WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:04.180 align:start YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Welcome to the Washington Week Extra. I'm Yamiche Alcindor. 00:04.180 --> 00:08.290 align:start This week President Biden signed a law making Juneteenth a federal holiday. 00:08.290 --> 00:11.530 align:start The day commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. 00:11.530 --> 00:14.220 align:start Here's some of what President Biden had to say. 00:14.220 --> 00:19.190 align:start PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN: (From video.) I've only been president for several months, but I 00:19.190 --> 00:25.080 align:start think this will go down for me as one of the greatest honors I will have had as president. 00:25.080 --> 00:29.910 align:start ALCINDOR: But the country continues to grapple with systemic racial injustice. Many are 00:29.910 --> 00:35.390 align:start disappointed that Congress hasn't been able to pass bills like policing reform or voting protections. 00:35.390 --> 00:39.630 align:start Joining me tonight are four reporters covering all things Washington: Kaitlan Collins, 00:39.630 --> 00:44.330 align:start chief White House correspondent for CNN; Pete Williams, NBC News justice correspondent; 00:44.330 --> 00:48.540 align:start and joining me in studio Anne Gearan, White House reporter for The Washington Post; and 00:48.540 --> 00:52.690 align:start Garrett Haake, Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News. Welcome to all of you. 00:52.690 --> 00:55.790 align:start Thanks for being here. Anne, I want to start with you. 00:55.790 --> 01:01.060 align:start What's the historical and really the significance of having Juneteenth become a holiday? 01:01.060 --> 01:05.130 align:start It's also possibly personal to you, but tell me a little bit about - (laughter) - about 01:05.130 --> 01:09.140 align:start why you think having Juneteenth be marked in this way is important. 01:09.140 --> 01:15.010 align:start ANNE GEARAN: I mean, I think for President Biden what he said there, it is really telling. 01:15.010 --> 01:20.170 align:start I mean, he - this is - this is a thing that he gets to do that is not about legislation, 01:20.170 --> 01:27.020 align:start it's not about, you know, righting wrongs that he feels Trump has committed, like all the 01:27.020 --> 01:32.160 align:start things that essentially have defined his agenda to this point 150 days in. 01:32.160 --> 01:38.640 align:start This is something utterly different, and it - clearly it was something that he - that he 01:38.640 --> 01:44.560 align:start found moving. Juneteenth, which is also my birthday - (laughs) - which you were alluding to - is 01:44.560 --> 01:52.640 align:start already a holiday for many employers and localities in the United States, but it says 01:52.640 --> 02:00.880 align:start something about the American commitment to redressing wrong to make it a federal holiday, 02:00.880 --> 02:04.100 align:start and clearly the president felt the same. 02:04.100 --> 02:06.530 align:start ALCINDOR: And Kaitlan, I want to come to you. 02:06.530 --> 02:10.180 align:start Talk to me a little bit about whether there was any backlash in Washington or across the 02:10.180 --> 02:14.360 align:start country at all in marking Juneteenth when we think about kind of the racial conversations 02:14.360 --> 02:17.720 align:start that we're still having, the reckoning that we're still having in this country. 02:17.720 --> 02:21.400 align:start KAITLAN COLLINS: Well, and I think also what's notable is how quickly all of this came 02:21.400 --> 02:24.540 align:start about because it was something that had been discussed - as Anne noted, it was already a 02:24.540 --> 02:28.490 align:start holiday in several states but it wasn't a federal holiday, and it didn't, you know, 02:28.490 --> 02:32.550 align:start really get into motion until Senator Ron Johnson dropped his opposition to it, and that's 02:32.550 --> 02:36.890 align:start how you saw it clear the Senate this week with a unanimous vote, but there were 14 02:36.890 --> 02:41.180 align:start lawmakers in the House who voted against it. All of them were Republican, and despite 02:41.180 --> 02:45.480 align:start their opposition of course it became a law anyway. You saw President Biden sign it. 02:45.480 --> 02:49.250 align:start And I think it's one of those things where, obviously, the last time or anytime there 02:49.250 --> 02:53.050 align:start have been these - the establishment of federal holidays, sometimes it is controversial 02:53.050 --> 02:57.280 align:start and sometimes it does spark a big debate in Washington, but I think really in the last 02:57.280 --> 03:01.530 align:start year you have seen a change in the discussion and the conversation that's happening, and 03:01.530 --> 03:05.350 align:start you saw so many lawmakers saying this is an obvious choice, this is something that should 03:05.350 --> 03:07.980 align:start have been done a long time ago. 03:07.980 --> 03:11.590 align:start And I think also it's notable how quickly it went into effect because as - today you 03:11.590 --> 03:15.430 align:start saw here at the White House and across Washington a lot of federal government employees 03:15.430 --> 03:18.830 align:start did not go into work today because, given that it falls on a Saturday this year, they 03:18.830 --> 03:23.160 align:start started observing it today, and I think that's notable in and of itself. 