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Identity Crises?; Jackson Deliberations; Snuffed Out

Aired June 06, 2005 - 14:00   ET

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

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Lost in shipment, the personal information of nearly four million customers of a large financial company.
Courtroom drama. While Michael Jackson awaits a verdict at home, his father shows up at court demanding to know where the pop star is.

Medical marijuana. A new court ruling means sick people who use it could now end up charged with federal crimes.

And how safe are America's skies? A new report out on aviation security since 9/11.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Up first this hour, IDs MIA from UPS. The world's largest delivery service says it can't account for a package containing personal financial information of millions of customers of Citigroup.

CNN's Allan Chernoff is following this latest in a series of potential identity crises involving household names, and, yes, maybe you.

Allan, I'm up to three companies. So is our producer. What about you?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, it is affecting more and more people in America, including, of course, members of CNN, because it happened at Time Warner. Well, now it's happened at CitiFinancial, which is a lending division of Citigroup, the biggest financial company in the nation. And what happened here is that CitiFinancial was shipping computer tapes via UPS to Experian, one of the credit bureaus, one of the three big credit bureaus.

Well, those computer tapes, they were lost. And they had on those tapes the names, Social Security numbers, account numbers, and also payment histories for nearly four million customers.

So CitiFinancial is sending letters in the mail telling people that their data has been lost. They're also saying you need to be checking with the credit bureaus to make sure that everything is intact, that nobody is trying to steal your ID.

Of course, ID theft is such a big concern these days. It's been happening at many institutions, as we said. Now, CitiFinancial is putting out a statement that says, "We deeply regret this incident." It also is saying that the accounts are intact, that in terms of the actual loans they've made, there can't be any interruption over there. But that's not the big concern here.

The big concern, of course, is potential for ID theft, that somebody might use a Social Security number and a name to open up a new account, perhaps at a credit card company, something like that.

UPS also saying that, "We are proud of our record," and that, "We sincerely regret the loss of this one package."

Now, a similar situation did happen not too long at Bank of America. As I mentioned, it also has happened at Time Warner, right here, our parent company, and several other companies, including Polo Ralph Lauren -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, once again, everyone should -- if indeed a member, right, of Citigroup, call your credit report companies and issue a -- or ask for a fraud alert?

CHERNOFF: Kyra, you know, you can follow that. You can check to see if you've been violated. But the truth is, there's only so much you can do.

We are all vulnerable to a certain degree. And right now, this is something that simply has to be fixed, has to be improved.

Citigroup is also saying that they're going to start sending all this information electronically. It seems that a reliance on manual deliveries, even if there is one error in a million, is simply just unacceptable. It's a huge problem here, and obviously it is growing rapidly.

PHILLIPS: Allan Chernoff, thanks.

CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.

Well, leave it to a Jackson to upstage jury deliberations in the former king of pop's child sex trial. Not Michael Jackson, the increasingly fragile defendant, nor Jesse Jackson, the spiritual advisor who compares Michael to Job from the bible. No, it's Joe Jackson, the family patriarch who was turning heads with a bizarre appearance last hour at the Santa Maria courthouse.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is there.

Ted, did you figure out what was going on?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, we haven't, Kyra. We don't know how things are going on inside the deliberation room, but outside it has been chaotic, and it's been quite a weekend here.

The last episode which you referenced was Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson's father, arriving here just over an hour ago. And it's still unclear what he was doing here or what he was talking about when he walked up to some sheriff's deputies and asked to see his son.

He wanted to know where his son was. Presumably, his son being Michael, and the sheriff's deputy said, "We don't have your son."

He walked around the courthouse, and then went inside, went upstairs, and apparently talked with Tom Mesereau, Michael Jackson's lead attorney, for a while, and then walked out the door. Presumably, he left.

Randy Jackson has since come and walked into the courthouse. There's been no sighting of Michael Jackson. And we're still not quite sure what Joe Jackson was talking about when he was asking the bailiffs where his son was.

Interesting enough, Jermaine and Tito Jackson over the weekend told CNN that Joe Jackson has been the rock for this family, for Michael and other family members. So unclear if it was a communication gap or what happened there.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson did visit a hospital yesterday for a brief amount of time, according to a spokesperson, because of his ailing back. It acted up again in some form. It has been bothering him, according to the Jackson camp, throughout this trial, and it has to do with stress. The spokesperson said he's under stress and this is a difficult time, saying that that had -- partly was to blame for him going to the hospital and seeking back treatment.

