why was the lawrence case important? >> i would say this is probably one of the most important civil rights decisions or constitutional law liberty decisions it over the past 50 years or so. it is the most important decision so far for the rights of gay men and lesbians. this is an opinion that is important to a great many people, and i think will be long remembered in america as constitutional history. >> there is one set an loss that was in effect prior to lawrence. lawrence change the law in a big way. tell me about -- heading into the lawrence case, where the law was before and where was after? >> in a series of cases and laws around the country, the states have banned sodomy promotes included certain specified sexual acts over many years. but texas had decriminalized much of the old archaic sexist fences, dust sex offenses. these loss came before the state courts and federal courts over the years, ending with a resounding defeat for gay civil rights advocates. there was a supreme court case called bowers versus hard

there was one sort of law in effect prior to lawrence, and lawrence changed the law in a big way. tell me about the -- heading into the lawrence case, where the law was before and where it was after. >> guest: well, in a series of cases and laws around the country, the states had banned so-called sod my, which included certain specified sexual acts over many, many years. but texas had decriminalized much of the old archaic sex offenses and had solely focused on gay sex and criminalized gay sex. these laws came before the courts, both state courts and federal courts, ending with a resounding defeat for gay civil rights advocates in a supreme court decision called bauers verse hardwick in 1986, and that decision had declared that any -- what the court called right to homosexual sodmy was, at best, facetious. there was no fundamental right to such a thing, no bright of privacy if it extended to protect gay people and their intimacy even in their own homes and even as adults. and there the law stood, the constitutional law stood, until lawrence versus texas came along in 2003 ask chan

why was the of lawrence case important? >> i would say this is probably one of the most important civil rights decisions or constitutional law in the delete key decisions in the past 50 years or so. and it's the most important decisions so far for the rights of gay men and lesbians. so, this is an opinion that is important to a great many people, and i think we will be long remembered in america. >> host: tell me why. there was one single wall that was in effect prior to lawrence and it changed the lot in a big way. tell me a little bit about heading into the case where it was before and where it was after. in cases and laws around the country, the states had band the so-called sodomy which included certain specified sexual acts over many years, but texas had decriminalized much of the old archaic offenses and had focused on the sec's, criminalize to be a sex. the fall came before the courts over the years ending with a resounding defeat for the gay civil rights advocates and a supreme court decision called barras versus ha

. >> the book tells the story of a landmark gay rights case lawrence v. texas from the arrest of john lawrence and tyrant garner to justice kennedy's reading of the supreme court decision in 2003. the ruling made same-sex sexual activity legal in all states and territories and paved the way for same-sex marriage laws. >> host: you've written a fine book on the supreme court case of lawrence versus texas, a book that tells the story from the beginning to the end. let me begin with at the end of why was the case important? >> i would say this is probably one of the most important civil rights decisions or constitutional law the individual decisions from the supreme court over the past 50 years or so and it's the most important decision so far for the rights of gay men and lesbians so this is an opinion that is important to a great many people and i think we will be long remembered in american constitutional history. there was one set of the law that was in effect prior to lawrence and changed all in a big way coming into the case where it was an afterthough

>> well, lawrence, it was the violence.y lapel and i usually wear a shroud over it, because i lost a dear friend, a comrade, to this craziness, to this senseless war on drugs. his name was ed totely in washington, d.c. he was working undercover with the fbi in 2000 and he was assassinated, making a mid-level drug buy. that woke me up. and many people are waking up today to this nonsense. unfortunately for me, it was that violence. >> charles, do you sense a possibility in president obama's second term on this front? you have george will in agreement with neill, a former narc, based on his experience out there in the field, and the president saying he's open to a discussion that the law is doing more harm than good? >> i hope that president obama moves in this direction. i think that the president has some making up to do on this front. that this law -- this war on drugs is financed on the local level, largely through grants. whatever george bush's reason, he almost starved that program to death. in the last year, it was $17

thank you, lawrence, i certainly will.nd we just want to say, we appreciate all the prayers and thoughts that went out to bella and her family and prayers were answered and we're grateful for that. >> me too, alice. >> national press secretary for -- thanks, ed. the national press secretary for santorum for president, alice stewart, in her final appearance with that title on this show, and former pennsylvania governor and current msnbc news political analyst, ed rendell. thank you both very much for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. >> have a great night. >>> coming up, former president george w. bush decides to come out of texas and talk taxes on the very same day that president obama wants to talk taxes and does talk taxes in florida. president bush has one really big regret about the bush tax can cuts. that's coming up. real fit briefs, and today we are surprising pro football all stars. there's wes, clay and demarcus.what's up guys. now i know you don't need one, but would you try these on for charity and prove

