pete williams, nbc news at the supreme court. >>> lots of severe weather tonight in the eastern part of the country with millions facing the possibility of dangerous storms, in a week that's already seen widespread destruction from devastating tornados. we get the latest from nbc's jacob rascon. >> reporter: tonight strong winds, heavy rain and possible tornados wreaking havoc across several states. significant damage reported in parts of virginia, brutal winds tossing large trees into homes. knocking out power to thousands. >> she was screaming, i could not console her, we huddled in the living room. >> portions of the d.c. metro area under a tornado warning as the storm pushed through ripping the roof off this high school building. in florida, at least a dozen homes destroyed by a tornado tornado in okeechobee county, and this massive house fire sparked by lightning. in the midwest, gusts so powerful, they shattered high rise windows in chicago. over 15 million americans face some severe weather threat today. the same system that's ravaged the south all week, forcing more than 1,00

>> pete williams at the supreme court tonight. thanks. while all that drama plays out in washington. president trump's son in law and senior adviser is overseas on a surprise visit to iraq. nbc's hallie jackson with more on why kushner's trip is raising some eyebrows. >> the president's son in law and top adviser in iraq tonight, on a surprise trip with the head of the joint chiefs of staff. jared kushner, thousands of miles from washington. missing meetings at the white house, with egyptian leaders to talk instead with the iraqi prime minister. >> the right person to be in iraq, is the person the president will listen to. >> it's unusual he would travel to iraq before the secretary of state, a sign of kushner's growing influence as he juggles a portfolio that also includes middle east peace talks and overhauling the federal government. >> he has a team that he overseas. and there's a lot of areas he's been working on behalf of the government, on behalf of the president's agenda. >> kushner seems to have influence with the president. as a

pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> to the violence in venezuela.anti-government protesters clashing in the streets with police as the country teeters on the brink politically and economically and general motors will halt operations in venezuela after the one of its car plant. nbc's jacob rascon has more. >> reporter: venezuela is at a breaking point. thousands taking in the streets yet again today after weeks of violent protest in the capital city. more than 400 arrested, at least seven people killed. dr. jorge was on the front lines. >> people are hungry but for democracy, for liberties, for rights. >> reporter: this woman now a symbol of defiance facing down a national guard armored truck. secretary of state rex tillerson voicing concern yesterday. >> we're concern the government is violating its own constitution. >> reporter: the venezuela economy has been in free fall for years after oil prices collapsed leading the wide spread shortages of food, water, medicine and other essentials. protesters blame the president and his socialist government,

our justice correspondent pete williams has that story. >> please raise your right-hand and repeat aftere. >> reporter: the arrival of neil gorsuch with a conservative judicial record restores the ideological makeup of the u.s. supreme court. he takes the seat left vacant by the death 14 months ago of antonin scalia, giving the courts generally conservative justices once again a 5-4 majority, and that may make a difference in one of the most important cases. of the term involving religion and government. on wednesday, the court hears that the preschool was left out of a program to improve school playgrounds. missouri's constitution says no state money can ever be spent to aid a church. but the church says it should not be treated differently when it comes to making playgrounds safer. >> the constitution is clear, the government cannot treat people of faith and their religious organizations like second class citizens. >> but more and its supporters say it's not interfering with the church's religious practices. it just won't subsidize them. >> it is a radical departure from the idea that

savannah. >> pete williams starting us off in washington. thank you. >>> now to the question consuming the white house and investigators at the highest levels of government, was there any connection between the trump campaign and russia's meddling during the election? tonight the president's former national security advisor general michael flynn once one of his most loyal and trusted advisors says he's ready to talk, ready to reveal what he knows and his lawyer says he has quote a story to tell but not without a promise that he cannot be prosecuted for it. will he get a deal and should the white house be worried? nbc's kristen welker with new details. >> reporter: tonight a new cloud of controversy growing over washington, the senate intelligence committee rejecting a request for immunity by president trump's ousted security michael flynn. flynn, who was fired for lying about discussing sanctions with russia's ambassador says he wants immunity for protection against a highly politicized process. his lawyer adding, general flynn certainly has

