before 2010, there was a division in the legislature in illinois. democrats and republicans came together on a neutral draw. it codes as a republican gerrymander because so many democrats live in illinois. then when the democrats took over in 2010, they did the most egregious pro-democrat gerrymander you could imagine. they said republicans were going to do all these horrible things. and what does that egregious pro-democrat gerrymander code as? as neutral. that's right. republicans in illinois would be shocked to find that according to this metric, that map was a-ok. in fact, it was a little bit pro-republican. democrats would be pretty surprised to hear that. so this entire push, this partisan symmetry pushed, which is what is going on with the partisan gerrymandering rhetoric, is a trojan horse with a one-way benefit so that illinois democrats can gerrymander as much as they want , not just making up for the fact that they live in illinois, but the republican gerrymander is an egregious gerrymander. it certainly understandable why the party is pu

there was a division in the legislature in illinois. and democrats republicans came together on a draw. that neutral draw was a republican gerrymander because so many democrats lived in illinois. in the most egregious pro- democratic it to make gerrymander anybody new. and then to do all these horrible things to the public. what that egregious call that it is neutral prorepublican. with a gerrymandered a republicans that according to the metrics to say it's okay. and those democrats who enacted that now surprised to hear that. so this entire push which is actually what is going on with the partisan gerrymandering rhetoric is a trojan horse. they can gerrymander is much as they want and then they say just makes it for the fact the democrats are in illinois but if it was republican that is egregious. one supports the democratic party it is understandable. so much media attention. sometimes the republican party challenges sometimes the other supports the challenges. so the reason that doesn't happen anymore is the series of gerrymandering

the constitution gives state legislatures the power to legislate elections. the power is vested within legislatures and there is an interesting debate about this throughout 2020, when you saw groups, particularly groups on the left suing in states across the country and using what are called consent degrees or settlements in court, to get state officials to essentially counteract election laws and change laws on the fly. that is a process my group opposed and we supported a lawsuit in minnesota which got the eighth circuit to rule the constitution does give this power to legislatures to write election laws, and executive officials cannot change them. i agree 100% about where that power is vested. host: nancy, republican, evans, georgia. caller: i was calling about this last election and the guy that keeps talking about -- first of all, i can tell he hasn't read what governor kemp just past. number one, we don't need the federal government getting into our business in georgia or any other state, and i voted here every election we've had. there should be no pro

this would just give the republican legislature more control of the board. there is another law that allows the legislature to replace underperforming elections officials, and that is seen as direct scrutiny of fulton county, georgia's most populous county, also well-known for being plagued by election problems over the last decade or two. what that means is you replace an elections official, cannot overturn the election results. those election officials have a lot of leeway over how certain ballots are counted. whether or not provisionals are counted. this is not an issue this year, but there was in previous elections, whether or not signatures on the ballots are mismatched and should be counted. episodes in 2018 where one suburban county rejected signature mismatches at a higher rate than others. those election officials have a large say in how those local matters are handled. in an election as close as we had in georgia last year, about 11,000 votes dividing trump and biden, that could come into play. when it comes to the long lines, voters i talked to in

but the legislature is the problem actor. many of those elections went through. we elected illegitimately elected representatives which is why it was problematic. that's why we need a new section five. >> thank you. some states such as the state of washington have implemented policies that expand voters access to the ballot while other states have not or have actively worked to restrict access. why? why is it important for congress to act on voting rights? >> thank you for that question. the history and the experience is that states do have some freedom to prescribe their own voting laws. we also have an experience of states engaging in very serious discrimination against voters. it persists to the current date. i contend that it persists to enactments of last week that are now being challenged. the pattern is very clear that there is a federal role. there are multiple supreme court precedents acknowledging the federal power to pass laws that regulate elections. the voting rights act is regarded as the most important enactment of congress in the 20th century. the

