then performed out there. i. >> enot trying to conquer the world with a shoe line. it's not my trip. >> if you want to hear more, we're always looking to discover unique artists, fresh sounds. tweet us your suggestions for upcoming music mondays at brook b, cnn. top of the hour, i'm in for brooke baldwin today. president obama's health care law goes on trial. the wife of the soldier accused of killing afghan civilians says h he's innocent. and the president's private comments are caught on a hot microphone. time to play reporter roulette. rallies and more as the highest

court in the land begins to hear arguments over whether the affo affordable health care act can require nearly all americans to have health insurance coverage. you'll hear from the justices in just a moment. but first, a congressional correspondent kate baldwin live outside the supreme court. you were inside the courtroom when this was all going on. what happened today? >> what happened today is a bit of what we're calling a bit of the warm-up act to the main event. the question was should they be taking this up now. the individual man date requiring nearly all americans have health insurance in 2014 or they'll take a penalty. in taking that up, they gave pretty clear signals they did not think there was any barriers

taking up the big question of the consequence tunlty of the individual mandate. gave some pretty strong signals in the courtroom. listen here real quick to justice ruth bader ginsberg. she sums up what a majority seemed to agree on. >> this talk about tax penalty is beside the point. this suit is not challenging the penalty. this is a suit challenging the must buy provision. and the argument is made that if indeed must buy is constitutional, then these complain pennants will not resist the penalty. ic see the lauch was legally dense. but what she was summing up there when she said it's beside the point. basically we heard that from a

majority of justices. they're ready not to give too many analogies here, but they're ready to take on the very important constitutional question that really all the crowds that have been out here, and all the signs, what everyone is waiting to hear is for them to start talking and hear oral arguments on the question of the constitutionality of that individual mandate. it seems like we're not putting up any barriers to getting to that point. >> good, if you understand all of that, i give you an a-plus. there's a couple more days of arguments. when is the decision due out? >> as we've been saying, tomorrow is the individual mandate. two hours of oral arguments, that's where everyone has their ey eyes. on wednesday, two issues they'll take up it has to do with size issues. if the individual mandate fall, does the entire health care law fall as well? the expansion of medicaid, sdo the states need to be on the

hook for a share of that cost? despite the marathon public sessions, we're still not going to hear the final opinion coming koun from the justices for likely three months mop. normally something big like this we'll hear sometime in june. everyone is going to have to sit tight, despite all of the talk and all of the excitement over this issue. >> well, not a bad assignment in the meantime. chamber of commerce weather there in washington, kate. >> yeah. thank you. >> great to see you as always. thank you. and just a heads-up, life during this hour, i will speak to the young boy who came the face of this controversial law when he stood next to president obama when the health care bill was signed into law. you're going to find out what he's been doing over the past couple of years. he's 13 now. next on reporter roulette, the wife of the soldier accused of gunning down afghan civilians speaks. chris lawrence sdwroin joins us live. what did she say? >> she said her husband appeared

confused. said he loved children, even compared him to a big kid hymn. listen to what she told "today" show an tor matt lauer. >> you've spoken to him twice on the phone. did you say sweetheart, did you do this? >> no, no. >> as a spouse, wouldn't you want to ask that question, why are they saying these things about you? >> not on a monitored phone call. we couldn't discuss those details. he seemed a bit confused adds to where he was and why he was there. >> will there become a time when you get to see bob and look him straight in the eye and ask him? >> probably. >> so she was clearly concerned ability the military monitoring the call with her husband. and obviously would hope to have a more open honest face to face conversation at some point in the future. there are also new details about the specifics foft attack. what are you hearing? >> officials are saying based on

