bush, appointed sotomayor judge on the u.s. district court. sotomayor briefly stepped into the national spotlight in 1995 when she issued an injunction that ended in 232 day long major league baseball strike. in 1997, president bill clinton elevated her to the much more powerful u.s. court of appeals. since then, she has written hundreds of opinions which most legal analyst agree show judicial restraint, bow to precedent and are largely uncontroversial. not so with a number of speeches she's delivered outside her courtroom. >> on the bench her feelings are within the mainstream of american legal thinking. >> within the mainstream, but when she speaks at law schools she's decidedly pushing the envelope almost as far as it could logically or ethically be push pushed. >> in 2001 at cal-berkley sotomayor spoke to the latino level rights group stating quote i would hope that a wilatino won with the rich ners of her experiences would more often than that reach a better decision than a white male who hasn't lived that life. >> she's attributing to an

bush, appointed sotomayor judge on the u.s. district court. sotomayor briefly stepped into the national spotlight in 1995 when she issued an injunction that ended in 232 day long major league baseball strike. in 1997, president bill clinton elevated her to the much more powerful u.s. court of appeals. since then, she has written hundreds of opinions which most legal analyst agree show judicial restraint, bow to precedent and are largely uncontroversial. not so with a number of speeches she's delivered outside her courtroom. >> on the bench her feelings are within the mainstream of american legal thinking. >> within the mainstream, but when she speaks at law schools she's decidedly pushing the envelope almost as far as it could logically or ethically be push pushed. >> in 2001 at cal-berkley sotomayor spoke to the latino level rights group stating quote i would hope that a wilatino won with the rich ners of her experiences would more often than that reach a better decision than a white male who hasn't lived that life. >> she's attributing to an

of all these reasons i will vote for the confirmation of judge sotomayor to be justice sonia sotomayor. >> thank you very much, senator, i appreciate that. senator white house. >> thank you chairman and thank you for your wise and fair leadership of the use confirmation proceedings. i also think the ranking member. for his fairness and courtesy brought the proceedings. i will be proud to go in support of judge sotomayor's confirmation to the supreme court. i appreciate as another sharon and others do her background as a prosecutor. and i believe her noncontroversial 17 year record as a federal judge makes clear that she is dedicated the rule of law, as a proper judicial temperament and gives every party before her a fair hearing. i also believe the unequivocal pledge that judge sotomayor gave me that she will respect the role of congress as representative of american people, will decide cases based on a lot and the fax, the issue will not prejudge any case a listen to everybody that comes before her, and as she will respect president and limit herself to the issues that the court must

sitting behind me is my brother myjuan sotomayor -- my brother, juan sotomayor. next to him, my mother, selina sotomayor. my niece, her mother and my sister-in law, and then there is corey and conner. the remainder of that rowe is filled with our children and dear friends. this is my immediate family. [captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> thank you very much. i remember reading about the marshals been surprised had your district court judge swearing in, they had never seen such a large crowd of friends and supporters. what we are going to do, each will give a 10 minute opening statement, and i would hope that all senators would be able to be here today. if not, we will have a opening statement that will come out of question * tomorrow. senator schumer would get a shorter statement, as he is serving his time with later introductions. i would note that for the record, we are considering the nomination of judge sotomayor, the constitution being interesting in this regard, only 101 people g

judge sotomayor is well qualified. she has the highest rating of the american bar association, and one need look no further than her experience, her ability, her temperament or judgment. the president nominated a person with more federal judicial experience than anyone nominated to the u.s. supreme court nearly a hundred years. he nominated somebody with federal trial judge experience, she'll be, incidentally, the only member of the supreme court with federal trial judge experience and of course, she's had tremendous experience in probably the most active prosecutor's office in this country. as the record and her testimony before the committee reinforced, she's a restrained, fair and impartial judge who applies the law to the facts to decide cases. ironically, the few decisions for which she's been criticized are cases in which she did not, did not reach out to change the law or defy judicial precedent. in other words, cases in which she refused to be an activist judge and make law from the bench. in her 17 years on th

