The fight over entitlements and three years since the devastating quake in haiti. A critique of the best of intentions, but first, is the only way to save the constitution to violate the constitution . Good morning, im melissa harrisperry. Im going to take you back, way back, 1861, during the height of the civil war. President Abraham Lincoln made an unprecedented move which many even then considered it an overreach of executive authority, and the that year, lincoln declared martial law and issued the writs of habeas corpus and insisting that he needed to suspend the right to due process in order to put down the rebellion in the south. At the time, lincoln defended his constitutionally questionable action in a july 4th speech saying this, are all of the laws but one to go unexecuted and the government, itself, go the pieces lest that one be violated . Lincolns claim was that the rebellion caused a concern for Public Safety that required the suspension, and furthermore, he claimed that the executive did in fact hold the Constitutional Authority to suspend habeas corpus. Lincoln even argued that even if the interpretation was wrong and the powers play only with congress, he was still justified, because even if he did not, lest one law be violated, it was his overwhelmingly Constitutional Authority to preserve, protect and defend the constitution by keeping the union together. That perhaps convoluted argument is actually a strong claim to president ial authority in the United States constitution. Perhaps above all else the president ial duty is to keep the government from going to pieces, to do so, the president may even have to choose the least troubling option from a menu of unconstitutional choices, and this may be precisely the kind of constitutional interpretation that our current president is considering. A week away from his second inauguration, president obama is facing a series of roadblocks to going about the business of governing, from replacing outgoing cabinet members, to the ability to issue new debt, and the issue between the oval office and capitol hill has been proven intractable and how can he keep the government from going to pieces. Two legal scholars may have a solution for the president particularly when it comes to the debt standoff. Writing for the columbia law review, the authors write that in the debt ceiling deal context and given the balance of the practical stand prudential considerations, the least constitutional choice would be for the president to continue to issue debt in the amounts authorized by the duly enacted budget of the United States. Translation . Go over the head of congress and raise the debt creeiling from t oval office, because it is an esoteric concern that has street level consequences burk i scons remains a matter of interpretation. Think george w. Bush, post 9 11 and bolt ststered by a fierce t of lawyers who e helped usher in the greatest debt in decades. And now it is not war powers or extraordinary rendition or interrogation techniques, but it is about the 14th amendment, because it prevents any questioning of the validity of the public debt of the United States so many say that debt, itself, is unconstitutional, because it gets in the way of the federal government honoring the basic financial commitments. The president may be constitutionally obligated to ignore this debt ceiling fight, so if he follows the two scholars lead and simply issues new bonds, congress be damned, he may be fulfilling the constitutional duty and that would be of course at the expense of the pesky separation of powers. Oops. Because that old document also stipulates that the congress and only the document has the power of the purse. Article i of the constitution state s th states that the congress and not the president has the power to borrow money into credit of the United States, but when you face a congress who refuses to act on its power, how does the president keep the government from going to pieces . The context of the realities of contemporary governing, maybe the con ttext should be, what would lincoln do . With me is dorian and Michael Crowley, Senior Correspondent and deputy chief of Time Magazine and christine beltran, associate professor of new york university, and mark alexander, a professor of law at seton hall. I want to start with you, mark, because you are there in a law school to teach the interpretation of the constitution to people who are going to practice law, and is this a reasonable way to frame the tradeoff that the p president has a menu of constitutional options, and he has to pick the one to keep the government from going to pieces. Yes, he has a menu, and he has to make sure that the country goes forward and he is chosen to lead the country. We dont know what is the final answer of what is unconstitutional, until there is a declaration from the Supreme Court. But the president has to do what needs the be done to get the job done. And president lincoln was using habeas to act now, and see what goes forward and the same for the president now, but as you said, there is real life consequence, because it is a big esoteric conversation, and one that we have ever everyday with the law student, but the point is that the president has to go forward and has to act. And are people asking him to do this . Senate democrats have said to him, listen, what we have to do is to in fact ignore the republicans here. Lets take a look at what the democrats have said. They are actually saying, listen, mr. President , this is the time when we hope that you will continue to ignore claims that agreeing to a rise in the debt ceiling will agree to the con kegs,ey concessio concession, and saying, do it, and we have to do it. And they are frustrated that the republicans are held hostage here and made demands and that they might win some of the demands. I suspect that the