. >>> also with us to discuss, laura coates, former federal prosecutor and author of just pursuit, a black prosecutor's fight for fairness and cnn contributor and professor at the university of texas law school. steve, i want to start with you, this is a draft as jessica just pointed out, this was -- this was distributed, circulated february 10th, not a final opinion. however, while it could change, is there any reason, steve, to believe that much of this would change? >> yeah, erica, it is the right question. the best answer is we don't know. the politico story that came with the draft opinion last night suggested that there are, you know, circulated opinions in the court right now, that there are five votes, at least tentatively in support of this opinion. we have historical examples of the court changing its views of majority opinion becoming a dissent, of votes shifting at the last minute, season the abortion context. casey, the 1992 decision, that's part of what the court would be overruling on this draft opinion. it was one of those cases. so i think it is really important to p

i am laura coates and this is "cnn tonight." the question really is, are democrats now out of moves when comes to trying to salvage roe v. wade. for all the speeches we have seen, all the rallies we have seen since draft opinion leak. tonight, democrats seem powerless to come up with a response that would do anything to buffer the impact of a potential alito' ruling. president biden speaking a short time ago, that if the supreme court overance turns roe v. wade, other cases like same sex marriage and contraception, they very well could be next. he also went further ripping the republican party as, quote, petty and extreme. saying it is, quote, coward by trump. well, he is obviously angry with senate republicans. all of whom, blocked -- voted to block the women's health protec protection act this afternoon. this is the bill that would he ensure roe's protections. the president vowing, quote, we will continue to defend women's constitutional rights to make private reproductive choices as recognizes in roe v. wade. and my administr

laura. >> thank you so much. i am laura coates, and this is ""cnn tonight"." and this was alithia ramirez. she was 10 years old. she was one of the victims killed in the uvalde school massacre. she loved to draw and wanted to be an artist. and this was 10-year-old jayce identified this evening. and another 10-year-old, makenna lee elrod. her family confirmed she too died in the attack. for them and for all the victims, we now must ask some very tough questions after what we heard today. i know i'm an anchor. but i'm also angered in the fact that i'm a mother of a second grader, of a third grader, an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old, who sends my children, just like you, to school every single day. and i want to know, did the texas school gunman effectively have total freedom to walk in and start killing those 19 children and two teachers? and despite the massive law enforcement response, when you hear me say words tonight like, or you hear the words said like, police say, over the course of this hour, i want you to keep those words in mind more than you might other

laura. >> thank you so much. i am laura coates, and this is ""cnn tonight"." and this was alithia ramirez. she was 10 years old. she was one of the victims killed in the uvalde school massacre. she loved to dra

going on. >>> i'm laura coates and this is another intriguing election night in america. we're about to explain just why that is. we're awaiting more results of key primary races of the 2022 election cycle. now, polls closed literally just seconds ago in nebraska. and a short while ago in west virginia. you have our own election king with us at the magic wall monitoring it all, john king will be with us in just a moment to break it all down

i am laura coates and this is "cnn tonight." the question really is, are democrats now out of moves when comes to trying to salvage roe v. wade. for all the speeches we have seen, all the rallies we have seen since draft opinion leak. tonight, democrats seem powerless to come up with a response that would do anything to buffer the impact of a potential alito' ruling. president biden speaking a short time ago, that if the supreme court overance turns roe v. wade, other cases like same sex marriage and contraception, they

cnn's senior political correspondent abby philip, cnn senior legal analyst laura coates, cnn contributor steve vladik, a professor at the joours university of texas school of law. abby, president biden says codifying the protections into federal law, good idea, not prepared to support a filibuster, so what are the plausible options for democrats if they want to protect these rights should that decision come down as it's written in the draft? >> yeah, i mean, i think on capitol hill, the options are fairly limited because while there are -- there's some bipartisan support in favor of abortion rights, i don't think that there is enough bipartisan support to either pass a codification of roe outright, which would take 60 votes, or to eliminate the filibuster in order to do that. murkowski, collins, unlikely to do that, and certainly senator manchin has already said that he does not believe that this, along with many other issues, would justify eliminating the filibuster. but i think you're going to see activists on the democratic side looking to the administration to use executive action an

