but women all over the country also. >> you talk about this being further proof this is still anthony kennedy'sen you think of what people thought of judge kennedy when he was nominated by ronald reagan and where he's come down on a lot of opinions now. >> amazing. just -- anthony kennedy's influence is so enormous and it goes in different directions. he is the father of gay rights on the supreme court. he is the author of the marriage opinion just last year. all of the important gay rights decisions. but he is also the author of citizens united, the decision that democrats love to hate more than any other which essentially deregulated campaign spending. he's a mercurial figure. he has strong passions but unlike the other seven justices and eight when justice scalia was on the court, they do not always go in predictable or consistent directions, and he has controlled the outcome in case after case, including this one. >> as big as a win as this is for your organization today, this is likely not the last time abortion rights will be tried in front of the supreme court. >> no, probably not. again

they had anthony kennedy with them today. this is a decision of immense significance. it is not just texas. it is louisiana, mississippi, wisconsin. many states have passed increasingly restrictive rules on abortion clinics in recent years. what justice brier's opinion says, unless you, the state, can prove that these restrictions really do benefit women's health and not just pretext to make it harder for clinics to stay open, these restrictions are going to be struck down. there are lots of challenges coming to new rules making abortions harder to get in states around the country. a new world on abortion rights. >> not only for folks that follow the law but folks that pol politics. which brings me to dana bash. this kind of decision is not lost on people on the campaign trail. the candidates are already on it. >> that's right. hillary clinton tweeting really a few moments after the supreme court decision came down. here is what she said. the scotus decision is a victory for women in texas and across america. safe abortion should be a right not just on paper but in rea

and the title says it still anthony kennedy scored but probably not for long. can you summarize what that is about? >> caller: this was a case where anthony tenner to, the majority decision -- anthony kennedy, the only reason it wasn't a split, most of the time when you see i case one of the supreme court especially a big sort of i hope at the end of the term, it's one of anthony kennedy. this year he casted the decidiny vote against for affirmative action. he casted the deciding vote on a couple of a smaller but stilll significant cases last year, again siding with the liberals. but if there is a president clinton, and if the senate confirms her appointee to fill justice scalia succeed, you will have five liberal justices and that means anthony kennedy will not have -- right now and he is the only way to win a case is te win kennedy nine times out of 10.n which gives him a lot of power to decide what the ruling is going to say, what legal basis it's going to reflect, the scope of the opinion, all of those things were up to me because his vote is the only way t

but it certainly signals that this court, with these justices, especially anthony kennedy, who did a little bit after switch here a little piff to the from where he had been before, and the first time he had upheld a race conscious affirmative action program and that signals loud and clear to places like harvard and university of north carolina that have been sued by the same conservative advocates in this case saying this court really isn't ready for business to roll back affirmative action right now. gwen: maybe we can't specifically say that was about politics but as we know, everything else whether it's donald trump taking credit for the brexit outcome, he was standing on one of his golf course properties in scotland or running mate debates or cash on hand or tit for tat policy speeches. secretary clinton: we cannot put a person like this with all his empty promises in a position of power over our lives. we can't let him bankrupt america like we are one of his failed casinos. mr. trump: she has always misread everything. if you think. she's misread this. and i was surprised that

justice anthony kennedy joined stephen breyer and all three women justices, striking down the restrictionss an undue burden on access to abortion. the lead plaintiff in the case celebrated the ruling outside the court. >> from day one, whole women's health rejected the insulting premise of house bill 2. we took on the bully politicians and we have struggled against anti-choice regressive politics and our opposition's efforts to shut us down and we won. today, we make history and tomorrow, we get back to work, so that everyone who seeks abortion services can get the health care she deserves with dignity and respect. amy: the texas legislature passed the sweeping anti-choice law in 2013 despite a filibuster and an 11-hour standby state senator wendy davis. the supreme court ruling strikes down the costly standards of hospital style surgery centers and mandating doctors obtain admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. already about more than half of texas' 40 abortion clinics have closed. if the law had gone into effect, 10would have left texas with clinics clustered in the four metropolitan

