presidential election, if, as in 2000, a case about the election ends up in the supreme court. >> pete williams tonight, pete, thank you. and hallie jackson joins us now hallie, the president at a rally right now what are you hearing about his reaction to all this >> reporter: we don't know yet, lester and it's not even clear if the president has been informed about the death of justice ginsburg he started speaking at this rally prior to the news breaking. we are still working to report out whether the white house was given or may have been given a heads up by the supreme court or by the ginsburg family. based on the comments at the rally he has talked about the supreme court in the context broadly of nominees and the important of judicial nominees to his campaign but it appears as though, looking at my screen to see him at the rally now, he may not have been told again, it's not certain. but if that is the case this would be truly an extraordinary split screen where most of the country, including the president's own family members, his own chief of staff now tweeting about this is the aware of

okay david, we're trying to get pete williams back.ing a little bit of a technical issue there. as you just started saying, david, what we know about mitch mcconnell is that his driving dream is to stack the courts, the federal courts with as many far right-wing judges as possible donald trump made that possible. he supposedly had what i think he called the biden rule that you cannot replace a supreme court justice in the midst of an election, a presidential election i presume that that rule will no longer be operative if this opportunity is availed to him. >> yes we saw what happened with merrick gaurland in the last year of the obama presidency when he was nominated. there was nothing that said you can't nominate someone eight to ten months before the election but they refused to consider it. they broke what was a tremendous norm in american politics, which was not unusual given that many norms have been broken by trump and his republican cult in the last three and a half years. and now no doubt they're going to come back and say, oh

but we do want correspondent, pete williams. he is outside of the supreme court on this somber morning. pete, good morning. >> reporter: kristen, justice ginsburg's death ends one of the most remarkable careers in american legal history, and it means that the supreme court will begin its new term just two weeks from now with great uncertainty, about who will put her successor on the court and how soon that will happen. in her final days, justice ginsburg herself weighed in on how that should work. the supreme court says ruth bader ginsburg died friday at her home in washington, surrounded by family members. the court said her death was caused by complications of pancreatic cancer. one of her closest friends, nina totenberg of npr says a few days this statement to her anaughte. quote, my fervent wish is that i not be replaced until the new president is installed. justice ginsburg was consistently one of the supreme court's moderate to liberal members. as first a lawyer, and then a judge and justice, she believed the constitution g

hillary clinton in just a few minutes, but we're going to begin with nbc justice correspondent pete williams pete, justice ginsburg passed away less than 48 hours ago, but it seems as if this is moving very fast and we could have a nominee very soon. what could you tell us >> well, i think that's right and remember the supreme court term is going to start in just two weeks and the week after the election in november, the court will hear one of the most important cases of the term, the big showdown on obama care, which the supreme court has twice before rescued now led by a coalition of red states there's a new challenge to it. couple of thoughts about that, chuck. number one with her death it leaves the court with just eight justices, which raises the possibility of tie votes if the supreme court were to tie on the obama care case, it would leave the lower court ruling in tact, which went against obamacare. whether there will be a tie or not, i don't know. the big question in that case would be does the whole law have to fall if one part isn't firm the second question how soon can the senate

part that barr was pressuring durham and other context here is that in an interview with our own pete williams was asked whether he was considering issuing an interim report on durham's findings before the election and barr would not rule that out. we have been chasing for a few days a tip that barr was pressuring durham to issue an interim report from the election. that's unconfirmed. that's the context in which this report is emerging. that durham's top aide has resigned. >> i apologize, i haven't had a chance to read the article yet, i'm relying on you and in case you don't know this, do we know fact in the article there's any spelling out what that pressure might have been or what it might look like that led nora dannehy to resign. >> no, in fact, the details of that are not laid out in this article, although it does say she's been concern for weeks, we of course have reached out to the department of justice for comment on this matter and they have declined to discuss it with us. that's where it stands right now. nora herself isn't quoted in this article. again the sources are colleagues a

