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Campbell Brown

Disaster in the Gulf Day 70; Supreme Court Nominee's Hearing Begins

Aired June 28, 2010 - 20:00   ET

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

CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody.

Tonight, on day 70 of the disaster in the Gulf, here is where we stand. Oil in the form of tar balls and so-called mousse patties is washing ashore in Mississippi, reaching the beaches of Biloxi for the first time. We are going to show you some new video that's just into us here, a real picture of the scene down there tonight.

Meantime, Tropical Storm Alex seems to be headed away from the spill, but will high seas threaten the containment effort? We're live with that part of the story as well.

And in Washington tonight, the top story is Elena Kagan's confirmation hearing. The big question: Can we expect anything more than typical political theater? What are the chances we will actually learn something about the president's Supreme Court nominee?

And later: Russian spies among us. It sounds like a Hollywood thriller. The FBI arrested 10 people today, accusing them of being deep-cover secret agents. So, what secrets, if any, did they pass along to Moscow?

Lots of news to get to tonight, but we begin with the number-one story tonight. The fears of everyone living and working in Mississippi have been realized. Over these last two months, it appeared that much of the state may very well dodge the worst of the oil spill, which seemed to be heading toward the Florida Panhandle, but look at the change. This is just the last week, the winds and currents now pushing the oil into the Mississippi Sound and for the first time since the spill began, the oil is now hitting the Mississippi mainland.

Ed Lavandera has been covering the spill for weeks. He is in New Orleans for us tonight with the latest on that.

Hi, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Campbell.

Significant, as you talk about, because really throughout the very early moments of this disaster, many people along that Mississippi coastline had braced for some -- at least some sort of impact from this oil spill and up until now they had seemed to kind of dodge that bullet. And essentially this is because if you come straight out southeast from the coast of Louisiana, straight to where the oil spill site is directly located, technically, that -- if you come straight down from Alabama, that's where that oil site is.

So it's south of Alabama. And Mississippi has kind of lucked out by geography here. And as you have mentioned, over the last few weeks, you have really seen and you have seen federal officials talk about the concern being along the Florida coastline. So these injections of oil and tar balls and those mousse patties that you had seen on Horn Island and in several other locations significant today, although state officials do say that it has been very minimal impact so far, that none of the beaches have had to be closed because of this impact.

But there are many people who are concerned that this is kind of a predictor for what may lie ahead in the weeks ahead, so very concerning at this point for an area that has seemed to dodge a bullet so far.

BROWN: So, Ed, talk to us also a little bit about this tropical storm that's been developing out there that may not be a direct hit, but certainly could affect the cleanup effort overall. What kind of plans are in place? What are they thinking about on that front?

LAVANDERA: Well, really, I think a lot of people along here on the Gulf Coast looking at this from a safety standpoint. You have thousands and thousands of people on the Gulf waters right now working to try to clean up this mess and can contain the oil spill.

Any kind of impact from whether it be this weather system, Tropical Storm Alex, or another one could really hamper and slow things down here in the coming months. So, basically, what we're looking at so far is that not a direct hit expected from Tropical Storm Alex based on what we know so far, but perhaps enough to really hamper some of those cleanup efforts from a safety standpoint.

And Admiral Thad Allen of the Coast Guard did say today that if a storm in the near future were to come and force an evacuation of all these rigs and everything out on the water, that it could really shut things down for at least two to three weeks. So, we're looking at very potentially serious situations. If it's not this storm, it could be one in the future.

BROWN: All right, Ed Lavandera for us with the very latest tonight -- Ed, thanks a lot.

We are tracking the storm's every move tonight. Chad Myers is going to have the latest from the CNN Weather Center coming up in just a moment.

But, right now, we do want to take a closer look at the very latest developments.

Connie Moran is the mayor of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and she is joining me, along with Kaare Johnson, who is a popular radio talk show host down in New Orleans and he's been tracking what's happening on the Louisiana side of this. We have been checking in with Kaare pretty regularly over the course of this as well. But, Mayor Moran, I want to start with you first. You went out with one of our CNN crews I know a couple of hours ago to shoot some of the impact around Ocean Springs. And I want to show that video. As we talk to you, kind of describe to us what you're seeing, what's out there on the ground tonight.

CONNIE MORAN, MAYOR OF OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI: Well, what we're seeing actually is minimal tar balls, anywhere from a penny to half-a-dollar size. They are tacky. They are able to actually pick them up. And that is what you see going on right now. These are actual crews that are out picking up the tar balls as we speak.

