sense here that people don't want to unilaterally disarm money that's come in as a result of citizens unitedi want to say that it will not fix itself. this has to be an engagement by american citizens in their democracy. >> which brings us back to the core principles this nation was founded on or as james madison wrote, who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? not the rich more than the poor, not the learned more than the ignorant. so what they're saying is we don't want to be ruled by a lorded aris tlord ed aristocracy. we will create a nation for the people by the people and protect this government against our worst instinct. >> yeah, it won't alms business protected. it won't always work and sometimes it needs to be fixed and today again might be one of those days. we just don't know how exactly they would want it to be fixed. >> i can't imagine they would foresee anything that we have today. would james madison be on twitter? >> oh, definitely. >> eric. >> it was a pleasure. >> thank you so much. >> while the founders understood the danger of money in politics, they als

, didn't write the majority opinion in citizens united but he wrote a strong concurring opinion and certainly pretty much identified with that as well. did you ask if he has regrets? >> i can't tell you how he characterized certain things because many conversations were off the record and constantly negotiating what would go on the record. but i can tell you from everything he has written and i observed he just feels that the court itself is right to leave it to elected officials, the court shouldn't police voting violations. localities should be in charge of that and citizens united, he believes more money, more speech, the better. he doesn't see the practical consequences the way many people do and when you talk about the voting rights situation after the shelby county ruling in 2013 almost immediately in texas and north carolina, the state legislatures past restrictions. they implemented voter id laws, redistributed in ways that were immediately challenged as hurting minority voters. >> i don't want to do what i always do, get to a lot of your questions so i will ask you one

he didn't write the majority opinion in citizens united, but he got a very strong and comforting opinion. and it certainly he is pretty hy much identified them as well. did you ask if he has any regrets? >> i can tell you how to categorize certain things because conversations were off the record and we were negotiating what would go on the record. but i can tell you from everything he's written and from what i have observed is that he just feels that the court itself is bright to leave it to the elected officials, that the court shouldn't be in the business of policing a sum of these voting violations, you know, localities should be in charge of that and in terms of the citizens united, he needs more money, more speech, speech is money, the better. he doesn't see the practical consequences of the way many people do. when you talk about the voting rights situation after the shelby county ruling in 2013, almost immediately in texas and north carolina, the state legislatures passed restrictio restrictions. they implemented the voter id laws and redistricted in ways that which munged as hurt

but reverse value and then you won through the years to citizens united which says that the right of free speech of corporations members spend as much money they want can't be curtailed. take a look what that means it means that corporations which anyway have been pretty much buying elections are now free to do it with virtually no constraint as tremendous attack on the residue of democracy. very interesting to read the rulings like justice kennedy's swing vote his ruling said well look after all the c.b.s. is given freedom of speech there are corp why shouldn't general electric be free to spend as much when it is they want. i mean it's true that c.b.s. has given freedom of speech but they're supposed to be performing a public service that's why that's what the press is supposed to be in general electric is trying to make money for the chief executive some of the shareholders. critical decisions and it puts the country in a position where business power is greatly extended beyond what it always was this is part of the vicious cycle the supreme court justice are put in by reactionary

the citizens united this was january 2009 i guess that's a very important decisions prim court decision but it has a history and you've got to think about the history. of 14th amendment has a provision that says no person's rights can be infringed without due process of law. and the intent clearly was to protect freed slaves said ok they've got the protection of the law i don't think it's ever been used for freed slaves if ever marginally almost immediately it was used for businesses corporations there are rights can't be infringed without due process of law so they gradually became persons under the law. corporations are state created legal fictions. maybe they're good maybe they're bed but to call them persons is kind of rages so they get got personal rights back about a century ago and that extended through the 20th century. as they give corporations rights way beyond what persons have so if say general motors invests in mexico they get national rights the rights of the mexican business while the notion of person was expanded to include corporations it was also. strict if you take th

