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The Rachel Maddow Show, Transcript 06/28/13

Guests: Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Clifford Alexander

RACHEL MADDOW, HOST: Thank you very much. Thanks to you at home for staying with us the next hour. I`m not kidding. We have some expected breaking news to report at this hour. Same-sex marriage is breaking out all over the state of California, as we speak, 23 days early. Just a short time ago, unexpectedly, a federal appeals court in California issued a one-sentence order unexpectedly clearing way for same-sex marriages to resume in that state immediately. And it caught everybody off guard. You`ll remember it was Wednesday morning that the United States Supreme Court in that 5-4 decision ruled that the proponents of California`s ban on same-sex marriage, Prop 8, those proponents of that ban had no legal standing to bring their case to the Supreme Court. The ruling that they didn`t have standing, that decision, effectively killed the marriage ban in California. But the big question after the Supreme Court`s ruling on Wednesday morning was, OK, now that Prop 8 is legally dead, when does its legal death come into effect? When can same-sex marriages especially resume in California? When can people start getting married? Well, the court that is one level below the U.S. Supreme Court is the federal appeals court and the federal appeals court in the ninth circuit which includes California, they put out a statement saying that the timeframe for the Supreme Court ruling to dribble down to them effectively so they could make it official and formally change the law and let people start getting their marriage licenses, they said that timeframe would be at least 25 days. Why would it take so long? I don`t know. But California`s attorney general, Kamala Harris, asked the appeals court to go faster. She asked the ninth circuit to lift their hold against same-sex marriages in California immediately. She said, do not wait this 25 days that you say you are going to wait. Attorney General Harris essentially asked the courts to get out of the way. The decision`s been made. And then tonight in a surprise, they did. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued this very brief one-sentence order. "The stay in the above matter is dissolved effectively immediately." Effective immediately as in immediately? As in not like legal immediately which means next year but like immediately -- yes, right now. No more 25-day wait. No question about how and when same-sex marriages resume in California. With that one-sentence ruling, Prop 8 is done. And just moments after that court order came out, Attorney General Kamala announced on Twitter, "On my way to San Francisco City Hall. Let the wedding bells ring." Then about 15 minutes later, she tweeted this. "About to marry Prop 8 plaintiffs, Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier. Wedding bells are ringing." Kris Perry, of course, and Sandy Stier, were two of the public faces of this fight. They celebrated this ruling at the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning and then they raced back to California that night. We talked to them in California that night after they got back. But look where they are tonight. Look. This is just a little while ago at San Francisco city hall with California Attorney General Kamala Harris standing there on the right standing there by their side. And then filling out all the required paper work, Kris Perry and Sandra Stier finally got to realize the moment they`ve been fighting for all these years. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS (D), CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Do you, Chris, take Sandy to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and cherish from this day forward? KRIS PERRY: I do. HARRIS: And do you, Sandy, take Kris to be your lawfully wedded wife? To love and cherish from this day forward? SANDRA STIER: I do. HARRIS: Let the rings exchanged and the vows declared symbolize your commitment, sincerity, and affection, and may your love never falter. By virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the state of California, I now declare you spouses for life. (CHEERS) (END VIDEO CLIP) MADDOW: You know it`s good when the officiant raises their arms in triumph. Just like that. Prop 8 is history. Just like that. Marriage equality has become a reality once again in the most populist state in the nation. San Francisco City Hall, we are told, is staying open until 8:00 p.m. local time tonight to keep marrying people all night. People who did not know before this surprise today that today is the day they would be able to. Now, you might remember the other two plaintiffs in the California prop 8 case that went to the Supreme Court. Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo. Here they were celebrating at the Supreme Court after the ruling on Wednesday. But look, here they are tonight at city hall in Los Angeles, racing down to city hall to get their marriage license. Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo are expected to be married this hour at city hall in L.A. by the mayor. This process has moved along much faster than anybody expected, but two days after the Supreme Court`s historic ruling on Wednesday, same sex marriage s now resumed in the state of California. And joining us now is Kamala Harris. She`s attorney general for the great state of California and she`s had a very busy night already. Ms. Harris, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Congratulations. HARRIS (via telephone): It`s great to be back with you, Rachel. Thank you. MADDOW: So, give us a play-by-play of how this came about. We were expecting a 3 1/2 week wait. All of a sudden, it happened. HARRIS: Oh my God. It was extraordinary. You know, I was sitting in my office in a meeting with a group of folks, and then someone knocks on the door, passes me a note, the ninth circuit is going to announce something. So I just continued with the meeting because, of course, other things are going on but nobody could really focus. And another note got passed to me and the ninth circuit lifted this. Then, of course, just all hell broke loose. (LAUGHTER) HARRIS: Then I learned that they wanted me to perform the marriage and we wanted to do it right away. So I left my office, which is up the street from city hall, and a group of us walked down the street to city hall and the crowds were starting to form and, you know, people were still a little curious. You know, we all kind of walked in there like gangbusters. I think people figured out something was going on, but the word hadn`t really spread. Then while they were getting their license, so we were in the clerk`s office while Chris and Sandy were getting their license. Someone informed me that the Los Angeles clerk was unsure about his responsibility. So, I said, get him on the phone for me. Then I had a nice little chat with him and informed him that he was to begin marriages immediately, which meant now. And then we went and had the ceremony. It was an incredible, incredible sight and incredible experience. MADDOW: We got a formal note, formal press release from the Los Angeles County clerk saying, in very specific terms, "At 4:07 p.m., I received direction by cell phone from Attorney General Kamala Harris to begin immediately issuing marriage licenses." Am I to believe that he thought he wasn`t supposed to and you had to tell him, no, I directing you, I`m not asking you, I`m telling you? HARRIS: It was a moment that required a little clarification, and I was happy to. (LAUGHTER) MADDOW: Speaking of the clarification, as we understand it, you know, the court was explicit in saying, you know, it`s going to be at least 25 days before this happens. You made a request of the court that they move faster. Why did you know that you could do that and why did they think it would take 25 days if it wouldn`t? HARRIS: Well, Rachel, I think credit really must at this point be given to the ninth circuit, because they did not have to move as quickly as they did. But, yes, that was our point that it was within their power to lift the stay before the 25 days and, yes, I urged them to do that. But they did it really, I mean, they did it so swiftly. I think it`s a very clear indication of the fact that when justice is delayed, justice is denied. And each day is not equal. And 25 days for these families, for the children of those families, for the elder relatives of those families, is a very long time. And so, all applause and thanks to the Ninth Circuit for making that point clear when they moved so swiftly. MADDOW: Kamala Harris, attorney general for the state of California, with tens of -- I guess hundreds of thousands of people flooding into San Francisco this weekend for pride. If you end up stuck at city hall marrying people all weekend, you`ll be forgiven for spending your weekend - - HARRIS: I`m actually going to be a grand marshal in the parade. I`ve been asked. I`m very excited. It`s going to be a great, great, great weekend in San Francisco. MADDOW: Congratulations. I know this is a big win for you. Thank you, ma`am. Have a great weekend. HARRIS: Thank you. Take care. MADDOW: Thank you. Kamala Harris, attorney general of the state of California. OK. When we return, we think two of the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court prop 8 case maybe, we think they are maybe going to get married live right here. The first ever live RACHEL MADDOW SHOW wedding. No pressure. I don`t know if it`s going to work, but we`re going to try to make it work. We`ll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: This is a little weird, but barring something unforeseen, we are all about to witness a very significant wedding. Two of the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case that restored marriage equality in California are going to tie the knot in just a second, and I think we get to see it on TV. Hold on. Stay tuned. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: Late this afternoon, a California federal appeals court ordered that same-sex marriages in the state of California should resume immediately. It was a surprise ruling. Everybody thought there was going to be a 25-day delay but it just started and started right away. In the next few moments, we are expecting to witness the marriage of Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo at Los Angeles City Hall. Mr. Katami and Mr. Zarrillo were two of the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case decided by the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning. Their co-plaintiffs, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, we just saw were just married tonight, married by California`s attorney general, Kamala Harris, at San Francisco City Hall. Right after the court`s decision two days ago, Paul and Jeff explained during an interview here on MSNBC that they were inspired to do something, to do whatever they could in response to the passage of Prop 8, which was the gay marriage ban in California. They were inspired that night on election night they were going to do something. They said they felt the jarring contrast between the pride and hope at electing the nation`s first black president and the same time same-sex marriage rights in California being revoked by a popular vote. Now, 4 1/2 years later, 4 1/2 years after both that shock and that decision by that couple, they are about to say their vows before Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and also maybe us. Joining now as we await that is California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom. Nine years ago in 2004, only one month into his term as the mayor of San Francisco, it was Gavin Newsom who defied state law when he told the county clerk`s office in San Francisco that he wanted them to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. We saw that again today but the order this time came from the ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Lieutenant Governor, thank you very much for being with us. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (via telephone): Great to be here, Rachel. Thanks for having me on. MADDOW: Am I right you are in transit between Sacramento and San Francisco? NEWSOM: You can`t make it outside. My friend, Antonio and Kamala, are there nearly nine years and I wanted to be there in the moment. But this sort of proves the point how surprised all of us were -- MADDOW: I`ve got to tell you, while I`m talking to you. We`re watching what seems to be the impending marriage of Paul and Jeff, two of the named plaintiffs in Prop 8. The mayor is there about to convene the ceremony. We will go to that as soon as it starts. I just want to ask how it feels that this is all now suddenly happening in this unexpected way. NEWSOM: Yes, well, it`s pretty extraordinary. I mean, it`s affirmation of love at the end of the day. Love is triumph and persistence. I mean, just remarkable commitment and resolve of people all across country that stepped up and stepped in and weren`t bystanders on this journey that we`ve all been on and frankly for over 20 years, Rachel, not just since 2004. And the Massachusetts decision and what happened in San Francisco. So it`s a powerful reminder of what`s right in this country and the principles that we all strive for in perfecting this remarkable place that we call home. MADDOW: Mr. Lieutenant Governor, thank you for being with us. We`re going to now have a live wedding on TV. We got to go. Thank you, sir. MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D), LOS ANGELES: More joyful than I am today. This is a special moment. Before you stand, Paul and Jeff, filled with love for each other, let me just say how happy we are for the two of you. Your relationship is an inspiration to us all. Your bravery in the face of bigotry has made history. Thanks to you, ceremonies like this will be celebrated with joy in California and across the country. You have waited, you have hoped and you have fought for this moment alongside so many other couples, families, and friends. Today, your wait is finally over. By joining the case against Proposition 8, you represented hundreds of thousands of couples in the fight for marriage equality. You represented America and fight for marriage equality, in the fight for dignity and liberty for all. Through the ups and downs, struggles and the triumphs, you came out victorious. And based on what you told me the other night as we enjoyed that evening taking in the victory, and how you`re looking at each other today, you`re just as in love today as you were when you met 12 years ago. I couldn`t be more honored to stand here today to join Paul and Jeff in marriage during these, the closing moments, of my administration. And so let us begin. Take it in. Just take it in. We are gathered here today for the purpose of uniting in matrimony Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo. Now, the contract of marriage is most solemn and is not to be entered into lightly, but thoughtfully and seriously with a deep realization of its obligations and its responsibilities. Marriage is also a promise made in the hearts of two people who love each other and that promise will take a lifetime to fulfill. Now, within the circle of its love, marriage encompasses all of life`s most important relationships. And so, Paul, do you take Jeff to be your lawful wedded spouse? PAUL KATAMI: I do. VILLARAIGOSA: Jeff, do you take Paul to be your lawful wedded spouse? JEFF ZARRILLO: I do. VILLARAIGOA: Do you each promise to love and comfort one another, to honor and keep one another in sickness and in health, in prosperity and adversity, and forsaking all others, be faithful to each other as long as you both shall live? KATAMI & ZARRILLO: We do. VILLARAIGOSA: I don`t know about you, but I got goose bumps. Now, the wedding ring is an outward invisible sign of an inward and spiritual bond which unites two loyal hearts and endless love. Paul, please place this ring on Jeff`s left finger and repeat after me. I, Paul -- KATAMI: I, Paul -- VILLARAIGOSA: -- offer this ring as a symbol of my love and devotion. KATAMI: -- offer this ring as a symbol of my love and my devotion. VILLARAIGOSA: Let it always be a reminder of my vows to you. KATAMI: Let it always be a reminder of my vows to you. VILLARAIGOSA: Jeff, place this ring on Paul`s left finger and repeat after me. I, Jeff -- ZARRILLO: I, Jeff -- VILLARAIGOSA: -- offer this ring as a symbol of my love and devotion. ZARRILLO: -- offer this ring as a symbol of my love and my devotion. VILLARAIGOSA: Let it always be a reminder of my vows to you. ZARRILLO: Let it always be a reminder of my vows to you. VILLARAIGOSA: And so, behalf of the state of California, let me pronounce you married. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) MADDOW: Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo legally married in the state of California. Congratulations to these guys but also to everybody who unexpectedly found themselves taking the plunge this afternoon and tonight in the great state of California, which is thought to be something that was 25 days off, thanks to a pronouncement to that effect from the ninth U.S. circuit court of appeals. But that appeals court decided it`s in effect immediately, so people have sprinted to city hall. This is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles finishing up his terms mayor of that city on a very, very high note. We`ll be right back. VILLARAIGOSA: So you`re married? KATAMI: We`re married. (CHEERS) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: Programming note, even if you do not usually watch "Meet the Press", you may want to watch "Meet the Press" this weekend. David Gregory has scored an exclusive interview with Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi on "Meet the Press" this Sunday as the House prepares to take up the big immigration bill. But he has also got Texas State Senator Wendy Davis. Yes, the Wendy Davis of Wendy Davis fame will be on "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning. Also I will be. I will be on "Meet the Press" as well this weekend, hopefully with hair looking better than that. I`ll be there along with NBC`s Pete Williams and Michael Eric Dyson, also my old friend Ralph Reed from the Christian coalition, and my estranged but beloved uncle, Jim DeMint, former Republican senator and now the head of the Heritage Foundation. I wonder what we`ll talk about. Sunday morning, NBC, "Meet the Press." Check your listings for the timing. And also, another programming note for you. Tonight here on MSNBC at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, you`re going to want to check out our live special we`re doing on the George Zimmerman trial. If you missed the trial coverage today or the rest of this week on MSNBC, tonight this special is your chance to catch up on it. It has been an absolutely riveting trial. We`ll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: When the Supreme Court ruled on gay marriage this week, you know who was Johnny on the spot? The U.S. military. The secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did a press conference right away. The Pentagon is looking forward to implementing this decision. The Department of Defense will move very swiftly, quote, "It will be a decision implemented in every way as it should be." They put it in writing. The Defense Department intends to make the same benefits available to every military spouse, regardless of sexual orientation, as soon as possible. Quote, "That is now the law and it is the right thing to do." When the Supreme Court was hearing this case, the Pentagon could not weigh in on its own behalf in the case because the Justice Department plays that role for the government. But a group of high-ranking military officers including former secretaries of defense wrote the court to say that experience as military leaders after "don`t ask, don`t tell," their experience as military leaders in a military that has openly gay people serving in it, that experience gave them strong feelings about what the court should do. Quote, "The military and civilian leadership long have recognized the physical and emotional wellbeing of service members` families is critical to the military`s efforts to ensure and increase morale, readiness, cohesion and ultimately the operational success of our armed forces. Research, experience and common sense dictate that individuals preparing for deployment or will have been deployed to areas of actual or potential fighting should have as few distractions as possible, making sure that loved ones are not suffering any more than humanly possible by the absence of someone stationed in the military is a mission-critical objective." Bottom line according to senior military officers, quote, "There is no military justification for this discrimination." Now, during the oral arguments in the DOMA case, the solicitor general of the United States stood up to argue to the court why the federal marriage ban should be struck down and this was the very first thing he said when he stood up before the court. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) DONALD VERRILLI, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: What section 3 does is exclude from an array of federal benefits lawfully married couples. That means that the spouse of a soldier killed in the line of duty cannot receive the dignity and solace of an official notification of next of kin. (END AUDIO CLIP) MADDOW: That was the opening line of the government`s case for why the marriage ban should be struck down. This was not a case about the military, but the fact that there are openly gay soldiers now becomes a very powerful driver of public policy. Because it`s hard to say that if the military wants to treat its soldiers equally, the military should be forced not to. They should be forced to discriminate against some soldiers and their families because of local laws. That is an idea that seems ridiculous enough on its face, that even the lawyer who was arguing for the marriage ban used that same argument to try to make his case. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) PAUL CLEMENT, ATTORNEY: We don`t want somebody if they`re going to be transferred in the military from West Point to Ft. Sill in Oklahoma to resist the transfer because they`re going to lose some benefits. It makes sense to have a uniform federal rule for the federal government. (END AUDIO CLIP) MADDOW: Right. Conservative lawyer Paul Clement wants the uniform federal rule for the federal government to be gay people can`t get married. Instead the justices agreed there should be a uniform federal rule but that gay people can get married. These landmark gay right cases this week are not about the military specifically, but the fact that we have openly gay troops it turns out is a driving force against the idea that gay people should be discriminated against anywhere in our country. That`s already been seen, right? The military`s own desire to not discriminate among its soldiers and their families has helped drive us to where we have come thus far. Does it also help drive us the rest of the way? Because if you`re in the military and stationed at MacDill Air Force Base just south of Tampa, right on Tampa Bay, in the great state of Florida, if you`re one of the 15,000 service members on that base, when you are on that base, your family will not be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation. Every family in the military will be treated the same. But if you take one step off that base, you are a second-class citizen now? You can`t own property as a married couple the way the other service members` families can? You can`t file your state taxes together the way the other families can? All these other aspects of second-class citizenship because Florida discriminates, still, even when the military and the federal government do not anymore. Is the military going to have to offer first dibs access to on-base housing for same-sex couples in military families? For the military families who some states will not treat as equals? Are military bases in places like Kentucky and Florida and Texas states and all these other states that don`t have equality, are military bases in the state going to become islands of civil rights, places of refuge? The military is doing everything in its power to treat its service members equally but not allowed to treat them truly equally or ensure they have equal rights because of the interference of the laws of some U.S. states. That seems not sustainable. Is the military now in the position to be a further catalyst for change, driving more states so that it can treat its service members equally? Coming up next for "The Interview" is somebody who knows. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) CLEMENT: We don`t want somebody if they`re going to be transferred in the military from West Point to Fort Sill in Oklahoma to resist the transfer because they`re going to lose some benefits. It makes sense to have a uniform federal rule for the federal government. (END AUDIO CLIP) MADDOW: Paul Clement arguing before the United States Supreme Court that we ought to keep the federal ban on gay marriage for just that purpose. The court agreed with him on the idea of the difficulty of having a non-uniform standard, but they made the decision opposite to what he was asking them to do. Those decisions, those Supreme Court decisions this week, ended up putting the U.S. military, members of the U.S. military, right in the middle of this now patchwork of legal rights for gay and lesbian couples that we`ve got around the country. Will the military now be forced to discriminate against some of its soldiers and not against others depending on where a base is located? If the military is put in that difficult of a position, will the military now be put in the position to at least implicitly drive more states toward equality? Joining us now for "The Interview" is Clifford Alexander. He was the secretary of the United States Army under President Carter and chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under President Johnson. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being with us again. It`s a real honor to have you here. CLIFFORD ALEXANDER, FORMER SECRETARY OF U.S. ARMY: Thank you so much. Glad to be with you, Rachel. MADDOW: So, the Pentagon says it is eager to enforce these civil rights rulings so it can stop discriminating against some service members and their families. Do you think it is unusual to have the Pentagon speaking to clearly and so quickly on this matter? ALEXANDER: I think it is good that they spoke clearly. I do think that the efficiency that is within the Pentagon will see to it that the rules are carried out as they should be carried out. I also believe that it would be a good idea if the civilian side took a hint from the Pentagon in terms of the efficiency of carrying out the many rules and regulations that effect people that shouldn`t negatively. I think there are over 1,000 of them within the federal government now. So it would seem to me that it would be very good for the White House to send some orders out to each of the cabinet members with daytime charts on them that say I want to report as to what it is you`re doing about such and such. I want it within a few days, not a few weeks, not a few months, and I want it changed so that it is equitable. MADDOW: We have -- ALEXANDER: I don`t think -- excuse me. MADDOW: I`m sorry to interrupt you, sir. I was going to say we have seen some motion in that direction from the federal government today, some initial direction to federal agencies. But I do think there`s going to continue to be a patchwork both in terms of federal accommodation but also in terms of what the practical life is for people living in states that don`t recognize rights that the federal government recognizes. ALEXANDER: I do think your point is well taken about the states, 38 states that do not represent -- really will recognize these rights. But taking that under consideration and there should be well beyond the courts lots of pressures, I