That the United StatesCongress Passed the freedom to vote act, and the john lewis Voting Rights advancement act. [applause] the fight for freedom, today and states across our nation, extremists propose and passed laws that attack the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body. Laws that would make no exceptions for rape or incest. Here in alabama, they attack the freedom to use ivf treatments. Women and couples, denied the ability to fulfill their dream, of having a child. And consider the irony, on the one hand, these extremists tell women they do not have the freedom to and an unwanted pregnancy. Extremists tell women they do not have the freedom to start a family. Let us agree, one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs, to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body. [applause] the fight for freedom, that every person in our nation has a right to be free from the horror of gun violence. [applause] and yet today, these extremists stand by and refused to pass reasonable gun safety laws, to keep our children and places of worship safe. Freedom, that every person in our nation has a right to be free, to love who they love openly, and with pride. And yet just this past year, extremists have passed or proposed hundreds of laws, targeting lgbtq people. Freedom, that every person in our nation has the freedom to learn and acknowledge our countrys true, and full history. [applause] and yet today, extremists past book bans, book bans, and this year of our lord, 2024. While they are also trying to erase all overlook, and rewrite the ugly parts of our past. Fundamental freedoms, under assault. The freedom to vote, the freedom from fear, violence, and harm. The freedom to learn, the freedom to control ones own body, and the freedom to just simply be. And understand the profound impact these attacks have on the next generation of our leaders. Just last fall, 15,000 Young Leaders join me during the fight for our freedoms college tour. And for them, these attacks on freedom or a lived experience. It is their lived experience, that Extremist Leaders have intentionally closed Polling Places near college campuses. And restricted the use of student i. D. S to vote. That it is black voters and Student Voters who are most targeted by anti voter laws. A lived experience that during the height of their reproductive years, the highest court in our land, the court of thurgood, and rbg, took a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of america, from the women of america. So that now, this generation has fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. Their lived experience, that from kindergarten to 12th grade, they have consistently had to endure active shooter drills, while extremists refused to pass universal background checks, red flag laws, and in the salt weapons ban. Our Young Leaders, while, they are cleareyed about whats at stake. And in the spirit of a young john lewis, i know they too will not be deterred, they will not be defeated, and they will not be denied. So salma, i the challenges we currently face, are not unlike the challenges faced by those 600 great brave souls 69 years ago and in this moment, we too than are confronted by a fundamental question. What kind of country do we want to live in . Do we want to live in a country of freedom, liberty, and justice . Or a country of injustice, hate, and fear . Which we each have the power to answer that question. With our voice, with our feet, and with our votes. I i will close by sharing with, you in my west wing office in the white house. [applause] yeah, thats why thats where i work. A hollowed piece of this artwork, that is the first piece i see when i walk into my office in the morning. Its a large, framed photograph, taken on Bloody Sunday, depicting an injured emilia boynton, receiving care at the foot of this very bridge. And for me, it is a daily reminder, of the struggle, of the sacrifice, and of how much we owe to those who gave so much before us. History is a relay race. Generations before us carried the baton. And now, they have passed it to us. So let us continue to organize, let us continue to fight. And lets make some good trouble along the way. God bless you, and god bless the United States of america. Thank you all. Vice PresidentKamala Harris, there in selma alabama, having a real political, and civil rights moment there, at the edge of the independents bridge. Commemorating the 59th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, and calling for in immediate ceasefire, to the israel gaza war. She honored the legacy of the civil rights movement, addressing the ongoing work to achieve justice for all. Encouraging americans to continue the fight for fundamental freedoms, under attack throughout this country, encouraging black americans, talking about the freedoms in which are under attack right, not when it comes to women and reproductive rights, along with lgbtq rights as well. And she talks about the palestinians. And she called this a humanitarian catastrophe, that we are all watching go down in gaza right now. She talked about the lack of food and the famine that is facing the palestinians, amidst this war. The day in which 100 or so palestinians in gaza lost their lives, as they asked for aid, as they approached a humanitarian aid trucks. She addressed the Israeli Government, asking for more border crossings, for allowing them, for them to allow for more humanitarian aid to be let in. And to Restore BasicServices Inside gaza. She reiterated both her and the administrations support for israels right to defend itself in this war. And that hamas is a brutal terrorist organization, and that