get justice in this case. thanks for watching, "countdown" is next. >> breaking news, there will be a special prosecutor in the trayvon martin case appointed within the last hour by the florida governor. she is based in jacksonville previously supervised home side prosecution in the state. her office also decided to prosecute a jacksonville teenager who had killed his 2-year-old brother as an adult. the boy was 12 years old. >> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? >> i have come to the decision that i must temporarily remove myself from the position as police chief for the city of sanford. >> the police chief in the middle of the trayvon martin killing scandal takes a leave of

absence. the outrage does not. the mother of trayvon martin. >> my son was not committing any crimes. our son is your son. congressman john louis. >> there should be a sense of righteous indignation in america the same as we used to have. you. >> nothing's ever finished if the legislature, everything can always be readdressed. >> except the other florida case where a man chased an alleged burglar, stabbed him to death and was just acquitted of self defense. >> a florida state senator wants a special prosecutor. >> the president and the pipeline, how to say no, you're wrong, i approved the key stone project without really approval it. >> today, i'm directing my administration to cut through

the red tape, and break through the bureaucratic hurdles and major project a priority. >> how come jeb bush didn't run for penalty. >> he not only thinks marco rubio should be vice president but that he is: >> at least he didn't mention etch-a-sketch. >> we're looking for someone who is an etched in stone candidate. >> he said i'm going to republican as a conservative. he didn't say i am a conservative. >> i'll be running as a can serve active republican. >> the war on women, the victims rally, even the republican victims. >> i think planned parenthood does mammograms, they do so much of the health care, the preventative health care and if they are doing that, then we need to provide those services absolutely. >> and you want the job? the employer wants your facebook password.

senator blumenthal wants a law to forbid that demand. now on "countdown." >> good evening. this is thursday march 22, 230 days until the 2012 presidential election. movement tonight in the case of trayvon martin, the 17-year-old gunned down by a watch captain. the story, the police chief who decided stand your ground law meant the shooter would not be charged stepped down from his post today. with calls for that law to be amended following this tragedy and a fatal stabbing in miami. a call for a special prosecutor apparently heard by the state's governor, who appointed one tonight. that senator joins us. martin was heading to a

relative's home from a convenience store when he was shot dead on february 26 by george zimmerman. the shooter a frequent caller to police insisting he acted suspiciously then attacked him that he only fired in self defense after a police dispatcher told him not to follow the young man. a bag of skittles and iced tea all that was found on martin's body. this tribute in sanford and one tonight as well, many more are planned. also making plans, son ford police chief billie. >> it is apparent that my involvement in this matter is overshadowing the process. therefore, i will come to the decision that i must temporarily remove myself from the position at police chief for the city of sanford. >> sanford police refusing to arrest george zimmerman for what many are calling murder, sanford city manager saying other law enforcement agencies federal and state are now taking the lead.

>> it's been turned over to the state attorney's office. the governor has asked law enforcement to assist. the united states department of justice is part of the process. >> now we have a florida state special prosecutor appointed within the hour by governor scott. naacp president our guest last night, approving that. >> while the wheels of justice are turning more slowly than the nation wants, the reality is they are beginning to turn. >> though not fast enough for martin's parents. >> we need a permanent release. >> we want an arrest. we want a conviction. >> the same demand is being heard on the campus of virginia state university in richmond, at

miami gardens in florida hundreds of students marching where trayvon martin went for his freshman and sophomore years. georgia representative john lewis weighing in showing how much farther this country has yet to come. >> it's a very sad and dark hour, not just for race relations in the state of florida, but race relations in america. there should be a sense of righteous indignation in america the same way that we had during the days of lynching. >> mean time, florida's stand your ground that you police cited after passing on the arrest of zimmerman coming under withering criticism now, police in miami saying they were stunned after a judge decided not to charge another man who claimed self defense after chasing down and stabbing an alleged burglar. the co author apparently ready to reassess his own work. >> nothing's ever finished in the legislature. i learned that, you know

everything can always be readdressed. >> the state senator calling for legislative hearings into that law, talking to the miami herald: >> and that quote, weird batman zimmerman with more time on his hands to consider his future withdrawn from enrollment in college, citing safety for their students, including him. for more on the story and the investigations, i'm jointly by florida senator. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you for having me. i appreciate it. >> f.b.i., federal democratic of justice, state attorney's office already involved, you called for a special prosecutor. governor rick scott appointed a special prosecutor tonight. is that sufficient? >> well, it's the first step in presenting a powder keg from

exploding not only in the state of florida but the country. i think it's an initial victory for the trayvon martin family that we will get somebody to take a close independent look at circumstances and hopefully eventually get to an arrest and conviction. >> the state's attorney, angela cory as i noted at the start of the show that considerable experience in prosecuting homicides, but in a controversial case that's still unfolding in jacksonville, she decided to pursue and got the court to treat a 12-year-old kid as an adult, to actually try him for the murder of his 2-year-old brother. is there enough independence from somebody who comes out of the state's attorneys office to satisfactory those that think there has been a wall of silence built around that case, that town and around george zimmerman? >> i think there is. i know a little bit of history about angela cory. she has a fine staff, by way of attorney wesley white.

