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Justice Antonin Scalia's Death Looms Large Over Presidential Election; Violence In Syria Casts Doubt On Planned Ceasefire. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired February 15, 2016 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[15:32:51] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: The body of U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia carried in this hearse here has been moved from Texas to Virginia. And a Texas judge has corrected Scalia's cause of death saying it was not a heart attack but quote "natural causes" saying his heart simply stopped beating.
His death now looming large on this presidential election. This afternoon, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz told supporters how high the stakes are with the empty seat on the Supreme Court.
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SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are one justice away from fundamentally losing our freedoms. This court right now is already an activist court that is disregarding the law. But as extreme and radical as this court is, there are four hard core left wing judicial activists on the court. One more and we will have a five-justice majority that will undermine the very basic liberties of our country.
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BALDWIN: With me new, the author of this book, "Scalia, a court of one," Bruce Murphy, who is a professor of civil rights Lafayette College. And also here Ruth Marcus, a columnist for "the New York Post." So welcome to both of you.
Ruth, I would love to begin with you, just first, you know, when the news broke this weekend and how quickly the statements started pouring in and reading that the substantive statements, how surprised are you as far as how quickly this has turned into the politization and talk of his replacement?
RUTH MARCUS, COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON POST: Well, I think the cynic in me wants to say not that surprised but it was still pretty stunning. I mean, I think almost even before the court had officially confirmed the death of justice Scalia, we had statements from the Senate majority leader saying that he had no intention of proceeding with the nomination while president was still president. So we know the news cycle and politics have speed up and intensified everything but that was pretty intense watching everything on Saturday.
BALDWIN: Bruce, your thought?
[15:35:00] BRUCE ALLEN MURPHY, AUTHOR, SCALIA, A COURT OF ONE: My reaction is similar to Ruth's, but I think the explanation is we are heading into pivotal time for the court. The conservatives, contrary to what Mr. Cruz is trying to say, have controlled the Supreme Court for 45 years. They've had the majority. And we are looking at a turning point that may lead us into a confirmation fight that will look like the Robert Bork fight on steroids.
BALDWIN: Ruth, to you. We pulled a clip from July 2007, Democratic Senator Charles Schumer giving this speech to the American constitution society. There he was.
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SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: We cannot afford to see justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito. Given the track record of this president and the experience of obfuscation at hearings, with respect to the Supreme Court at least, I will recommend to my colleagues that we should not confirm any Bush nominee to the Supreme Court except in extraordinary circumstances.
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BALDWIN: I know you know where I'm going with this but just to be fair here.
MARCUS: I do.
BALDWIN: I mean, you know, the man who could be the Senate's next majority leader is responsible for doing the same thing.
MARCUS: Look, Washington is a place of situational ethics. And if you want to judge what should happen going forward with a replacement for justice Scalia, based on who has been more hypocritical in the past, you are going to end up having a standoff because you can have dueling quotes from both sides about how things should proceed based on whether their interests at the time lie.
The way I think about it is what does the constitution envision and what is the right thing to do for the country and the court? And it seems to me that the founding fathers did not envision when they gave the Senate the right to advice or consent. That you would have a Senate simply deciding to sit on its hands and essentially shut down the Supreme Court. Not for the remainder of one term but as a practical matter for two terms, because if we wait until the next president, it's going to be well until the next Supreme Court term that we're going to have a full bench.
BALDWIN: Bruce, I'm curious, just on Justice Scalia, the man -- I was talking to one of his biographies and she was talking about the evolution of oral arguments, you know, under Justice Scalia and how it has so suddenly changed and who he would even give some people a tough time that they would be stumbling over words or notes and he would say, when you're ready, say bingo. I mean, what was he like as a justice? And what will his legacy be? MURPHY: Well, I think as a justice, he changed the nature of the role
not only in oral arguments but in the way he wrote his opinions. He would attack his fellow justices quite directly. And quite memorably. And use language unlike any that we seen in the history of the court. And then proceed to do the same thing off the court in speeches and public appearances and interviews. He has changed the court I think into a kind of celebrity institution and made the court more of a political target of attack. His legacy is maybe three fold. Obviously it has changed the conversation among justices as to how they will justify their decisions. I think that in the -- in the off the court area, he's made the court much more visible, much more controversial, much more political. And that's what I think is going on here. The political dysfunctional gridlock of the Senate, the (INAUDIBLE) of the Senate as reflected by the polarization of the Supreme Court. Everybody understands the math here. Change one seat from one party to the other and you change the entire institution.