We did have this emulsified foam product that came in with the tide today. We thought perhaps it was oil in it, but our Department of Environmental Quality was able to come out with a portable lab, and it is not petroleum-infused.

BROWN: So you were also I know out on the waters this weekend to check on the containment effort around the Mississippi part of the Gulf. What did it look like out there on the water?

MORAN: Well, I tell you, that's where the greatest disappointment is.

On Saturday afternoon, I went out with a couple of folks to Horn Island. We had heard reports from some of the people coming in the Ocean Springs Harbor that there was great streaks of oil just to the north side of Horn Island in the Mississippi Sound in state waters.

And when we got out there, sure enough, about a 10- to 15-foot- wide of orange emulsified oil, we followed it for five miles long as far as the eye could see in the passes between Horn Island and Deer Island, and that was what we found so outrageous is that we were promised by the Unified Command that is situated in Mobile that they would have skimmers and vessels to meet this at the pass. First, they would fight it in the Gulf. Then they would meet it at the pass to prevent it from coming into the sound. And nary a boat was there.

BROWN: So, obviously, you guys have been raising a lot of Cain about that. Have you seen a change in the response?

MORAN: Actually, things now are starting to step up. Even while out there, I was able to reach the top BP representative at the Unified Command, who basically just said, well, there's more oil than boats.

I just find that completely unacceptable. I called Governor Barbour's office and they called me back and said that he would take the matters into his own hands and have a skimmer deployed without BP permission.

That's what happened the next day. But, alas, it was too late. By then, the oil did impact Jackson County, Belle Fontaine Beach, and on Horn Island. Now, I understand the governor is going to try to procure about 22 skimmers in the next two weeks to be under control of the state. And an effort is being made to ship at least a portion of the incident command to Biloxi for the Mississippi coast effort. So, that certainly is an improvement.

BROWN: All right, Mayor, I know you have been working directly with Governor Barbour. And given that, I just want to point out that back in the early days of the disaster, he was assuring the public that Mississippi was safe.

And I just want to play for people what he said in early May. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. HALEY BARBOUR (R), MISSISSIPPI: Right now, there's no oil within 50 miles of Mississippi -- 80 percent of the oil slick as it's called, and been appropriately, 80 percent of it is literally just sheen or film right on top of the water that is not toxic. It's not particularly damaging. I mean, we don't want it to come ashore in Mississippi, but it's manageable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, manageable being the key word there.

The oil is in Mississippi now. Give me your overall assessment of how Governor Barbour has responded to all this.

MORAN: I would have liked to have seen him have a greater sense of urgency right from the beginning. Of course, it's important we don't want to scare our citizens or drive off our tourism industry.

But certainly we shouldn't have been made to feel guilty for having a sense of urgency and certainly we were alarmed. We wanted to be prepared. All of our elected officials along the Mississippi Gulf Coast went through Katrina. We know what to do for hurricanes. Oil spill, this is new for us. But we don't like sitting on our hands and doing nothing.

BROWN: Right.

Mayor, let me -- thanks to you.

I want to bring in Kaare Johnson now, who is down in Louisiana for us.

And, Kaare, just give us your sense of the latest a little bit on the ground in Louisiana, where you are. Since we have been checking in with you with some regularity, are you seeing any progress in terms of the cleanup effort?

KAARE JOHNSON, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Well, Campbell, I would say week one better than day one, month one better than week one, day 70 better than a week, two weeks ago, a month ago.

Still pretty unorganized, though. Some places a lot of boom material in place doing a great job keeping the oil out of marshes and wetlands. In other areas, like, has anyone even come to this spot? So, a little unorganized still. I still say if it was Nantucket or San Francisco Bay, off Manhattan, it would be a lot more organized than down here in the Deep South off Louisiana.

BROWN: Kaare, everybody is tracking the storm right now. How worried are folks down there about the impact of Tropical Storm Alex?

JOHNSON: Pretty worried.

It could be a tropical storm, a depression. It doesn't need to be a hurricane, Campbell, 40-, 50-mile-an-hour winds coming from the south bringing that oil into the marshes, into the estuaries, the wetlands, fragile Louisiana coast. It's a nightmare.

I remember being here after Katrina and going down to neighboring Saint Bernard Parish right beyond the Ninth Ward that everyone knows about, and Murphy Oil had some tanks rupture. And after the oil receded, you had five, six, seven inches of thick, nasty crude and dirt and mud brought in from the storage surge all over Saint Bernard where leaving the area it was a hazmat area.