ast: sam baker, you have piece that talks about anthony kennedy and the title says it is still anthonyennedy's court but not for long. can you summarize? guest: this was a case where anthony kennedy did not break the majority decision but cast the deciding vote. 4he only reason it was not a 4- split was because he sided with the court's liberals. when you see a high-profile case at the end of the term, it is often anthony kennedy casting the deciding vote. he casted the deciding vote on same-sex marriage and other small but significant cases last year, citing with the liberals. but if there is a president clinton and if they senate confirms her appointee to fill justice glia's -- justice scalia's seat you will have five and right nowes the only way to win a case is to win kennedy. it gives him a lot of power to decide what the ruling is going to say, what legal basis it reflects, the scope of the legal opinion. his vote is the only way to win. in the future i think we will probably see five democratic , which does not mean every case will be a lock but i do not think kennedy will be th

the constitution. >> the key in deliver rg the victory for supporters the perineal swing vote anthony kennedy. ken desideciding with the libers an they could continue regardless of who becomes president and nominates new justice to fill scalia's empty seat. >> doesn't matter if there is a trump nominee or if justice scalia was on the bench and in that case would you have a 5-4 ruling instead of 5-3 ruling but either way you have kennedy joining forther liberal justices to provide majority supporting abortion rights in this case. >> hearing the court's ruling president obama tweeted, every woman has a constitutional right to make her own reproductive choices. i'm pleased to see the supreme court reaffirm that fact today. >> today women lost. >> meanwhile, anti-abortion activists are vowing to never give up. >> they were really disappointed. the five justices let us down. we did face a loss but the generation is coming back stronger than ever. >> and meanwhile texas governor greg abbot says the court decision erode estate's law making authority and another interesting note on justice candy's ro

jeff, this really shows how much justice anthony kennedy is really the story of the supreme court in the session. >> anthony kennedy has been the swing justice, the pivot on which this court turns for two decades. it is really a remarkable story. we saw it earlier this week, last week, when he wrote the opinion upholding texas, the university of texas' affirmative action program. and here in an even bigger landmark decision, the most important abortion rights case, abortion rights victory since 1992. they struck down these restrictions in texas that made it virtually impossible for many clinics to operate. which will almost certainly lead to the striking down of restrictions in other states as well. so it's a very important victory. >> that ruling and that raleigh were not enough, there's been another supreme court ruling that we want to bring you the news about, this one involving the criminal conviction of former virginia governor robert mcdonnell. >> today the supreme court threw out governor mcdonnell's convictions under the public -- federal public corruption laws. in the opinio

justice anthony kennedy said in his majority opinion that the texas plan complied with earlier court rulings allowing colleges to take account of race in pursuit of diversity on campus. >>> right now at 11:00, we'll deal with showers in&x parts of our area and a chance of storms later on. a live look at the radar showing where the rain is falling at this moment. parts of delaware and south jersey have the best chance of seeing storms from this latest storm, not exactly a great beach day, as you can see here from the live camera down the shore, cape may. and it's overcast right now in center city. and the cloud cover will keep temperatures down today as we give you a live look from our campus camera. the rain is putting a damper on a lot of outdoor activities today. we will see breaks from the wet weather as well as we give you a live look outside the kennel beach in the poconos in tannersville. not a lot of people out there, as you can see. chief meteorologist glenn "hurricane" schwartz is here now with our forecast. hi, glenn. >> hey, vai. a lot of the area is seeing a break right n

justice anthony kennedy joined in a 5-3 vote, saying the texas law poses obstacles without benefit. the law required abortion clinics to meet the say construction standards as surgical center. other states have similar restrictions, some on hold. pro-life activists say they will go to the drawing board and work on approaches to prevent abortion. >>> the destructive fire continues to burn near bakersfield. evacuees are being allowed back to their properties to check in. the erskin has leveled 150 homes and charring 145,000 acres. tonight, it is 45% contained. >> we have a great heat wave going on. that's going to last another day, right, rob? >> the dry conditions around the bay area. and our high temperatures today, not everybody in the heat. you can see san francisco and oakland, not all that bad. 67 for a high in san francisco. but it's concord and away from the coast and the bay, you saw the heat. 102 degrees. livermore and other spots that got up to 102 today. but half moon bay, about 40 degrees cooler, with some patchy, low clouds. you can see 82 was the high, in half moon bay,