>> good morning, judge sotomayor. i want to congratulate you on your nomination, and i want to start out with a couple of personal words. your nomination i view with a great sense of personal pride. you are indeed a very special woman. you have overcome adversity and disadvantaged, you have grown in strength and determination, and you have achieved respect and admiration for what has been a brilliant legal and judicial career. if confirmed, you will join the supreme court with more federal judicial experience than any justice in the past 100 years. you bring with you 29 and one- half years of legal experience in the court. by this standard, you are well qualified. in your 11 years as a federal appellate court judge, you participated in 3000 appeals and offered roughly 400 published opinions. in your six years on the federal district court, you were the trial judge in approximately 460 cases. for four and a half years to prosecute crimes as an assistant d.a. in new york city, and you spent eight years litigating busine

why do you think judge sotomayor would? >> they both made it very career they were not going to allow perm empathy or personal sympathy to tell their opinions with regard to various cases in the law. i suspect that judge sotomayor will distinguish that herself and say, look, i will have empathy. i can't get rid of the fact that i feel deeply about people. and i don't think she should. but if she allows her empathy to turn cases that should be decided otherwise in to case for reasons that are not applicable in the law, that's what we're concerned about. in the case of aleto and thomas, they haven't done that. >> you voted for her confirmation to the second court of appeals in 1998. do you expect in the end you'll vote for her confirmation here as well? >> i lean toward voting for and supporting the president's nominees. i think the presidents deserve that. that's what we get when we get a president. like i say, president obama is not going to appoint somebody who isn't liberal. so we've got to expect that. is we need to at l

sotomayor's comments predate that. she noted that, quote, the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right. ironically a conservative judicial panel in the seventh circuit court of appeals in denying a challenge to chicago's gun laws that past june also found that the second amendment is not a guaranteed right at the state or local level. that puts the seventh and the second circuit courts at odds with the ninth circuit twh which has ruled the gun ownership is a fundamental right. it appears to be sent down to the supreme court. >> a lot of questions about whether or not she would rekus herself in such a case. we're leaning to a place where she's simply avoided the question. bill tucker, thank you very much. >>> still ahead tonight, did the cia lie to congress? and if it did, should bush administration officials be held accountable and prosecuted? two members of the house intelligence committee join me for our face-off debate. also judge sotomayor's own words, continuing reflect something of a confirmation

sotomayor, then there's corey conner, corey and conner sotomayor. and the remainder of that row is filled with godchildren and dear friends. this is my immediate family. >> thank you very much. i remember reading about the marshals being surprised at your swearing in as a district court judge because they had never seen such a large crowd of friends and supporters arrive. what we're going to do is each senator will give a ten minute opening statement. i would hope that all senators would be able be here today. if they're not, then we will have -- they want to give an opening statement they have to come out of their question time tomorrow. senator schumer will give a short opening statement because he is going to reserve some time as a later introduction. i would note for the record we are considering the nomination of judge sotomayor to be a justice of the united states supreme court. our constitution is interesting in this regard. we have over 300 million americans and only 101 people get a chance to say who is going to be on the supreme court. fir

i want to welcome judge sotomayor. we in new york are so proud of you and your whole family, who i know are exceptionally proud to be here today to support this historic nomination. now, our presence here today is about a nominee who is supremely well qualified with the experience on the appellate court benches that is unmatched in recent history. it's about a nominee who in 17 years has offered opinion after opinion that is smart, thoughtful and judicial nally modest. in short, judge sotomayor has stellar credentials, there's no question about that. judge sotomayor has twice before been nominated to the bench, gone through confirmation hearings of bipartisan support and she was nominated by a republican president. but most important, judge sotomayor's record speaks judicial modesty, something that our friends on the right have been clamoring for in a way that no recent nominees has. it is the judicial record, more than speeches and statements, more than personal background that accurately measures how modest a judicia

sotomayor fought in every case. maybe that experience in the criminal court in new york city helped her prepare for these hearings. after leaving my office, judge sotomayor joined a prominent law firm and also accepted a part time appointment as a member of the new york city campaign finance -- while there, she continued to earn a reputation for being tough, fair, nonpolitical and in an arena where those characteristics were sorely needed and she has taken those characteristics with her to the federal bench where they're equally important. judge sotomayor's career in the law spans three decades and worked in almost every level of our judicial system, prosecutor, private litigator, trial court judge and apellet court judge and when i think of the second most important court in the world. she is an able champion of the law and her depth of experience will be invaluable on our highest court. judge sotomayor is highly qualified for any position in which a first-rate intellect, common sense and coleenlgality and good cha

it's sotomayor. sotomayor. not something else. the pick for u.s. supreme court justice. despite strong language from senators, her confirmation looks, well, repeat, looks, at this point, anyway, like a shoo-in. all right. about to find out if another sanchez agrees with me on this one. leslie sanchez is good enough to join us now. also here is maria cardona, democratic strategist. you know leslie is a republican strategist, maria is a democratic strategist. that's why we bring them together. leslie, my namesake, let me begin with you. >> sanchez. sanchez. >> oh, sanchez. >> kidding. >> sotomayor. >> i know. >> hey, how did she do? did she hold up? did you like what she had to say? what did you think? >> i thought she did incredibly well. you know, she did a very good job of threading that very delicate needle between answering her critics with respect to empathy. she says one line. my personal and professional experience helped me to listen and understand. she's particularly talking about that empathy that president obama has talked about in selecting her. but she also a

