on that note, i wish you a very good night. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thank you for staying up late. i will see you at the end of tomorrow. thanks to your home for joining us this hour. really happy to have you here. so it was june 1942, which means obviously we are in the thick of it in terms of world war ii. june 1942 in a german submarine, a german boat turned up in the hamptons. a german submarine hit a sandbar 100 yards off the coast in -- which is on long island, in the hamptons, in new york. this german submarine drops off for guys, for saboteurs. we know they were saboteurs because they came ashore in a raft that was launched from the submarine once they hit the beach, they buried the raft, they also buried what they brought ashore with him which was a big cache of explosives and that leaders. and then they got away. so that was mid june 1942, a few days later, four days, later another submarine turned up elsewhere on the american east coast. this time it was just outside jacksonville, florida. and again, another german submarine turned up offshore and dropped off another four guys. for more trained saboteurs. these were germans who had previously spent time living in the united states, we knew how to assimilate here but they had been in the meantime brought back to germany for specialized training, and being equipped by the government and military. these eight men within put on these two submarines, and sent back to the united states, again one ship drove them in, new york another submarine job him in florida. they were equipped with fake identity papers, and a ton of cash. $175,000 in cash which was a town at the time. they had explosives, detonators, and detailed plans to start blowing up a bunch of stuff here in the united states, specific bridges, specific railroad stations, power plants, key factories, minds, munition plans, and so these eight guys, these two groups of trained saboteurs, they were dropped off by the submarines. they initially got away. both teams are successfully dropped off by the, boats they made their way onto the beaches, and ultimately into the cities. the first report to new york city, the second group went into jacksonville, florida, then cincinnati, and then chicago. but then one of the members went to the fbi. he surrendered. he gave up the whole plot. and so these two submarines had sent these two teams in mid june 1942. by the end of june 1942, all of them were in custody. they had all been captured. and i know that sounds crazy. it is one of those things that is so farfetched, it's sounds like a cartoon version of a made-up horror story. but this was something called operation -- it did happen in the summer of 1942. and once they had these guys in custody, once they caught them, the fdr white house and justice department and to decide what to do about it. think about the context, here we are in the middle of a war against germany. germany hasn't discussed over with all these explosives to start blowing things up, now they are in custody. how is this going to be handled here legally in the united states. well what i have been in that case, the most important thing about it is, it all have been in a big hurry. it leapfrogged the courts leapfrogged over the federal district court and the federal appeals court as well they took this unusual step of taking this matter straight to the united states supreme court to ask the court to weigh in on how this case would be handled by the u.s. government. it all went very fast. they had landed on the beaches in -- mid june by the end of june they were in custody. by the end of july, not only has a supreme court agreed to consider this case, they had heard the arguments in the, case and issued their ruling. this is at a time when the supreme court was not in session. this was the middle of this summer. the supreme court came back into a special session to take care of this unusual issue an issue they're reeling very quickly. and that is the kind of a very unusual situation that used to allow you to break glass in case of emergency, to leapfrog all of the rest of the judicial system and go right to the u.s. supreme court. we do have a process for doing the, for asking the justices of the supreme court to weigh in straightaway without taking it through all the other levels of the federal court system. but it used to be used for very specific circumstances. they used to before things as weird as honestly, saboteurs being jumped off by a submarine in the hamptons, and in florida. it was used for something like that. it was used for the watergate tapes. those president nixon have to obey the subpoena that direct them to hand over the actual tapes and a white house statement system, what does he know have to comply with that subpoena. that also leapfrogged the judiciary. it skipped through the lower courts, and went right to the supreme court to weigh in fast. for most of our modern history, you would only go straight to the u.s. supreme court with something that was that strange and momentous and sensitive, most of our history. not so much recently though. about six months ago a law professor published this book it is called the shadow docket enough among other things, the book documents and show statistically that the current iteration of the u.s. supreme court that we have now more and more is conducting its business as if it is in an emergency status. more and more they're taking up issues on this procedural basis i'm describing, the same procedural basis that was used against the sub tourist and the watergate tapes. before the -- for 15 years, not one in 15 years. since 2019, they have done it 19 times. so what used to be only for crazy circumstances, what used to be a very rare break loss in case of emergency holy quark molly there is -- on the beaches, it is now a thing they kind of do all the time. and that is the remarkable backdrop for the united states supreme court today getting a petition from prosecutors, a petition from special counsel jack smith asks for part of trump's prosecution in federal court in washington to essentially be leapfrogged over the rest of the court system. the supreme court to directly weigh in on whether trump should be immune from the prosecution, or whether he should face trial. remarkable decision today by jack smith, and a remarkable decision already by the supreme court that they will do it. we will have more on that coming, up some expert help on a story. it is a big move by the prosecution, the supreme court has today already said yes, we will take it, up we will start moving on this next