>> pete williams, thank you. >>> still ahead, saving you money. the negotiators that haggle on your behalf to cut down those big monthly bills. one family saying they saved over $2,000. we'll be back with their story. >>> back now with a consumer alert, how families across the country are finding a new way to slash their bills and save big by hiring someone else to do it for them and you can, too, if you're willing to give up a cut of the savings. nbc's ann thompson explains. >> reporter: popcorn is it paul and julie's business. >> we have white chocolate cranberry and blueberries and cream. >> reporter: offering 80 flavors at the three stores in coastal maine. but what they spend on wireless internet and cable services has left a sour taste. >> almost $500 a month. >> actually more than $500 a month. it's almost $600. >> there you go. >> reporter: we introduced them to sharks, the human kind. >> if you can match that, i'll stay with you guys. >> reporter: bill sharp, professional negotiators that take 40% of the savings they win for customers. >>

we get details from our justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: when trinity lutheran church in colombia, missouri, heard about a program for resurfacing play grounds using rubbers from scrapped tires, it applied for a state grant but the state said no because the constitution says no state money can be given in aid of any church. >> it made us feel like we're second-class citizens like the safety of our kids didn't matter as much as other kids. >> reporter: the state sued saying it was discriminating on religion. >> the church was not seeking favorable treatment, it was seeking equal treatment here. >> reporter: 38 other states have laws like missouri that don't interfere with the religious practices, they just choose not to subsidize them. >> if trinity lutheran wins this case, it will be a radical change from the way we've always treated religious institutions in this country. >> reporter: but a majority on the court seemed to side with the church, including the newest justice neil gorsuch. alana said this is a clear burden on a constitutional right, not to be discriminate

our justice correspondent pete william complains this historic fight. two months after donald trump nominated federal judge neal -- judiciar nominee, all republicans voted yes. >> if judge gorsuch is unacceptable, there will never be a nominee by this president you will find acceptable. never. >> reporter: every democrat voted no. >> no. >> reporter: but the opposition has as much to do with gorsuch as it does with garland, the federal judge nominated by president obama who never even got a hearing. >> what a shameful stain on the proud history of this committee. >> reporter: democrats say garland's treatment broke long-standing senate traditions, so they are preparing to break another tradition mou mounts the first parliament fill you are -- filibuster. >> i'm going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause. >> reporter: but under senate rules it would take 60 senators to head one off and agree to consider garland's nomination and republicans with 52 members don't have the votes to clear that hurdle. solution? simply change the rules ending the

pete williams will weigh in about what lies ahead for justice gorsuch. he'll join us live at 4:30. erin coleman, nbc10 news. >> thank you. in egypt today christians are burying more than 40 people killed in twin suicide bombings at churches. mourners are carrying the victim's caskets through the streets as hundreds look on. the u.s. is condemning what it calls the barbaric attacks. bombers held on palm sunday. at least 17 people were killed at one church, another 27 died in a second church. isis is claiming responsibility. >> secretary of state rex tillerson is in italy for a meeting that has been given added urgency by the developments in syria. tillerson is attending the meeting of g 4. the meeting is being overshadowed by last week's chemical attack and the response by the u.s. military. the group hopes to end a unified mention that russian must end support for syria. >> today we learn more about the future of the philadelphia airport and what it means for passengers like us. lauren mayk found out about some of those big changes we can expect over the next few years. >> reporter

we've got the best team this morning, kristen welker, pete williams at the supreme court, chris murphy and onset with me, foreign policy reporter for the washington post and edward isaac dovere, chief washington correspondent for politico. chriss kristen, to you. let's talk about this threat when it comes to syria. how do you see this day playing out? >> reporter: in terms of the messaging to russia, a lot of tough talk over the weekend from secretary of state rex tillerson and u.n. ambassador nikki haley effectively saying to russia, you're with us or against us and blaming them for not following through with trying to make sure that syria got rid of all of its check ca chemical weapons. especially the secretary of state to press his russian counter part on this point. he's tre in moscow holding talks and potentially a having a meeting with lawsuvladimir puti. you have nikki haycy saying it's time for assad to go. but a very different message from the secretary of state who effect lively said the focus right now is trying to defeat isis. we'll deal with assad later. ultimately it's go

thank you so much, pete williams, mr. supreme court. you are our associate justice. u, pete. >>> and coming up, what's on the line for rex tillerson ahead of his trip to the kremlin? richard haass, the president of the council of foreign relations joining me next right here. our proprietary material automatically adjusts to your weight, shape and temperature. so you sleep deeply, and wake up feeling powerful. tempur-pedic sleep is power. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you in out-of-pocket

