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Supreme Court Examines Health Care Reform; New Endorsement for Romney; Pope Visits Cuba; Violence Continues in Syria Despite Ceasefire; Spike Lee Tweets Wrong Address of George Zimmerman; Trayvon Martin's Death Continues to Garner National Attention; Supreme Court Wraps up Hearings on Health Care Law

Aired March 28, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And look ahead now, hour two.

All right, the U.S. Supreme Court has now wrapped its final day here on the biggest case in our times, whether nearly everyone should have health insurance coverage or not. Today, the justices specifically analyzed the domino effect. That is if this individual mandate, requiring all of us, all Americans to buy health insurance, if that section is struck down, can the rest of this 2,700-page law actually remain in effect? Can it survive? It sounds like at least one justice believes it can.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, U.S. SUPREME COURT: There are so many things in this act that unquestionably, OK, I you would concede that reauthorizing, what is it, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act changes to the black lung benefits. Why make Congress redo those? It's a question of whether we say everything you did is no good, now start from scratch.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And once again, we have Jeff Toobin, there he is, outside the Supreme Court.

Jeff, I know court observers, they're not surprised by the support from Justice Ginsburg, you know, a liberal. What did you read when you were listening so closely to those questions from the other justices? What did you hear today?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, to me, the most important thing that I heard in this morning was Anthony Kennedy, the all-important swing vote, asking question after question about what happens when we declare the individual mandate unconstitutional.

Now, it could be that he was just speculating about the possibility of holding that unconstitutional, but it sure seemed to me he had made up his mind that the individual mandate was unconstitutional, and I think given his place on the court, that is a very bad sign for its survival.

Even worse, he at several times -- and he did not commit himself one way or the other. At times, sounded like if that part of the law was unconstitutional, the whole thing had to go. Justice Scalia clearly explicitly said, and you will hear this when you get the tape, he said, when we declare the individual mandate unconstitutional, the whole law has to go.

BALDWIN: Well, here we go. We the sound. Let me just interrupt you there, because here's Justice Scalia talking to the government's attorney. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ANTONIN SCALIA, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, U.S. SUPREME COURT: To say that we're effectuating the intent of Congress is just unrealistic. Once you cut the guts out of it, who knows. Who knows which of them were really desired by on their own and which ones weren't.

EDWIN KNEEDLER, DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL: The question for the court is Congress having passed the law, by whatever majority there might be in one house or the other, Congress having passed the law, what at that point is the legislative intent embodied in the law Congress has actually passed?

SCALIA: Well, that's right, but the problem is, straight from the title, we have two complementary purposes, patient protection and affordable care.

And you can't look at something and say this promotes affordable care, therefore, it's consistent with Congress' intent, because Congress had a balanced intent. You can't look at another provision and says this promotes patient protection without asking if it's affordable. So it seems to me if you ask what is going to promote Congress' purpose, that's just an inquiry that you can't carry out.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Jeffrey Toobin, what do you hear when you hear all that?

TOOBIN: Well, first it was Justice Scalia and then it was Chief Justice Roberts. Chief Justice Roberts there was saying how do we cut this out? If we find part of it unconstitutional, we can't know what's good and what's bad, it's all related to each other.

And that suggested that he wants to throw the whole thing out. In fairness, there were other points in the argument where Chief Justice Roberts did acknowledge that there were parts of the law that are clearly constitutional and it would be quite a step for the court to declare obviously constitutional parts of the law invalid.

So I don't think you should get the impression that Chief Justice Roberts had really made up his mind the way Justice Scalia clearly had, but just the fact that this is so much on the table, that the possibility exists that they may invalidate the entire 2,400-page law just illustrates how much the playing field is moving to a way that's a very disturbing direction for the Obama administration.

BALDWIN: OK.

When it comes to the Obama administration, you walked out of those steps yesterday and said yesterday specifically talking about the individual mandate, that it was a train wreck when it came to the solicitor general on the side of the administration.