Fire trucks were knocking this dirt off my vehicle to leave Saint Bernard Parish to reenter Orleans because it was toxic. That same stew of oil could be brought in from a storm into the estuaries. And if we're not too careful, it could come to major population areas in South Louisiana. And that would be terrible. The Murphy Oil, took a long, long time to get it out of Saint Bernard.

BROWN: Right.

All right, Kaare Johnson for us from New Orleans, and again our thanks again to Connie Moran, who is the mayor of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, that is now dealing with this as well.

Thanks to both of you.

Kaare just referenced this tonight, reports of more than 1,000 dead birds along the Gulf Coast. We are going to give you an exclusive new look at one of the biggest victims of the disaster, the wetlands. See the incredible images we captured from a guided tour with the National Wildlife Federation.

What happens if Tropical Storm Alex gets added to the mix in all of this? We are going to talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Tonight, for the first time since the oil spill disaster began, many eyes along the Gulf Coast are trained not on the water, but on the skies, as Tropical Storm Alex edges closer to hurricane status.

Even if there's no direct hit, the Gulf Coast could be in for more environmental misery. Listen to what Admiral Thad Allen had to say about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: Any kind of a surge from a storm would obviously exacerbate the oil, move it further into marshes, and would cause problems for us. And we're going to face that potential throughout the hurricane season, should we have any kind of heavy weather.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is joining me right now.

So, Chad, just give us the latest on the path of the storm and overall what the potential impact will be.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The impact really, Campbell, is that we're not going to have a surge, not with this storm anyway. The storm is going to be well to the west and the southwest of where there would be surge, which would have to go that way. Here's the Gulf of Mexico right there. There's Florida. Here's Texas. And here's Mexico.

This storm is well down south here, down near the Yucatan Peninsula. So, we will get rid of it here. We will make a little bit bigger. There's the Yucatan. We are going to talk about -- if you go all the way back up here, here's Cancun. And then this back here, this bay is exactly the location of the worst disaster ever in maritime history when it comes to oil pollution.

That was that Ixtoc back in 1979. That's where all the oil was. Now, that oil is all gone now. But still that was a disaster. The thing we're talking about with this storm is that how it's going to turn to the left and hit Mexico. The only problem with that is that as it is turning, the winds will continue in all directions here around the flow of that low, around the flow of the hurricane.

So, this oil is going to be pushed right back up into the marshes of Louisiana, of Mississippi, and Alabama. Now, it will spare -- it will spare parts of Florida, as the wind is going to be coming from this direction. What would have been really nice is a track, small track, small storm, that would have gone to the east or maybe to south of the storm, allowing that oil to be pushed back into the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, let it sit there for a while, let it kind of lose some of its punch, lose its volatility, let it evaporate a little bit, and then maybe we would have an easier job to clean it up. When you push it so quickly into the marshes, it's going to be a wet oil and it's going to be a big-time mess by the end of the week -- Campbell.

BROWN: All right. Chad Myers for us with the latest from there. Chad, thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BROWN: Tonight, we do want to show you firsthand just how much the oil is taking dead aim at the ecosystem along the wetlands, which Chad was just talking about.

CNN photojournalist Phil Littleton got an up-close look at some of the damage on a special tour with the National Wildlife Federation. And the images that he captured are pretty heartbreaking. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAURA WOOD, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: And this devil keeps sneaking in here and keeps coating these birds, keeps damaging this ecosystem. That leads to damage to families and communities.

My name is Maura Wood. I'm on staff with the National Wildlife Federation. And today we're going out into Barataria Bay to continue to get a firsthand look at what's going on out there with the oil spill, its impact to the wetlands and marshes, and what's being done about it.

So, we're going to go along the top edge of the bay, where there's a lot of oil in here. We will run down to the Cat Island, where the pelican rookery is. We need to stop the gusher at the bottom of the Gulf. This oil comes in all these different kinds of sneaky little forms in this huge sheen, in the little tar balls.

But as they wash up against the shore, they gather up together and, again, just inundate the shoreline. We need to think about how we're going to help this marsh recover, because we cannot let coastal Louisiana be lost.

We have tools that we can use. Some may be quick. Like, some areas may need sediment and nutrients, sediment piped in, and that can happen quickly. We need to think about doing things like reconnecting the river with its water and sediment with the wetlands, and that's a long-term solution that builds land and also maintains the land that's here.

I think the prospect of a hurricane or a tropical storm is like the worst-case scenario that's on everybody's mind. It's almost impossible to think about, it's so overwhelming in the face of everything else that is being dealt with right now.

