The Columbia Journalism School has named Ari Berman as this year’s Pringle Lecturer to address the graduating class on Journalism Day. The award is made annually by faculty to an outstanding journalist covering politics whose work can serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation.
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.
white house editor at politico, and dave ho, director of aclu s vote rights project. and joining us from texas, ari berman, author of herding donkeys: the fight to rebuild the democratic party and reshape american politics. dale, i want to start with you. if the supreme court has told us under section four, history is no longer the basis. if it is awfully hard to prove intent, then can we imagine disparate impact as a way to get to voter protection? i think we absolutely can. because focusing on intent, as you pointed out, really focuses on the wrong question. if i m the victim of discrimination, it doesn t really matter to me why i ve been discriminated against, only that i ve been discriminated against. so north carolina, their voter suppression law, it s going to disproportionately affect african-americans. if i m one of those african-american voters, it doesn t matter to me if the legislature did that because they don t like black people or because they think that black people
their limited resources and tried to pay those taxes. they studied for tests, even though it was almost impossible to pass them. and from the end of jim crowe through today when americans have been faced with barriers to their right to vote they have never stopped trying to jump over those barriers. with me, katrina, editor and publisher of the nation magazine. mara jones. kristin, executive director, ceo and co-founder of momsrising.org. ariberman, contributing writer for the nation magazine and author of herding donkeys. ari, you have been on this issue so much so that we were looking at this amazing photograph that you took in pennsylvania at the penn dot offers where people
and also ari berman, contributor writer for the nation magazine and author of the book herding donkeys. great to have both of you with us. ari, you have been on the story from the start but i want to start with nina tonight. nina, is there a racial component here? i have to ask that question. they did cut the hours in all 88 counties, but when you look at the hours that they are shortening, it goes right to working families and right to people who are of low income, maybe working two jobs. your thoughts on this. that s right, ed. this is as much about race as it is about class. the maelstrom of bigotry and foolishness going on in the state of ohio, the state of ohio has become the new south and not in a good way. the post reconstruction type of antics that republicans are using is absolutely wrong. and just because some of my republican colleagues have chosen to wear a blue suit over a white sheet in the 21st century does not change the fact that these rulings, this