firms say one thing and do another. we re watching the story for you and will have more details as the details come in. the rest of the day s top stories, right to brooke baldwin with an update on headlines. welcome back from the beach. good to see you. good morning, everyone. about 700,000 people waking up to another day without power. look at the map. you see 11 states and talk about the nation s capital. it has been six days since powerful storms fueled by extreme heat zapped trees and knocked down power lines and take a look at this picture. this is washington s massive power outage. this is from space taken from a nasa satellite showing extensive power outages and swinging westward to west virginia, it has led to a food crisis. the red cross expects to provide 25,000 meals today. 22 people have now died in the storms and the dangerous heat. major progress in the battle against the most destructive wildfire in colorado s history. the wald owe canyon fire is now 90% co
a 5-4 decision in the end, it was john roberts, the chief justice appointed by president bush who saved the health care law. senator obama voted against roberts confirmation in 2005. roberts went against his four conservative justices ruling that the individual mandate, which requires people to buy health insurance was a tax, not a penalty that falls under the congressional power to levy taxes. a harsh oped said the remarkable decision upholding the affordable care act is shot through with confusion. the mandate that s really a tax except when it isn t and the government whose powers are limit except when they aren t. one thing is clear, this was a one man show and that man was john roberts. our senior legal analyst jeff toobin joins us now. he was in the courtroom when the decision was announced. was it chaotic? it was the opposite of chaotic, soledad. i ve been privileged to cover a lot of news events and i have never been in a room like that, there were not air molecules
it s neat to see one 9-year-old to started this, now an 8-year-old following on in that tradition. that s what s great about america. the preservation of the fundamental constitutional principles we all rely upon. alisyn: why was the school offended by a mention of jesus in a poem at a winter party on a candy cane? i think that s why they made this extreme argument. it s clearly established that you can t do this. you can t ban student speech which is religious. there have been cases for 30 years on this very point. so they had to go or something pretty radical. their backup argument during the oral argument was, well, these are school officials and they shouldn t be responsible for knowing all these intricacies of the law. that doesn t go over too well. these are principals. they are supposed to teach the teachers about the law and what they are supposed to do. the idea you don t discriminate
you ve seen what this the president has said over the past several years, that s a penalty. so then he disagrees with the supreme court decision that says it s now a tax? that s right. he said it s a penalty. you saw our arguments before the court. your argument before the court honestly also said it could be one of the side arguments, kind of like the backup argument, was that it was a tax. so i did see the arguments before the supreme court. it never referred to it as a tax. it said that it was a penalty. it s a tax, it s not a tax. who s on first? unfortunately for team obama, we have audio proving the mandate was repeatedly referred to as a tax during those very arguments. while the president is trying to figure out whether or not he agrees with the controversial 5-4 decision, governor mitt romney is clarifying his opinion as well. this after one of his top campaign advisors stated he believes the mandate is not a tax but a penalty. that comment did not sit well
you ve seen what this the president has said over the past several years, that s a penalty. so then he disagrees with the supreme court decision that says it s now a tax? that s right. he said it s a penalty. you saw our arguments before the court. your argument before the court honestly also said it could be one of the side arguments, kind of like the backup argument, was that it was a tax. so i did see the arguments before the supreme court. it never referred to it as a tax. it said that it was a penalty. it s a tax, it s not a tax. who s on first? unfortunately for team obama, we have audio proving the mandate was repeatedly referred to as a tax during those very arguments. while the president is trying to figure out whether or not he agrees with the controversial 5-4 decision, governor mitt romney is clarifying his opinion as well. this after one of his top campaign advisors stated he believes the mandate is not a tax but a penalty. that comment did not sit well