Wallace Campaign Manager says about that. Were also going to hear from George Wallaces daughter about that. Oh, wow. You got the taughter . We have a statement from the daughter. Youre kidding. Ill just stay right here and watch the whole thing. Thanks, rachel. The antigovernment rebel in oregon that you online have named tarpman has made it to the big time thanks to seth myers. And ted cruz says he wont take Donald Trumps legal advice about his eligibility to be president of the United States. The idea that anybody thinks they should be president. You got to be out of your mind. The birther fight doesnt seem to be ending between donald trump and ted cruz. Donald trump has just tweeted this ted cruz, free legal advice on how to preempt the dems on citizens issue. Im not going to be taking legal advice anytime soon from donald trump. Meanwhile, donald trump is taking his campaign to Bernie Sanders backyard. Socialism guy, you know, communism guy, i dont know what the hell he is. The Trump Campaign gave out 20,000 free tickets. That venue only has 1,400 seats. Trying to fit ten pounds of fun in a fivepound bag. If it was a phish can sert, what would you do . We would cancel it. Trump seems to be relishing the frenzy . Whats a better word than the word stupid . Stupid. Made of money no future at all tonight, donald trump says hes worried about his friend ted cruz. Hes not worried about how well ted cruz is doing in the polls. No, no, no. Hes worried that something terrible could happen to his friend because Rafael Edward cruz made the mistake of being born in calgary, alberta, canada. The worst thing that can happen is he gets sued by the democrats and that hes not allowed to run. I would say he should go to court and get it declared what they call a declaratory judgment where you ask a judge to make a ruling before the fact. And i think Something Like that would be very effective. I do think its probably something that he should get off his shoulders, because its a tough issue. I mean, he was born in canada and a lot of people see that. He was a canadian citizen, i guess, for a long period of time. He gave it up, what, 14 oar r 1 months ago. Its not an easy issue. Its a very complex issue. Hasnt been adjudicated yet fully and hasnt gone to the Supreme Court. But i think if he got a declaratory judgment, that would solve the problem. Harvard Law School Graduate ted cruz is not about to listen to a mere business School Graduate about a constitutional question. Im not going to be taking legal advice anytime soon from donald trump. My response when donald tossed this attack out there was simply to tweet out a video of fonzi from happy days jumping a shark and to move on. These attacks this is the silly season of politics. Unfortunately for ted cruz, the question of who is a naturalborn citizen and therefore qualified at birth to be president of the United States sf not as silly as he would like. It has been the subject of much legal scholarship over the years, including some by our first guest, harvard law prof sor lawrence tribe, who was one of ted cruzs teachers in law school. 100page article in the Boston University law review in 2005 by sara duggin and beth collins could not find certainty in the meaning of the phrase naturalborn citizen and ended by recommending a constitutional amendment specifically to clarify the citizenship qualification to be president of the United States. The article concludes the naturalborn citizenship status of millions of americans is open to question. Naturalborn citizenship is absolutely certain only for United States citizens born post statehood in one of the 50 states, provided that they are not members of native american tribes recognized by the United States government. To varying degrees, the natural born status of all other United States citizens is suspect. Joining us now is harvard law professor lawrence tribe. Professor, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you, lawrence. My pleasure. You actually entered this discussion on behalf of john mccain in 2008 when his status was questioned. You wrote a legal memo on this matter. And what did you find in the case of john mccain . Well, in john mccains case, both ted olsen and i, who jointly were asked by the senator to write a memo, concluded that he was probably a naturalborn citizen because he was born on a United States military base in the canal zone, which was a u. S. Territory, and he was born to two american citizens. His mom and his dad were both american citizens. But even that was not absolutely certain, because, as you said in the leadup to this piece, the matter has nfr been definitively resoled. That article that you mentioned by professor duggin was a really elaborate study. I read it some years ago. I remember being imprezzed they had thorough lis canvassed the evidence. They were able to conclude that this is one of the black holes in the constitution. Yeah. Something that ought to be clear. Its not like a broad concept like liberty or equality. Its not a terrible thing to have debates back and forth about what those elastic terms mean. But when it comes to the qualifications for the presidency and those who are in line to become president , it really does matter whether theres a cloud over the office. We want it to be clear. Things like youve got to be 35 years old, you have to be a resident for 14 years. But then this naturalborn citizen sort of joker in the pack is a source of great difficulty. We know that the original reason for sticking it in there probably doesnt apply anymore. It was put