In the long-term, we also need to think about the types of energy that we use, where they come from, and what is the real cost. The hidden cost of our addiction to oil is not so hidden anymore. It's showing all over this bay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Doug Inkley right now is joining us. He's the senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation, which established a coastal restoration program focusing on the wetlands.

Doug, it's good to have you here.

DOUG INKLEY, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: Thank you.

BROWN: You have been assessing the damage, I know, to the wetlands, to the marshes. How bad is it right now? What do you see when you're out there?

INKLEY: Well, unfortunately, this is a worst-case scenario because it has happened with the winds pushing the oil further into the wetlands. We now have a hurricane which we have just seen is going to continue to do that, and it's also occurred during the springtime and the summertime, when the fish and the wildlife are breeding. So, we really have a worst-case scenario here.

BROWN: You were on the show I guess it was about three weeks ago. And at that point, we were talking about 500 I think was the number of birds that had been found dead in the Gulf. Today, that number is more than 1,000.

How bad do you think it's really going to get before this is over, before we at least are able to get our arms around it?

INKLEY: Well, unfortunately, we really have an oil spill occurring every day. And it's going to occur until they finally are able to plug this well.

The problem is, this isn't a one-time release. This is day after day after day after day . You mentioned the birds. More than 1,100 birds have already been killed. What I'm especially concerned about is the sea turtles. All five species of sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico are threatened or endangered. And it includes the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, which is the most endangered sea turtle in the world.

BROWN: But to that point -- this is what I was reading about. There's a lot that is being done right now to try to save the wildlife. You mentioned the sea turtles. There's an effort under way I think in Florida to try to move sea turtle eggs out of harm's way.

And just recently, more pelicans were cleaned and re-released into the wild. Do you think that this going to make a difference over the long run?

INKLEY: Well, I certainly think that restoration of the wildlife that have been harmed by this is very important. It's especially important for the threatened and endangered species, because every single individual counts.

The real long-term solution to this problem however is restoration of the wetlands along coastal Louisiana. In the last several hundred years, we have lost more than 2,100 square miles of coastal wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico.

BROWN: So, expand on that a little bit, because, as I'm sure you know, President Obama has called for a long-term plan for restoration. It's been a little thin, frankly, on details. What do you think needs to be clear to people that you would like to see administration be very specific about?

INKLEY: Well, we have to understand that cleaning oil out of a marsh is a very difficult thing to do, and you can cause more harm than good. So, what we need to do is look at a long-term restoration plan such as the president has proposed and such as the Governor Mabus is now working on, on his first day on the job to assess the situation and develop a long-term plan. That can include diversions of water out of the main channels of the Mississippi River so we recreate the sedimentation of the natural silt that is carried in these waters that creates new wetlands when it gets out of the channels and slows down.

BROWN: And do you feel like there's enough urgency being assigned to this task?

INKLEY: Well, it's hard to imagine anything good really coming out of this oil spill. But if there's something that can come good out of it, it would be the implementation of a long-term restoration program and also the development of a clean energy policy for this country.

BROWN: Well, Doug Inkley, we will see if that happens. We really appreciate you coming on and talking with us. I'm sure we will talk to you again in the future as we watch all this progress.

Doug, thanks.

INKLEY: Thank you.

BROWN: And when we come back: Elena Kagan in the hot seat. How will the president's Supreme Court nominee hold up as her confirmation hearings get under way?

Also, an alleged Russian spy ring brought down. How a federal sting nabbed 10 suspected deep-cover agents, and the latest on the one that got away. We have got all that and more still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Our number-one political story tonight is, of course, Elena Kagan on the Hill. The president's Supreme Court nominee used day one of her confirmation hearing to praise the man she hopes to replace, retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELENA KAGAN, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: If given this honor, I hope I will approach each case with his trademark care and consideration. That means listening to each party with a mind as open as his to learning and persuasion and striving as conscientiously he has to render impartial justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: If confirmed, Elena Kagan will become the Supreme Court's youngest member at age 50, with possibly decades of decisions ahead of her. And that's why the stakes are so high on both sides of the aisle and why some Republicans have yet to rule out a filibuster. Just how tough will the Kagan confirmation battle get?

Joining us now from Washington is Jeffrey Toobin, senior legal analyst and author of the recent Supreme Court bestseller "The Nine," and Tony Blankley, a Republican strategist and former spokesperson for Newt Gingrich, joining me as well.

Jeff, I know you have known Elena Kagan for a very long time. How did she do overall on her first day on the hot seat?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Boy, I couldn't help thinking I have never seen Elena Kagan speak so slowly.

