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Bush to Announce Supreme Court Nominee Tonight; Conservatives Hope to Avoid Another Souter; British Muslims Cope with Fear Brought by Bombings

Aired July 19, 2005 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Making news now, the nation finds out tonight who President Bush wants to put on the Supreme Court. The White House says Mr. Bush will announce his choice to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll have a live report from the White House, straight ahead.
A suspect cleared of involvement in the London terror bombings, a spokesperson for Egypt's interior ministry, says that biochemists Magdi el-Nashar has no links to the deadly July 17th attacks, nor any connections to al Qaeda. El-Nashar was detained last week in Cairo. From the outset, he denied any involvement.

A symbolic killing in Baghdad. Insurgents assassinated a key Sunni Arab today who was involved in writing Iraq's new constitution. The victim and 14 other Sunnis have been added to the constitution draft committee earlier this month in an effort to make the Shiite and Kurd dominated government more ethnically inclusive.

He's been accused but never charged in a plot to explode a dirty bomb inside the U.S., and today a federal appeals court again takes up the case of Jose Padilla. At issue, whether U.S. citizens arrested on U.S. can be designated as enemy combatants and held indefinitely without a trial as part of the war against terror.

High drama over the high court. It's been more than two weeks since Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court. Speculation over who might replace her has been mounting, but the suspense is about to end. The president is getting ready to announce his pick tonight.

Our national correspondent, Bob Franken, is at the White House with details -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's interesting because we're hoping, of course, that the speculation ends somewhat before that. Reporters competing ferociously to see if we can find out just who it is the president will announce tonight when goes into the East Room, ironically, the same room that he used this morning for a meeting with the Australian prime minister, where he deflected questions even about the timing of his Supreme Court announcement.

Those questions were answered less than two hours later when the White House press secretary came into the briefing room that said it would occur at 9 p.m. Eastern this evening and that the president hopes that the nominee will be confirmed in a matter that -- in a way that is dignified, to use his words, and that rises above partisanship.

Well, once the president has his moment, then the stage moves over to the Senate, and the Democrats are going to have a say in this. And the Senate leader for the Democrats says whether it's dignified and above partisanship really depends on just who that nominee is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: As to whether it's going to be a conflict and further animosity here in the Senate between parties depends on the president. So we're waiting to see what he's going to do. There are a number of names floating around. Whatever name comes forward, we're going to take our time and have the judicial committee take a good look at that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Well, the time parameter, if everybody is to be satisfied, is that a replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor will be in place at the Supreme Court when the court reconvenes in October. Between now and then, no matter who that nominee is, expect it's going to be a very action-packed summer -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: No doubt. A very action-packed day today for you. Thank you so much, Bob Franken.

And for more on today's developments let's also bring in our CNN senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, in New York to talk a little bit more about the name so many people are talking about and you're talking about it, too.

I had all the graphics made up of all these possible individuals, Jeff, but you know, you keep bringing it back to one very unique woman.

JEFF TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Judge Edith Clement is the person that a lot of people have been talking to me about. In the last hour or so I have had people say to me, "Hold on. Don't get ahead of yourself. Judge Clement may not be the person."

PHILLIPS: Really?

TOOBIN: I am starting to hear another possibility that remains alive is Judge Edith Jones, who is another woman named Edith on the same court, recently...

PHILLIPS: Texas, right?

TOOBIN: Sorry?

PHILLIPS: Texas?

TOOBIN: That's right. She's from Texas but she's on the same court of appeals, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Much more experienced judge. Much more controversial. Much more conservative record. Judge Jones has been on the court since 1985, for 20 years. She has been a staunch supporter of the death penalty. She wrote an opinion not too long ago that all but said she believed Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided.

In every way that Judge Clement is sort of a mystery, Judge Jones is not a mystery. She is a conservative judge in every meaning of the term, much more clearly in the Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas mode. Surely a more difficult, more contentious confirmation if she is the nominee, which I don't know. She could be.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. OK. So we're going to be talking about the two Ediths now. All right. We're going to branch it out. Well, let me ask you, then. Can the Democrats stop anyone? I mean, what are the chances of a filibuster?

TOOBIN: You know, I think it's really a long shot for the Democrats. You know, the last time two Republican nominees ran into real trouble in the Senate, Robert Bork, who was defeated in 1987, and Clarence Thomas, who was almost defeated in 1991, the Senate was in Democratic hands. They had the majority.