pete williams is joining me right now. before we get get to what you know about these three, let me just ask you, garrett's reporting there, saying that two republican senators would not vote to proceed. if we get just two more senators who say in agreement, that i do not want to proceed, then all the discussion we're about to have would be a moot point, right? i mean, there would not be anything going forward because mitch mcconnell would not have the votes. >> remember, the question is when the senate would vote on the nominee. would it be before or after the election. and of course, you know, look, if you talk privately with some senate republican leaders, number one, they would say they'd have a vote before the election puts additional pressure on the moderates like collins and murkowski and others and i think they recognize that these women were going to take that position and the second thing is apart from the senator's view, there are some republicans just the opposite of what you heard from ted cruz at the beginnin

lester >> pete williams at the supreme court, thank you. >>> across the country americans are mourning the loss of justice ginsburg, a champion of the law with lasting impact on women's rights, and a role model for so many andrea mitchell tonight on her legacy. >> reporter: an unprecedented national outpouring of emotion for the passing of a supreme court justice. ♪ that taught my heart ♪ >> reporter: testimony to the extraordinary life and legacy of ruth bader ginsburg, who reshaped women's rights for generations. based on the discrimination she herself experienced. >> i ask no favor for my sex all i ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks. >> reporter: helped along the way by the remarkable love affair with her husband, college classmate marty ginsburg. >> he was the first boy i ever knew who cared that i had a brain. >> reporter: together they went to harvard law where in a class of 500 she was one of only nine women. all invited to dinner with the dean. >> he asked each of us to stand up and tell him what we were doing taking a seat that could be occupied by

with more on that, here's pete williams >> reporter: in an unusually harsh attack from the boss, barr says career prosecutor can be so determined to bring criminal charges they stretch the law, going after people, not crimes he said they need supervision from politically appointed leaders. >> individual prosecutors can sometimes become head hunters, all too often. they're consumed with taking down their target letting the most junior members set the agenda might be a good philosophy for a montessori preschool but it is no way to run a federal agency. >> reporter: he didn't mention any specific cases, but he's been criticized for moving to drop the prosecution of former trump national security adviser michael flynn and for seeking a lighter sentence for former trump campaign adviser roger stone. barr says it's wrong to call that interference. >> what do you mean by interfere? under the law, all prosecutorial power is vested in the attorney general. >> reporter: but some former prosecutors say barr isn't even handed when overruling line prosecutors. >> the principal articulated by the a

trump after he suggested voters illegally cast ballots twice to test the system more now from pete williams: in north carolina where mail ballots start goin out tomorrow president trump continued his attack on voting by mail, suggesting wednesday that voters test the system by voting twice once by mail and then again at the polls to see if they can do it. >> so let them send it in and let them go vote and if their system's as good as they say it is obviously they won't be able to vote. >> reporter: that prompted a certain warning from election officials and prosecutors. >> to go and try to vote a second time, to test the system, is a felony in north carolina do not do that it's a terrible idea >> reporter: election experts say it won't work anyway, here's why. if a voter is sent a mail-in ballot that's noted in the official voting record. when voters show up in person, a poll worker checks their names in an electronic or printe version of that record it flags those that were sent an absentee ballot if they insist they never sent it in they get a provisional ballot which won't be counted if

nbc's pete williams has more. >>> among the front runners, is amy coney barrett of indiana, placed on the seventh circuit court of appeals by president trump in 2017. she's a devout catholic, a notre dame law school graduate, taught law there for 15 years as a student she co-wrote a law review article saying kat lidge judge -- appeals court confirmation hearing she would follow the law. >> i would stress that my personal church affiliation or my religious belief would not bear in the discharge of my duties as a judge. >> reporter: another contender is barbarahe 11th circuit court of appeals just ten months ago after she served as a judge on florida's state courts the first hispanic on florida's supreme court and is the child of cuban immigrants. >> they left cuba without anything but their education, their strong work ethic and their desire to succeed. >> reporter: president trump was upbeat about that today. >> she's hispanic. she's a terrific woman. from everything i know i don't know her florida, we love florida. so she's got a lot of things -- >> reporter: if justice ginsburg's su

