. >> jason williamson joins us now. an attorney with the american civil liberties union criminal reform law project. he joins us this morning. we're seeing violent protests in and around the city of st. louis. mr. williamson, in the years since the michael brown shooting, where has the aclu tried to focus its efforts when it comes to police reform? >> well, as you may know, the aclu is a national organization that also has at least one local affiliate in every state, in addition to puerto rico. and so as a national office, there are several programs and projects within the organization that are focusing on criminal justice issues and it really runs the gamut from police encounters to what happens once you get arrested to what happens once you get to court and go to trial and are sentenced. and then our local affiliates do a lot of really important work on the local level dealing with the particular issues that may be affecting the communities where they are based. so we are both a litigation shop and organization that r

host: jason williamson?uest: i certainly think there are issues around how law-enforcement prioritizes its work, where it puts its resources. i agree there are all kinds of contexts in which the law may be compromised, and that law enforcement probably pays too much attention to what is going in communities of color rather than also focusing on what is happening on wall street , inside the big banks, and so forth. that policed departments are faced with unique circumstances in the jurisdictions where they exist and they have to make decisions about how to allocate their resources. i am not a law enforcement expert, so this is not to say that someone else should be dictating what those priorities are, but i think it makes sense for police departments, both at the local and federal level, to look long and hard at how they are spending their money, where their law-enforcement attention is being paid, and what the results are. one of the things that we talk a lot about is the failed war on drugs that has been go

at 9:15, jason williamson ost: good morning and it's thursday, august 20th, 2015. on our three hour program we'll about police reform and u.s. national security and the state of the u.s. auto industry but we begin amendment and birthright citizenship which donald trump and several contenders calling for an end to the practice of

later jason williamson talks about efforts to reform practices across the u.s. you can join with phone calls and comments. live every morning at 7 a.m. eastern. jimmy carter announced he has cancer. .ur coverage , the graveday night hunter documents his adventures visiting the grave site of every u.s. president and vice president. >> the one gravesite everyone has trouble getting to is the rockefeller gravestone. >> yes. >> how did you do it? >> an act of god. my father saw this gigantic tree had fallen. he saw the grave and decided he would have to get me there fairly soon after that. next chris christie holds a town hall meeting with supporters at molly's tavern and restaurant in new hampshire. his remarks are an hour and 40 minutes. >> good evening i remember the first time i heard him speak. this is refreshing. i know he will tell it like it is. am the chair of the boston republican committee. you have never been to one of , please come and see us. we have some great speakers. and we will welcome you. i am going to turn this microphone over to governor chris

later, jason williamson of the aclu. you can join the conversation with phone calls and comments on facebook and twitter. is liveton journal" every morning at 7:30 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> thursday, rick santorum talks about integration policy at the national press club. we join his remarks at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. this weekend on the c-span networks, politics, books, and american history. on c-span saturday, live coverage of candidates at the iowa state fair continues. we hear from chris christie at noon and bobby jindal at 1:00. sunday at 6:30, scott walker hold a town hall in nashua. c-span2 is live at the mississippi book festival, featuring discussions on history and biographies. sunday morning at 10:00, author fer shares thoughts on the obama administration relationship with millennials. goldday at 5:00, andrew farb on architectural landmarks. films on a:00, three program administered by the johnson administration to improve relations between the police and community in washington dc after the 1968 martin

. >> a couple points there, jason williamson. do you want to start with the police unions? >> sure. you know, i think it's hard to deny that police unions are really powerful and influential across the country. and that they have been an impediment in some ways to reform. if the primary interest or objective of the union is to protect the interest of individual police officers and of their colleagues, that does not lend itself to the kind of accountability that i think is necessary and that communities of color are looking for. and i think that feeds into this question about holding police officers criminally responsible or imposing some sort of discipline for illegal or inappropriate conduct. to the extent police unions are standing in the way of making sure that officers are held accountable for their actions, i agree that that is a huge problem. >>> tonight our washington journal program focusing on community policing. we'll reair yesterday morning's entire program from richmond, virginia, with your calls and comments. the richmond police chief, the head of their police training

and jason williamson from the aclu on his organization's efforts to reform police practice across the.s.. last week former president jimmy carter announced that he has cancer. today he gives us an update on his condition. our live coverage starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. this weekend on the c-span network, politics, books, and american history. on c-span saturday, live coverage of the iowa state fair continues. we will year from republican governors chris christie at new, then bobby jindal at one of rpm. and sunday evening at 6:30, wisconsin republican governor scott walker holds a town hall meeting in ashland, new hampshire. on c-span to saturday, book tv is live at the inaugural mississippi book festival : 30 a.m..at 11 it features panel discussions on civil rights, history, and biography. and the literary lives of harper lee and eudora wealthy. a.m.,nday at 10:00 thoughts on the obama administration's relationship with millennial's. on american history tv on c-span3, saturday afternoon at 5:00, columbia university's andrew on the commission created to protect new york