professor laurence tribe in massachusetts, thank you. essor tribe, it is, as i say, one year since those extraordinary events on capitol hill. isn't it time to be positive? time to say that, despite those extraordinary events, the us institutions of government withstood the storm? well, i wish we could say that, because i am an optimist by nature, but we came so close to losing our democracy that simply basking in our having survived would be a dangerous course of action. it turns out even though trump is no longer president, that he has learned quite a bit from his failure to successfully overturn the results of the last election to the point where he and a very loyal following and tens of millions of americans, i'm afraid, are propagating the myth that the last election was stolen, thatjoe biden is not the legitimate president and that anything that they can do in order to seize the white house is fair game — and they are changing the rules at the state level where american elections, including the election for president, are ultimately

harvard law professor laurence tribe, thank you for joining us tonight. we always appreciate it. >> thank you, lawrence. >>> coming up, montana senator jon tester, who has been in the room negotiating with joe manchin, will join us on the situation with voting rights legislation in the senate, and we will begin with the single most ignored government policy that jon tester worries about every day. senator tester joins us next. stt as a professional bull-rider i'm used to taking chances. but when it comes to my insurance i don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars. hey tex, can someone else get a turn? yeah, hang on, i'm about to break my own record. yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ i've been telling everyone... only pay for what you need. the secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. crest advanced gum restore. detoxifies below the gumline... and restores by helping heal gums in as litt

florida. >>> in addition to being a distinguished legal scholar and supreme court litigator, laurence tribe close friend of the outgoing justice breyer. he joins us now. professor tribe, you have known justice breyer for a long time. what do you make of -- of his decision to retire? >> i think it was the right decision. it's really important to give president biden the chance to put the first african-american woman on the court and all of the nominees that are being bandied about are extraordinarily well-qualified by experience, by temperament, by brilliance. so i think that justice breyer really helped his legacy by not holding on any longer. >> the fact he is announcing his retirement in january, which is very early by court standards, in a midterm election year, what does it say to you in terms of concerns he may have about the politics of the looming confirmation process? >> well, if he were as concerned as i wish he had been about the politics of the process, he would have resigned sooner, still. he would have resigned before this term began last october because he's already waited --

harvard law professor, laurence tribe thank you very much for joining us tonight.ways appreciate it. >> thank you lawrence. >> coming up, montana senator jon tester who has been in the room negotiating with joe manchin will join us on the situation with voting rights legislations in the senate. and we will begin with the single most ignored government policy that john tester worries about every day. senator tester joins us next. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor a

but harvard professor laurence tribe has said there is a precedent for saying that the vice president could not break the tie. having said that, someone like judge brown jackson was just approved, including three republicans -- lindsey graham, lisa murkowski come as well as who's in collins. she apparently is one of the top choices that people are saying president biden is weighing, not approval just took place. can you talk about what you know this and maybe dahlia as well? >> i've seen a couple of right-wing people spreadi that around based on an interpretation from the federalist papers. that the vice president can break ties in the legislative sense but not an appointment sense. that theory is off-the-wall cky doodle and never tested. i would point out this, who is going to check her? o is going to tell her no? john roberts? under obama would've been like, send merrick garland's to the court and wait for john roberts to kick him out and i was at the exact same thing to anybody who tries to pull this federalist aber -- papers dodge to stop biden from having a nominee. i do not thin

the -- laurence tribe offered his opinion on the court's decision saying, this is huge. the january six committee released a statement, the supreme court action tonight is a supreme -- on democracy because we have already be gotten to receive records that the former president has hope to keep hidden, and we look forward to additional information to uncover all of the facts of what happened on january 6th. we will not be deterred in our effort to get answers for the american people, make legislative recommendations to strengthen our democracy, and make sure nothing like that they happens again. leading our conversation is -- and former acting u.s. general, he has been -- he is an nbc legal analyst. neil, i give you the floor in the reactions to the court. well >> well, i see this reaction to this. why is everyone so excited? because it is a dark time in our country. people are worried about -- and here we've got, at least for this moment, the rule of law coming back. even if ruled in a different way, i told you there are different results that the supreme court was appoin

responding to garland's speech wednesday, constitutional law professor laurence tribe arguing the doj not going far enough. >> i heard absolutely nothing, nothing about the larger plot to overturn the election. that was not january 6th. january 3rd was the date on which the president, then-president, twisted the arm of raffensperger. late december he was doing things with people like jeffrey clark. you don't work your way up from the people who smashed windows to the arm twisting, which itself violated federal law and was part of a better plot. >> the pace of efforts to hold trump accountable led to this criticism from arizona congressman ruben gallego this week. >> i think merrick garland has been extremely weak, and i think there should be a lot more of the organizers of january 6th that should be arrested by now. the problem that we have right now is that we have a very obstructionist republican party that should be part of helping us decide how to save democracy instead of trying to cover up for their crimes, and you have, again, an attorney general who is, you know, feckless and

harvard's constitutional law professor laurence tribe offered his scholarly opinion of the court's decision today saying, "this is huge." tonight the january 6th committee released this statement. "the supreme court's action tonight is a victory for the rule of law and american democracy. the select committee has already begun to receive records that the former president had hoped to keep hidden, and we look forward to additional productions regarding this important information. our work goes forward to uncover all the facts about the violence of january 6th and its causes. we will not be deterred in our effort to get answers for the american people, make legislative recommendations to strengthen our democracy, and help ensure nothing like that day ever happens again." and leading off our discussion tonight is neal katyal, law professor at georgetown university and most importantly a former acting u.s. solicitor general who has practiced before the united states supreme court repeatedly. he is an msnbc legal analyst. neal, i give you the floor in your reaction to the court. >> well, lawrenc

two members, retired federal judge nancy gurtner, from the presiding officer's home state and laurence tribe an op-ed ready for print the day the report was released. they called for a serious overhaul of the court due to what they called, i'm quoting, the dubious legitimacy of the way some justices were appointed, due to that stench of bipartisanship justice sotomayor has observed and due to the anti-ee gal -- of the voting rights and dark money. judge gartner and professor tribe wrote, though fellow commissioners and other voiced concern about the impact of a report implicitly politicizing the supreme court might have on judicial independence and thus judicial legitimacy, we do not share that concern. far worse are the dangers that flow from ignoring the court's real problems, of pretending conditions have not changed, of insisting improper efforts to manipulate the court's membership have not taken place, of looking the other way when the court seeks to undo decades of precedent relied on by half the population to shape their lives just because given the new majority it has the votes. jud