. >> pete williams, your analysis now of this new justice. now they are nine. >> right, a blustery day here outside of the supreme court. a little news here first of all. judge gorsuch was back in colorado today watching the vote. got calls of congratulations. the swearing in will happen on monday. supreme court justices get two oaths before they're officially justices. the first wlun one will be here 9:00 in the morning, a private court, the constitutional oath, the same one, later that day. the judicial for the supreme court justices will start working. the court is not in session, okay. the final 13 kiess of the term, symbolically, it will be a departure from the practice of the obama administration if president obama decided that it didn't look right. that you should symbolize their independence by having them sworn in here. so sonia sotomayor were sworn in public ceremonies, but this is different from the normal practice. in terms of the last cases of the term, andrea, those are the only ones he can vote on. he can't vote on any cases th

justice correspondent pete williams is live in our newsroom. pete, can he?> no, the president can't do it by himself. it would take congress and there's bills doing this the last 40 years for two reasons. one, the ninth circuit is the largest circuit, and secondly, most in congress don't like the generally liberal practice of ruling from the ninth circuit, and the president has talked about during the campaign it's the most overturned circuit when it gets to the supreme court. he is right about that. but there is a problem here with a couple of things. number one, the president, as you said, said it was the ninth circuit that made this decision. it was a judge in the ninth circuit, a district court judge, not an appeals judge. his appeal would be made to a judge in the ninth circuit. but republicans will see how they see this case as an example of forum shopping which means you go where you think the judges are most sympathetic. two points about that. that is, that's right out of the republicans' playbook. they went to conservative districts in texas to try

pete williams, nbc news, supreme court. >> first of all, we love retro pete.econd of all, donald trump has golfed. he has gone to a golf course at least 13 times in his nine-week presidency and has golfed at least 12 of those times. one more, the "new yorker" has this cover this month. because he does so much golfing. is donald trump in trouble in this argument that he's too busy presidenting to take this lawsuit? >> absolutely. and, you know, his whole idea that he's immune from any kind of lawsuit while he's a sitting president is clearly fake law, as you point out during the clinton versus paula jones case. the supreme court ruled unanimously that no one is above the law, and that includes the president. but listen, in all of my sexual harassment cases, the other side tries to drag their feet and stall and delay and sometimes they get away with it. he is no different. i think a judge will probably law him some delays. ultimately, he's going to have to be held accountable for the statements he made. >> and then the other sort of wrinkle in the trump argument

joining me now, nbc justice correspondent pete williams who is at the supreme court. pete, there is no person better to answer that question than you. first of all, when is judge gorsuch going to get his roebes and what decisions will he likely face? >> reporter: monday is the day he'll get his robes. there will be two swearing-ins. supreme court justices take two oaths of office. he'll take the constitutional oath, and it's a bit blustery, so pardon my super unkempt look here. he'll take the oath monday morning at 9:00 a.m. here, and then he'll go to the white house and take the judicial oath. that will be in a public ceremony by the supreme court. it will be the first time a supreme court justice has ever sworn in a former clerk. remember neil gorsuch was a clerk for one who had just retired, so some history there. then he'll come up here and do work of a justice. he can't vote on anything that was argued before he got here, so he'll hear and vote on the rest of the cases in the term. there are 13 cases left. the court is not sitting next weekt the week after, that's

pete williams joins me live outside the supreme court. ete, when does justice gorsuch have his first day at work? >> it takes four votes to grant so he'll be one of nine justice to see decide which way it will take. they have been piling up before he got here, we don't know why they haven't been acting on them, but tlls a question about whether businesses have the right to reserve their right for same-sex weddings because they have certain religious believes. the supreme court ruled in 2008 that the individuals have a right to possess guns in the homes for self defense, but for years now the lower court has been all over the map if they have a rht to have that gun. u have to show a permit and some other special need. next week the court is back in session hearing oral arguments. 13 more cases to be decided this term. he'll participate in those including a big one on freedom of religion. it's a challenge to state laws in about half the states that say no state more than can go directly or indirectly to churches for anything, even if the sta