lester >> pete williams tonight, thanks. >>> turning to the breonna taylor case, louisville, kentucky on edge again tonight, expecting more protests after two police officers were shot last night, a suspect is now under arrest gabe gutierrez is there tonight. >> reporter: after another night of unrest tonight one of the two officers shot louisville is out of the hospital the other is recovering from surgery, a suspect is under arrest this gunfire captured in a police live stream. >> officer down, right there. >> officer down. >> reporter: in the area where the officers were shot, in all, more than 125 arrests. >> violence will only be a source of pain, not a cure for pain. and we know that violence is never the answer >> reporter: after the grand jury's decision not to charge officers with causing breonna taylor's death -- >> her family, as do i, think these proceedings were a sham proceeding that did not give breonna taylor a voice. >> say her name! >> breonna taylor. >> reporter: anger erupted across the country from new york to atlanta, to los angeles. >> whoa! >> reporter: turning

here's nbc's pete williams. >>> the attorney general is tonight defending the justice department's decision to take over from president trump's personal lawyers, stepping in to represent him in a lawsuit filed by new york author gene carroll. she sued him for libel after he publicly denied her claim that he sexually assaulted her during the 1990s, her lawyer calls the latest move shocking blasting what he calls, quote, trump's effort to wield the power of the u.s. government to evade responsibility for his private misconduct but in an nbc news interview william barr says a federal law allows it and other public officials have successfully invoked the same protection, even for statements to the press about their strictly personal conduct. >> this is done frequently it's been done for presidents it's been done for congressmen, the normal process was followed in this particular case you're talking about. >> reporter: just last week a federal court threw out a libel suit against senator elizabeth warren who invoked the same legal doctrine barr was in chicago where murders are up 52% from a year

pete williams, nbc news, at the supreme court. >> some powerful images there today as the nation honors justice ginsburg the political battle over her successor is becoming even more intense. the president now trying to make it a key issue in the election peter alexander is at the white house tonight. >> reporter: from the poignant to the political, president trump tying his efforts to fill the supreme court seat to his relentless attempts to cast doubt on the integrity of the election, and the expected surge of mail-in ballots. >> i think this scam that the democrats are pulling, it's a scam, the scam will be before the united states supreme court, and i think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation. >> reporter: five states with a mix of democratic and republican governors have long sent ballots to -- no major cases of fraud four others and washington, d.c. are lanning to do the same this year, and only one, nevada, is considered a key battleground president trump will pay his respects to ginsburg at the court tomorrow, even as he's ignoring her fervent wish that the next presi

hallie >> pete williams, thank you. >>> lester will have the first network exclusive with michael cohen, the president's former lawyer r ahead of his nw tell-all book tuesday on nightly news. >>> one of hollywood's biggest stars dwayne "the rock" johnson is revealing his and his family's covid diagnosis and she's sharing his cautionary tale as public health officials are warning all of us about the holiday weekend ahead. miguel almaguer reports. >> reporter: tonight one of hollywood's biggest stars now among those testing positive for covid. >> this has been one of the most challenging and difficult things we have ever had to endure >> reporter: dwayne johnson using his social media platform to reach an audience beyond hollywood the rock sharing how his young family caught covid despite taking precautions. >> we picked up covid-19 from very close family friends and these are people who we love and trust. they're devastated that it -- that it led to them infecting our family >> reporter: warner brothers also confirming someone on the set of "batman" tested positive, shutting down product

pete williams now with more on her life and credentials. >> reporter: at age 48, amy coney barrett wouldecome the youngest member of the supreme court, able to serve for decades to come. a native of new orleans, she went to college in tennessee and graduated from law school at notre dame where she taught law for 15 years and is a devout catholic. she knows the supreme court as a former law clerk to justice antonin scalia. when she was a student, she cowrote a law review article that said catholic judges are morally precluded from enforcing the death penalty. in 2003, she suggested that a key supreme court decision upholding roe v. wade and a right to abortion was wrongly decided. president trump nominated her to the 7th circuit court of appeals based in chicago three years ago. at her appeals court confirmation, democrats wondered whether she'd put her catholic faith above the law. >> you have a long history of believing that your religious beliefs should prevail. >> reporter: but she said she would decide cases based on the law. >> it is never appropriate for a judge to impose that judg