How did things go today when it comes to both -- as you were already sort of discussing -- what would happen to the rest of the law and also the latter part of the day which involved potentially extending Medicaid? Reading the tea leaves, what did you hear?

TOOBIN: I thought things looked still very bad on the individual mandate. When you had Anthony Kennedy asking question after question about what happens when we declare the individual mandate unconstitutional, that's a pretty good signal of which way he's leaning.

Plus, the issue as I just mentioned of several justices suggesting the whole law had to go, that was really bad. Now, in the afternoon, on the issue of Medicaid expansion -- Medicaid is for poor citizens, Medicare is for older citizens -- on the issue of Medicaid expansion, I thought Donald Verrilli had a much better day today than he did yesterday.

And I thought actually the Obama administration has a fighting chance for pulling together five votes on that issue. But, you know, that's not the main part of this law. It's very, very important, but it's not the main part of this law. And on the main part of the law, I just think they're in a lot of trouble.

BALDWIN: OK, Jeff Toobin, we shall see. It's now in their hands. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you.

You just saw Jeff. Want to see what Jeff said yesterday that definitely drew some attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOOBIN: This was a train wreck for the Obama administration. This law looks like it's going to be struck down. I'm telling you, all of the predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I wouldn't bet on this, but I will bet I have been in court a lot more than Jeffrey Toobin, and I have had arguments, federal circuit, Supreme Court and hundreds of times before trial courts, and the questions you get from the judges doesn't mean that's what's going to wind up with the opinion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The Senate majority leader even speaking about Jeffrey Toobin by name.

How did this sit with the White House?

Here she is, chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin.

How is the White House handling critics like Toobin? At least he did say the last hour was pretty good for Solicitor General Mr. Verrilli, but overall it sounds like he's saying it was a pretty rough day again.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House is standing by Mr. Verrilli and saying they feel he did a very good job and that, you know, any of us who rushes to conclusions is not a very good student of the court.

I just came from the White House briefing where the deputy press secretary, Josh Earnest, made that very point. He said some people will sit on the sidelines and deliver style points, comparing it to ice skating, what Olympic judges do at the ice skating competition. But they don't do that, and pointed out that we have to wait and see that judge often and the justices often ask questions as devil's advocates and we can't judge based on that how they will ultimately decide, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And you're hearing "The New York Times" had an op-ed about this, this morning. You had Democratic strategist contributor James Carville saying, look, if this individual mandate, if it is, in fact, struck down, hey, it could actually benefit Democrats, it could help President Obama in the reelection. How so?

YELLIN: Right.

Well, that's a very looking for the silver lining and very baldly political point of view, which is that, two points, it will so anger the Democratic base, one, because it will be viewed by many Democrats as such a political court that the Democrats can argue this is a reason to reelect President Obama so he can put more moderate justices on the court, A.

And, B., because then Democrat can say look what conservatives have done to deny Americans health care coverage. And then the president could make that case. The problem with that is it's a short-term argument, A. It works only for this election. And it doesn't really go to, you know, what the president is trying to achieve for Americans broadly.

Really where is our health care coverage then going to go? And, B., it doesn't address the criticism that will come to the president, which is he invested so much political capital in building this health care law and getting it passed. If it's eviscerated, that will be a problem for him.

If I could make one further note, Brooke, out of the briefing there was one bit of news, which was the White House made clear they are not making contingency plans for the health care law in the event the individual mandate should be struck down.

BALDWIN: Not making contingency plans. Not at all?

YELLIN: As of now, not at all. BALDWIN: Jessica Yellin there for us at the White House, Jessica, we appreciate it.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIE DHUE, PASSENGER: Several other passengers heard the words Afghanistan and Israel coming out of his mouth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Say your prayers, that's what passengers heard from the captain of this JetBlue flight as he stormed towards the cockpit. Coming up next, I will speak live with someone who interviewed this pilot and knows all about his career. Don't miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Want to update you on a story that broke right around this time yesterday. The JetBlue pilot's in-flight meltdown that forced the sudden landing of his flight. It was supposed to go from New York to Las Vegas and ended up diverting to Amarillo, Texas.