Jurors, meanwhile, have been at it for two hours Friday, and then about over two hours here this morning. And they will work on an 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time to 2:30 Pacific Time schedule with four short breaks in between. And we have not heard about their progress other than that they have elected a foreperson.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 credentialed members of the media from 28 different countries are all outside the courthouse, along with Jackson fans, waiting for the next word of something. Whether it's Joe Jackson or a verdict, we'll be here -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ted. You know we'll be checking in every minute of the way. Ted Rowlands. Thank you.

Well, let's go to Aruba now, where everyone seems focused on finding a missing Alabama teenager. Natalee Holloway vanished a week ago today while on a high school graduation trip. She was last seen with three young men who live there. Two other men have been arrested and charged in connection with her disappearance, but police say they aren't talking. Today, the island nation gave civil servants part of the day off to help search for the 18-year-old.

Natalee Holloway's family is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. Back home in Alabama, friends and fellow students gathered to pray for the missing teen. They've been there every day since they returned from Aruba without their classmate. Natalee's aunt told our Rick Sanchez that the disappearance could not have been the girl's choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have to ask you this question.

MARCIA TWITTY, NATALEE'S AUNT: Yes?

SANCHEZ: Is there anything about Natalee that would make her want to in any way go away, run away?

TWITTY: No. No.

SANCHEZ: Disappear?

TWITTY: No.

SANCHEZ: Nothing?

TWITTY: No. There is nothing about Natalee where, on her own free will, that she's going to say, "I'm not going" -- no. Her own free will, Natalee is not -- would not do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the family has also asked their Alabama community to remember the missing girl with yellow ribbons and prayer.

The nation's highest court has snuffed out the use for marijuana for patients in pain, and anyone who does smoke it on doctor's orders can be prosecuted.

More on the Supreme Court ruling from CNN's Kimberly Osias -- Kimberly.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

Well, while the federal government is saying no, some sick patients are saying yes, they will still continue to light up in spite of the decision. Today the high court came down on the side of the federal government, ruling that marijuana can no longer be cultivated for private use, medicinal or otherwise.

Currently, 11 states permit the use of so-called medicinal or medical marijuana. Among those states, California, where this case originated with Angel Raich. She is the cancer patient with an inoperable brain tumor. Raich says she needs marijuana to have an appetite and to relieve unbearable pain. In her case, she says this is simply a matter of survival.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority 6-3 opinion, acknowledging the potential for abuse. "Our cases," Stevens wrote, "have taught us that there are some unscrupulous physicians who over- prescribe when it is sufficiently profitable to do so." The government, in its case, maintains that marijuana is covered under the Controlled Substances Act and listed as a Class I drug. Raich and others were subjected to federal raids back in 2001 when agents stormed homes and confiscated the marijuana.

And just in case you were wondering, the three dissenters on the high court include the chief justice, William Rehnquist, Sandra day O'Connor and Justice Thomas -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Kimberly Osias, thank you so much.

In other news "Across America" now, cold case solved. Police and relatives feared that Brandi Stahr was dead. The former Texas A&M student disappeared seven years ago after a quarrel with her mom. Well, a phone call tipped police that she's been hiding out in Kentucky. Privacy issues hampered police from checking IRS and Social Security records to locate her.

Controversy at a Christian academy. Texas Governor Rick Perry used the venue yesterday to sign a measure imposing stricter limits on late-term abortions and on minors seeking abortions. Protesters criticized the governor's use of church property for the signing.

It's official. Washington State's Democratic governor will keep her job. A superior court judge has rejected her Republican challenger's petition to nullify last fall's close election results. The battle could now move on to the state Supreme Court.

No apple for this teacher. A Florida college professor and his common law wife are accused of identity theft. Bradley Schlossberg (ph) allegedly used names and Social Security numbers of his students to get credit cards. A student says he obtained the information from the class's sign-in sheet.

Well, she has been the center of a political firestorm, and now controversial court nominee Janice Rogers Brown is being considered by the Senate. But who is she? We'll go in depth just ahead.

Actor Russell Crowe goes to court. Apparently, a phone call sent him over the edge. We've got the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, a long-delayed candidate for the federal appeals court may soon find out if she's getting the job. Live pictures now as the Senate considers the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown. If confirmed, she would be the only -- or the second African-American woman on the D.C. court.