the investigation that they have been doing, it now afears that staff sergeant bales left the base, went to one village and then came back to the base before going to that second village. that could have big repercussions, not only for how prosecutors prosecute the case, but also the dpvs as well in terms of gauging what his mental state was. when you have to think the prosecutors have charged him with premeditated murder, we're told by legal experts that premeditation doesn't have to be a long time over weeks and month, it could just be a matter of hours. >> chris lawrence, thank you. next, a hot microphone made a very private conversation between presidents obama and russia's medvedev very public. watch. >> an open microphone caught president obama asking russian president dmitry medvedev for space, basically for more time on the issue of the missile

defense system in europe. the reason for that space, election year politics. part of the expang was captured on camera as reporters and cameras entered the room where they had meeting in a one-on-one meeting. coming in for the end of the fol photo op. >> this is a prickly issue for the two countries. u.s. leaders who are leading the missile defense system efforts have said this would not be directed at all towards russia. instead it would protect against a iranian right. a top adviser to president obama acknowledging the difficulty of

making a progress on the missile defense system in an election year. it's an election year for both the u.s. and for russia. saying both prosecute presidents agreed to let technical experts discuss their positions on the matter so that it cowl create space to come to a solution. a resolution at a later date. >> thank you. and that is today's "reporter roulette." trayvon martin was serving a suspension from school on the day he was shot to death. you will hear why. plus, a short time ago, his parents spoke out saying some people are trying to ruin their son's reputation. that's next. all right, let's decide what to

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>> new details in the shooting death of trayvon martin. it's been exactly one month since he was shot to death by a captain. cnn learned he had been suspended from school after a marijuana residue was found inside his book back. and that's why he was visiting his father in sanford, florida. his mother spoke out in the lath hour, watch. >> they've killed my son. and now they're trying to kill his reputation. >> cnn's martin savage is in sanford, florida, where emotions as you saw there are running high. if. >> there are fresh reports coming out that could bolster the self-defense case of george zimmerman, right? >> exactly right. this is information that was first reported in a local

newspaper here in orlando in which they described a fight, apparently, an altercation that took place between george zimmerman and trayvon martin. at least this is according to the version that george zimmerman has given in a statement to authorities as to what happened on the night he fatally shot trayvon martin. and now the police department has confirmed those details. it says that trayvon martin threw one punch at george zimmerman, apparently striking him in the face and knocks him to the ground. reports then go on to say trayvon was over george zimmer man and apparently driving his head into the ground or knocking his head into the ground several times. this would seem to coin side, of course, from the information we already had from zimmerman's attorney who maintained that his client suffered a broken nose and lacerations to the back of his head. and it would also bolster, of course, the self-defense argument that has been put forward by his attorneys.

that's the latest information we've got confirmed by the mr. is. >> right. a lot of people were asking, how exactly whauz he injured? >> the family attorney of ben crump, listen to this and we'll talk to you on the other side. watch. >> trayvon martin was suspended for had absolutely no bearing on what happened on the night of february 26. we told you previously when you asked questions that he wasn't suspended for anything violent, and h he wasn't suspended for anything criminal. it is one of those things that the family said what does that

have to do with him killing my son? >> all right, that was ben crump, the martin family attorney. obviously these are two separate things, martin, but it does have -- there is a possibility, fk o, this could impact the case. how do you think this news of the suspension will affect the case and affect the tone of this big town hall meeting that's going to hapn tonight? >> well, you know, that's a very difficult judgment to kind of make. i think that in many ways people are going to look at this as possible character assassination on the part of someone lashing out now at the memory of a young man who was unable to defend himself. so i think it is likely to add perhaps to the sense of anger. we already know that there were great concerns on the part of the community here. this is the civic center here. it only holds about 500 people, or at least that's the limit they're going to place tonight. so there were great concerns with so many people coming that would add to the anger. but they set up some television

sets in a nearby park. so everyone should be able to see. emotions were already running high. information like this is certainly not going to help matters. the trayvon martin family has essentially said look, we appeal for calm and civil voices tonight. >> great to see you, thank you very much. >> it's official. tim tebow is headed to the new york jets football franchise. [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient

