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American Morning
Kagan Confirmation Hearings Begin Today; Payback for Drilling Ban; Payback for Drilling Ban; Big Spill, Big Costs; Alone At Sea; Bill Clinton on the World Cup, the Country and Chelsea; California's New Deadly Epidemic; In Pursuit of Predators
Aired June 28, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks for joining us on this Monday morning. It's the 28th of June. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We have a lot to talk about this morning so let's get right to it.
First, it's a big day today on Capitol Hill, Senate confirmation hearings beginning just four hours for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Republicans are now questioning whether the president's choice is qualified to serve on the High Court. We're live with a preview in a moment.
ROBERTS: Plus all eyes in the gulf are on Alex. The tropical storm is back over warm water again today and gaining strength. It is expected to steer clear of the oil spill, but the experts warn nothing is certain and certainly it would be kicking up a lot of waves as well. A full update is coming from your hurricane headquarters.
CHETRY: Also, the former President Bill Clinton opening up about what he calls the number one issue facing Americans. Also, find out why he's doing his best not to get all choked up at daughter Chelsea's upcoming wedding.
ROBERTS: And, of course, and the amFIX blog is up and running this morning, as it is everyday. Join the live conversation going on right now. Just got to CNN.com/amFIX.
CHETRY: First, though, in just a few hours, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan will be on the Senate hot seat as her confirmation hearings begin. Kagan is the president's choice to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the high court.
ROBERTS: Republicans have questioned her lack of judicial experience, and there is talk of a possible filibuster, but this may be Kagan's confirmation to lose.
Dana Bash is live on Capitol Hill, inside the Senate hearing room for us this morning.
Dana, show us around. Give us a little behind-the-scenes preview here of what the nominee can expect today. DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, John and Kiran, this is the hot seat. This is where Elena Kagan is going to be sitting 4 1/2 hours from now where she begins several days of hearings to become what she hopes will be the 112th Supreme Court Justice, and just the fourth woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court.
And, interestingly, she actually has an inside understanding of what goes on here, because back in 1993, she was hired by this committee to help with the process of confirming Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court. Now, as she, at the time, after that experience, said that she was disgusted with the experience because the person who sat in that seat didn't answer the questions. She called it a "hollow charade." You can be sure that's going to come back to haunt her.
But she is going to be facing this panel. This is the judiciary committee where all of the members are going to be sitting. And over on this side, over here, this is the Republican side. And these are the members who are going to want to press her, obviously, the most on a number of things -- primarily about the fact that she has never been on the bench. She doesn't have the stacks and stacks, reams, of decisions for them to pour through in order to get a sense of how she would really rule when she is on a federal bench of any -- of any sort.
And what we are already hearing from Republicans, especially the one who is going to be sitting right here, he's a ranking Republican, Jeff Sessions, he spoke just this morning on AMERICAN MORNING about the fact that he and other Republicans are concerned about her political experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFFREY SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: She has the least experience of any nominee in 50 years. She was a Clinton operative for quite a number of years, the point person on efforts to restrict gun rights, the point person on blocking partial birth abortion, and at Harvard, she barred the military from the recruiting offices, demeaning them in violence of law, and her legal brief was rejected eight-to-nothing by the Supreme Court. There are a number of things here that cause us to believe, and any American, to be concerned that she would be an activist judge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, you heard Senator Sessions talking at several issues.
But one in particular, I think, we're going to hear the most about when the senators come in to give their opening statements, and that is the fact that when Elena Kagan was dean of Harvard Law School, she tried to block military recruiters from coming on campus. Why? Because of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy against gays in the military. That is one of the issues.
But, of course, there are many, many issues senators that have been looking at, particularly, the documents from the Clinton era when she was in the domestic policy council and when she was a White House counsel going through many of the hot button issues, from gun control to abortion -- John and Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. I mean, the bottom line, Democrats say, look, you know, they would have found -- Republicans would have found a problem in anybody that the president put up. But, I mean, the bottom line is, there's really no smoking gun that would -- that would possibly derail her nomination, is there?
BASH: Not that we know of. And you are exactly right. The senator who are all going to be sitting on this side, and you see, there are a lot more chairs on this side because the Democrats still have a pretty healthy majority here -- they are going to be trying to not rock the boat. And talk -- they are already talking about the fact that Republicans are grasping at straws.
In fact, listen to what Senator Bob Menendez, one of the members of this panel, said on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D), NEW JERSEY: I think if John and some of his colleagues in the Republican Caucus had 10 angels coming from above swearing that this person was the most qualified to be for the Supreme Court was a centrist and would follow the rule of law and obey precedence, they would say, "Too extreme."
