deeply troubled by reports of employers asking for login information and is drafting a bill that would ban it. mary snow, cnn, new york. we'll keep you posted on that one. mary snow from washington. now it's time for keira phillips. a lot of new information on trayvon martin today. >> that's right. we'll be talking about that. thank you very much. thanks for joining us. i'm kyra phillips. we've got a busy hour. the syrian government accepted the peace plan offered by kofi annan. many searian state tv aired this. that is presidentes aade assad walking the streets. even with the news of this peace plan, opposition activists say at least 53 people were killed today alone.

annan is in china rallying support for the peace plan today. both china and russia opposed previous attempts to take tough actions against the syrian regime. we are now in the second hour of the second day of historic supreme court arguments on the affordable care act, health insurance for all. four separate issues are taking up six hours of court time over three days. today, the biggie, whether americans can be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. critics say it's unconstitutional. supporters say getting everybody in the pool is the only way to spread out the risk and manage costs. they say everyone consumed health care. the only question is who pays. never before seen details on the police report of trayvon martin's killing paint a different picture of that deadly encounter. "orlando sentinel" reports that george zimmerman was bleeding

from the face and head when police arrived. they claim trayvon attacked him before shots were fired. up until now, accounts from witnesses and zimmerman's own phone calls to police strongly suggested zimmerman was the aggressor. the fact that he hasn't been arrested has set off a nationwide outcry. a march in washington is set to begin next hour. trayvon martin's parents are due on capitol hill. act like a thug, die like a thug. a new orleans police officer is suspended without pay for posting that quote online about trayvon martin. police superintendent says he's furious and right now the naacp is holding a news conference. we'll bring you the comments soon as we get them. self-proclaimed al qaeda jihadist killed after a standoff in southern france left behind gut-wrenching evidence of his alleged killing spree. we are talking about 25 minutes of video that actually document

the shootings as they're happening. al jazeera received that information in the mail. the sus expect mohammed merah. al jazeera says the added the footage shows images of the seven victims along with music, religious singing and readings from the koran. the network says it will not broadcast the video citing its code of ethics. a massive wildfire in colorado turned deadly. it's killed one person and right now is threatening hundreds of others. the fire is in a mountainous area southwest of denver where flames have already scorched more than 3,000 acres. dry, windy conditions right now are not helping firefighters. you're looking at live pictures via our affiliate kmgh. local crews called for backup and more than 450 firefighters are ordered to the scene today. air support was also called in. emergency crews contacted 900

households, many have been evacuated already. that wildfire is moving fast and it's torched up to 25 homes. the defense department is denying reports that a controversial malaria drug may have played a role in the killing of 17 afghan civilians by army staff sergeant robert bales. the defense department says, "the department-wide review of the prescription practices has no connection to the staff sergeant robert bales investigation. assistant secretary of health affairs jonathan woodson requested this review in january to ensure each service conducts proper screening, patient education and medical documentation." the drug can cause severe psychiatric side effects and has been implicated in numerous military suicides and homicides. a new poll shows that america's support for the war in afghanistan is at an all-time low. the cbs/"new york times" survey show a large majority believe we

should not be involved. less an quarter think we are doing the right thing. numerous presidents have done it before. now it's president obama's turn as the open mike. these remarks to the russian president. >> this is my last election. after my election i have more flexibility. >> i understand you. i transmit this information to vladimir and i stand with you. >> the two leaders were having a supposedly private chat during the nuclear security summit in south korea. here is what mr. obama had to say about it today. >> are the mikes on? what i said yesterday meant i think something that everybody in this room understands. arms control is extraordinarily complex very technical. the only way it gets done if you can consult, build a strong basis of understanding between

countries as well as within countries. >> the president is now on his way back home, due back in d.c. tonight. a beauty contestant booted after organizers found out she was born a boy. 23-year-old jenna, a transgender, was one of the 65 finalists, but got disqualified. the miss universe organization says she lied on her application and did not meet the requirements of being born female to compete. b michigan w is recalling 67,000 cars because of a battery cable in the trunk may have been incorrectly installed. it could lead to electrical problems and fire in extreme cases. if you're affected, you'll be notified by mail and bmw will fix it, no charge.

senseless killing or self-defense? that critical question looming large over the trayvon martin tragedy. new reports about what george zimmerman says happened that day and why he says he was forced to pull the trigger. trayvon's parents head to washington. stay with us, we have more. first, her courage is impossible to forget. stephanie decker. she is finally going home after three weeks in the hospital. you may remember stephanie's the mom who lost her legs while saving her kids from not one but two massive tornados by using her body as a shield. when she finally got home, she was overwhelmed by the kindness of others. >> they stocked my cabinets. they have done absolutely everything for me. i'm very, very appreciative for what everyone has done for me. >> nothing is slowing this mom down either. stephanie is adamant she'll be

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washington to lansing, michigan. new reports are raising new questions about what really happened during the last few minutes of trayvon's life. the "orlando sentinel" says trayvon killer's george zimmerman was bleeding from the nose and back of his head. zimmerman says trayvon attacked him, unprovoked. a long-time friend says zimmerman continues to suffer from that. >> he hasn't been back to his apartment, which is in that complex, ever since that happened. he's being treated for post traumatic stress disorder, for depression, for insomnia. he cried for days after this happened. the george zimmerman i know is not here any more. because he knows that he took someone else's life and he's extremely remorseful. >> athena jones is following the

events in washington. >> in a few hours, the democrat side are hosting what they are calling a forum to look at hate crimes and racial profiling. also to examine the stand your ground law we've been hearing so much about. of course, these new details have emerged. i asked a texas congresswoman whether or not any of that was likely to come up. he said that the whole point of this forum is to look at these issues at the racial profiling, at hate crimes. not really to talk about a specific case. of course, this is all happening in the context of the trayvon martin case. we know that martin's parents are set to be in the audience at this briefing. they are not on the witness list. their lawyer benjamin trump is on the witness list with the american civil libts union from the brady campaign to prevent gun violence and others. we don't know whether someone

will raise this question of what's been revealed why he was suspended. martin's parents believe the reason he was suspended from school has no relevance to what happened on the night of february 26th. >> this all comes as our own cnn polling shows nearly 3/4 of those polled, 73%, 67% whites and 86% nonwhites believe that george zimmerman should be arrested. today's events are just another example how this case is getting national attention. >> we also talked about these protests headed to the white house, demanding a federal investigation. doj is already investigating this, correct? where does that stand? >> certainly, this is all just beginning. as far as we know, we are at the beginning stages of this. you have this group of high school students from a school called the school without walz in washington. they are going to march to the white house in support of trayvon martin. they were very interested in this case.

they started a letter-writing campaign to draw attention to this case. there's already a lot of attention on this case. they just want to add their voices to the mix. a maryland church is going to hold a protest outside the justice department. they are holding what they are calling a justice for trayvon rally. the idea here seems to be just to keep the pressure on to keep the attention on, to make sure that what these investigations carry forward and we learn what is being discovered as we go forward. >> athena jones, thanks so much. 1-3 americans want the supreme court to overturn president obama's health care law. it seems an even larger numberer really don't fuller understand it. in about two minutes, dr. sanjay gupta answers questions for all of us and how that law impacts you. s decide what to do about medicare and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? i've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us,