pete williams, nbc news washington. >>> in louisville, kentucky, demands for transparency after thisand jury decision in the breonna taylor case. her family speaking publically today as police body cam video raises some new questions. here's gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: this newly released body cam video showed the chaotic view moments after the raid an breonna taylor's apartment. it is provided by the attorney for john mattingly who had been shot. >> cover him. let's go. >> reporter: with no ambulance in sight, fellow officers rush him to safety. louisville police have repeatedly said there is no video of the actual shooting, but more than six months after taylor's death, it raises new questions about what other material is out there. >> release the transcript. >> reporter: today taylor's family demanded that kentucky attorney general daniel cameron disclose exactly what he presented to the grand jury that resulted in wanton endangerment charges for one officer whose bullets ended up in a neighboring apartment but no charges against any officers for causing taylor's death. cameron s

justice correspondent pete williams is standing by with more on that. pete, what do we know? >> reporter: well, the tradition when a justice in active service dies, they have what they call lying in repose. sort of like lying in state, but it's called lying in repose, where the casket is in the supreme court's great hall. now, the supreme court has given us the plans for this. it will happen on wednesday and thursday of this week. let me go through some of the details for you. the casket will arrive in front of the court just before 9:30 in the morning on wednesday. there will be a private ceremony in the court's great hall. that's what you would go into if you went up the marble steps of the court. well, on this picture behind me, if you went up the marble steps and right into the -- under the portico there, that's the great hall. that'll be attended by her family, her friends, and members of the court. she will lie in repose under the portico at the top of the steps of the building. now, that's this thing right here. that's the portico outside the steps of the building. the

pete williams shows us how to make sure yours is counted. >> reporter: experts on voting systems nowall general election votes will be cast by mail, roughly twice as many as were mailed in four years ago. that means many people will vote by mail for the first time this year instead of going to the polls. >> there's a higher rate of ballot rejections for first-time voters, and that's because they simply might not be familiar with the process, and they do make mistakes. >> reporter: if you want to vote by mail make sure you're registered and that you request a mail-in ballot unless you're in one of those states where it's automatically mailed to you. make sure your address on the voter registration list is up to date. people forget to change it when they move. read the instructions carefully. on most of the forms you fill in an oval or square to indicate your vote. be sure to use the kind and color of ink listed on the instructions and don't use an x or a check mark or circle the oval. on the outer envelope you sign your name. this is a critical step n. most states your signature will

. >> let me bring in our justice correspondent pete williams, who, of course, has covered her basically both know, if you have sharp elbows, eventually we find out. and, you know in the supreme court, you even eventually find out. she seemed to get along with everybody. and i'm sorry, in washington, that's very difficult. and i think it is quite extraordinary. >> so true. and, you know, she made her mark, of course, she came to the supreme court first time 49 years ago to argue her first case, and then it was 27 years ago that she arrived there as a justice. 27 years ago next month that she took her seat on the bench for first time in the court after standing on the other side of the lectern for all those years. but she, you know, she -- as ruth will recall, because ruth covered the supreme court for a living for a good many years as well, she began immediately to participate in oral argument, and, you know, there was no real sort of freshman holding back. and i don't think that really bothered anybody, because her questions were so insightful. i'm not sure that's true of every single m

i just want to bring in pete williams, our colleague who has covered the justice department and the court decades and knows more than anybody what this means. pete, such a meaningful day, this transition. we've seen ruth bader ginsburg so many times at state of the union speeches. and now she's leaving the capitol for the last time. >> the last time, andrea, for the burial next week at arlingt ngton national se arlington national cemetery. they had to keep the lights on and the lines open last night at the supreme court where she had been for the last two days so people could come by and pay their respects. i was listening to lynn talk about her time clerking for the justice and how justice ginsburg worked late into the night. it struck me as somewhat appropriate that they kept the lights on at the court so the lying in repose could go later into the night. then literally across the street from the view, if you were to stand at the top of the capitol, of those stairs, and look directly out, you would see the supreme court, you would see where justice ginsburg had been. so today, literally