So, Elena Kagan is someone, law school dean at Harvard, solicitor general, first woman to do so, endorsed by the last 25 solicitor generals, Republican and Democrats alike, she's going to be an excellent Supreme Court judge and I look forward to voting for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And interesting, just to toss back to all the approach that the White House and Democrats have taken to this -- to this nomination process, she has met with 62 members of the United States Senate. That is far fewer than Justice Sotomayor met when she met with something like 90-plus. Perhaps that's a sign of the fact that Democrats in the White House think that it is smooth-sailing for her, who knows.
But you really can't find many people in the Republican or Democratic side who think that this is going to be ultimately a problem for her to get confirmed. But you can bet, the Republicans are going to try to give it their best shot to make it -- as Jeff Sessions said -- not a -- a confirmation, not a coronation.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, he seems determined to be thorough in his questioning today. And we look forward to that hearing this morning.
Dana Bash, thank so much.
By the way, CNN is going to have live coverage of these confirmation hearings beginning at noon Eastern today. CHETRY: Also, some sad news from Washington this morning. Senator Robert Byrd has died at the age of 92. The West Virginia Democrat was a legendary figure in Congress. He served longer than anyone in American history. He was elected to the House in 1952 and the Senate in 1958 and never left.
Senator Byrd's office says that he died overnight at a Washington area hospital.
ROBERTS: Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Mexico, it's all eyes on Alex, the first major storm of the hurricane season. He's in the Gulf of Mexico right now. With the storm now over warmer water, it's intensifying. It could become a hurricane some time today.
CHETRY: The CNN weather team is forecasting that Alex will likely miss the oil spill area, but that nothing is certain during hurricane season.
We bring in Reynolds Wolf in our hurricane headquarters.
And you guys call it the "cone of uncertainty," right? This --
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The cone of uncertainty. Absolutely.
CHETRY: It's still uncertain as this storm churns away in the Gulf.
WOLF: (INAUDIBLE) he is and we got a pretty good idea what we can anticipate in the next 12 to 24 to 48 hours. But after that, things get a little vague. One thing that's interesting about this particular storm is that when these storms have interaction with land mass, it's usually robbed of a couple things. Usually, these storms are robbed of their primary power source being warm water.
Well, as this storm came right across the Yucatan Peninsula, it was just a brief bump, almost like a speed bump with a speeding car. There isn't a great deal of high elevation. A lot of mountains interact within the Yucatan. So, it just came right around, with higher mountains, it could help rob parts some of the circulation, but that wasn't the case.
It's now moving back over open water. And with that, it is expected to intensify.
How strong is it going to be? Well, according to the latest forecast we have from the National Hurricane Center, it's going to get possibly much stronger as we make our way to 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, the wind at 75, a minimal hurricane, category one. As soon as it reaches the threshold of 74, it's classified as a category one hurricane.
Then winds of 100 anticipated as the forecast gets into Wednesday. By Thursday at 2:00 a.m., winds at 110 miles per hour, gust much stronger 135 miles per hour. And I'm guessing, at this point, possibly make landfall south of the Texas border, right near Mexico, into Mexico, sometime as we get into Thursday afternoon.
Now, again, as you mentioned, Kiran, we've got the cone of uncertainty. A good chance the storm could make its way a bit farther to the north, perhaps into Texas, maybe even say farther to the south, making landfall at places like Tampico, Mexico. Or it's not out of the realm of possibility that the storm dies out altogether.
A lot of unknowns with this particular thing, but I will tell you, right now, it does look like strengthening is a possibility and, again, it will have at least minimal impact -- minimal impact -- on the oil spill cleanup in terms of heavier waves, stronger wave action. But other than that, for the time being, things look pretty good on the minimal effect it could have on the oil cleanup.
Let's send it back to you in New York.
CHETRY: All right.
ROBERTS: Cone of uncertainty, that sounds like something from get smart, doesn't it?
WOLF: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Let's hope the hurricane misses by that much.
WOLF: You bet.
ROBERTS: On the beaches on the mainland of Mississippi this morning, the mayor of Pascagoula says crews have started picking up tar balls and oil globs that look like mousse patties. That's chocolate mousses as opposed to the noble antlered animal. Adding this is what we have been expecting. Mainland Mississippi had avoided getting hit before now.
State officials say the crude is wash ashore in four different spots. But so far, no beaches have been closed.
CHETRY: Well, the weekend G-20 summit in Toronto played out with a backdrop of protests, some of them turned violent. Police made hundreds of arrests. They used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse some of the demonstrators who are smashing windows and also set several police cars on fire around the city.
ROBERTS: And it's the kind of colorful language you can get when Vice President Joe Biden gets a little too close to an open microphone. The vice president was in Milwaukee on Saturday to campaign for Senator Russ Feingold when he stopped at a custard shop.
And here's what happened when the vice president tried to pay for his cone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What do we owe you?
KOPPS MANAGER: Don't worry, it's on us.