JetBlue has just told CNN that it has suspended the pilot. He's Clayton Osbon, with pay pending further investigation.

We know Osbon is in custody today. He is getting treatment. Passengers had to wrestle him to the floor of that plane after the co- pilot locked him out of the cockpit for what's described as erratic behavior. I want you to listen to this. This is going to be the co- pilot's calm demeanor as he calls into air traffic control.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need authorities and medical to meet us at the airplane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. They're standing by for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I have the airport police stand by?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want them to enter from Bravo or Juliet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bravo will be fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pilot requests medical and security as soon as able.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Christine Lucas is a freelance writer who got to know Clayton Osbon. She wrote a profile piece about him just last year for the magazine "Richmond Hill Reflections." Christine, when you first heard about what happened yesterday and you connected the dots and said, oh, my goodness, this is the same Clayton Osbon I interviewed over breakfast, what was your first thought?

CHRISTINE LUCAS, FREELANCE WRITER: I first heard about it from a reporter who called asking me about the profile.

I hadn't seen the news. I wasn't clear on the details and I think I asked back to them, was this Clayton that did this? I wasn't sure whether he was piloting the plane and somebody else had an outburst. Eventually, the details became clearer and I was surprised to say the least.

BALDWIN: Give me an idea of how long you spent with him last year when you wrote this piece for this magazine.

LUCAS: I met with him at a hangar and I interviewed him probably an hour-and-a-half. And then we met at the same hangar where they had a monthly pilot's breakfast. My husband and I joined him I believe twice after that.

BALDWIN: Quick reading after spending all that time with him, good guy? What was he like?

LUCAS: He was fantastic. I believe he probably still is. I'm as eager as everybody else to figure out what happened. But he was a gregarious guy. He was confident and he seemed happy. I can't say that anything led me to think that something like this would happen.

BALDWIN: Obviously I read your piece and you talk about how he started flying for really just JetBlue three months after they launched the airline back in 2000 and that also he was a flight standards captain for JetBlue. Tell me what that means and tell me a little bit more about his background.

LUCAS: I wish I could tell you the aviation terminology there. I cannot. I can tell you he had been flying since he was a child.

And he was instrument flying, which, of course, is when you can't see over the dashboard. You're flying not by the topographer, but by the instruments on the plane. And he's flown in 35 different types of aircraft in general aviation. He's flown Gulfstreams. He's -- he really, I think, was at a point in his career where he was looking forward to kind of passing on some leadership training to those who were coming up.

He talked about wanting to do motivational speaking. And frankly I think he would be very good at it because he's got that type of personality that you would want in an airline captain.

BALDWIN: I sit here and I hear this, and how he wanted to speak motivationally. And then you talk to as I did this time yesterday to passengers who were sitting on the ground at Amarillo sort of going back over what had happened. And they said they heard words from this man like bomb, Israel and Afghanistan. Do you know at all if he had any kind of background in the military?

LUCAS: No, he initially wanted to fly fighter jets, but there was an astigmatism in his right eye that prevented him from doing that.

I think he had sights on being an astronaut and his medical exam made that impossible. I think we all have things that we wish we could do career wise and when your life takes you another way, I don't think you necessarily look back at that with regret. I think it probably broke his heart. He said in my piece that it broke his heart a little bit when he wasn't able to do that.

But he didn't strike me as somebody that was at all unhappy. In fact, he liked being in a position where he could give other people the experience to fly. And he was looking forward to finding a way to use his L-4 Grasshopper for charity purposes.

BALDWIN: He talked about his 10-year-old grandson and how he couldn't wait to get him up in the air as well for his first flight.

Well, we will wait and see as a lot of people are digging into what exactly happened to this man who sounds like a good guy according to you and according to your interview. Christine Lucas, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. Thank you.

And as Newt Gingrich boots a third of his staff, Mitt Romney gets a huge endorsement, the backing of a former president.