to the legislature issuing an executive order give the legislature an opportunity to pass legislation to ban vaccine passports was it passes through the house with the senate, next week filing suit, society -- to be marginalized and that is who we are as americans. >> the cruise industry, governor desantis is trying to open the cruise industry. the cdc is going to recommend cruises only reopen if vaccines are required for passengers going on cruises. what will you do just like governor desantis to say no, we are not going along with this, what can you do? you have to go to court. >> we are working with the cruise line industry and here is the reality everybody needs to understand. these vaccines have not been formally approved by the fda. they've been approved for emergency use operations. no one can be required to take the vaccine. that is why these businesses can't be forcing people show up with vaccine certificates. >> tara chambers has a question about the mandates for masks. >> i would like to ask how the mask mandates could potentially be conditioning the american people for oth

that the legislature itself created in each c are 11. so in closing, as we enter the 2021 regular session and hands closer to the covid pandemic, i am hopeful because the people of louisiana are as resilient as ever. and 2020, we had many dark and cloudy days. it felt downturn had gone away, tomorrow's line for most louisiana song. but better days are here and even better days are ahead. i was thinking about this recently as we celebrated easter. and i know that easter is a time that renews our hope and faith and brighter days to come. in this first letter to the test alone eons, st. paul told them and he tells us, always pray without ceasing and in all things, give thanks. for this is the will of god in crisis jesus. i know how hard it's been to find ways to rejoice or give thanks during the pandemic and natural disasters, but it is getting better now. a new day is dawning with every single shot in every arm. and while we are 10,241 rays of sunshine dimmer here in louisiana, we're going to keep their memories shining while working hard

host: how many states have required an independent commission or source to do their legislatures? guest: i should've counted before we went on air. the number has grown in recent years. new mexico just past an advisory council that will create this and they would could tinker with the legislature if they want. that was the big trend of redistributing in the last decade. they want to create as many of these new districts as possible to draw the lines out of the state legislatures. looking at where either party controls the redistricting process, it is clear republicans have a substantial advantage. they have the power to draw somewhere around 187, 189 -- of course you've got big pockets of democrats even in red states. to present the democrats who have the power to have about 80 districts. republican start off with an advantage. they are controlled by that independent redistricting commission or the six states that have one member but don't get to redraw the congressional maps. host: states like california and new york spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get a complete count.

i said to the legislature, i'll issue an executive order or give the legislature an opportunity to pass legislation to ban vaccine passports. it just passed through the house and heading to the senate and should have it on my desk next week. it's marginalized in society. it's not who we are as americans. >> laura: governor abbott, the cruise industry -- governor desantis is all over this -- wanting to open the cruise industry. the cdc will recommend that cruises reopen if vaccines are required for passengers going on cruises. what will you do just like governor desantis to say no, we're not going along with this and these corporations that are demanding it. what can you do to fight that? you have to go to court. >> we've been working with the cruise line industry. here's a reality that everybody needs to understand. these vaccines have not been formally approved by the fda. they've been approved for emergency use operation. that means that no one can be required to take the vaccine. that's why these businesses can't be enforcing people to show up with some vaccine certificate or somethi

changes to hong kong's electoral system by the number of people directly elected to hong kong's legislature has been reduced to less than a quarter the election committee which selects the city's leader has expanded by $300.00 seats which will be picked by pro beijing groups but whatever happened to hong kong's gradual progress toward universal suffrage as inscribed in the mini constitution well our constitution says that universal suffrage is the ultimate aim in the light up actual situation and an orderly and grandchildren know that developments in the past 2 decades have been far from satisfactory mask elections have returned rep aransas intact the people who are hostile to beijing and we cannot allow that situation to continue in other words the outcomes have not been good so beijing needs to take a close look at rewrites the moves there when you say that's what we're doing but when you say rewrite the rules you're saying the gradual progress toward universal suffrage is no longer an aim we still have a major mass participation element we still we will have 20 seats elected by universal