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>> tim tebow speaks out for the first time as a new york jet and says he's excited. i'll say. sure getting a lot of press attention for a second string quarterback. >> 250 members of the press showing up for a backup quarterback. it's unprecedented. this isn't just any backup quarterback as you know. this is tim tebow a man who has given himself through his athleticism on the field and through his faith off the field quite a reputation and i think people in new york nationwide would see what he had to say about the new york jets. >> he talked about his faith, didn't he? >> he did. look, i mean, everyone knows about tebowing. he talked about it, when h egets on the field, he does that

famous move that we see there. he says he's been doing that for seven years. and during the press conference, i said to him, look, obviously a lot of the attention is about your accomplishments on the field but also about your faith. listen to what he had to say. >> i'm pretty sure i'm not the first@looet that has gotten oen a knee and pray. but somehow it's known for tebowing and i don't know why. if people are talking about prayer or talking about my faith then i think that's pretty cool. >> he went to see "wicked" on broadway. they can't get enough of this. it's on every tabloid, the front

and back cover. the reaction in new york really has been somehow mixed, right? >> you look at polls. one poll showed 53% of folks actually support this. 44% do not. and sot criticism, too. some tweeting comes in from anonymous sort of folks saying why bring in this man with some type of attention. he was asked about that. he was saying look, i understand that people are saying these types of things. i'm here, this is about football. the team says this isn't a publicity stunt. the team says this is about better football. in fact, the coach even saying that even though he is a backup quarterback, they might see him on the field, doing other things on the field in other roles as well. tebow says i'm here, i'm all about try to make the team

better. he's willing to do whatever it takes to make the jets a better team. >> we'll see have to see how the relati relationship plies out. i'll be back at our office tomorrow. make sure keep it clean. got that? >> coming up, a contestant gets booted from the pageant after ms. universe officials find out she was actually born a man. up next, we'll talk live to transgender activist donna rose to get her reaction to the news. the day that we say to the world of identity thieves "enough." we're lifelock, and we believe you have the right to live free from the fear of identity theft. our pledge to you? as long as there are identity thieves, we'll be there. we're lifelock. and we offer the most comprehensive identity theft protection ever created.

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an ouster from the ms. universe competition. the bloend from vancouver made

it to the finals, but no one knew she was a man. she underwent gender reassignment surgery in january 2010. now she's been released. she said i'm very disappointed with the decision taken by ms. universe organizers, however, i will look to turn this situation sbroo a positive so that other people in a similar situation are not discriminated against in the future. ginning me now to talk about this is donna rose. when you see that statement and you know what happened, what's your reaction? >> i'm sad. more than anything. it one easy to say that i'm angry because those kinds of things happen all the time. most people aren't called upon to validate their gender as a significant part of themselves the way that she has, especially

in this very public way. but it seems like the same battle with eeve had since renee richards wanted to play tennis and just move on with her life. and had to answer that question about what's a woman or what's a man. >> she apparently said over twitter she was disqualified for being born. having said that, we did get a statement from the ms. universe organization which says in part, quote, as with any omp competition, the ms. universe pageant has rules which applies to all of its franchises around the world. additionally, the rules currently state that all contestants must be naturally born females. after review, it was discovered she falsified her application and did not meet the riernlts. don't they have a point? >> no. well, i am dubious about those rules.