. >>> i'm laura coates, and this is cnn tonight. for a while, with the pandemic we are kind of all in bill murray's perpetual "groundhog day" movie. we can all agree on one thing, that we are both old enough and young enough to remember when trump and pence were on the same side. after all, they were running on the same ticket for re-election, asking for yet another four years in the white house together just 18 months ago. and then they lost. but when only one was prepared to acknowledge that, it seems, well, that there's no love that has now been lost between them. in talking january 6th, pence once said he didn't think he and trump would ever see eye to eye about that day. intimating that it was time to move beyond the 2020 election. today, pence has slolidified tht disconnect, stumping for georgia governor, brian kemp, a candidate who has wholly rejected trump's big lie, at least as a campaign platform-winning strategy. >> i am here to support brian kemp in tomorrow's republican primary. i can honestly say i was for brian kemp b

let's hand it over to laura coates and cnn tonight. >>> anderson, thank you. that interview you had with the family of the woman whose husband was in the nursing home. it was empowering to know their true story and just so tragic. thank you for that interview. >> married more than 60 years. just incredible. >> just trying to preserve the dignity and going every day and him not knowing. my heartbreaks and it still does. >>> i'm laura coates, and this is cnn tonight. the great cliff hanger remains just that this evening, suspenseful. more than 24 hour was aa primary race closed, key to which party holds the senate next year, the biggest primary of the year has stretched into night two, with the two gop senate kcandidates deadlocked. david mccormick and trump endorsed mehmet oz. thousands of mail-in ballots are still being counted. and even after they're counted, this dead heat race is likely headed to an automatic recount under pennsylvania law because of the slim margin. so, both oz and mccormick have already acknowledged that still isn't over. in fact, there's

let's hand it over to laura coates and cnn tonight. >>> anderson, thank you. that interview you had with the family of the woman whose husband was in the nursing home. it was empowering to know their true story and just so tragic. thank you for that interview. >> married more than 60 years. just incredible. >> just trying to preserve the dignity and going every day and him not knowing. my heartbreaks and it still does. >>> i'm laura coates, and this is cnn tonight. the great cliff hanger remains just tha

laura coates, what is your response to this? what's your reaction? >> well, forgive me. i seem to be losing my voice so you'll hear me a little differently. it seems to be in line with how women lose their rights. this opinion can be if true narrowed down and defined quite simply. women are not viewed as equal to men. the right of privacy, a fancy way of talking about a fundamental right meaning in a country where we talk about how we do not want people's rights to infringe on another's and your rights end where mine begin and it's about the consent of the governed, well, in this instance, the court already said there are some areas, if you believe fundamental rights include things like marriage, include things like interstate travel and include things like contraception and the like, surely, you would believe within that same umbrella of thought that things related to one's health and agency over one's body should also be in that privacy spear but instead, you have this justice, if this draft opinion is to be believed and to be actually followed to a conclusion of an of

i am laura coates and this is "cnn tonight." tensions are high over abortion rights, otherwise known as women's right. even as roe still stands, there is a state that's on the cusp of enacti enacting most restrictive abortion ban in the entire nation. oklahoma's legislature passed house bill 327 today which could ban from fertilization. we're waiting to hear the final decision. not from six weeks like texas that passed that case or like oklahoma itself enacted two weeks ago. no, this new law awaiting republican governor kevin sits signature would outlaw abortions from fertilization, meaning when the sperm combines with the egg. there are exceptions for certain medical emergencies or if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. even then there are tons of questions as to how those exceptions would work in practice. for example, would you just have to report a sexual assault to law enforcement, or would there have to be an actual prosecution of an assault to terminate that pregnancy? and not only would this oklahoma law ban ab

the news continues, so let's hand it over to laura coates in "cnn tonight." >> thank you. that's happening just a few blocks away from our bureau and happening as you mentioned all across the country, and i am laura coates. and this is "cnn tonight." on quite a significant election night, the first multi-state primary night of 2022 which we're monitoring closely, and we're going to have much more on that in just a moment. and there is perhaps no greater evidence of just why elections matter so much more than that sonic boom that's still reverbbrating across the country. protests continuing tonight outside the supreme court and all across this country over the leaked draft opinion, one written by justice alito and backed by four other conservatives that

i am laura coates and this is "cnn tonight." tensions are high over abortion rights, otherwise known as women's right. even as roe still stands, there is a state that's on the cusp of enacti enacting most restrictive abortion ban in the entire nation. oklahoma's legislature passed house bill 327 today which could ban from fertilization. we're waiting to hear the final decision. not from six weeks like texas that passed that case or