lawrence is tracking the forecast, but first let's send it over to frank mullet code who ditched the desk and is live at at&t park, a pretty good gig that you have there? >> yes, not a bad sign it. it is nice to get out of the studio and have a little fun. so far the rain has held up although these guyskies look, miss. we have 40,000 fans of that stuff themselves into at&t park and they're happy to be here. the giants are happy to be back as they have only 12 out of six on their opening road trip. the giants are excited, the fans are excited, how about at&t park? it is ready also. it takes time to wash off six months of winter slumber. rushing the ball yard inside and out. screaking away the memories of the season now forgotten because it is time to >> play ball! >> yes, the beard is back and so is a freak. the giants' 56 home opener and at&t is getting some major- league tlc. >> it is the coming of spring and summer, it is a symbolic day, and i think that there will be a few dentist appointments happening. >> you have to be there in this part that has better sightlines, more food ch

do you disagree with your former professor lawrence tribe? >> i revere lawrence tribe and i think he's completely wrong here. i don't get what this controversy is about. it's a totally phony, made-up controversy. barack obama did not suggest he was not going to comply. he did not suggest the supreme court didn't have the authority to overturn the health care law. he simply said the court, in his opinion, should not do it. presidents express opinions about the constitutionality of laws all the time. he signed this law. of course he thinks it's constitutional. so the idea that there is some challenge to the court seems to me completely absurd. >> but, jeffrey, the president said it was unprecedented if the supreme court were to overturn a law passed by the house and senate signed into law by a president of the united states, that's what the u.s. supreme court has been doing for a couple hundred years. >> since marbury versus madison they have the authority to overturn laws. no one is challenging that. what's unprecedented in the president's opi

>> lawrence, i'm hearing it pretty clear. i've listened to it and i've walked away from it and listened it to again. i'm not comfortable repeating what i am hearing but it is -- >> it is that racial slur fing and then the racial slur for black people. >> tom owen, on that point, do you have a finding on what he was saying at that sgloint i was not asked to make any finding but i will attempt to do that and that will come out in the near future. >> okay. just to clarify. to go forward, would it be helpful for you to have a tape of trayvon martin's voice and what kind of tape would work? would a voice mail or something like that be usable so that you could try to use your systems for determining whether that is his voice that we are hearing crying for help? >> in cases like this, lawrence, in cases like this i would love to be able to review as much family archive video footage as possible and find a section of trayvon's voice in an elevated mood like playing a video game perhaps or being at a party in a high spirit or laughing

couple other things, lawrence. don't forget, despite the similar numbers, the horse race number overall is pretty close right now. i think that's something that the obama campaign needs to worry about. but if they can convincingly answer this notion that barack obama is in over his head with the kind of speech he gave tonight, i think he's going to be in very good shape. as for mitt romney, how do you fix the likability problem? how do you do that? how do you do that? because if you -- >> got time. >> come up with a better dog story. >> if he could -- if he could do that, he could make more of a race out of this. instead, i was talking to david axelrod in the obama campaign earlier tonight. romney's words are hot, accusatory, broad, nasty, that's not going to help him on the likability front with independent voters. no matter what case he's making against barack obama. >> right. >> go ahead, karen. >> i was going to say, that's part of why what you hear him saying is nice guy but in over his head. they know, people

with lawrence o'donnell. have a night. >>> president obama went to mitt romney's home state of michigan and got thunderous applause. mitt romney went to the site of this year's democratic national convention. and just got thunder. >> be an effort by the "vast left wing conspiracy". >> the crazy right rears its head. >> mitt romney's vast left wing conspiracy. >> not part of some grand scheme. >> he believes in a vast left wing conspiracy. >> this is not exactly a grand idea. >> mitt romney is giving a pre butt al to president obama. >> set to be on a rooftop venue overlooking bank of america stadium. >> site of the convention in charlotte, north carolina. >> o moved indoors due to rain. rain on mitt's parade. >> we'll continue to hear more. >> even if you like barack obama, we can't afford barack obama. >> he will contort his thoughts and beliefs to meet that. >> he's got these ideas. >> mitt romney has begun the process of choosing a running mate. >> we've got a long list of people. >> something with a diffe