so far what i'm getting is 95% pro-sotomayor. so we'll be getting to that, too. >> avery, do you feel like this was a different confirmation hearing than we've seen in most recent modern day? >> nothing like this in american constitutional history, fredericka. absolutely, amazings. again, the first hispanic, the first minority hispanic before this judiciary committee and the senate, nothing like it. >> because there was a lot of caution, we did see that perhaps because -- >> they didn't want to beat her up. >> there were some senators who say if i do that i'm going to be called a lot of other name, too, because this is the first latina and it's a woman and there we go. >> you nailed it. you nailed it. >> interesting. avery friedman, thanks so much for joining us on this. and josh, we'll see you again. >>> well, among those who are watching the hearings, law studen students. i caught up with a few who were very calculate, very observant and analytical about all they saw this week. >> so, katie kicked off the conference call dog st

it is to apply the law. >> is judge sotomayor a born again jurist? is this a confirmation conversion? we'll have the latest. and police giving new details of their investigation into the murder of a florida couple with 16 children. if you're taking 8 extra-strength tylenol... a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day. and it lets you do some pretty incredible things. you can copy a phone number... and paste it in a text. you can copy an article... and paste it in an e-mail. or you can copy a map... and well, you get the idea. copy and paste, on the iphone 3gs. the most powerful iphone yet. >>> a sheriff in florida says as many as eight people were involved in the murder of a well-known florida couple. byrd and melanie billings were known as a generous couple. they had 17 children, four of their own, 13 adopted, and many of the children had special needs

judge sotomayor's years as corporate litigator exposed her to all facets judge sotomayor was appointed to the u.s. district court by president george herbert walker bush presiding over roughly 450 cases and earning a reputation as a tough, fairminded and thoughtful juryist. she would replace justice suitor as the only member on the court with trial experience. judge sotomayor has participateed in of 400 panel decisions with only 7 being brought up to the supreme court which reversed only three of those decisions two of which were closely divided. with confirmation judge sotomayor brings more experience than any judge in 100 years and more -- as a testament to judge sotomayor, many independent, national, legal and law enforcement groups have already endorsed her nomination including among them the aba giving her the highest rating of well qualified complimenting not only her intellect and rrd of deciding cases based upon the legal issues before her and following the law as it exists and that she has a healthy respect for the lented role of judges and the powers of lemming is lative and

america will be well served when judge sotomayor becomes justice sotomayor and i enthusiastically support her nomination. >> thank you, senator durbin. senator coburn. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm trying to figure out how to catch -- couch my words since i've just been condemned because i'm the -- the basis of my vote might not be on something that senator durbin would think to be appropriate. i would mention that the ninth circuit ruled the opposite of your circuit, senator durbin on the second amendment, and i would also note for the record that the very person on our side that questioned surge sotomayor on otherwise latina comment was the very member that's going to be voting for her. he had more questions of her than anyone on our side on that regard, so i think it's somewhat unfair to characterize us with a broad brush. i'm proud that president obama has nominated such a distinguished woman. i identify with senator cole and senator feingold. the great disturbance that we have that we can't get real answers in these hearings. i believe what we say as judges truly does come from our

los jueces anularon la posiciÓn de sotomayor. por eso creo que debeph@h@tñnoyebbhkph@ >> ¿pero usted de verdad cree que la jueza sotomayor es racista? >> veremos lo que dice. ella tiene un expediente muy bueno como fiscal, como jueza de apelaciones, una h@tñnoyencskph@h@tñnoyedwíkp ¿cÓmo van a recuperar los republicanos el congreso la casa blanca sin votos hispanos? >> creo que cada juez y cada denominado juez debe ser juzgado por una cuestiÓn fundamental, es una persona la que se le debe dar poder. espero que los senadores de ambos partidos tomen una decisiÓn que la distinga color. a lo que se refiere a apelar a los hispanos en estados unidos, mientras los partidos republicanos quiere discutir es hoy ofrecer soluciones. pasemos respecto a la inmigraciÓn? ¿con respecto a los trabajos? ¿sobre la paga que se lleva la gente a su casa? ¿quÉ hacemos con la educaciÓn? ¿que hacemos para que todos tengan el mejor futuro posible la oportunidad de vivir bien? la mayorÍa de los latinos estÁ mÁs cerca del conservadurismo.