Plus, $500 million, that is how much someone stands to win in this Mega Millions Jackpot. The number is growing. I hate having to do this part of it, though. Wait until you hear your odds of winning everyone's dream. We're talking about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: One of the biggest endorsements for Mitt Romney yet. But will it matter? And even if you never play the lottery, now is the time to buy one of those Mega Millions tickets.

Time to play "Reporter Roulette."

Joe Johns, we begin with you, friend, there in Washington. And the big news, one of our former presidents now throwing his support behind Romney. Who is it?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: George H.W. Bush, Bush 41.

But you know what? Anybody could have told you that if you follow politics because he's clearly been a big supporter of Mitt Romney for a long time. His wife, Barbara Bush, actually went as far as to record robo-calls in the run-up to the Ohio primary in favor of Mitt Romney. It's going to happen tomorrow.

They're going to sort of put it on the dotted line and make it official in what's basically a gloried photo-op. That's going to happen in the office of President George H.W. Bush right around this time tomorrow. No real big surprise, but they're hoping it really matters. The question is, just how much do endorsements matter anyway in this election season?

BALDWIN: Well, let's go to Newt Gingrich who's definitely lagging in the old delegate count. He's now cut a third of his staff, but he's still staying in.

JOHNS: Yes, that's right. On WTOP Radio, which is local news radio here in Washington, D.C., Newt Gingrich gave his reasons. He said it was basically cash flow, which I think anybody could figure that out. And, yes, cutting one-third of his staff. Also asked his campaign manager to step down.

All of this they say in trying to streamline the campaign and get ready for the convention. Newt Gingrich plans to call around to the delegates personally to try to help himself get to as close to that magic number of 1,144 as possible. But the bottom line is he doesn't have enough money to do anything else, quite frankly, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Joe Johns. We still don't know if mega money is coming into that super PAC yet or not. I was just talking to Gloria about that last hour. We don't know. Joe Johns, thank you so much for us in Washington.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: That's your "Reporter Roulette" here on this Wednesday.

Now to this here. We were talking about this yesterday. Might it happen? The pope we now know has sat down with Fidel Castro. Look at this. There he is in Cuba. But that's not the only person he met. The video is just in. We are live in Havana next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We do have some new audio, it's just in from today's Supreme Court's oral arguments on the health care law.

What you're about to here is Justice Elena Kagan talking to attorney Paul Clement. Remember, he represents the states opposed to this law. Here it is.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

PAUL CLEMENT, FORMER U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: Prior anticipation.

ELENA KAGAN, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Let me give you a hypothetical, Mr. Clement.

CLEMENT: Sure.

KAGAN: Now, suppose I'm an employer and I see somebody I really like and I want to hire that person, and I say I'm going to give you $10 million a year to come work for me. And the person says, well, you know, I have never been offered anywhere approaching $10 million a year. Of course I'm going to say yes to that. Now, we would both be agreed that that's not coercive, right?

CLEMENT: Well, I guess I would want to know where the money came from. And if the money came from...

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: Wow. Wow. I'm offering you $10 million a year to come work for me and you're saying that this is anything but a great choice?

CLEMENT: Sure, if I told you actually it came from my own bank account.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, just also a little bit more perspective.

Justice Kagan, the newest member of the U.S. Supreme Court, she once worked under the Obama administration and at actually at the time when they were drafting some of this legislation, so there was questions, should she recuse herself from this particular case this week?

And she decided she didn't need to, and so did the chief justice. Chief Justice John Roberts said she did not need to either.

The pope now, the pope meeting Fidel Castro. And you can see -- there they are -- Pope Benedict and the former Cuban president just a little while ago, this is Havana. I want to go straight to Havana to Patrick Oppmann, who is there. We were talking about the tea leaves and might we see Fidel Castro. Now we know, Patrick, that we have, he has. Do we have any idea what they talked about?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We finally have confirmation after all the rumors and speculation over the last two days. And, yes, details are starting to leak out, Brooke. Fidel Castro this morning coming out with a letter published in the state press, basically saying he wanted to have a, quote, "modest and simple meeting with the Pope." It was very different from other meetings that Fidel Castro would usually have where a dignitary would wait hours and hours for Castro to give him an audience. Here Castro came to the Pope.