(LAUGHTER)

TOOBIN: She was really coached, don't rush. And I think we will see the New Yorker in her get out a little bit when she starts answering questions.

It was a very careful, very cautious opening statement. Look, she's ahead here. The overwhelming likelihood is that she will be confirmed. There are 58 Democrats in the Senate. That's more than enough to confirm her. A filibuster looks extremely unlikely.

So, her opening statement was about following the rule of law. It was about judicial modesty, not trying to overrule the will of the people too often. So, I think she played like someone who was ahead and just wanted to hold onto her lead.

BROWN: So if she has a challenge, what's her biggest challenge going into the hearings?

TOOBIN: Well, I think there are two criticisms of her that you're going to hear a lot. One is that she's some sort of political hack, that she worked in the Clinton administration in the White House, in the Obama administration in the Justice Department, and she's just going to do the Democrats' bidding on the Supreme Court.

Now, I think the answer to that fairly -- is a fairly easy one, which is, no, I'm not. I know the difference between being a judge and working in the executive branch of government.

The other one will be to answer questions about her role in throwing military recruiters off the Harvard campus when she was dean of Harvard Law School. That's a somewhat complicated story. It's actually not something that Kagan initiated. But it's a complicated story that some people have tried to make her look anti-military, and she's going to have to answer a lot of questions about that.

BROWN: OK. Stand by on that point, because I want to get into that a little more in a second.

But, first, I just want to get Tony's general take on all of this. And before I do, let me play just a little bit of what some of the Republicans were saying today. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You could in my view, if confirmed, provide the court with some real-world experience about what this country is facing. SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: You've also praised jurists who believe that the role of a judge is to -- quote -- "do what you think is right and let the law catch up." And hopefully what you've said before is not how you would be in regard to these quotes when you get to the Supreme Court.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: I have never considered the lack of judicial experience to be an automatic disqualifier for a judicial nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, Tony, some Republicans today did sort of speak as if her confirmation was a foregone conclusion. Were you surprised by that? Why do you think they didn't show a little more teeth?

TONY BLANKLEY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, regretfully, I'm not surprised. I think it doesn't really matter what they say.

If they don't lead a filibuster, then I think they're going to let down an awful lot of Republican voters, conservative voters, particularly in their primaries. A lot of them will be in 2012. The electorate has changed. This is a different process than we have had over the last 50 years.

You saw Senator Obama when he was senator support the filibuster of Sam Alito, because he understood he couldn't run for president if he wasn't doing all in his power to stop a real conservative from getting on. And if the Republican senators don't do all in their power to stop a real liberal from getting on, then I think they're going to likely pay -- not all of them, but some of them will pay a real price at the voting booth. I think that's really the interesting play. We won't see it until probably 2012.

BROWN: So, do you think, though, Tony, that there is a circumstance where Republicans do decide to filibuster?

BLANKLEY: I find it hard to believe that their traditions will not win out once again and they will play a fairly gentlemanly role. They will ask a few perhaps slightly impolitic questions, but at the end of the process they will mostly vote against her mostly for final passage, but they won't filibuster.

I hope they do, because there's little doubt -- she was a colleague of the president's at University of Chicago. He surely is a brilliant man. He didn't nominate someone who he thought was not going to uphold Obamacare and generally be the kind of justice that he's been asking for and he believes in.

And I think that the Republican senators, even though they're not going to have any evidence of that, have to use their common sense, because their electorate will either now or in two years.

BROWN: OK.

(CROSSTALK) TOOBIN: But Obama won the election. Why shouldn't he appoint someone who supports his agenda?

(CROSSTALK)

BLANKLEY: He has every right to nominate his -- anyone he wants. And every Republican senator has every right to -- to filibuster or not.

It's a straight-out electoral thing. Bush had every right to nominate Alito, and then Senator Obama had every right to lead a filibuster on that. They both have the political authority, and they both pay the political price or don't pay the political price with their electorates.

BROWN: So -- all right, gentlemen, I wanted -- there's so much more I wanted to cover here. We're out of time, so we'll talk about it again maybe tomorrow night.

BLANKLEY: That's all right.

BROWN: Jeff Toobin, we'll have many, many more nights ahead --

TOOBIN: Absolutely.

BROWN: -- that we will be talking about this.

TOOBIN: You know, this whole week is the nerd Super Bowl. There's plenty to talk about.

BROWN: For you, Jeff Toobin. And we will see you again at the nerd Super Bowl.

Tony Blankley, Jeffrey Toobin, appreciate it, guys. Thanks.

BLANKLEY: Thank you.