they haven't appeared anywhere before. this is something that happened behind closed doors over the last couple of we'res. i would go back to say it goes back quite a while. she hasn't hidden it. it makes it feel like she's a hiding does he wantful person. and in reality, the fact is that the international committee has decided that people of transhistory can compete in their authentic gender. the girls just recently accepted a young, physically male boy. so the recognition that gender is more than just a chromosome is something that i find still

very troubling. so i don't buy into the fact that this is a rule and she didn't disclose herself so automatically she's disqualified. >> but are you hopeful that this decision will be reversed? >> i am. i am. there are still positive outcomes because each within of these, unfortunately, becomes another one of these learning opportunities that the world, as scary as some would make it out to be. transpeople are integrating themselves into the society in all kinds of ways. and so i find that, you know, to have to validate which bathroom you use or to have to validate what fitness center you go to or to arguen't about what clubs you can join. to me, it harkens back to

discrimination. and in most instances, whether it's actually called out as being such, it is found to be such. >> donna rose, i thank you for your perceptive on this. >> to uh. >> drowned in her own blood with a letter next to her head saying go back to your own country, you terrorist. we're not the terrorist, you are. this iraqi woman just lost her mother to a brutal murder. we're going to tell you what happened. plus bosses asking employees for their facebook pass word? is this the new trend? and is it legal? joey jackson is on the case next. ♪

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> an iraqi woman who was beaten in our southern california home has died of her injuries her daughter found her mother on the floor of her suburban san diego home on wednesday unconscious and bleeding. a threatening note was discovered close by telling the family to go back to iraq, calling them terrorists. former prosecutor joey jackson is on the case. this was actually the second note. a week ago another note was left saying something similar and the family didn't take it seriously. they thought it was a bank. police so far have not

classified this as a hate crime. don't you think that's going to happen? and if it does happen, how will that change the case? >> well, i think ultimately it will. now, here's the point. the point is there are 45 states in addition to the federal government that have hate crime statutes. what does it tell you? there's a need for it because sad, tragic, horrific things like this do occur. whenever you take someone because of their nationality, their religious affiliations or anything else, in this case, because she's from iraq, a enyou bludgeon her with a tire iron that you hit her over the head with and leave her bleeding in her home and certainly leading a note saying go back to your country you're a terrorist, that's horrific, it needs to be punished. in terms of how you charge it, this is a murder, let's call it what it is. hoifr, when you add the added element of having it predicated upon animous of the individual and hating them for who they are and where they come from, it elevates the level of the punishment involved. and that's what will happen here.

i think the fact that it will be treated as a hate crime is inevitable. >> i want to talk about another story that got the attention of a lot of us in the news room. companies have been asking new employees, prospective employees to hand over their facebook passwords. i mean, is this legal. it's an invasion of privacy. understand where the employer comes from. you have the right as an employer to watch background check that vet the people to make sure the people who work for you are who they claim to be.

my office goes through their facebook that i have anything in social media that they put out there. >> it's one thing to do their own background check. it's a given that employers are going to do that. it's another thing to say oh, by the way, give me your facebook pass word, don't you think? >> it is indeed. it comes down to what access should employers have to your information. ebb running back, an employer can be held accountable for any acts of their employees if they don't do a sufficient background check that are negligent, reckless. the eemployer is trying to protect themselves. this is not something that's predicated upon simply being nosey or simply wandering down a lane and finding ute what your prospective employees are doing. this is something they're trying to do to protect their own interests. so to be clear, there will be

challenges, potential legislation, fights ability. when it comes down to it, employers have an interest to hire proper people and employees do indeed have a privacy interest. the point is, how far does it go and where does it extend? there will be challenges for sure. >> facebook says don't do it unless you want to get sued. so there you have it. thanks to see you as always. up next, do you remember the kid who stood next to president obama as he signed the health care bill into law? look at him now. marcellus owens was -- hey, marcellus. you were 11 at the time. now you're 13. he lost his mom who died without health insurance and he's about to join me live on the first day the supreme court hears the case. but first, a preview of cnn's next list. owe. >> i use toys to make medical devices.

