mitt romney when it comes to alien invasion. that pretty much covers it all, doesn't it? we'll show you out of the world poll numbers. stay tuned. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare?

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you know, sometimes the best way to point out a serious problem is to make fun of it. this morning, congressman luiz gutierrez used pictures of pop icons and basketball stars to rail against arizona's immigration policy. here's his "guess the immigrant" quiz. >> let's take a quiz together this morning and learn how to pick out the suspeblth. here are two journalists. giraldo rivera and ted koppel.

at a traffic stop to the untrained eye, we may guess that giraldo rivera might not be from america. his mustache wouldn't confuse an arizona law enforcement professional. they would know he was born in brooklyn, new york, and ted koppel was born in europe, in england. round two, this is for our young c-span. justin bieber and selena gomez. these young people have overcome their very different national origins and become apparently a happy couple. i'm sure justin's help gomez learn all about american customs and feel more at home in her adopted country. oh, wait a minute, i'm sorry. because i'm not a trained arizona official. i somehow got that backwards. actually, ms. gomez of texas has helped mr. bieber of canada

learn about his adopted country. justin, when you perform in phoenix, remember to bring your papers. here are two basketball superstars. neither one is latino. that's confusing already. you have to dig deeper to figure out who isn't the reg american. let's consider their names, jerry lynn and tony parker. clearly, lin sounds boring while tony parker sounds american to me, but i'm not an arizona police officer who would know that jeremy lin was born in los angeles and tony parker, oop, you're up, belgium, once again. if these two justices step out to starbucks, which one do you think is likeliest to be a suspect? the anglo male or the latina? neither is an imgrnlt, but justice scalia's father came through ellis island from italy, and soto mior is has puerto rican ancestors.

the point is simple, the idea that any government official can determine who belongs in america and who doesn't by looking them is ridiculous, unfair, and un-american, and yet this ubsursty is the law of arizona. >> illinois congressman luis gutierrez joining us on the ed show, scoring high, showing and illustrating absurdity in the immigration laws in arizona and in this country. congressman, why is justin bieber the face of the immigration debate right now? >> because he's on my 9-year-old grandson's ipod, and we did some research into what it is to young people. we wanted to make sure we did this from a generational perspective, too. that's what they are, right, pop culture. i use them because, you know, as i look, i looked at justin

bieber and said that's an american kidering right? he's from here. and most people might think with the last name gomez, this young romantic couple, one might be from one place and one from another. that's the absurdity of what it is we do when we assume things about people, even when i do it or you do it, when anyone does it. we shouldn't allow the government to make those kinds of things, when i do it, it's silly, but when the government does it, it violates people's basic fundamental rights. and you're atraffic ticket away from a nightmare in arizona if you're under some reasonable suspicion that you're not in the country. it's wrong and it's bone headed. i like to think that when you make fun of something, even something as serious as this, you laugh at it and you bring a new context. >> and you can learn from it. >> you can learn from it. >> i thought you taught america a great lesson today. does the supreme court's decision leave arizona open to new legal challenges on many respects in your opinion?

>> you know, i think it does, ed. you know i and others, it wasn't supported when the government argued against the arizona law. the justices, i was there in the courtroom, when the justices asked is this racial profiling, is this discrimination? they said we aren't alleging that. but there are others, and i think time is going to be very clearly on the side of fairness and of justice and to show how ridiculous, and you know better yet, how un-american this law is. and we're going to challenge it. and we're going to beat it in court. and if we don't beat it in court, the same way we beat pete wilson and proposition 187 in the 90s in california, we're going to beat it by taking back the government in arizona and putting it in the hands of people who are going to be respectful of our kaunlsitution. >> it opens up the door for law enforcement to make a lot of on the street mistakes that could have serious ramifications down the road.

but not to disappoint you, we have our own pick the immigrant quiz for you tonight. eva mendes or ryan gosling, what do you think? >> eva mendes is the american. >> a cuban american heritage, but she was born in miami. you're exactly right. gosling was born in ontario. here's another one for sports fans, alex rodriguez or jason bay? >> jason bay? >> all right, a-rod was born in new york city. jason bay is a canadian. i didn't think we would stump you. that's the point. and to put a law enforcement official in that untenable position, i think is really something we have to think hard about in this country. >> you know what, you're right. and one of the -- when you think of the police, you think of the radios, their cars, you think of their guns, you think of their training. but you know what? one of the most important if not the most important aspects that

the police have in defending us and protecting us and serving and protecting us are the eyes and ears of the american people, the public out there. you cannot break down that trust. there's limited resources and i want the police going after drug dealers, murderers, rapists, not the windex wielding lady cleaning. >> there's a lot more coming up. stay with us. hello, miami. it is great to be back in cleveland. it's good to be back in philadelphia. >> it don't mean a thing if you ain't got the swing. >> let's get to work. >> the big panel weighs in on the new huge poll numbers for the president in swing states. >> house progressives make a push for universal health care ahead of the big decision on health care. >> and which candidate for office is better suited to handle an alien invasion? >> i felt like the guy from star trek. i was being beamed around.