there, the history makes pretty clear, to prevent people with foreign rather than american loyalties from infiltrating themselves into the oval saufs, as it now is. And a lot of people, including me, think its a pretty unamerican concept to say that members of Indian Tribes and tens of millions of naturalized citizens cant become president. But without amending the constitution or getting a definitive ruling from the u. S. Supreme court, its just wrong to say, as senator cruz has tried to say, that its a settled matter it. Isnt settled. Well, lets listen to what your former student said about this just yesterday. As a legal matter, the question is quite straightforward and settled law, that the child of a u. S. Citizen born abroad is a naturalborn citizen. People will continue to make political noise about it, but as a legal matter its quite straightforward. Professor, you want to grade that as an answer on an am . I wou exam . I would say incomplete. He was a good student. He was a smart student. He got an a. President obama was a student of plien also and the chief justice. They were just as smart. But the fact of the matter is theres no authoritative answer to that question. It doesnt become straightforward just because ted cruz wants it to be or because i might want it to be. We dont have the last word on this, nor does the last word with lawrence odonnell. We just dont know the answer. And do you see differences that you think could be relevant to a Supreme Court ruling on this . Differences between the mccain case and ted cruzs case . Sure. In the mccain case, one could really say that he was born in the United States. It was a United States military base. It was part of the canal zone. Its not really part of a foreign country, even though it was the canal zone within the surrounding area of panama. And both his mother and his father were american citizens because of his military duty, they had to be out of the United States proper temporarily. And the Supreme Court is known to draw all kinds of lines that dont necessarily relate to the orig original meaning of the document, although scalia would like it always to reduce to that. Here we dont have clear evidence as to even what the original meaning was. We know some things about the purpose, but if it became a Supreme Court case, and there are some ways that it could then the Supreme Court might draw all of these possible distinctions between senator mccain and senator cruz. And professor, i would like to do a quick minute before we go on some of the reasons at the time of the drafting the constitution why there is some fog around this. And that includes the fact that they were very knowingly excluding from citizenship people who they knew were born in the United States and were being born in the United States, born into slavery in mississippi, born into Indian Tribes. They were very conscious of people being born in the United States who they would not regard as citizens. At the beginning, they had lots of purposes that we now would not want to embrace. They wa they wanted slaves to be 3 5 of a person. They didnt think dhekd become citizens at all, let alone naturalborn citizens. The original americans, the knave native americans, the Indian Tribes and their members, they wanted to treat as secondclass citizens not full citizens. We dont embrace all that, but when theres a technical term in the constitution, we dont just say well, its sort of outdated. There are some people who want to say that about the Second Amendment and its original purpose was to make sure that the states wouldnt be overrun by a powerful central government. But you wont find many strong advocates of the Second Amendment on ted cruzs side on this. So it seems to me that its an open question. Professor, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Really appreciate i want. Thanks, lawrence. Coming up, the Trump Campaign landed in Bernie Sanders backyard in vermont. Plus, Rachel Maddow told you about this, the executive director of the George Wallaces 1968 president ial campaign has been joining us. Shes been doing these fascinating comparisons comparing Donald Trumps campaign to George Wallaces segregationist campaign back in 1968. Wile also hear from George Wallaces daughter about those comparisons. This is where i met your grandpa. Right under this tree. man some things are Worth Holding onto. Theyre hugging the tree. man thats why we got a subaru. Or was it that tree . man the twentysixteen subaru outback. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Full of guests on the waye and a cold with sinus pressure, you need fast relief. Alkaseltzer plus severe sinus congestion and cough liquid gels rush relief to your tough symptoms. To put you back in control. [doorbell] woman coming alkaseltzer plus sinus. Life. Is unpredictable. Life is deaths. And births. Sickness and health. Love and heartbreak. And covered california is there for it all. Not just to help keep you well. But to make sure the cost of being unwell doesnt ruin this whole life thing. Because its more than just health care. Its life care. Grow old with me let us share what we see just you and i grow old with me let us share what we see and oh the best it could be just you and i every time i think about those kids, it gets me mad. He was talking about the massacre of first graders in connecticut, and surprisingly after that, there was this reaction to president obamas emotion. Well, i actually think he was sincere. Ill probably go down about five points in the polls by saying that, but i think he was sincere. Its