general's on camera and on attack against his own staff at the doj nbc news justice correspondent pete williams is here now. pete, fair to say pretty extraordinary remarks from the a.g., no >> yes, this was an unusually hard attack on the career lawyers. the attorney general said they're not always nonpartisan sometimes they're so determined to file criminal charges he said that they're like head hunters prosecuting people, not crimes the attorney general said too much deference is given to career prosecutors instead of politically appointed leaders who could be held accountable at the ballot box >> in recent years the department of justice is sometimes acted like a trade association for prosecutors. more like that than the administrator of a fair system of justice based on clear and sensible rules >> reporter: in remarks likely to further strain relations with career prosecutors, barr said the justice department's politically appointed leaders have the legal authority to decide how cases should be handled, not career officials. >> letting the most junior members set the agenda might be a good

the question is if she would be confirmed before or after the election. >> pete williams live at the supreme court. thank you for joining us. >>> several gop strongholds not looking so strong for the president. the three key states where a lead for joe biden could change the course of the race. the course of the race did you know that some aluminum- free deodorants only mask odor? secret aluminum free helps eliminate odor instead of just masking it. and is made with three times more odor fighters. with secret, odor is one less thing to worry about. secret. it's official: national coffee day is now national dunkin' day! celebrate with a free medium hot or iced coffee with any purchase on september 29th. with any purchase i feel like we're forglet me check.ing. xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored home security built around you. no, i think we're good. good. so when you're away, you don't have to worry. the tent. we forgot... the tent. except about that. xfinity home. simple. easy. awesome. hey look, i found the tent! get xfinity home with no

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got the story covered from all angles, but we do want to begin with nbc's justice correspondent, pete williams, who's live at the supreme court with more on barrett and how she could change the court from decades to come. pete, good morning to you. >> reporter: kristen, anybody that president trump nominates to succeed justice ginsburg would move the court firmly to the right. her conservative supporters hope she'll make a difference in how the court views abortion and that's also what her opponents say she would do. >> reporter: president trump already knows amy coney barrett. he put her on the seventh circuit court of appeals based in chicago three years ago. at age 48, she would be the youngest justice, able to serve for decades to come, a native of indiana, she's a former notre dame law professor and a devout catholic. as a student, she co-wrote a law review article that says that catholic judges are morally precluded from enforcing the death penalty. in 2003, she suggested that a key supreme court decision upholding roe v. wade and a right to abortion was wrongly decided. if she's ooh res

joining nebraska me now, pete williams, nbc clal capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt, and nbc white house correspondent peter alexander, co-host of kwkt weeke weekend today. pete, you've broke nt news how the honors will begin for justice ginsburg for her lying in the supreme court. >> it's another one of these different traditions now because of the pandemic. the court building has been closed to the public since march. we know when oral argument begins in two weeks it will again be by teleconference. so this will also be different because of the pandemic. andrea, let me use the picture behind me to show you how it will work. the casket will arrive at the base of these stairs outside the building. there will be pal bearers, honorary pal bearers. then the police will carry the casket up the stairs, inside the building into the great hall where there will be a private ceremony attended by members of justice ginsburg's family, her close friends and other members of the court. now, normally, for example, in the similar situation for justice scalia after he died, the casket would remain

pete williams takes a look back on her life and legacy. >> reporter: ruth bader ginsburg was one of the u.s. moderate to liberal members. a lawyer and judge and justice. she believed the constitution guaranteed women greater rights. >> over the course of now over two centuries, it has grown and developed some more and more people are included in the concept, we the people. >> reporter: rejected after law school for a clerk ship because she was a woman, she started her career as a law professor. arguing a string of cases before the supreme court that made it easier to sue for sex discrimination. it was president carter who appointed her to be a federal judge. clinton put her on the supreme court. >> it contributes to the end of the days when women, at least half the talent pool in our society, appear in high places only as one at a time performers. >> reporter: at her confirmation hearing, she stated her support for the right to abortion. >> this is something central to a woman's life and to her dignity. >> reporter: as a justice, she voted to uphold abortion rights. she wrote the court'