Now, just a few minutes ago, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that a vote to end debate on Judge Brown will happen tomorrow at noon Eastern.

Our John King profiles this controversial judicial nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Janice Rogers Brown, a college liberal turned courthouse conservative, a Shakespeare and poetry lover with a penchant for provocative words of her own. "These are perilous times for people of faith," she warned in a speech suggesting liberals want to divorce the country from its religious heritage. "It's not a shooting war," she said, "but it's a war."

JUSTICE JANICE ROGERS BROWN, CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT: The question for you will be whether the regime of freedom, which they founded, can survive the relentless enmity of the slave mentality.

KING: She calls the new deal which created Social Security and Medicare "our socialist revolution," suggesting it created reliance on big government, a new slavery, contrary to the Constitution's authors' vision of limited government.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's so radical that she says with programs like Social Security and Medicare, seniors are cannibalizing their grandchildren.

KING: Perhaps her most noteworthy judicial decision, a sweeping attack on affirmative action, saying society should be colorblind and not allow entitlement based on group representation.

EVA PATERSON, FOUNDER, EQUAL JUSTICE SOCIETY: As a black woman, I'm here to say it doesn't matter what the color of her skin is. It matters how she's going to rule.

KING: Skin color very much mattered to young Janice Rogers in Luverne, Alabama. Whenever possible, her sharecropper father kept the family from establishments that had separate entrances and facilities for blacks.

STEVE MERKSAMER, LONGTIME BROWN FRIEND: I know they didn't have indoor plumbing. I know that it was a very, very rough existence. I can only imagine what it must have been like growing up as a youngster in the segregated South.

KING: She was 6, when 50 miles away in Montgomery, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus. Fred Gray was Parks' lawyer, an African-American, and to young Janice, an inspiration.

Rogers Brown graduated UCLA Law School in 1977, making her dream of becoming an attorney a reality. Raising a son as a single mother made personal responsibility a guiding theme, and her political views trended more conservative.

WILLIAM MOUNT, FMR. BROWN CHIEF OF STAFF: She believes the judiciary's single duty is to protect individuals from government overreaching.

KING: Critics see her provocative writings as evidence of ambition, including her 2000 ruling criticizing racial quotas or even goals as contrary to a society based on equal opportunity for all. OREN SELLSTROM, LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS: It was not a typical opinion that you would see of a judge looking at the facts and applying the law. It was much more something that appeared to be specifically drafted to catch the attention of ultra right wing conservative groups.

KING: Former chief of staff Bill Mount says it is not personal ambition but instead a deliberate effort to stir debate on the evolving role of courts and government.

MOUNT: She believes that something of a wrong turn was taken maybe half a century ago when the welfare state grew. And I think she thinks that the national experience of African-Americans has been in some ways regrettable.

PATERSON: I think the Bush people are very brilliantly playing the race card.

KING: Eva Paterson's Equal Justice Society in San Francisco is one of an array of state and national civil rights organizations opposing the Brown nomination.

PATERSON: She is a sister, and she has suffered many of the indignities that black women throughout history have suffered. And so that tends to make you want to just be quiet and not oppose her. But then my sense of political chess makes me realize that that's exactly what Karl Rove and President Bush want to have happen.

KING (on camera): Justice Rogers Brown is a regular here at the Church of Christ in Rancho Cordova near Sacramento. Friends say her deep Christian faith is a critical part of both her personal and professional life, though some critics say that faith plays too much of a role in her judicial philosophy.

BROWN: What we ultimately pursue is a true vision of justice and ordered liberty respectful of human dignity and the authority of god.

KING (voice-over): In a 1997 case, the state Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a law requiring parental consent before a minor could receive an abortion. But justice brown dissented, suggesting the majority's reasoning gave courts a green light to topple every cultural icon to dismiss all societal values and to become the final arbiters of traditional morality. Friend Steve Merksamer says they have never discussed abortion.

MERKSAMER: I don't know what her views would be. I think she views the Constitution in a fairly strict constructionist sense, which is what the president says he wants to appoint people like that. But I also think that she is -- I think it's a big mistake to try to pigeonhole her.

KING: She is, for example, not always averse to government power. "Sometimes beauty is fierce, love is tough and freedom is painful," she wrote in a ruling upholding drug testing for government job applicants. She also allowed cities to disperse suspected gang members without proof of illegal conduct. MERKSAMER: Janice is an extremely private person. She's hard to -- you know, she won't open up to just anybody.