going on. >>> i'm laura coates and this is another intriguing election night in america. we're about to explain just why that is. we're awaiting more results of key primary races of the 2022 election cycle. now, polls closed literally just seconds ago in nebraska. and a short while ago in west virginia. you have our own election king with us at the magic wall monitoring it all, john king will be with us in just a moment to break it all down. i said they're key races. that's because, well, the outcomes in these two deep red states could be harbingers of other gop races to come. why is that? because it might all come down to the power of one donald trump again. the question will be does the former president still have as tight a grip on his party when he's out of office and also post-insurrection, as did he before the events that led to his second impeachment? that seems to be the case with at least two top republican leaders. both were once caught on tape denouncing trump for what happened on january 6th. in fact, listen to this new au audio that just came out of senator l

. >>> former federal prosecutor and cnn senior legal analyst laura coates. first on the subpoenas here, you heard evan's sense they will not comply. what are the consequences? what happens? >> well, you know, that's the million dollar question here, of course, because there is the of course the right of congress to have the subpoenas and the right for them to expect to be complied with, particularly if you have a committee, that is a congressional committee. we have seen a whole history in modern times about the expectation that those must actually be complied with. more recently there has been people who thumb their nose at it, which really in a way can delegitimize the validity of the actual committees and their ability to actually enforce them. you have the idea of their rights to have them enforced, but also the idea of the political consequences. as you well know, there is a sort of damocles hanging over this particular committee because the midterm elections is about seven months away. if there is a chance for some reason in the balance of power, the e

i am laura coates, and this is "cnn tonight." i want to take a second, if we can here, just to take a step back for a moment. i really want us to understand what is happening across this country. and i know that as a nation we've been talking about rowe v wade and the potential for it being overturned since 1973. there's been so many challenges to it, so many decisions to have a right supreme court to be able to overturn it. and yet sitting here today and until now, it has remained the law of the land. but from texas to mississippi to now oklahoma and frankly beyond, we've seen a lot of blueprints created and followed that will and already have upended a nearly 50-year precedent. but we have, after all, yet to see a fina

. >> our legal analyst, laura coates, if roe v. wade is ove overturned, it will have far consequences for women. >> if this is true. >> women right lane not viewed as equal to men. the right of privacy, a fancy way of talking about a fundamental right meaning in a country we talk about we do not want people's rights to infringe on another. it is about a con cesent of the governor. >> if you believer the fundamental rights including things like marriage and interstate trafvels and contraceptions, surely you would believe in the same umbrella of thought that things related to once help and agency over one's body should be in that privacy. >> instead, you have this justice if his draft opinion to be relieved and followed to a conclusion of an official holding then you have the cod occasi cod codification that says when it comes to our body, we are not simply equal to men. >>> coming up. i can't emphasize enough as someone who has covered this for 30 years and written two books on the war. there has never been a leak anything like this

>> i'm getting older, laura coates at 1:30 in the morning is not the bionic version. >> laura, see you tomorrow. we're going to get to it. no, i'll see you the day after tomorrow. my bad. >> this is "don lemon tonight." what we were just talking about, we are hours away from one of the biggest primary elections this season. george kemp, t -- brian kemp ha strong lead over perdue. and tonight mike pence had to be hustled out of the capitol, remember, as rioters were chanting about hanging him. why were they doing that? all because he refused to throw out electoral votes, which he had no power to do, anyway. he is now campaigning for kemp. >> when you say yes to governor brian kemp tomorrow, you will send a deafening message all across america that the republican party is the party of the future! >> a deafening message that is not going to sit well with his former boss who is all about 2020. no surprise. trump is slamming pence, calling him desperate to chase his lost relevance and claiming he is hoping someone is paying attention. he was saying that about someone else. projection, right

joining us now are jeffrey toobin, laura coates, and our chief political analyst, laura borger. laura, as you follow the reaction from across the country state by state, for example, can you explain just how seismic a shift this would be for millions of american women? >> well, really the answer is in your actual question. the state by state reaction. it's about having a patch work of laws opposed to one that's a more universal approach, which would mean that in some states, women would have more rights than women in other states. less than others in other states. still, this reaction has been about the absence of that universality, but also about the idea of a fundamental right. one of the first times the supreme court has taken away a right. not upholding one, seeking to enforce one or creating one, but taken away. they're having extraordinary reactions about this notion and really that slippery slope, the notion that that which you do here will have consequences down the line. the idea that the category of fundamental rights which includes abortion might include others like r