>> reporter: and justice anthony kennedy, likely the deciding vote, says the law has a side effect. >is law has really increased the number of surgical procedures as opposed to medical procedures and that this may not be medically wise. >> reporter: if there's no majority to uphold or strike down the law, the court could send it back for more fact finding about how it works. a 4-4 tie would leave the law in effect but there's no precedent. kate? >> pete williams at the court tonight, thanks so much, pete. >>> still ahead on this sunday night, the soaring price of prescription drugs. what's behind it and what you can do. >>> also, inside a renovation project like no other, 200 years in the making. >>> if you're one of the millions of people who take prescription drugs, you may have noticed that prices are on the rise. a recent investigation found that almost one-third of americans have seen a jump in the past year. it's forcing some to make tough choices, as we hear from tom costello. >> reporter: shari never thought gardening could be risky but after suffering severe allergic reaction

justice anthony kennedy was the swing vote, siding with court's liberal block, while justices roberts and thomas descent dollars. outside the court, short ers shout down opponent disappointed with a ruling. >> sold out women. >> the ruling doesn't only affect texas, other states have similar or considering similar legislation. paula read, for cbs-3, "eyewitness news". >> well, after wonderful weekends our monday is turning muggy. meteorologist, justin drabick live in the cbs-3 skydeck tracking hot and humid day. justin? >> good afternoon, jim, typical late june weather coming at us, we had break from the humidity over the weekends, nice morning, we woke up with temperatures in the 50's, that's now coming to an end, and already feel the difference outside right now, especially to the south of the city but look at the temperatures, warming up nicely, sunshine behind me, up to 79 at the airport, 83 up in the lehigh valley, little more cloud cover in south jersey, keeping temperatures there, in the upper 70s, but still warm day, if you are headed toward the jersey shore, and delaware beac

in a 5-3 decision with justice anthony kennedy joining the liberals, the supreme court yesterday struck down a controversial law in texas that had forced over half of the state's abortion clinics to shut down. passed in 2013, the law stated abortion clinics must meet the same building standards as walk-in surgical centers. it also required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, but the supreme court ruling yesterday said that neither of these provisions offers medical benefits sufficient to justify the burdens upon access that each imposes. when the law was passed the number of abortion clinics in texas dropped from 42 down to 19. yet despite the victory, many of those clinics will never reopen. yesterday msnbc's thomas roberts spoke to former texas senator wendy davis. you may remember she's the one who staged that eleven-hour filibuster to prevent the bill from passing. >> it's going to take several months, i think, to see us rebound to a place where women throughout the state have the access that they once had prior to this law going into effec

the 5-3 decision deeply divided the justices, and turned on the vote of moderate justice anthony kennedy, who cast a decisive vote with liberals, striking down the restrictive texas law. the law required clinics to be like ambulatory surgical centers and said clinic doctors must have admitting privileges at local hospitals. abortion rights supporters said those restrictions would cut the number of clinics in texas by half to less than ten, in a state with 60,000-72,000 abortions per year. texas passed a law in 2013 after horrific abuses came to light in the murder trial of pennsylvania abortion doctor kermit gosnell. 12 other states passed similar laws, saying they were necessary to protect women. those laws are also affected by the decision, which said there was no evidence the regulations would increase safety and that if anything their impact would be harmful to, not supportive of, women's health. texas seeks to force women to travel long distances to get abortion in crammed-to-capacity super facilities where they are less likely to get individualized attention, wrote justice stephen

the court ruled five to three to over turn the law, with conservative justice anthony kennedy casting the decisive vote with the liberal justices. texas pals dollars the law after philadelphia abortion doctor, kermit gosnell, was convicted of killing three babies, who were born alive, during during attempted abortions. >> happening today, atlantic city want to hear your idea on how to save the resort. city's recovery committee meets tonight at 6:00 in council chambers at city hall. the mayor's offers said officials will update the public on what it calls necessary strategies to save the city. atlantic silt is he trying to avoid a state take over. >> also, happening today, the king of prussia mall holds it final hard hat tour of it new 55,000 squat fire core door, set to open in all, will connect the court and the plaza. we'll also get a lock at the retail that's will occupy the space. the expansion is expected to bring more than 700 jobs to the mall, which already employs about 7,000 people. >> well, still ahead: help is on the way for west virginia, but will take a while. >> we'll te

