host: let me ask you, kristen clarke, about observers of this process. o is observing, government, nongovernment? ms. clarke: the u.s. department of justice had long in place a federal observer program, pursuant to the voting rights act. this is the first presidential election cycle where we are without court protections of the voting rights act. most significantly, the justice department announced they will not have federal observers in some communities. they were an important check on .he system the watchful eye of the federal government, something to deter mischief that may occur in some communities. they help to ensure that voters were treated uniformly, fairly, and evenly. so there is some question about what will happen in some communities where we have seen voter intimidation and harassment, particularly of minority voters. one thing that we are doing through our election protection program is we are making our hotline available for voters to alert us to problems that they unfold. but the reality is, we are still living with voter intimidation, har

host: let me ask you, kristen clarke, about observers of this process. , government, nongovernment? ms. clarke: the u.s. department of justice had long in place a federal observer program, pursuant to the voting rights act. this is the first presidential election cycle where we are without court protections of the voting rights act. most significantly, the justice department announced they will not have federal observers in some communities. they were an important check on .he system the watchful eye of the federal government, something to deter mischief that may occur in some communities. they help to ensure that voters were treated uniformly, fairly, and evenly. so there is some question about what will happen in some communities where we have seen voter intimidation and harassment, particularly of minority voters. one thing that we are doing through our election protection program is we are making our hotline available for voters to alert us to problems that they unfold. but the reality is, we are still living with voter intimidation, harassment of min

kristen clarke, what do you make of recount laws, where there are concerns, and where do you think recount laws benefit the american public? kristen: i started off my career as a civil rights lawyer right re and eve of bush v. go i was a dark era. i think people are hoping there will be -- this will be an election where there is finali ty. it is interesting how much the -- it has changed since 2000, hanging chad is no longer part of our vocabulary, there are so many checks and balances into the system and their -- my hope is we will have finality and clarity with respect to the outcome on tuesday. that said, we have seen in recent times recounts in local races and state races that are very, very close when it comes to the outcome. all of this underscores the need to ensure that people are able to equally participate. every vote can make a difference in our elections. john: recounts happen. it is the reality of the situation. states it is automatic. it is actually a very good check on how our voting system runs and it is meant as a check, a reconciliation of the votes tabulated on election

kristen clark, from the lawyers committee for civil rights for law, joins us. as we were discussing in the last block, the concerns about racism for jeff sessions has followed him for many decades. one of those examples, 1986, where he was not able to be confirmed. it's been widely reported that as a u.s. attorney he filed several cases to desegregate schools in alabama, prosecuted a prominent kkk member in that state. he sought the death penalty in the case for the individual that killed a black teenager. has jeff sessions, based on the data, has he been transformed, as his defenders are saying? this is the person in 1986, they're saying, is different than he is today. >> if this nomination sticks, if indeed jeff sessions is the nominee put forward by mr. trump, i think there are going to be some very hard questions. i don't think that you can escape your past. as has been noted, the attorney general of the united states occupies the singularly most important law enforcement role in this nation. that person's job is to ensure equal justice under law for all. i

" with news and you.y issues that impact thursday morning, republican and election lawyer, and kristen clarkexecutive director for the lawyer's committee under civil discuss then us to integrity of this year's voting process. votingics, rigged systems, ballot fraud at the issues.d voter then, political science american on african voter turnout. and political science department will at temple university talk about pennsylvania's role state thisttleground election cycle. watch "washington journal" live thursday morning. discussion. >> tuesday night's results could be an early indicator which party controls the u.s. senate in 2017. james pindell is following the story for the "boston globe." thanks very much for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> this race between republican senator kelly ayotte and maggie hassan, when they entered the even.it was almost dead it seems to have been the same ever since. james: there's been a lot of twists and turns, but there's been one constant which is the race remains tied. it was tied when the race began. there's been a couple of outlier polls that ha

clark. let's bring in kristen welker. good sunday morning to you. what more can you tell us about the president-elect's plans once he wraps up this vacation trip? >> as you said, he's going to meet with eight people tomorrow, including the milwaukee sheriff david clark, the person who is getting the most buzz. he's, of course, a hard liner, hard liner on crime. someone who is a bit of a lightning rod and apparently being considered for dhs secretary. so the question is will we get another cabinet announcement tomorrow after he holds those meetings? that's his key focus when he returns from his thanksgiving vacation here in palm beach to start filling in his cabinet and his administration more. the other position that we are watching very closely, the position of secretary of state, the two top contenders there, alex, seem to be rudy giuliani, a long time supporter, he's also a hard liner, and also mitt romney, a former antagonist, someone more of a moderate republican. a lot of republicans saying it would be good for president-elect trump to round o

