one state decided to keep their governor. the voters of the country s biggest city decided after two decades they d like a democrat as mayor. but when it comes to election enthusiasm, it s all about even numbered years and all anyone wanted to know about the 2013 elections is what they situationaled for those of 2014. the biggest news of 2013, the broadest implication for future election, wasn t how people voted but the assault on their ability to vote. this was the year that the supreme court undid nearly 50 years of historic civil rights legislation by striking out a key provision of the 1965 voting rights act. in june the court removed the requirement for federal approval to change voting laws in nine states and parts of others with a history of discrimination. those states waste nod time putting restrictive voting laws into e effect. just hours after the decision, texas announced it would begin
remember, this was an off-year election so most state legislators weren t this there, most elections weren t happening. really i think we ll see the effect of the supreme court s decision in 2014, next year. all these southern state legislatures are coming back, they know they don t have to clear their changes this with the federal government anymore. they know if they change a polling place, do some crazy redistrict, change a law before an election, it s going to be hard to challenge it now. so 2014 s going to be critical. if we want the next year to be a year of enfranchisement, there s a lot we have to pay attention to. you re right about saying the worst since 1877, this is that period of redemption, but we d seen expansions previously and now restrictions. up next, we ll talk about the president s year in a review and how his biggest accomplishments became his biggest headaches. kristen welker joins us with a look at what happened in 2013 and what to expect in 2014. we ll contin
if i m looking at that and running for office, i m thinking this is where you go, you go to the minimum wage. as we talked about a variety of issues today, it feels like what the voters want. it s totally unrelated to what the legislators are doing. it sort of seems like with congress the more popular it is the less likely it is they re going to do it. we have this huge pot of inequality and the fact the minimum wage is not rising is a reflection of that. at the least, we should be raising it. then you look at the issue of unemployment benefits. congress paid themselves when they shut down the government. they did. they re not willing to extend unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for one year, two years? that is so morally wrong, it s kind of unbelievable to even think about it. people aren t demanding more of their members of congress. they also take government-sponsored health care at various points over and over again. kenji, i m wondering what about t
a court order to allow same-sex marriages. the new mexico supreme court ruled in december that same-sex couples in the state could legally marry and the most recent and stunning development a federal judge in utah ruled that the state s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. and hundreds of couples have gotten married since that ruling came down on december 20th. the state is appealing the decision but for now the weddings are happening. 18 states in the district of columbia have marriage equality now, and the federal government recognizes those marriages as legal. it was less than ten years ago that massachusetts became the first state to allow marriage equality. now that s at least something to celebrate for the new year. joining me now is kenji yoshino, the chief justice earl warren professor of constitutional law at nyu school of law. tremain lee, national reporter for msnbc.com. ari berman, contributing writer to the nation and author of herding donkeys.
travel and hospitality workers does not apply to nearly 5,000 airport workers. the judge says that seattle tacoma international airport is outside the city s authority because it is owned by the port of seattle, a separate government entity. support of the laws are allowed to appeal. christine owens is executive director of the national employment law project. she joins us from washington, d.c. that news out of seattle last night, how big is it? it s not really a surprise. you know, we found that in these ballot campaigns, the opponents challenge them all the way. we generally win them and they re still challenges so we re not at all surprised by this decision. it s the same judge who initially ruled it couldn t be on the ballot to begin with and that decision was overturned by the state supreme court. supports will take this back to the supreme court. it s really too early to speculate as to what the court will do. i think the important thing is that this jeannie is out of the