all. that s not what the supreme court said even though that may be how we read it. what they did all week long from the beginning to the end of the week so far is to gut the power of the federal government. so in this case the federal government using its power to stand in the way of equality in the case of doma, but the way that they strike it down is basically to send this right back to the state. now at the moment the state s been doing better, right? 12 states with marriage equality doing better than the federal government was doing because of this egregious law. it also means that if you live in a state like mine, louisiana, alabama, it looks as though marriage may be even farther away in part because the same argument that just overturned doma could also potentially make it impossible for the federal government to pass a law that says marriage equality is the law of the land in all 50 states. melissa, i m going to get this on really quickly, i was handed a note from harry reid
and we were the damage of being prohibited, the language of marriage and the rights of marriage, was so overwhelming, and after prop 8 passed, it just kind of welled up inside of us, we never talked about it to each other. we knew we wanted to get married but assumed we would never have the right. so after prop 8, it really turned our anger into action and we were able to take that forward and we are happy and proud and lucky to be a part of this case. jeff, i have to ask a clarifying question. we all heard paul very clearly ask you to marry him. and you responded as best we could tell by turning around and smooching him. but we didn t actually hear an affirmative yes or maybe or i ll think about it. i don t know if you wanted to clarify that for the record? i will clarify with a resounding yes. all right. excellent. you better of the. gentlemen, thanks so much. i want to ask you to stand by because we have the president of the hrc, chad griffin, also known as the man wit
she was the personal lawyer hired by edie windsor having financial planning trouble trying to figure out this tax bill she never expected. and roberta caplin took that case. she is a high-power lawyer but not one of these guys who argue these cases, took it all the way for them as their personal lawyer. the famous adversaries in bush v. gore on the opposite side identified with partisan politics on the left and right coming together and having both the same personal commitment and the incredibly deeply forged friendship between them as straight men on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum taking on this fight on the prop 8 case. i mean, these fights have been remarkable fights and movies will be made about the personal drama here as well as the consequences. certainly will. we ve got reaction flowing in. we ll have that coming up. rachel, i m going to ask you to stick around. supreme court decisions certainly momentous. we ll have chad griffin, president of the human rights camp
flustered. i don t normally get president obama talking on an iphone you got bogarted on your own show by the president through somebody s iphone on speakerphone. i kind of like it. my producer was like can you ask the president if he has anything to say on msnbc and i thought i ll just wait on that one. sir, can i get a comment on your climate change speech? just a quick question. i let it go. but that was an amazing moment. these women obviously they will go down in history, as well, along with edie windsor, civil rights icons for just american equality in general, but especially for the lgbt community. yeah. and the personal stories here are interesting and strategically important. i mean, the edie windsor case, obviously is such a moving case. there was a documentary made about edie windsor and thea spyer before they were the plaintiffs in this case because they were such an inspiring couple anyway. they were together 44 years before thea spyer died but their lawyer,
welcome back, everybody. the historic morning we have been following for you here on msnbc from the u.s. supreme court. live pictures right there, where we ve received these two landmark decisions today on doma and prop 8. doma deemed unconstitutional. prop 8 is dead. joining me now, the two other plaintiffs in the prop 8 case, paul katama and jeff zarillo, rachel maddow agreed to stick around with me. we have watched you with president obama calling from air force one on an iphone. that doesn t happen every day. how are you feeling about what just happened from the u.s. supreme court, but moreover, what it means for the two of you when you go back to california? we felt great. and that call was amazing. unfortunately, the call came in as blocked so i don t have the number to return the call. but today felt amazing. not only with our decision, but with the windsor decision, listening to justice kennedy s eloquent words, talking about how important equality and equal dignity and fairn