by definition cannot take away votes of people because you both for legislatures. logically your point does not sustainn, you both are legislatures, you consent to them legislating over you, legislatures is actually where state election law is invested and this actually gets back to anthony fauci. what does this mean that we have as people to concentrate so much power into one individual. so i would rather have one attorney general, one person have all that power than a body of i don't have any people in the legislature in georgia, we have 100 in our state legislature in iowa, i would rather take my chances if i don't like it the way things are being done i will take my chances if i can come up with ten or 15 people in that particular lock that could block what i don't like that are duly elected and directly accountable to me every two years than one singular official and i don't know what his motivations are, i think that is an upgrade if you want more accountability i would rather have the body that's most directly accountable i would rather have them without pow

of the arizona state legislature, paid for by the taxpayers of the great state of arizona. good luck, arizona. your state just voted for two democratic u.s. senators and for the democratic candidate for president. but arizona republicans, what do they have to offer? arizona republicans, you do you. you just keep keeping on. i'm sure it'll work. >>> in texas today republicans there have some new head winds as well. this follows on an interesting way from something we reported on last night' show. last night's show we talked about the fact that two huge corporations and huge employers headquartered in georgia, the cockle company and delta airlines, both came out yesterday in strong terms denouncing the anti-voting rights law that just passed the republican-controlled legislature in georgia and was signed by georgia's republican governor. well, those actions however late this were, have seemed to rung a bell. as republicans try to attack voting rights all over the country. tonight american airlines and dell computers both big corporations, both major employers, both headquarte

and the massive quantity sold by a georgia legislature to a group of new englanders. this is the final sale called the england, mississippi land company. and they were all scoundrels but well respected scoundrels and the georgia legislature we learn. a wonderful book by peter mcgraw called yazoo was almost to a man bribed by these guys to agree to the terms of sale. the only legislator who wasn't bribed was absent. he was home six so he didn't show up to get his check and so he wasn't bribed but the rest of them apparently were according to peter mcgraw's book charles hobson, by the way also has another wonderful book about the yazoo claims and the pleasure versus pec decision that came out of them. well this this legislature having sold off much of george's western patrimony was ousted by the good voters of georgia and the succeeding election new gang came in first official act was to tear from the statute book the act that had authorized the sale of george's much of george's western domain. this is my favorite story may or may not be true. but peter mcgraw relates i

well, this legislature, having sold off much of georgia's patromony was ousted. ousted by the good voters of the georgia in the succeeding election. new gang came in. first official act was to tear from the statute book the act that authorized the sale of georgia's -- much of georgia's western domain. this is my favorite story. may or may not be true, but peter mcgraw relates it, and others do, too, that they took the capital as milledgeville and they took a sheet of paper to the main square in milledgeville and they dragged out of retirement this old revolutionary war veteran and had him put on his uniform, or a uniform, and, the old guy sort of hobbled down to the square and they handed him a magnifying glass. many of you, as i never did this, but i knew people who did, tortured insects as children with magnifying glasses and tortures may be putting it mildly. immolated insects, i guess. and what they had this guy do as they publicly repudiated this act of sale as satanically inspired. they had the old guy hold up a magnifying glass and fry the document. the sy

voter laws in the country now being pushed country now being pushed through the legislation texas legislature, but all workers fighting that. fighting that he'll be joining us to discuss that. but rachel, before you go, i gotta tell you about funny thing happened to me on the way to the tv show today. you know, you know how hard it is these days for a--the author of a scholarly book to get on a show like this, because we have so much breaking news and so many difficult other things of the day that we have to cover. >> well, yeah. >> i had a guest booked today to be a preview guest for the biden address wednesday night. >> okay. >> but but it was one of those things in this i'm sure happens. i'm not sure whether your booker's even tell you this. but you know, every once in a while the deal will be, can you just ask one question about the book? like just one question about the book, like maybe at the end of the interview? and, and i said, yeah, maybe thinking i probably wouldn't. and then i got my hands on the book. and now i just want to do the whole hour on the book. and it is it's gonna get