nbc's justice correspondent pete williams joins me from out nation's capital with all the details. reporter: this is a leak of a document that's twhactually not final, dated april 25th so it hasn't been submitted yet. the department of homeland security says it's subject to review. it basically lays out, it's a progress report on what the president asked dhs to do in terms of his executive order on closing the borders to illegal immigration and i think the most interesting thing in it, it says where they would start to build a wall once they get the money nr it and the real ground for about 38 miles and south of san diego for about 14 miles. all that's going to happen this year, kate, is prototypes of what the new wall should look like, be built by contractors, the government will look and try to decide how tall should it be, how should it be shaped, see what's the most effective and start to bld it next year if congress appropriates the money. the dhs secretary, john kelly, said it's not going to be built, in his words, from sea to shining sea. there will be places where he believe

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins us now. pete, what's the real world effect of this fact that the judge just turned him down on this e.o.? >> it partly blunts what the government was trying to do here, but it doesn't completely stop it. so what the judge said is the president was wrong here in this executive order he signed in late january saying that homeland security should draw up a list of sanctuary cities that don't fully cooperate with the feds on immigration, and then the justice department should find ways to take away their federal grants. the judge said, you can't do that. only congress can set the rules for federal grants. and once it awards them, you can't change the rules later. you can't take away money that doesn't have anything to do with immigration. so for a variety of reasons, he said what the president did is too broad and took away a lot of the steam from this executive order. but the justice department has said there is a law that requires local police -- that says local governments can't interfere with

pete williams and hally jackson, thank you, guys. for more on this discussion, let's bring in phil rucker of "the washington post," and jen palmeri. phil, let's talk about this palace intrigue. we're hearing lately a couple names we haven't heard in c conflict with each other, and at was jed kushner and steve bannon. i was talking to a coue sources a few days ago. they said that steve bannon is "in a very bad place right now," that he's being told to lay low. now we're get thing news reporting out there that breitbart has been told to stand down on writing any bad stories about jared kushner. what does this all mean, phil? >> well, it's a continuing feature of this white house, the palace intrigue contention. we know that jared kushner, the president's son-in-law, he survived so many different regimes in this white house. i don't think jared is going anywhere. the problem for steve bannon is he's gone cross wired with the president's son-in-law and the man who is the most powerful figure in the white house. it's not even about person

and as pete williams tells us, he could have an immediate impact on the bench. >> reporter: 66 days sinceinated by president trump, federal appls court judge xwch oig wneil gorsuch, a punishing hearings and a change in senate rules to eliminate the filibuster. >> he will make a superb justice. >> reporter: democrats face the inevitable, no longer hoping to block him. >> we are charging judge gorsuch to be the independent and fair minded justice that america badly needs. >> reporter: the vote, 54-45, three democrats voted yes. don lee, heitkamp, and manchin. >> the nomination of neil m. gorsuch of colorado to be associate justice of the supreme court of the united states is confirmed. >> the most consequential decision i've ever been involved in was the decision to let the president being elected last year pick the supreme court nominee. >> reporter: neil gorsuch becomes a justice monday when he's sworn in with a public ceremony at the white house like the one 11 years ago for assume alito. sotomayor and kagan were sworn in at the court because he thought that sim bomb lized judicial indep

pete williams has the play by play, from justice gorsuch's first day.tice welcome him to the court? >> reporter: he came on the bench at 10:00 with the rest of the justices. john roberts gave a very brief statement, welcoming him as the 101st associate justice of the supreme court. and then said, we wish you a long and happy career in our common cause. justice gorsuch replied, thanking everyone for the welcome. and then three cases today. rather technical ones. justice gorsuch didn't wait one. roughly 15 minutes into the first case, he was aggressively questioning the lawyers, asking a series of questions. at one point saying sorry i'm taking so much time. so he's hit the ground running here, andrea. he's here for the last two weeks of oral argument in this term. 13 cases, including three today. so he'll well established. the justices met last thursday. they do this regularly to keep a running list of cases they're going to hear next term. he didn't participate in that. the court said he wants to spend his time concentrating on these 13 argued cases. >>