But his long-term legacy may well be, it may be his strongest legacy, for generations of conservative law students and conservative law professors who take guidance from his writing and his opinions and 20, 30 years down the road may resuscitate originalism and make it the basis for the Supreme Court's work.
BALDWIN: Bruce Allen Murphy and Ruth Marcus, thank you both so much.
MARCUS: Thank you.
MURPHY: Thank you. It is a pleasure.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
Coming up next, she inspires one of President Obama's campaign slogans.
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BALDWIN: Now Edith Child is fired up and ready to go for the 2016 race. Who is this South Carolinian endorsing? She will join me live coming up next.
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[15:44:15] BALDWIN: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, are getting ready for the South Carolina primary as well. Back when it was President Obama's turn to campaign there, one woman changed everything. That woman is Edith Childs.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here she is right here. And she got this same hat. So --
EDITH CHILDS, SOUTH CAROLINA: Senator Obama, you're just so special, so this is for you. Fired up. Ready to go. Fired up. Ready to go. Fired up. Ready to go.
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BALDWIN: That woman responsible for firing up that campaign led to the presidency, Edith Childs. She's a council woman in Greenwood County, South Carolina.
Amazing hat. You are bringing it today, Ma'am, on this president's day. It is such an honor to meet you, Miss Childs.
[15:45:13] CHILDS: How are you, Brooke?
BALDWIN: I am well. Let me just ask you. Can you take it back to that, what was that, a rainy day in South Carolina, where there weren't a lot of people hanging around? And you knew you needed to do something to bring it for Barack Obama.
CHILDS: Yes, that was a special day. It was back in June 2007. He came to Greenwood and we met him at the civic center. And he started with some kind of field Hughes house but it was a civic center. And there were 38 of us just wanted to welcome him to Greenwood. So my intent will be in there was saying, Senator, we're glad area in Greenwood but it turned out to be more than that.
BALDWIN: It did indeed. That was a rallying cry. I understand the president said it among his own campaign staffers to fire him up on those tough days, you know. Have you stayed in touch with the president? I mean what kind of relationship have you had in the year since?
CHILDS: It has been eight years of a relationship, Brooke. I heard from him during the inauguration. Had two trips there for Christmas celebration and those two years that we missed, we received Christmas card. Still receive Christmas cards until today. And we're just excited about the relationship.
BALDWIN: That South Carolina primary is upon us. Who's firing you up, Edith Childs, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton?
CHILDS: Well, that's something that remains to be seen. I'm just kind of sitting in the middle, you know, and I'm not quite sure yet but there's also a little fish out there in the water also that we haven't heard a lot about.
BALDWIN: What's that?
CHILDS: That little fish is Willie Wilson. He's sitting out there. You hadn't heard a whole lot about him. But he has a lot of good ideas. So we have to think about those things and just see where you want to go.
BALDWIN: Think about the big fish, think about the little fish, when you remember back to that day in 2007 and that feeling of being so fired up over one man, what do you think will get you there this next go around? What are you looking for?
CHILDS: What would really get me there, for them to have more interaction with the people. You know, they're meeting at the schools and all that, but they need to get out where the real people are. President Obama went to (INAUDIBLE), we had stuff in our homes for him, but none of that has transpired. And just doesn't seem to be doing what needs to do, you know?
BALDWIN: I do. I do know. You have to go talk to the people and the people, they need to listen.
CHILDS: Exactly.
BALDWIN: Edith Childs, thank you so much. Thank you.
CHILDS: Thank you.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
And with that, you know, hearing from the people is key and also now this back and forth, this sort of sudden bloodbath between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz on the Republican side. We now have some sound from Ted Cruz responding to Mr. Trump calling him a liar. Here you go.