Now there are 55 Republicans in the Senate. That's a lot of Republican opposition to overcome. Yes, it is true that a filibuster, which only requires 40 votes to sustain, is possible. But you know, there has never been a minority party that has sustained a filibuster against a Supreme Court nominee. And I just think, you know, for all that we're talking about this process, it's going to be very difficult for the Democrats to stop anyone.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's interesting, because the White House -- well, there was talk, I guess, that maybe a controversial conservative nominee would come out first if it looked like Rehnquist was going to retire. And then if that happened, a woman or a minority might replace him.

So do you think since Rehnquist has made it clear, "I'm staying here until the very end," and he's telling people when he's questioned about if he's going to retire or not, he always says "that's for me to know and you to find out." It's interesting. Do you think sort of at the last minute there's a change in tactics, considering one empty seat now?

TOOBIN: Very difficult to know. You can never bet -- when you're in the White House you can never bet on when you're going to get Supreme Court appointments. Each one is so precious. We haven't had one in 11 years. That I don't think this White House is worrying about who is coming next. You've got to focus on the one in front of you. They are so rare and so precious.

Yes, all of us who have followed Chief Rehnquist's health problems recognize that, even though he says he's going to remain on the bench. And he has said in interviews that, generally, justices quit under the president -- the party of the president that appointed him. And he was appointed by President Nixon and promoted by President Reagan, Republicans. So yes, it is still likely that president -- that Chief Justice Rehnquist will leave. But there are no guarantees. So I think they've got to decide who they want, focus on the person in front -- on the vacancy in front of them. And worry about any other vacancy later, if it comes at all.

PHILLIPS: Jeffrey Toobin, thank you.

President Bush's choice for the bench will be scrutinized from all political corners. CNN's Candy Crowley reports now on one current justice who flew into Washington under the radar but has become a target for conservatives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are lifetime appointments which can make history and shape legacies.

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll tell you how I look at this, not in terms of some specific imprint, but I want it said when I'm about -- about 90, 24 hears from now, that I made a superb choice. And I think it will be so writ.

CROWLEY: He's not 90 yet, but history so far, as written by conservatives, is not so writ.

RICHARD LESSNER, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: It's turned out to be quite a disappointment because Mr. Souter is clearly squarely in the middle of the liberal camp, that liberal majority, actually, on the Supreme Court.

CROWLEY: Conservative groups know what they want in a Supreme Court nominee: someone who will protect the unborn. And they know what they don't want, another Justice Souter.

GARY BAUER, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN VALUES: I don't think this President Bush wants to be embarrassed by his court nominee.

CROWLEY: Souter is not the first Supreme Court nominee to backfire on supporters. President Eisenhower called Chief Justice Earl Warren "my biggest mistake." One of the most active courts in history, the Warren court overturned the notion of separate but equal public education and ordered school desegregation.

Conservative Richard Nixon was "Soutered" by Justice Harry Blackman, author of the majority opinion in the Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion.

Conservatives say Souter got by them, because he didn't have much of a paper trail on their issues. And they took his conservative judicial bent on the faith of Republicans who vouched for him. This time around, no blind dates.

LESSNER: This court is very narrowly divided on many interests of great interest: on the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage. And with a court that's divided 5-4 on so many of those cases, we're not willing to buy a pig in a poke. And so we want someone's whose judicial philosophy, whose jurisprudence is well known and established.

CROWLEY: Paper trails may reduce the high court surprise rate, but they won't eliminate it. There is something about the view at the Supreme Court that can change a jurist.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And our look at the possible Supreme Court nominees will continue at the bottom of the hour on "INSIDE POLITICS." We're going to hear from Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Any nominee will have to go through the Senate to get to the highest court in the land.

And could the nominee be someone other than a judge? CNN takes an in-depth look at that issue on "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS" at 5 Eastern.

And of course, we're going to take the president's announcement live the moment it happens 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

Hurricane Emily gearing up for a second landfall a day after the storm slammed into Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, barreling toward northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. Emily is a Category 1 hurricane right now. But forecasters fear it could become a Category 3 storm before it comes ashore.

Along Mexico's beach resorts, Emily damaged homes already, downed trees and flooded streets but caused no deaths.

People along the southern Texas coast are leaving nothing to chance. They're boarding up homes and stocking up on supplies. Some people are even heading inland.

Where is Hurricane Emily right now? Let's go to Jacqui Jeras, she knows, top notch meteorologist.

Hi, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Kyra.

It's about 165 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas. So getting a little bit closer here. But the big headline this hour, just in, is that Emily is now back to Category 2 status. So we have a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 miles per hour and expected to continue to gain strength.