they will not stop. And as they have said publicly, they would carry out october 7th again. However, she asked for in immediate ceasefire, at the edge of the bridge, on the 59th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday. For six weeks, of an immediate ceasefire, to allow hostages out, and humanitarian aid in. And to begin the process of establishing a palestinian state. Quite a moment for Vice PresidentKamala Harris today. A historic day in selma, alabama. That does it for me everybody on, this edition of im yasmin vossoughian, thanks for watching. Alex, well be back next saturday and sunday on olympian eastern. Msnbc prime weekend, is next. Eastern. Msnbc prime weekend, is next. Welcome to prime time weekend. I am Rachel Maddow. Lets get right to the weeks top stories. The rightwing dominated Supreme Court gave donald trump a gift. The biggest possible gift anyone could give him, the biggest possible gift they have given him yet. Remember, donald trump of course, participated in a violent coup to overthrow democracy. The first president to set himself squarely against the constitutional order, in history. And rallied his supporters to storm the capitol, and steal an election that he lost. And he was indicted by our justice department, representative of us, the people. On for federal felony accounts, by a grand jury, for his role in that insurrection. Well today, in a single page order released at 5 00, the court agreed to consider trumps manifestly weak claim, that he is immune from prosecution for the january 6th insurrection, that he was acting in some senses at his official capacity as president. But the order itself is not the story here. Its the timing. It all comes back to the timing. Lets remember, the court case, the trial of donald trump over his effort to subvert the constitutional republic, was originally set to begin days from now in march. All that is on hold, because the Supreme Court wants to hear Oral Arguments for trumps immunity claims. Ready for this . Seven weeks from now. April 22nd, 2024, making it a real possibility, a likelihood, in fact, that donald trump will not face a trial for the crime of attempting to overthrow the american republic, will not face a jury of his peers, until after the next election, in which he is the likely republican candidate. I want to be Crystal Clear here about the important significance of todays news. Because i think a lot of the reporting has missed this. What happened today, this one page order, it looks and a dime, right . It is an unmistakable sign, from the maga majority of the trump created court, that they are with him. That they are going to use their power to make sure he does not face trial in an election year, for attempting to end american democracy. Until today, it could have gone either way. It was genuinely unclear whether they were going to give him up, and whether they were going to put their shoulder to the wheel, on Donald Trumps behalf. Everyone has always understood, the substance of his legal claim here is meritless. It lost in the District Court level, it lost unanimously in the Appellate Court. Three judges, one of whom was a republican appointee. It is bad law, under the Supreme Courts own precedent and jurisprudence. The point was never to win on the merits. The point was to make a time consuming hail mary passed, to attempt to conceal escape a possibility. Trumps bet was that the 63 maga majority himself created on that court, would bail him out. That they would rob the Peoples Department of justice the opportunity to present all the evidence of his guilt. That the voters of this country, you and i, the hundreds of millions of us, might be robbed of the information we need to determine whether the man is guilty of the gravest crime any politician has been accused of since the civil war. Today, the court signaled they are in cahoots. That the plot is on, its a go off. Yes, they will take up the case. When they get to it. They have scheduled it, seven weeks. But keep in mind how this works. Trumps legal team, encouraging and anticipating precisely this kind of delay tactics. Lets go back. On december 1st, 89 days ago, federal judge Tanya Chutkan ruled on trumps bogus immunity claim, finding it, correctly, meritless. Days later, on december 11th, special prosecutor jack smith, anticipating that this claim was no more than an attempt to delay, and would fail on the merits, did something unusual, he did something audacious. He went straight to the Supreme Court, skipping an intermediate appellate level. He said look, lets be clear here, you know and i know whats going on. Trump is trying to delay, this is likely to land in your lap. If you are inclined to take it, lets do it now, lets get to the merits. The Public Interest in this case, coming to trial can be preserved. And the court said nope, just before christmas they said nope. Now people set at the time, well, maybe that makes sense, because maybe Supreme Court justices want to let the lower Appellate Court, they are colonies in the d. C. Circuit, way in, and not even take up the case, because it is so clear cut. And then what happened . The Appellate Court did take up the case, they heard Oral Arguments, they got briefed, they took a while, the clock was ticking the whole time, as we said on this show over and over. And then on february 6th, they came out with a unanimous decision against trump. He is citizen trump, he is not above the law. The decision seemed carefully tailored to give the Supreme Court and easy try to simply refuse to take up the case, to let the Lower Court Ruling stand. But if the Supreme Court wanted to take up the case, and wanted to do it in