BIDEN: (INAUDIBLE)
KOPPS MANAGER: Lower our taxes and we'll call it even.-
BIDEN: Why don't you say something nice instead of being a smartass all the time? Say something nice?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The store owner told reporters he enjoyed the banter with Biden. He also said that Biden later whispered to him, quote, "I'm just kidding about the smartass, pardon."
CHETRY: He did look a little peeved though.
Well, still ahead, the ban of deepwater oil drilling hurting people far away from the Gulf, truckers, caterers, cleaners, the impact is far, far, far. The ripple effects far away from the Gulf and we're going to be highlighting that in a moment.
It's 10 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's about 12 1/2 minutes after the hour now. Day 70 of the Gulf oil disaster.
This morning: another sign of miscommunication along the west coast.
CHETRY: With the ban on deepwater oil drilling hurting people far away from the spill, the government now says BP is on the hook for all of their losses. But the problem is that this may have been news to the man in charge of handling all the claims.
Chris Lawrence is live for us this morning New Orleans.
We are talking about Ken Feinberg and the interesting comments he made to you about that very issue.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kiran.
You know, you generally tell the doctor what patients he's supposed to operate on, right? You tell the boss what he's in charge of. Now, granted, Ken Feinberg doesn't really take charge yet for a few weeks, but still, it seems like there has been a very recent deal struck to cover people who were not going to be covered under the claims process.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): First the oil spill itself took out the fishermen and restaurant owners, but BP set up a $20 billion fund to cover their damages. President Obama's six-month ban shut down deepwater drilling, and BP set aside another $100 million to pay the workers on those oil rigs.
But the truckers, loaders, caterers and cleaners that supported those shut down rigs -- they had nothing, except rising anger at Washington over what the ban has done to them.
Take Anthony Thibodaux.
(on camera): How is the moratorium affecting you?
ANTHONY THIBODAUX, TRUCK LOADER: Well, I basically have no job. And I'm normally checking in eight, 10, 12 trucks a day, loading up two boats to go offshore to an oil rig. I did none. None. No boats out.
Now, I feel like a dead man walking. I know I'm just waiting for the ax to fall, because it's got to. That company cannot survive holding on to guys like me. They can't.
LAWRENCE: Is this just affecting people who live right along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana?
THIBODAUX: No. No. I live in Atlanta. I drive to work every week. The riggers and the crane operators and stuff, they come from Mississippi. You know, there are some from Alabama.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): This weekend, we took their concerns to Ken Feinberg.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, how are we supposed to feed our families, pay our bills, get to work?
KEN FEINBERG, ADMINISTRATOR, GULF CLAIMS FUND: I understand that you only want what you're entitled to as an unfortunate victim of this spill.
LAWRENCE: The man President Obama appointed to take charge of the claims' process to see if their damage can be covered.
(on camera): Will you be handling any claims at all for people whose businesses had been affected by the moratorium?
FEINBERG: Yes. I now have discovered -- I didn't realize this until yesterday -- but the moratorium claims will fall under my jurisdiction.
LAWRENCE: That's a huge development. We did not know that before.
FEINBERG: I didn't either. I just learned yesterday that the administration and BP have agreed that the moratorium claims will fall under my jurisdiction.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: You know, it was good to let the boss know exactly what is going to be going on. Again, this is a pretty recent deal between the Obama administration and BP. This is not something BP agreed to early on. They took responsibility for the oil spill but the moratorium was something imposed by the federal government.
And it really sheds some light, I remember just end of last week, John and Kiran, we were talking to you how BP had come out publicly for the first time and said, we, too, support getting rid of this moratorium. You know early on they had supported the idea of a moratorium as a real safety feature. Now it sort of puts things in a different light in that they will now be responsible for a lot of the claims as a result of the moratorium.
ROBERTS: Yes. Just amazing that it was a surprise to Ken Feinberg. Holy mackerel.
LAWRENCE: Yes.
ROBERTS: All right Chris Lawrence for us this morning in New Orleans. Chris, thanks so much. Well, there's a growing consensus that the amount of financial pressure that is being leveled on BP maybe a bad thing for the company, and if it is a bad thing for the company, it could be a bad thing for America and potentially the rest of the world as well. The British prime minister says we have to keep this company healthy. Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" coming right up. It is coming up now at 17 minutes after the hour.
CHETRY: Also still ahead, solo sailing and the dangers and demands of being out there alone, 16-year-old Abby Sunderland's failed trip ends today with her finally coming home. I had a chance to go out on the water with a sailor who has done it around the world and explains some of the biggest pitfalls. Seventeen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty minutes past the hour right now. Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" this morning. She joins us more with - talking a little bit about - well we've been talking about the financial regulation, whether or not we are going to see any differences in that. But also just how much money it is costing BP because of this oil spill.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDNET: That's right. And you know financial regulation is a big topic of conversation at the g- 20. And so was between the U.S. and the U.K. the fate of BP and the word out of the U.K. is that BP cannot be destroyed because everyone needs it to try to pay its claims to get us out of the mess.