KING: Merksamer met with Brown recently to discuss her nomination, and he says she preferred to talk about her latest intellectual pursuit.

MERKSAMER: I couldn't believe it when she said to me, you know, "I really" -- "Could you connect me with someone who can" -- "I want to learn Hebrew." And, I mean, it just amazed me. I said, "Why?" She said, "Because I want to read the Torah in the original Hebrew."

KING: Friends say two years of hearing herself labeled combatant, temperamental, extremist and worst have taken a toll but. But Mount says Justice Brown isn't one to flinch from a fight.

MOUNT: She told me that she went to see the Ray Charles film and she loved the line when they said, "They're scandalizing my name." And that's exactly how she feels. I think she finds it brutal, just brutal. In another sense, I think she's in the eye of the storm and she's quite calm about it all.

KING: John King, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, she knows the pitfalls Brown could face. Today, Texas Judge Priscilla Owen did something she, too, has been waiting years for. She took the oath of office for her new seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. After her own four-year fight, Owen won Senate confirmation last month.

Straight ahead, a guy with a knack for being truly tasteless has a change of heart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going through a moment where I thought I was going to die. I thought, "What's the one thing that I'm doing wrong in my life that could be considered wrong?" And it was the T- shirts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A tacky T-shirt maker decides he may have gone too far. His story later on LIVE FROM.

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kathleey Hays at the New York Stock Exchange. Coming up, are you searching for a safer car? We'll give you the report card on some new crash tests. That's coming up next on LIVE FROM.

Please stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: A safety group has issued a report card for some passenger cars and how they protect you in inside impact crashes. Kathleen Hays has the ratings now live from the New York Sock Exchange.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: "Now in the News," a State Department official tells CNN that U.S. and North Korean officials met today in New York for the first time in almost a month. The subject was North Korea's nuclear weapon's program. No word on what specifically was discussed.

By land and by sea, the search expands for Natalee Holloway. Public employees and tourists in Aruba have been called in to help. The 18-year-old Alabama girl vanished one week ago today while on a high school graduation trip.

END

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired June 6, 2005 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Lost in shipment, the personal information of nearly four million customers of a large financial company.
Courtroom drama. While Michael Jackson awaits a verdict at home, his father shows up at court demanding to know where the pop star is.

Medical marijuana. A new court ruling means sick people who use it could now end up charged with federal crimes.

And how safe are America's skies? A new report out on aviation security since 9/11.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Up first this hour, IDs MIA from UPS. The world's largest delivery service says it can't account for a package containing personal financial information of millions of customers of Citigroup.

CNN's Allan Chernoff is following this latest in a series of potential identity crises involving household names, and, yes, maybe you.

Allan, I'm up to three companies. So is our producer. What about you?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, it is affecting more and more people in America, including, of course, members of CNN, because it happened at Time Warner. Well, now it's happened at CitiFinancial, which is a lending division of Citigroup, the biggest financial company in the nation. And what happened here is that CitiFinancial was shipping computer tapes via UPS to Experian, one of the credit bureaus, one of the three big credit bureaus.

Well, those computer tapes, they were lost. And they had on those tapes the names, Social Security numbers, account numbers, and also payment histories for nearly four million customers.

So CitiFinancial is sending letters in the mail telling people that their data has been lost. They're also saying you need to be checking with the credit bureaus to make sure that everything is intact, that nobody is trying to steal your ID.

Of course, ID theft is such a big concern these days. It's been happening at many institutions, as we said. Now, CitiFinancial is putting out a statement that says, "We deeply regret this incident." It also is saying that the accounts are intact, that in terms of the actual loans they've made, there can't be any interruption over there. But that's not the big concern here.

The big concern, of course, is potential for ID theft, that somebody might use a Social Security number and a name to open up a new account, perhaps at a credit card company, something like that.

UPS also saying that, "We are proud of our record," and that, "We sincerely regret the loss of this one package."

Now, a similar situation did happen not too long at Bank of America. As I mentioned, it also has happened at Time Warner, right here, our parent company, and several other companies, including Polo Ralph Lauren -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, once again, everyone should -- if indeed a member, right, of Citigroup, call your credit report companies and issue a -- or ask for a fraud alert?

