right? it s not new for trump. throughout his presidency he has tried to use every lever he has, every way he can exert his executive power and authority to bypass the will of congress, to bypass the judgments of the courts. these are three co-equal branches in our government. he tried to make the executive branch the most powerful and supreme and it s what the republicans criticized obama with doing. of course, trump is doing it himself. you might argue to a greater degree than obama did. really important point there. jessica, again kelly maps all out of the critical questions we re asking today. let me put some of them to you. you have the supreme court, which basically said, look, your argument isn t good enough for adding a citizenship question. we are not saying it s unconstitutional on its face. just they didn t make a good enough argument to add such a question. so what does this mean for the supreme court fight that s going on right now? is the administration if the admin
implementing the strategy. i think we have to see exactly what the executive order says, but i do think it s important to highlight for your viewers that the constitution very specifically gives congress the power to count how many people are in our country. the enumeration clause says, congress, you do it. congress delegated that authority to the commerce department. there is a big problem with the president trying to reach in through some sort of executive action and dictate what happens, and then of course, as we ve all said, there is a big problem here in terms of trying to find what is that new adequate or valid or legal rationale that we haven t heard before? you know, where has it been hiding all this time? yeah, and some people going so far as to say this could amount to a constitutional crisis. fantastic conversation. kicking off this very important conversation, kelly o donnell, philip rucker, jessica levenson, thank you for your insights. nbc news has learned that i.c.e.
news i.c.e. will target immigrants flagged for deportation in ten midajor citi. it s an operation the president has been promising since the eve of his campaign launch in june and has been talking about he ever since. take a listen. i don t call them raids. i say they came in illegally and we are bringing them out legally. these are people we have gone through the court system. they will be starting fairly soon. i don t call them raids. thousands and thousands of people will be legally removed from the country and that process has started. we have actually been doing that for a long time. the big question today, is the president s executive order less about the census and more about rallying his base? joining me now to discuss this nbc news white house correspondent kelly o donnell, phillip rucker, and attorney and professor at loyola law school jessica levenson. thank you for being here. kelly, i have to start with you
particular laws have been passed largely since justice brett kavanaugh joins the supreme court that none of them have gone into effect. litigation has been enormously effective at protecting a women s right to choose. other heartbeat laws and even more restricted laws that came out of alabama where there was no exception for rape and incense. they have again not gone into effect. the question is what s going to happen while these state laws work their way up the judicial system? i think that the supreme court has been we have seen united in their desperation to avoid this decision particularly as the 2020 election limbs. they can t do that forever. jessica levenson. thank you for joining us. where do we stand of the first
welcome back to velshi & ruhle. georgia s controversial heartbeat law is being challenged in court by proabortion rights activists who called the law unconstitutional. the legislation is set to go into effect on january 1st ban abortions about six weeks before many women know they are pregnant. it is among the nation s strictest abortion law. joining me now is our expert on this case. jessica. it is good to see you. the heartbeat law is unconstitutional. what s the argument behind that? well, i think the argument is that if you look at the supreme court case that everybody knows is roe v. wade. more importantly if you look at what s actually the standard now which is a case called casey