justice anthony kennedy writing for the majority argued for american education's need to "reconcile thesuit of diversity with the constitutional promise of equal treatment and dignity." >> this was a serious challenge to the use of race in university admissions. >> reporter: ilya shapiro studies constitutional issues for the cato institute, a public policy think tank. >> this means that people benefitting or hurt by u.t. austin's use of race continue to be hurt or benefiting by it. >> reporter: in 42 states public universities consider race when admitting students. eight states prohibit affirmative action admissions. abigail fisher brought the case in 2008, she sued u.t. austin after the school rejected her, she claims in favor of minority applicants with lower grades and test scores as she argued last year. >> like most americans, i don't believe that students should be treated differently based on their race. >> reporter: justice samuel alito agreed. his dissent called today's ruling "remarkable and remarkably wrong" and argued u.t. austin's policy "is affirmative action gone wild." s

new questions about justice anthony kennedy's role on the supreme court. kennedy in the spotlight more than ever following the death of justice antonin scalia. shannon breen has that story. what kind of shift are we seeing by justice kennedy? >> reporter: conservatives long admired his stand on federalism and states rights but increasingly seeing him to the left on issues like those. in the last couple weeks a key vote with the court's liberal wing on issues like affirmative action, allowing the university of texas to use race in the process of selecting which students to admit, yesterday's decision to strike down abortion restrictions, regulations that would have required clinics and doctors to meet certain medical standards. on social issues like lgbt rights he has been a voice to the left, over a year ago, to essentially legalize same-sex marriage nationwide. the judicial crisis network. >> increasingly he is willing to abandon some of the core principles of the constitutional system when it comes to achieving liberal policy goals, that is discouraging

once again it came down to justice anthony kennedy as the swing vote. what is the significant?ice kennedy has been running this court for a long time, he is the swing vote here, he was the swing vote last week in the affirmative action case and in boast cases he sided with the liberals, he allowed affirmative action to continue at the university of texas and here he ruled that these restrictions on doctors and on clinics in texas violated women's right to choose abortion, represented an undo burden on that right and not only will the texas rules fall but almost certainly very similar laws in mississippi and louisiana and perhapsor states will be struck down as well. >> that is the big question, what will happen to those laws but rachel, in your view, what does this mean, the fact that justice kennedy has joined the liberal justices on this, on affirmative action as jeffrey said, gay marriage. is this a sign he's moving more toward the left? >> i think it's interesting what jeffrey toobin pointed out but there's something a little different about this particular opinion that cam

still justice anthony kennedy joined the more liberal colleagues in the majority. in response, president obama tweeted he was pleased with the ruling. and hillary clinton tweeted the fight isn't over. the next president has to protect women's health. donald trump did not respond. >> with the historic ruling justice has been served in the clinics can stay open. >> it requires the abortion clinics to reach surgical standards and doctors have admitting clinics in 30 miles. >> we hope politicians passing the under-hand laws will start to do the responsible thing and let women have the health and the rights in the >> they plan to double down and turn the attention to the presidential election in november with a vacancy on the supreme court and the high court long-term balance up for grabs. in the newsroom, mike carter-conneen, abc7 news. alison: okay. now there was one more note here. another major case that the supreme court ruled on this morning. the justices upheld a federal law that bans people convicted of domestic violence from owning guns. i involved two people i

justice anthony kennedy concurring with justice thomas and justice alito said the court statement the law continues to raise troubling questions regarding the government's power to cast doubt on the full use and join in a private property throughout the nation. with me an attorney from the pacific legal foundation which won the case. welcome, todd. can you put in the part that you are most proud of other than the win in this case? >> well, the supreme court logically held that when the government says your property is subject to federal regulation and you can't use it without suffering criminal penalties, you can go to court. that is what the government was trying to dispute. the government said you can only go to court after years and years more and they bankrupted you, but the supreme court unanimously ruled in favor of our clients and said that, no, the agencies aren't above the law and you can go to court and have someone rule in your case. deirdre: so essentially, it's your land, and as long as you are not hurting anything, you can do what you want on it? >> well, it's a bit more