president is worried that, you know, theres a question here about the legality of what he does and the powers as described by the constitution, and then the global and the Financial Markets which are not particularly intere interested in the constitutional law and theory, so i think that to some degree the white house must calculate, if we act in a sort of controversial way, right, it is not controversial if Congress Raises the debt limit, because that is what everybody assumes will happen, but if we take another route, and there are many options including this trillion dollar coin that could be minted, but what is best for the markets . Because the goal is to not crash the economy. So there is a second argument and pragmatic real world argument happening along the constitutional debate that has to be kept in mind when you ask what the white house has to do to make the decisions. So maybe there are four issues, the legality, and can he as a matter of constitutional matter go over the head of ko s congress, and are are we a functioning democracy to make good on the payment, and the third and the fourth is the politics of it and how will he be held accountable or the party be held accountable, but also, if he extends executive power, it is one of the jeannes that once you let it out of the bottle, it is hard to put it back in, and i love the trillion dollar coin, and i thoroughly love it. I want the trillion dollar coin and that sounds great, but once you start extending the executive power, you extend it for the next guy and the next and the next. Well, yes and no. In some ways if you remember that Franklin Roosevelt tried to extend the executive authority and he did in lots of ways burk he got pushback from the Supreme Court and the Republican Party that for even truman and the successor, there was an expanded reach for the executive office, but i want to go back to some older Political Science about the president ial power. There is one from Richard Newstat of the politics of persuasion and the bully pulpit, which the president has not used. He can go offcongress and directly to the markets and the American Public and make a case of the use of the unconstitutional and the seemingly unConstitutional Authority, and he has not done that yet, and that is one of the options of the perceived power. And it feels to me, like, christina, not only could he potentially go, but that one of the arguments in the back pocket is that we are not actually having a deficit crisis. Much of the deficit is already addressed, and so in other words, sort of when we look at the trend lines that paul krueger has been showing us the trend lines are showing that the deficit is disappearing slowly but surely, and most of it on spending cuts and is there a need, because when you see how much has been done and as you look at the graph, and how much has been done on spending cuts, do we indeed need to have this fight . Well, do we need to. And initially we saw obama claiming what was an overreach, but we have recent history in this in terms of the immigration reform. When he did deferred action he said he did not want to go around congress, but the realization of Popular Support of this issue, and congress was not going to move, and he didnt get any blame from the public and the public was pleased that he took real action on this. I dont believe there is a lot of political blowback from this. He is doing something for the election, and if he has to circumvent congress, that is what he will do. The trillion dollar platinum coin is sort of deferred action and a creative way of the within the letter and if not the spirit of the law, but the president can have. And i love the coin. I think that we could have a commemorative plate, and go with it. It would be great. And a hiphop song about it. That would be good. All of that. Stay right there and what the president can do about guns is next. Ive got the power when you have diabetes. Your doctor will say get smart about your weight. I tried weight loss plans. But their shakes arent always made for people with diabetes. Thats why theres glucerna hunger smart shakes. They have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. And they have six grams of sugars. With fifteen grams of protein to help manage hunger. Look whos getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. A smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. [ bop ] [ bop ] [ bop ] you can do that all you want, i dont like v8 juice. [ male announcer ] how about v8 vfusion. A full serving of vegetables, a full serving of fruit. But what you taste is the fruit. So even you. Couldve had a v8. Im up next, but now im singing the heartburn blues. Hold on, prilosec isnt for fast relief. Cue up alkaseltzer. It stops heartburn fast. Oh what a relief it is the president is going to act. There are executive a action that can be take n and we havent decided what that is yet, but we are compiling it all with with the help of the attorney jenle ral and all of the rest of the cabinet members a as well as legislative action that we believe was required. That was Vice President biden on wednesday hint hing at a possible outcome from the work of the task force, and now for those of you who are either hoping or fear ing thing that t possible executive order will be a complete overhaul of the Second Amendment, i will tell you that it wont be. Our nation and the laws are path dependent as is in a nation where we have been is part of how we end up where we are. I know. Listen. Le policies simply cannot be made on a blank slate, perhaps, perhaps we would be much safer if there were such a thing as a right to bear arms, but there is. And whatever gun control policy is passed, it is going to be based on the preexisting Second Amendment. So i want to ask you about that, mark, because on the one hand, we could make a case that