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right now the supreme court is hearing arguments on a mandate that requires all of us to buy health insurance. here is my question. do all of you really understand what it means for you and your health coverage? what we've realized by dealing with this story is so many of you still don't understand the law or how it's going to affect you. our dr. sanjay gupta is here. i understand you got hundreds of viewer questions, is that right? >> yeah. lots of people very interested in this. you're right. a lot of people still don't understand the details. it's 2,700 pages long this bill. >> did you read all 2,700 pages? >> twice actually. >> i guess you have to. you're a doctor and journalist. >> and it's intricate. you want to make sure you understand it. >> what we did as a group, we put together some of the questions that we thought, okay,

this is perfect. things that were on our mind as well as what you got sent into you. why don't we start with this one. this is a blogger wrote in this one. i keep hearing the new law expands medicaid. why would that be a bad thing? >> it's a good question. medicaid is a joint program with the state's federal government that helps support about 50 million people with health insurance now. you talk about expanding it. raising the income level which people would qualify. that brings more people into the system. the federal government says they will pay for the initial costs, but then it goes to the states to pick up the rest of the costs. that's why part of this lawsuit is happening. it's a bad thing potentially for the states. >> this one from twitter. their daughter was diagnosed with brain disorder. how will repealing the health care law affect pre-existing

condition status? >> pre-existing condition issue is a big one. people are looking forward to that. as the supreme court is listening to these arguments, one thing they are going to decide if we do think this mandate is unconstitutional, can we separate that from the rest of the bill? things like pre-existing conditions that can help her. if they can separate it, maybe the law will stay in effect. also is about money. again, bringing money into the system because you're forcing more people to get health care insurance helps pay for people with pre-existing conditions. if more money is not coming in, it may be difficult for it to stay. >> let's do another question from twitter. isn't preventive care supposed to be free? i received a bill last week after my yearly check-up. judge, that was part of this act, as well. to eliminate co-pays and extra fees. unclear why that would happen. there could be two things. one is that people were grandfathered in under the old insurance plans. this took effect september 2010.

if insurance is before that, they may not get those fees eliminated. depends how your doctor classifies a visit. it could be a preventive visit, but if classified as a sick visit, that could lead to fees. >> i am a medicare patient and received a check to help pay for my prescription drugs. will i get another one? >> this is the so-called donut hole. the way that works, you pay a certain amount of money for medications. you fall into the hole where you're responsible for all the costs. then you get to the other side of the donut where you can get coverage again. they are trying to shrink that hole. this was a one-time check for $250. next year when people fall into that donut hall, they get 50% off brand name drugs. that helps shrink their costs. >> we talked about the fact you read the 2,700 pages twice and dissected it. >> it changed between the two versions. >> as a doctor, step out of the

correspondent role for a moment. as a doctor, what is coming up in your mind over and over again as you're paying attention to the supreme court arguments and also all these questions from our viewers? >> the biggest thing seems to hinge on this mandate. it's a sort of societal question as well as medical question. can you force somebody to buy something? the insurance companies, the reason they are part of this health care reform act because they believe if the mandate takes effect, healthy people will buy health care insurance and that will help them, help the insurance companies pay for everybody else. car insurance is an example, something we are forced to buy. they say that's by states as opposed to federally. my guess is probably it will be held up as constitutional because there are other precedence for this. >> thanks, doc. appreciate it. coming up the next hour, wolf blitzer and ashleigh banfield will hold a special indepth look at the critical questions in the

health care case. here it here today at noon eastern. is it a president or cares or political propaganda? brand-new images from the syrian regime showing bashir assad touring the worst-hit area. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time.

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after 12 bloody months, a glimmer of hope of possible peace. talking about syria. the government accepted the peace plan being offered by u.n. arab league envoy kofi annan. shortly after, syrian state tv aired this. that's president bashir al assad walking the streets. they say his forces relentlessly attacked and shelled. opposition activists the say there are no signs of peace anywhere. they say 53 people were killed today alone. ben is monitoring the situation from beirut.

what can you tell me about assad's visit? >> reporter: it comes as something of a surprise, kyra. normally the syrian president shied away from those parts of the country where there has been unrest. what we know from opponents of the regime is, in fact, that syrian security forces, they say, were in the area the night before, basically clearing people out and replacing them with people from adjacent neighborhoods that are more friendly to the regime. >> obviously, we thought this was unusual and calculated in many ways. it's interesting what you are saying now, how this was conducted. what about the timing? why would he do this today? >> reporter: certainly, given the situation and given the fact the government has been so harshly criticized for its

handling of the uprising, potentially that's one of the reasons why he's there. what we did see in the syrian arab news agency, the official agency of the regime is that he went and told people that law and order and stability must be imposed on the country, but certainly for most syrians, there isn't much law, order or stability at the moment. >> and we continue to see the images. i want to warn our viewers some of these images we just got in are pretty disturbing. while he is saying would be thing, we are seeing this. in particular, the children at this field hospital and the violence we've been talking about today. this is not peaceful at all. >> reporter: those images, very disturbing images is a field hospital where children who live in the neighborhood in homs are being treated. they were injured in an

artillery barrage. i hate to say this has become the normal in homs. they are telling us of continued government crackdown of random shelling of civilian areas, of a civilian population that has very little in the way of power, fuel, electricity or even food. in fact, we got video from homs yesterday showing people eating dry, old bread trying to survive. very jarring compared to the message president assad is putting out on his very orchestrated trip to homs. >> this orchestrated trip, the realities that you have just pointed out, we are also seeing the video. how do we talk about the six-point peace plan and how this would be implemented, what is the reaction on this while we see these images and get these

mixed messages? >> reporter: the opposition already brushed aside this initiative. what this initiative is is a rehash of the arab league action plan from back in november, which took weeks of negotiations with the syrian government who initially agreed to it, to actually begin its implementation. its implementation, if anything, was a harbinger for a further crackdown by the syrian government. the opposition has very little faith in this peace plan, if you want to call it that. it's a peace plan that calls for two hours every day of a humanitarian cease-fire for syrians to be released from prison, who have been arrested over the last year for the beginning of a dialogue with the opposition, but many of the opponent or opposition are simply saying this is too little, too late. it's really old initiative to start with anyway.

>> ben wedeman, thanks so much. sarah palin said she could see russia from her house. now mitt romney, what he is saying about that country. 50 bucks a pop can get you a lot these days. now, it can get you a picture with newt gingrich. first, who was the last republican president to run for re-election as a third party candidate? [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

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before the break, i asked who was the last republican president to run again as a third party candidate? teddy roosevelt. he was president from 1904 to 1908 and lost as the progressive party candidate in the 1912

candidate to woodrow wilson. congrats to greg in atlanta tweeting me the right answer. an open mind can be the president's worst enemy. >> this is my last election. after the election, i have more flexibility. >> i understand you. i transmit this morgues to vladimir and i stand with you. >> this is his opponents' most lethal weapon. the conversation just got more interesting. what stands out more, confidence in another term or how he is dealing with nukes? >> actually, i think it's the first one you said, kyra. i was so surprised at romney's answer here because it should have been romney saying, wow, he's confident he's going to get re-elected and go into his message why he maybe isn't going to get re-elected per romney.