>> let's bring in nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. he joins us from the supreme court. pete, this is also personal for you. this was a justice you covered for your entire career at nbc. the year you started at this network was the same year she was nominated and confirmed to the high court. >> that's right. hard for me to think of the supreme court without her, i covered her confirmation hearing and, you know it was such a different time because if you think back about it, justice ginsburg was, believe it or not, at the time there were questions among women's groups about whether she was going to be a strong enough advocate of abortion. before the confirmation hearing started there was some talk among women's groups that maybe they would oppose the nomination. because of a comment she had once made that she thought the supreme court jumped the gun in deciding roe v. wade. what she said at the time was she thought that the states were moving toward eliminating restrictions on abortion, but that by jumping into the fray the supreme court galvanized and made a permanent opp

pete williams, nbc news at the supreme court. >> a fitting tribute to a life well lived.his just in from our capitol hill team. senate democrats are expected to hold a conference call at 1:00 p.m. today to strategize how they will handle the supreme court seat vacancy created by ruth bader ginsburg's death. a democratic leadership aide has told nbc. this comes after a statement last night from mocconnell sayig president trump's nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the united states senate. they didn't state whether that vote will be held before or after election day. joining me now is andrea mitchell, an anchor here at msnbc and msnbc chief foreign affairs correspondent. andrea knew justice beginsburg personal ginsburg personally and professionally. i know you've been talking to people and writing your thoughts. now 12 hours after this, i just want to know sort of what you're thinking. >> well, such sadness at the loss. and because she was so fiercely determined to keep on keeping on through all of these cancers to try to get over to the next stage, she wanted to s

pete williams, let's talk about the court. this is something you have been a part of for a very long time. you understand both the implications that ruth bader ginsburg had on this court and now the implications that this court can have on the rest of american politics because there are some americans who are ready for the idea that this upcoming election may present itself before the court for a resolution if things don't go as clearly as some would hope. >> let's start with that. so as you noted, 45 days until the election. on average the time between the president's announcing a nominee and the final confirmation vote is 70 days. now, undoubtedly the republicans will try to compress that. this does seem extremely unlikely they could get a vote on the floor before the election. it's most likely the senate would be voting on a trump nominee until after the election. you can figure out how that vote might be affected depending on who wins the election. that's the first point. the second point is it's possible that both the con

attorney general william barr speaks one-on-one with our pete williams. thank you for watching, everyone i'm lester holt. please continue to take care of yourself and each other ♪ >> kelly: welcome to "the kelly clarkson show." is our summer staycation celebration. let's get right into today's karaoke. i love this song. here is me and my band performing blame it on your heart by patty loveless. ♪ ♪ you've got a thing or two to learn about me baby ♪ ♪ 'cause i ain't taking it no more and i don't mean maybe ♪ ♪ you don't know right from wrong ♪ ♪ well the love we had is gone ♪ so blame it on your lying, cheating, cold dead beating, ♪ ♪ two-timing and double dealing ♪ ♪ mean mistreating, loving heart ♪ ♪ are you headed for a heartache, oh yeah ♪

country are examining how they train their officers and some say they've found a better way here's pete williams >> reporter: in que know is sha, wisconsin police say jacob blake was not obeying commands to their use of force escalated from taser to gunshots george floyd died after police officers continued -- police use some kind of force at least half a million times a year, often amping it up for failure to immediately comply with an order but the spate of recent deadly encounters has many police chiefs telling recruits that's outdated thinking. >> what we can't be is what generations before us have been we can't be the authoritative because i said so type of policing, we have to soften the edges. >> in new jersey police recruits get tactical training and learn how to shoot but they're also taught that few officers ever fire their guns on the street and that learning how to calm things down can be even more important. in florida's volusia county new deputies are screened for how they handle stress and think through problems. >> they have to use their i wits and problem solving capabilities an

. >> pete williams joins us now. give us a fact check or reality check on all of that. >> well, many states are saying yes, they do have a system, despite what the attorney general said, for detecting this, that when you request and send back an absentee ballot, that's noted in the poll books so that if you want to the poll and tried to vote the workers would note that you did try to vote twice and if it wasn't caught at the poll, it would be caught when they processed the absentee ballot and noted someone also voted at the poll. yes t is illegal and they will catch it, they're saying. the president said something similar to this in 2016, not quite the same, but what he said in 2016 at a rally in greeley, california, was that he was worried about people sending in absentee ballots and having somebody the the election office change their vote to hillary clinton, so what he said is they should go to the poll then and vote a second time, and say i don't want my mail-in ballot to count. i want my vote here to count. that