joining us tonight citizens united president, former trump campaign aide david bossie.avid, great to have you with us. >> thanks, lou. lou: i think most americans feel much better about having the president home taking on the virulent oppositional forces that have taken him on from the moment almost that he entered the race for president and certainly from the moment that he won it. the impeachment moves on, we're assured by nancy pelosi, and i have to say to you i think i'm not alone in this, i truly believe she is doing the republicans and this president a great favor by showing exactly who she is and who her lot really are. >> i think that's exactly right, lou. they are doing this president a favor, and they're doing the republican house and senate candidates a favor come next november. these are mccarthyite tactics they are using. the smearing, this is not an investigation, this is a a smear campaign of devin nuÑes, of john solomon and of the president. if you disagree with adam schiff, he is going to personally smear you. we need to -- i don't care, you know, every

politics, pass a constitutional amendment to get money out of politics and rivers vallejo and citizens unitedst different solutions regarding corruption in our politics and the rampant money running through d.c., and restore our democracy. >> i want candidates to focus more on foreign policy. i would like to really hear about cutting back the military, going after the military-industrial complex, because that is something that would benefit our region, because we have a lot of people that are forced into the military, and then they never come back home. i also think we need to cut spending in the military. it is almost $1 trillion per year. and i also think it would help the immigration crisis, because we need to stop imperialist activities of overthrowing people in central america and replacing them with right wing dictators and then causing a migrant crisis. >> voices from the road on c-span. ♪ the house will be in order. c-span has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events from washington dc end around the country. s

of investment in our infrastructure, climate change unaddressed, a broken democracy because of citizens united. these are all things we have to fix. on top of that, america has an incredibly important role to , as the son ofld a woman who survived the holocaust, she was a polish jew. her grandparents left warsaw after the war. they went to stockholm for a year and then mexico city. iny came to the only country the world were they could rebuild their shattered lives. i now -- know how important the idea of america is for people struggling to be free all over the world. it's not that we are perfect, far from it. we are a beacon to the rest of the world. i believe that reestablishing our place in the world will be one of the things the next president will have to do. >> let's talk strategy. how do you get back on the debate stage? how do you break through? >> the debate stage is just a discouraging place for the american people. i won't pretend that i wouldn't like to be on there. i wish i were on there. it is not doing a good job of elucidating the issues. it's not doing a good job of equipping

maggie: in 2020, a decade will have passed since citizens united. what is the biggest impact from a regulatory standpoint? chair weintraub: it is interesting. people were afraid corporations would be spending a lot of money as a result of that decision, but that is not the primary result. the biggest result has been the empowerment of a class of megadonors spending millions of dollars to influence who gets elected. in the 2016 election, 126 individuals gave over $1 million. 13 gave over $10 million. one family gave $122 million to various political committees. that is only the money we know about. we are not talking about the dark money groups. that has a real impact, not only on who gets elected, but people are afraid to support policies that anger these big donors, knowing they can spend unlimited amounts of money to get somebody that will tow their line more easily. for all of us who believe every person deserves an equal voice in our country, the rise of these mega-donors has not been a good development for democracy. host: do you think the pres

and reverse citizens united, and different solutions regarding the corruption our politics and the rampant money running through d.c. and restoring our democracy. want them to focus more on foreign policy, i would like to hear about cutting back the military, going after the military-industrial complex, i think that's really something that would benefit our region because we have a lot of people that are forced into the military and the never come back think we need to andspending in the military i also think it would help the immigration crisis because i think we need to stop the imperialist activities of overthrowing peoples in central america replacing right-wing dictators and then causing the migrant crisis. ♪ >> c-span's washington journal live every day with news and policy issues. coming up this morning, former counsel without usury committee daniel freeman and alan baron talk about the impeachment process and rosemary gibson talks about her book. sure to watch c-span's washington journal live at 7:00 eastern this morning, join the discussion. actor and environmental advocate ted da

they believe we are leaving a broken democracy because of citizens united. these are all things we have to fix. on top of that, america has an incredibly important role to play in the world as the son of a woman, my mom, who survived the holocaust. warsaw and went to stockholm and then mexico city, and then came here. the only country in the world where they could rebuild their shattered lives. i know how important the idea of america is all over the world. it is not that we are perfect, but we are a beacon to the rest of the world. thatnk -- i believe reestablishing our place in the world is going to be one of the things our next president has to do. >> let's talk strategy. how do you get back on the debate stage? how do you break through? sen. bennet: i think the debate stage is a discouraging place for the american people. i would not pretend that i did not want to be on there. it is not giving -- it is not doing a good job of elucidating the issues. it is not doing a good job of equipping our candidates, putting them in a position to be donald trump. i h