That was the message, at least, from the U.K. to the U.S. in their bilateral meeting. And the telegraph reporting that David Cameron says it is in both country's best interest to make sure that we have a strong, stable company in BP. BP at the same time issuing an update on the spill costs. Response to date, $2.65 billion. The stock as you know has been cut in half. The market cap has a value of the company has been destroyed by the tune of $100 billion. That's an awful lot of money. There have been 80,000 claims made, 41,000 has been paid. As you know, BP has been giving us these updates pretty periodically. A third piece of news about the BP situation that I really wanted to get out, especially for those listening to us from the Gulf Coast. The thousands, those 80,000 people who have had claims, the IRS points out those claims you guys are taxable income. Lost property is not taxable income.
That usually - generally is not taxed, but if you get replacement income from BP, remember, you are going to be filing taxes on that. Just keep in mind as you are trying to do this delicate dance here, it will be your finances as we go through here. Just a gentle reminder. The IRS is saying that in the next few weeks they are holding road shows around the region to help those with tax issues related to this. A lot of people have lost an awful lot of income.
ROBERTS: I tell you if BP is on the hook for the oil service industry, in addition to the rig workers, some of the boats are losing $20,000 a day, and there are dozens on them.
ROMANS: Oh, what mess. It just really is a financial mess, you know, on a very small scale, for the small business owners, for the big industries and then trying to figure out how to pay for it and who - what are the justified cost and what aren't. Do you have a Roman's numeral for us this morning?
ROMANS: I do, 39,000 people, this is 39,000 people, this is from the update from BP, on just what's happening exactly in the recovery and the relief response right now.
CHETRY: Is this is how many people they hired for the clean up?
ROMANS: This is how many people are staging the area right now for the cleanup, 39,000. You know, that's the size of a small city of people. They are also saying 5,000 ships and boats, now 110 aircraft, and they have had something like 275-controlled burns. So I mean, if the work goes on, it's a pace there.
ROBERTS: It is amazing when you fly out to the rig and come upon it, it is like a scene out of a movie.
ROMANS: The burning of the --
ROBERTS: Just the whole thing. You know, it is just like coming around the moon and finding the imperial fleet.
ROMANS: All these ships, and people, and aircraft and boats.
CHETRY: And then meanwhile what else is surreal is it is still gushing 70 days later.
ROMANS: Right.
CHETRY: No end in sight.
ROMANS: Right. And BP still has these two relief wells that they are drilling, they are still holding to their initial hopes that some time in the month of July, they are going to be able to stop the gush. But every day hundreds of millions of dollars.
CHETRY: Yes, I think they just updated it to mid-August for the relief well. So I mean we are talking -
ROMANS: We'll see, yes -
CHETRY: We'll see what happens, but I mean it is still going.
ROMANS: OK.
CHETRY: Christine Romans, thank you so much.
Well meanwhile, we are going to be speaking with Jeffrey Toobin. He is, of course, our law expert here, but he's also a buddy and former classmate of Elena Kagan as she gets ready to take the hot seat. We are going to get his thoughts on the confirmation hearing. It's 23 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: "Top Stories" just minutes away, but first an "A.M. Original" something you will only see here on AMERICAN MORNING, teen sailor Abby Sunderland is on her way back to California this morning. She was trying to become the youngest person to sail around the world when she says a rogue wave hit her boat in the Indian Ocean and snapped her mast and ended her dream.
CHETRY: Yes and after her rescue, many were questioning how her parents would allow her to attempt to sail around the world in the first place, and also the safety of being alone out there in the open water. So I climbed aboard a similar boat Abby was on to see just how difficult it is to be solo at sea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAPTAIN DICK YORK, ARAGOM SAILBOAT: Go to the other side. Pull that end. Pull that end.
CHETRY (voice-over): You have to move fast.
YORK: Now put the wind channel in there and turn it either way. Whichever way it will go.
CHETRY (voice-over): And it is physically demanding.
(on camera): Abby is doing all this by herself, out there?
YORK: That's one of the simpler maneuvers.
CHETRY (voice-over): Captain Dick York says it is simple but when you are sailing solo, nothing is easy.
YORK: Say Abby has done her tack, now she may have to do things like, go down and eat, go down and fix the water maker, go down and make a radio call, there's all these other thing that is go on. CHETRY: Captain York has been sailed for more than 30 years and has even sailed around the world with his wife Leslie (ph) who is also his first mate. He took us out on a Long Island sound on his 43 foot sailboat that conditions much calmer than what Abby Sunderland faced the day her 40-foot sailboat last its mast in the Indian Ocean forcing her to make a distress call.
YORK: Keep going. You have a lot more to go. Another foot.
CHETRY: But one thing I learned fast from Kathy York, the work never end.
(on camera): That much of a shift when you wake up?
YORK: You would wake up.
CHETRY: How do you ever sleep?