CHERNOFF: Kyra, you know, you can follow that. You can check to see if you've been violated. But the truth is, there's only so much you can do.

We are all vulnerable to a certain degree. And right now, this is something that simply has to be fixed, has to be improved.

Citigroup is also saying that they're going to start sending all this information electronically. It seems that a reliance on manual deliveries, even if there is one error in a million, is simply just unacceptable. It's a huge problem here, and obviously it is growing rapidly.

PHILLIPS: Allan Chernoff, thanks.

CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.

Well, leave it to a Jackson to upstage jury deliberations in the former king of pop's child sex trial. Not Michael Jackson, the increasingly fragile defendant, nor Jesse Jackson, the spiritual advisor who compares Michael to Job from the bible. No, it's Joe Jackson, the family patriarch who was turning heads with a bizarre appearance last hour at the Santa Maria courthouse.

CNN's Ted Rowlands is there.

Ted, did you figure out what was going on?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, we haven't, Kyra. We don't know how things are going on inside the deliberation room, but outside it has been chaotic, and it's been quite a weekend here.

The last episode which you referenced was Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson's father, arriving here just over an hour ago. And it's still unclear what he was doing here or what he was talking about when he walked up to some sheriff's deputies and asked to see his son.

He wanted to know where his son was. Presumably, his son being Michael, and the sheriff's deputy said, "We don't have your son."

He walked around the courthouse, and then went inside, went upstairs, and apparently talked with Tom Mesereau, Michael Jackson's lead attorney, for a while, and then walked out the door. Presumably, he left.

Randy Jackson has since come and walked into the courthouse. There's been no sighting of Michael Jackson. And we're still not quite sure what Joe Jackson was talking about when he was asking the bailiffs where his son was.

Interesting enough, Jermaine and Tito Jackson over the weekend told CNN that Joe Jackson has been the rock for this family, for Michael and other family members. So unclear if it was a communication gap or what happened there.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson did visit a hospital yesterday for a brief amount of time, according to a spokesperson, because of his ailing back. It acted up again in some form. It has been bothering him, according to the Jackson camp, throughout this trial, and it has to do with stress. The spokesperson said he's under stress and this is a difficult time, saying that that had -- partly was to blame for him going to the hospital and seeking back treatment.

Jurors, meanwhile, have been at it for two hours Friday, and then about over two hours here this morning. And they will work on an 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time to 2:30 Pacific Time schedule with four short breaks in between. And we have not heard about their progress other than that they have elected a foreperson.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 credentialed members of the media from 28 different countries are all outside the courthouse, along with Jackson fans, waiting for the next word of something. Whether it's Joe Jackson or a verdict, we'll be here -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ted. You know we'll be checking in every minute of the way. Ted Rowlands. Thank you.

Well, let's go to Aruba now, where everyone seems focused on finding a missing Alabama teenager. Natalee Holloway vanished a week ago today while on a high school graduation trip. She was last seen with three young men who live there. Two other men have been arrested and charged in connection with her disappearance, but police say they aren't talking. Today, the island nation gave civil servants part of the day off to help search for the 18-year-old.

Natalee Holloway's family is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. Back home in Alabama, friends and fellow students gathered to pray for the missing teen. They've been there every day since they returned from Aruba without their classmate. Natalee's aunt told our Rick Sanchez that the disappearance could not have been the girl's choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have to ask you this question.

MARCIA TWITTY, NATALEE'S AUNT: Yes?

SANCHEZ: Is there anything about Natalee that would make her want to in any way go away, run away?

TWITTY: No. No.

SANCHEZ: Disappear?

TWITTY: No.

SANCHEZ: Nothing?

TWITTY: No. There is nothing about Natalee where, on her own free will, that she's going to say, "I'm not going" -- no. Her own free will, Natalee is not -- would not do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the family has also asked their Alabama community to remember the missing girl with yellow ribbons and prayer.

The nation's highest court has snuffed out the use for marijuana for patients in pain, and anyone who does smoke it on doctor's orders can be prosecuted.

More on the Supreme Court ruling from CNN's Kimberly Osias -- Kimberly.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

Well, while the federal government is saying no, some sick patients are saying yes, they will still continue to light up in spite of the decision. Today the high court came down on the side of the federal government, ruling that marijuana can no longer be cultivated for private use, medicinal or otherwise.