BROWN: Coming up, unarmed in South Side Chicago. Why a 76-year- old says he needs his gun. And how his fight to change the city's strict handgun ban could change laws across the country now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The Supreme Court today dealt another serious blow to gun control advocates. By a vote of 5-4, the justices effectively struck down Chicago's 28-year-old strict ban on handguns, a ruling that will have far reaching effects nationwide.

Kate Bolduan looks at the watershed moment in the battle over gun rights and the man who made it his personal crusade.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OTIS MCDONALD, PLAINTIFF FOR HANDGUN RIGHTS: That's all I needed is just a fighting chance. Give me the opportunity to at least make somebody think about something before they come in my house on me. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wanting to defend himself from what he calls the drug dealers and gangs in his South Side Chicago neighborhood, 76-year-old Otis McDonald began a fight that ended Monday on the steps of the Supreme Court. This community activist won a challenge to Chicago's strict handgun ban. The justices effectively striking down a law in place for nearly 30 years.

(on camera): What does this decision mean to you after this long journey that you described?

MCDONALD: It means that I can rest a little better at night. I believe -- you know, I will believe now and I will believe resting at night that another person will have an equal chance to protect themselves in their own home.

BOLDUAN: Two years ago, the Supreme Court invalidated a similar ban in Washington, D.C. But that only applied to federal law. Justice Samuel Alito writing this 5-4 majority opinion took that view even further saying the Second Amendment, quote, "applies equally to the federal government and the states." But Justice Stevens on his last day on the bench disagreed, saying this decision, quote, "could prove far more destructive -- quite literally -- to our nation's communities and to our constitutional structure." Chicago's mayor, Richard Daley, says he's disappointed.

MAYOR RICHARD DALEY, CHICAGO: A dead person has a right to a gun in his home. Does he have a right to point a gun at his child? He's the parent. Does he have a right to point a gun at his spouse? Does he? Those are valid questions to ask.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And Kate Bolduan is joining me right now. Kate, so Chicago, I guess, has to go back to the drawing board and it doesn't sound like they're really ready to give up this fight over guns, right?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely not. Chicago definitely doesn't want to give up this fight, and they definitely are trying to find a silver lining. But effectively, they do need to go back to the drawing board. Chicago is now going to be working to rewrite its ordinance really to comply with the high court ruling and still retain tough gun restrictions -- the gun restrictions that they can retain.

The justices did signal today that what they called reasonable gun regulations would presumably be allowed to stay in place but one key question, Campbell, that the justices left unanswered are where are the boundaries? What are those reasonable regulations? And that's going to be fought in the courts for years to come.

BROWN: All right, Kate Bolduan. And we also want to -- Kate, thanks very much.

And we also want to bring in CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who is with us just a moment ago, bring him back. Just give me your take on this. This is a pretty dramatic win for gun rights activists, isn't it?

TOOBIN: Well, it's also a tremendous victory for the conservative movement. You know, in 1980, Ronald Reagan and Edwin Meese came east to Washington and they decided they were going to approach a whole new way to look at law, including the Second Amendment which at that time was regarded as clearly not guaranteeing an individual right to own arms.

Well, here it is 30 years later. And they have won on the Second Amendment. Gun control is unconstitutional in the United States because of their efforts. And as far as I read the opinion, I think it's going to be very difficult to establish any sort of restrictions on guns. You know, presumably somehow it will be illegal for you to buy a stinger missile and hang out by an airport. I have to feel like that's going to remain illegal. But machine guns, silencers, I don't know if there's any way you can make those illegal.

BROWN: But explain that. Expand on that a little bit because it did -- I thought that the court said reasonable restrictions could be placed on gun owners.

TOOBIN: Well --

BROWN: So, where -- why is that problematic do you think? How do you define reasonable?

TOOBIN: Reasonable is a very flexible term and if you look at the history of constitutional words, freedom of speech defined very broadly, right to bear arms now defined very broadly. I think this is going to lead to invalidation of scores of laws all across the United States.

BROWN: Kind of a domino effect. Jeff Toobin, appreciate it. Jeff, thanks again.

When we come back, can sharks outsmart the Gulf Coast oil slick? Surprising new findings, that's still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: A Russian spy ring busted in the United States in this day in age? And you thought the cold war as over. We've got that story just ahead. But first, Joe Johns is here with some of the other stories we're following tonight.