YORK: I don't know how the single-handlers do it.
CHETRY (voice-over): Even with all of her experience, computerized navigations, and constant contact with the command center, many question the judgment of her parents in allowing a 16- year-old girl to attempt something so dangerous. Captain York sees it differently.
YORK: I'm not sure your average 16-year-old could do it. She is obviously very capable. All the things she did on her boat to keep it going, she obviously comes from a nautical family and has had training and has very good instincts.
CHETRY: Instincts put to the test by chronic sleep deprivation it's one of the many challenges of solo sailing. Without a crew to help, problems that Abby faced, like auto pilot failure and stormy weather can spell disaster.
YORK: In some of the single-handed races around the world, several people have died, but there's no certainty when that when you set out you are going to coming back.
CHETRY (on camera): The single-handed sailing, there's no guarantee that you come back alive.
YORK: No, absolutely. That's part of the -- I don't want to say thrill, because, but that's part of the challenge.
CHETRY: We talked a lot about the dangers you face when solo sailing at sea. One of them is to obviously prevent you from falling overboard, and you wear a safety harness with a tether and there are safety points all across the board to clip onto. So that if you were slip on deck, you don't fall overboard. Abby had a more advanced one that actually had a life preserver attached to it. So if she were to fall into the water, this would also inflate.
(voice-over): Another big challenge, dealing with being constantly alone. Abby was sailing as fast as she could with as few stops possible leaving her alone at sea for weeks at a time. How do you deal with the isolation?
YORK: It takes a personality that says, it is beautiful, even when it is rough, it is beautiful. Because you when you are out here you are self-sufficient. And it is kind of a nirvana that you are in. It is absolutely a high.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: There you go. And Captain York also actually teaches junior sailors, some of them Abby's age and even younger, about sailing safety. He actually, he and his wife do these man overboard and life raft drills at the Large Yatch Club as a way to give back and also just to make it safer for the younger kids. I mean when - for the young kids it is a thrill and it is something that they really loved to do. And so he tries to make sure that they are as safe as possible when they do it.
ROBERTS: Say sailing is spectacular. I used to take month long vacations on my sailboat in my 20s but tell you, when you are by yourself, out there in the ocean, you got, as you said, sleep deprivation, loneliness. You know, who do you talk to while you're out there? It's a very difficult journey (ph).
CHETRY: And she had a lot of - and the interesting thing is she did have a lot of modern technology. I mean, she was blogging, she was able to do some video conferencing, but both of her auto pilots at one point failed, her heater failed. I mean, so she was dealing with these mechanical fixes the entire way as well.
I don't know how peaceful that can possibly be. I'd be very stressed.
ROBERTS: But when the autopilot goes out, then you can't sleep. So -
CHETRY: Yes. Exactly.
ROBERTS: -- wow.
Checking our top stories this morning as we cross the half hour, tropical storm Alex is in the Gulf of Mexico, expected to become a hurricane possibly some time today. The CNN Weather Team is forecasting that it will likely make landfall near the Mexico/Texas border. But the storm could head up north, churning up waves that could affect cleanup efforts off of Louisiana for with two weeks.
Up to 2.5 million gallons of crude are spilling into the gulf every day.
CHETRY: Also developing this morning, Senator Robert Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat, is being remembered by his colleagues today after news that he's died. He was the longest-serving member of Congress in history. He was 92 years old.
Senator Byrd's office said that he died just a few hours ago at a Washington area hospital. He's a man who literally wrote the history of the Senate, both living it on the floor for more than 50 years, but also in four published volumes.
ROBERTS: In just a few hours' time, Elena Kagan makes her case for a seat on the Supreme Court. The president's nominee may face tough questions, though, at a confirmation hearing, specifically from Republican Senators who are concerned about her lack of judicial experience and her political independence.
Our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, has known Elena Kagan for 30 years now.
CHETRY: He joins us now from Washington to talk more about his friend, the nominee, and what we can expect in the confirmation process.
Good morning, Jeff. Great to talk to you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: It's - you know why it's great to talk? Because today is the nerd Super Bowl. Today is the day we have the Kagan hearings started. We have the last day of the Supreme Court's term just across the street. You have Justice Stevens' last day on the bench. You have the court mourning the loss of Martin Ginsburg, Ruth Bader Ginsburg's husband, who died yesterday.
CHETRY: Right.
TOOBIN: You have the big gun control case being decided, and the confirmation hearings - paradise (ph).
CHETRY: I want to ask you about one of the - and I totally understand where you're coming from. I mean, there are a lot of people who are going to be watching today to find out what happened, and the big reason why is what Elena Kagan herself talked about back in 1995, calling the hearings a - a hollow charade and saying that the nominees need to be more forthcoming. Will she follow her own advice today?
