MS NOW’s Katy Tur Wants to Be Constitutional Activist After Retirement

Nicholas Spinnato
May 6th, 2026 2:05 PM

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During the first hour of Katy Tur Reports, a supposed timeslot for hard news, the MS NOW daytime host described her possible future retirement plans as an activist for changing of the Constitution. The discloser of her fantasy came while in discussion with Melissa Murray about her new book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader.

The former NBC News reporter talked about Murray’s new book in the backdrop of Supreme Court rulings, with a previous discussion on the show focused on the decision of Louisiana v. Callais on racially gerrymandered maps.

As she introduced the book, Tur described her possible activism in retirement:

 

 

I'm really happy you wrote this. I've been - not for any reason in the near future, but I think about retirement and what I'm going to do after all this is over, after the red light turns off. 

And I think part of me says I'm going to volunteer for the parks department and prune bushes, which sounds great. And the other part of me wants to actually to really affect change. And the two of the things that really bother me and I feel like are disruptive to our democracy are gerrymandering and Citizens United. 

And there are two things the Supreme Court has ruled on, one for Citizens United, making corporations people, which is insane. And then they didn't get involved in partisan gerrymandering. They just let it stand.

Tur asked Murray, “And, so, if I'm a person who wants to change this, is there a way for me to start the process of changing the constitution?”

Of course, she cannot simply change or amend the Constitution, as that would take a constitutional convention or a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of Congress, then a ratification by two-thirds of the states.

Murray then brought up the 16th and 20th amendments, which she described in similar terms to modern progressive political points: 

In that book, I talk about a series of amendments from the 16th to the 20th that are passed in the Gilded Age, when ordinary working people are tired of the consolidation of wealth. They're tired of oligarchy. They're tired of income inequality. They want the rich to pay their fair share. They're tired of tariffs, which disproportionately impact the working class. Does any of this sound familiar?

 

 

She then gave Tur her possible start in judicial activism with an interpretation of gerrymandering in terms of the 17th Amendment, which says “people, rather than state legislators, should be picking the people who serve in the upper chamber of the Senate,” which Murray coined the “Katy Tur Theory.”

After Tur asked why nobody has “prosecuted” or “brought that up,” Murray said many people do not read the Constitution and the founding fathers actually “intended for us to read, to debate, to grapple with and,” as Tur finished Murray’s sentence, “To Change!”

At the close of the conversation, Tur stated she would read her book and “start learning about what I’m going to do,” as Murray said the book was perfect for Cinco de Mayo.

Tur’s shift from a journalist who covered the Trump campaign for NBC News to something close to an opinion host on MS NOW was a change that exemplifies the direction of the spin-off network.

The transcript is below. Click "expand":

MS NOW’s Katy Tur Reports

May 5, 2026

2:53:13 PM Eastern

(...)

KATY TUR: I'm really happy you wrote this. I've been - not for any reason in the near future, but I think about retirement and what I'm going to do after all this is over, after the red light turns off. 

And I think part of me says I'm going to volunteer for the parks department and prune bushes, which sounds great. And the other part of me wants to actually to really affect change. And the two of the things that really bother me and I feel like are disruptive to our democracy are gerrymandering and Citizens United. 

And there are two things the Supreme Court has ruled on, one for Citizens United, making corporations people, which is insane. And then they didn't get involved in partisan gerrymandering. They just let it stand. 

And, so, if I'm a person who wants to change this, is there a way for me to start the process of changing the constitution?

MELISSA MURRAY: Let me say in the first instance, there is a long history of people looking out at their government, not liking what they see, and deciding that they are going to be constitutional change agents. 

In that book, I talk about a series of amendments from the 16th to the 20th that are passed in the Gilded Age, when ordinary working people are tired of the consolidation of wealth. They're tired of oligarchy. They're tired of income inequality. They want the rich to pay their fair share. They're tired of tariffs, which disproportionately impact the working class. Does any of this sound familiar? They get the 16th Amendment passed, which allows Congress to levy a direct tax, like an income tax, against individuals, allowing the rich to pay their share. So, ordinary people do this. 

They again do it with the 17th Amendment, which provides for the direct election, the popular election of senators. Previously, in the original Constitution, senators were elected by state legislatures. They don't want that. They want the people to do it, and they get it. So, there is precedent here for the people to harness this document, harness the amendment process, and make constitutional change. 

What's in here about gerrymandering? The 17th Amendment - you know, maybe this is the Katy Tur theory that you're now going to go and prosecute in your retirement. But that whole idea that the people, rather than state legislatures, should be picking the people who serve in the upper chamber of the Senate, that flies in the face of gerrymandering. 

Gerrymandering is about state legislatures drawing districts so that the people don't get to choose exactly who they want. I think there's a good argument to be made that the spirit of the 17th Amendment is belied by partisan gerrymandering.

TUR: Why hasn't that been prosecuted? Why has no one brought that up?

MURRAY: I mean, we're we have to harness all of the tools we have now. A lot of gerrymandering work is being done in state courts and state constitutions, and in federal statutes. But we have to use all of the tools that are available to us. I think there's a lot in the Constitution. Many of us haven't read the Constitution, but this was a document that the framers intended for us to read, to debate, to grapple with and-

TUR: To change! 

MURRAY: Yeah, definitely to change. And so I wrote this because we're in a moment, a kind of break-glass moment, where we the people can do something about the situation we find ourselves in. If nothing else, if we're looking at something, we're wondering, can they do that? We can actually read up and find out.

TUR: I'm so happy you did, and I'm so happy you gave me a copy, because I'm going to open this up and start learning about what I'm going to do.

MURRAY: It's the perfect thing for Cinco de Mayo.

TUR: It is the perfect thing. It's going to be a margarita. And me with the U.S. Constitution, a comprehensive and annotated guide for the modern reader by Melissa Murray. Thank you so much for joining us. Congratulations.

(...)

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