And apparently they actually joked around about how the Pope is 84 and has been suffering from fatigue while being in Cuba and Fidel Castro has been suffering from health problems over the past few years and is now 85. They talked about books. Both are accomplished authors. And they talked about the Pope's visit in Cuba. Apparently Fidel Castro's been following it minute by minute.

And then, interestingly enough, some of Fidel Castro's children were there. They lead very, very private lives. It's not like President Barack Obama, for instance, or any other president where you know all about their families. We really don't know a lot about former president Fidel Castro's personal life here. BALDWIN: We also know the Pope met with his brother Raul who is now president of Cuba. Tell me what you know about that meeting?

OPPMANN: Just, again, history in the making. A former communist head of state today and the actual head of state of a communist government yesterday, Raul Castro. That was a very different meeting. It went on for about 40 minutes. Although the Vatican wouldn't like this term, it wasn't a negotiation. That's why the Pope is here. They continued to push for reforms and they push for this opening and space for the Catholic Church over the years has achieved here.

And there are number of things that he straight out asked President Castro for. He asked that Good Friday be made a holiday in Cuba. Really the only Christian holiday presently in Cuba is Christmas. And that was something that John Paul II obtained on his visit. He said to President Castro, help us help you, because this is a country that's undergoing a lot of economic problems a lot of economic changes. And the church here feels they could do more waiting to see if the Cuban government responds positively to those requests, Brooke.

BALDWIN: As you said, historic, historic there in Cuba these last two days. Patrick Oppmann, thank you.

And an innocent elderly couple leaves their home after Spike Lee re-tweets their address. Why? The director thinks it belongs to George Zimmerman, the shooter in the Trayvon Martin case. Does this couple have a case against Spike Lee? Lisa Bloom is standing by on the case with us today. She's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A Trayvon Martin protest leads to dozens of high school students ransacking a Walgreen's. Let's take a look at this. We have the surveillance video. They're they are going in, Friday morning, hundreds of North Miami Beach students staged a walkout, protesting the death of Trayvon Martin. Then suddenly you have these hundreds of students flooding into a Walgreens and they're looting the store. Police are asking for help identifying the teens in the video.

And here at CNN we have done our best to paint a portrait for you of who George Zimmerman is and who Trayvon Martin was. And despite our news team's efforts, we can't get the first man to talk to us, and we'll never hear from the latter.

And here's something you may not even realize, even though we are a visual medium, pictures of both are not always easy to come by. So this picture here of George Zimmerman, for instance, is the most cent we've been able to get access to. It's from a company yearbook. And these pictures you have seen over and over feature a much younger than now Trayvon Martin. They come from his days playing youth football. More recent photos show how he has grown into a teenager six feet tall.

And tonight on "AC 360" you're going to hear much more about what kind of young man Trayvon Martin had grown into. In fact, one of the people you're going to be hearing from is his former youth football coach. Here he is sharing memories with CNN correspondent George Howell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME HORTON, TRAYVON MARTIN'S FORMER FOOTBALL COACH: He said I want to fly planes. I said no black people wants to fly planes. He goes I'll be the first one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You'll hear much more on that interview and much more on who Trayvon Martin was coming up tonight again exclusively on "AC 360," 8:00 eastern. And we want you to tune in Friday night to CNN 8:00 eastern for a special town hall hosted by Soledad O'Brien. She will examine the racial tension in our country right now and how this neighborhood tragedy in Sanford, Florida, has now become a nationwide story. Don't miss that.