and we all know that in the legislature in which women were at least the majority 51 percent which is basically their their place in the country demographically then legislature would never pursue us like this and so that's of me is really the key is that our role is to just listen to what they're saying and to do what we can us allies to challenge the guys who are pushing these nonsensical laws and so deliver for these leaders these impacted individuals what they are telling us pain and those are all the things that i mentioned earlier your exact we've got on with that and we need to elect more women. and always a pleasure having you on thank you so much for educating our audience today. thanks for us and thanks for the birthday no. it's true of the i agree i that this country desperately needs more women in office to help to help balance this out so we don't have these one sided laws we absolutely do and we need legislators to listen to the women who are already stepping forward like orrin said it is not it is not a no what women are asking what they need to have healthy families an

the my message to the legislature is simple. pass that bill, get it on my desk, i'll sign it. [ applause ] three additional bills in my package are aimed at improving advocacy for those most vulnerable. the first is establishing a statewide americans with disabilities act coordinator within the division of administration. the ada coordinator will provide educational and technical support for state and local agencies. my administration has made disability rights a cornerstone of our time in office. and i hope the legislature will join us in making sure every louisianan knows they belong. second, we will create an office of human trafficking prevention within the office of the governor. ending human trafficking is an issue that both my wife donna and i are very passionate about. i want to pause just for a moment. to thank you, donna, for all that you've done on this critical issue for our state. [ applause ] thank you, sweetie. we have certainly made progress when it comes to identifying trafficking cases and supporting survivors.

texas is the biggest state where the legislature is trying to restrict the right to vote. there is no more forceful opponent of restricting the right to vote in texas than our first guest tonight. leading off our discussion tonight, beto o'rourke. former-democratic congressman representing el paso, texas. he is the founder of powered by people, on organization helping elect democrats in texas. beto o'rourke, thank you very much for joining us this night. this night became even more important than we thought when texas today picked up what will be two additional congressional seats starting in the next election. what do you think that's going to mean for texas? and what will the texas -- the republican texas legislature do to try to ensure that those are republican seats? >> it makes the fight to secure voting rights. the ability for any-eligible texan to cast their ballot that much more important because, lawrence, i'm convinced, with 40-electoral college votes, texas now clearly becomes the biggest-swing state in the country. and could, very well, decide the next-presiden

republican legislatures in red states trying everywhere around the country to roll back voting rights as far and as fast as they can. in the process, though, they are making outspoken and aggressive enemies of the biggest corporations and the biggest employers in their states. that's probably not good for them for now or for the long run. and if these corporations have legitimately got religion on the issue of protecting voting rights now, if this is just not lip service and trying to stem off a boycott and they discover they are on the side of democracy and being headquartered in a democracy it better, and they've decided this is something that's important to them as corporations and they want to work to defend that, it's going to be fascinating to look at what happens next here. because, as i said, it was a little late when it comes to what we heard from delta and coca-cola. georgia republicans already passed that bill. it's already a law. and georgia republicans are about as likely to repeal their voting law as i am to get a call from paul manafort. they're not just going to roll t

guest: i was in the whip position in the state legislature at one point. and really that is just conveying information, getting some feedback from them on what their position is on certain pieces of policy. host: congresswoman stephanie bice of oklahoma's with us. we welcome your calls and comments. for republicans, (202) 748-8001. democratss, (202) 748-8000. independents and others, (202) 748-8002. we saw an interview with you that talked about the new leaders coming into congress, and a quote from you -- hopefully we will see, now the election is over, some coming together and trying to actually govern again. now, six months since the election, three months since being sworn in, how is that going? guest: i think there are bright spots, certainly challenges. the first piece of legislation i filed last week is a bipartisan piece with congresswoman sara jacobs from california, and has to do with military housing. it is protecting military families with disabilities act. housing contractors have been trying to charge military families to do upgrades to base

the legislature is the problem after here. this is why we need a new section five. >> they have implemented policies, while other states have not were have worked to restrict access. why is it important for congress to vote on -- vote on voting rights? >> thank you for that question. the history and experience is that states have freedom to prescribe their own voting laws, but we have states engaging in very serious discrimination against voters. there is a long history that persists to this day. up until last week, it is being challenged. there are multiple supreme court precedents acknowledging the federal power to pass laws that regulate elections. it is regarded as the most important enactment. roll call had it on that list. the federal is one that is recognized in constitutional amendments. congress has the power to enact legislation, enforce amendments and bring a degree of uniformity. it cannot be left to the state. >> thank you very much. my time is expired, but thank you to the witnesses for your testimony. i will con