he's had experience in trying these type of cases. i would hope that she would rely a great deal on wesley white in prosecuting this case in sanford florida. >> that's good to hear. about they've lee stepping down temporarily today. what's your reaction to that and do you know why this is just temporary? >> i think that's just a bandage. i think based upon his prefers action that he ought to just step down completely. i think it's a lack of political courage on behalf of the city manager and the elected officials, and hopefully, they will become more stronger and ask for his resignation as well as other resignations in that process in the city of sanford. >> my understanding is you're going to have a city hall meeting in sanford with the approval, what do you expect to have happened? >> once the new prosecutor gets

involved in this case and prosecutes it and gets a conviction, the city of sanford and the blacks in sanford will still be on that plantation cultural mentality. my goal is to have a fit in terms of coming in there, taking testimony about what the bring them into the 20th century. they need health care, jobs, homes, and i'm going to go there with other colleagues in the florida senate on several opportunities to take testimony so we can go back to tallahassee and file new legislation to improve the conditions and to bring them out of the plantation mentality that they've had for over 100 years. >> it is absolutely understandable why this case has been painted in racial materials. it's obvious to anybody who knows the details of it. is it becoming apparent to you with the reaction of the nation, not just the reaction in florida, but the nation's reaction that people see this in a secondary and even larger context,

that this is semi vigilanteism run amok and the i had identities and colors of the faces and the perpetrator where important have become in some places secondary, because there's an idea just beyond the individual case that citizens of any color are not safe if there are laws that permit things like this to happen? >> that's absolutely true. in 2005, when i voted on the bill, i asked the senator what did this bill apply to. he said it applies to your home and your car. it does not apply to the common areas, and obviously you have vigilant tees as mr. zimmerman out and about who cannot be a police officer taking the law in their own hands and shooting and killing wrongfully a minor. >> i hate to use the word vigilante because it almost

implies that there was a reason for him to do what he did. he had neither law or reason on his side. senator, thanks for your time. >> thank you, sir, i appreciate it. >> for more on this case and that stand your ground law which is the reason that george zimmerman has avoided being charged so far i'm joined by countdown contributor jonathan turley. let me ask you about a special prosecutor. is there hope that this was a really good move with angela cory and her staff being quite familiar with circumstances similar to the trayvon martin case, that it might be a value to advancing this and getting the state of florida and indeed the nation through this? >> i think it's a good move. this is the type of thing that special prosecutors are good at, in that they reset the scene from the prosecution and police side. you have someone coming in who is not tainted by the earlier

decisions in the case. wewe have a lot of mistakes made by the police. so, just bringing in somebody who's independent can offer assurance to folks that there's not this past dependency that you see in some cases. >> to the to the statute: >> does what we know about the factual of this case you justify sanford police department and prosecutor there and their decision to not charge george zimmerman, is it reasonable to use deadly force to prevent death or great bodily harm when the other person is unarmed?

>> first of all, i'll say i've been a leading critic of both the so-called make my day laws or castle doctrine laws and the stand your ground laws. i've said for years that these laws are not necessary, and that they produce these types of tragedies. politicians love them. they, you know, i find it somewhat annoying so his politicians falling over themselves today to say that they never imagined these problems with critics like myself have been saying for years that these laws in invite these types of problems. in terms of this case, no, i think that this is the police had grounds to arrest zimmerman that night, just on the fact that they had an unarmed minor who is also physically smaller than zimmerman. you had a call in which he was asked not to pursue the individual. there is certainly enough basis there for an arrest. i've seen cases go to indictment

on less evidence, but having said that, you know, the police could say that zimmerman was bleeding at the scene.

thank you so much for coming into the war room. that is nancy keenan. if you want to find out more about the war on women, and the