03:23.160 --> 03:27.390 align:start ALCINDOR: And Garrett, I want to come to you. Kaitlan talked about how fast this all came together. 03:27.390 --> 03:32.470 align:start What does it mean that this came together so fast but that you are not seeing voting laws 03:32.470 --> 03:36.550 align:start and voting rights or police reform coming together, and what's the status of those things 03:36.550 --> 03:39.340 align:start that are - that seem to be stalled in Congress right now? 03:39.340 --> 03:41.850 align:start GARRETT HAAKE: Well, Juneteenth I think was an idea whose time has come. 03:41.850 --> 03:45.380 align:start I mean, there was also a key Republican cosponsor of this, John Cornyn, the senator from 03:45.380 --> 03:48.660 align:start Texas. This has been a state holiday in Texas for a long time. 03:48.660 --> 03:52.390 align:start And so - Kaitlan alluded to this - Ron Johnson was kind of the one Republican senator who 03:52.390 --> 03:55.400 align:start had stood in the way on this, a handful of House Republicans. 03:55.400 --> 03:58.720 align:start There was pretty widespread agreement to move this idea forward. 03:58.720 --> 04:04.390 align:start Police reform's a much more complicated issue, and the negotiations on that, really the 04:04.390 --> 04:08.090 align:start hallmark of them have been how little information we have learned. The negotiators have 04:08.090 --> 04:12.100 align:start kept everything incredibly close to the vest, and that's actually a pretty good sign. 04:12.100 --> 04:16.000 align:start Once you start getting leaked details, once you start getting leaked pieces of a plan, 04:16.000 --> 04:19.530 align:start that usually tells you somebody's unhappy with how this process is going. 04:19.530 --> 04:23.730 align:start But the other hallmark has been that all the negotiators have really praised that they 04:23.730 --> 04:27.660 align:start think everyone is working in good faith and they have now twice run through deadlines 04:27.660 --> 04:32.630 align:start that they could have easily used to get off this train altogether and say the other 04:32.630 --> 04:36.360 align:start side's not serious, this won't be a big enough bill, or it's going to go too far, and 04:36.360 --> 04:41.360 align:start they haven't done that. And so I think there is still a reasonably good chance that 04:41.360 --> 04:44.380 align:start that does get done this Congress, but it's going to have to happen soon. 04:44.380 --> 04:48.920 align:start ALCINDOR: In another historic moment, last weekend Vice President Kamala Harris became the 04:48.920 --> 04:52.530 align:start first sitting vice president to mark in a pride parade. 04:52.530 --> 04:57.660 align:start This comes as states attempt to push back on LGBTQ rights with hundreds of bills. 04:57.660 --> 05:02.300 align:start At the same time the passage of the Equality Act, which aims to prohibit discrimination 05:02.300 --> 05:07.080 align:start based on sexual orientation and gender identity, has stalled in Congress. 05:07.080 --> 05:11.650 align:start Garrett, there's a theme here when I come to you. (Laughter.) What is the status 05:11.650 --> 05:16.120 align:start of the Equality Act and how much is Congress prioritizing this? 05:16.120 --> 05:19.290 align:start HAAKE: Pretty well stuck. I think - you know, it has already passed the House. 05:19.290 --> 05:22.820 align:start Chuck Schumer would love to pass it in Pride Month if that were possible, and the fact 05:22.820 --> 05:26.330 align:start that there has not been movement on it or a vote scheduled or even broadly discussed 05:26.330 --> 05:29.390 align:start suggests to me that it's probably not going to happen. 05:29.390 --> 05:36.090 align:start Republican senators have made issues about transgender women in - or transgender men and 05:36.090 --> 05:41.380 align:start women in sports kind of a cultural issue. It's hot on the right, it's hot on Fox News. 05:41.380 --> 05:46.150 align:start I see - I think it's very unlikely you'd see the necessary Republican crossover to vote 05:46.150 --> 05:50.560 align:start on something that broadens rights for transgender Americans while Republicans are making 05:50.560 --> 05:54.190 align:start that a political issue that they think is helpful to them. 05:54.190 --> 05:58.580 align:start ALCINDOR: Pete, I want to come to you. The Supreme Court ruled that Philadelphia couldn't 05:58.580 --> 06:03.950 align:start cut ties with a Catholic Social Services group because they didn't help LGBTQ people. 06:03.950 --> 06:07.950 align:start What does this ruling mean for protections, for religious groups who may discriminate 06:07.950 --> 06:10.860 align:start against LGBTQ people? 06:10.860 --> 06:15.320 align:start WILLIAMS: Not much. To explain this ruling, you have to go back 30 years when two 06:15.320 --> 06:22.190 align:start employees of the state of Oregon were arrested for ingesting peyote. And they happened 06:22.190 --> 06:26.660 align:start to be working for the state counter-drug team, and that didn't go over very well, so they 06:26.660 --> 06:32.150 align:start got fired. They filed for unemployment benefits and the state said no, so they appealed to the 06:32.150 --> 06:37.160 align:start Supreme Court. And Antonin Scalia wrote the Court's decision. He said: If a law is 06:37.160 --> 06:42.150 align:start neutral and applies to everybody there's no religious exemption to it. And that's what 06:42.150 --> 06:46.500 align:start the two state employees had said. They said, well, you know, this law shouldn't apply against us. 06:46.500 --> 06:51.070 align:start This was a religious ceremony in which we ingested peyote. So now we fast-forward to 06:51.070 --> 06:56.450 align:start the city of Philadelphia. It found out that Catholic Social Services would not place 06:56.450 --> 06:59.180 align:start foster children in the homes of same-sex parents. 