In 1991 Anita Hill accused her former colleague Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. In the tense confirmation hearings that followed, Thomas denied all the charges and was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Journalist Jill Abramson covered the story then, and has now revisited the allegations in New York Magazine where she argues that Thomas should be impeached for lying "repeatedly and under oath." 

Edward-Isaac Dovere, chief Washington correspondent for POLITICO, breaks down how President Trump, lawmakers, and the NRA are responding to National pressure to strengthen gun laws. 

Pls explain if Rubio's claim that there is no difference between AR-15 and many rifles bc they can be modified to to become automatic. This sounds dubious NRA deception. Is it true?

@BrianLehrer #Armedteachers There is no money in school budgets for crayons, so where does funding for combat teacher bonuses come from.

@BrianLehrer - this #NRA sweepstakes was sent to a 15 year old child in Mass. What law allows children to have military weapons? (sent and publicized with parental permission) pic.twitter.com/kfS7GbyKiO

@BrianLehrer Is there any planned changes to the NYC school lockdown procedure in light of the Parkland shooting where the fire alarm was pulled first? This scenario could be replicated in any school to circumvent the lockdown procedure. #askthemayor

@NYCMayor is so right on so many issues. This school walkout is going to be an incredible moment for students. I love listening to Ask The Mayor Friday's on @BrianLehrer

The Mayor just stated that scanning in schools will help, he should talk to ours where our attendance improved when we reduced scanning. It's the culture that matters, not scanning. Scanning=mini prisons. When kids feel heard they speak out when they see something. @BrianLehrer

In case you missed them, hear three of our favorite segments from the week:

Robert Reich 'Make America Good Again' (First) | The Making of a Black Feminist (Starts 36:46) | Why White Women Voted Trump (Starts 55:25)

If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

In a CNN Town Hall meeting with students asking for gun control Senator Marco Rubio cited New York's 2012 SAFE Act as an example of why banning assault weapons is not a realistic measure in reducing gun violence. He said that people could easily change a legal gun into an illegal assault weapon by "[taking] the plastic tip off of it," and that instead of "chasing loopholes," lawmakers should focus on the root of the problem -- mental illness.  

Hakeem Jeffries, U.S. Representative (NY-8), talks about how Marco Rubio and other lawmakers are responding to students asking for gun control in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Florida, and speaks to whether New York has seen a decrease in gun violence since passing stronger gun laws.  

@BrianLehrer No one needs an assault weapon. Hunting is a sport, give the deer a chance. No one needs high capacity magazines. Both sides should sit down and discuss limitations. Maybe neighbors should have to give a recommendation. No one would have given recent shooter a gun

The NRA can change. It changed before. It was a sportsmen's club before the 1980s. It simply wasn't political.

@BrianLehrer How about increasing the liability of anyone who sells a gun to someone who uses it in a murder? Would that incentivize thorough vetting by sellers & help resolve the gun-show and internet sales issues?

Do we really want a society with armed guards in front of schools? Did the founding fathers really imagine this as the future?

Every year The Southern Poverty Law Center issues a report which tracks hate groups in America. The most recent report identifies 954 hate groups – an increase of 4 percent from their 2016 findings.

Richard Cohen president of the Southern Poverty Law Center talks about what groups made the list, criteria, and takes calls. 

As the population ages and more people would like to grow old in their homes, E Tammy Kim, freelance writer and fellow at The Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, reports for Bloomberg Businessweek on the challenges in our home-care infrastructure, from paying for it to the working conditions for caregivers.

Teachers and students call in to talk about how their feeling, reacting and maybe organizing since the deadly school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland Florida. 

Former middle school teacher in Texas. Teachers with guns —>more opportunities for students to access guns! Also who’s to say all teachers are “good guys”? We don’t expect kids OR teachers to kill their peers or colleagues, but as we’ve seen, some do.

@BrianLehrer My husband is a pubic school teacher. Has anyone considered that arming teachers makes them targets? So many things could go wrong by arming teachers. This should not even be considered as a solution for protecting schools from school shooters.

.@BrianLehrer To max $$$ for #NRA masters, taxpayers have to divert scarce funds for #publiceducation to armed guards, #guns, fortress-style buildings, metal detectors, surveillance instd of teachers, computers, sports, art, music #GunReformNow #NeverAgain #EndGunViolence #enough

Anu Joshi, immigration policy director at The New York Immigration Coalition, and Angie Kim, community engagement and advocacy coordinator at The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, talk about the political steps needed to revive efforts to protect DACA recipients after the Senate failed to pass any kind of immigration reform last week 

Last year, New Jersey  stopped requiring people accused of crimes to post a cash bail to get out of jail. Now other states are looking to the Garden State to see how the new system is working. Nancy Solomon, managing editor of New Jersey Public Radio, and Alexander Shalom, senior supervising attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, talk about the changes, and the challenges that lie ahead.

Thursday, February 22, 2018, 6:00 PM at The New Jersey Law Center, Find more information here