attorney general william barr speaks one-on-one with our pete williams. thank you for watching, everyone i'm lester holt. please continue to take care of yourself and each other xxxx the news at six starts right >> the smoke that we have. i want to go someplace but i look at the smoke and i don't want to go out. >> announcer: the news at 6:00 starts right now. >>> good evening. thank you for joining us. i'm jessica aguirre. >> i'm raj mathai as we start off this short week. janelle wang is with us. >> a significant fight in covid-19. the county moves up a tier which means a lot of businesses can reopen. we'll talk about which ones. some of the conversation is about our air quality. you go outside and it's so sm y smoky. this is our 22nd spare the air day. my daughter wakes up and says, mom, can we wake up because it still looks like nighttime. >> it just stinks outside, and it seems like we've gone from bad to worse. >> that sun looked really eerie, i have to say. it was a little offputting when i saw it.

nbc's pete williams has more >> reporter: a make or break challenge to the affordable care act could end up affecting the most americans 22 million people now get their health insurance through obama care but a coalition of red states says a key part is un-constitutional justice ginsburg twice before voted to uphold the law and her absence will embolden the law's opponents. but even if a more conservative court finds part of it un-constitutional, it is possible the court will say congress did not intend the entire law to be tossed out if the court is leaning that way it might be especially reluctant to strike down the health care law in the middle of a pandemic with record unemployment but in many other ways a trump nominee succeeding justice ginsburg would shift the court firmly to the right. chief justice john roberts would no longer be the swing vote even if he joined the liberals in a ruling that would still leave a five-member conservative majority. >> if president trump can replace ruth bader ginsburg with a solid conservative i don't know that the country is ever going to have

pete williams has this story ♪ >> reporter: thousands of people gathered saturday night outside the supremeourt spilling into the street to honor and remember justice ginsburg with similar scenes around the country all weekend long house speaker nancy pelosi brought flowers to the court steps among hundreds who came to say goodbye. >> let our children see that you can make a difference and she really did >> she touched us so much. she's such an inspirational person >> reporter: nothing official has been announced, but justice ginsburg will most likely lie in repose at the court later this week, as happened four years ago when justice scalia died administration officials say the president is considering two women as possible nominees said to be the front-runner at this point, judge amy coney barrett, a native of indiana, she's 48, a former notre dame law professor, and devout catholic in 2003, she questioned the reluck tanctance of federal cou overturn precedence. at her appeals court confirmation hearing, a democratic senator says every religion has its dogma, but the law is different >> th

bill barr, the doj is going to be on "nightly news" tonight, nbc news chief justice correspondent pete williams will interview the attorney general. that of course comes, marcus, this afternoon. it's 6:30 right after the 6:00 p.m. news on nbc bay area. >> we'll certainly be watching that, scott. >>> well, coming up for you, a promising vaccine put on hold, the setback during phase three trial and what this will mean for other vaccines. >>> and santa clara county making o that road back to normal. moved forward. >>> and here's a live look from our camera inside oracle park. that's a live look for you right now at 11:13 in the midday. yep. this is not a filter. those skies there an eerie hue out there. of course, kari is gone kra come up with a full forecast for us on how long we can expect all this to last. [upbeat music] ♪ today was the day that i put everything in perspective. ♪ ♪ i fell asleep but when i woke up. ♪ (boy) hi, do you want to share my sandwich? (vo) good feeds our connections. good feeds us all. hormel natural choice lunch meats. dearand with summer here,these energy bills are r

and joining me now, pete williams. i'm sure you will agree that it is all-too easy to get swept up in all the d.c. political machinations that no one is stopping to take a breath to mourn a judiciyou gianted. >> reporter: yeah, we talk about the justice for about 12 hours and then we move on. obviously justice ginsburg will be remembered primarily i think as a champion for women's rights. a dwefrnd defend aer of abortion rights. and i must say, you know, she really delighted, she was mystified by all the averag pra it was refreshing. and what happens in the coming term? it begins just two weeks from now. it could be a 4-4 tie. and it happened after scalia died. and will the court splunplunge with obamacare. they are trying to do away with it. if there were a tie in this case. >> let's said chief justice john roberts joined the liliberal, t would be a 4-4 tie and the lower court decision said that the law must be struck down including the requirement that 14u7insura countries rougher ty ies cover g conditions. is a lot