>> you know what lawrence? it's a mystery and then again, it's totally obvious, right, the republicans know they are in trouble with women, independent women, married and unmarried women, women in swing states. the idea i got an e-mail from the romney campaign an hour ago, subject line, war on moms. the idea that a comment from hillary rosen amounts to a war on mom. there's nothing that i can say loud enough for that. if we are talking about the war on moms i would point mitt romney and the republican party to a "new york times" story talking about single moms who are looking in the garbage for bottles and cans to recycle so they can have money to put food on the table. that is the war on moms and that is something that the republicans have no interest in solving or tackling in a meaningful way. >> chris hayes i have david plouffe coming up, i will ask him where the war on moms' room is in the layout on the west wing. this is one of those ridiculous things. everyone knows what hillary rosen meant, who is a moth

what does it cost to be a student at sarah lawrence? >> the all in cost for next year will top $60,000. >>60,000 for one year? >> for one year. >> reporter: university president, karen lawrence insists her school, which provides an average of $31,000 of financial aid is worth every penny. >> 90% of the classes are seminar with an average of 11 or 12 in a class. >> reporter: those small classes means lots of faculty, and that costs a lotted. >> you are paying for the attention of the faculty. their salaries are not inflated, but you are -- >> you need more people? >> you need more people. and that's where the money goes. >> reporter: sandy grax*ez. she's a senior economic fellow at george washington university in the capitol which is the $55,000 a year is pretty pricey >> in other industries we found waips to reduce costs with fewer labor hours. we haven't for exampled out how to do that in education. >> reporter: the result? college tuition has risen as twice the pies of inflation. in fact, they've doubleed in 10 years. >> faculty salar

lawrence o'donnell, thank you for your time. >> do you want to come on my show tonight?e to. >> can i bring my friend, chris hayes? >> about if he's available or anyone else you feel -- any escort you want. >> i will be this there tonight. you can catch lawrence and me -- >> around 10:00. >> somewhere around 10:00. it's my friday. i couldn't be happier. my fourth day of the week is the end of my week. >> and he will rest on the fifth. coming up, john boehner and paul ryan push back at criticism from the catholic church over the plans to cut programs for the poor. but isn't the church just practicing what so many republicans often preach? that's the subject of my postscript next. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, or, a new location for my next restaurant. when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners, and the community amazing t

>> i believe so, lawrence. i certainly hope so. i think you said it best. for a changeç does have professional legal representation. and i think mark o'mara represented himself well. i think angela corey represented herself well. she showed a great deal of compassion toward whom she called the constitutional victims in this case and those would be the martin family. i think there is an opportunity for calm here because what has happened, as reverend sharpton has said, this is not a moment for celebration because a tragedy has occurred but the people of this country, all over the country cried out and everyone spoke up and while it's probably not appropriate to say that prosecution was brought as a result of people crying out and protesting and what have you, and wearing hoodies, it is probably appropriate to say that there was another review, a greater and more careful and more deliberate review of the case because people cried out. i think chris matthews said earlier, the heat brought light and so as a result of that we have this. we may even be able to s

now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." have great night. >>> after two quickly called wins in maryland and washington, d.c., nbc news declares mitt romney the winner in wisconsin. mitt romney leads rick santorum with newt gingrich and ron paul trailing far behind. the maryland republican primary, nbc news projects mitt romney will win. romney leads santorum in maryland with gingrich and fall far behind and in washington, d.c., where rick santorum is not on the ballot, nbc news projects mitt romney will win that primary beating newt gingrich and ron paul. >>> joining me now is chuck todd, nbc news political director, chief white house correspondent and host of msnbc's "the daily rundown." chuck, wisconsin is where everybody's looking tonight. what do we learn about mitt romney's strengths tonight? and the future of rick santorum? >> well, i think not only to we know the demographics are destiny once again. wisconsin told you was going to be a little bit closer to being more like somewhere in between an illinois republican p

lawrence and mr.ually having sex when police burst into mr. lawrence's apartment and arrested them. in any case that is what they were charged with, two consenting adults charged with having a kind of tex illegal in texas. in 1998, when they were arrested, mr. lawrence and mr. garner both vowed to contest the fine they were charged and to appeal their case and did all the way to the united states supreme court. in june 1993, nearly five years after they were arrested, the supreme court quashed the case against them, struck down the texas law. >> until today, it was legal for individual states to at least try to legislate what went on in the bedroom. not anymore. ho homosexual conduct is no longer a crime. nbc news justice correspond pete williams is with us from the court tonight. good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you. people on both sides of this issue are calling it the most significant gay rights issue ever. the government cannot use moral grounds to make private sexual conduct illegal. th

>> well, i think it's really kind of an act of desperation, lawrence. think it's an example of how out of touch the church is with the lay people. you know, we see with gay issues particularly. and you refer to the parishes in seattle that are refusing to go along with the campaign to overturn gay marriage there. we have national polls showing it's 71% of american catholics support civil marriage for same-sex couples. we have a hierarchy that is very much out of touch with where the people of the church are. and i think people need to be very careful about throwing around hitler comparisons. >> sister jeanine, what do you make of the vatican's reaction to american nuns? >> well, may i comment on the -- >> please. >> the statement that the bishop made comparing president obama with hitler or stalin. i think that bishops need to be very careful about making comparisons that are totalitarian. because there's been much criticism justifiable criticism that the government of the catholic church is very totalitarian. and that is what we're seeing now with the