week, my next wednesday we will have the first response on this from trump's lawyers, this is a procedure that used to be for only the most emergency of emergencies. but that is not the way the court uses that procedure, anymore and in the trump case, it appears to be on, and they appear to be moving fast. we'll have much more on how that came to be and what it might mean coming up later this hour. tomorrow in washington, president biden will be hosting volodymyr zelenskyy the president of ukraine. president zelenskyy will also meet with u.s. senators tomorrow as he tries to basically break the logjam of republicans who are trying to block continued american assistance to ukraine as ukraine defends itself against russia. these billboards just went up over the last few days and major cities in russia. i don't speak or read russian but i do know how to use stegall gore chansley app on my phone, and these say, because look very anna, time delay generic, they say russia in big letters, done in smaller language they say happy new year. okay, very, nice very anodyne. the issue with these billboards though, you see below the protests as russia, to the point where it says after new year's, it has a q r code. if you scan the qr code on those billboards in russia, you scan with your phone, that q r code takes you to a political opposition website. the website russia without putin. latimer putin, the dictator of russia has criminalized talking about the war in ukraine, let alone criticizing the war. he has made journalism a crime in russia, essentially totally wiping of the free press in russia now. isn't president multiple american journalists. he just moved to bring criminal charges against another american journalist last week. putin of course also made it a criminal offense, if not a capital offense to stand in peaceful political opposition to putin. that website from the q r code, russia without, putin that is a website run by the organization founded by this man, who is putin's strongest and most important political opponent and russia. his name is alexei navalny. he is now serving in decades long prison sentence with more than a dozen other criminal cases pending against him. this weekend, his lawyer sounded the alarm, that he has apparently disappeared inside the russian prison system. they no longer can get in touch with him. they no longer know what prison he is, in what pressing campy may be an. he was supposed to be in court last thursday, he did not show. there's supposed to be in court today, he did not show. nobody knows where he is. nevertheless, there is navalny 's organization still fighting, now with these clever billboards, just trying to get that basic message heard russia without putin. if you go to the website russia without putin, it asks people to plan to vote against putin, to try to get other people to vote against him, to try graffiti, maybe that might, help to call to call people and ask them to vote against putin, to hand out leaflets, to do anything to oppose them. it is brave in a country where any opposition to him gets you disappeared, were imprisoned. republicans want to cut ukraine off and let russia when the war and let putin take ukraine and take anything else he wants. president biden and president zelenskyy will spend a bit more trying to talk him out of that. this was the scene today in warsaw in poland. some movie theater in -- the crowd goes wild. people are erupting in cheers at this movie theater in poland as it was playing a live stream of the polish equivalent of c-span, what they're watching is the youtube channel of the polish parliament. people booked if theater in central warsaw, they sold popcorn, coke, so people could show up and watch lively throwing out of the old government, and the elevation of the new polish prime minister. when we elected trump in 2016 poland in 2015 elected basically their version of trump the elected the law and justice party which crusade against immigrants and gay people which attacked the free press which attacked and basically dismantled to the independent judiciary once they dismantle the judiciary they shove through the policy and really wanted the most to which was a total ban on abortion. and with the law and justice party got their overturning of her just like we got it when we go trump. the resulting total abortion ban in poland later the largest demonstrations poland has ever seen including the size of the demonstrations that brought about the fall of communism. it led to a huge popular mobilization against right wing government in poland. the abortion ban also led to the death of several polish women. today, that abortion pin lead to launches desperately being thrown out, and the opposition leader prime minister, and that turned at least one movie theater in warsaw watching c-span into a heck of a viewing party. anti democratic pro -- the world, over throughout, history always stop on reproductive rights. in some cases, the mandate forced abortions, like in china. more often, like with the largest's party, it is an abortion ban. in either case, you get the, point reproductive freedom cannot be tolerated. heaven forbid a woman decides on her own whether or not she wants to have a baby. it is a government decision to forced to give birth, or not regardless of what you want, or what is good for you. it isn't authoritarian project everywhere there is authoritarian government. in france, when france was occupied by the 90s and -- authorities in france took the time, you think that other stuff to worry about, they took the time in july 1943 to guillotine a woman, to execute a woman by guillotine in 1943 for the crime of performing abortions. abortion was not just illegal, it was punishable by the death penalty when france was occupied by the mounties. the law was on the job when france was liberated by -- germany itself repealed a -- providing information about abortions. they finally got rid of that last year. in fascist italy, abortion had already been against the law before he came to power, but when mussolini became the fascist dictator of italy, he aggressively criminalized it. he'll meet any woman who got an abortion subject to five years of hard labor. have been forbidden that a woman be free to decide on her own terms assurance to have a baby. in the trump presidency, republicans finally succeeded, in their -- stack the u.s. supreme court with hard-line antiabortion conservatives, and then they were able to get through the policy the most wanted. they overturned roe v. wade, and that allowed republican controlled states all over the country to ban