think particularly by the media, to talk about the differences in treatment of people. Talk about why it is we have a military. It is to give us protections, to give us liberties, to give us all human beings, no heart what matter what their sexual orientation may be, give them each and every one of us our protection and our rights. We don`t have that today. We have more than we did before the court acted in this case, but don`t have where we ought to be. But in the meantime, there are still many things that the government can do. You said they`re starting to give directions. They need to think of it in a more sense of urgency. Not just give a direction, but give a direction with an order at the end of it that says as of a certain point, I`d like to see that this regulation is changed appropriately for it to meet the facts. What we have so much, I think, in the government to is the kumbaya moment. They love what they`ve seen. They`re excited and they`re happy, as we should be. With a little bit more of justice before us. But there is not enough of the follow-through that I think the military does better than our civilian people do, and I think that is a responsibility of the people in the White House to get it started and the cabinet secretaries to continue it and the agency heads to continue it as well. And I think it is the responsibility of the media to check on it every day. Not just your program, as you do, but the rest of the media, including FOX. MADDOW: I`ll send them a memo and see if they listen. ALEXANDER: Would you -- (LAUGHTER) MADDOW: Let me ask you about previous experience with the military being in advance of parts of the rest of the country on civil rights matters. We have had experience with that as a nation where the military was desegregated, for example, or there were things that were being offered in a meritocratic way that were not reflected where U.S. bases are located in the states. Are there lessons from that history we should be thinking about moving forward? ALEXANDER: My wife is a wonderful historian and wrote a book called "Homelands and Waterways." In that book, during the civil war, navy people were integrated in their service, integrated. Then there was a period after that in the `20s when black people could not hold positions in the U.S. Navy. More recently with the Truman order and in some of the other changes that have been made more recently, there is much more equity within the military and on a consistent basis than there has been. There are still problems in the military about the administration of justice for people who are minorities, and that, again, is reflected in the civilian society as well. But when you look at overall the military does appear to be a beacon. It is a beacon that occasionally flickers, but it is a beacon. I do think that what we can do in the military is with the military to realize why we have a military. Why we have, we are protecting the rights of people. We want to see that they`re fully exercised in all situations which I hope would give our elected representatives in state legislatures and city councils the good sense to change these ridiculous laws that don`t allow for marriage as it should be throughout the country. But it is a continuous fight. I mean, I know that there is another area there that the Supreme Court came out, in my view, on the wrong side, and that was on the Voting Rights Act, where, again, we really do have to be vigilant about what this court is doing. This court, remember, is made up feckless, in my view, members of that court who from day on to day out think much more of things than they do of people. And when they did what they did with the voting laws, it`s going to require something that is constant on the part of the media, I think, and on the part of legislators, and on the part of the White House to continually remind the American public that this precious thing we have is a vote. I notice that in one of the opinions by the chief justice, he talked about h he`d look at all these elected black people all over the place. I would only remind him that today there is not a single black elected official in the United States Senate and there has not been a single black elected official in the Senate since Barack Obama left it. Now, that isn`t exactly full inclusion, and I don`t think you can point to various parts of this country and pretend that somehow we have solved all of our problems. There`s no such thing as post-racial, by the way. That`s an American illusion. What it is is an improvement in many areas of our society, and a need for vigilance on the part of all of us about the rights of our fellow human beings. MADDOW: Clifford Alexander, secretary of the United States Army under President Charter, chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under President Johnson -- sir, it is a great honor to have you here. Thank you so much. ALEXANDER: Well, thanks for having me again. I appreciate it. MADDOWE: Thank you. He is a man who knows of what he speaks. He was President Johnson`s civil rights counsel. He was there in person when the Voting Rights Act was signed. We`ll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) MADDOW: The Fourth of July is no time soon. It is not until next Thursday. But if you`re a legislator, happy Fourth of July because it`s already started for you. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The House of Representatives convened on Friday June 28th at 9:00 a.m. And pursuant to Senate Concurrent Resolution 19, the House convened, the House adjourned at 12:39 p.m. until Monday, July 8th, 2013, when it will meet at 2:00 p.m., thank you. (END AUDIO CLIP) MADDOW: I want that job. The House has gotten home. The Senate has gone home, and they`re not just gone for the weekend. Because there is a Fourth of July holiday one day toward the end of next week, they`re all gone for now, and for the weekend, and for all of next week, and even the week after that. They`re not going to be back until July 8th at the earliest. It is good to be king, or at least to be D.C. royalty. That`s just the feds though. Politics proceeds a pace in the rest of the country, including a big stressful cliffhanger deadline on Sunday at midnight this weekend. Congress may already be at the beach, but Ohio Governor John Kasich is going to be sweating at home. When John Kasich first was elected in 2010, he was a shoot from the mouth kind of guy, looking for a fight wherever he could find, really relishing a kind of swagger, of being in charge and letting everybody know it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: Have you ever been stopped by a policeman who was an idiot? I had this idiot pull me over on 315. Listen to this story, he says to me, he says, he says, "You passed this emergency vehicle on the side of the road, and you didn`t yield." And the last thing I would ever do is be to pass an emergency, "Are you kidding me?" He says, I understand it, give your silence, goes back to the car, comes back, gives me a ticket, you must report to court. If you don`t report to court, we`re putting a warrant out for your arrest. He is an idiot. (END VIDEO CLIP) MADDOW: That`s how John Kasich started off as Ohio governor. Like maybe he was going to hold a press conference or maybe he was going to pop you in the mouth right there! And it`s not just the way he talks, he immediately moved to strip union rights in Ohio, and he did. And Ohio took it right back, absolutely destroying the bill that stripped union rights. They put up SB-5 for a recall, they defeated it by 22 points. John Kasich had come in as this marble mouth, half cocks Tea Party radical. But that SB-5 brushback I think made him realize he was going to have to put on his big boy pants. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KASICH: If you`re going to bring back massive change that causes great unrest, I have learned this. You know, we won -- you take a look at our record, you go out deep sea fishing, you catch a lot of sharks. Once in a while, the shark eats you. (END VIDEO CLIP) MADDOW: That was January 2012, and in the year and a half since then, John Kasich wants to be seen as less his Tea Party self and more as Wall Street self. He`s trying to play down some of the things he used to very obviously relish, because the Beltway press loves that kind of spin the way that rats love cheese, John Kasich has finally started to earn himself the kind of fawning D.C. press he`s always wanted. Politico today batting their eyelashes at John Kasich, in this article that fawns all over him, calling him quietly competent. Well, on Sunday night, at 11:59 p.m., John Kasich faces a deadline for whether or not he`s going to signs his state`s new budget. But it`s not just a decision about whether to sign or don`t sign, he has to make an up or down decision on every single line in the budget, because he has a line item veto, which is why this what happened yesterday at his state capitol. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CROWD: Line item veto! Line item veto! Line item veto! Line item veto! (END VIDEO CLIP) MADDOW: Those Ohio women yelling "line item veto" at John Kasich, because even though they know he is going to sign the budget overall, there is some stuff in that budget that they`re going to make him famous for if he doesn`t X it out line by line, he is the last chance in Ohio to X this stuff out before it doesn`t become law. It`s this huge omnibus list of rape and abortion provisions that the Republicans put into that state`s budget at the last minute without ever debating any of them. They were just put in as Republican amendments of the Republican budget, before Republicans passed it on the party line, the only person who gets the thumbs up or thumbs down, this big long list of abortion list is Governor John Kasich himself. This is not just your standard menu of Republican anti-abortion legislation that they`re doing everywhere now. They`re being innovative right now. There`s money in the budget for rape crisis centers in Ohio. Ohio has not done this before with state funding. It maybe they`re doing it now because of the high profile Steubenville, Ohio, rape trial. We don`t know for sure. But they are giving state money to rape crisis centers, and they`re giving that money with an accompanying gag order. So if you take any of the state money, Ohio Republicans will intervene in the type of counseling that rape victims get at rape crisis centers. The state will intervene in the counseling that rape victims get. They will intervene in the instructions and information that the victims are allowed to be given to gag the rape crisis counselor from being allowed to tell a rape victim that she can get an abortion. That is what John Kasich has to ruminate on this weekend. How does he feel about rape victims and what does he want to do for them after they have been raped? Because the legislatures decided that the state should give them some help and getting through their crisis, getting some counseling, but also that state should intervene to block them from getting information that frankly they would like to have after they have been raped. So, have a nice weekend, Governor. You will also be considering all the other myriad rape and abortion thinks that the Republicans put into the