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want to take you back to what's before the supreme court, whether the government is force people to the health coverage. for one 13-year-old boy from washington state, health care coverage is a personal crusade. marcellus owens was 11 years old when he stood by president obama as the affordable health care act became law.

he earned the spot after advocating for reform, lobbying even on his birthday. that's because marcellus' mother suffered from high blood pressure. she got sick, missed work, lost her job and ultimately lost her health care coverage. she then dpied. marcellus believes had she had her insurance, she would be alive today. here is elizabeth cohen and marcellus owens. it's been two year, i want you to take me back to the day when that bill became law. there you are, alongside the president as he signed that health care act loo law. he even gave you a high five. you're wearing almost the identical tie. what do you remember from that day? >> i remember just being so

nervous and thinking back to all to the i maizing people i met during the whole journey i took. and i remember people coming up to me and commenting on me and president obama's identical ties. >> and you're wearing the same vest today. same shirt, different tie but same vest that you were wearing when you met the president. tell me what did the president tell you? >> what i can remember from that day was he told me not to be so nervous and manipulately we gave each other high fives and he gave me a fist bump in the oval office, so that was cool. >> this happened quickly. you found out the day before a enyou took the red eye from seattle all the way there. you packed your bag, went with your grandmother.

i want to bring in elizabeth cohen now. the reason he was standing by the president is ultimately a sad story, his mother died. but if she was alive today, would she have health insurance? >> she had a job, she had insurance. because she was ill, she missed work. she lost that job. i don't know the specific, but i can't imagine she could have gotten insurance. it would have been practically possible to get insurance with her does. no company wants to touch you. health care reform requires people stop saying no to people with conditions like hers. if she had been alive at the time where insurance kpeens had to take her, she would have gotten better care. >> there wow been hope.

>> there was no way she was going to get insurance with that disease. but if insurance companies had to take her, then she could have gotten care. >> marcellus, i want to ask you a little bit more about your crusade. obviously you lobbied for health care reform. but, you know at the time you were 11. you're still so young. you're 13 years old. why was it so important for you to be out there rallying for support for health care reform? >> well, to me it was really important because there were a lot of people and a lot of people in my family who didn't have health care. and also, what i believe is that when people die, you die with your legacy. and lobbying and advocating for health care was my mom reese 's when she passed away. so i felt like i had to do for her. and then as i started to do it, i really met a lot of great

people and people with sad stories and people that i could relate to. >> how much of what is going on in the supreme court do you understand? do you know what piece going on with the supreme court hearing arguments on the health care reform law now? do you understand what's happening in washington? >> my grandma, she's trying to get me to help understand mostly what's going on. but from basically my knowledge is that some people don't agree with the things that health care will -- agree with some of the things that are in there so that's basically all that i know. >> marcellus, i appreciate it. it seems like you understand a lot about what's going on. elizabeth, i want to ask you. just in general, so many

uninsured americans, maybe 40 million, close to 50 million uninsured americans. but so many families affected as well. right? how is this impacting families? and how will it impact families going forward? >> health care reform impacts families in many different ways. for example, if someone in your family has a pre-existing condition, that person will you should health care reform be able to get insurance. so let's say they have an expensive illness that costs millions and million to treat, it used to be insurance companies will put a cap on it. health care gets rid of those limbs. families are obviously happy about it. i also imagine there are families who don't have insurance and don't want insurance, they don't want to pay for it. health care requires them to buy insurance. and i imagine they're not very happy about health care reform. they, i'm sure, would say we don't want to buy it. we have the right to make our own decisions. why are you forcing us to buy a product we don't want.

>> so complicated. i think many americans want people like you to simplify it, me included. >> i think what you're doing is great. keep us updated on what you're doing. up next, rick santorum lashes out at a report e, even curses. you're going to see what happened. plus, hear what the reporter asked that got the presidential candidate so fired up. what's this? [ male announcer ] quaker oatmeal squares

