. >>> and also this afternoon, four former senators, tom daschle, bill bradley, christopher dodd and allen simpson are all now saying thap wrong when they supported the defense of marriage act in 1996. and in a historic move this week the obama administration filed a friend of the court brief with the supreme court arguing that california's proposition 8 which limits marriage to a man and a woman violates the u.s. constitution's guarantee of equal protection. in a press conference yesterday, president obama doubled down on his support of prop 8 being overturned. >> just whenever a particular group is being discriminated against the court asks the question what's the rationale for this and it better be a good reason and if you don't have a good reason, we're going to strike it down. >> what, if anything, will the brief do to influence the court's decision on marriage? a constitutional law expert at nyu. he's here with me this afternoon. good to see you, professor. >> good to see you, craig. >> proposition 8 has been battered around in california courts. what's behind the timing of the supre