abortion. even those bands have not been enough for republicans in many states. republicans are now proposing in the state of missouri for example, that abortion be charged as a homicide. abortion recharged criminally as murder. republicans in the missouri house and missouri senate are now proposing murder charges for abortion, in legislation that they are bringing up this month. this comes after republicans have proposed similar legislation in kentucky, and in georgia, and in arkansas, and south carolina, and colorado. republicans in all of the states have proposed murder charges for abortion. he usually means life in prison, or the possibility of capital punishment. in ohio, a young woman is newly facing criminal charges for having had a miscarriage at home. they are bringing criminal charges against, or threatening her with prison for the handling of the fetal remains after she miscarried at home. in texas, a case of -- has played out these last few days as a republican fantasy of how they would most like to yield really really big government. kate is a mother of two, she's 31 years, old she very much has wanted a third child, she was pregnant with a third child when she learned that it would not be if i-able pregnancy. a fatal genetic abnormality. she had already been in and out of the hospital or fairly serious complications in this pregnancy. her doctor advised her that if she was to be able to try again she and her husband want to try to get pregnant again, to try for another child which they desperately want, this nonviable pregnancy must be undeterred by abortion in order to protect her health and potentially save her life. but texas man's abortion, because texas is a republican-controlled state. so kate had to go to court to try to get an exception from texas abortion ban. a texas judge ruled late last, week that she could have an exception from the abortion man. she could get this abortion in the special case, to preserve her health, to serve her own life. the texas republican attorney general responded by writing to her doctor and to the texas hospitals where the doctor has privileges. next's attorney general threatening he would potentially criminally prosecute them if they did the abortion regardless of that texas court ruling. he then filed an appeal with the texas supreme court. there is a supreme court only has republican judges on it. that all republican supreme court in texas promptly of greed to hear the appeal. that stayed at a lower court ruling, practical effect of that is that kate was once again legally blocked from being able to get an worsen in texas. and then the supreme court just sat on it, they didn't nothing. they blocked the ruling, allowing her abortion on friday, and they just sat on it all weekend. today, who knows when they would have gotten around to finally making some sort of decision on it. she's already 20 weeks pregnant, she has been in and out of the emergency room at least four times with complications from this pregnancy. today her legal counsel for center for reproductive rights announced that she finally was effectively forced to flee, she left the state to go to some safer place where there isn't a ban like this one that republicans have in texas. nancy nor that the chief executive center production for a president of raved i've been representing her in this case, that kate desperately wanted to be able to get care where she lives, and recover at home surrounded by family. well kate had the ability to leave the state, most people do not. this situation like this, it could be a death sentence. that was this afternoon. now tonight, hours after that announcement from the center for reproductive rights, hours after we learned that kate had to leave the state of texas so she can get this abortion somewhere else, and that the texas supreme court has nevertheless just issued its ruling in this case. they ruled that lower court was wrong to give kate an exception on the ban. they ruled that she effectively should have been forced by the government of the state of texas to carry this pregnancy to term, of a baby that would not live despite the fact that doing so would risk your health, mr. ability to ever have a child again, and potentially risk or death. a government would compel that of her and her body. while the republican attorney general 13 criminal prosecution of anyone who helped her, in a state where the penalty for helping a woman in the circumstances up to 99 years in prison. because, you know, limited government. freedom. joining us now is nancy northam, president and ceo of the center for reproductive rights with a group that has been representing kate in her case against the state of texas. thank you so much for being here. >> good evening, thank you for covering this. >> then i get any of that wrong? >> unfortunately, you've got it all right. just imagine, as we went through work it went through this, week first she had a terrible diagnosis, then she had to go to court, plead in front of the court you know, in front of the world right, because it is on video, to get basic health care. the judge rules that she can, yet as you pointed, out the attorney general paxton says no, i'm threatening a, doctors and threatening the hospitals, and eventually she has to flee the state, and she did today. we are at the point in the united states where we have reproductive freedom states, we have reproductive oppression states. one has to flee an impression state to be able to get basic health care. that is what keith has gone through this, week it is unacceptable, but that is what we are living with in post roe america. >> i know that she has left the state of texas seeking care elsewhere, i will ask you to disclose anything about the circumstances of where she is or what she had to do, but can you tell us if she is okay? >> she is okay. she has had a really devastating time. i mean as you pointed, out all weekend long, waiting and hoping that the texas supreme court would rule that she could go or get as the district court ruled having the medical evidence that you could have the abortion in texas to preserve her health, to preserve her future fertility, and despite all of, that that ruling did not come. it is just simply devastating. >> what do you make of the ruling that the issued tonight? i did not know if the case should be considered -- and say they did not have to rule once your office had announced she had left the state, and was obtaining the procedure, elsewhere they nevertheless decided to rule. was that going to happen either way? you have a reaction to the really? >> the ruling did not