my concern right now it is that especially since citizens united and what we have seen is a major corruption of our political process and the concept of democracy meaning one person, one vote. what most of us believe, and we were arguing about an issue people raise their hand a majority winds and everyone has the same thought. but increasingly in american politics that is not the case so you have a handful of billionaires who are literally spending hundreds of millions of dollars and all kinds of ways to get money and super pacs whatever, electing candidates who represent the wealthy and the powerful. that concerns me very much because that whole process undermines american democracy which is why you end up in congress with the republican leadership talking about tax breaks for billionaires and cuts to social security, you go out on this streets and nobody else believes in, that 5% of the american people with that is the ideology because that is what the money law interest to want, the first point i want to make is we have to deal with the impact of money and politics and that means to my mi

that means to my mind overturning this disastrous supreme court decision on citizens united.eers and applause] it also means public funding of elections. [applause] it also means working aggressively to end voter suppression. [applause] what democracy is supposed to mean is that i'm a candidate, you're a candidate, you get up there and you say this is what i believe and i want your support. not i can't get that part of the state support, or i can get people of color support, i'm going to suppress the vote. that is a cowardly cowardly underlying the marks it supposed to be about. so let me tell you when we were in the white house, our view will be that if you are 18 years age in the united states, you vote, end of discussion. [applause] i am enormously proud to tell you this, that our campaign has rewritten the history books in terms of campaign finance. as of today we have received for our campaign some 4.2 million contributions coming from 1.2 million americans, which is more than any candidate in the history of the united states of america. [cheers and applause] so unlike s

we have to do something about citizens united. we have to limit campaign money.greement, but we have to win first. and i thought pete's response back was, i'm not going to tie my hand behind my back. donald trump has $300 million. and senator warren, you took $2,800 checks when you ran for the senate and transferred it. the bigger, broader issue is, we're in agreement as democrats we have to limit the money in politics. we have to stop citizens united. but we have to win first. we have to beat donald trump. and what came out of last night, who has the best chance? who has the most experience. who has the best health care plan? who has the best chance of beating donald trump. and with impeachment going on and mitch mcconnell is in the tank for president trump, it becomes even more important for electability for democrats. >> often what happens in a multicandidate field, when two candidates face off and go after each other in a negative way, the main beneficiary is candidate "c" or "d." joe biden and amy klobuchar were watching the exchange between elizabeth warren

it took the travel ban, the citizens united cases were expedited. but the court is also good at delaying if it wants. if the chief is determined to keep the court out of making really politically contested decisions, it is possible all nine justices may think this looks like a try will be over by january, let's just sit on these cases and maybe it will go away. host: elaine in olympia, washington, republican line. caller: i would like to ask two questions. first has to do with hamilton's impeachment standard. says, and this is a quote, relateffenses, as they chiefly to injuries done immediately to society itself -- how does that pertain to the situation? i do not see the immediacy, and i do not know what society they are talking about. and then the second part of that , in our other presidential impeachments, there is nothing thate constitution gives congress the right to do the investigative part, right? so that is why they had special counselors and investigators. so i am wondering what gives them the right to do the investigation itself. guest: t

pass a constitutional amendment to get money out of politics and reverse -- citizens united. and different solutions regarding the corruption in our politics. the rampant money run through d.c. restoring our democracy. >> i want the candidates to focus more on foreign policy. i would like to really hear about cutting back the military, going after the military industrial conflicts, because i really think that is something that would benefit our region because we have a lot of people that are forced into the military and then they never come back home. i also think that we need to cut spending in the military. we're at almost $1 trillion a year. and i also think it would help the immigration crisis because we need to stop the imperialist activities of overthrowing right wing, overthrowing people in central america, replacing them with right wing dictators and then ausing the migrant crisis. >> former massachusetts governor bill weld's recalls his time as a lawyer on the house judiciary committee staff during the impeachment inquiry of president richard nixon in 1973 and 1974.