>> an actual poll from national geographic has the answer. >> interesting concept. >> we'll bring you the results. >> i think man is the most interesting insect on earth, don't you?

well, folks, mitt romney has a problem on his hands. it ain't looking too good for him. and a number of key states. the numbers are brutal for him. only this poll shows the president is gaining traction in battleground states. president obama leads mitt romney with voters in those states 50% to 42%. why? all the attacks on romney's record at bain are starting to stick. swing state voters are more likely to view his business record nothing negatively than voters nationwide, and for romney, most say their vote is against president obama rather than for the republican nominee.

also work, in the president's favor, his view on immigration. the latest polling gives the president the advantage over romney in the sunshine state. in pennsylvania, the president tops mitt romney as well, 45% to 39%. and in ohio, the president is enjoying a whopping nine point lead over the former massachusetts governor. let's turn to political analyst richard wolfe along with joy reed and michael medved. we're down to four months to go. july, august, september, october, and i mean, there's not a whole lot of days left. richard, can he fix this in four months? >> these numbers are going to tighten up because the negative attacks on mitt romney have worked to a degree, when karl rove and the koch brothers get spending their money on the president and outspend the president's campaign, you're going to see the negative numbers for the president rise,

too. some of the numbers are going to narrow a little bit. you also have an economy, special in a place like ohio, the eyepopping number there. in ohio where the unemployment rate is now lower than it was when the president took office, that's a difficult message for romney to overcome because his core message is the economy is doing badly. >> joy, what does he have to do? >> also in florida, where the unemployment rate went down to the point whereallegedly, they told the governor rick scott to stop talking about the economy. romney hasn't given the voters enoughidaty points besides his business record to take him on. because he's the unknown quantity, people are going on what he has given them. i think the only thing romney can do at this time is release more data points. since he's so reluctant to give anything in his personal life, he's left himself vulnerable.

>> they said romney was not ready for primetime in his immigration answer. what does romney have to do to turn this around? >> i would agree with what was said before. he has to lay out a very direct, specific, constructive, moderate immigration reform. and the kind of immigration reform that frankly president bush tried to do and where president bush was deep sixed by a nab of democrats including senator barack obama. the nation needs an agenda for reform. the one thing mitt romney has going for him is most people are still convinced the country is headed in the wrong direction. there's no reasonable basis -- >> not in the swing states. >> if you want to change direction, you're going to get a change of direction with the same president. >> we say it's a national election but it comes down to swing states, we know that. right now, the country being headed in the wrong direction doesn't mean anything in ohio. because those people are with

obama right now. and if romney can't do something, maybe start giving some direct answers on the economy, on how he's going to fund education, on what his health care plan is, maybe he'll tell us tomorrow on the heels of the supreme court decision, and immigration. the guy just is not definite on anything. >> i agree with you, and by the way, one of things that you hear from the romney campaign and i think is interesting is that they may get the vice presidential pick out there early so that the convention can be focused on precisely that specific agenda. >> what about that, richard? >> you know, you get a small pop for the vice presidential story and then it disappears. and that's why people like to do it just before the convention. >> what does president obama need to do to keep the momentum going? >> thing is fundamentally, a re-elect race is you have to convince people to change from what they have now.

as long as the economy trends generally more positive and things get generally more better, particularly in the swing states, the president has to keep hammering romney. this is a replay of the 2004 election where essentially the bush campaign made john kerry unacceptable as a replacement. that's what the obama campaign is doing. unless romney does something to erase that and michael spoke a little about immigration, the president when he was a senator voted for immigration reform, and romney was against the dream act. he stuck with those positions. he could try to move off them, try to put an hispanic running mate on. don't know what he can do to fix it because he's being defined negatively. >> great to have you with us. thanks so much. coming um, you won't believe what a new poll shows about mitt romney and aliens. maybe he can get this right.

americans weigh in which candidate they want in the white house when aliens say take me to your leader. in the big finish, progressives make a big push for single payer health care ahead of tomorrow's supreme court decision. stay with us.

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wow. it's the lowest prices of the season on the amazing sleep number bed. sale ends july 8th. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. we are your friends. >> could that really happen? welcome back to "the ed show." we give you a lot of reasons on this show to vote for president obama. tonight, we have one that's out of this world. a new poll from national geographic show that 65% of americans think president obama is better suited to handle an alien invasion than mitt romney. and as you can tell by this photo in march, they made the right choice. the poll also reveals the american people have some interesting views on alien life.

