joined now by marc elias, cofounder of democracy docket and partner at elias law group which in fact that lawsuit. mark, thank you for joining on this. we appreciate. at the former president mentioning what is happening there in arizona. i know that you filed an appeal, i believe with the ninth circuit. what was your reaction initially to the decision by the judge? >> obviously, like many people, i was quite disappointed by the decision. the first amendment does not grant people the right to intimidate voters. first amendment is not a blank check to stick up college of boxes and try to demonize people who are voting. through a legal way that is authorized by arizona law. the first amendment is not a gun to be held to the head of democracy. itself so we filed an appeal with the ninth circuit which is a court that oversees the district court in arizona last night. we filed a brief seeking an emergency stay. before that court and we will see where we go from there. what i can say to republicans and conservatives that if you intimidate voters. if you engage in a -- suppression, you will

joining me now is marc elias, phoning first year thoughts in that scene, captured in arizona. >> it's's shameful that even out going on two years after donald trump lost his election in 2020 that republican leaders are still not willing to call out what is now dangerous voter suppression. it is bad enough that they engaged in irresponsible rhetoric but you now have people being intimidated and harassed as they vote legally. voting by drop box in arizona is legal. there is nothing suspicious about it, there is nothing wrong about it and if people are going to engage in this type of behavior, they are going to get sued. >> this is part of what seems to me a broader strategy. this reporting in new york magazine which quartered about mitchell, which was donald trump's lawyer active and some litigation to overturn the election, training trump loyalist to monitor polls on election day. he said if we have a crisis in our country we are headed toward election subversion and certification crisis. what should folks be doing about people being trained to pull watch who apparently seem to be trai

joining me now is one of the lawyers behind that lawsuit, democratic voting rights attorney, marc elias so much for being here. can you just describe what these guys in tactical gear, and masks who are reportedly also with guns, what are they doing at these drop off boxes? >> they are intimidating voters. i mean, let's just call it out for what it is. they are not there because they want to observe. they are there because they want to create an environment that makes people afraid to use ballot drop boxes. ballot drop boxes in arizona are entirely legal. there is nothing suspicious about them. and a group of election deniers and big lie advocates have arranged this, so that people are afraid to vote. >> and who are those guys? do you know who they are? >> so, we named the organization that seems to be the umbrella for this effort, and its leader. we also named a series of john doe and jane doe defendants, because as you say, some of the people who were at these polling locations at masked, our armed, are otherwise acting in a way that it's hard to identify who they are. but if we identi

marc elias is an attorney on the front lines in that fight for american democracy. voting rights legislation. the founder of democracy doctrine, it's great to have you here. mark, i want to talk, first about a story that we have been covering a lot wishes these folks dressed up sometimes in tactical gear, sometimes with their cameras outside ballot drop boxes in arizona. federal lawsuit filed against one of the groups for doing that, there isn't a right-wing group abandoned it. in turn, i want to read from there, what they said to their members. he hammer has unfortunately fallen, we the lines of liberty have been named in a federal lawsuit during this fact and possible restraining order. we are stepping down our sponsorship of operation drop boxes. this seems like a welcome development amidst a lot of bleak news. >> it is. but i think we need to keep in mind that this is one group. it is great they are now stopping violating federal voting rights laws. but there are others. there are other lawsuits going on. and this lawsuit continues in arizona gets other groups.

, a fighter for voting rights. -- when i did all my voting rights work, it was marc elias who i workedtalk about 2008, but 2020 saw the first major explosion of voting and election litigation. according to democracy docket's own tracking, 150 voting and election cases were filed in 2020. hundred 48 have already been filed this year. you are little getting -- what forms of voter suppression are worrying you the most out there? >> first of, all thanks for having me on and it is great to see you again. this is unprecedented. when we say that there were 150 lawsuits in all of 2020, that included the six that were filed and lost by donald trump. we are already in excess of that and it is only october and so, what we are seeing is a multi pronged effort by the republican party to make voting harder and to subvert election results and that includes attacking the role of poll workers, challenging the ability to vote at all. -- and the use of the court to preemptively try to loosen rules on full challenging and tighten the rules on -- >> can we talk about one of the states in particular, georgi

joining me now is one of the worst behind that lawsuit, democratic voting rights attorney, marc eliasch for being here. can just describe what this does in tactical gear and masks who are reportedly also have guns? what are they doing at these drop off boxes? >> they're intimidating voters. -- they are not there because they want to observe. they're there because they want to creighton environment. that makes people afraid for ballot drop boxes. ballot drop backs in our zone are entirely legal. there is nothing suspicious about them. and a group of election deniers and but -- advocates. have a range this. so that people are afraid to vote. >> who are those guys. but so we named the organization that seems to be the umbrella for this effort. and eight leader. we also name -- we and some of the people who are at these polling locations are masked, our armed, are otherwise active in a way that is hard to identify who they are. but if we identify who they are as defendants of the lawsuit. >> so, we just filed a lawsuit. it -- i would think that being with a gun, at the ballot drop box, an