sotomayor or the firefighters? >> sotomayor is winning because she did so well in the first two days. and she did so well because the thing has been a total snooze. everybody's eyes, i think, have been glazed over. >> you're killing me. >> what vargas did and what ricci did is they humanized it. >> exactly. >> no longer is it a conversation about obscure legal principles. there's that white guy denied his white job even though he did so well on the test. ask me if it's going to make a difference, i don't think it will. what the gop needed to do is thread the needle and draw a connection between the wise latina speech and this embodiment. >> please come back. joan, michael, i got to go. thank you very much. join us tomorrow night at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern for more "hardball." "countdown" starts right now. >>> which of these stores will you talk about tomorrow? they find the funds coming to the states. but for kyle and mccain, they want the political complaints and the money, too. the obama administration's no more mr

msnbc has continuing coverage of sotomayor sotomayor's meetgs. and chris matew will be your shepherd forhe coverage beginning in just ov 20 minutes. my doctotor to me something i i never ew. asas we t der, our bodieses become. less able to absorb lcm. he recommendnded citracal. it's a different kinind of calcium. calcium citrate. with vitamin d... for unsurpassed absosorpon, to nourish your bobone in these mararke,, i'm glad i tuturn t tfidelity for an annuity with guaranante income for life. that's rigig,, guaranteed income e folili. my annuity from fifidetyty mns my retirirenent come is safe. it's g grarantd, no matter whwhatapapns. if guaranteed incocomeoror le sounds g gd d toou, do what i didi---- let fidelity be yoyouruiui. call fidelity at.... >>> w welme back t the specec ititio of the "morning meing." a sesetete confirirmaonon potentntlllly the end of thee week for t latest supreme cot dge. we s sha see. we don'ttanant to get ahead of ououelves. we w wil be joined by a aououpl senators comominup in just coco as we are minutes away from t

sonia sotomayor facing big questions. in fact, some say she is offering little in return. >>> but first, new details in the killing of a prominent florida couple. police now say they are going to interview two more people shortly. investigators stress they are not suspects, but one may be tied to the crime. this comes after the arrest of an eighth suspect yesterday. police found pamela long wiggins in alabama. she is being charged as an accessory after the fact. seven men are charged in the murder of byrd and melanie billings. a safe and other item rs missing from the home. earlier, a sheriff appeared on "american morning" talking about the progress. >> we have two additional persons of interest and they are persons of interest. of the two, we think one could have a tie to the case, but again, we've got extensive interviews to conduct, both with this individual and those that had association with them. hopefully, we can conclude this quickly. we believe that this case has had so many odd twists and turns, that this may be

it is day three for judge sonya sotomayor. she goes before the senate judiciary committee again in about an hour and a half for another round of questioning. republicans on the panel were raising doubts about the first hispanic nominee's ability to be fair and impartial. she fielded those questions yesterday and will be preparing it answer more today. >>> the newest members of congress, senator al franken, will be one of those questioning the judge today. it's his first real outing on the national stage just a week after taking office. how is the comedian-turned-senator doing so far? jessica yellin has got some answers. >> this is a fascinating phenomenon in afghanistan right now, afghan star. a tv show sort of like "american idol," now a smash hit in that nation. alina cho with a program that's rocking the ratings and also rattling that nation's religious leaders. >>> first we're following breaking news out of iran this morning. a caspian airlines passenger jet has crashed 75 miles northwest of tehran. iranian state radio rep

and then sonia sotomayor will speak. arlen specter is speaking to al franken, the two new members, at least the new democrats on the committee, arlen specter was a long-time republican for pennsylvania, was up for re-election next year. he will be running as a democrat. al franken, the one-time comedy writer, comedian, actor, now united states senator from the state of minnesota. just sworn in the other day after a long, long battle against the former incumbent, norm coleman. we've got a great team here to assess what's going on. let me introduce everybody once again. gloria borger is here, senior political analyst. jeff toobin, senior legal analyst, author of one of the historic books on the united states supreme court, a major bestseller now out in paperback. maria teaches law at the university of california berkeley, formerly served in the bill clinton white house. alex is our republican strategist and knows a great deal about what's going on politically, and other matters as well. candy crowley is our senior politica

they don't know who the real sotomayor is. it sort of feels like groundhog day, but today was more about the hot button issues like abortion and gun rights. that's really the headline out of today, that judge sotomayor refused to be pinned down or reveal her own opinions about abortion. in particular, she told john cornyn that no one in the white house asked her views about abortion. she also told republican senator coburn, who is a doctor in the senate, that she would not answer his hypotheticals on some questions he asked. he has delivered thousands of babies. he asked her today would she support a woman who had a 38-week old fetus, almost turn 38-week old fetus, almost turn and2+°$ fetus had spina bif da, would it be legal to abort that fetus. she said she wasn't going to even imagine that case unless she had specifics. so in many different instances, we learned very little about judge sotomayor's views on abortion. gun rights was also a big issue and also some of the color was pretty interesting, too, about perry mason. w