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CRUZ: If they want to go down that direction, that's fine. But I have no intention of responding in kind. I think the people of South Carolina deserve better than that. I think the people of South Carolina deserve a campaign focused on issues and substance and record. But I will continue pointing out the truth about records. And so when you look at the words that came out of their mouth, there's a reason the national organization of marriage has endorsed me in this campaign and said it cannot support Donald Trump or Marco Rubio, because both of them are unwilling to defend traditional marriage. There's a reason Dr. James Dobson is supporting me in this campaign and Tony Perkins and Gary Bower and pastors all across the state --.
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BALDWIN: Senator Cruz saying he's not going to go there. He says it, what's the day, Monday. We've got some days to go to see if that tone changes.
By the way, just given everything we have watched over the course of the last two hours, this is must-see TV later on CNN. Because we will have here at CNN all six Republican candidates going face-to-face directly with the voters of South Carolina. This is CNN's Republican presidential town hall times two, two-day event, Wednesday and Thursday nights, 8:00 eastern, here on CNN.
Coming up next, a deadly bomb attack at a hospital in Syria and the moment it hit caught on tape.
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[15:50:07] BALDWIN: We will talk live with the head of the doctors without borders mission there to find out how this could possibly happen and who was behind it.
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[15:54:09] BALDWIN: The violence in war-torn Syria taking yet another troubling turn and casting doubt on a planned cease-fire. Today two hospitals and a school were bombed. As many as 22 people are dead, 40 people hurt, one attack in the city of Azas (ph) and then 60 miles away a hospital supported by doctors without borders was also hit.
The state department now condemning these bombings, blaming the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and questioning Russia's willingness or ability to stop the brutality.
Joining me now Massimiliano Rebaudengo. He is the head of the mission for doctors without borders.
Massimiliano, thank you so much for calling in. First, if I may just ask you on numbers, can you confirm the latest casualties and injuries among hospital staff and patients?
MASSIMILIANO REBAUDENGO, HEAD, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (on the phone): Yes. This morning the MSF supported a hospital in the north of Syria as being hit by four missile attacks, actually there were two attacks within two minutes of each other. And this attack left so far as far as we know seven people dead and eight of other people that are still missing. And within the seven people in this structure, five of them were patients and (INAUDIBLE). The other ones were actually staff. But we're also concerned about the other eight people that are still missing from the staff.
BALDWIN: People who are missing as well. Have you, Massimiliano, have you heard from any of the doctors or families personally today?
REBAUDENGO: We constantly try to be in touch with the staff working in the hospital as well as our MSF staff which is present in Syria, but the situation was very complicated and confused. So far we can confirm these casualties and these people missing, but also the hospital has been destroyed so we don't have a lot of hope for the people who are missing for their lives. And the problem as well is that the research in the rubble has stopped because it's night here and the situation is desperate actually.
BALDWIN: Are you getting any information, any Intel on who would be behind this?
REBAUDENGO: Well, these ones in the morning were aerial strikes and to the best of our knowledge actually in the era that we are operating supporting these hospitals, the Syrian coalition forces are actually present with planes, so we do believe that it's the Syrians who carried out the attacks.
BALDWIN: There are reports of attacks on other medical facilities as well. And you know, we covered that air strike, Massimiliano, that mistakenly killed those 30 people at the doctors without borders hospital in Afghanistan. That was last November. Amnesty international called out Russia and Syria specifically citing war crimes. Would you agree with that assessment?
REBAUDENGO: Well, first of all, we have to clarify that the hospital that we support like many other structures are not MSF hospitals. They're hospitals that MSF supports with medical supplies. As I said before, health structure that has been bombed by aerial strike in this area might have been hit by Syrian government coalition. And what we are now hearing that health structures shouldn't be the target of aerial strike. You have to understand the hospital that was support Idlib (ph) was providing services to 40,000 people which are now left without any health facility to go to and, therefore, their situation is desperate and critical in this moment.
BALDWIN: Massimiliano, I'm going to let you go. I really appreciate the time and we are going to be covering this and keeping a close eye on what's happening here. Thank you so much.
Just important to cover before we let you go. A short time from now, by the way, we have been talking the last two hours, George W. Bush set to appear with his brother in South Carolina. This is the first time this has happened here on the campaign trail. We'll take it live on CNN. We'll be right back.
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