It's also slowed down a little bit in forward speed. It's moving west-northwest down now to about 13 miles an hour. The slower it moves, the more likely this will be a major hurricane when it makes landfall.

So it's continuing to strengthen. It's slowing down. Not good news, unfortunately, for the northern Mexico coast and for those people that live in Texas.

Also more new information. A tornado watch has been issued for parts of southern Texas that includes even Corpus Christi, extending all the way down to the U.S.-Mexico border. Tornadoes are always possible with hurricanes and tropical systems, especially in that right front quadrant of the storm. So be aware of that threat now as we head through the rest of the afternoon.

Still expecting Emily to be taking a turn later on for tonight. Moving west-northwest now, expecting to be moving a little bit more westward later on for today. And that's why we're thinking it's going to be more into Mexico, rather than in Texas. But still, if it doesn't take that turn, you really still to be on high alert here.

Expected to move right into the Monterey area and extending off well off into the mountains as we head into your Thursday. And of course, weakening very dramatically as it makes landfall and moves inland.

Another big story is the heat. Heat advisories across much of the northeast. Check out your current heat index. New York City well into the triple digits, feels like 101. Unfortunately, that sweltering heat is going to be sticking around for a couple of days -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui. Thank you.

Well, as Hurricane Emily barrels towards shore, you can track the storm online at CNN.com/hurricane. And if you have been in the path of a hurricane this year, send your pictures and stories to our web site. Again, it's CNN.com/hurricane. CNN is your hurricane headquarters.

Straight ahead, Tony Blair turns to Muslim leaders to help in fighting terrorisms. Up next, we're going to tell you what the British leader had hoped to accomplish and what steps his country is taking to cut down on extremist religious leaders.

Plus the Muslim community in England. What's happening to it now that four of its own have been named as the London bombers? CNN correspondent Zain Verjee just returned from across this pond. And we're going to get to talking to her in just a moment. There she is.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Turning back now to Britain and key talks at 10 Downing Street. British Prime Minister Tony Blair met with Muslim leaders today to discuss how to respond to the London bombings. Mr. Blair said that his government is looking for ways to weed out extremists blamed for radicalizing young Muslims. He also discussed new anti-terrorism legislation to be introduced by the end of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We are certainly going to look at how we strengthen the law, both against people coming into our country who are going to preach incitement and hatred and violence, but also making sure we can deport those people who are doing so.

And there are cases, obviously, that are under consideration at the moment. I can't, for very obvious reasons, go into those cases. But let me just make one thing very, very clear.

I'm against people who advocate suicide bombing, whether it's in London or it's in Afghanistan or it's in Iraq or it's in Palestinian or it's in Turkey or Kashmir or anywhere. And they've got no place, such people, in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Our Zain Verjee traveled to London after those terrorist attacks, and she spent time in the Muslim community, learning about the problems that Muslims are facing, specifically any sort of backlash in the aftermath of those attacks.

And we saw your pieces. Your pieces were fantastic. You really did, you went through everywhere from the soup (ph) to where they sell the fruits and vegetables and really spent time talking with them. They have a lot of fears, don't they?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They do, actually. I went to an area known as Edgware Road, where there's a majority Muslim population in that area. And they said, "You know what? We condemn it. We're absolutely outraged at it, but we're afraid here, as well."

And really their fears stemmed in two directions: that they would receive a massive backlash to the terror attacks there in the form of attacks on mosques, you know, abuses that would be hurled out at them. One lady said, "You know, I'm just really afraid to get on the tube, because if I carry my bag, people are going to think that there's something in it. So I just keep it on my lap so that -- so that they know that I'm aware of what they are thinking. And this is on my lap and it's OK."

And when I spoke to some of the Muslim leaders, Kyra, what they also said was a real issue was that they were afraid that right-wing groups were going to say, "You know what? That's it. That's the community. We told you that they were bad news and that they would use the terror attacks as a way to divide the community from the greater British public and that would be their opportunity to do so."

So the Muslim community leaders were quite concerned about that. But also said, "We can't just point the finger at the British public at large. We also have to take stock of ourselves."

PHILLIPS: Well, do they want to get more involved in speaking out against extremism, in getting the correct message of Islam out there, and try to reach these young kids in their community before they are brainwashed or sucked in by this theory that it's good to kill innocent people?

VERJEE: Right.

PHILLIPS: Or are they afraid to talk to police and talk to investigators?

