In the US nearly every state allows child marriage. In some there are even loopholes that allow child rapists to avoid prosecution by marrying the person they raped. In others parents can, in effect, force their children to get married.
It’s a global issue - one in five girls around the world is married as a child - but you might be surprised to know that nearly 250,000 children were married in the US in the first ten years of this century.
In this So What we look at child marriage in the US, why it’s legal and what campaigners are doing to tackle what they see as child abuse.
As President Trump celebrated his 500th day in office Monday, many legal experts warned that the country could soon face a constitutional crisis as the president continues to attack special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. On Monday, Trump tweeted, “The appointment of the Special Counsel is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL!” He also tweeted, “As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself.” Over the weekend, The New York Times published a 20-page confidential letter written by Trump’s lawyers to special counsel Robert Mueller, in which his lawyers claim Trump is above the law and thus cannot have illegally obstructed the Mueller investigation. Trump’s attorneys also claim the Constitution gives the president power to terminate the Mueller probe. We speak to Philadelphia Daily News columnist Will Bunch in Philadelphia. His latest column is headlined “The week Trump went full dictator and no one tried to stop him.”
The Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, citing his religious opposition. In a narrow 7-2 decision, the justices faulted the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s handling of the claims brought against baker Jack Phillips, saying the commission had shown a hostility to religion. Though the case pitted claims of religious freedom against the fight for gay rights, the ruling stopped short of setting a major precedent on whether businesses can deny people services because of their sexual orientation. For more, we speak with Ria Tabacco Mar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project and counsel of record for Charlie Craig and David Mullins in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
An anti-immigration party has come out on top in another European election. Sunday's vote in Slovenia saw the Democratic party, the SDS, win the most seats, although it fell far short of a majority.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced earlier this year that the city would sue manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids to account for their part in the city’s ongoing deadly opioid epidemic. Firms named in the suit include Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and McKesson Corporation. The Guardian reports that more than 60 cities are suing Big Pharma over opioids. An explosive New York Times report has revealed that manufacturers of the drug OxyContin knew it was highly addictive as early as 1996, the first year after the drug hit the market. The Times published a confidential Justice Department report this week showing that Purdue Pharma executives were told OxyContin was being crushed and snorted for its powerful narcotic, but still promoted it as less addictive than other opioid painkillers. Purdue executives have testified before Congress that they were unaware of the drug’s growing abuse until years after it was on the market. Today, drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under age 50. We speak with Barry Meier, author of “Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic.”
In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon predicts the government will shut down in the near future over President Trump's proposed border wall.
The Washington Post reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is asking for another nation to pay for his hotel bill during the historic summit between the US and North Korea in Singapore.
John Dickerson, a co-host of CBS This Morning and contributor for The Atlantic, chats with the magazine's editor in chief, Jeffery Goldberg, about Dickerson's recent cover story and its central question of how the office of the presidency is flawed.
Trump's admission that the presidency is harder than he expected should come as no surprise. "This is a common presidential revelation,” says Dickerson. The pair discusses the emergence of presidential campaigns, the outsized expectations of the American public, and why fixing the presidency is a task that’s bigger than any one person.
Italy is now embarking on a political adventure that could put it at odds with the EU and the bond markets. So what lies in store for the European dream? Five Star's Manlio di Stefano and Italy's outgoing Europe Minister Sandro Gozi give their take.
Amid continuing uncertainty over a US-North Korea peace summit later this month, Russia's Foreign Minister met with the leader of North Korea in person on Thursday.
RT's correspondent Ilya Petrenko has been following this meeting - and was granted EXCLUSIVE access to one of Kim Jong-Un's residences.
American neuroscientist and popular author Sam Harris discusses how Donald Trump rewrites reality, the illusion of free will and how social media is driving us all insane.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joins Morning Joe to discuss her new book 'Fascism: A Warning' and what aspects of fascism she sees happening in the U.S. now.
Former CIA Director John Brennan joins Morning Joe to discuss his new Washington Post column on speaking out against the president, U.S.-North Korea relations and election meddling.
