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5-4 Supreme Court Decision Asserts Preeminence of Eminent Domain; Senate Sparks Over War in Iraq

Aired June 23, 2005 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Your home could be torn down to make room for a shopping mall without your permission. The Supreme Court says that's just fine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Isn't it time for you to resign?

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Senator, I've offered my resignation to the president twice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Senate sparks over the war in Iraq. Specifically, when are American troops getting out?

The maximum sentence for an 80-year-old former Klansman convicted in killings that transformed the American civil rights movement. We're live from Mississippi.

A simple deal or threat to U.S. security? China's bid to buy an American oil company raises questions.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Would you give up your bungalow for a Best Western, your four walls for a Wal-Mart, your very home for a Home Depot? As of today, your town, or city, or county can force you to, if it decides the economic benefits of private commercial development are in the public interest, the result of a 5-4 Supreme Court decision asserting the preeminence of the doctrine known as eminent domain.

And we get the details now from CNN's Kimberly Osias in Washington -- Kimberly?

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

Well, eminent domain is one of those complicated legal terms. But the issue, quite frankly, is a really simple one. And for those that were displaced in New London, Connecticut, where this case originated out of, it's really a matter of the heart.

Today, the high court handed down that 5-4 decision, again, a close decision, regarding the issue, really giving a victory to the local governments, saying that it has the power to seize people's private property. We're talking here about homes, land, and the like, for private, economic development, "private" really being the operative word here, because traditionally property has been condemned and commandeered by the state in order to eliminate slums, to build highways, or to build schools.

At issue here is really whether that legal principle of eminent domain should be extended to private businesses. Yes, the idea is to increase tax revenue through economic development.

And in that decision, that 5-4 decision, the majority opinion was issued by Justice John Paul Stevens. And he wrote, "It is not for the courts to oversee the choice of the boundary line nor to sit in review on the size of a particular project area."

Now, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor did issue a dissenting opinion and she wrote that any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party. But the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms, alluding really to Pfizer, the corporation behind this case, the genesis of this case that really where everything stemmed out of -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. And apparently, there's going to be some comment coming up a little bit later from some of those residents and the attorneys out of New London, right?

OSIAS: That's exactly right. We're waiting for that in about 30 minutes or so.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kimberly Osias, thanks so much. And when that does happen, we'll be bringing that to you live here on CNN.

Well, it is a new day in New London, Connecticut, seven years after officials adopted a plan to bulldoze a neighborhood for a hotel, office complex, and health club. Our coverage continues now with CNN's Alina Cho.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Suzette Kilo (ph) moved into her charming home in New London, Connecticut, seven years ago...

SUZETTE KILO (ph), NEW LONDON RESIDENT: It was like I had been here all my life. It was just a warm and inviting feeling.

CHO: ... a little slice of heaven on the water, the best house she could find for her money. Seven months after moving in, though, Kilo was told she had to move out.

KILO (ph): I was thinking I had a really big problem.

CHO: She learned the city of New London wanted to buy her home, tear it down, and then redevelop the land. Connecticut's highest court agreed with the city, citing a statute called eminent domain, which allows local governments to confiscate private property for public use.

TOM LONDREGAN, CITY ATTORNEY: Whether it be an office park, whether it be retail, whether it be some housing, all these potential uses are there in the plans.

CHO: City attorney Tom Londregan says that kind of development would give New London a big economic boost. That is not how Matt Derry (ph) sees it.

MATT DERRY (ph), NEW LONDON RESIDENT: The property went to my father. And now it's come full circle to me.

CHO: Derry's (ph) family has owned property here for more than a century. It is where he grew up, where he now shares a home with his wife. The Derrys (ph) call this a seven-year nightmare that has even affected decisions like painting their house.

DERRY (ph): We went like two years, and we said, you know, "The heck with this." We had the house painted, but we only put one coat on it, because we don't know if we're going to be here or not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been living a life of not knowing.

DERRY (ph): Yes.

CHO: Ninety other homeowners have taken the city's offer to sell their homes at market value, but seven, include the Derrys (ph) and Kilo (ph), say they won't walk away without a fight.

KILO (ph): I don't think walk will be the word. They'll have to drag me.

CHO: Alina Cho, CNN, New London, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The legal issue comes down to private versus public, commercial versus communal. For generations, blighted areas have been bought out and taken over for highways, airports, parks and schools. But malls and hotels? We get some insights now on today's groundbreaking decision from Jonathan Turley, public interest law professor at George Washington University.

Good to see you, professor.

JONATHAN TURLEY, LAW PROFESSOR, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, this decision sounds like it just could impact or affect anyone, anywhere.

TURLEY: It is. You know, many Supreme Court cases have only limited effect on citizens across the country. This one is going to have an enormous effect. And what the court is saying here is that local officials can simply decide that someone else could do better with your property. And there are many cities that want to expand their tax base, bring in some more jobs. And so they literally can bulldoze your house and give you the market value.