pete williams is following all of this. give us a better sense of what this policy would have done and in effect where this case goes from here. >> this is one of the executive orders the president signed in january, peter, and it said that the department of homeland security should draw up a list of what are called sanctuary city, basically cities that don't cooperate fully with the federal government at enforcing the immigration law and the attorney general should take steps to cut the federal funds if they don't cooperate. the court sid the president has no north to take away money from cities that congress has lshd given. only congress can set the terms for federal grants. the us what can't come in afterwards and add things to them. secondly to be, the problem is it's unrelated to immigration. you can't condition things that have nothing to do with immigration on conformance with some immigration rules. now that doesn't stop the government entirely from doing what it's doing which is trying to pressure cities to conform

>> pete williams from washington, pete, thank you for that perspective.ng in david nakamura from "the washington post" and anna palmer and aaron blake also with "the washington post." david, over to you. back in february john kelly homeland security secretary says's is not pursuing mass deportations. >> that came after president trump's immigration orders which actually if you read the fine print expanded dramatically the pool of immigrants that would be prioritized for removal by immigration and customs enforcement. what we reported on today is that this progress report shows that internally, these agencies both i.c.e. and border patrol started to lay the groundwork for potentially scaling up their ability to detain and then deport illegal immigrants, and i think what the news here is that a lot of these things are sort of initial plans, some of them cost a lot of money and the report itself flags that and says look, unless we get the funding it's harder to go forward. on the other hand there are other areas where they could potentially move forward with

nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins me now. what can you tell us? this is part one of a two-part process. part one is administering the constitutional oath. it was administered here a few minutes ago by chief justice john roberts to neil gorsuch. his wife louise we're told held the family bible, his two daughters were there in attendance. also all the other current eight justices on the court, their spouses, and the widow of antonin scalia that the justice that neil gorsuch is replacing was here, also one of justice scalia's sons gene was here. after this it's off to the white house for the second part of the ceremony, the judicial oath, which will be administered in a public ceremony at the white house by anthony kennedy, the justice for whom neil gorsuch once clerked. once that's over he will be an associate justice of the supreme court, stephanie. >> all right. well big morning for neil gorsuch. thanks, pete. we have to move on, time for your morning primer. everything you need to know to get your day started. in a report out, pay attention thi o

pete williams tonight on one woman who got caught up in this. >> reporter: this woman came to the u.s. from peru in 2001 seeking a better life for herself and her daughters. >> i decided to live by hope. >> reporter: but a visit to an illinois motor vehicle office in 2005 to get a driver's license changed her life. she presented her passport and her green card and on a form declined to register to vote. despite those obvious signs she was not a u.s. citizen, the license clerk asked if she wanted to register to vote under the federal motor voter law. >> i was confused. i asked am i supposed to and he said, well, it is up to you. >> reporter: she marked yes next to u.s. citizen and says she thought that was the closest thing to her status, legal permanent resident. she got her registration card and voted in two elections. later when interviewed for her citizenship application, she told the immigration officer she voted and said she was shocked to learn that was illegal. she cancelled her registration, but two months later the government began efforts to deport her. her lawyer says peopl

. >> that was pete williams reporting. >>> john kelly appeared on "meet the press" today.elly says the idea has changed with the trump administration. >> there's a lot of people who needs to be taken in and deported aaccording to the law. there are a large number of illegals that are in the country. and this operation going after the overstays, it's time consuming. but at the end of the day they came here with a promise to leave, and we have to track them down if they're still in the country and put in the proceedings to deport them. >> kelly also said the number of people crossing into the u.s. from mexico has gone down dramatically for the last few months. and he gives trump's policy credit. >>> investigators in florida are saying, here's a photo taken enhanes city when the hover board caught fire. the fire was contained to just one room. this is just the latest incident in a string of fires connected to those hover boards. some of those incidents have proven deadly. >>> a man who decided to explore the san francisco sewer system this morning ended up having to be rescue