instead he goes on to talk about how russia is actually the united states' number one geopolitical foe, really, romney? you do know we are not in the cold war and this is not the cuban missile crisis. i think romney hurt himself more than the president did on that one. >> let's roll romney's response. >> these are very unfortunate developments, and if if he is planning on doing more and suggest to russia that he has things he's willing to do with them he's not willing to tell the american people, this is to russia. this is, without question, our number one geopolitical foe. >> k gentry, number one geopolitical foe. russia? >> to maria's point, mitt romney didn't respond to the politics. he responded to the substance. the substance is clear here. russia opposed the united states' interests around the world. they supported a murderous

regime in syria. they support iran's nuclear ambitions. they helped iran build a michael defense system, which is precisely what they are asking the united states not to do in eastern europe. did mitt romney say this precisely right? probably not. the point remains, if you want a strong america with a strong president, mitt romney is your guy. if you want a president who will c cowtow to russian bullies. >> if you want a president who understand our foreign policies in this world, you don't want a president who thinks russia is our number one geopolitical foe. >> let's stay on the theme of awkward moments. maybe he was confused. santorum saying things like this. >> he is the worst republican in the country to put up against barack obama. >> but at the same time, santorum is saying that he would

consider second place on the ticket. gentry, how do you explain this? >> well, i think you explain it simply by saying that this nominating contest is clearly in its final phases, and mitt romney is going to be the nominee of the republican party. the santorum campaign clearly is not ready to quite throw in the the towel. this is an indication santorum himself understands the hand writing is on the wall and he and all other republicans are going to unite behind mitt romney as the nominee of our party. mitt romney remembers the guy santorum endorsed as the most conservative in the race four years ago. >> maria? >> i sort of agree with gentry on this. i have to say if santorum continues to try to be the one for conservatives to rally around and continues to say mitt romney is the worst want to put up against president obama on the issue of health care, which frankly he's absolutely right on that because romney care was the nurturing mother of obama care, then it's going to be very

difficult for him to really be considered for the slot of vp, in my opinion. >> gentry mentioned throwing in the towel. let's talk about the fact that newt gingrich now, his campaign is coming forward saying if you want to take a picture with me, it's going to cost you 50 bucks. i'm not kidding. he's charging $50 to have a picture taken with him. guys, is he that desperate for cash? gentry? >> i think he probably is. his campaign has been kept afloat by his federal super pac funded largely by one single individual. whether he knows it or not, his campaign is probably over. the question is about president obama's treatment of his donors. 250 major donors and fundleers have gotten access to the white house, special invitation to events. that is the campaign finance

issue we ought to be talking about here. >> clearly, gingrich, i do think, sees the writing on the wall. look, the guy has to raise money somehow. i think he should consider selling his hair. he's got a great head of hair. he could make more money that way than selling pictures of himself. >> i started doing my research. you guys are supposed to be take one each is supposed to take a side. i went on the internet and found this photo of the two of you with newt. >> i want to know, gentry, how much you paid. maria, i want to know how much you paid. maria? >> newt gingrich paid me to take that picture with him. >> i haven't written my check yet, but he hasn't asked. >> i never knew polaroid was still him. thanks, guys. that's fair game.

3,000 acres are now burning out of control in colorado. take a look at these pictures. several homes have been lost. so far, one life has been lost. we shall talking zero containment as crews are racing to calm these flames. [ male announcer ] considering all your mouth goes through,

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we are keeping a close eye on the fast-moving wildfire in colorado. the situation is growing more urgent today. high winds, dry conditions, fueling the blaze. it torched more than 3,000 acres around an area near denver. that wildfire has already killed one person and is threatening hundreds more. let's get straight to christine chang at our affiliate. an army of firefighters on the scene and talking zero containment? >> reporter: about 3,050 acres have burned from that fire knowned a lower northfork fire. command center is about three miles away from the fire zone. the fire is west of denver in the foot hills about a 30 minute drive from here. 15 to 25 homes we are talking

about here were likely destroyed in the fire. that number could go up as the wind picks up today. hopefully not by much because it is calmer right now. you saw in the video earlier from the air, you can see some of the houses, unfortunately, completely gone. talking about ashes here, for some just the con treat left standing. 900 homes evacuated. we are expecting 450 firefighters locally in colorado along with out of state, as well. we got word that crews are in around from utah, arizona, along with north dakota, to help fight this fire. winds right now, you can tell it's calmer. it's probably between 5 to 10 miles per hour compared to the 30 or 40 we saw yesterday. as for the cause of the fire at this time, the sheriff's county, jefferson county sheriff's department telling us there was a controlled burn here in the same area last week.

is there a chance it wasn't completely put out and that combined with the wind yesterday could have easily blew up this fire to the degree that it is right now. so far again, 3,050 acres burned from here. >> christine chang from our affiliate kmgh, thank you so much. before we head to break, want to clear something up. in a tease earlier, we wrote that sarah palin said she could see russia from her house. that was not the case. that was actually tina fey that sad that with a "saturday night live" skit. blurring of late-night tv and reality. sorry about that, folks. still ahead today, jeremy lin's got nothing on this guy. up-and-coming basketball star who made a shot you have got to see to believe. did i mention he's in the third grade? i'm freaking out man.

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the markets are taking a breather after yesterday's triple-digit rally on wall street. right now, you can see the dow industrials down about 5 1/2 points. if you don't like stocks, take a look at houses. a new report shows that home prices have fallen to their lowest levels in more than nine years. other stories making news at street level. first to vermont where police believe they found the body of a missing teenager. a single mom reported missing on sunday. police found her suv a short do distance from the home and her 2-year-old found inside.

police are not saying where that body was found, but an autopsy is being done today. in new orleans, an outcry on one cop's take on the trayvon martin case. an officer suspended without pay posted this online. "act like a thug, die like one." martin is the unarmed florida teen who was shot to death by a block watch volunteer who claims he acted in self-defense. the new orleans chapter of the naacp was due to brief a report earlier this hour. in orange county, florida, the investigation into the hazing death of a florida a&m university student is finished. 26-year-old robert champion a brand drum major died after he was beaten on a bus in november. sheriff's office interviewed over 40 people regarding this case. it's now in the hands of prosecutors who will make a decision on possible charges. the people in charge of college admission tests say they learned a thing or two about cheating and how to stop it. in the aftermath of a scandal over kids paying other kids to

take the s.a.t. or e.c.t., authorities announced a simple fix. starting in the fall, test takers will have to upload photos of themselves along with their applications. the pics will be printed on add mix tickets so be sure the kids they say they are. >> and folks in illinois are a mouse click away from buying a mega millions ticket. that's right. you can buy them online. no more tickets to keep track of. illinois became the first state to do it on sunday, we're told in a few hours there were more than $6,000 in sales. >> keys, oklahoma, a long way from the final four. give you a stin some time. >> austin. >> that's right. half court at the buzzer, you saw that shot before. but never from a third-grader. austin's team closed out the

third quarter up 21-4. >> moving on to portland, oregon. a dramatic rescue. the horse was grazing in her pasteur when she fell into an old septic tank which collapsed under her weight. 34-year-old roxie was going into shock. firefighters were able to get her out except for cuts and bruises she seems to be fine. >> mitt romney headed to the west coast today to help fatten his campaign wallet. he's not getting the warm welcome he might have wanted. we'll explain coming up next. first, bobby brown, a name synonymous with train wreck. proving once again why. brown got himself arrested yesterday in l.a. charged with dui. really, bobby? your daughter just lost her mother, your ex-wife last month. large part to drug abuse. sure, bobbi kristina is 19 but she needs a parents. a responsible parent. someone who can guide her in the

years ahead, help her deal with her mother's death. she's only got you and already you're showing what you're about. again. >> we know it's always been your prerogative to do what you want to do, but you should grow up. be a dad. bobby brown, you're 15 minutes are up. ♪