we could go ahead and holding the country together and recognizing we are in a new place, and the president says that we are coming for these class of guns and just going to come get them, but in the country, that would in fact going to peoples homes and taking the guns, and the thing that they say coming to get my guns would have to happen . Well, it is a problem. The entire bill of rights, and that is the kind of othing that is clearly which something that we as a nation dont feel co comfortable with, the government coming into our home for lots of reasons and privacy reasons, but the reality is that the Second Amendment does protect a certain right, but there is no right in the constitution that is absolute, and no way to argue that 200plus years ago people thought that what happened in newtown is protect ed ed by the Second Amendment, and no way to say that what is an absolute unfettered right to have a gun in any kind of situation, and those who argue have to realize that the path we have been on and where we have been on today is certainly noting . That anybody would have imagined and no one should, and this is not a path to reflect the society we are living in today. And it is worth reading the Second Amendment and it is well to be remind ed. A well regulated militia for the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed and that sort of last piece of it, the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed feels absolute. Feels like we have a right to bear arms and it shall not be infringed. It shall not be infringed, but it is a time when we didnt have a standing army, navy, air force, marine, and so we are looking at a Different Society and a country founded by individuals gathered together to rise up against a king, and this is not the same society. So infringing the right, there is a conduct and the Supreme Court has said it is an individual right, but again, every single right in the constitution has limits, and the limits are extraordinary important, and no absolute right. So when the nra or whoever is becomes absolutist about it, it is completely wrong. So no absolute right whether it is the freedom of the speech which has limits orrer the right to bear arms and there is also no absolute power when it comes to the context of the preside y presidency, so if we are on a pathway of how armed we are are as a nation, we are on a pathway in terms of the president ial power, so what can the president do . What can the Vice President do in this moment on the issue of guns . Well, it is really interesting, because we can see the ways in which the public is hungry for something to happen. And gun control is an incredibly complicated issue, so this is a moment where executive action would make people feel like we are doing something here. Some of the things that they have talked about in terms of asking the d. O. J. To prosecute the gun laws that we have or actually appoint someone to atf and these are the concrete things that the president can do that the public says at least we are taking action on this question. I wonder why we are more reluctant to provide power for the presidency than governors and so much of the conversation is state rights versus the federal right, but isnt the historic nervousness about a king . Well, that is a great question in terms of the difference of governors and the leeway we give them and president s. One of the things that go back to an erl ler poiarlier point oe bully pulpit, and we saw it on the issue of Marriage Equality by the president and it shifted attitudes. We are at a similar moment where unlike any governor singlehandedly, the president can use the power of persuasion to lead us in a conversation about gun control and the Second Amendment and not shift everybody, but shift to the center and he can do this effectively in this moment, and this is a chance that no other president in modern times has had. Is the president s power then fundamentally this newstadian pow e of persuasion to get the American People on his side. Ell with, more of it than that, but i do believe that based on a little bit of what i know of the conversation happening in the white house about how to do this, there is a sense of however satisfying for people who want to see quick action on gun control and see the president exercise maximal power and whatever measures he might take unilaterally, there is real weariness about the perception that obama is coming to get your guns, and it is the nra may not be as formidable as it is in the selfimage and the people who are, you know, the power may be overstated as a lot of people are rg a u yoog, however, they do have real power and the white house feels like the politics of this are not clear cut and not a hands down winning issue not maer the how they play it, so therefore, essential of getting something done in the view of the president and the advisers s so make sure that you are moving the public and not obama and biden diving into the congress, and punching, but squeezing them from the outside to move the Public Opinion to educate people, and there are a lot of people who dont believe that gun control will solve this problem, and they believe it is a part of crazy people, and that is why you will see Mental Health, and biden is coming into this with video games, and not just single focus of guns, and so this is a big chance to do it. And that is all about the bully pulpit. And the magazine for whom doreen and i write, they asked a piece of what should the president do in the second term, and so we took a look at what he had done in 2012 with the executive orders. He has given executive orders to improve Mental Health for veterans, and acquisition of wind farm projects, and then home la homeland Ecosystem Restoration project, and improving access to Mental Health services for veterans. So we can see him with r relat