06:59.180 --> 07:03.080 align:start And the city said, hey, that violates our nondiscrimination ordinance, we're going to cut 07:03.080 --> 07:08.400 align:start the contract with you, so Catholic Social Services sued and won unanimously before the 07:08.400 --> 07:13.860 align:start Supreme Court. But what the Court said is, the law - the way it was administered in 07:13.860 --> 07:20.490 align:start Philadelphia, it wasn't generally applicable to everybody because the law contained exemptions. 07:20.490 --> 07:25.990 align:start And the city could have made exemptions and allowed certain groups to discriminate here 07:25.990 --> 07:31.600 align:start and there. So based on that, the Supreme Court said Catholic Social Services wins. 07:31.600 --> 07:36.230 align:start But it exposed a real rift within the Court because the three most conservative justices 07:36.230 --> 07:41.900 align:start - Thomas, Gorsuch, and Alito - said, you know, the Court should have overruled that old 07:41.900 --> 07:50.210 align:start precedent, that case from Oregon, and the failure to do so was a real lack of intestinal 07:50.210 --> 07:54.750 align:start fortitude, they said. But again, another sign of this division in the Court, and the Court's 07:54.750 --> 07:59.320 align:start desire to move very incrementally - why get into that big question if you don't have to? 07:59.320 --> 08:02.790 align:start ALCINDOR: And, Pete, if I could ask you a follow up, I wonder if you could explain what 08:02.790 --> 08:07.400 align:start that means on the ground in Philadelphia, what that means for children that are going to 08:07.400 --> 08:11.400 align:start go into the foster care system. What's the impact of that? 08:11.400 --> 08:15.190 align:start WILLIAMS: So I think one of the problems with this case is it really didn't have a lot 08:15.190 --> 08:20.800 align:start of real-world implications. Remember, unlike the last time the Supreme Court struggled with 08:20.800 --> 08:25.010 align:start this issue of religious freedom versus gay rights was in the Colorado baker case, where the 08:25.010 --> 08:29.810 align:start baker flat out said, no, I'm not going to bake these cakes, and people were turned away. 08:29.810 --> 08:36.670 align:start Here, there's no evidence that any same-sex parents ever were involved with Catholic 08:36.670 --> 08:42.420 align:start Social Services, and Catholic Social Services said, hey, if - you know, if somebody wants 08:42.420 --> 08:46.850 align:start to adopt we'll refer them to other agencies which will be happy to handle that. 08:46.850 --> 08:50.900 align:start So the real practical implications aren't very much. 08:50.900 --> 08:54.950 align:start Catholic Social Services will continue to do business with the city to provide these 08:54.950 --> 09:00.260 align:start services, and the real question is, well, will the city now change its contract, do away 09:00.260 --> 09:04.300 align:start with exemptions, and will we have this case all over again? 09:04.300 --> 09:08.130 align:start ALCINDOR: And, Anne, last question to you. The White House and President Biden have 09:08.130 --> 09:11.970 align:start said that they're really going to support LGBTQ rights. 09:11.970 --> 09:15.280 align:start They're really going to have the backs of transgender people, especially transgender 09:15.280 --> 09:18.760 align:start women of color, who we've seen get murdered in disproportionate numbers. 09:18.760 --> 09:23.680 align:start I wonder what the priority - where the state - where this is on the priority list of the 09:23.680 --> 09:27.680 align:start White House and what they're planning to do about this issue. 09:27.680 --> 09:31.900 align:start GEARAN: Well, I mean, there hasn't been some particular test yet that the White House 09:31.900 --> 09:36.830 align:start has had to meet. So we don't really know the answer as to how committed they are. 09:36.830 --> 09:45.410 align:start I mean, another Supreme Court challenge on another topic may be that test, you know, to 09:45.410 --> 09:51.190 align:start what degree does the administration put muscle behind it. I mean, they're saying the 09:51.190 --> 10:00.060 align:start things that LGBTQ rights groups wants to hear, in the main. There are a number of openly 10:00.060 --> 10:05.650 align:start gay members of the administration who are celebrated as such. 10:05.650 --> 10:12.200 align:start I think that - I think at this point it's more symbolic than substantive, but they 10:12.200 --> 10:16.550 align:start haven't yet had to really do anything specific. 10:16.550 --> 10:20.480 align:start ALCINDOR: So we'll have to watch that space. We'll leave it there for tonight. 10:20.480 --> 10:24.460 align:start Many thanks to Kaitlan, Pete, Anne, and Garrett, for your insights, and thank you all for 10:24.460 --> 10:28.590 align:start joining us. Make sure to sign up for our Washington Week newsletter on our website. 10:28.590 --> 10:31.830 align:start It will give you a behind the scenes look at all things Washington. 10:31.830 --> 10:45.720 align:start I'm Yamiche Alcindor. Good night.