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numerous presidents have done it before, now it's president obama's turn to make an open mike gaffe in remarks to the russian president. >> this is my last election. after my election i have more flexibility. >> i understand you. i transmit this information to vladamir. >> so here's the deal. the two leaders were supposedly having a private conversation during the nuclear security summit in south korea. here's what mr. obama had to say about it today. >> first of all are the mikes on? what i said yesterday is i think something that everybody in this room understands. arms control is extraordinarily complex, very technical, and the only way it gets done is if you

can consult and build a strong basis of understanding, both between countries as well as within countries. >> the president is now on his way back home, due in d.c. tonight. >> checking our latest delegate count for the republican presidential candidates, mitt romney has a 2-1 lead over rick santorum. newt gingrich and ron paul trailing way behind in third and fourth place. the next contest for delegates isn't until april 3, so what are the candidates doing with all of their free time? one is on the money stump in l.a. we'll talk about romney but peter e while i have you, newt gingrich, 50 bucks a pop to take a picture with him? seriously? >> he needs it. he absolutely needs it. newt gingrich has a lot of staff, he has a lot of consultant it is, has to do pay roll. at the end of the day your super

pac can only get you so much. you have to run a campaign. whatever works for speaker gingrich, kyra. >> i want to see who is getting these pictures taken and if they are bargaining, like could we get two photos here for $25. i mean, peter, you have to investigate this and let us know how it's going. >> don't forget, newt gingrich is a political celebrity along with being a presidential candidate he can attract crowds. this is a nice way to leverage that, perhaps. >> taking advantage. all right. let's talk about mitt romney now. what's the deal? >> well, mitt romney like you said, free time. he thinks he can afford to take a little down time and raise money. he burned through most of the money he raised last m. he is in california today at a fund-raiser. he had a fun razorment he was greeted by protesters unfortunately for him. he will spend the rest of the week in texas raising money. there are big bucks there. basically the romney campaign is

comfortable where they are at. they know they can't let up. 3 have a comfortable enough delegate lead and even going on "the tonight show" with jay leno tonight. from this small grass roots donors that are kind of giving more to rick santorum and newt gingrich. >> and what about the fact that romney's camp is spending so much money on ads in wisconsin. it's a little deja vu, yes? >> yeah. exactly. the april 3 primary on tuesday, the familiar pattern is playing out here that has played out in other states. the romney campaign bought about $700,000 of ad time through tuesday, the super pac supporting mitt romney has spent almost $2 million.

the santorum campaign spent a tiny fraction of that on ads there. the romney campaign and his allies outspending santorum 6-1 in wisconsin. this happened in many states, most of the ads are negative. they want to disqualify rick santorum in the minds of those who might be sympathetic. he is going town to town, beaver dam and janesville trying to get his face on local television to help make up for that ad spending disparity. >> peter, thanks so much. i don't know, mike, if we can take a shot. i'm sandwiched in between sanjay gupta and elizabeth cohen. am i okay? >> we're here to help. >> i'm not having an anxiety attack. >> in all seriousness -- they are doing fabulous, thank you so

much. the specialists are going to be talking about health care and what's happening at the supreme court. so i'll kind of groove my way out of here and let you take over. thank you for watching everybody. a special edition continues with these guys and wolf blitzer and ashleigh banfield. >> the united states supreme court gets down to the heart of the matter in one of the biggest cases in more than a decade. the court is deciding the fate of the sweeping health care reform law and the future of your medical care. i'm wolf blitzer in washington, suzanne malveaux is on assignment. >> i'm ashleigh banfield in nrk. welcome to cnn's special coverage, health care on trial. we're bringing you the latest in what is sure to be a landmark case. we're also explaining what it

all means for you. >> it's a huge day here in washington, ashleigh. our viewers are looking at live pictures from outside the supreme court where the justices have just finished listening to two hours of arguments. the focus is on the main issue of the case, the individual mandate as it is called. it requires almost all americans to have health insurance scheduled to take effect in 2014. and imposes a financial penalty for not having health insurance. >> cnn has the resources to cover this like no one else can. we have two reporters inside the courtroom at the supreme court for today's arguments. they will join us as soon as they can get out of the arguments and get in front of a camera. but not only that, gloria borger has the big picture on all of the political implications and there are many. also jessica yellin and what this means for the president and jim acosta for the republican

candidates. dana bash is covering a protest rally. dr. sanjay gupta is answering questions about this health care reform law. and elizabeth cohen has the story of a little girl who has suffered hundreds of life threatening seizures and what this particular law means for her and her family. >> a great team standing by, ashleigh. president obama fought hard to get health care reform, passed through the house and the senate, signed into law two years after he signed that legislation he now faces the possibility, it's a real possibility, that the united states supreme court potentially at least could overturn parts or even all of the law. it's one of the most politically charged issues in the presidential race as well. the president's republican rivals all promising to repeal the law if they are elected. our chief political analyst gloria borger joins us along with jessica yellin over at the white house. jessica, the president and top democrats spent a huge amount of

political capital on health care reform. how big of a blow would it be if, if the court were to throw out all or part of the law? >> it would be a massive blow, wolf, this is is the president's signature domestic policy achievement as you point out he spent an enormous amount of political capital on this issue. and it was the issue around which the tea party coalesced against the president. there would be a way that they could message for the campaign in response to defeat in the supreme court, but it would be a big blow. i should say, wolf, they are confident at the white house that they will not lose on this issue and that is because two conservative lower court judges sort of stalwarts in the conservative judicial bench, upheld the mandate so they think they will prevail at the supreme court. but you know, who knows. we'll wait and see. >> yes. stand by for a moment. we're going to get back to you.

i want to bring in gloria. our new cnn international poll showed that 23% of americans say the supreme court should leave the health care law as it is, 43%, though, want the court to overturn at least some provisions. 30% want them to overturn the entire law. the country is really pretty divided when it comes to this health care law, isn't it. >> sure. the country's very divided on it. if you ask a question overall, do you like mandates, which is at the heart of the argument before the supreme court, a majority of the country says they don't like these mandates. the problem, wolf, for people to judge this is that first of all, the mandates haven't taken effect. they don't take effect until 2014. so what they are hearing are the political arguments on both sides about the mandates. let me be a little counter intuitive on this. i think that you could make the political case that whoever loses could get a good political argument to take to the voters

in the fall. i agree with jessica that the president doesn't want to lose on the mandate issue before the supreme court. but let's say he does. he can then use it to rally his base around him and say this is why i need to be able to appoint more justices to the supreme court, and if mitt romney is the nominee and if this issue were to go against him, he could say this is why we need more republicans in the congress, you know. losing tends to mobilize people. so while the white house clearly doesn't want to lose, if they did lose this case, it wouldn't be the end of their political argument, would just be the start of another political argument. >> jessica, why hasn't the president, the vice president, other top administration officials, kathleen sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, why haven't they been flooding the airwaves over these weeks on the second

anniversary of this law trying to explain why it's so beneficial to the american public from their perspective? they have been pretty silent. >> they have been remarkably silent and left it to the campaign. the obama campaign has itself been doing the messaging on this with a new effort to reframe obama care as a positive with these t-shirts that say obama cares, et cetera. i would point out in response to what gloria said they will no doubt if they lose, try to position this as an argument that this court is far too political and this is a reason why the obama team needs to be re-elected. but it would be cold comfort for the president because wolf, it would go to the republicans' credibility argument and that this is a president who spent so much political capital, constitutional scholar who couldn't even determine the constitutionality of his own chief domestic policy achievement. it would be a blow to his