i am laura coats and this is "cnn tonight." to be a fly on the wall in that conference room in the supreme court today. a draft majority reverse the landmark roe v. wade ruling is unlike anything of the draft we see. another leak reported by politico. the draft opinion that we saw that was dated february, well, not much has changed as of may. that same draft opinion is still the only one that's circulating inside the high court. meaning, no justices have s signalled they would switch their votes or conclusion to be changed. the cnn has not confirmed the most recent political story. a majority opinion is not the only kind that can very well forthcoming. there is always what's calling a concurrent opinion, one way justice writes separately their own opinion that says they reached the same conclusion as the majority but for different reasons. it could well be and given the composition of the court one would frankly expects a descending opinion. there could be drafts of each kind that's circulating or may not even has yet been shar

what say you, laura coates? >> probably a series of beeps and then i would do it. i wouldn't be as calm. i would like to think of how i would be in that moment but if you and i were on the plane together, we would exchange a glance. it would be expletives and we would jump to the actual job. >> okay. >> what would you do? >> i would go do it. i think i'd be calm about it. >> okay, yeah. >> let's hope that doesn't happen. the calm was i hope that never happens to you. >> i hope it never happens to anybody. if it does, can we have that person on speed dial to say i need somebody who is like blood purchase pressure level is like this. >> or just the co-pilot. fly private, i would say do it. that's just me. thanks. >> you're don lemon. i'll fly commercial. >>> this is don lemon tonight. thank you for joining us. what i'm about to show you is really shocking and it's very difficult to watch. this video shows the casual brutality of vladimir putin's unprovoked war. we smeemts a of two civilians encounter russian soldiers. watch this. >> you see the to men walking in the

. >> and laura coates says if roe vs. wade is overturned, it would have far-reaching consequences on women's rights. >> this opinion can be, if true, narrowed down and defined quite simply, women are not viewed as equal to men. the right of privacy, a fancy way of talking about a fundamental right, meaning in a country where we talk about how we do not want people's rights to infringe on another's and your rights end and where my begin and consent of the govern, in this instance the court has already said that there are some areas if you believe fundamental rights include things like marriage and in-are a state travel, and things like contraception and the like, then surely you would believe that within that same umbrella of thought, that things related to one's health and agency over one's body should also be in that privacy sphere. but instead you have this justice, if this draft opinion is to be believed and to be actually followed to a conclusion of an official holding, then you have the cod if i indication that says

. >> okay, that was don lemon speaking earlier to cnn legal analyst laura coates, preet bharara and jeffrey toobin. as we say, this could possibly change a law that has stood in the united states for nearly a half century and we will continue to follow breaking news as we continue to have those live protests, in fact, in front of the supreme court in washington. >>> we do now want to go to other news, including the conflict there in ukraine, and now u.s. and western officials believe vladimir putin could formally declare war on ukraine as soon as may 9th. that's victory day in russia, marking the defeat of the nazis in world war ii. now, remember, to this point, russia has only referred to it as an invasion and a special military operation. they deny that this is a war. meantime, russian forces appear to be pushing further to the west in ukraine. local officials report a number of russian missile strikes now in the city of odesa. ukraine's president says a 14-year-old boy was killed and another teen wounded in an attack on a dormitory. there are also signs that ukrainian forces are fighting

i am laura coats and this is "cnn tonight." to be a fly on the wall in tha

listen to what an 8-year-old told my colleague laura coates last night. >> well, at first the -- a lady came to the classroom and knocked on our doors with a purple shirt. she said, go and hide and we turned off all the lights and went to the back of the classroom and put a desk in front of us and we were hiding. i learned that we were having a real drill because we've practiced a lot and i think we -- we were safe because we practiced. i was praying thinking why is this happening? >> why is this happening? students will bear the burden of that trauma for years as will their teachers. don lemon spoke with a substitute teacher at uvalde high school which went on lockdown during the shooting. listen to what she had to tell her students. >> i had to reassure them that we were going to get through it together and promised them literally i would take the bullet to them before anything happened. i told them just to stay quiet, continue hiding, we prayed together. we hugged each other. we stayed on the floor. we stayed on the floor for almost -- it felt like i think five or six hours. >> kids