Currently, 11 states permit the use of so-called medicinal or medical marijuana. Among those states, California, where this case originated with Angel Raich. She is the cancer patient with an inoperable brain tumor. Raich says she needs marijuana to have an appetite and to relieve unbearable pain. In her case, she says this is simply a matter of survival.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority 6-3 opinion, acknowledging the potential for abuse. "Our cases," Stevens wrote, "have taught us that there are some unscrupulous physicians who over- prescribe when it is sufficiently profitable to do so." The government, in its case, maintains that marijuana is covered under the Controlled Substances Act and listed as a Class I drug. Raich and others were subjected to federal raids back in 2001 when agents stormed homes and confiscated the marijuana.

And just in case you were wondering, the three dissenters on the high court include the chief justice, William Rehnquist, Sandra day O'Connor and Justice Thomas -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Kimberly Osias, thank you so much.

In other news "Across America" now, cold case solved. Police and relatives feared that Brandi Stahr was dead. The former Texas A&M student disappeared seven years ago after a quarrel with her mom. Well, a phone call tipped police that she's been hiding out in Kentucky. Privacy issues hampered police from checking IRS and Social Security records to locate her.

Controversy at a Christian academy. Texas Governor Rick Perry used the venue yesterday to sign a measure imposing stricter limits on late-term abortions and on minors seeking abortions. Protesters criticized the governor's use of church property for the signing.

It's official. Washington State's Democratic governor will keep her job. A superior court judge has rejected her Republican challenger's petition to nullify last fall's close election results. The battle could now move on to the state Supreme Court.

No apple for this teacher. A Florida college professor and his common law wife are accused of identity theft. Bradley Schlossberg (ph) allegedly used names and Social Security numbers of his students to get credit cards. A student says he obtained the information from the class's sign-in sheet.

Well, she has been the center of a political firestorm, and now controversial court nominee Janice Rogers Brown is being considered by the Senate. But who is she? We'll go in depth just ahead.

Actor Russell Crowe goes to court. Apparently, a phone call sent him over the edge. We've got the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, a long-delayed candidate for the federal appeals court may soon find out if she's getting the job. Live pictures now as the Senate considers the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown. If confirmed, she would be the only -- or the second African-American woman on the D.C. court.

Now, just a few minutes ago, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced that a vote to end debate on Judge Brown will happen tomorrow at noon Eastern.

Our John King profiles this controversial judicial nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Janice Rogers Brown, a college liberal turned courthouse conservative, a Shakespeare and poetry lover with a penchant for provocative words of her own. "These are perilous times for people of faith," she warned in a speech suggesting liberals want to divorce the country from its religious heritage. "It's not a shooting war," she said, "but it's a war."

JUSTICE JANICE ROGERS BROWN, CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT: The question for you will be whether the regime of freedom, which they founded, can survive the relentless enmity of the slave mentality.

KING: She calls the new deal which created Social Security and Medicare "our socialist revolution," suggesting it created reliance on big government, a new slavery, contrary to the Constitution's authors' vision of limited government.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's so radical that she says with programs like Social Security and Medicare, seniors are cannibalizing their grandchildren.

KING: Perhaps her most noteworthy judicial decision, a sweeping attack on affirmative action, saying society should be colorblind and not allow entitlement based on group representation.

EVA PATERSON, FOUNDER, EQUAL JUSTICE SOCIETY: As a black woman, I'm here to say it doesn't matter what the color of her skin is. It matters how she's going to rule.

KING: Skin color very much mattered to young Janice Rogers in Luverne, Alabama. Whenever possible, her sharecropper father kept the family from establishments that had separate entrances and facilities for blacks.

STEVE MERKSAMER, LONGTIME BROWN FRIEND: I know they didn't have indoor plumbing. I know that it was a very, very rough existence. I can only imagine what it must have been like growing up as a youngster in the segregated South.

KING: She was 6, when 50 miles away in Montgomery, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus. Fred Gray was Parks' lawyer, an African-American, and to young Janice, an inspiration.

Rogers Brown graduated UCLA Law School in 1977, making her dream of becoming an attorney a reality. Raising a son as a single mother made personal responsibility a guiding theme, and her political views trended more conservative.

WILLIAM MOUNT, FMR. BROWN CHIEF OF STAFF: She believes the judiciary's single duty is to protect individuals from government overreaching.

