joining me now is carla marinucci, senior righter at politico, melissa murray, professor at uc berkeley law school and university of san francisco political science professor james taylor. welcome to you all. so melissa, in addition to jeff sessions announcement of several investigations into leaks, he's also been aggressive about pushing the conservative agenda and describe what he's done in the last six months. >> president trump may be skeptical about jeff sessions and his recusal but he's been prosecuting a conservative agenda since his appointment and he has begun mandating that prosecutors bring forth and prosecute to the maximum in terms of charging decisions and sentences that they seek, they have expanded the rules for police authority for issuing as set seizures those that haven't been convicted or charged with a crime and mandated prosecution of immigration crimes on the border and in sanctuary cities. >> so this rose back the obama era policies and 20 years worth of research into criminal justice reform. >> absolutely. california, there is a lot of concern, when you talk abo

melissa murray? melissa: that is a test question. i do agree with clark that a would have record been clear with the stakes were for many women seeking abortions, or unable to get them. you would have to think it would states forfor the the interest of maternal health, and in the name of immorality. think one of the difficulties is you don't have that record. for that reason, you don't get the voices of the many participants and constituencies affected by the decision. host: how would you answer that? clarke: some issues in a democracy are simply not finally settled, and may take decades to settle such issues, especially issues of strong cultural current. but i do believe that i think it is clear that roe has unsettled this issue more, and the court had not stepped in and left to the american people, it will provide the opportunity for public opinion to affect public policy, and be more in line with public policy. and the fact that public opinion is out of sync with the broad sweep of roe versus wade has kept this issue simmering for

melissa murray teaches at university of berkeley. welcome to our series. melissa: thank you for having me. host: clark wrote the book on roe v. wade. his book is called "abuse of discretion" and his day job is a for americans united for life. thank you for being with us. clark: thank you for having me. host: this is a landmark case, and what the constitutional issues were provided by the let's -- case. let's start here. melissa: it is a very controversial decision. the decision decriminalized abortion throughout the united states. most of the states in the united states made a portion a crime. any woman wishing to terminate pregnancy had to go to the handful of states that did permit it, or leave the country entirely. the fact that the court made this decision was an amazing thing in 1973. it is a view of the democratic process, and what was happening on the ground in the states and the court feeling it needed to intervene. clark: it was a sweeping decision. it created a public health vacuum because there were no abortion laws left on the books of every kin