i think both sides start out, lawrence, with 47% of the vote. that middle part of the electricity rate is critical. mitt romney needs to get into the general election against president obama and get out of the fight with rick santorum that pulled his favorable ratings down to 34%. plus, the came pain needs to begin the process of merging with want republican national committee off-loading some overhead and expenses to the national committee. so at this point when rick santorum has no chance of being the nominee and mitt romney for sure is going to be the nominee, it's good for this to start winding down. i think that rick santorum is going to be under a lot of pressure not to do more injury, not to do more damage in a race that he has no plausible chance of winning. >> chuck todd, steve schmidt, rachel maddow, thank you for joining me tonight. come ing up the president was unleashed today in a sfeech in washington, specifically unleashed on paul ryan and mitt romney by name. that's next. in the rewrite tonight, another episode in the politics of

trying a little touchscreen tonight, lawrence. bear with me. the college graduates, no college degree, romney won that category. he lost, this is where santorum wong non-college educated republicans. both in michigan and in ohio. not the case here in wisconsin. and finally, the evangelical vote which was not large in wisconsin in comparison to in ohio, but look at this among evangelicals. santorum is going to win them but only by two points. what we're seeing in our exit polls, what we're seeing in the actual raw returns is that that coalescing. it's starting. and in wisconsin, when you think about it, lawrence, there were two big popular republicans in the conservative movement who got behind romney over the weekend. one is ron johnson, a big tea party favorite, that new u.s. senator. the other is paul ryan. watching ryan introduce romney tonight and seeing how base republicans reacted to president obama targeting paul ryan today in that speech, i think there's going to be a lot of pressure on mitt romney to pick paul ryan and while that might

now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >>> with president obama's lead over mitt romney increasing, romney is looking for ways he can agree with the president. and today, he found one. >> their new theme is the war on women. there is no war on women. >> there's really not a gender problem in the republican party. >> the fact of the matter is, it's a fiction. >> snap out of it. >> last year, there were 1,100 anti-woman provisions introduced in state legislatures. >> there is no war on women. >> we have eight states that are trying to de-fund planned parenthood. >> i also feel the government should cut off funding to planned parenthood. >> we have 13 states trying to push the same mandatory ultrasound bills. >> you have to close your eyes -- >> i could go on and on. >> the democrats said we had a war on cather pillecater pil ee problem with caterpillars. >> the republicans really embarrassed themselves. >> we do suffer from p.m.s. -- >> new controversy at augusta national golf club. >> a question of whether women should be members of augusta. >> women are not allowed to be

you can tweet your answers to me at lawrence or at the show @thelastword. ♪ open up.e have come for the foul, unholy beast. the one with the red markings. the miracle whip? stand aside that we may burn it. [ indistinct shouting ] have you ever tried it? it's actually quite sweet... and tangy. ♪ i like sweet things. [ man ] shut up, henry. ♪ a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions... [ beeping ] ...to bring all the right results. it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ >>> republican voters are now glumly settling for the prospect of mitt romney as their nominee for president after spending the better part of the year desperately searching for anyone but mitt romney. i'll explain what they were hoping to find in their search for anyone but mitt. it wasn't someone with better policy positions. it was something more important than that. and

thank you, and go giants. >> hi, i'm lawrence lee -- >> hold on, it's actually mr. nolty first. >> oh, i'm sorry. >> can you do everything at once? all right, thank you very much. my name's michael nolty, i'm the executive vice president for district six, a planning organization formed in 1999 to deal with district batteries and concerns. here today, i'm here today to talk about holiday plaza and the block from mason to market street. and this is this block here. this block is a part of the tenderloin, not union square. it is a part of the district, if you look at your maps, you'll see these are the boundaries of the central market c.b.d. and, this block contains the bristol hotel at 56 mason and many social services organizations at 944 market, which is right here. which i have to be a volunteer at one of those offices. please, so please place this block back into district six where it belongs. again for the audience out there in never, neverland, here again is another map of the market c.b.d. and the block that we're talking about. and here is the actual descripti

lawrence tribe, well known, a liberal law professor at harvard. his conservative judges seem to agree with lawrence tribe. here's what the president said. let's talk about this a little bit more. >> okay. >> i'm confident that the supreme court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected congress. >> that's the clip. as you know since 1803 marbury versus madison, that's exactly what the supreme court has been doing and now he's saying as lawrence tribe points out this would be unprecedented? >> well, he is saying it would be unprecedented in this context. i mean, remember, this is a president who is asking the courts to overturn the defensive marriage act. it's obvious that the president knows the courts can overturn laws. the courts have been doing this for many, many years. you don't have to be a lawyer to know that the united states supreme court has the power to overturn a law. i don't know how you could be so willfully obtuse with all du