. >>> dwrojoining me, nbc correspondent pete williams. pete, any word at the justice department? >> no, they say they'll have a statement sometime later, greta. this is surprising given the president hasn't done anything here yet on sanctuary cities, and for that reason there was a question about whether this lawsuit is too soon or whether the cities had to wait until something actually happened. but the cities argued the city of san francisco and nearby santa clara county argued they were already being harmed merely by the threat that they would lose money because they have budget uncinty and the judge said that's good enough for me. so, this goes back to the president's january 25th executive order, one of the ones on immigration, it directed the department of homeland security to in essence draw up a list of sanctuary cities and then directed the attorney general to take steps that withhold federal funds from them. the judge said, here's the problem with that. number one, the president can't make decisions about who gets money or not. that's up to congress. secondly, you can't

pete williams reports those who were near it say it was not the standard ring tone, either.ike tiny bells. we can't show the moment to you yet because even though you may be able to hide a cell phone under those robes, electronic devices like video cameras and, yes, cell phones are strictly prohibited in the courtroom. a court official says justice briar simply forgot he had it with him. but it reminded us of some of our favorite inopportune moments of cell phone ringing. like this one of one of president obama's press conferences. >> whose phone is that, guys? come on, now. somebody, you recognize your ring. don't be embarrassed. just turn it off. [ laughter ] >> or the time white house press secretary robert gibbs was interrupted twice in two minutes by reporter phones. >> for law enforcement -- give me the [ laughter ] [ laughter ] >> you, too? do you want to do this, too? >> well, how about the call that interrupted not one but two former presidents? >> it's hard to make good decisions in complex environments -- [ laughter >> there is only one -- only two people have thi

let's go to pete williams, nbc justice correspondent where the oath was taken this morning and he's ready to hit the ground running. there is work for this judge to do. >> reporter: he doesn't have much choice. his first official duty will be friday when the judges will meet in the first closed-door conference to decide what to do next and it takes four votes to grant a case. there's one that's been bouncing around for several weeks and it's a test of whether businesses can refuse to provide their services for same-sex weddings if they have religious objections. there is another big case pending here about whether the second amendment provides the right to have a gun outside the home. it was in 2008 when the supreme court said the second amendment provid has the right to provide a gun inside the home. and the final 13 cases of this term and the big one there is a religious freedom case. it comes from missouri. it's a challenge to laws in about half the states that says state money cannot be given directly or indirectly to churches. a lutheran church in missouri applied for money under the

nbc's pete williams, our justice correspondent. ete, what do you make of this and where does it go from here? >> reporter: as expected, katy. it will go to the senate and we'll have historic action in the u.s. senate. never before in american history has there been part of a filibuster attempt of a supreme court nominee. with today's vote strictly along party lines to recommend the nomination of neil gorsuch go to the senate floor, the democrats have said they may try to insist that he get 60 votes, and the republicans say if that happens, they'll just change the rules. they've not been too straightforward about that, but lindsey graham sort of gave it all away today to say if there is a filibuster, they will change the rules. that will be a first for the u.s. senate. so it looks like we're heading for confirmation for neil gorsuch on friday, and if that happens, he could be sworn in and could be on the supreme court by monday in time to hear the last 13 or so cases of the term that will be argued in late april. i should say, katy,

details from nbc's justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: when trinity lutheran church heardram to resurface programs using rubber from old tires, it applied for a grant. the constitution says no state money can be given in aid of any church. >> made us feel like the safety of the kids playing on our playground didn't matter as much as the kids playing on other playgrounds. >> reporter: the just sued saying the state discriminated against religion. >> the church was seeking equal treatment here. >> reporter: 38 other states have laws like missouri. they choose not to subsidize them. >> if trinity lutheran wins this case, it will be a radical change from the way we've always treated religious institutions in this country. >>> a majority on the court seemed to side with the church including newest justice neil gorsuch. stephen breyer asked how refusing to give the grant money ask any different from declining to give churches police and fire protection or including students in community wsh died vaccination programs. ruth bader ginsburg sided with the state saying the constituti