And the thing to remember is, a lot of these people turned down the market value. You could have a family home where someone's offered you twice the market value then you turned down previously. The city can give you half of what you were offered and bulldoze your home whether you like it or not.

WHITFIELD: Yes, you really don't have much recourse. People are accustomed to this when it comes down to their homes being offered a price or them being given a price because they need to make way for a highway, et cetera. And even if you refuse that, they can take your home, anyway. Same would apply here, you're saying?

TURLEY: That's right. And this is a huge departure from the traditional uses of eminent domain, which was where putting in a road or a hospital, you sometimes had to yield to the public interest. Here, it is simply because someone else could do better with your land.

And it's a continuation of a case from the 1950s where the court said that a city could bulldoze blighted areas because of the cost they present to the city as a whole. But this isn't a blighted area. This is basically bulldozing someone's perfectly good home, good neighbors, because the city thinks they can make more money off someone else.

WHITFIELD: How concerned are you that this ruling just might encourage powerful developers, et cetera, to overuse this stipulation?

TURLEY: I've got to tell you, I think it's a green light. I think there's going to be a lot of use. And the people that are going to be hit by this are minority and low-income areas.

You know, they're not going to go to a high-rent area and start bulldozing McMansions. They're going to go to areas that have a low- income tax base, and they're going to bring in, you know, more profitable enterprises, which often means taking out residences and putting in businesses. I think this is going to have a huge effect across the nation.

WHITFIELD: So are we saying, essentially, that there are absolutely no parameters? You say it's going to be at the discretion of the developers who say, "Well, we're not going into a high-rent district because we don't see putting a drugstore here, but we do see it in this more blighted area, even if it means taking a home that's already occupied"?

TURLEY: Well, yes, because the developer's not going to want to go into a high-rent area, because it's going to cost the city too much. They're going to go into areas where it's low-cost, because the market value's going to be lower. WHITFIELD: But does a city, county, any government force have to at least approve the request?

TURLEY: Oh, yes. Yes. I mean, this will only happen with the collusion of local officials. Now, if citizens are upset, they can go to their state governments and seek state laws that bar this type of use of eminent domain. It can be eliminated through state legislation.

What the Supreme Court is saying here is, don't come to the federal courts. We're not going to police this. If you've got a problem with local officials, throw them out, or pass a law, but don't come to federal court.

WHITFIELD: Professor Jonathan Turley, thanks so much...

TURLEY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: ... at George Washington University from Washington.

Well, from the highest court in the land to a county courthouse in Philadelphia, Mississippi, site of a 60-year prison term for an 80- year-old man convicted of killing three young civil rights workers in the freedom summer of 1964. Sentencing for Edgar Ray Killen comes two days after a jury came back with a manslaughter verdict, 41 years to the day after the infamous deaths of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman.

The case was resurrected and prosecuted by Mississippi's attorney general, James Hood. He'll be our guest later on this hour on LIVE FROM.

A deadline for troops would be a lifeline for terrorists, so declares Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, very much on the defensive today before the Senate Armed Services Committee. As you know, if you've been watching CNN, Rumsfeld and other top brass are acknowledging problems and perils in Iraq while rejecting such labels as quagmire and defeat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUMSFELD: Times of war is never predictable. There are no guarantees. And any who say that we've lost this war or that we're losing this war are wrong. We are not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Jamie McIntyre is following the fireworks from the Pentagon -- Jamie?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: And there have been some fireworks at this hearing. Just in the last hour, General John Abizaid, the U.S. central commander in overall charge of the region, issued a somewhat impassioned plea for Americans to get behind this war. He said he's never seen confidence in the region higher, that the United States could prevail, but he says he's never seen confidence lower in the United States. He said that he and his soldiers believe that this is a war worth fighting and that they can prevail, but not without the support of the American people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: For those of us who have spent many months in the field, we see good progress in both Iraq and Afghanistan. We sense good progress against the extremism that once seemed so pervasive in the region.

But we are realistic, and we know that great change is almost always accompanied by violence. It is not our intention today to paint a rosy picture of tasks easily accomplished. We have sacrificed much, and there is much more work ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Now, Abizaid also testified that there were more foreign fighters in Iraq now than he thought there was just six months ago. And that seemed to contradict statements by Defense -- excuse me, by Vice President Dick Cheney that the insurgency was in its last throes.

Senator Carl Levin specifically asked whether or not he was contradicting the vice president. Abizaid said, "I think you'll forgive me if I don't criticize the vice president, but I gave you the opinion of where we are," again, seeming to be somewhat at odds with the assessment of the vice president.