nature of our dialogue and nature of our politics with the advent of talk radio, cable television, citizens united. if you just go down the line, gerrymandering. there was a study that the washington journal does every couple of years about the overlap of the members of congress where you have more conservative democrats than liberal republicans. about 20 years ago that number was about half of congress, about 220 something members overlap. the last time they did the study i believe the number was four of overlap. there's a lot of things happening in our society creati creating problematic. >>> president trump is courting black voters. will it work? >>> let's look at the state of the race and the importance of black voters. president trump's re-election campaign launching a big effort to reach out to african-americans, but you've got to wonder how well that's going to work. let's discuss. terra setmeyer, angela rye. trump likes to boast he's done so much but at the same time he's insulted african-american voters repeatedly. how is this black outreach going to work you think? >> well, the outreach

descendents, i'm a citizen of the united states, i don't, so an american. i'm a citizen of the united intes because i cannot vote venezuela or canada. if the system wanted to allow african people to vote, it would registered as when i for the draft in the service in 1954 at 18 years old. all i had to do was have my name. so, if they want to african people to vote in this country as europeans do, they could make it everywhere you go to recruit, like in the schools. host: ok, robert. lf carol anderson japan. guest: in fact, you have some states that are really thinking through and working toward, how do we open up this right to vote? oregon began with automatic voter registration so that whenever you went to the department of motor vehicles, you are automatically registered to vote. you had to say, i want to opt out. what happened in oregon was that their voter registration, they already had one of the highest voter turnout in the nation, but the number of voters increased, as well as the turnout increased in a diverse three of the electorate. in california, l

pick out their voters instead of the other way around or the role of money in politics, where citizens unitedas held that corporations have the same political soul as you and i do. or the simple fact -- and some people say that i'm going to far isthis -- i think that it appropriate that we count up the votes and give the election to the person who gets the most, as a matter of democracy. [applause] believe thateg: i the core american value of freedom can guide the way toward a better life in this country. that means we have to rescue freedom from the way it has been shrunk in the jar it has been put into by our friends on the others of the aisle in washington. i'm not interested in preserving -- when i say freedom, it is not amazon's freedom to not pay any federal income tax. sometimes yeah, freedom means that we need to get government out of the way, like getting government out of the business of dictating to women like what their reproductive health care choices ought to be. that is an important part of securing freedom. [applause] mayor buttigieg: but then sometimes in order to become more

if what it requires to end citizens united is a constitutional amendment, then that is exactly why they thought up the process. let's think big and protect our democracy. thinking about values like freedom and this is all about freedom, but freedom is bigger and more complicated than cutting every tax a regulation. that is not going to make us free. freedom requires a great deal from us. and part of it, yes, getting government out of the way, especially when government is in the wrong places. we need to keep government out of the business of, for example, county clerk's telling you who you ought to marry. thank you, iowa, for your hand and bringing marriage equality to the united states of america. respecting american freedom means keeping government out of the business of dictating to women what their reproductive health care choices ought to be. that freedom belongs with you. but sometimes it means insisting that the public sector step up. that is why we have local government, that is why we have mayors. you are not free if there is not a clean, safe, plowed road between where you are

again, a back handed tribute to citizens united that political spend something speech.eally need to win iowa and new hampshire. because is he not even competing there. he was in mississippi yesterday. >> it's a risk. maybe he can do it but no one else has. right? brian: right. steve: all right, bill mcgurn, thank you so much. brian: you look so comfortable on the couch, doesn't he? brian: he does. >> my 61st birthday today. brian: happy birthday. brian: janice what did you get him? steve: he needs a birthday cookie. ainsley: we are so glad you were born. >> thank you. brian: with that happy birthday, bill and now. this senator kamala harris throwing in the towel on her campaign not before a last parting shot at president trump and 2020 democratic field. ainsley: carley shimkus is on deck with that. brian: say happy. carley: happy ♪ talken about my generation ♪ ♪ you can tell they are ours ♪ ♪ a new step to take ♪ and a new day will break ♪ yes, these are my people ♪ ♪ >> here's the deal, guys. my campaign for president simply does not have the financial resources to con