tell me about what the companies have been doing in the legislature. i am sure they have fleets of lobbyists. what are the tactics they have used in the legislature to try to influence, intimidate, give us a sense of what is going on. rep. jones: i worked closely on the bill and participated in the writing of it. i can say i was quite surprised by a couple of the companies outrage given that i never heard from a single one of them. if they had -- let me also say that by a couple of the chambers of commerce the very provisions that they wanted retained in law were retained. in fact, we went further by requiring two saturdays of early voting whereas previously it was only one saturday of early voting. so, we expanded the ability for voters for early voting to vote. but yet, i honestly senator cannot explain their reaction other than to say they must fear some of the organizations that have an unbelievable amount of money. we have seen $10 million spent in georgia and accurately portraying the legislation. as you know, if you say something often enough, h

democratic legislature.now the governor cannot veto the bill that draws the congressional lines. you have congressional lines drawn it's almost impossible for democrats to win the u.s. house. i could see going here. that the picture i paint in the book is that the court is chipping away at our voting rights and chipping away just enough because if you've heard everything i said and you are not scared by it, then what i would say to fight in you is the democratic dirty in the house is hanging by a thread with a 50/50 senate there are 45000 voters in georgia wisconsin and arizona voting differently they just haven't shown up in 2020. donald trump would still be president right now. >> or if one of these senators in a purple state dies. >> there all kinds of ways it's hanging on a thread. i think what the supreme court is doing is calamitous leading to a massive shift and who can win elections. but i could be wrong. even if i'm wrong it doesn't have to be a massive shift if the supreme court succeeded to disenf

what series of georgia legislatures attempted to do was sell as much of this land as they could. mostly to new england speculators. some of you will remember the famous yazu controversy which will give rise to a lawsuit. i may actually visit about that. i'll say a word about that now and it will sort of help set the stage because there's a legal rule -- sort of rule that comes out of that that will be relevant in a minute. yazu lands were out in mississippi and massive quantities sold by a georgia legislator to a group of new englanders. this is the final sale called the new england/mississippi land company. they were all scoundrels but well-respected scoundrels. the georgia legislature, we learn in a wonderful book by peter mcgrew was almost to a man bribed by these guys, to agree to the terms of sale. the only legislator who wasn't bribed was absent. he was homesick. so he didn't show up to get his check. he wasn't bribed but the rest of them apparently were, according to peter mcgraw's book. charles hudson also has a wonderful book in the yazu claims in the fletcher versus pec

in our system i believe it will work, they will find new legislatures who are -- legislators who are willing to move this. we are not going to continue the way it has been. we will all prosper. >> does the governor still have the ability to convene? meaning if you call people to your office they show up? you have all been vaccinated, are you going to do hands-on work with legislative leadership, particularly republicans to put some together? >> yeah, and i try the best i can. i stay engaged with them, i understand and to be candid with everyone covid has put a strain on all of these things, a strain on relationships. it is probably not a good relationship when legislators are crafting what inflation to jail the governor for making people wear masks, it is not going to be easy. but if we ask like this is too hard and this is not our moment, for those out there, whatever you are feeling out there, for black families, white families, the sense of dread that was hanging over us, if we do not make these changes, to be clear, we will be right back again with another trial, another trial, a

the court is acting like the legislature. for years, we heard conservatives deride so-called judicial activist judges that would legislate from the bench. that is what the majority is doing now. just in the last 10 days or so you had a ruling from this court that inspired some very fiery defense from sotomayor and other justices because they basically removed the ability for juvenile defendants sentenced to life to ever have their sentences reduced. there have been two rulings from 2012 that set a precedent that that counted as cruel and unusual punishment. in the ruling last week that brett kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion on they said that no matter if somebody has the ability to be reformed and can demonstrate that, it is ok for judges to impose a mandatory life sentences with no possibility of shortening them. that overturned two presidents since 2012 -- precedents since 2012. there was a major forced arbitration case in the last few years that overturned a 40 year precedent. clarence thomas, one of the leading conser