leadership claims and you know, they want to be able to tot the fact they expanded coverage to 2.5 millian americans, expanded care, et cetera. so again, it would be a major blow to them and they are watching this case intently today, wolf. >> and they certainly have a case to make. but i've been surprised over these past weeks they haven't made a major effort to go out and sell it to make the case. but we'll have more on this coming up. i want both of you to stand by, jessica and gloria. ashleigh, i must say that i've covered a lot of supreme court decisions, certainly since bush versus gore, gore versus bush in 2000, maybe citizens united which allowed these super pacs to raise these sums, this is the most important issue before the court right now. there is so much at stake. >> you know, i asked an expert earlier, the author where he puts this in the array of significance, he said take bushes have gore 2000 add

watergate, add it up, still bigger. so we have a lot more to come on this story and we also have a rundown of what's going to come up shortly. first let me get to jeffrey toobin who is our chief justice correspondent who has been able to get out of the supreme court hearings, get to a camera position to talk to us. he's live on the steps of the supreme court building. you can hear me? if you can, go to it. >> i hear you fine. >> tell me everything. >> this was a train wreck for the obama administration. this law looks like it's going to be struck down. i'm telling you, all of the predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong. justice kennedy, the swing vote, was enormously skeptical. justice alito, justice scalia, were skeptical. justice thomas didn't say anything but we know his position on the issue. the only conservative justice who looked like he might uphold the law was chief justice

roberts who asked hard questions of both sides. all four liberal justices tried as hard as they could to make the arguments in favor of the law, but they were -- they did not meet with their success with their colleagues. most surprising to me perhaps, donald ver rily, the solicitor general, did a simply awful job defending the law. he was nervous, he was not well spoken. the argument got off to a very bad start for the administration. and it was really the liberal justice who is carried the argument much more than the lawyer. the argument that seemed to give justice kennedy the most trouble and he is of course as we know the swing vote in so many issues, justice kennedy practically his first question out of the box was, we know that congress can regulate commerce. but can congress create

commerce? can -- and donald verilli had difficult answering that, he said no, but we're not creating commerce here. there was a lot of discussion of the issue, the liberal justices kept making the point that we discussed many times, that people who refuse to buy health insurance are in fact part of the health insurance market. they are in fact imposing costs on the taxpayer. and paul clement representing the 26 states challenging the law, responded that if you believe that not acting is commerce, there's no limiting principle to that. and certainly the conservative justices were very responsive to that argument. paul clement i thought did a really excellent job attacking the law. and if i had to bet today i would bet that this court is going to strike down the individual mandate. the only possibility i saw -- >> this is not at all what i was

expecting. i want to ask you this. this is a mammoth task for one man. this is a mammoth task for the solicitor general. many saying going into two hour as day is huge. is this a factor of not having the right material, not having a good argument or not being prepared and just having a bad day? >> i think -- i can't answer that. i don't know why he had a bad day. he is a good lawyer, he was a perfectly fine lawyer in the really sort of tangential argument yesterday. he was not ready for the answers for the conservative justices. i don't want to overstate the importance of the arguments. the justice, they know the law, they are not going to be persuaded in the vast majority of cases but it does affect the dynamic in the courtroom. and you know, it was 15 minutes before a liberal justice even spoke. justice scalia was you know,

asking donald verilli a question that has been part of the pop culture, which is you know, if this law is constitutional, could congress pass a law to require everybody to eat broccoli because that affects the health market. and donald verilli said no in a halting way. those were the arguments. justice alito asked could the government require burial insurance to be purchased by everyone because after all everyone's going to die. and justice breyer who was one of the most outspoken defenders of the law, said of course they could require them to buy burial insurance if congress thought it was a national problem. and you know, this was a fight among the justices. you had breyer, ginsburg, sotomayor, kagan in all kinds of

ways trying to justify the law. alito and scalia attacking it at every opportunity. kennedy didn't speak that much but every comment kennedy made at least that i heard, was skeptical of the law. the wild card in this argument was chief justice roberts. chief justice roberts actually asked a lot of hard questions of paul clement and seemed interested in the argument that look, this is a national problem of uninsured people that imposes costs on the national economy. couldn't congress choose to regulate that problem. roberts seemed like a much more likely vote to uphold the law than kennedy was. >> jeff, it's wolf. this is really huge. what you're saying and you're an authority on the u.s. supreme court. you have written the major book on the current supreme court, the nine, so you fully understand. but just because a justice is

asking tough questions, let's say of the government lawyer, mr. verilli in this case, that doesn't necessarily mean that that justice is going to come down on the other side. isn't that right? >> it's true, but it's not very true, wolf. it used to be when i started coming to supreme court arguments in the late 1980s you would see justices sort of play devil's advocate and say isn't it true this, true that. and that wasn't reflective of their feelings. starting under chief justice rehnquist and continuing under chief justice roberts you don't see that much on the part of the justices. it's pretty much what you see is what you get. yes, it is true that sometimes we're surprised by the justices' votes after hearing their comments at oral argument. most of the time and it's not all the time but most of the time the questions that the justices ask at oral argument are very good predictors of how

they are going to vote. and based on that, based on what we saw today, i think this law is in grave, grave trouble. >> let me ask you one follow-up on that, jeffrey. what if the four liberal justices all vote to uphold the law, and the chief justice roberts agrees with them because you were suggesting earlier that the questions he was asking of clement and verilli seemed to suggest that he was open to that. it would be a 5-4 decision in favor of up holding the law. >> that's exactly right. and i think that is what they are hoping for in the obama administration. the people who heard that argument, and you know, i haven't spoken to any one else, i just rushed out here. but i am certain that they think their winning coalition if they had one, is roberts plus the four liberals, not kennedy plus the four liberals. they could surprise us, i could be wrong in how i interpreted

this. there was no doubt that the four liberals supported the law. you couldn't possibly -- it's inconceivable any of the four liberals are going to vote that this is unconstitutional. however, i don't know if they have a fifth vote. i think kennedy is a lost cause after listening to his comments. roberts is to me, to what i heard, the only possibility. and that would certainly be a big surprise to see him joining with the liberals in such an important case. but based on the comments i think that's the only hope for this law being upheld. >> jeffrey, stand by. i know kate baldwin was inside. we're going to bring her in. we have our reporters i think it's fair to say we're following breaking news out of the united states supreme court right now, much more coming up. history unfolding on this important day in washington, d.c. we'll be right back.

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now get most preventive care for free like annual wellness visits, immunizations, and some cancer screenings. and that's when they caught something serious on mine. but we could treat it before it was too late. i'll be around to meet number two! get the screenings you need. learn more at healthcare.gov. you don't want to miss any of this! >> welcome back. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we're watching health care on trial. >> i'm ashleigh banfield in new york. the u.s. supreme court getting down to the central issue in an epic legal battle over health care reform in this country. today the court just wrapping up two hours of arguments over the law championed by president obama. focus today is on the so-called individual mandate. that's the thing that would require almost every american to have and purchase health

insurance. >> our correspondent kate baldwin has been inside listening to the arguments as well as our senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. he was inside as well. kate, we heard from jeffrey. give us your sense of first of all the atmosphere in that chamber today. >> i think i at least was surprised, i'm sure jeff would agree, speaking with other reporters, surprised how unexpectedly partisan it seemed in there. they were sharply divided. some very clear suggestions from the more conservative justices that they believe that this law, the individual mandate especially, just went too far. the line of questioning from the conservatives, they came out of the gate so fast when the solicitor general was at the podium, just peppering him with questions, jeff probably mentioned that the more liberal justices didn't ask a question until about 10 minutes in i believe or so. in the real line of questioning