it is one man, in this case anthony kennedy, saying, with the standard democrat majority, , woman has the right to choose and that is one man. they overturned a lower appeals court decision where judges said that the clinics in texas need to be safer and this was ok for clinics to be safe. nothing about constitution. your continuing comments saying the constitution says or the you are just on a track that has no basis. this is one person, anthony kennedy, siding with liberal members of the supreme court, to safety texas law of should be overturned. don't keep harping that the constitution says, because that is not. that is one person. that is why the election that is coming up for president is so important because we will get more liberal activist judges to make laws rather than interpret. so many supreme court justices have said there is a constitutional right. since the 1970's. it is not just one justice. even yesterday, it was not just one man saying that. it is absolutely about the cuff the tuition. as it says in the opinion itself on the court, texas regulations onstitute an undu

anthony kennedy will be in his 80s. and clarence thomas is not exactly a spring chicken at 68. so even if there are not immediate resignations, you know, life being what it is, people tend to leave their jobs well before their early 80s. >> let's go back to the reaction from the u.s. supreme court, a guest to talk to. >> i'm joined by elizabeth, legal analyst and president of the constitutional accountability center. elizabeth, you also wrote a brief in favor of the abortion rights activists. obviously, this is a big win for you. what is the significance of this ruling today? >> it's a big win because justice kennedy joined the more liberal justices. reaffirming that you can't make an end-run around the constitutional right to have abortion by putting up these laws that purport to protect a woman's health but really have no relationship to the woman's health. the court said clearly they are not necessary. >> not only not necessary but unconstitutional. what is the significant of justice kennedy siding with the liberals on something like this? >> justice kennedy reaffirmed in pe

justice anthony kennedy joined stephen breyer and all three women on the court in rejecting the restrictionss an undue burden on access to abortion. the supreme court ruled against provisions requiring abortion clinics to meet the costly standards of hospital-style surgery centers, and mandating that doctors obtain admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. already, about half of texas' more than 40 abortion clinics have closed. if the court had allowed the provisions to go into full effect, advocates warned it would have left texas with about 10 clinics clustered in four metropolitan areas. amy: the impact of monday's landmark ruling is already reverberating throughout the country. on tuesday, justices rejected bids by mississippi and wisconsin to revive restrictions on abortion doctors matching those struck down in texas. meanwhile, alabama's attorney general has announced his state will stop trying to defend its own "admitting privileges" requirement for abortion doctors in wake of the supreme court's ruling. well, for more, we're joined now by stephanie toti, the lead counsel in whole wo

conservative justice anthony kennedy cast decisive vote with the liberal justices, both sides on the issue reacted to the ruling. >> and we will go forward in making sure that all of the laws blocking women's access to the constitutional rights will be overturned. >> the court has been so clear in their political leaning on this issue that i can't imagine an abortion regulation, that they would uphold at this point. >> texas passed the law after philadelphia abortion doctor, kermit gosnell, was convicted every killing three babies, who were born alive, during durg attempted abortions. >> newcomb end this morning, on the brexit. german chancellor american ellen cysts that it is in great britain's best interest to maintain close relations after it leaves the european union. the two agencies have downgraded the united kingdom's credit rating following the brexit vote and the value of the pound dropped another 3%. european and asian markets are rebounding this morning, wall street is hoping to bounce back after a second day of triple digit losses. the dow closed down 260-point, the nasda

fast forward to last week and we have a very different anthony kennedy. what he issued -- he writes for the majority. he issues a straightforward decision that affirms the 5th circuit's decision saying that the university of texas' race conscious admissions policy is narrowly tailored. you know, in that decision, in the fisher decision, he actually embraces grudder, notwithstanding how harsh he was in its dissent. he comes out initially in the decision and makes clear that the principles that were articulated in fisher 1 and that had been repeatedly articulated with respect to issues of race conscious admissions continue to apply. a university can consider race in its admissions process, but obviously will be subjected to strict scrutiny. a university's decision to pursue educational benefits that flow from diversity is entitled to deference. but the university, of course, bears the burden of proving that there are no race neutral alternatives that are available and workable. these are the principles articulated by the court repeatedly, and he again re-af