TOOBIN: Well, she certainly will be reminded of the law review article by many Republican senators over the course of this week. She will probably be somewhat more forthcoming than Sonia Sotomayor was, than Justice Alito was, then Chief Justice Roberts was, because her views are so unknown publicly.
She's never been a judge. She has not held policy positions where we can know, really, what she thinks about a lot of legal issues. She will not go case by case and say I agree with this one, disagree with that one, but I think she will let us in on how she approaches legal questions more than other nominees have.
ROBERTS: On - on this issue of some of these previous hearings being vapid and - and hollow, she got agreement this morning from Senator Jeff Sessions, whom we talked to. But Sessions also makes a point about her lack of not only judicial experience but experience as an attorney.
You know he did support Harriet Miers' nomination for a - for a time, saying you don't necessarily need to have judicial experience, but Harriet Miers did have a long and rich history as an attorney.
TOOBIN: That's true, and it just depends on what kind of experience you want.
You know, approximately 40 of the 112 individuals who have served on the Supreme Court did not have prior judicial experience, including such giants as William Rehnquist, Louis Brandeis, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter. They all did not have judicial experience.
But it is true that Elena Kagan has a specific kind of experience, mostly as a government lawyer and as a law professor, not as a lawyer with clients, and the Senate's going to have to decide whether that's the kind of experience they think is - is appropriate for a Supreme Court justice.
CHETRY: But the bottom line is, is there anything that stands out to you that could potentially stand in her way of sailing through this nomination - this confirmation?
TOOBIN: Well, the -the real bottom line is that there are now 58 Democratic senators with the loss of Senator Byrd yesterday. That's a lot of room for Elena Kagan to - to play with. She's got -
There is very little sense that I've received from the Republicans that they are planning a filibuster against her, and with 58 Democratic votes, that's a pretty good cushion for barring pretty much any sort of, you know, bomb shell disaster in her testimony. She's probably going to get confirmed.
ROBERTS: And - and finally, Jeff, on this issue of experience, whether you're an - and attorney or you're a judge, I mean, you can make the arguments, but the fact that she was the dean of the Harvard Law School and a professor there, when you look at all of the Supreme Court justices now will be Ivy Leaguers, does that count for something?
TOOBIN: Well, I think frankly it's a problem, and I say that as a graduate of Harvard Law School. There will be seven products of Harvard Law School on the court, two products of Yale Law School, and that's it.
You know, it's a big country. President Obama and - and even President Bush talked about diversity on the bench. I think they could use some more law school diversity. But, you know, there were other factors that - that prompted President Obama to nominate her.
But it's weird. I mean, it's also strange that there are - there will be, assuming Kagan is confirmed, six Catholics, three Jews, no Protestants, and no members of other religions.
I think, fortunately, some of these issues have faded in importance, like religion. But it would be good, I think, to have products of - of other parts of the country, other law schools on the bench as well.
CHETRY: And, you know, I guess Harvard's very happy today, if that's the case, though, because, you know, it certainly bodes well for them and their reputation.
But, bottom line, what type of impact will she have on the court? We've seen many 5-4 decisions. Will that change?
TOOBIN: Well, chances are her record will be similar to John Paul Stevens, whom she'll replace. Stevens was a moderate liberal, more liberal in his later years.
Elena Kagan - we know this for sure - is a Democrat. She had an important job in the Clinton White House, she had an important job in the Obama Justice Department. She is someone who reflects the Democratic Party. Not, that doesn't tell you everything about her judicial philosophy, but it tells - tell you some things, and that was likely to be similar to John Paul Stevens in the sense that the - the 5-4 splits probably wouldn't change.
But, you know, she's only 50 years old. She's going to be there, presumably, a very long time. And, you know, Byron White, the - the former Supreme Court Justice, used to say when you change one justice, you don't change just one justice, you change the whole court.
So the dynamic is changing quickly at the court. There's been four appointments in five years after no appointments for 11 years. So, you know, we're - we're just going to have to see where this all shakes out. It's a real time of change.
ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to it.
Jeff Toobin this morning. Of course, Jeff will be part of our coverage today.
CHETRY: That's right. CNN -
TOOBIN: OK.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jeff - live coverage of the Kagan confirmation hearings and that begins noon Eastern, right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: And, as he said, the nerd Super Bowl today.
CHETRY: That's right. Bill Clinton, the big soccer fan. He goes to the World Cup. Who goes with him?
Our Wolf Blitzer asking the question, should the USA host the World Cup?
Plus, will the president be able to walk his daughter down the aisle without shedding a tear? We'll find out.
Thirty-seven and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Former President Bill Clinton offering up his opinion on what the number one issue is facing you at home. Here's what he told our own Wolf Blitzer this weekend at the Fortune Times CNN Global Forum in South Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you can give me a 30-second answer right now, what is the most important issue facing the world right now?