And now on the case, why you should be careful what you tweet or actually in this case, re-tweet. Director Spike Lee is under fire today for re-tweeting an address for the neighborhood watch captain who shot Trayvon Martin. I want you to take a look at the tweet sent on Lee's Twitter account. But the problem is, you see the address? Part of the address, we're not showing it all. That is not George Zimmerman's address in the tweet. It's not even close.

Lisa Bloom is an attorney, author of the book "Think." And this tweet has caught so much fire, so much so that the older couple who live at the address Spike Lee retreated reportedly are now living in fear. Do they even have -- do they have resource here?

LISA BLOOM, ATTORNEY, THEBLOOMEFIRM.COM: Yes. And I've even read they had to leave their home at some point. They absolutely do have recourse, yes, they do. In my opinion, this is an invasion of their privacy and it's defamatory to imply that they had something to do with this incident, which they didn't.

But there's an easy remedy to this. Spike Lee should simply apologize to them, offer to pay them to move back into their house, pay for security for a few days if that's what they need. Make it right, get involved now before this blows up into something bigger. That's what I would recommend to him if I were his attorney.

BALDWIN: So you say apologize immediately. This is the couple who apparently did sort of quickly have to leave. I guess the next question would be, might it behoove celebrities -- and I tweet through my whole show. It takes not even a second. You've got to do a little research before you hit the re-tweet button. It took us mere minutes when you hop on Google to get the real owner's name from online tax records.

We also, check this out, Lisa Bloom, we mapped the distance from this couple's single family home to George Zimmerman's gated townhouse complex. Look at this -- 4.2 miles apart. Not even in the same zip code. BLOOM: I, too, am very active on Twitter and Facebook. It's no defense to say I only took a second to hit a re-tweet. Each of us are responsible for what we broadcast on television, online or elsewhere. If you're tweeting a fact about a person and it's wrong, you're responsible for that. You can re-tweet opinions all day long if you want and you can say your opinions about things that are going on, but if you're re-tweeting facts about an identifiable person, you' got to be very careful about that.

BALDWIN: So the man who originally tweeted -- we should explain to people who aren't on Twitter. So somebody initially tweets and it was Spike Lee who just his a button and basically copied that tweet on his own Twitter account.

So the guy who originally tweeted the mistaken address is now apologizing on Twitter. He said "Sorry for re-tweeting the wrong address. To the elder couple living there, appreciate my apologize." He later tweets he's going to write the couple a two-page letter of apology. Obviously we've been making phone calls to Spike Lee, so far no response from him. But I mean, you mentioned, you know, look from someone as high profile and influential as Spike Lee, he should absolutely apologize. Would that be good enough?

BLOOM: Well, that's the question. You have to act very quickly in a crisis like this. Make it right, get it behind you. Don't let it fester. The question is, if you're opposed to what George Zimmerman did, why are you posting somebody's address online? Isn't that further vigilantism or at least encouraging further vigilantism? The whole premise behind what he did is flawed. I think he can post his opinions about what's going on. But why is he posting someone's home address to begin with? What is he trying to accomplish?

BALDWIN: Right. What is he trying to incite is an excellent question.

Lisa Bloom, I do want to move to case two. We're talking Dennis Rodman, former basketball star. Dennis Rodman faces possible jail time for failing to pay child and spousal support. His attorney says Rodman is broke and also says he's an alcoholic and can't afford to pay the more than $50,000 a month. And first I saw that number, $50,000 a month, is that in line with what other celebrities are ordered to pay here?

BLOOM: Yes, spousal and child support is based on people's ability to pay. And I say to Dennis Rodman what I'd say to any deadbeat dad, you claim you can't afford it, your remedy is to go to court and ask the court for a modification of the order. You don't have the option of simply not paying. So I'm not sympathetic to that excuse. If really his income has been reduced, you go it, and dads and moms do this every day of the year in America, you ask the judge for a reduction and you will get it. You don't have the option of not paying. The law applies to Dennis Rodman just as it does to anybody else. If you don't pay, you're violating a court order, you go to jail. And that's too make sure single moms and kids get supported in this country and don't have to go on welfare.