Hi, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Campbell. Tonight, family and friends are paying tribute to the son of a coal miner who became the longest serving member of Congress. West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, one of the most influential lawmakers on Capitol Hill, died today. Byrd was known as a master of the Senate rules and a self-proclaimed champion of the constitution. He kept a copy of the document in his pocket and often punctuated his arguments on the Senate floor by displaying it. Byrd was 92 years old. Less than a week after President Obama fired him as commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal is retiring from the Army. The four-star general told the Army his 34-year career in the military is over. McChrystal's fortunes came crashing down after a controversial article in "Rolling Stone." The magazine quoted the general and his aide mocking top administration officials at a time of war.

If you have a fear of flying, maybe it's the food. Tonight, FDA inspectors accuse catering facilities that prepare airline food of violating health codes. The FDA says many airline caterers store food at improper temperatures, use dirty equipment and employee workers who practice poor hygiene. According to "USA Today," there were reports of cockroaches, flies, mice, and other signs of improper pest controls.

And who could possibly walk away from a crash at almost 200 miles an hour? The Australian formula one driver behind this wheel of this race car that clipped the back of an opponent and flipped upside down. The driver suddenly became a pilot as this car took off and came crashing down on the track. The driver was not visibly injured as he climbed out of the wreck.

Good thing he was wearing a helmet. Now that is some amazing video right there.

BROWN: No kidding. It's not a helmet. An entire body suit there. Oh, Joe Johns. Thank you, Joe.

Wait, are you going to make me watch it again?

JOHNS: Well, no, I mean, the car had Red Bull written on it.

BROWN: Oh, and that was the problem.

JOHNS: There you go.

BROWN: Red Bull to blame. Joe Johns for us tonight. Joe, thanks very much.

Gulf Coast sharks are threatened by oil, but do these ancient creatures maybe have a secret for survival? The latest research we're going to share that with you next.

Also, 10 people arrested in an alleged Russian spy ring. We have new details on their secret mission and the evidence Feds say finally brought them down. That's still ahead.

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BROWN: Tonight, has a deadly predator finally met its match? Sharks may be at the top of the food chain but how will they measure up against the oil spill even if they never touch the slick stuff? Researchers say their oxygen and food are at risk, but now there is new hope for shark survival in all of this. CNN's John Zarrella has our unusual story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A six-foot shark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, we have a nice lemon, guys.

ZARRELLA: The researchers work quickly taking blood and tissue samples, measurements.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five PL (ph) 180.

ZARRELLA: University of Miami researcher Neil Hammerschlag is studying the migratory habits of sharks in Florida waters. The oil spill has given his work a new, more urgent dimension.

NEIL HAMMERSCHLAG, UNIV. OF MIAMI RESEARCHER: 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's, 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.

(on camera): One shark Hammerschlag has seen tagged transmitted nearly every day for three months. But two days after the Deep Horizon explosion, the transmissions suddenly stopped.

(voice-over): Coincidence? Perhaps. Here is what hurriedly 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 just not come up in the last few months, but that's very unlike the shark's character.

What's next biopsy? Who's 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, this fishing area has been closed in the Gulf of Mexico because they don't want people to catch and eat that fish. But, you know, 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, to keep researchers busy studying the effects of oil on sharks for decades.

John Zarrella, CNN, in the Gulf of Mexico. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And "LARRY KING LIVE" starts in just a few minutes. And, Larry, what do you have tonight?

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": We are jam-packed tonight with political news including day one of the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings and that Supreme Court decision that made a lot of gun owners happy. What does it mean for you?

Plus, the death of Senator Robert Byrd has generated condolences and controversy. And then the story of that boy from Portland, Oregon, who's been missing for three weeks. Could a family member have clues about his whereabouts? It's all next on "LARRY KING LIVE" -- Campbell.

BROWN: All right, Larry. We'll see you in a few minutes.

Russia and the U.S. can agree on nukes but apparently not on spooks. The Justice Department says 10 people were arrested today as trained Russian intelligence operatives. Spies among us, coming up next.

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BROWN: The story getting all the buzz tonight. A comeback, I guess if you can call it that of sorts, anyway for Chris Brown. The R&B singer who pled guilty last summer to assaulting his girlfriend Rihanna, appeared at the BET Awards Sunday night. He broke down during what was supposed to be a tribute to Michael Jackson.

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CHRIS BROWN, R&B SINGER: I'm starting with the man in the mirror.

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BROWN: So that performance did leave some viewers wondering if Brown's reaction was genuine. He later told fans, quote, "I let you all down before but I won't do it again."

We've got more to tell you about now on that alleged Russian spy ring. The federal authorities today announced 10 people have been arrested and charged as agents of a foreign government. According to the Justice Department, the 10 were trained Russian intelligence operatives. Some using the identities of dead Americans as their cover.