that i heard over and over again they kept returning to the question of where is the boundary, where is the limit. if this is allowed under the powers -- as a power of congress under the commerce clause of the constitution, where do they stop as chief justice roberts said, once this allowed under the commerce clause this law, this individual mandate, all bets are off he said in the courtroom. and there are hypothetical that they are trying to test the limit, trying to test the line on how far something will go talking about can you force people to eat broccoli, can you force people to exercise, force people to buy a cell phone in the event that they need to call for emergency services. just some of the hypotheticals they were throwing out. once the attorney paul clement stepped up to the podium representing the 26 states challenging the law, liberals came out of the gate peppering him with questions. trying to make the case, it was clear to them, that the government here is not forcing

someone to enthor into the health care market, that it exists, they are in the health care market because every american at some point is going to need medical care and that you can see they were trying to make the case. i noted that it seemed justice breyer made some lengthy questions, they were actually statements in the form of questions, it almost seemed he was trying to speak with maybe chief justice roberts, maybe trying to make the case to justice kennedy in trying to make the case to pull them over to their side to try to get a fifth. will that happen? if i had to give my impression, i'm careful to try to not make a guess, i would say they may not be able to pull -- conservatives may have the majority in this one. >> i want you to wax more on that broccoli question because that's getting a lot of traction, it seems to make sense for americans. if the government can force me to buy something i don't want, health care, then can they go farther and can they force me to buy broccoli because it, too, is good for me. did you get any indication and

i'm going to bring the idea that jeff toobin was talking about, did you get indication from chief justice john roberts on the question of boundaries? >> the only indication that i would say i got that he constantly was trying to ask for the boundary. where is the limit here, where is the limit here. and every time that the question was brought up another hypothetical was brought up it seemed, appeared that the conclusion was all bets are off. that line from chief justice roberts sticks in my head. not only in the terms of the broccoli argument if you will but the exercise hypothetical is a good one as well. i believe it was brought up by justice scalia who said if this is good for everyone to be part of the health care market, maybes -- will improve everyone's health, they will be able to afford it, why can't you force people to exercise. because exercise is directly linked with having better health. it would bring down premiums, lower the cost of health care across the board.

why can't the government compel people to exercise. that was one of the hypotheticals thrown out there as well. >> jeffrey, i don't understand, you made a point earlier that the solicitor general donald verrilli didn't do an excellent job answering these conservative justices' questions as if he had not been prepared. but none of these arguments are new arguments, jeff. we've been hearing these for months if not years including the broccoli argument and all of these arguments. i don't understand how a solicitor general can go before these nine justices and not have the answers that would uphold this law. why wasn't he better prepared? >> well, it beats the heck out of me. the solicitor general's office is a repeat player in the supreme court. their lawyers argue frequently. they tend to be the best

advocates. the solicitor general is a political appointee, is not someone part of the career. elena kagan was the solicitor general before she was appointed to the court. neil catia was acting for a while. donald vir ril verrilli is new job. i think he was just nervous. i think you know, it was a high stakes argument and he didn't do well. as you point out none of these questions were shockers out of left field given how much this case has been discussed. even in the everyday world in which we operate, much less the very legally focused solicitor general's office. that's why it was such a surprise that he did so badly because none of these questions were so surprising to any one who followed this case. >> also -- >> we know that paul clement --

>> sorry. >> go ahead. finish your thought. >> i was saying, this is -- this is entering into kind of a new area of legal territory, although you're talking about a conflict that's existed for a century or so, state's rights versus the federal authority, federal leverage, the federal government leverage. it did appear that the justices, especially the conservative justices even suggested it in court that they said the burden of proof is on the obama administration. they definitely didn't come in saying we're going to start with the assumption that this is what it is and clement needs to prove it's unconstitutional. it definitely seemed apparent right out of the gate that they were -- they wanted to force verrilli to prove there is a limit, this is constitutional and it is within the authority of the commerce clause. >> the liberal justices seem to have been doing a better job

defending the law than the solicitor general was doing, you got a serious problem here before these justices. everybody stand by. go ahead, jeff. >> i wanted to say paul clement who was solicitor general in the george w. bush administration really did, i thought, a superb job in attacking the law. there were problems in his argument because there are substantive problems in his argument that he did his best to explain. but in terms of skill i thought he did a wonderful job. >> clement did a wonderful job. verrilli not so much. that's a huge problem for the law right now. we're not going to get a final decision probably until middle or end of june, but the stakes clearly are enormous. everyone stand bit. we'll continue the breaking news coverage from the united states supreme court right after this. [ kyle ] my bad.

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we're following the breaking news out of the united states supreme court, a critical moment in the nation's health care debate. if the u.s. supreme court decides that the so-called individual mandate requiring almost everyone to have health insurance is unconstitutional extension ever federal authority, the entire law starts falling apart. so how does that play out politically for president obama and republican presidential candidates? let's bring in our political panel. democratic strategic jamal simmons, also crystal wright. thanks for coming in. jamal, you heard jeffrey toobin say that the government solicitor general did apparently a poor job defending the law. paul clement who is arguing

against the mandate did a very good job. how worried are you now that this supreme court, these nine justices, by a majority will overturn health care reform? >> well, first of all, it's got to be tough to be the lawyer who argued the case and have everyone believe that you didn't -- though you may have had a good case you didn't present it well. so you got to have sympathy for him. in the political aspect of this, though, i think that this is something that you could argue either direction. if the president loses this battle he gets to take his case to the country and say we've got to fight to preserve what we can preserve and go back it is a it. if he wins he says we were right. i'd rather be on the winning side than the losing side and i think the white house probably feels the same way. >> you would rather -- of course be on the winning side. crystal, you weigh in. >> politically it would be better to win this argument. but i think you can try to salvage a political position if you lose. it's just not a good position to be in. >> sounds like a stretch but

what do you think, crystal? >> you know, i think jamal is trying to put lipstick on a pig there because as we heard, the conservative justices aren't buying this argument that the federal government has the constitutional authority to force americans to buy anything. force us to go on a diet, force us to buy broccoli, and for barack obama this was his trophy initiative. if this, you know, if he loses this thing and the supreme court strikes down the individual mandate it's going to be a boon, i think, for republicans going into the presidential election, i mean, into the race. and what we know is, in 2008, barack obama was blasting hillary clinton for promoting an individual mandate and penalties if americans didn't sign up for health insurance. so hey, it's going to be great for us, it's looking brighter by the day. >> you remember jamal, because all of us remember that as a senator, as a candidate,

president obama was against the individual mandate before as president he started to support it and made sure it was part of the law. so that's potentially an embarrassment for him. >> disaster. >> you are absolutely right. it is potentially an embarrassment for the president. the problem for the republicans is that their nominee is probably going to be mitt romney and he has the misfortune of having implemented a mandate in massachusetts for their health plan so it makes him an imperfect messenger to try to prosecute this case. rick santorum would have a better political position. >> i want to play a clip of mitt romney yesterday talking to me about health care reform and the mandate. listen to this. >> i will repeal obama care and i'll stop it in its tracks on day one, i believe it's unconstitutional, i believe the court will find it unconstitutional, and one more thing i'll tell you about it. we can't afford trillions of dollars of new federal spending.

