joining me now is dorian warren, assistant professor of political science at columbia university and stitute in new york. dorian, i want you to do this thought exercise tonight. i want you to imagine the republican won the last presidential campaign which means that the two appointments to the supreme court made by president obama, justice sotomayor and justice kagan, would have been two republican appointments to the supreme court. there would have been seven republican appointed justices, three democratic appointed justices. what would be the fate of this case, a case like this, in front of a court like that? >> in front of a court like that, lawrence, i think there's no question they would be eager to strike down the bollinger case. as you mentioned from 2003, which said that race could be one of many factors used in college university admissions. i'd like to point out that in that case, that case drew the most amount of amicus briefs in history in the supreme court from fortune 500 companies to the military who all agree that diversity is an important national -- it's an important

with me is chloe angel, editor of feministing.com and once again dorian warren of columbia universityrston of "the onion." i'm going to go to my script in a second. one quick programming note based on the twitter responses to dorian and thurston -- yes, they are both single. >> wow! >> given how focused we are on michigan right now and how mitt romney is playing up his roots in that state, i did a little digging about his father george. here he is on "meet the press" in 1967 talking about the vietnam war and america's war. >> i think one of the shocks that americans have been exposed to in recent years is the fact that we can no longer trust our own government people. we can no longer rely on their telling us the truth. now, i was shocked to find that out, but i found that out. now, as far as the conditions through the cities are concerned, we have a very fundamental problem, and this problem, too, is above party. and that's the question of race relations and citizenship. either america is prepared to give full citizenship to every american citizen or it is not. >> yes, that is the ja

>> professor dorian warren, thank you for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> have the last word on my blog, thelastword.msnbc.com. follow my tweets @lawrence. "the ed show" is up next. >>> wars of religion. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, what is rick santorum up to? three stories tonight make you wonder whether republicans are driving themselves off a right-wing cliff. story number one. rick santorum, why is he questioning public schools, prenatal testing, contraception, president obama's theology, and even now bringing up jeremiah wright? as eric erickson of redstate.com wrote this morning, "we really are a party on the verge of suicide against an imminently beatable president. republicans are finally starting to realize it, but i fear it may be too late." well, story number two. franklin graham said today the islamic world says president obama as a fellow muslim and obama, himself, has been favoring them over christians worldwide. my question tonight, will they ever stop saying this nonsense? story number three. rep

kenneth warren was shot and killed last thursday in berkeley while leaving work. 38-year-old dorian walls was shot and killed tuesday night he posted on his facebook page about warren's death that someone killed his cousin, before he was killed. >>> hayward police are looking into a new lead in the 29-year-old kidnapping that drew nationwide attention, 9-year-old girl was taken from outside a hayward store in november of 1988. police are focused on a san quentin inmate of four murders and is still on death row. his partner in crime, hung himself last night. he wrote a letter to a newspaper claiming he was responsible for the abduction and noted the resemblance to an old composite of her abductor. mikayla's brother says the family is watching closely. >> obviously, we hope that it is resolved. as a family, my mom, still hopeful that mikayla is out there alive somewhere and she will come home one day. >> hayward police released a statement emphasizing this was never a cold case and they've reviewed leads over the past month. >>> stomach flu epidemic is forcing officials at a private san fra

and may have been cousins. 35-year-old kenneth warren was shot and killed last thursday in berkeley while leaving work. on tuesday night 38-year-old dorianbout warren's death on his facebook page. >>> police looking into new lead in the 23-year-old kidnapping case. 9-year-old michaela garecht was taken from outside a hayward store in november of 1988. police are focused on a san quentin inmate convicted of four murders still on death row his partner in crime herzog hung himself last month. he wrote a letter to the newspaper claiming herzog was responsible for the abduction and know -- noted the resemblance of the abductor. >> obviously, we hope it is . as a family we are -- we hope it is resolved. as a family we are hoping she is out there and will come home some day. >> police released a statement emphasizing this was never a cold case and have reviewed leads over the past month. >>> this morning a federal appeals court in san francisco is expected to decide whether to release courtroom video from the 2010 prop 8 trial. a judge ordered the tapes of the legal showdown be made public but prop 8 supporters objected and appealed to the 9th

according to the "times herald" kenneth warren may have known or was related to another shooting victim, 38-year-old dorian wells. wells was reportedly holding his 1-year-old daughter when he was gunned down tuesday night in vallejo. >>> police were called to a deadly investigation on utah and heys street just before midnight. a 21-year-old was rushed to the hospital where he died. a motive is not known. police say the gang and major crimes unit are investigating whether the kill something gang related. >> for the second time this week, a construction worker was buried in a trench in the bay area. but this time the worker was rescued. the recent incident happened in brentwood doing repair work on a septic line. kristin kafton has been -- christien kafton has been following the story all morning with the latest on the investigation and the relationship between the homeowner and the victim. >> reporter: we'll get into the relationship between the homeowner and the victim in a minute. we can tell you that a cal/osha worker arrived on the scene. he took a look and took photos of the ditch which is now covered,

kenneth warren may have known or was related to another shooting victim, 38-year-old dorian wells., wells was reportedly holding his 1-year-old daughter when he was gunned down tuesday night in vallejo. >>> 24 morning, rich -- this morning richmond police are sitching for a driver who had a -- who shot a man in his back. the wounded man was treated and released. >>> 7:19. a poickist accused of fatally striking an arrest m san francisco could enter a plea in court today. ran tom ainge ran a red light when he hit the 68-year-old ped along the embarcadero back in -- pedestrian along the em parka der row back last year -- embarcadero back last year. >>> 7:19. a facebook movement is underway to rename a walnut creek skate park after a young date boarder -- skateboarder died over the weekend. his friends want to honor his memory by renaming the walnut creek state park after him -- skate park after him. so far facebook page has 1800 supporters. >>> airlines and -- the f. anklth a. finalized rules yesterday. pilots must have a rest after eight or nine hours. they also have to have at least

warren. a few days later 38-year-old dorian walls was shot and killed on reese avenue.ice say the two men were friends at one time. but they had no -- not been in contact future years and say it appears there's no connection between the two homicides. >>> we now have a sketch of the man sheriff deputies say attempted to kidnap three young girls. this sketch was detailed by a 10-year-old girl police say escaped from the man. he offered her a ride before grabbing her arm, she was able to pull herself free and run away. police say the suspect is between 5 had 8 and 6 feet call. he is a thin build and speaks with an accent. he drove off in a red compact car similar to a ford focus. he is also the suspect in two similar incidents. >>> a fairfield woman convicted in deaths of her four children is now free. in 2010, she was charged with involuntary manslaughter after unattended candle started a fatal apartment fire. >> mama is sorry for the mistake she made. but i know my babies are a looking down on me now telling me they love me regardless. >> police say james had left her c