>> . >> reporter: well, because by and large, and this is true on both sides of the ideological divide, believe that it's sort of a last resort for the unelected, unaccountable supreme court to preempt the democratic branches of government. by and large, they want to let the democratic processes go forward. and they only want to step in if there is absolutely no doubt that a law violates the constitution. so that rhetoric of sort of letting the democratic process go forward is something you hear a lot in the supreme court. you heard it today. but also you heard donald verrilli, solicitor general, saying, sure, the democratic process is fine. but when it violates people's rights, this is when the justices have to step in. four justices seem quite willing to step in. the four democratic appointees. they didn't seem to have a fifth vote on that issue, but they probably had a fifth on the issue of states rights. >> jeff, stay with us.