an expedited fashion, lets be clear when i say the Supreme Court, the conservative majority of the court that is what we are talking about here. They could have done the day after they got the petition this month. That day. What did they do . No, they burned two and a half weeks, for no reason. They werent producing anything, they werent writing any arguments. Its one page. There it is, they sat around for two weeks. And then they issue just a one page order today, saying they are going to take this up, theyre going to schedule arguments for seven weeks from now. That is considerably longer than the expedited review of the 14th Amendment Case against trump in colorado. The one where he is challenging his right to be on the ballot, right . Now in that case, where what loomed over everyone was donald trump not being on the ballot, the Supreme Court unwanted expedited quickly. Right . They wanted to get that one done. That ruling is going to come out before colorados primary next tuesday. They moved quickly there, but here, what the maga majority is telling us, with this audacious order today, is that the fix is in. In some ways, for what it represents about the court, i think it is 100 times worse than bush v. Gore. It doesnt matter what they all know that, we all know, that everyone knows the score here. No one should be under any illusions that any player in this drama is confused about what is happening, and has happened. Delay is all that matters. The pacing is all that matters. No one needs to wonder anymore whether this rightwing court will audaciously, fragrantly, in front of the whole nation, use their power to run the clock out. So that donald trump faces no legal accountability, so that his guilt or innocence, cannot be definitively proven to us, the of odors. Who i believe have a right to know whether the man is guilty or innocent. So that he can return to power, without us having that knowledge, and dismiss these cases from his position as, and i quote him here, i quote him here, dictator on day one. If you were hoping that Donald Trumps authoritarian disregard for the rule of law was going to be stopped by americans institutions and the court at the highest level, that hope is severely diminished today. The Mueller Investigation didnt stop him, two congressional impeachments didnt stop. For criminal prosecutions are not going to stop him. The Supreme Court he helped to stop will not stop him. Today, is the starkest proof yet that in the zerosum battle between maga and democracy, there was, and is only one thing that could ever truly stop donald trump, and that is we the people. Americans, voting against him, a majority, voting against what he stands for, and what he wants to do. With me tonight, my good friends Rachel Maddow and lawrence odonnell. Hosts of the rachel and the last word right here on msnbc. Rachel, i will say something. I am mad at myself for how surprised i was. I was mad at myself, as the time clique went by for two and a half weeks, i, and i think a lot of people thought, and this was with informed speculation with people i respect, people who have people who have been around the court, studied the court, know the court. There is no way they could take two and a half weeks, only then to say we are taking the case seven weeks from now. What was your reaction . I mean, i dont think you should be mad at yourself, i dont think you should be embarrassed. I think everybody sort of thought that was the only decent explanation for how long they were taking. That they were going to not take up the case, that maybe samuel ito or one of the other real maga judges was going to be really mad about was biding for as much time as he could, because it was his last turn which a course is what trump wants. I think that was, if you think about the court as the Supreme Court of the United States, any rational actor, any decent one, that was a reasonable supposition. Then it just turns out they are not that. And chris, i feel you. In terms of the emotion that you are bringing to this right now. And the sort of sense of urgency with which you are underscoring what this means. Its, its true, there isnt, i mean there just isnt any way around it. And i feel like for people who havent been following this, if you want to know why there is a hair on fire reaction to. This if you havent been following every every incremental bit of progress here, the important question here is not whether the Supreme Court is going to decide that donald trump and all president s are immune from prosecution, for things, crimes they committed while they were president. I mean, it would be fully insane for them to actually side with trump here. Remember, this is the case were trumps lawyers was asked by judge in the appeals court, are you telling me that this guy, that a president could order the assassination of his political rivals . And there could be no prosecution for that . That that would be okay, we would have to let that go . Not only for the duration of his presidency, but for the duration of his life, that would be okay . And trumps lawyers were basically like yeah. So, the idea that they are going to side with him on immunity, is unthinkable, and also beside the point. The conclusion that we can arrive at now, based on what they have done, without having to wait for the ruling, is that they are ensuring that trump will not face trial, and when they inevitably rule that president s arent immune from prosecution after they leave office, what that will tell donald trump, if by then he is president , is that he can never leave the office of the presidency. And if he is voted out in 2028, he cannot leave office, and he is wil