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rick santorum lashing out at a reporter right after an attack on mitt romney. santorum slammed romney on his health care plan, saying on this issue, romney would be the worst candidate to go against the president this fall. >> why would we put someone up who is uniquely, think any other republican in the country, he is the worst republican in the country. to put up against barack obama. >> well, right after that, a "new york times" reporter asked santorum for clarification on that statement and cbs news cameras captured his response. >> you said that mitt romney is the worst republican in the country, is that true? >> what speech did you listen to? >> stop lying, i said he was the worst republican to run on the issue of obama care. i have said uniquely, for every

speech i give, i say he's uni e uniqueuniqu uniquely unqualified. >> you think he's the worst republican in america. >> i said the worst republican to run against obama in health care. quit distorting my words. if i hear it, it's [ bleep ]. >> s"the situation room" with m friend wolf blitzer starts at to the top of the hour. hey, wolf, great to see you as always, you have not one, not two, but three presidential primary candidates on your show tonight. >> we'll see in the 5:00 p.m. eastern hour, rick santorum at

the 4:00 p.m. hour. they'll be joining me live, separate interviews with all three of these republican presidential candidates, we'll probably have ron paul later in the week in "the situation room" as well. but we got a lot of stuff to talk about, including obviously the historic arguments being heard before the united states supreme court today, tomorrow and wednesday on the constitutionality on the mandates for health care reform. we're going to get into this and get into some foreign policy issues. and we'll have a good exchange with rick santorum and that whole exchange with the "new york times" reporter, so a whole lot of stuff coming up. adventure james cameron made it to the bottom of the ocean yesterday, up next we're going to talk to mr. richard branson, who's also racing to get to the

bottom of the sea, he's with us next. in all these years... years washington's been talking at us, but they never really listen... listen...it's not just some line item on a budget; it's what i'll have to live on... i live on branson street, and i have something to say... [ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the conversation on medicare and social security out from behind closed doors in washington. because you've earned a say.

a story i have been waiting all day for, a dive more than 350,000 feet below sea level, cameron spent several hours on the ocean floor, even tweeting from down there, all in the name of deep sea exploration. i got to understand how this

twitter thing happened, 35,000 people. anyway, famed thrillseeker richard branson, you're a thrillseeker yourself, i want to get your thoughts on what qualm ron has done, what do you think about that? >> it's remarkable. i mean when you think that no nation has managed to go below 17,000 feet in a submarine, only a few people have been further down before and they were at a solid ground -- they couldn't see out except a little tiny porthole. i think it's timely that people are trying to build submarines to explore our oceans because

the ocean's got lots to explore. >> you're very interested in this yourself, just to be clear here, cameron went to the deepest point in the pacific ocean. you're going to go to the deepest part of the atlantic ocean. tell us about that project. >> yeah, well, we have built a submarine which is, yeah, more like a sort of hydrojet and the difference between that and cameron's is that it will be able to travel greater distance under water. so i think in time, we'll most likely put the two submarines together so ours can go down to the bottom and explore and he can send his down for filming purposes because he's a past master at that. but porter trench is the deepest place in the atlantic.

nobody's been down it and in a few months time, i'm planning to do that dive, and find out what's going on down there. >> a few months time, so are we talking two three, or are we talking 12 to 15. i mean how close are you to actually taking this dive. and there we're looking at a picture of your submersible right there. which you're right, it does look like a fighter jet. >> in two or three months time if it passes the pressure test, and the pressure is something like 1,700 pounds of pressure on an airplane. apart from the pressure test, we should be able to go down in three to six months' time and it happens to be five miles from necker island where i live, so it's very convenient. >> and tell us why deep sea exploration is so important? i mean why are you so intent on doing this? >> well, let's see, most things

start by people like james cameron or myself being an explorer, seeing what we're capable of, seeing what technology is capable of. as a result of that, then you can build bigger craft that scientists can go down in and it's very important that we actually understand our oceans. i mean we're doing enormous amounts of damage to our ocean, so if we can actually get down and see what's going on, we can learn from that and we can make sure that we protect our beautiful seas, and we protect the species in them. >> i hope to go with you, so please keep me in mind, all right, richard branson? >> thank you, so much. great to see you as always, sir richard ban