KING: Critics see her provocative writings as evidence of ambition, including her 2000 ruling criticizing racial quotas or even goals as contrary to a society based on equal opportunity for all. OREN SELLSTROM, LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS: It was not a typical opinion that you would see of a judge looking at the facts and applying the law. It was much more something that appeared to be specifically drafted to catch the attention of ultra right wing conservative groups.

KING: Former chief of staff Bill Mount says it is not personal ambition but instead a deliberate effort to stir debate on the evolving role of courts and government.

MOUNT: She believes that something of a wrong turn was taken maybe half a century ago when the welfare state grew. And I think she thinks that the national experience of African-Americans has been in some ways regrettable.

PATERSON: I think the Bush people are very brilliantly playing the race card.

KING: Eva Paterson's Equal Justice Society in San Francisco is one of an array of state and national civil rights organizations opposing the Brown nomination.

PATERSON: She is a sister, and she has suffered many of the indignities that black women throughout history have suffered. And so that tends to make you want to just be quiet and not oppose her. But then my sense of political chess makes me realize that that's exactly what Karl Rove and President Bush want to have happen.

KING (on camera): Justice Rogers Brown is a regular here at the Church of Christ in Rancho Cordova near Sacramento. Friends say her deep Christian faith is a critical part of both her personal and professional life, though some critics say that faith plays too much of a role in her judicial philosophy.

BROWN: What we ultimately pursue is a true vision of justice and ordered liberty respectful of human dignity and the authority of god.

KING (voice-over): In a 1997 case, the state Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a law requiring parental consent before a minor could receive an abortion. But justice brown dissented, suggesting the majority's reasoning gave courts a green light to topple every cultural icon to dismiss all societal values and to become the final arbiters of traditional morality. Friend Steve Merksamer says they have never discussed abortion.

MERKSAMER: I don't know what her views would be. I think she views the Constitution in a fairly strict constructionist sense, which is what the president says he wants to appoint people like that. But I also think that she is -- I think it's a big mistake to try to pigeonhole her.

KING: She is, for example, not always averse to government power. "Sometimes beauty is fierce, love is tough and freedom is painful," she wrote in a ruling upholding drug testing for government job applicants. She also allowed cities to disperse suspected gang members without proof of illegal conduct. MERKSAMER: Janice is an extremely private person. She's hard to -- you know, she won't open up to just anybody.

KING: Merksamer met with Brown recently to discuss her nomination, and he says she preferred to talk about her latest intellectual pursuit.

MERKSAMER: I couldn't believe it when she said to me, you know, "I really" -- "Could you connect me with someone who can" -- "I want to learn Hebrew." And, I mean, it just amazed me. I said, "Why?" She said, "Because I want to read the Torah in the original Hebrew."

KING: Friends say two years of hearing herself labeled combatant, temperamental, extremist and worst have taken a toll but. But Mount says Justice Brown isn't one to flinch from a fight.

MOUNT: She told me that she went to see the Ray Charles film and she loved the line when they said, "They're scandalizing my name." And that's exactly how she feels. I think she finds it brutal, just brutal. In another sense, I think she's in the eye of the storm and she's quite calm about it all.

KING: John King, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, she knows the pitfalls Brown could face. Today, Texas Judge Priscilla Owen did something she, too, has been waiting years for. She took the oath of office for her new seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. After her own four-year fight, Owen won Senate confirmation last month.

Straight ahead, a guy with a knack for being truly tasteless has a change of heart.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going through a moment where I thought I was going to die. I thought, "What's the one thing that I'm doing wrong in my life that could be considered wrong?" And it was the T- shirts.

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PHILLIPS: A tacky T-shirt maker decides he may have gone too far. His story later on LIVE FROM.

KATHLEEN HAYS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Kathleey Hays at the New York Stock Exchange. Coming up, are you searching for a safer car? We'll give you the report card on some new crash tests. That's coming up next on LIVE FROM.

Please stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: A safety group has issued a report card for some passenger cars and how they protect you in inside impact crashes. Kathleen Hays has the ratings now live from the New York Sock Exchange.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: "Now in the News," a State Department official tells CNN that U.S. and North Korean officials met today in New York for the first time in almost a month. The subject was North Korea's nuclear weapon's program. No word on what specifically was discussed.

By land and by sea, the search expands for Natalee Holloway. Public employees and tourists in Aruba have been called in to help. The 18-year-old Alabama girl vanished one week ago today while on a high school graduation trip.

END

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