Joining us now with more on this is CNN's Deb Feyerick who has been following the story closely. And in Washington, Peter Earnest, who is executive director of the International Spy Museum and a 35- year veteran of the CIA.

So, Deb, start us off and give us the big picture of what this spy ring was up to and what exactly the Feds have. DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, they haven't been accused of espionage. What they have been accused of is basically going out to recruit people who are either in U.S. government or who had access to policymakers. That's according to the criminal complaint.

The spies basically set up these ad hoc computer networks. In one case, a woman went to a coffee shop near Times Square. Her computer was then talking to the computer of an official from the Russian mission. This was at a designated time, a specific time, a specific place and the FBI has surveillance video of all of this and a lot of audio recordings as well.

BROWN: So, Peter, I know you have some experience in this. Quite a lot of experience in this. And you think the Russians were a little bit sloppy here, right?

PETER EARNEST, INTERNATIONAL SPY MUSEUM: Well, they sound like they were a bit sloppy to me. I think the bigger question for me is why they were all these 10 people were arrested right now. Typically, when you're on to a very sensitive deep cover agent like that and these are illegals, these are about as deep cover as you can get, you run them for a while and see who they're in touch with, who they're contacting, where their penetrations are. And for us to swoop in right now, arrest all 10 of them, and I think individually they're probably subject to five years in prison, which is a pretty small amount. If you could get them on espionage charges, they'd go in there for 20 to 30 years. So I think one of the questions that is raised for me is why now and why all of them?

BROWN: So can -- have you any ideas? I mean, can you speculate a little bit why you think, Peter, it could have been?

EARNEST: Well, one thing I think that's not quite clear to all of us is this is described as a network. And were they in fact in touch with each other? Typically, they're not. Typically, illegals are run in singles, maybe in twos, let's say if they're married. In this case, all 10 were immediately rounded up. That will be interesting to see if these are individual trials, if they try them as a network.

One thing that occurs to me is, is this a way of sending the Russians a message, don't do this? In other words was there -- was this network or whatever it was sloppy enough that, in fact, we got onto it very quickly and we're trying to -- and we are, in effect, sending the Russians a message and saying, look, let's not do this anymore.

BROWN: Deb, one of these alleged spies worked as a columnist for "El Diario" for over 20 years. So that's not exactly hiding. I mean, given the questions Peter raised there, do we know much about these people and their connections?

FEYERICK: What's so interesting, the five people who were in court here are in Manhattan today. Yes, they do appear to have known each other. The columnist's from "El Diario," their assignment was to go in, blend in, stay for the long run. This was a long-term investigation here in the United States. According to the complaint, it appears that last week undercover agents made contact with two of the people and one of the women may have gotten suspicious because after she was asked to deliver a passport, she immediately bought a cell phone and an international calling card and it appears she placed a call. So whether she got tipped off, it is clear that they had to move and there may be more arrests to come.

BROWN: And, Peter, a lot of people are going to be asking right now, the cold war is over. Why are the Russians still spying on us? Why are we still spying on them? What exactly is going on here?

EARNEST: Well, espionage is a fact of state craft unfortunately. And it's gone on since recorded history. Certainly the Russians have had a terrific record of espionage against this country. They have deeply penetrated our society before World War II and we were allies during that war. So there's no reason to think that they let up in any way. And what you will see is espionage directed at gaining U.S. government secrets as well as gaining our technology secrets.

BROWN: All right. Peter, Peter Earnest from the spy museum. Deb Feyerick here with me in New York, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

"LARRY KING LIVE" starting in just a few minutes. But up next, "The Punch Line." Here's a preview.

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JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": And a 29-year- old woman burst her windpipe at the World Cup after blowing too hard on one of those horns. Burst her windpipe. Good.

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BROWN: Finally, tonight's "Punch Line." A round up of the best of late night. Take a look.

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JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Yesterday, President Obama met with the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev -- I get to say his name -- Medvedev, something like that -- at the White House and afterwards Obama took the Russian president out for a hamburger, one of the president's favorite hamburger joint, a place called Ray's Hell Burger in Virginia. The president goes there a lot. It was a little awkward. You know who the guy behind the counter serving the burger was? General McChrystal.

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": Former President Clinton has been in South Africa cheering the American team on. You know, he tries to remain on the exact opposite side of the world as Hillary at all times. JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": Kellogg's is recalling 28 million boxes of cereal. In a statement, Kellogg's said, "They're not great."

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BROWN: Thanks for joining us everybody. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.