VERJEE: I think the real sense that I got was that the Muslim community has now said, "You know what? We have to face the facts, you know. We have to ask ourselves," they said to me, "the very tough questions, that this exists. And we can't ignore it anymore."

And they said, "We can't just be the victim all the time and say it's Iraq, it's Afghanistan, it's Guantanamo Bay, and that's what's fomenting this. And we can't just condemn and say it's bad. We have to look at ourselves and take action."

So you know, what they said, one of the things, community policing, you know. If you even have an inkling, they say, in your mosque or in your community group that there's something wrong with this person or this group of people, go and tell the local police. Go tell the authorities and show that you are a responsible citizen of Britain.

They also said, you know, the imams have to just be a lot more connected to their people and also preach against extremism. And essentially, it boils down to education and awareness. And they said, "We've got to do that. We've got to work with the British authorities to do that."

PHILLIPS: Do the Muslim -- the folks in the Muslim communities feel that this could be a much larger problem than this proved to be, that there are more than just these four dead suspects? How active do they think this is happening or this is in their community?

VERJEE: You know, they were very reluctant prior to these attacks, I think, judging from the people I spoke to, to acknowledge that it was there. And I think this really put it in their face, you know, where they had to acknowledge. They didn't really have a choice. And that now it just boils down to what action do you take?

And a lot of people that I talked to, Kyra, said, you know, this is -- this is not Islam, you know. And when I was in London, these are the very integrated Muslims of the community. And they point to places like Bradford or Burnley or Leeds or Manchester, even, where there is a greater sense of tension between the Muslim community and the white British community, where the white British community says, "You guys all came in and you took the council housing and you took the jobs that we had."

But they're very concerned, because you have cultural issues that mean that people in those areas don't integrate as well as they do in London. You also have religious issues, you know, where Muslims -- like with their British friends who go down to the pub for a drink. And they don't go, so they feel alienated.

And also, they're more impoverished. Socio-economically they're not as well off as many people are in London.

So the Muslim community is looking at all those factors and saying those could be some of the motivations that would lead to, you know, a situation like this.

But on the other hand when I did speak to one particular Muslim leader -- he was the head of the Muslim Council for Britain -- he said all those factors are important, but it's too much of an oversimplification to say that that's it.

PHILLIPS: Sure, it's much deeper.

VERJEE: Right, deeper and someone has come in and brainwashed the kids, you know, in the back rooms of mosques. He said it's not going on in the mainstream mosques, but somewhere it is. And they need to figure it out.

So I think they're confounded also and scratching their heads but know they need to take a hard look at it.

PHILLIPS: That's the positive part. They'll take a harder look at it.

VERJEE: Right.

PHILLIPS: And hopefully weed out where that brainwashing is taking place.

Zain Verjee, thank you so much.

VERJEE: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll see you at noon tomorrow Eastern Time right here on CNN.

VERJEE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And every weekend, of course, our CNN correspondents give you the inside word on the stories that they've been covering every week. Be sure to tune in to "On the Story" Saturday evenings at 7 Eastern and then an encore presentation Sunday mornings at 10 Eastern.

News across America now.

Medics rushed to OSU this morning. Construction workers had to be hosed off and treated for breathing problems after a chemical leak. Ten of them and two firefighters were taken to the hospital with breathing problems. It's not sure when the leak at the Ohio State University's power plant had even happened.

And a unique gator in legal limbo. Two South Carolina men said that they were trying to protect one of the world's rarest alligators. The reptile has white skin and blue eyes. Well, the men had it and its two siblings at their private zoo in South Carolina. The other two gators died. The men are accused of breaking state laws that protect endangered species.

More LIVE FROM right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Susan Lisovicz with a quick check of the numbers at the stock exchange -- Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, I will see you tomorrow, no hooky.

PHILLIPS: We're not playing hooky.

LISOVICZ: No.

PHILLIPS: At least not as of right now.

LISOVICZ: You've got it.

PHILLIPS: All right. Talk to you later.

LISOVICZ: You got it.

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's go to Dana Bash in Washington for a preview of what's ahead on "INSIDE POLITICS".

Hi, Dana.

DANA BASH, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Kyra. Thank you.

Well, five and a half hours from now the Supreme Court speculation will end. But until President Bush announces his nominee to the high court, the guessing game continues. We'll take a look at some of the top contenders to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor. And we'll talk with key lawmakers on the Senate committee that will grill the president's nominee.

All this and much more when we go "INSIDE POLITICS" in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END

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