36% of americans believe ufos exist. 22% say they would try to befriend the aliens if they showed up at the front door, and 21% would call on the hulk to deal with them if they got violent. it turns out president obama has actually addressed the issue of alien life before during the 2008 campaign, he had this to say. >> if elected and you learned that the government knew aliens had visited earth and the public didn't know, would you want the public to find out? >> it depends on whether the aliens were democrats or republicans. >> it drives home a serious point, when things go really wrong, when the completely unexpected happens, a large majority of the american people would turn to president obama over mitt romney for direction. this poll proves that americans think he's a much stronger leader than mitt romney. tonight, in our survey, i ask

you will tomorrow's contempt vote go down in history as a national embarrassment. 94% of you said yes, 6% said no. the health care law if it fails, the big push for single payer or medicare for all is what's on the docket. adam gre joins me for the discussion next. what's the plan? [ male announcer ] if a phone rings at your car insurance company

and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound? [ meows ] or if a tree falls on your car and no one's around to answer your call, do you make a sound? the answer is probably "yes" [ growling ] and "like a howler monkey." unless you're calling esurance. they have live humans on the phones to help 24/7. so you might make different sounds, like happy human sounds. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call. and the big finish tonight,

tomorrow's decision day for the health care lay. it would be in my opinion, an absolute travesty if all or even part of the law is overturned because it's going to hurt a lot of people if it is because it's obvious also that the congress has the right to do this under the commerce clause. but the supreme court overturned the law, the court is once again showing its hand as a radical branch of government, full, hard, right wing activists. the conventional wisdom is that it will be overturned, but there's a strong minority holding that the whole law will be upheld. lawrence tribe, tom goldstein, and our frequent guest, robert reich, predict that the health care law will live. if the supreme court rules against the affordable care act, it clearly reopens the debate and discussion and effort about health care in this country and gives progressives another good shot at making their best case for single payer.

the cochair congressman keith ellison is prepared to line up behind single payer if the court strikes down the law tomorrow. 75 members of the caucus already support congressman john conier's singer payer bill. it's a tough fight but it's one worth fighting and gerald madler explains many americans may not fully understand what single payer means, but they understand medicare for all and they like it. even after millions of dollars were spent to denigrate the health care law, 35% of americans think it's a good idea compared to 41% who think it's not a good idea. let's turn to adam green, co-founder of the progressive change campaign committee. i know you have been waiting for this for a long time. what is the game plan if the mandate is struck down by the supreme court tomorrow?

>> well, if the supreme court strikes down all or a significant part of the health care law, progressives will say this, that the court's decision joins the bush versus gore and citizens united as one of the mo political decisions in judicial history. but the net effect will be that millions of people will be without health care and millions more will be at the mercy of private health insurance companies. and that's why progressives across the board will be lining up behind medicare for all, saying that every american should have access to this super popular program called medicare. >> a number of congressional members have told me that if it's strock down, it gets everybody into a pool and makes it possible to get better outcomes and bring down the cost. many think the law will fall apart. what avenue are you going to follow to get to single payer or medicare for all? >> no matter what, if it's a

full strike down or partial strike down, there will be a question of what is next for health care. that's a galvanizing moment. a moment for progressives to step in and say we have a solution, that's medicare for all. >> how do you think the democrats will react to that? >> as you said, keith ellison, and gruhaul vaa have been champions for medicare for all. we as well as our friends at democracy for america and other groups will be organizing hundreds of thousands of people tomorrow if the court goes the wrong way and we'll make sure that they have the wind at their back. >> let's say they strike it down. will this force democrats on the campaign trail to embrace single payer? >> well, that's the key question. and our argument to democrats on the campaign trail will be this. what could be a more clear contrast going into november 2012 than democrats standing proudly for medicare for all while republicans are left

standing with paul ryan's plan to end medicare. medicare for none. nothing could be a better contrast for voters. their grandma, their grandpa are on it. that would be a winning, possibly game changing momentum moment for democrats. hopefully everybody will follow the lead and get behind it if the court decision goes the wrong way. >> do you think they'll uphold the law, that nothing will change? >> honestly, i have no idea. we'll see. but we need to be prepared either way. if they do uphold the law, it means they're saying that the government has the ability under the commerce clause to help people, and that would be a great thing. if they don't, we need to stang strongly for medicare for all. >> be sure to tune in tomorrow night. i'll be with democratic leader nancy pelosi. the "rachel maddow show" starts right now. >> that's great to hear you're going to have nancy pelosi on tomorrow. tomorrow is going to be a huge day, one of those days we live for in this business. for no doubt. >> i'll see you tomorrow.

thanks for staying with us for the next hour. 13 hours from right this second, we will be reading the most eagerly anticipated supreme court decision since the conservative majority of the court decided to george b. bush the president more than a decade ago. at 10:00 a.m., the supreme court in its baroque ceremonial ostentatious way are going to do three things at once, post the health care ruling online, hand the document to court reporters that contains the ruling, and inside the court, they will reportedly read excerpts of their ruling from the bench. all those happen all at once at 10:00 a.m. no cameras in the courtroom, but all of those things will happen at the same time at 10:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow morning. that makes today one of those eve of days in american politics. on the eve of this big decision, you can sort of tell by what republicans