woman who fought for the law for decades, we will continue to watch the scene unfold, and bring in pete williamsrrespondent. these ceremonies have been designed with a nod to the advocacy that she made the center of her life. >> the supreme court is a place where tradition reigns, these are the traditional ways they dot ceremony. this will be different. we are across the street from the u.s. capitol building. the justices are coming out. other clerks come out. there are well over a hundred of them here. they are law professors, lawyers, one supreme court justice, the pal bearers, there is a normal way to do these things, people inactive service die on the bench. her casket will arrive, go in the court, up the stair, where the clerks are now. up the marble step, through the massive bronze doors to what is called the great hall. that is where the previoivate ceremony will be. the casket will come back outside, this is a nod to the pandemic. the casket is about to arrive here. it will come back outside, and be under the massive portico, by the front columns that is where she will remain for two day

for more i want to bring in justice correspondent pete wi willi williams what do we know? >> we know that she died today at her home in washington. the supreme court is saying that it was pancreatic cancer, which is what everyone feared with her. you know, she had four different kinds of cancer, four different battles with cancer, including colon cancer and lung cancer but it was clearly the pancreatic cancer which has a very bad survival rate, that was the most concern and tonight the supreme court said that she died of metastatic pancreatic cancer. the chief justice, john roberts, has put out a statement. he says our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature and we at the supreme court have lost a cherished college today we mourn but with confidence that future generations will remember ruth bader ginsburg as we knew her, a tireless and resolute champion of justice but i think the question you raised, i mean, we have to lock backwards and forward tonight. we look backwards at her astonishing career, a woman who started out after law school unable to get a job anywhere

pete williams is at the supreme court with that part of the story. hey, pete.ood morning. >> reporter: good morning. whoever president trump nominates would move the court firmly to the right making it solidly conservative. one of the leading contenders clearly opposes abortion rights. officials say the runner is amy coney barrett. she was put on the seventh court of appeals three years ago. at 48 she'd be the youngest justice. a native of indiana, she's a former notre dame law professor and devout catholic. she questioned the reluctance of federal courts to overturn presidents. defenders of the roe v. wade abortion ruling cites decades of it to keep it. a democratic senator said every religion has its dogma, but the law is different. >> the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you. and that's concerning. >> i would stress my religious belief would not bear in the discharge of my duties as a judge. >> reporter: the president is also said to be considering barbara lagoa of florida. president trump put her on the 11th circuit court of appeal

nbc justice correspondent pete williams joins us with more. pete, good morning. >> reporter: savannah, president and mrs. trump will be among those coming here today to pay their respects to justice ginsberg. she returned to the supreme court for a final time with prayers and a tribute from the chief justice. justice ginsberg's casket was carried past her former law clerks, more than 110 of them acting as honorary pallbearers, up the marble steps and into the supreme court great hall, where family and friends were gathered, along with the eight remaining members of the court and retired justice anthony kennedy. rabbi lauren, the wife of a clerk, offered prayers. >> it is the rare profit who not only imagines ut also makes that new world a reality in her lifetime. this was the brilliance and vision of justice ruth bader ginsberg. >> reporter: chief justice john roberts said justice ginsberg wanted to be an opera singer but, instead, became a rock star. >> she was not an opera star, but she found her stage, right behind me in our courtroom. there

joining me now is nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. what happened at this hearing and what does this mean going forward. >> well, the hearing isn't over yet, it started at 11:00 this morning and the judge sullivan is still at it listening to the lawyers for michael flynn who pleaded guilty twice about lying to the fbi about his conversations with his russia's ambassador during the trump's transition. today, the government said, we just don't think we could take this case to trial, because the people who interviewed flynn the two fbi acts who were involved in the fbi have since been discredited. . and they're not credible witnesses, and they also said that an fbi agent who worked on the flynn case has now been interviewed by the fbi and by the prosecutor appointed by william barr to look into how the fbi handled this case. he said he thought the investigation was chaotic and disorganized and look at an effort to get president trump. well the special counsel appointed by judge sullivan to argue the other side here says, number one, that