clark. the two biggest positions, secretary of state and defense >> kristen welker in florida. >> i want to bring in our mark murray, senior analyst. >> kate, i think it is more evidence how thin skinned the president-elect trump about not winning the popular vote. the electoral colleges decide our races and donald trump took all the knowledge and ended up winning fair and square, this is another instance where he's talked about not winning the popular vote. welker mentioning, hillary clinton ended up getting that popular vote and winning that by 2 million votes in counting. there are a couple other points to make, this does also legitimatize any recount efforts. if you have the president-elect trump questioning and saying without substantiation that millions of people voted illegally then jill stein and anyone else have a . >>> many are wondering what's next after the death of fidel castro. andrea mitchell is in havana with the latest. >> the first sunday in 13 years that the protesters are known as ladies in white did not m church. it was out of respect for the mourning period. a bigger f

kristen fisher fox news. meeting with president-elect donald trump tomorrow - milwaukee county sheriff david clarke. clarke has been a longtime vocal supporter of mister trump -- although there's no word on if he is being offered a position. fox6 reached out to clarke's office for comment. we were told quote-- the sheriff doesn't have anything to say. we don't do restaurant reviews here at fox six....and we don't usually cover restaurant openings. but one opened this week that got the attention of fox 6 photojournalist jeff frings---he nats.... if you are fast enough.... and energetic enough.... to keep up with caitlin cullen for...oh i don't know five minutes....you'll see hints of her former career blending nicely with her newest passion. of the two things i love...i loved teaching but it drove me crazy...it drove me to cook bagels in the dark to calm myself... it's probably not accurate to say the former teacher and school principal is calm--no one taking on a project like this would be serene---but she's clearly at peace. and obviously fully vested in a project taste it. 45:03 i wouldn't sink al

kristen fisher fox news. and one of those eight people - meeting with president-elect donald trump tomorrow - milwaukee county sheriff david clarke. clarke has been a longtime vocal supporter of mister trump -- although there's no word on if he is being offered a position. fox6 reached out to clarke's office for comment. we were told quote-- the sheriff here at fox six....and we don't usually cover restaurant openings. but one opened this week that got the attention of fox 6 photojournalist jeff frings---he thought there might be a story there. and he was right. nats.... if you are fast enough.... and energetic enough.... to keep up with caitlin cullen for...oh i don't know five see hints of her former career blending nicely with her newest passion. 48:35 it's a total combination of the two things i love...i loved teaching but it drove me crazy...it drove me to cook bagels in the dark to calm myself... it's probably not accurate to say the former teacher and school principal is calm--no one taking on a project like this would be serene---but fully vested in a project so close to fruition, she can taste it. 45:03 i wouldn't sink a

are speculating sheriff clarke will get a position in trump's cabinet. 3 here in wisconsin...it was projected the race between senator ron johnson and russ to be true.cbs 58's kristen barbaresi was at the johnson watch party in oshkosh last night. she breaks down the race this morning. 3 senator ron johnson trailed in virtually every poll leading up to election day- but his supporters turned out on tuesday tuesdayeven before the results were in-johnson spent tuesday night with his supporters. 20;35;20 thank you, thank you and in his victory speech to johnson said he heads back to the senate-ready to seize the opportunity to serve another six ye to repeal or at least overhaul the affordable care actand johnson, who serves as chairman of the homeland security committee, laid out his other top priorities next s. session.20;49;38 we established four priorities: border security, cyber security- these threats are growing, they're eral. protecting our critical infrastructure and then conquering islamic terrorism in our homeland terrorism in our homeland johnson acknowledged it was a divisive election cycle and says now campaign and reiterated after his win that this will

clark. who is the william crans professor of law at the george washington university school of law. brad also is law clerk from the 1989 term, the same term as kristen. brad. >> thank you, paul. i clerked for justice scalia during the 1989 terms, as paul said and i'm here too represent the justice's clerks who became professors. of whom there are many. in fact, no fewer than 28 of us now teach at law schools around the country, including harvard, yale, columbia, nyu, michigan, virginia, vanderbilt, notre dame, and i could go on. at first i was surprise by how many of us chose this path. but at the risk of scaring off hiring committees that might consider scalia clerk in the the future i suspect our numbers reflect the justice's influence on us. before becoming a judge, justice scalia was a tenured law professor at both the university of virginia and the university of chicago. he loved teaching. perhaps because he loved ideas. and he understood their power. in fact, hi once toldel told me that law professors have their greatest impact through teaching rather than scholarship. justice scalia never stopped teaching. anyone who clerked for him knows thi