judge sotomayor had gotten it wrong. this is reminded of all to what happened to judge plummer, who pass the question of president obama, who asked a question, and then became a target for some on the left? howard wolfensohn said the gop dropped the ball because it failed to vet joe the plumber. are you surprised that frank ricci is being made a target? >> i am not surprised. joe the plumber came to mind quickly. if this shows americans anything, is the complete and utter hypocrisy of the left and liberals in this country. they are unquestionably vicious. and they're the ones who purport to be the nice people. and somehow the conservatives are cold and not tolerant to other people. these people are vicious. it is a good thing for americans to realize. these are the exactly the type of people we put in control of the american government. megyn: in defense of the left, it does not seem to be gaining traction. is this left-wing group, and slate. is frank still going to testify? >> yes, he is. he was asked to do so. he did n

i asked her what she thought of sonia sotomayor and here's what she had to say. you like sotomayor. are you proud? you're proud? pro proud because someone like y you -- oh, you're proud because she came from no where like you. you're proud. and you're proud and you like the fact that she did it on her own. nobody gave it to her. she did it on her own. my mom is not an accomplished lawyer, former prosecutor, but she does seem to have that resounding sentiment that i've been hearing, wolf, from people all over the country, includish some of those women that you're about to hear from throughout the day, who seem to say there's something special about having someone like sonia sotomayor on the bench at some point because she does bring with her a rootedness, a sense that this is a woman that really came from no where. you know, bottom line is, in america we do pay a lot of attention to that log cabin mentality, somebody who picked themselves up from their own boot straps and made it, even much more so than the british and other european countries and as you go around the country and you

and it's still dubbed the second circuit, where judge sotomayor is now. and the supreme court is very much of a hot bench. you're right to say that clarence thomas doesn't speak out during oral arguments, but just about everyone else does, and they often trip over each other. justice scalia is quite active from the bench, and so is our chief justice, john roberts. so she might have a little bit of trouble getting a word in edgewise in the beginning, but i don't think imagine that she would be intimidated during oral arguments. >> and you had that interview with justice ginsburg in "usa today" where she talked about wanting another woman and the importance of another woman, and in particular over the argument of the case that was decided in favor of the young woman who had been strip searched and how offensive that was to justice ginsburg, that her male colleagues didn't quite get the invasive nature of that search. >> you know, it was interesting, during the q&a, in the oral arguments in that case from arizona involving a 13-year-old girl who was strip se

judge sotomayor is well qualified. she has the highest rating of the american bar association, and one need look no further than her experience, her ability, her temperament or judgment. the president nominated a person with more federal judicial experience than anyone nominated to the u.s. supreme court nearly a hundred years. he nominated somebody with federal trial judge experience, she'll be, incidentally, the only member of the supreme court with federal trial judge experience and of course, she's had tremendous experience in probably the most active prosecutor's office in this country. as the record and her testimony before the committee reinforced, she's a restrained, fair and impartial judge who applies the law to the facts to decide cases. ironically, the few decisions for which she's been criticized are cases in which she did not, did not reach out to change the law or defy judicial precedent. in other words, cases in which she refused to be an activist judge and make law from the bench. in her 17 years on th

sotomayor. now will he support her for the supreme court? interesting question to watch. >> no, there's another one too, i think is really interesting and that's arlen specter, he has chaired many of these committees, correct? and now he's going to be sitting there in the background because he switched parties and they tripped him of some of that power, so he may be sitting there going -- trying to help. >> he was the chairman of the committee when chief justice roberts was confirmed when justice alito was confirmed, now a junior democrat on the committee. we'll see how he responds to that role. >> you never know. let's talk, if we can, jeffrey, about cases that are going to be discussed. obviously we know this new haven firefighters case, this reverse discrimination will likely be brought up. >> absolutely. you know, we have a very extensive file here on all of judge sotomayor's rulings as a district court and circuit court judge, and as you pointed out, this was the case involving reverse disc

it's not over." >> lehrer: and still to come on the newshour tonight: the sotomayor hearings; brooks and marcus; and missing stories. that follows the end of the economic summit in italy. jeffrey brown begins our coverage. >> reporter: president obama wrapped up a week of european travel with a final news conference at the g-8 summit in l'aquila, italy. mr. obama said the g-8 leaders are giving iran two months to start talking seriously about the country's nuclear program. >> we remain seriously concerned about the appalling events surrounding the presidential election. and we're deeply troubled by the proliferation risks iran's nuclear program poses to the world. we've offered iran a path towards assuming its rightful place in the world. but with that right comes responsibilities. we hope iran will make the choice to fulfill them, and we will take stock of iran's progress when we see each other this september at the g-20 meeting. >> reporter: before heading off to ghana, the president stressed the importance to africa of a new commitment to food security. >> there is no reason why a