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In the short-term, the most important issue is fixing the economy so it works for ordinary people. And the long-term, the most important issue, is changing the way we produce and consume energy. In the medium term, the most important issue is dealing with the security challenges so we don't destroy each other before our kids have a chance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And while in Africa, the former president also cheered on the team - Team USA at the World Cup. Clinton is the honorary chairman of the U.S. bid to host either the 2018 or the 2022 World Cup. And he says it would be good for the game of soccer if the World Cup returned to the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Make the case why the United States should host the World Cup games in 2018 or 2022.
CLINTON: Read the story today about the enormous viewership in the United States and the celebrations on the streets of Ghanaian- Americans from South Florida to Philadelphia. We don't have to build any stadiums. We can give you the stadiums. We can fill them up and we can guarantee every single team that goes to the World Cup a home crowd, because that - that's why we ought to be there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Well, the former president also talked about his daughter Chelsea's upcoming wedding and he explained why he's going to do his best not to get all choked up on the big day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: First of all, all of us here want to wish you and Secretary Clinton congratulations. Your daughter is about to get married and we wish you only, only happiness. You have to get ready as the father of the bride to walk her down the aisle. Can you do that without crying?
CLINTON: I don't know. And one of the rare - arguments I had with my daughter in high school, and they were rare. She always did great honor to our family. I looked at her and said, you have to understand I consider being president my second most important job. I think anybody who has ever had a child believes it is the best thing that's ever happened to them, and I don't know.
But I'll tell you this, I'm profoundly grateful for not only for her life, but I - I like my son-in-law to be, and I admire very much. He's a remarkable human being, so I feel very blessed. But I'm going to try not to cry, because this is not about me, it's about her. And if I'm crying then it becomes partly about me, I don't even want to be mentioned in the story, except that I didn't stumble walking her down the aisle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Wow.
ROBERTS: Do you - do you think it's going to be possible for him not to shed a tear?
CHETRY: I don't think so. He looked like he was getting choked up even talking about it.
ROBERTS: Just - just thinking about it, yes.
CHETRY: Wow. Well, that was some great stuff by Wolf getting a chance to talk to the former president.
ROBERTS: Fabulous. I mean, Wolf knows what he's talking about too when it comes to walking a daughter down the aisle, because he did it last year.
CHETRY: There you go.
Well, scientists tag sharks. They're trying to spy on their travels and see how the Gulf Coast oil spill may be affecting the predators of the sea. John Zarrella goes along for the ride.
ROBERTS: And Alex slowly gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico. Is it headed toward the cleanup zone? Reynolds Wolf is tracking the forecast. He's got that coming up for us.
It's 44 and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back to CNN's AMERICAN MORNING, I'm Reynolds and this -- this is a big storm. And in fact this is Alex. We have been watching this storm just over the weekend and just making its way across the Yucatan Peninsula and now moving back out over into open water. And yes it is intensifying.
And the latest forecast from the Nation Hurricane Center shows the storm should continue on a northwesterly trajectory. And as we get into Wednesday and fast forwarding to Thursday, winds are expected to increase to about 110 miles per hour. At least that's the forecast of the National Hurricane Center. The gusts will be stronger approaching 135 miles an hour.
It will be moving into an area with very warm water and very little in terms of upper level wind and shear that could tear the storm apart. So conditions have been strengthening are they're favorable. Right now its affect on the oil spill should be minimal. Enhanced wave action and heavier waves and certainly there's a possibility, but in terms of making a direct hit on the oil slick, I do not believe it's going to happen, although a lot of things can change.
Speaking of changes, we've been watching some of the computer models and they have been varied; some of them going farther to the north and Texas and some parts of the south and in Mexico. We're going to watch this for you very carefully.
And we're hoping that you're going to stick around to watch more of AMERICAN MORNING straight ahead. See you in a few.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for the your "AM House Call", stories about your health. And right now we're talking about the epidemic in California that has already killed five babies and infected more than 900 people. It's the rapidly spreading highly contagious whooping cough.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen joins us now live in Atlanta. And this is the -- the state's worst outbreak in five years. What's going on and why is it happening now?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what, whooping cough outbreaks happen approximately every five years, they kind of ebb and flow. And we're seeing a big outbreak right now.
Here's what happens, the reason why that we are seeing deaths among babies. Babies do get vaccinated at around two, four and six months of age, but the vaccine doesn't really take until the six-month mark. So up until six months, babies are vulnerable.
And if the people around them, the people who take care of them, the people in the community have whooping cough, then they are completely vulnerable to getting whooping cough too. They have very little immunity to it -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: So what can people do to protect themselves, Elizabeth?
COHEN: Well, the first thing they can do is get vaccinated. And I know that sounds strange to have as adults get vaccinated but actually the Centers for Disease Control recommends that people get vaccinated every ten years. So you should be getting vaccinated as an adult every ten years.
And that is the best thing you can do to protect your baby, because your baby is vulnerable. But a lot of parents don't know they are supposed to do this, and even doctors sometimes don't know that they're patients are supposed to get back (INAUDIBLE) as an adult.
