Supreme Court considering arbitration agreement case

>>> in just a moment what you should know for the week ahead, but first a quick update on violence against women act . congress sent president obama a bill that would expand vawa. eric can'tor he oo oor held up the bill. house speaker john boehner finally caved this week and let the bill come to the floor for a vote with provisions intact. 87 republicans, just over a third of the gop caucus, joined 199 democrats in passing the bill. so what should you know for the week coming up? the supreme court is considering a case that could have wide ramifications for consumers when it comes to the routine arbitration agreement most of us blindly agree to in nearly all aspects of daily life that involves terms of agreement and other fine print. at issue is whether corporations, in this case american express , can prevent merchants from seeking damages through litigation as part of their credit card contracts. you should know that the merchants, backed by the obama administration, say a ruling in favor of american express would prevent consumers and small businesses from banding together to pursue antitrust claims. the u.s. government is planning to push forward with a full prosecution and trial against private bradley manning, not offered a plea deal , pled guilty to 10 of the 22 faces he's charges he's facing for leaking documents to wikileaks. military prosecutors intend to try manning on a number of much more serious charges including aiding the enemy and violating the espionage act which carries a life in prison and no chance of parole. manning said before the court, quote, i wanted everyone wanted to know no everyone in iraq needs to be penalized. you should know that after 1,008 days in prison and more to come it's harder and harder view what the government is doing to bradley manning as anything other than a punitive demonstration for others expose the government's embarrassing secrets. finally you should know as people change their institutions change with them. some of the dame danish muslims and muslim groups that helped ignite outrage on cartoons of muhammad in 2006 are recanting and coming to defense of one of the virulent and viral critics, anti-islam writer lars hedegaard was shot at. copenhagen society regrets its role in whipping up outrage over the cartoon and said political and religious violence is totally unacceptable. you should know they are right. let's find out what my guests think they will know for the week coming up beginning with you, brian stevenson.

>> talking a lot about voting rights case and today is the anniversary of the historic march from selma to montgomery. 6 million people have lost the right to vote because of a criminal conviction. we permanently people from voting even after they paid their debt to society and violated no other laws. it's dramatic, has a huge impact in florida, 1.5 million people, half a million african-americans, state like virginia, a quarter million african-americans lost their rights to vote. this is a civil rights issue. 30% of all black men have permanently lost the right to vote. it's a critical issue if we're going to be honest about voting rights .

>> you show know on march 27th our nation's temporary federal budget will expire, another hyped fiscal deadline for sure so it's an opportunity. a plan that would be wildly popular with the american public and would also reduce deficits which we know is at the top of washington's agenda list right now so here it is. make strategic cuts to the military. we're talking about cutting waste and actually tailoring our forces to 21st century threats. then deal with health care costs. i'm not talking about cutting benefits. i'm talking about changing the way we pay for health care , from fee-for-service to pay for performance , and then close tax loopholes. no reason that anybody should get a tax deduction for buying a second or third home and buying a yacht and calling it a home. finally spend more on education. spend more on infrastructure investment and roads and bridges and schools across this country to give the economy the boost that it needs right now.

>> david?

>> you should know that the best way to understand the sequestration is not to think back to clinton and gingrich which, of course, everyone is going to tell, the clinton/gingrich showdown. think back to a most recent example california. what's happened in california is they were basically forced into a sequestration because they had big budget deficits . governor jerry brown essentially allowed the cuts to go forward in order to then make the case for tax increases. they now have a surplus and he is one of the most popular governors in that state in recent history.

>> roberto?

>> you should know that attorney general eric holder will be making an announcement on the colorado and washington marijuana laws, and he says he's going to consider the quote, unquote international ramifications so we should be looking for what he says about the 60,000 dead in mexico, the other thousands of dead in colombia, the failure of a $1 trillion drug war since 1971 and its international ramifications denounced by presidents throughout the heems feamisphere.

>> i'd like to thank all my guests. thank you all and thank you for joining us. back next week saturday and sunday at 8:00 eastern time . coming up next is melissa harris-perry. wall street profits are up and bank profits are back to near record territory and the trial for the bp oil spill is under way. that and women's