court also had a surprise ruling today in fair of affirmative action with swing vote justice anthony kennedyst-ever opinion in support of affirmative action, stunned everyone. aren't we about to get a really big ruling on abortion rights as well? joining us is senior editor at "slate," our supreme court whisperer, dahlia, it's great to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> here's part of the reason i wanted to talk to you, when you wrote, this makes me quite grumpy about the 4-4 decision on immigration. why does it make you grumpy? >> i was thinking at the top your show when you were showing what was going on in the house, the same thing is going on in the court. it's just that there's less screaming and singing and waving around of banners. but the same level of obstruction and stubbornness and freaking ining nile nihilism. it's happening in court, it's just that the justices don't get to sing about it. i think part of what's frustrating is if you think about this immigration case, i think you have to think about it as the most consequential challenge to executive power certainly in this ter

the court's four democratic appointees joined by appointee justice anthony kennedy ruled despite republicans talk, the law actually "provides few if any health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions and constitutes an undue burden on their constitutional right to do so." now, that legal language about "undo burden" is based on kennedy joined in 1992. shows that protection for abortion rights not only stands, but stands reaffirmed today. the court ran through the evidence that the law was designed to reduce abortion acts showing the number of clinics fell from 42 to 19 since the law kicked in. justice a long time women's advocate and former founder of aclu project, she said it is beyond rational belief that this law could genuinely protect the health of women and it certainly would simply make it more difficult for them to obtain abortions." the decision now means similar restrictions to other states could be unconstitutional as well. clarence thomas and justice alito all descended and donald trump who struggled to explain his own position on abortion, sho

>> anthony kennedy has been on the court since 1987 and has been the most important justice for most tenure because the court has been so polarized between liberals and conservatives and kennedy has gone different ways. he has gone different ways including on the issues that were decided this week. this week, he decided that affirmative action and college admissions could proceed at the university of michigan. today, he voted with justice byer who wrote the o ppinion saying texas could not pass regulations that shut down most of the abortion clinics in the state. i think what's going on is he sees that the court is moving to the left. there are now four solid liberals. there are three mostly conservative justices. and there's a vacancy that is either going to be filled by barack obama, probably not, merrick garland doesn't look like he's going to get confirmed. but probably by hillary clinton because she seems likely to win. the democrats are likely to have a solid majority on the supreme court for the foreseeable future and i think kennedy thinks, look, i'm closely -- my -- i am on

it would have been 5-4, anthony kennedy joid the more liberal members of the court to produce this five vote majority. now the opponents said that it caused a number of clinics in texas to cut an app to go from 42 to 19. and that he if the law stayed in effect, it would have gone to 10. the fact that the law had been struck down does not mean that we're going back to 42 clinics. it'll be a long process to increase the number that they say the number will go back up, but it'll never get back to 42. >> and there's a big, a big case in terms of the former virginia governor, bob mcdonnell. the court ruled that he deserves a retrial. on what grounds are they sending that case back to the district court? >> reporter: basically the legs cut off the prosecution, andrea. the prosecutors had said that he got all these cash and favors from the virginia businessman in exchange for official acts. and today, et supreme court said what he did wasn't official acts. official act has to be an exertion of government authority on a matter of pending business, just doing what mcdonnell did, setting up meeti

this decision was written by anthony kennedy.hile in the past he has said that affirmative action is a theoretical matter, might be a good idea, he has never found a program that he liked until today. so he wrote the opinion upholding the affirmative action program there. it's certainly a huge victory for the university of texas. a big blow for the legal forces that tried to get the supreme court to strike down affirmative action for once and for all. that is clearly not going to happen. and it's a -- it's a plus for affirmative action in other programs, in other universities. even though the decision is keyed to the university of texas, which is kind of unusual because they admit the top 10% of every high school graduating class which gives them some diversity, it has some positive things to say about the educational benefits of having diversity in universities. >> and pete, i can't let you go without talking about the third and final case that didn't get decided today, but we're still waiting on that. >> reporter: actually, the

upheld the affirmative action program at the university of texas in an opinion written by justice anthony kennedy. now it does say that the court's agreement with the program, i'm quoting from the decision, doesn't necessarily mean the university can rely on that policy without refinement, it's the university's obligation to engage in constant deliberatation and continued reflection regarding admission policies. in other words, a kind of judging agreement with the university that the use of affirmative action is needed in getting enough diversity to make quality educational atmosphere. that was the university's argument. so two things flow from this. first of all, this is a huge defeat for the people who brought this case to the supreme court. a white woman named abigail fisher claimed it was reverse discrimination and people who brought this to the supreme court were hoping this would be a vehicle that the supreme court would use to strike down affirmative action. that clearly is not going to happen. secondly, as for what other universities can do, it is a sort of modified green light to continu