nbc's pete williams. >> reporter: now u.s.ls say one reason for the restrictions is a government analysis suggesting that terrorists have developed the means to conceal explosives in laptops that could elude screening. u.s. officials believe terror groups are using some airport screening devices which turn out to be widely available to test their explosive designs. >> how big of a threat is this and will it impact you? we'll talk about that coming up. i have ahma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine. i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo is specifically designed to open up airways to improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the ri

justice correspondent pete williams has the case of a deported d.r.e.a.m.er. >> this is a case that touchesout immigration enforcement, about access to federal records and it's about a judge with a famous name who's back in the news. >> reporter: a legal fight with the trump administration over the deportation of a man from mexico has landed in the lap of a california federal judge curiel, the same judge who presided over lawsuits against trump university. candidate trump said the judge born in indiana hated him. >> i believe he happens to be spanish, which is fine. he's hispanic, which is fine. and we haven't asked for recusal, which we may do, but we have a judge who's very hostile. should have been thrown out. >> reporter: now lawyers for a 23-year-old man are telling the judge that homeland security isn't turning over all the records about the case. juan manuel montes is a called d.r.e.a.m.er in the u.s. since he was 9, one of thousands who came as children, able to stay under an obama policy still in effect. m och mo montes was arrested climbing over the wall. he was promptly deported.

we'll go to our justice correspondent pete williams for his take on what we have just witnessed. pete? >> reporter: well, first of all, the obvious history here, the first time a justice is swearing in one of his former clerks to serve alongside him. that's quite extraordinary. remember, neil gorsuch was a clerk for byron white, who just retired when he got here. so, in essence, he clerked for both of them. the retired justices still have a lot of work to do, but he will get to work alongside justice kennedy. he'll get right to work, ali, the first order of business will be the justices closed door conference on friday to decide which cases to hear. now it takes four votes to grant a case. and he could provide the fourth vote in some of those cases that have been pending here for a long time. there's a challenge here to the question of whether businesses can refuse to provide their services for same sex weddings if they have religious objections. the court case has been bouncing around for several weeks now, there's a couple others pending, the question of what are the second amen

. >> pete williams in frochblt supreme court. appreciate it. >> still ahead, there is the lid.taff meeting. noon? eating. 3:45? uh, compliance training. 6:30? sam's baseball practice. 8:30? tai chi. yeah, so sounds relaxing. alright, 9:53? i usually make their lunches then, and i have a little vegan so wow, you are busy. wouldn't it be great if you had investments that worked as hard as you do? yeah. introducing essential portfolios. the automated investing solution that lets you focus on your life. tech: when your windshield needs to be fixed... trust safelite autoglass. for these parents, driving around was the only way to get their baby to sleep. so when their windshield got cracked... customer: we can't drive this car. tech: ...they wanted it fixed right. so they scheduled with safelite. our exclusive trueseal technology means a strong, reliabe bond, every time. at safelite, we stand behind our work. bye, bye. because the ones you love, sit behind it. (parents whisper jingle) safelite repair, safelite replace. on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance comp

nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has been following this. reince priebus said the decision is, quote, bananas. explain it to us. >> this goes back to an executive order the president signed in late january on immigration and it basically says that cities that don't cooperate fully with immigration authorities risk losing their federal money, their federal grants. it asks the secretary of state of homeland security to draw up a list of sanctuary cities an then directed the attorney general to look at withholding their federal funds. what the federal judge in california said yesterday in his ruling is a president can't do that. only congress can change the rules for what money goes to local cities. only congress can decide how to change who gets what. they hand out the money, not the president. you can't change the rules after the money has already been handed out. and you can't put new conditions on grants that were previously received. so basically he said the president didn't have the authority to do this. the white house did put out a stat

what's new from pete williams right now is that it looks like terrorists have found to place a bomb that to be powered on for a time. and that could fool screeners at the checkpoint. now, when the device is actually placed in the cargo hold, it goes through a different machine that provides a more thorough screening and takes care of that problem. the other thing we've learning, terrorists may have gotten their hands on screening devices and they are using that to practice and test various types of explosives. >> if people have brought laptops through tsa checkpoints, you usually have to power it on to ensure that your laptop works. that's why that's so scary, what you just brought up. if they could smuggle explosives onto laptops, why are the devices still allowed in checked baggages and allowed on domestic flights? >> the checked baggage part is because when you check your devices, it goes through a different kind of machine, we're told, that has a more sophisticated type of screening, can take more time and detect explosives. the issue with domestic versus these inbound flights from t