. >> marc elias, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. >>> still ahead on this saturday, cnn's dana bash sits down with doug emhoff about what it's like to be the husband of a vice president. "being the second gentleman" premieres at 8:00 eastern on cnn. >>> the white house is now accusing russia of "weaponizing food" after russia withdraws from a key grain deal with ukraine. efficiency-right now. allow monitoring of productitivy at remote job sites, with next-generation bandwididt. enable ai cameras that spot factctory issues in real time, using next-generation speed. and deliver ultra-capacity 5g coverage that's years ahead of the competition. t-mobile for business has 5g that's ready right now. from the #1 fiber brand comes metamucil gummies. getting your daily fiber is now even easier. made with prebiotic plant based fiber to support your digestive health. each servingas 5 grams of fiber and no added sugar. metamucil fiber gummies. you love closing a deal. but hate managing your business from afar. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instant

we are joined by marc elias, founder of the democracy docket.y to you, sir. >> thanks for having me. >> you are a lawyer so recognized in this area that people often make you either their first call or as you may know online their first diss because some people in the republican party don't like it, although unlike, say, giuliani or others, you haven't been sanctioned or anything. you're just doing litigation. with that in mind, why don't you tell us what you're seeing, and is it fundamentally different than, say, the old days of back to bush v. gore where there were cases and they were hard fought but they weren't like this? >> yeah. so you're exactly right. what we're seeing now is like nothing we've ever seen before. and just to give you some perspective, my first post-election dispute was over a senate seat after the 1996 election in louisiana between mary landrieu and woody jenkins. and i was involved in a number of what you would think would be fairly contentious ballots after that, including harry reid's recount in 1998, al franken. but w

. >> marc elias, thank you very, very much. we appreciate your coming on the show today. >> thank you. >>> and joining us now, the co-founder and ceo of all in together, lawrence o'donnell -- lauren leader. i wanted to play interviews with general psaki from western pennsylvania, the town of braddock. a group of parents canvassing for planned parenthood. here's an exchange the canvasser had with a pennsylvania mother of four. >> hi, amanda. . i'm with planned parenthood. i just wanted to make sure you're aware of the candidates running in this election. >> i am. >> okay, you are? josh shapiro is running for governor. the one thing about shapiro that's important, and you have children, he's going to protect the rights of women. >> that's important. >> that's going to be very important. he's going to protect health care. he's also going to protect our abortion rights, which are important as well, because as you know the supreme court struck down roe v. wade. >> yeah. >> turned it back to the states. >> that's pretty ridiculous. >

getting immediate relief for the voters in maricopa county and the entire state of arizona, -- >> marc elias for your time, i'm interested to hear what the hearing is going to be tomorrow morning. it is intriguing that the courts are willing to move so quickly, i would love to say apprized and up on the case. thank you mark. we have much more, stay with us. us. ♪ ♪ woah, surprised to see you here. how's your head? all good man. [vacuum cleaner] advil targets pain at the source. when pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liquid gels. hi, i'm ron reagan, an unabashed atheist. and i'm alarmed, as you may be, by the intrusions of religion into our secular government. that's why i'm asking you to join the freedom from religion foundation, the nation's largest and most effective association of atheists and agnostics working to keep state and church separate, just like our founders intended. please join the freedom from religion foundation today. ron reagan, lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in hell. seatgeek is the ticketing app for fans like freedom from religion foundation today. b

. >> democratic party lawyer th marc elias was hysterical as well. quote, i am here until he tickss me off. ma the thing is , marc klaas isn't going to be kicked off with her now.we >> wto be.e don't want him to bb by the way. we think everyone should be able to speak ab,le td because that's the basis off a free country when we don't have that, you have to tell terrorism and only people who are benefiting from it support it. >> the whole point of the transaction is to maked certain that everyone can talk. that did this.n musk the point is to stop censoring all people, period. cas the popular kind ofee to sa comfortably smug put it, quote, we're celebrating because we're. that's free to say what we want. exat's what they took from us and that's why they're terrifie d. exactly.want so a the people who've alwaysre then able to say whatever they want are upset not becauseer their right to speak is under threat, because you nod w have . the right to speech and thebe hatecause that is now it's morf a fair fight. restorin.g free speech is the e main reason t