over the past few days, the debate over judge sotomayor has been heating up a great deal. president obama called her this morning answered wish herd good luck as it all starts off. cnn's kate bolduan has a preview of what might be coming up. >> thank you, mr. president, for the most humbling honor of my life. >> reporter: a journey that began at the white house now heads to capitol hill for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor as she enters a week of intense scrutiny during senate confirmation hearing. >> i hope that as the senate and american people learn more about me that they will see that i am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences. >> reporter: senate democrats, who have the votes to confirm sotomayor, are expected to highlight her personal story to win favor, growing up poor in bronx public housing, then going on to an ivy league education and now possibly the first latina supreme court justice. a smart approach for sotomayor as well says former reagan chief of staff, who has advised several high court nominees. >>

supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. several republican critics acknowledged the judge was likely to be confirmed. another big bank, j.p. morgan chase, reported strong second- quarter profits. at the same time, c.i.t. moved closer to filing for bankruptcy. the company is a major lender to small businesses. and a canadian soldier was killed in afghanistan. that made july the deadliest month for international troops there since the war began eight years ago. on newshour.pbs.org, two online- only features tonight on china's economy: an update on its recovery with a growth rate of nearly 8% in the last quarter; and on our business desk, paul solman talks to economist simon johnson about china's investment in u.s. treasury bonds and other assets. and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here, in silence, are ten more. that last photograph was captain kafele h. sims. when we reported h

opening statements from justice sotomayor. looks like they're going to take a quick break before the questioning begins. it's streaming live on our website. if you would like to watch it in progress go to cnn.com/live. >>> a mom and dad brutally murdered inside their florida home. three men are behind bars in connection with the case. why would someone kill a couple known for adopting kids with special needs? we could learn a lot more -- in fact we expect to learn a lot more in about an hour as the news conference begins from pensacola. david is joining us live from there. investigators are looking into multiple motives and apparently more arrests are likely. >> reporter: that's right, chuck. the sheriff here knows how to peak everyone's interest. after announcing three arrests over the weekend he called this case "a humdinger in both complexity and scope." two men, leonard gonzalez jr. and wayne are the first to be arrested and accused in the double murders of the billings couple. authorities say expect more. >> we're looking

sonia sotomayor. we'll look back at her childhood in new york's housing projects and how it helped prepare her for the big day. >>> meantime, president obama is back moem in washington this morning. before he left ghana over the weekend, he sat down for an exclusive interview with anderson cooper. >> he talked about the tour of the cape coast castle where african-americans were held before being sold into slavery. >> reporter: the president and his family arrived in ghana on friday. on saturday they came here to cape coast castle, ace place where enslaved africans were once held before being shipped off to the new world and shipped off to america. i had a chance to tour the castle with the president. first, we sat down and talked about the news of the day. vice president biden said you misread the economy. you said, no, no, no, we had incomplete information. nevertheless you said you would not have done anything differently. how? that seems contradictory. if you had known unemployment was going to go

sonia sotomayor, health care, cap and trade. can he get all of this done? >> i think we found out this week he had his first bad week legislatively where he had barbara boxer say we can't get cap and trade done before august, which the president wanted and then 50 blue dog democrats went to nancy pelosi and said health care is not going to happen the way you want it to. we have to preserve what we have while we're trying to protect people that don't have insurance. so it was a tough week for the president. you know, he's a very intelligent man. i'm sure he can do many things at one time, but from a legislative standpoint, this is probably the worst week he's had. >> real quick, warren -- >> i don't think it was a rough week. i think this was anticipated and i think that the president is going to make this work and the congress is going to make this work. >> the cia saying the story about former vice president dick cheney instructed the cia to lie to congress. are people talking about that? are you hearing your listeners? >> my listeners aren't surprised abo

challenging sotomayor's record without coming across as attacking her. republicans are expected to ask tough questions about sotomayor's views on gun rights, abortion, and affirmative action. but republicans think they have a better chance taking on her off-the-bench statements like this 2005 comment at duke university. >> court of appeals is where policy is made, and i know this is on tape and i should never say that because we don't make law. i know. >> reporter: republicans are also sure to press sotomayor on her past statement that a wise latina woman would reach a better conclusion than a white male. senator jeff sessions is the senior republican on the senate judiciary committee. >> she has advocated a view that suggests that your personal experiences, even prejudices, she uses that word, it's expected that they would influence a decision you make, which is a blow i think at the very ideal of american justice. >> reporter: democrats, including the committee's chair, will no doubt come quickly to sotomayor's defense. >> she has the experience and th