>> president's top adviser says mitt romney is actually the god father of the individual required mandates because he supported it as governor of massachusetts and now he's backing away from. crystal, how is he going the deal with it if he's the republican nominee? >> the way he's dealing with it now by talking about the huge cost of obama care, and how it's a disastrous and unconstitutional. and i think that what he's also you're going to see mitt do is he's going to reflect back on romney care and say hey, you know, i think we're going to have to see him come out unequivocally and say it was the wrong choice for massachusetts. now that i've had time away from it, it was wrong and the fact that the supreme court has knocked down the individual mandate you know, it's even clearer to me in my mind that romney care was the wrong choice. i think we're going to see mitt romney say that. but he's saying the right thing, you know, and i don't see it

being a liability for him. only 6% of republicans even rank the obama care as high on their list of who they are going to vote for for nominee. he's going into this strengthened. >> you may think, crystal, that romney if in fact he's the nominee is going to back away, going to repudiate mandates that he supported in massachusetts. i would be very surprised. he had numerous opportunities over the past year or so to do so, he's defended what he did in massachusetts, he maintains it's okay for a state to have these individual mandates but different for the federal government. >> but i think going in -- right. but if the supreme court comes down and finds the individual mandate unconstitutional, i think we're going to see mitt romney have an even tougher stance on romney care and i think we'll see him repudiate it. i really believe that. because going in as the nominee against barack obama that's what he's going to have to do. >> we'll see.

>> i'm not sure he can make. >> stand by. stand by. i want to go back to ashleigh. you can see not only the stakes for every american as far as health insurance are enormous but the political stakes are significant as well. >> yeah, significant with this upcoming election. i want to get back to the supreme court where jeffrey toobin is standing by along with michael korvin, one of the lawyers reaching the national federation of business, a party to the lawsuit. i want to ask you right away, jeff toobin immediately came out from hearing the arguments today and said this was a train wreck for the obama administration. that must be music to your ears. >> well, i don't want to either confirm or deny what jeff said. i don't make predictions how the court's going to vote. i think they did hone in on the relevant issues. i think we got a lot of good answers and i think the solicitor general was unable to coherently articulate a limiting

principle which could explain why if they compel you to buy this they can't compel you to buy any product. >> we say this over and over, it's not as though these arguments have not been out there. they have not only been talked about but litigated. i want to draw your attention to the u.s. court of appeals district of columbia, the conservative leaning court that found that this was a constitutional law. why were the arguments different today in those hallowed halls than in the district of columbia court? >> well, the d.c. circuit arguments the government could articulate a limiting principle either. for some strange reason that didn't bother judge silverman. i think it's going to bother a lot of the justices because the basic premise of our system is the federal government has limits on its power. if you can't articulate those then we know your analysis has to be wrong. >> to the 11th circuit out of atlanta where the opposite happened, the argument different then, was anybody better or

worse prepared because that court struck it down. >> right. i argued in the 11th circuit along with paul clement. and no, i think look, every judge and justice that's been involved in this case understands the stakes, understands the issues, everyone's taking it very seriously. and the questions are largely along the lines of, where does the government get the power to compel to you buy product a, and if they have that power here why don't they have it everywhere. i think the strength of our case is that we explain why they don't have the power and the government can't explain why they wouldn't have the power in other circumstances. >> are you arguing tomorrow? >> i am going to sit next to paul clement and root him on. >> so let me talk about -- >> i'm not. >> you won't be but you'll be there for moral support. what about day three? does that give an opportunity at all for a save for the solicitor general or do you move on to the next issue and this one's done? >> well, the next issue is very

very important. which is, if you strike down the individual mandate what happens to the rest of the act? paul will clearly articulate if you cut out the heart of the act, really the rest has got to go or producing a result that congress never intended. the justice department, the solicitor general would agree, the strike down actor parts of the act. so i think tomorrow will be almost as interesting as it was today. >> jeff toobin, is it going to be as interesting or going to be absolutely god stopping because if there is an opportunity at any point to do save work on what happened will the solicitor general try to edge that in or does he have to move on and take his lumps? >> well, i think certainly the solicitor general, they are going to go back to their offices licking their wounds and try to figure out how to salvage something. but it is true that the court is really moving on to a different subject tomorrow. they are disciplined about when they say they are going to

discuss subject a that's what they talk about. yesterday they talked about the issue of is this case premature and the issue of the merits did not come up. tomorrow's case is somewhat more related to the issue of is the law constitutional, so it will be closer to the merits and will have a better sense of the justices' viewpoints. but you know, this was two hours of argument today. that's double the normal case. so it wasn't like there wasn't time to make a lot of important cases -- points today. today was the data defend the constitutionality of the law, and i don't think the obama administration did a very good job. again, the oral arguments don't always determine or don't often determine the outcome, but it's better to have a good day than a bad day. the solicitor general had a bad day. >> this was not the day to not bring your best game. if you wouldn't mind sticking around we've been talking about arcane terms whether it's constitutionality of a very complex law, whether it's burden of proof or whether it's the

commerce clause, we can make this more simple for you. our dr. sanjay gupta comes in after the break. he's going to answer your questions. orld needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪ it's a smart way to go. i bathed it in miracles. director: [ sighs ] cut! sorry to interrupt. when's the show? well, if we don't find an audience, all we'll ever do is rehearse. maybe you should try every door direct mail. just select the zip codes where you want your message to be seen, print it yourself, or we'll help you find a local partner and you find the customers that matter most. brilliant. clifton, show us overjoyed. no, too much. jennessa.

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30% of americans want the u.s. supreme court to overturn president obama's entire health care law but it seems even larger number simply don't understand how the law works. how does the law really impact

you? our chief medical correspondent the author of the former white house fellow dr. sanjay gupta is joining us with answers. we've got a lot of people who are confused and you've been hearing our reporting on what happened today, the dramatic news out of the supreme court. it looks according to jeffrey toobin like there is a real possibility that the justices could overturn the law. that would mean a lot. let's get to specific questions. viewers have submitted and they would love to you answer. here's one we got via twitter. realistically how will the individual mandate work with so many people unemployed? how would it control costs? sanjay. >> there are a couple of questions there. one thing i add on to what you were saying, the next question i think people are going to ask is can they sever this mandate from the rest of the bill f. they sever it the mandate goes away, the bill may stay intact though hard to fund which is something that comes up a lot.

>> follow-up, before that you make a good point. let's discuss it for a moment. without the mandates, and all of the younger healthier people that would have to buy health insurance, it would be prohibittively costly to continue this entire health care reform law, wouldn't it. >> yes. that's the sort of nuts and bolts of it. younger healthier people will pay into the system, and the additional money will offset the cost of adding people who are sicker, who have had -- been denied coverage for various reasons. that's how it sort of works. there is this potential for severeability, you sever the mandate, leave things such as no discrimination for pre-existing conditions, for children as part of the law. it would be hard to pay for as i said but that's sort of an option out there. >> so let's answer the question from this person about realistically how will the individual mandate work with so many unemployed. >> i think there are two

questions. if you are unemployed, people are used to employer-based health care. you don't have that right now. so you have to buy insurance on the open market which is -- can be very expensive. that's one of the big criticisms. in 2014 what would happen this individual mandate f this goes through again, the individual mandate would be in place, people would be forced to buy health care, they could buy it on the open market on one of these exchanges, if it's so expensive they would get subsidies at that point to try and offset costs. so the unemployed would have this option that could be subsidized under the plan. >> under the new law that went into effect a couple years ago. pre-existing conditions would no longer be a barrier to being able to get health insurance. here is a question from a viewer. would my pregnancy be considered a pre-existing condition? >> so this is interesting. again, sort of two points to this. pregnancy, there have been these awful stories where pregnancy was deemed a pre-existing