And the other thing you can look out for is look out for the symptoms. Whooping cough starts as simply a cough. It's simply a cold that just looks like any other cold. It doesn't look like anything in particular, but then it gets more violent. The cough doesn't go away. And you hear that classic whoop sound.
It's a -- I know that sounds silly, but it sounds like a whoop. That's what's you're looking for -- you're looking for a cough, cold, congestion that doesn't go away. And with a cough that just doesn't sound like a regular cough you need to get your baby to the pediatrician.
ROBERTS: I think after what you said, that there's a lot of adults who are saying, vaccinated for whooping cough every ten years? I don't remember that last time I got vaccinated. So some -- some good tips this morning. Elizabeth Cohen thanks so much.
COHEN: Thanks
ROBERTS: So what can sharks tell us about the oil spill? John Zarrella goes along for the ride as scientists put tags on sharks to take -- take tissue samples. Wow, you don't want to get into business with any one of those.
Fifty-three minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Its 56 minutes past the hour. And welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. You may not think of sharks as vulnerable animals but the Gulf Coast oil spill could change all of that. The toxic oil in the water is threatening their ability to eat and in some cases to even breathe.
ROBERTS: Our John Zarrella followed a group of shark scientists from the University of Miami, tagging and tracking sharks off the Coast of Florida. Will this predators show them where the spill is heading? Take a look.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm in the Gulf of Mexico with university researchers who are capturing, tagging and studying sharks. The research may very well lead to a better understanding of how the oil spill is affecting these creatures at the top of the food chain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): A six-foot shark --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok, we've got a nice lemon, guys.
ZARRELLA: The researchers work quickly taking blood and tissue samples, measurements.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, 180.
ZARRELLA: University of Miami researcher, Neil Hammerschlag (ph) is studying the migratory habits of sharks in Florida waters. The oil spill has given his work a new more urgent dimension.
NEIL HAMMERSCHLAG, RESEARCHER, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: There is the possibility that these animals might be able to anticipate the oil or sense the oil and actually move away from it. It's really unknown right now.
ZARRELLA: this lemon shark will provide valuable data, but when it comes to what Hammerschlag is looking for, it is, well, a lemon. He's after the great sharks: tigers, hammerheads, bulls. They travel greater distances. If his team lands one, it will be tagged with a satellite transmitter. If the shark goes near or into the oil, Hammerschlag will know it.
One shark Hammerschlag's team tagged transmitted nearly every day for three months. But two days after the Deep Horizon explosion, the transmissions suddenly stopped. Coincidence? Perhaps.
Here's what Hurley the hammerhead's track looked like the days before it disappeared.
HAMMERSCHLAG: The tag could have failed or it could have headed off somewhere else into deep water and has not come up in the last few months, but that's very unlike the shark's character. What's next, biopsy? Whose biopsy?
ZARRELLA: On this day at sea, the lemons keep coming. Three black tips, too. The blood and tissue from these guys will be tested for concentrations of hydrocarbons from oil. Scientists worry sharks could easily be contaminated, even if they never swim through the oil.
HAMMERSCHLAG: You know there's fishing areas that have been closed in the Gulf of Mexico so don't want people catching these fish, but I don't know if the sharks got the memo.
ZARRELLA: Because it's a natural predator, a reduced shark population impacts the balance of nature.
(on camera): There will be enough work, scientists say, for researchers to be studying the effects of oil on the sharks for decades -- John, Kieran.
ROBERTS: John Zarrella for us this morning. John thanks so much. It would be fascinating to see the results of this study.
CHETRY: I know. I know it.
ROBERTS: If you can tell anything about where the oil is going.
CHETRY: Right. And the impact on animals like that. I mean they say fish usually -- sometimes are the last ones to be impacted because they know how to get out of the way as opposed to turtles and some of the other wildlife.
ROBERTS: Sharks have very sensitive, sensory system as well. Maybe they will get some good data from that.
Just before we go, take a look at this. Prince Harry falling and bouncing off his royal rear-end at a polo match in New York. Check this out. He was about to take a swing when the horse put on the brakes. He goes over the front of the horse, lands on his feet, but then he smartly hung onto the reigns, grabbed onto the neck, went down. He couldn't keep himself up flipped on his right royal bum. He did get back on the saddle though and finished the match.
CHETRY: Right. If you are going to fall, actually he did it pretty well there. He was raising money, by the way, for children with aids in Africa. He got cheers from the crowd of A-Listers in the audience after he fell and of course, you saw him get back up again and he is not injured.
ROBERTS: Nice to know that a prince bounces.
CHETRY: There you go.
Well, thanks so much for being with us this morning. We'll see you back here bright and early tomorrow. Meantime continue the conversation by heading to our blog, cnn.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: "CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips starts right now.