. >>> i'm laura coates, and this is cnn tonight. for a while, with the pandemic we are kind of all in bill murray's perpetual "groundhog day" movie. we can all agree on one thing, that we are both old enough and young enough to remember when trump and pence were on the same side. after all, they were running on the same ticket for re-ele

he and his mother spoke with cnn's laura coates about what it was like. >> at first they sounded like -- like something like was popping, like kind of like fireworks. first a lady came to the classroom and knocked -- knocked on our doors with a purple shirt, she said go and hide, and we turned off all the lights and went to the back of the classroom and put a desk in front of us and we were hiding. >> did you know when the lady with the purple shirt came over, did you know why you were having to hide and close the door and turn out the lights? >> yes, i learned that we were having a real drill. because we practice a lot and i think we -- we were safe because we practiced. >> how many times had you had to practice a drill like that before? >> well, we started in kindergarten. >> how long did it feel like that you were waiting to leave the school? and how did you get out of the school? >> well, we were running out of the doors because like two police cars were covering our doors if the shooter was going to come in and then they were just -- we just ran out of the room whenever the cops

i am laura coates, and this is "cnn tonight." i want to take a second, if we can here, just to take a step back for a moment. i really want us to understand what is happening across this country. and i know that as a nation we've been talking about rowe v wade and the potential for it being overturned since 1973. there's been so many challenges to it, so many decisions to have a right supreme court to be able to overturn it. and yet sitting here today and until now, it has remained the law of the land. but from texas to mississippi to now oklahoma and frankly beyond, we've seen a lot of blueprints created and followed that will and already have upended a nearly 50-year precedent. but we have, after all, yet to see a final opinion from the supreme court. now, i know there's a draft opinion, and it was leaked and it purports to say that, yes, the writing is on the wall. and no one should be naive to the prospect that roe v. wade may, in fact, be overturned. and yet, roe v. wade, again, sitting here today is still supposed to be the

. >> laura: today coat at early is now on life support. how he survived at all is -- that's two assailants are wanted for seven other armed robberies in last week alone should shock all americans. how twisted that the democrats, who know darn well that getting tough on crime actually works, we saw it work in cities across america starting with rudy giuliani, what he did in new york all those years ago. they could do that. instead, they allow this carnage to continue. they've made a risk benefit analysis. it's not worth it to them to oh fend far left racial activists in order to protect innocent human lives, they do not care. so why would anyone really be surprised when democrats don't condemn proceed abortion wing nuts showing up at justice's houses and churches. these people are fanatics. and yet they're sacred, that fa natical energy is sacred base territory for the democrat territory. nothing is more important to them than preserving abortion on demand. it is their sacred allegiance. their oxygen is depriving the unborn of theirs. these

i am laura garcia. police are at the scene of a double shooting. let's go to carissa sanchez for details. >> reporter: a man has life- threatening injuries and a woman has non-life threatening injuries. the shooting was reported around 3:00 a.m. the mobile crime scene unit is out here and a dog just left as well. police are not saying much at this point. we do not know whether the two people who were shot know each other or what the relationship night have been but we are asking questions out here and trying to get answers for you. police do not believe that there is a threat to the public at this point. >>> let's get the latest when it comes to the forecast. check in with meteorologist kari hall. >> it looks great. we are starting out with a blanket of clouds and fog. take a look at the high temperatures later today. comfortable across the bay area with low 60s near the coast and mid and upper 70s for our inland areas. we start a warming trend over the next few days, especially into the valleys. temperatures will reach into the 80s over the next f

and we send our best wishes to lawrence and laura for sharing their story with us this morning. we can now talk to vicki jennings, who has experienced two miscarriages, and zoe clark—coates, who is the founder of the charity saying goodbye and co—chair of the government's pregnancy loss review. good morning to you. hearing the experiences there, just horrific but what we were interested in reading around the subject is there is no uniformity or best practice. it depends which trust you are under when this happens. yes. depends which trust you are under when this happens. yes, absolutely, the tra a ed when this happens. yes, absolutely, the tragedy of _ when this happens. yes, absolutely, the tragedy of what _ when this happens. yes, absolutely, the tragedy of what this _ when this happens. yes, absolutely, the tragedy of what this couple i when this happens. yes, absolutely, the tragedy of what this couple have | the tragedy of what this couple have gone to vote sadly isn't isolated. so many people go through similar things every day and we need to see a change, we need exce