BALDWIN: Lisa Bloom on the case, thank you, Lisa.

BLOOM: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, the Obama administration's last chance to convince the Supreme Court the health care law is good to go is now over. One doctor is about to tell me what she thinks will happen should the justice strikes down the law. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to get you back to the U.S. Supreme Court case that impacts nearly all of us, the president's health care reform laws. We're going to talk to someone who is not only affected by this but sees the law's impact on a daily basis because she is a doctor. She is Jennifer Devoe, a family practitioner who studies health policy at the Oregon Health and Science University. Here she is. This is a video from the school where her research focuses on children's access to care.

So Dr. Devoe, nice to have you on. The crux of the law is this individual mandate that every American buy health insurance. You say great idea. Why?

DR. JENNIFER DEVOE, CO-AUTHOR, "WHO WILL HAVE HEALTHCARE IN THE FUTURE": As you mentioned, I do see patients on a daily basis. And it's very heartbreaking when people don't have health insurance because they're unable to buy basic medications, they're unable to get basic tests, and if a catastrophe hits their family goes bankrupt and they're unable to pay any bills.

BALDWIN: A lot of people agree with you, a lot of people don't. I talked with someone yesterday who said the government cannot make me buy health insurance no matter the cost. Case in point, the small business owner who I talked to yesterday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KLEMENCIC, PLAINTIFF, NFIB VS. SEBELIUS: I never proclaimed that something doesn't have to be done with health care and I certainly don't claim to have the answers to it, but an unprecedented mandate like this just isn't the answer. You just can't have the federal government forcing people into private contracts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: If David Klemincic was sitting next to you in Portland, Oregon, what would you say to him?

DEVOE: I would actually agree with him that something needs to be done about health care. We're in a major crisis, and I applaud Obama and his administration for trying to take some steps forward. So I think regardless of how we move forward, I think we really need to move forward and find a way to bring the 50 plus million Americans out of the system as we currently have.

BALDWIN: The Supreme Court now today trying to decide whether the rest of the law would survive. It's a huge law, 2,700 pages, some of which you see as a doctor firsthand. We have a lot of parents. And so I want to ask you about your younger patients who I know because of this law already are getting help because of their parents' insurance.

DEVOE: Yes, I have seen a lot of young adults between ages 18 and 26 who are now able to access their parents' insurance. It's been really, really huge for these families. A population traditionally healthy but often left out of the system and not accessing basic preventive health care. So just this last week, I saw a woman come in. She hadn't been in to see a physician for three years, and she had a lot of unmet health care needs. So we were able to sort things out.

BALDWIN: Another example, the law outlines patients centered medical homes as a way to make primary care a prevention of focus. Explain what that means.

DEVOE: So primary care, preventive medicine can really take care of a majority of all of our health care needs, yet the system has not put enough emphasis on investment in it. So within the law there's patient-centered medical homes, or here we call them patient centered primary care homes. But essentially put some investment in the primary care foundation of our system so that patients can work with their primary health care team to stay healthy, to coordinate their care. And in turn this would help us all be healthy and ideally then bring down the costs for the entire country.

BALDWIN: But you said yourself this law isn't perfect. It's just a start. What don't you like, or maybe perhaps what more would you like to see?

DEVOE: I was joking yesterday. If you find somebody who thinks this law is perfect, there's very few of them, because I think people think it goes too far in the case of requiring folks to buy health insurance, or it doesn't go far enough. And I think I'm in the camp figuring that this does not go far enough. And I recently published a paper in the "Annals of Family Medicine" talking about the skyrocketing cost of health care. Those costs are continuing to go up. So regardless of whether the law stands or whether the Supreme Court strikes it down, we still have a lot of work to do in of work to do in this country to fix our broken health care system and to make it sustainable so that my children and my grandchildren actually have a health care system and an education system and other public services that they're able to depend on.

BALDWIN: We will wait and see how these justices decide. Jeff Toobin told me, our senior legal analyst, it could be the last week of June. So no matter what side you're on, we'll be watching for it from Washington. Dr. Jennifer Devoe, thank you, from Portland, Oregon.