But perhaps the most contentious exchange came between Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and one of his sharpest critics, Senator Edward Kennedy from Massachusetts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNEDY: Secretary Rumsfeld, as you know, we are in serious trouble in Iraq. And this war has been consistently and grossly mismanaged. And we are now in a seemingly intractable quagmire. Our troops are dying, and there really is no end in sight.

And the American people, I believe, deserve leadership worthy of the sacrifices that are fighting forces have made, and they deserve the real facts. And I regret, say, that I don't believe you have provided either.

RUMSFELD: There isn't a person at this table who agrees with you that we're in a quagmire and that there's no end in sight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: After that exchange, Senator Kennedy asked Donald Rumsfeld, "This all happened on your watch. Isn't it time for you to resign?" Rumsfeld replied, "I have offered my resignation to the president twice. He has decided that he wants me to stay on. That's his call."

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon, thanks so much for that update.

Well, the drama's certainly not over. Representative Rom Emanuel, Democrat from Chicago, is organizing a reading on the House floor of the names of every U.S. serviceperson who has been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. That's due to start at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, 3:00 Pacific.

Before that, see Dick Cheney on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS. The vice president talks Iraq, Gitmo, Bin Laden, and a whole lot more at 5 o'clock Eastern, 2:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Later on LIVE FROM, young women killed in the name of honor. It happens thousands of times a year. One woman's story of living in the shadows for fear of becoming the next victim.

Also ahead, together at last. A father and daughter ripped apart by the tsunami reunited after six months.

And next on LIVE FROM...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You wouldn't have Billy Graham without Ruth Graham. And I know that. And he knows that, too.

WHITFIELD: As he prepares for his final crusade, meet the woman behind the world's best-known preacher and find out why she kicked him under the table at this meeting with the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This weekend's revival in New York will likely be the last crusade for the Reverend Billy Graham here in the U.S. He says he is praying about an invitation to preach in London this fall, and then he'll spend his days with his wife of more than 60 years.

CNN's Kyra Phillips with a look at the woman behind the evangelist.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUTH GRAHAM, DAUGHTER OF THE REVEREND BILLY GRAHAM: Dear God, I prayed all unafraid, as we're inclined to do. I do not need a handsome man, but let him be like you.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The desires of a teenage girl growing up in rural China. Ruth Graham's daughter, her namesake, reads a poem her mother wrote.

R. GRAHAM: And let us face his character, a ruggedness of soul, and let his whole life show, dear God, a singleness of goal.

PHILLIPS: Little did 13-year-old Ruth know just a few years later she would meet that man of her girlhood dreams, a young man she would help become the most famous evangelist of the 20th century.

R. GRAHAM: She's been his closest adviser and confidante.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And she's an incredible woman. You wouldn't have Billy Graham without Ruth Graham, and I know that, you know? He knows that, too.

PHILLIPS: The daughter of medical missionaries, Ruth McCue Bell was born in China in 1920.

R. GRAHAM: And it was a very happy childhood, although, outside the walls, were bandits and warlords, and overhead were Japanese bombers flying.

PHILLIPS: China and Japan were at war. Ruth dreamed of becoming a missionary in Tibet. But her parents said she was going to college. So dressed in hand-me-downs and size-7 saddle shoes, Ruth headed to Wheaton College in Illinois. That's where she met, and later married, Billy Graham.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their courtship was humorous, in a way. He would ask her for a date, then not be in contact with her for six weeks. Ask her again, and then wonder, was he asking her, was he pressing her too much? And then finally she dated some other people, and he said, "You're going to date only me or everybody but me." So she said, "OK, I'll do that."

PHILLIPS: Trading Tibet for the mountains of North Carolina, Ruth was not your typical preacher's wife. She had no problems speaking her mind, even in front of the president of the United States.

R. GRAHAM: And Mr. Johnson was asking him for advice, some sort of political advice, and my mother kicked him under the table. And my daddy, being my father, said, "Why did you kick me under the table?" And Mr. Johnson looked at Daddy and said, "Billy, she's right. You stick to preaching, and I'll stick to politicking."

PHILLIPS: Billy not only felt her influence, but so did her five rambunctious children, Gigi, Anne, Ruth, nicknamed Bunny, Franklin and Ned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was lots of love, and we had lots of fun. There was lots of fighting because all -- there are five children. All of us very strong-willed. Franklin was sort of the catalyst. Franklin and my older sister Gigi were probably the catalysts for a lot of the fighting.

PHILLIPS: Ruth did whatever it took to keep her kids in line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was misbehaving. I was picking on my sisters, and I was in the backseat of the car. She had warned me once to quit picking on my sisters, and I continued.

And then she pulled the car over and grabbed me by my neck, and jerked me out of the car, and opened up the trunk, and put me in the trunk, and closed the trunk, and away we went to town. So my mother always -- she was a disciplinarian. If she told us to do something, we had better do it.