the 5-3 decision deeply divided the justices and turned on the vote of anthony kennedy, casting a votee restrictive texas law. the law required clinics to be like ambulatory circumstance cal centers and doctors must have hospitals. abortion rights supporters said restrictions would cut the number of clinics in texas by half to less than ten in a state with 60,000 to 72,000 abortions a year. texas passioned the law in 2013 after horrific abuses came to light in the murder trial of pennsylvania abortion doctor, kermit gosnell. 12 states passed laws necessary to protect women. those laws are also affected by the decision which said there was no evidence the regulations would increase safety and that if anything their impact would be harmful to not supportive of women's health. texas seek to force women to travel long distances to get abortion in crammed to capacity super facilities where they're less likely to get individualized attention. wrote justice breyer and find that quality of care declines. the president for the center, hailed the decision as a game changer. >> we will go forward

justice anthony kennedy writing for the majority argued for american education's need to "reconcile theitutional promise of equal treatment and dignity." >> this was a serious challenge to the use of race in university admissions. >> reporter: ilya shapiro studies constitutional issues for the cato institute, a public policy think tank. >> this means that people benefiting from or hurt by u.t. austin's use of race continue to be benefited and hurt by it. >> reporter: in 42 states public universities consider race when admitting students. eight states prohibit affirmative action admissions. abigail fisher brought the case in 2008. she sued u.t. austin after the school rejected her, she claims in favor of minority applicants with lower grades and test scores, as she argued last year. >> like most americans, i don't believe that students should be treated differently based on their race. >> reporter: justice samuel alito agreed. his dissent called today's ruling "remarkable and remarkably wrong" and argued u.t. austin's policy is "affirmative action gone wild." sergio cavazos disagrees. >>

the key vote in this case that we always look at in abortion rights cases is that of justice anthony kennedyjustice kennedy is a conservative, he was nominated by president reagan. but he has refused to strike down roe vs. wade which of course guarantees a woman's right to an abortion. however, kennedy sides with conservatives in allowing restrictions on abortion. fifth decisive vote to strike down the regulations. charlie and norah? >> jan, what was his reason, justice kennedy? >> reporter: well, we didn't hear from. >> it would make it so difficult for women to have travel big distances. texas is a big state, they would have to travel great distances and the court rejected texas's arguments that these laws were designed for safety. texas argued when they passed the law in 2013 it was necessary to protect the safety of women who were seeking abortion. women that they said were vulnerable emotionally and in need of protection. should be certain and confident that they were going to clinics that had all the latest regulations and doctors who would take them to hospitals. if something went wro

the decision was unexpected with the majority opinion written by justice anthony kennedy who had beenl skeptical of race sensitive programs. >>> extreme weather battering mid-atlantic states with deadly results. heavy downpours over virginia and west virginia triggered rushing muddy floodwaters that swamped entire communities. an 8-year-old boy was swept away and a toddler missing since yesterday afternoon is feared dead. look at this. it also ripped a burning house from its foundation and carried it down stream. rescue operations are on going. tens of thousands of people are still without power across virginia, west virginia and tennessee. >>> and breaking overnight in southern california, these scenes. a new wildfire burning down between 50 and 60 homes. almost immediately after it broke out. it is burning near lake isabella about 165 miles north of those other fires near los angeles. the fast-moving flames are threatening more than 1,000 additional homes and evacuations are under way. those fire crews they should get a break today from the heat. >> at least that, but there are more

that's an opinion shared by one of the court's current members, associate justice anthony kennedy. testifying before the house appropriations committee back in 2013, justice kennedy described what happens when the court is short staffed, and although he was discussing the effect of recusals on the ability of the court to do its job, his comments are no less relevant in the case of a vacancy. this is what justice kennedy said, and i quote -- "on our court, if we recuse without absolutely finding it necessary to do so, then you might have a 4-4 court and everybody's time is wasted. let me say that again. everybody's time is wasted. well, mr. president, my republican colleagues don't seem to be bothered by wasting everybody's time. 116 days ago, less than an hour after the news of justice scalia's death, the majority leader proclaimed the senate would not consider a replacement until after the presidential election. he said -- quote -- "the american people should have a voice in the selection of their next supreme court justice. in the 116 days since the majority leader made that bold