And 24 hours after Syria apparently agreed to a ceasefire, more people have been killed, and now Senator John McCain is making a big demand. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: A couple of minute away from this man, Wolf Blitzer, "THE SITUATION ROOM." And the Supreme Court story is fascinating this week and it is historic, and just to be a fly on the wall this Friday when you have all of these justices this Friday night, fascinating.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Yes. We're not going to get the results, though, until at least mid-June, maybe the end of June. That will be right at the heat just before the conventions at the end of this summer, so it will be an issue one way or another in the general election between President Obama and whoever the Republican nominee is, whether it's Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and we'll see what happens over the course of the next several months.

We're all over this, Brooke. We have a brand new CNN poll coming out at the top of the hour. We'll share it with our viewers. I think we'll be interested to see how the president does with Romney or Santorum and how is the president's job approval is right now. Does the American public think the country is moving in the wrong direction especially on the issue of the economy? Lots of good stuff coming up.

We'll also be speaking to a passenger who was aboard that JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas that had to make the emergency landing in Texas. As you know we've been covering it now for 24 hours. His eyewitness account is coming up here in "THE SITUATION ROOM" and obviously a lot more on the Supreme Court, Jeff Toobin, Kate Bolduan. In short, Brooke, we always have a lot of news. No doubt about that.

BALDWIN: Bring it, Blitzer. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Now this.

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(GUNFIRE)

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BALDWIN: At least 26 Syrians killed today as the government's army continues to shell its own people even though, we reported on this yesterday, Syria has agreed to a cease-fire. One activist says that snipers in the city of Homs are still "targeting anything that moves." That's a direct quote.

It is a mismatched conflict that Syrian armies have tanks, like this one, and other and major weapons. The oppositions arms don't at all measure up. Senator John McCain is out speaking out again on this today, introducing a resolution with fellow Senators that slams Syria and supports the right for Syrians to defend themselves.

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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: It's not a fair fight. They have tanks and artillery against AK-47s. They opposition in Syria is running out of ammunition for what weapons they do have. The people of Syria need to know that we in America are on their side. It matters to them. It matters to them.

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BALDWIN: Calls to help Syrians are still coming from all sides. Even some Sunni Muslims from neighboring Iraq are now arming these activists. Many sympathize with victims who are all mostly Sunni and now diplomats. They're skeptical Syria will follow through with the U.N.-backed peace plan. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said a little while ago, and I will quote him here, "There is no time to waste."

Coming up next, Prince Harry changing the old address. Find out who is living right next door to the prince's new apartment.

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BALDWIN: And before we go, if it's interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it. Rapid fire -- roll it.

Horrific new details today in the murder of Vermont school teacher Melissa Jenkins. According to police this couple, Allen and Patricia Prue, lured Jenkins out of her home saying her car had broken down. Police say the couple strangled the science teacher while her two-year-old son sat in the car on the side of the road. Her body was found dumped in a nearby river. The couple is in custody, charged with second-degree murder.

It is the most anyone has ever paid for a pro sports franchise in the nation's history. I'm talking $2 billion for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The group making the offer includes former NBA superstar Magic Johnson. The dodgers are in bankruptcy so a federal court has to approve the sale.

And finally Prince Harry moving next door to Will and Kate. He'll be living in a small apartment at Kensington Palace where the duke and duchess moved just last year. The brothers, they say, they wanted to be close.

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ROYA NEKKAH, "SUNDAY TELEGRAPH": They would always say that William and Harry are fantastic and professional on their own, but together they're a real tour de force.

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BALDWIN: Prince Harry is officially third in line to the throne behind his dad and his brother.

And that is it for me here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Now to Wolf Blitzer, this guy. "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts right now.

BLITZER: Thanks very much. Happening now, the U.S. Supreme Court ends its hearings and the key element which holds the health care law together may, repeat, may be doomed.