pete williams is with me right now. >> there's no charges filed her.no allegation of criminal wrongdoi wrongdoing. and all we know how is just a little more than what we knew before, namely that the fbi was interested in carter page. it's clear from court documents that the fbi's interest predates the trump campaign. they were looking at carter page's contacts with the russians. he was a businessman, did investment banking, had dealings with russia over the years. and as long ago as four years ago, the fbi was looking at his contacts with the russian operatives in the u.s. that's clear from previously public court documents. but now we know that the fbi last year got orders to surveil carter speecifically to see wha his contacts with the russians were. now the understanding was they were interested in whether he was involved in influencing the campaign, although that's not 100% clear. this could have been an outgrowth of their interest that they developed in him. he says he's done nothing wrong, this is outrageous. he compared this surveillance to that

nbc's justice correspondent, pete williams, has the late effoest for us. pete, good morning. >> reporter: arkansas has been in a rush to carry out executions when the potency of one of the drugs used in the process expires. the state planned to execute two death row inmates last night. the court spared one man. but the other was pronounced dead at 11:56 p.m., after the supreme court rejected the last-minute appeals. it was the state's first execution since 2005, one that state officials said was necessary because the drug used for lethal injections is about to expire. convicted murderer will er wim was put to death just before midnight. lee's death followed last-minute legal battles over the state's right to use midazolam as part of its injection process. lee, who is 51, was sentenced to death in 1995, for the murder of deborah reese. arkansas looked to execute lee and several other men decades ago, over an 11-day period because its supply of midazolam expires on april 30th. >> this is significant because at no point in modern american history, has any stat

pete williams has the latest on this for us. pete, good morning. >> matt, good morning. arkansas has been in a rush to carry out a series of executions before the end of the month when the potency of one of the drugs used in the process expires. the state planned to execute two death row inmates last night. the court spared one man, but the other once pronounced dead at 11:56 p.m. after the supreme court rejected last-minute appea appea appeals. it was the first execution since 2005. convicted murder was put to death before midnight arkansas time after the state and u.s. supreme courts denied efforts to stop his execution. last minute legal battles over the state's right to use the drug as part of its lethal injection process. lee, who was 51, was sentenced to death in 1995 in arkansas for the murder of 26-year-old deborah reese. he had maintained his innocence. arkansas originally sought to execute lee and several other men over an 11-day period because its supply of the drug expires april 30th. drug companies also said their products were not intended for use in execut

joining us from washington, justice correspondent pete williams.et for a busy day. >> it will be the first time we have all nine justices since the 14 months ago when antonin scalia died. last two weeks of courtroom argument in this term, that could include one of the most important cases. on the other hand, it might not. with the controversy over his confirmation over, will he take his spot at the end of the supreme court bench. that's where the newcomers are, restoring the court's generally conservative 5-4 majority. that could make a difference in a case involving religion and government, closely watched case, a claim that missouri discriminated against a lutheran church by leaving its preschool out of a program to improve school playgrounds. missouri says its constitution says the state can't give money indirectly or directly to churches. justice gorsuch may play a role in choosing cases to be heard next term. late last week the newly elected governor in missouri said the state will no longer automatically turn down requests for money from chur

pete williams is here.ood morning. >> reporter: neil gorsuch gets to the court in time for two weeks of argument in the current term. that includes one of the most important cases that might not be heard. justice gorsuch will take his spot at the end of the bench, preserving the 5-4 majority. that may make a difference in a case involving religion and government, a claim that missouri discriminated a lutheran church. justice gorsuch may play a role in the cases choosed to hear next term. the newly-elected governor says the state will no longer turn down money from churches. so, that big case might go away. matt? savannah? >> we shall see. pete williams, we know you will be watching it. thank you. >>> security is tight for today's running of the boston marathon. let's look at a live picture from along the route right now. about 30,000 runners and wheelchair competitors will be taking part in today's race. the 26.2-mile course runs from the suburb of hop kinton to boylston street in boston. many runners will