justice anthony kennedy delivered the majority of the opinion for the court.upholds the texas program, his decision comes with admonitions about how the university of texas must administer that program going forward, quoting from the opinion, university of texas at austin has a special opportunity to learn and to teach and has at its disposal the manner and to use data to scrutinize the fairness of the program. he says the court's affirmness of the university's admission policy today does not necessarily mean the university may rely on that same policy without refinement. as we said, 4-3 decision. justice kagan was recused from the case. we are expecting more important rulings. we're down to the wire with the supreme court only having about five or six key cases left to come to the end of the term. >> though that is a big win. >> meanwhile back here we're watching for twilio to start trading. bob pisani is at post 5. how far away? >> it's been a while. the interest is very strong. let me show you the indications right now. it's 22 to 24. this is a winner. it's

justice anthony kennedy has said it can continue with the university of texas and other universitiesthe country. >> affirmative action stays in place in a key case, >>> we welcome you back to you "gma." >>> we welcome you back to "gma." you're looking live at something we've never seen before. a sit-in on the floor of the house and the lawmakers are live-streaming from their own phone, something they're not supposed to do, but they want to get their message out fighting for a gun control vote. >> yeah, uncharted territory using social media to get the word out. >> right. >>> also right now, stunning pictures of the wreckage throughout the midwest. storm damage turning over big rigs. of course, the blinding rain making driving treacherous and those powerful storms are now going to spread east, and ginger is tracking that. >>> also right now, congress did reach an agreement in the middle for funding the battle against zika, the measure calling for $1.1 billion to fight the virus. >>> and then there are reports this morning about what the president may be doing after leaving office. cou

the question is now, can they cull the cash to go forward in you have guys like anthony scaramucci -- kennedy: can he -- >> one last thing. so the donald accepted manafort's advice to fire corey. will the donald accept manafort's advice on other things like how to say thicks -- harris: we'll have to see. kennedy: manafort can make the case this is the only way you win, he has no choice. sandra: all right. paul manafort now in charge of donald trump's campaign. >>> the fbi releasing partial, edited transcripts of phone calls between the orlando terrorists and police negotiators. as he carried out that deadly terror attack in old. but -- in orlando. but all references to islamic terrorism have been scrubbed from the record. is this more political correctness? >>> plus, growing questions about whether the shooter's wife is going to be charged for any role in the massacre. what we're learning now about her and how it could impact this investigation. >>> and right after the show catch more from the couch. you can join us -- [laughter] on our lye chat by clicking the overtime tab at foxnews.com/out

justice anthony kennedy wrote the court's 4-3 majority opinion. the supreme court heard oral argument in the case last december. it's an hour and a half. >> you will hear argument in morning in case 14981. fisher versus the university of texas at austin. before we get started, we will say this is our only case and we intend to grant the parties ten minutes or so of extra time and five minutes. so mr. ryan, no need to rush. >> mr. chief justice, may it please the court and the extra time, i didn't rush up here to review the fifth circuit's initial decision. seven members of the court reaffirmed that a clear precondition to the u.s. of race they have the ability to satisfy what was called the demanding scrutiny which was articulated. my establishing that she was considered for admission under a system that discriminated on the basis of her race. ms. fisher placed upon ut the burden of proving by evidence of the record that its use of race was first, in pursuit of a compelling constitutional legitimate interest expressed with sufficient clarity and c

breyer wrote the majority opinion joined by justices anthony and kennedy, ruth bader ginsburg, sonia sotomayor and elena kagan. chief justice roberts and clarence thomas and samuel alito jr. dissented. we'll hear the oral argument in that case in a couple of minutes. >>> tonight on the communicators, texas republican congressman will hurd talks about cyber and data security and federal agencies and the report card his subcommittee released in may on agencies management of information. he's joined by politico cybersecurity reporter tim starks. >> the federal government has almos almost 11,000, facebook has four. there is no reason the federal government should have 11,000 and you can realize savings. we realize through the score card that four agencies have realized $2 billion worth of savings over the last two years by moving into the cloud. >> watch the communicators tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. >>> on july 1st, the sith so smithsonian's air and space museum opened. the american history tv's live coverage starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. we'll tour the museum and see o