condition by insurance company and therefore the care, cost of care was denied. in 2014 all pre-existing conditions can no longer be discriminated against. what has happened now is that there is no discrimination when it comes to children and so technically we're talking about the baby here in terms of the baby's care so there wouldn't be discrimination against the baby's care at this point either. >> here is another question from e-mail. i had the flu last week and couldn't get in to my family doctor. i ended up going to the e.r., the emergency room. how does the new law help fix this problem. that's really the most expensive way to get routine medical help, they go to the emergency room. >> it happens a lot. for seemingly problems that could be dealt with in the doctor's office people go to the emergency rooms. i don't know there is a good answer to this person's question. you need more primary care doctors, as things stand now. we are expected to have a shortfall of over 20,000 in the

next couple years. now imagine you're adding more and more patients to the system because they are newly insured. obviously they want their health care, they should get their health care but there's not enough doctors so i think there is a push to try and train more primary care doctors, also a push to create a new model of community centers for example where people could get more basic health care versus going to big hospital e.r.s. >> dr. sanjay gupta, don't go too far away. congratulations, your new book, a novel, a "new york times" bestseller now. how excited are you. >> no one was more surprised than me, wolf. writing a novel is a vulnerable thing. to have people read your stories like that and like it, it's a nice thing. it's a bit surprising for me. >> maybe a novel and it's a great read but i learned a great deal about our health care system, the hospitals, monday mornings, in hospitals. you are doing a great job for us. don't go too far. we've got more to discuss, more

viewers sending questions in to you right now. you can tweet sanjay@sanjay gupta. cnn@sanjay gup ta. that's place to tweet him. we've got a lot more to cover. the breaking news out of the united states supreme court, the justices all nine of them, they heard arguments this morning. according to jeffrey toobin our senior legal analyst the government did not do a very good job defending the law, the opposition representing more than half of the states did do a good job. we'll continue after this. mmmm. ...and a touch of sweetness. you'll be delighted to discover how good they taste.

we are covering a landmark

day at the supreme court. it is day two of three grueling days of arguments before the nine justices. our jeffrey toobin has described today as a train wreck for the obama administration. meaning that the solicitor general t government's lawyer essentially, did not perhaps do the job that he may have needed to do to convince these nine justices to let this individual mandate get through. and of course there is so much that hinges on that argument. but i want to get to tom goldstein who has argued 24 cases before the supreme court. he's also the founder and publisher of scotus blog.com. everybody is aware you have file add brief for the aarp regarding this legislation and arguing for the law's constitutionality. now that the politics are out on the table i want to ask you, when jeff toobin says this was a train wreck for the administration is there any way for a lawyer to save this or does it actually happen

frequently that justices are rough on those attorneys, and then come out with majority opinion that really surprises? >> it happens. oral arguments do tend to give you good sense of what troubles the justices and generally where they are at. in the case like this one where it's clear that the government has four votes on its side but is searching for the fifth one, it's a little more of a dangerous game. so five of the conservatives clearly troubled by the mandate, clearly troubled by the scope of the administration's argument, searching for a limiting principle. when all five express doubts you come out and think gosh, the mandate is on life support. and that might be an overreading but certainly the plaintiffs, the challengers here, michael carvin you have on, have to believe they had as good a day as was possible. >> where is the burden here? if we're talking about the mandate being on life support, who has the burden of proof here and what is that burden? how large is it and where's the spectrum? >> well, it depends how you look at the case. on the one hand, laws passed by

congress are clearly presumed to be constitutional but on the other hand justice kennedy, the center vote, asked the solicitor general when instrument a law that is so unusual that does something that haents been done before don't you the government bear a special burden of justifying it. so there's no right or wrong answer to who has the burden here. i would say that after this oral argument probably the government has the burden here to articulate the limiting principle and the -- a majority of the supreme court didn't seem today to be persuaded. we'll see what happens when they write an opinion but it was a discouraging day for the government for sure. >> everyone has a bad day and maybe that's the case for the solicitor general in this day of arguments. but it does seem odd to the lay person that those lower appellate court rulings could go so differently and some went very well for the government and you bring these same arguments to the exalted nine and you can have a disastrous day. why is that.

you have done it 24 times. tell me how tough it is. >> it's an intense experience. i don't know that jeff toobin is saying that don did a bad job as a lawyer rather than he faced a tough court. just like the lower courts are divided, the supreme court justices are divided. you have conservatives, liberals, you have different ways ever looking at this problem. the lower courts couldn't agree and clearly the u.s. supreme court's not going to agree. the best you can imagine is that this will be maybe 6-3 for the government and the worst the government will face is 5-4 against. there is a realistic prospect for sure that the supreme court will strike down the mandate which is not what people were predicting. >> what you're saying 5-4, clearly at this point anthony kennedy would have been someone to watch and jeffrey toobin said he was extremely skeptical of the government's attorney in this case but john roberts surprisingly is the wild card. what do you think the chances, tom, are of john roberts, the chief justice who was appointed by a conservative, of actually

siding with the four liberals on this panel? >> it's a real possibility. would probably be something like the chief justice and justice alito maybe with justice kennedy, remember that this is really a question about the scope of federal power and those justices haven't yet taken a very narrow view of federal power. there's a lot of discussion today how the individual mandate is different, that it's a law that makes people do things which is not something the supreme court has faced before. so which way they go, they certainly were more skeptical than favoring the individual mandate. you would never say it couldn't happen. >> tom, while the arguments are tricky they do affect all of us. thanks so much for your perspective. we appreciate it. tom goldstein joining us, founder and publisher of scotus blog. that statement i made it affects all of us. we can't say strongly enough how important it is for people to understand what's happening at the supreme court level. >> sometimes people's eyes glaze over. health insurance, tom goldstein

a smart guy, he understands. but ashleigh, a lot of families simply can't imagine what life would be like without health care reform the law as it stands now. before it passed insurance companies could put a cap on the benefits you could get in your lifetime, $5 million, for instance, that sounds like a lot but with a serious life threatening illness, the money goes very quickly. our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen spoke to one family in this situation. >> these nine supreme court justices will forever affect the life of 3-year-old violet. >> are you worry wlad the supreme court might do? >> i'm really scared. very scared. like i can't sleep scared. >> julie knows if the justices overturn health care reform violet will lose her health insurance. >> tell me why it's scary for you. >> our daughter could die and there's nothing we can do about

it. >> violet was born healthy, then when she was 11 months old she had her first seizure. >> our daughter was completely blue in her crib and shaking. >> it was epilepsy. when seizures strike, violet stops breathing as many as 30 times a day. >> so she has three drugs. and she has an alarm system. and she has oxygen. >> yes. >> this all gets expensive. >> violet has health insurance through her dad matt's work. it's paid for her care including several long expensive hospitalizations. and that's why the mcmanus family will watch the decision so closely. if the court gets rid of health care reform, their insurance company could stop paying for violet's care in as soon as two years. because she will have met her lifetime limit on benefits. >> if you could channel your

thoughts and wishes to the supreme court justices, what would you tell them? >> if i could say anything to them i would say just imagine it happening to your daughter. because it can happen to any one. so you never know. life changes. >> elizabeth cohen is joining us. before the law was passed two years ago more than 100 million americans had these lifetime limits, could these limits come back if the justices throw out what's called the affordable care act? >> right. i think almost certainly these limits would come back because insurance companies aren't charities. why would you want to insure a girl like try 0 let if you don't have to. her care runs into the millions of millions of dollars. if you put a cap on it as a company you make more money and that's what companies are supposed to do. >> elizabeth cohen, what a story. thanks very much. the stakes are enormous.