after you spent weeks for condemning your legislature telling the legislature boycotts work i doubt your words are comforting to those who will lose their jobs or have their livelihood affected by major league baseball decision. now turning to secretary gardner again he's been in office since 1976, longer the members of this committee have been alive ago we had a term for those soldiers that were in combat repeatedly. maybe panama or mogadishu even one guy jumped into grenada. they are called been there done that if anyone has been there done that with election laws it is bill gardner. you have repeatedly over decades reviewed election laws. you see before the congress now in the for the people act with sweeping reforms what you think this federalization of state -based election system would due to your elections in new hampshire secretary? >> senator, it would be comparable to the elections in new hampshire. when the federal election campaign act originally passed, there was a threshold state said they would not be affected by it but then within two years states were completely taken ou

most used to work in the legislature as staff members or members of the legislature and do those lobbyists, do they have the access to get into the offices and change this legislation or block this legislation? >> it certainly could have an influence and we saw when texas republicans in 2017 proposed a hateful -- [ inaudible ] and responsible corporations stepped up they were able to stop that. they were able to stop it because it was the wrong thing to do morally and able to make an economic case that it would harm the state why there's a simple case to make right now according to the texas civil rights project to see losses in texas over four years of up to $15 billion but a quick point on this circular logic by the republicans. dan patrick our lieutenant governor offered a million dollar bounty for anyone finding voter fraud. no money was paid out. when the chairman of the house committee asked for evidence of voter fraud he couldn't point to a single case but said the voters i talked to the in the district are concerned about it. rudy giuliani and briscoe cane and the governor are all

she finally proroged the legislature dismissed them. and she had secretly been working on a new constitution. that would restore her royal powers. and in fact from this procession she went back to the iolani palace an announced her new constitution and that was the beginning of the overthrow that set the annexation league the committee of safety. they had a militia company called the honolulu rifles they rose up and by not by coincidence the american minister to honolulu john stevens had worked it out with the captain of the uss boston that when this happened marines would come ashore and sort of end any possibility of active resistance. she was toppled now what she did she wouldn't advocate but under all kinds of threats. she seeded her government not to the coup plotters but to the united states because you remember in england and france tried this 50 years ago. they apologize. they gave us our country back well. harrison had approved a treaty of annexation of hawaii, but he had the bad taste to do this with like days left in his admi

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the constitution gives state legislatures the power to legislate elections.he power is vested within legislatures and there is an interesting debate about this throughout 2020, when you saw groups, particularly groups on the left suing in states across the country and using what are called consent degrees or settlements in court, to get state officials to essentially counteract election laws and change laws on the fly. that is a process my group opposed and we supported a lawsuit in minnesota which got the eighth circuit to rule the constitution does give this power to legislatures to write election laws, and executive officials cannot change them. i agree 100% about where that power is vested. host: nancy, republican, evans, georgia. caller: i was calling about this last election and the guy that keeps talking about -- first of all, i can tell he hasn't read what governor kemp just past. number one, we don't need the federal government getting into our business in georgia or any other state, and i voted here every election we've had. there should be no probl

you have a legislature of 100 people or more. >> reporter: and gun control. >> i support what the president did today, from what i heard, an executive order. there's a lot of things he talked, but the executive order says ghost guns should not be allowed to be legally made or sold or used, it's illegal because they're making them off of printers and you can't protect them. you know, that's negotiations. >> reporter: have there been any negotiations? >> we haven't gotten the bill yet, no, we haven't. i'm happy to work with him. i'll sit down. it's called common gun sense. if you come from a gun culture such as i do in west virginia, i don't think there's a person -- i don't know a person that doesn't have a gun, okay? it's a different different background. i'm anxious to work with him and try to do something in a most constructive way. >> reporter: some of your colleagues joke you're the president of the senate now. do you like this role? how does it feel? >> let me tell you, i've watched people that had power and abused it. i wat