. >> harris: so why do democrats get all up in arms about citizens united and money? a bias that we have talked about and come he made every penny he will spend himself, is completely independent. and he is proud to use his resources to get his message out. >> harris: the trump campaign has announced it will band "bloomberg news" from certain events. but will continue to investigate the president, republicans. bloomberg a senator in chief says accusations of bias couldn't be further than the truth. we know that if you are only going to cover one side, that's not bias, it's ethically wrong. >> what they said was they would cover the president and his activities and a general election covers the democratic nominee and president trump. so to my way of thinking -- >> so if something comes up, they are not going to investigate their guy? >> no. i have not said they would investigate president trump. >> states that they would continue to -- they have made it clear once the fall campaign starts which i think could be in a few months, they could cover both sides and i think t

so at a national level, probably one of the great disasters in terms of our democracy is the citizens united is money is speech and corporations are people. what we see at a national level interminggling of corporations and public institutions and we see it on our campus. this is a little version. tell people, we could blame corporations for eing terrible citizens, but we created them. they are not a naturally occurring and gave them one responsibility and that is fiduciary. we created them to make money and they are very good at that. but when we did that, we should also recognize it's the role of the government to then regulate this creation that we have come up with called the corporation. that would work very well called the balance of power. when they are not capable of shaping and in some cases electing the people whose responsibility it is to regulate them in the interest of the people, now the system has broken down because we don't have regulateors acting in our interests but those in the interests of those they are upposed to be regulated. the book is billion free speech and the ab

lou: joining us tonight citizen united president former trump campaign aide david, good to see you.a result of the articles but not enough spring apparently to get those articles over to the majority leader of the u.s. senate, your thoughts? >> she's gonna have to have a spring in her step to run ahead of the democrats that are going to be chasing her for costing him her seat, this is going to be a disaster and blow up on them come november. they got their vote in the house of representatives yesterday as reprehensible as it was an embarrassing as it is for the american people what they did to this president for doing his job but we are going to make them pay come november. she is going to happen to have her running shoes on. lou: she will have to have her running shoes on because the president wants a trial in mitch mcconnell saying quickly, don't send me the articles of impeachment because i do not want them anyway. what is going to happen here in your best judgment ? >> what i see happening, nancy pelosi recognizing the weakness of her case a little bit too late. what she is runn

. >> a landmark decision from the supreme court and the citizens united case.r corporations to fund and influence political campaigns. a major political victory for president barack obama. signing the affordable care act into law. also known as obamacare. >> apple releases the first ipad. one of the most popular gadgets of the decade. the deep water horizon explosion. an environmental disaster on a bp oil drilling rig that led to years of clean-up efforts. nba star lebron james announced he would be joining friends dwyane wade and chris bosh miami heat to form a super nominee a televised announcement known simply as the decision. instagram debuts as the go-to social media app. for sharing photos inspiring others like snapchat and pinterest. ride sharing apps also gaining popularity. tech giants uber and lyft challenging traditional cab services for how we all get around. a massive earthquake devastates japan. magnitude 8.9 quack unleashing a devastating tsunami. britain's prince william marries kate middleton in westminster abby. nearly 2 million watching the c

unfortunately because citizens united is a thing, if we are going to battle republicans we are goingo have to be able to battle them on the same playing field. we can do that with our arms tied behind our back and hope for the best and feel good about where were coming from or we can play by the rules as they are right now until we can get them changed. >> lisa: elizabeth warren did have this rice for a while and she was looking very strong and it's sort of tapered off. >> jessica: i think a lot of it has to do with her health care stance, i think giving not giving it up on abolishing private insurance was a miscalculation for a number of groups, unions have fought very hard to get health care they love and also people like you and me, i like my health care, i don't want to go on to a medicare system, i want a public option available to those who need it. i think that was part of it but also you have to look at the level of conviction people have for their candidates. there are only two candidates whose supporters are diehard, joe biden and bernie sanders and elizabeth warren, they w

[laughter] >> if you look at it, it is a living reputation of all the propaganda about citizens unitedney will determine everything, there are 2 billionaires in the democratic race. they haven't reached 6% combined in the vote and i don't think they will get much higher. >> i want to qualify that, mike just got into the race, he has all the money in the world and he can spend it on political advertising which is a powerful medium, we are going to find out just how powerful political advertising is because he's going to do saturate those super tuesday states with advertising. >> he has all the money in the world, dan, you're right, what he doesn't is very much black support and in the democratic party next to impossible without large majorities of black voters and he's got a problem there. he's got a good record to return on as mayor, i would argue, both in terms of expanding school choice, charter schools and reducing crime, the problem is that the progressives and the democratic party today think the problem is the police, not the criminals and oppose chatter schools. paul: you have w