state budget, that led the Ohio anti-abortion movement to excitedly call this the most pro-life budget in Ohio history. Is the budget really the place for this stuff? Ohio Republicans think so. In the budget, they have inserted a measure to defund Planned Parenthood. A measure for a forced ultrasound. You may not want it, your doctor may not want you to have it, but Ohio Republicans insist you have it and that you pay for it. Ohio doctors will be forced to give you a speech about the forced ultrasound, whether or not they agree with the speech and think it is in the best interest of their patient. Republicans in state government will give Ohio doctors a script that they must read. And there is more, Ohio`s Republican budget will also establish a new requirement that clinics have to have transfer agreements with local hospitals. And it would also ban public hospitals from establishing those agreements. So, it creates a new thing that clinics have and also says they cannot have it. In case it not clear enough, the whole point is just to shut down abortion clinics in the state. The budget also -- remember, this is a budget. For some reason, Ohio Republicans decided it was also a budgetary matter to redefine the words pregnancy and fetus in Ohio state law. They want to define pregnancy as beginning even before implanting it in the uterine lining. Lots of contraception works to prevent things from implantation in the uterine line. So, it would essentially say, you want an IUD, that means you want an abortion. And of course there is a mandatory ultrasound before you can get an abortion. So, if you want to get contraception that you may have had for your whole life in Ohio, maybe as your existence as an adult woman in Ohio, welcome to your mandatory vaginal probe at the insistence of the state, even just to keep your IUD. Seriously? Actually nobody knows if that is what they mean. It does seem to be a logical extension of what Republicans just put in the budget, it never really got talked through or explained all that well because it was never debated. They just added this stuff. They never talked about it. They passed it and threw it to John Kasich. Have a nice weekend, sir, your call. You can decide on each of these as an individual line in the budget that you must OK line by line. Again, the deadline for John Kasich is 11:59 p.m. on Sunday night. Set a Google alert. Also, take your blood pressure medication. And in North Carolina, where the Republican legislature passed a bill forcing school health teachers to lie to 7th graders about abortion this week, the state government wants to direct teachers to teach that abortion is a health risk that keeps women from carrying future pregnancies to term. And that is not true. According to American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist, according to doctors, that`s the untrue thing. But North Carolina signed that bill to make health teachers say it. And today we learned that Governor Pat McCrory says he will sign it. When he was elected in November, he said he wouldn`t sign any new anti- abortion bills into law. But today he said he will sign the lie to seventh graders in North Carolina. Also today, in Alabama, the Republicans there already passed and already signed into law, and would like to implement another of these this catch-22 TRAP laws that would shut down almost all the clinics in the state. It`s designed to shut down all but the last two clinics in Alabama. The law would be set to go into effect on Monday, which means the clinics would start to close their doors on Monday. Well, today, a federal judge in Montgomery issued a restraining order, blocking Alabama from implementing the law. He said the law threatens a permanent destabilizing effect on the provision of abortion in the state, as clinics will constantly struggle under threat of closures or seizing services to maintain a medical staff that`s classified under the law. Such pressure could render the abortion practices in Alabama, a Sisyphean effort. Remember the myth of Sisyphus? With the guy pushing the rock (INAUDIBLE). He also says, quote, `Women seeking an abortion will face a substantial new obstacle in obtaining one and therefore stand to suffer a deprivation of constitutional rights as well as the numerous health risk attendant to delaying abortion." Alabama`s Republican attorney general, Luther Strange, said he was disappointed in the ruling. The only bright line he sees is it`s only a temporary restraining order and the clinics are still in danger of being shut down once the law is fully litigated. For now, at least, that Monday deadline for Alabama`s clinic shutting their doors, they have a temporary reprieve. On Monday, 2:00 p.m. Texas time, though, yet another battle in the war on women, that Republicans insist you do not say they are waging will take place in Texas. Texas Republicans will try again to pass the state`s omnibus anti-abortion bill which will reduce the number in the states from 42 to five. This is the same bill that Texas Democratic Senator Wendy Davis filibustered into the headlines this week, whether the Texas Republicans wanted it or not, that all starts on Monday. The pro-choice rally in Texas on Monday starts at noon. Texas Governor Rick Perry`s special session starts at 2:00. As Washington sleeps, or whatever it is they do when they`re not working, this battle is raging right now, raging in the states. And it does not take weekends off. That does it for us tonight. We will see you again Monday. The MSNBC special on trial of George Zimmerman starts right now. Have a great night. THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END