a thing that he feels you know, i think hes incorrect about it. Just taking chunks and chunks out of the Second Amendment, but i think he probably means well. Up next, a live report from Donald Trumps rally tonight in vermont. To folks out there whose diabetic nerve pain. Shoots and burns its way into your day, i hear you. To everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. Make sure your doctor hears you too i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered with diabetic nerve pain. If you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, dont suffer in silence step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. Tell em cedric sent you. Trump will not allow anyone who isnt a fer vebt supporter to be allowed into his campaign speech. People were asked if they supported trump. If they answered anything but yes, they were escorted out. It turns out the test run of the trump muslim ban didnt work. Some trump opponents managed to talk their way past the trump police. Get them out of here. Dont give him his coat. Confiscate his coat. Its about 10 degrees below zero outside. The correct word from that order from trump is not confiscate. It is steal. That is the frontrunner for the republican president ial nomination urging his audience to steal someones coat. Classy guy. I knew i was going to have some in vermont, in all fairness. If we didnt have that, it wouldnt be vermont, right . Hey, why do you think the other republicans are not coming up here, folk, okay . Joining us now, nbc news correspondent katy tor in burlington, vermont, where donald trump held that rally tonight. Joan walsh is here in new york and Jonathan Allen joins us in washington. Katy, did anyone steal your coat . No, i still have it on, fortunately. Its 18 outside. Not 10 below, but 18. The trump police didnt work at the door . No, but you have to give the Trump Campaign a little leeway here. Its a 1,400 capacity theatre. They gave out 20,000 tickets and they quite honestly and quite obviously wanted their supporters in there. So when they were asking at the door if you are a Bernie Sanders supporter or some other supporter, they were turning you away because they were obviously trying to get their supporters through the door. They did release a statement saying there was 20,000 people they were trying to get in. They werent going to bod bother with anyone whos undecided or someone who doesnt like donald trump. As you saw, though, that didnt quite work. What was most remarkable was when the protesters were being thrown out of that theatre, they walked out and came out to massive cheers from a crowd of hundreds outside, each doing their own little victory lap outside as they were coming out of the theatre. The Trump Campaign, trump himself, in addition to saying they should confiscate the quotes, as the night went on and more and more protesters disrupted, he kept saying that security was being nice in the beginning, but more and more as it went on, as more people disrupted the security would get harsher and harsher, which suggested they would get violent. Which is a little bit new with for the campaign. They had said in past rallies, dont hurt the protester, basically. We respect First Amendment rights. The protesters are protesting. Dont hurt them. And they started chanting usa, usa, usa or trump, trump, trump to drown them out. We did see a little bit of that tonight. A little disconcerting to hear the frontrunner for the gop nomination say that security is going to get harsher, essentially, with people who were disrupting his rally. Joan walsh, Bernie Sanders took the opportunity to issue a statement about donald trump tonight saying donald trump and i finally agree on something. He wants to run against me, i want to run against him. It would be an b Extraordinary Campaign and im confident i would win. And the oneonone matchups in the polls showed that Bernie Sanders would win. I think he would absolutely beat donald trump. Who is a very small, scary man. Not only did he luxuriate in his sadism that katy points out. Those are my words, not her words. Hes hearing people jeer him who are actually saying i love you because hes waiting for the time he can get tougher and tougher on these protests and solve some knee of his own. Its such a scary thing to see in a candidate for republican or democrat. Bernie sanders would destroy him. Hillary clinton was barely mentioned tonight. Ted cruz barely mention by donald trump tonight. I guess this is his version of positive campaigning. Hes going to advocate stealing coats and not saying anything bad about hillary. Well, after a day in which he released an Instagram Video of Hillary Clinton in photographs with Anthony Weiner and bill cosby, of course making reference to bill clinton and and his sexual i indiscretions in the past, i dont know that trump is entirely laying off of Hillary Clinton at this point. Certainly not laying off of ted cruz with these birther comments about the constitutionally of cruz standing for president. What i do think is going on here, though, is donald trump is fighting Bernie Sanders right now, not for the general election, but in the primary in the neighboring state of new hampshire. Voters can go in on the day of the election and choose either a republican ballot or a democratic ballot no matter how they voted in the past. Thats a real issue for trump and for sanders trying to wage outsider campaigns. Theyre going to want to attract independents, people willing to switch parties our have no party to come and vote for them in new hampshires prima