judge sotomayor is. take, that pat. i think where pat goes wrong on this is that judge sotomayor is an example of why affirmative action works well. studies show, i think i'm right on this, that when you give minorities an opportunity, that they wouldn't normally have -- he's right that you probably didn't have the test scores to get into princeton or to get into yale law. but studies show that we give minorities a boost and give them the opportunity, they perform very well. and they do do very well. so you give this woman a chance to get into a prestigious undergraduate university and law school, and what happens? she does very well. she becomes a prosecutor. she becomes a successful federal district court judge, federal appellate court judge. now she's going to become a u.s. supreme court judge. this is why affirmative action is a good thing and not a bad thing. giving some people an opportunity works. i'm sorry that sometimes it is a zero sum gain and sometimes people like ricci do lose out, although he's getting his

judge sotomayor on her nomination. but the focus should not of men on me being hispanic, the focus should have been what i did to earn a promotion to captain and have my own government and some courts responded to that. in short, they did not care. i think it important for you to know what i did and that a plea by the rules and then endured a long process of asking the court to enforce those rules. i am the proud father of three young sons. for them i sought to better my life and so i spent three months into his and preparing for an exam that was questionably job-related. my wife and special education teacher took time off from work to see me and our children to this process i knew we would see little of my sons during these months when i studied everyday, in our basement, so i placed photographs of my boys in front of me when i would get tired and want to stop. i was look at the pictures and realize that their own futures depended on mine and i would keep going. at 1. i packed up and went to a hotel for days to avoid

sotomayor breezes to confirmation. >>> judge sonia sotomayor's nomination to the u.s. supreme court seems to be sailing toward confirmation after a week of relatively uneventful senate judiciary committee hearings. the humdrum week led some to question whether confirmation hearings are necessary any longer. even on controversial issues such as abortion and the right to privacy, she revealed little about her judicial philosophy. her answers to questions on abortion seemed strikingly similar to those given by chief justice john roberts and justice samuel alito during their hearings. judge sotomayor remained elusive on other divisive issues like gun rights and gay marriage, citing previous supreme court rulings. she did, however, clarify her controversial comment that a "wise latina" would reach a better conclusion than a white male. >> it was a bad choice of words by me. because it left an impression that has offended people, and has left an impression that i didn't intend. >> bonnie: bay buchanan, her strategy did work. she's cruising towards quirmtsinconfirmation. is t

sotomayor on sotomayor. >> many senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. simple. fidelity to the law. the task of a judge is not to make law. it is to apply the law. >> reporter: it is the crux of the matter. how does the judge judge? >> but there must be a vigorous debate about the kind of judge america needs, because nothing less than our liberty is at stake. most judges set aside or many judges consider their personal feelings in deciding cases. is judicial impartiality a duty or an option? >> reporter: the legal and political framework for the week was set off the bat whenever senator on the 19-member judiciary committee wrote roughly along party lines, republicans suspicious that the words and some decisions are telltale signs of a liberal activist judge. >> call it empathy, call it prejudice, or call it sympathy, but whatever it is, it's not law. in truth, it's more akin to politics and politics has no place in the courtroom. >> reporter: and it is clear democrats intend to defend the judge with heavy credentials and a record they say is mainstream. >> she u

i want to welcome judge sotomayor. we are so proud of you in new york your whole family is exceptionally proud to be here today to support this historic nomination. our presence here today is about a nominee of who is extremely well qualified with experience on the district court and appellate court benches that is unmatched in recent history. it is about a nominee who has offered opinion after opinion that is smart, thoughtful, and judicially of modest. she has trouble -- she has stellar credentials bridge as toys been nominated to the bench, gone through confirmation hearings with bipartisan support most important, judge sotomayor's record speaks to judicial modesty, something that our friends on the right have been clamoring for in a way that no recent nominees has. it is the judicial record more than personal background that accurately measures how modest a judicial nominee will be. there are several ways of measuring modesty in the judicial record. judge sotomayor more then measured up to each of them. she puts ru

i support judge sonia sotomayor. i think that the body of her work that i've heard about in the case that she is neutral concerning the law as anyone. i hope people will get away from the mass amnesia and that it will stop pretending that the history of injustice toward minorities in this country is not pertinent. certainly the experience of the judge's such as the types that brought about the dread scott decision -- no one, and certainly not judge sonia sotomayor should back away from the fact that experience and empathy, and as much as judges are not robots, that does not pertain in decision making. host: i want to show you this chart in "the wall street journal" this morning. it is all the supreme court nominees since 1975, beginning with john paul stevens through sonia sotomayor. over here, it has both the committee vote and the full senate vote listings. you can see that some of the more controversial ones include william rehnquist in 1986, a 65-33. clarence thomas, 52-48. and then john roberts, 782-22. 58-22 fo