PHILLIPS: While Ruth was home raising the children, Billy was on the road, often months at a time. And his success meant sacrifice.

R. GRAHAM: He really tried to stay in touch with us and be the kind of father that he wanted to be. He has said that he's frustrated that he wasn't home for us when we were little.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ruth, she got lonely, of course. And at different points she would sleep with a sport coat of his just to kind of have the sense that he was near. But she has said, "I would rather have Billy Graham 50 percent of the time than any other man 100 percent of the time."

PHILLIPS: While Billy lived out his faith for his children, largely from afar...

BILLY GRAHAM, EVANGELIST: Many people are following Christ today...

PHILLIPS: ... Ruth lived out her faith in front of her kids every day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't just something that was acted out on a platform or in a pulpit. And I would catch my mother on her knees in prayer.

R. GRAHAM: I have wonderful letters from my father. And we heard of lives being changed.

B. GRAHAM: If you're willing to make the kind of commitment I have talked about tonight, you're willing to come openly in front of everybody.

R. GRAHAM: Wonderful stories of what was going on. So he kept us in the loop, as it were.

PHILLIPS (on-screen): Did you ever realize your dad was famous?

R. GRAHAM: I did not. It wasn't until I was older that I realized my father was famous. My parents made very sure that we stayed grounded.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): A discipline that came from Ruth and Billy's commitment, not just to their kids, but to each other.

R. GRAHAM: There is a light in my mother's eyes when she looks at him. And there's a light in his eyes when he looks at her.

PHILLIPS (on-screen): Your mom and dad still madly in love? R. GRAHAM: Very much so. Very much so. And it's so cute when you're with them now. He will sort of toddle over to her and lean into her to kiss her, and of course, you're afraid he's going to fall.

But she's watching her movie in the -- she's sitting in a chair. And he will lay across her bed and hold her hand while they're watching the movie. They look at each other with such love and tenderness. And it's very sweet. And he says that this is best time of their lives.

B. GRAHAM: I love her more now. And we have more romance now than we did when we were young.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): A romance Ruth Graham put in a poem and a prayer more than 70 years ago.

R. GRAHAM: "And when he comes, as he will come, with quiet eyes aglow, I'll understand that he's the man I prayed for long ago."

And her prayer was answered. You know, my father is strong, and straight, and focused. And the lord answered that 13-year-old's prayer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And you can see all of Kyra Phillip's profile of the Reverend Billy Graham this weekend on "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS." That's at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and again at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.

China's ambitions raising concerns about national security in the United States. What does China's bid on an American oil company mean to you? We'll sort it out, straight ahead.

A former Klansman sentence for killings 41 years ago. Will it help heal Mississippi today? We'll talk with that state's attorney general.

And starting today, you'll likely be hearing all sorts of juicy tidbits about Britain's Prince William, whether he likes it or not. Details straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Call him the graduate. You can also call him fair game. Prince William graduated today from St. Andrew's University in Scotland. His red-lined hood means he's a master of the arts. It also means the gloves are off for the paparazzi, a deal to leave Prince William alone during his studies expires at the end of graduation week.

Communist China wants a piece of American capitalism. A Chinese firm has made a bid for a major U.S. oil company. Kathleen Hays joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange with the details on that -- Kathleen?

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

Yes, China's third biggest oil company, known as CNOOC, is making an $18.5 billion hostile bid for U.S. oil producer Unocal. This trumps a $16 billion offer from Chevron, the country's second-bigger producer that Unocal had already agreed to. Unocal says it evaluate the higher offer from CNOOC.

And why, you ask, is China interested in U.S. oil? Well, China has one of the world's fastest-growing economies and has become one of the world's biggest consumers of oil. This deal would give it more foreign energy supplies to meet its booming demand -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And Kathleen, this is enough to get a lot of folks in Washington quite riled up.

HAYS: Some lawmakers, in fact, think the deal could hurt national security. Two members of Congress have already appealed to the president to check the deal for national security risks.

CNOOC's president disagrees. He's reportedly called the big friendly and says it would be good for Unocal shareholders. There's also the politically sensitive issue of American jobs going overseas. Unocal has 6,500 workers. CNOOC says it will seek to keep most of them.

WHITFIELD: But this isn't the first time we've seen a Chinese takeover, is it?

HAYS: Quite a week, that's right. Earlier this week, Chinese appliance-maker Haier bid for Maytag. And you might recall IBM recently sold its PC business to Chinese computer-maker Lenovo. Considering China's growing economic power and its growing consumer base, the offer for Unocal might not be the last, either.

Let's check the stock market, where the Dow Industrials are down some 51 points. High oil prices, within distance of 60 bucks a barrel. The NASDAQ composite is up fractionally.

Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kathleen. Thanks so much.

Let's go to break, and we'll be right back with more of LIVE FROM, right after this.

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