should judge sotomayor be confirmed? we'll be right back. (announcer) introducing new tums dual action. this tums goes to work in seconds and lasts for hours. all day or night. new tums dual action. bring it on. a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day. >>> judge sonia sotomayor facing questioning on this third day of her confirmation. one of the top issues today, abortion, but the supreme court nominee, of course, didn't answer the questions, frustrating republicans who should be used to that. dana bash has our report from capitol hill. >> reporter: sonia sotomayor returned to face a slew of questions on one of the devicive issues, abortion. tom coburn, an obstetrician gave several examples for his search for answers. >> let's say i'm 38 weeks president and we discover a small spina bifida sac on the lower sacrum. would it be legal to termina

in the morning, justice vote sotomayor -- justice sotomayor is not going to be there. it is the individual citizen and the criminal. citizens know this instinctively. it is like water clenches your thirst. food clenches your hunger. with a firearm, i can protect my family and save my family's life, and if judge sotomayor doesn't get that and believe the second amendment ought to apply to serve ry citizen in the country, she should not be on the supreme court. that cuts across hispanic, african-american, asian, caucasian, every american group that polls believes it is their freedom and their right. glenn: if she doesn't believe that or refuses to answer the question or if she is just slippery on it, you also say she shouldn't be confirmed then? >> absolutely. i mean, we are going to listen to these answers, and slippery doesn't caught it and neither does evasive. either one, we will oppose the nomination. glenn: what senators will hold their feet to the fire? >> we have encourage add number of them to ask the questions an i believe they are going to this week. this is a

so farp judge sotomayor is receiving high marks. both democrats and republicans are saying she is reasoned and measures in her responses and she seems to have a good understanding of the law. it'll be another long day in the witness chair for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. >> you do believe that your background will affect the results in cases? and that's troubling to me. >> my record shows that at no point or time have i ever permitted my personal views or sympathies to influence an outcome of a case. >> reporter: she battled through eight hours of intense grilling tuesday, backing away from a highly controversial comment she made during a speech to hispanic law students. in it, she said, a wise latina woman would reach a better conclusion than a white male. on other crucial issues, sotomayor issued she had an open mind on gun rights and roe visit wade. despite the tough questioning, sotomayor still appears headed toward confirmation. senate democrats hold a strong majority and some republicans are wary to stand in her way.

that has been the crux of the matter in the case of sonia sotomayor. i am going to bring in gloria bo borger. i want to let you know there has been a shooting in new jersey where five police officers have been shot and we are now learning from our own sources that four of those officers are injured pretty badly. in fact, it is being called critical in at least a couple of cases. maybe a shot to the face. another one shot to the neck. the man who shot them apparently was wearing -- rob, if you have got some of those pictures, let's share those real quick. the man who shot them according to police was dressed as a priest. look at the pandemonium in new jersey. this is near nerscy city. this happening just a couple of hours ago. again, we are on it. we are going to be drilling down on this. i have now learned the police chief there is going to join me live to take us through this. first, let's go back to gloria. two of the 19 firefighters who were denied a promotion after passing a test and doing well on it and working so hard to prepare for that test. wh

with judge sotomayor foremost among them. reporter: before she spoke, the senators painted starkly different pictures of sotomayor, democrats highlighted her 17 year of experience as a federal judge. >> let no one detroit judge's record. but sotomayor's comments that wise latina would reach a better conclusion than a white mail. her empathy was code. sotomayor will decide cases based on feelings not law. >> call it empathy, prejudice, call it sympathy. whatever it is it is not law. >> reporter: one republican noted presidential reelections have consequences and a democrat is in the driver's seat. >> i don't think anybody worked harder for senator mccain than i did but we lost. >> reporter: with decisive majority in the senate there is this reality. >> now, unless you have a complete meltdown, you're going to get confirmed. >> reporter: and unlike any supreme court hearing in recent history, this one was disrupted by four antiabortion protesters. they were quickly arrested by capitol hill police, but charlie, here's an irony.

when did you first meet judge sotomayor? >> i met her in law school during my first year of law school. >> and this is ideal. >> yes. in 1976. >> what were the circumstances? >> we were friends with a common friend and her small-group. and we met at a social occasion, a group of law students who were getting acclimated to a new situation. >> what did you have in common? >> we shared an interest, i would say most important we shared an interest in social justice. we both came to law school to advance that set of personal goals. and immediately discovered that that was a common bond. we also really enjoyed trying to figure out what actually was going on in the world, this world of the yale law school. so we enjoyed trying to analyze the culture that we were in. >> what was going on at yale law school at the time? >> well, it was both very exciting place. we had a class of people who were really very serious about themselves and their futures. and so there were many discussions about the role of the law as an agent of change, a