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theater. >> the agreement with that position belonging to the governor of virginia is so profound, senator attempts to defund planned parenthood

supporting bills like the protect life act and no taxpayer funding for abortion act, which there ain't already. senator seems to have something of a change of heart. >> i think planned parenthood does mammograms, they do so much of the health care, the preventative health care, and if they are doing that, we need to provide those services absolutely. >> by the way, she's retiring. earlier this month, funding was pulled from parenthood. the susan g comb men still reeling. the chairman of the board for the cure and the c.e.o. are among the latest of a flock of top executives to resign. that board chairman has been looking to distance himself since the planned parenthood

controversy rereputed. there are calls for the woman who started the charity in memory of her sister. >> approval rating dropping, voighters pulling support from the founder, almost the creator of the preabortion transvaginal ultrasound. he claims the war on women in a fabrication. >> it's false and it's been political theater from the democrats for a couple of months. >> you've been covering the >> thank you. >> let me start with governor mcdonald. political theater, he says. this would be political theater that features and opening act of transvaginal ultrasound. how does he say with a straight face that there's nothing to attacks from women on the right. >> honestly it's a political theater for the democrats put republicans up to an unprecedented number of laws. the minute they took over the house of representatives

started passing laws to limit womens right to abortion, to defund planned parenthood. they brought this on themselves, doing this for the past two years. finally people are paying attention and they don't like it. >> when you hear it sort of traipsed around the borders saying there's a lot of crap going on, we have to do something about it, you know she's retiring, but one of the implications when somebody stands up, does it encourage others to pay attention, does it encourage republican women who are associated with the republican party with the conservative movement to stand up for an agenda instead of a political platform. >> historically, she's tried to have it both ways. she clearly thinks just a few wees after she voted for the blunt amendment, thinks that if she wants to go out the door not ass anti woman candidate, but

the fiery woman whose health care is taken away candidate. right now, the denial of the federal funding to plant parenthood is directly hurting texas women. if she wants to go home and have her legacy celebrated, she's going to have very angry women to deal with. >> we thought that the susan g komen controversy was over and now comes word that for at least of the last month, their chairman of the board has been considering a leave of absence.

>> when we return, updates on the trayvon martin case in terms of the rallies throughout the

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>> recapping the headlines from the trayvon martin story, the protest in sanford florida, the crowd 30,000. earlier tonight, just before show time. the florida governor appointed a special prosecutor who a state senator said her office was probably going to be productive and has experience in cases like this. a positive development today. also, the police chief of sanford, florida has taken a leave of absence. request denied, an unsettling trend asking job seekers for their facebook log in information to scrutinize their private on line behavior. in response to recent reports about this practice, connecticut senator richard blumenthal is proposing a bill to make that illegal. while applicants can deny it there are those that can't say no.

>> employers have always been able to view the public accounts facebook, twitter, any other social networking sites. applicants are being pressured for access to their private information. the aclu weighing in saying people are entitled to their private lives: >> for more on that, joining me now, the director of the aclu's speech and technology project. where did the idea come from that your facebook isn't private? >> some people think the idea facebook privacy is already and oxymoron, people are exhibitionists and equate privacy with secrecy. when we talk about privacy, we talk about not keeping things secret from everyone but having

control over our information. people use facebook the way they react with people in their lives. i have different information available. it's understandable why employers might be tempted to get access to this, just like to see what dvd's are in your closet. >> there are variations to this, having to friend the h.r. manager in order to get the interview. >> again, there at least, the facebook user has the option of controlling that person's access. when we talk about demanding a password, not only does that vital the privacy of the job applicant but hundreds of that pepper's friends. once the interviewer cap log in as me, they can see things that my friends have chosen to share with me and not others. >> the legislation to major illegal to request this as part of a job interview process is new territory, is it not?

>> i think senator blumenthal deserves praise, making a good faith effort for the law to catch up with technology. we support this legislation and i would urge the senator and others to keep in mind that today's social media landscape is shifting, and so whatever legislation they do should take into account that facebook isn't the only platform people will be using in two years or four. they need to understand that there will be more and more opportunities for employers to vital privacy. >> certainly there is a halfway point between the desire for privacy and some inside information or wondering if there's going to be a scandal that's going to appear on line. sears and other companies use some sort of intermediary process? >> i didn't find the explanation plausible. they say they wanted to have access to people's facebook pages so they can see if their circumstances have changed and

if the job shows up, they'll know it's just the right job for them because they've been monitoring the facebook pages. i wonder this they've been requiring this information and would hire if they didn't provide it. >> does this touch in the other vague area like when your emails and other on line communications belong to your company and when they do have access to them. >> there is a lot of ignorance about that. do you know what your employer's policy is for this? >> i think to be very safe. >> yes, i do. [ laughter ] >> employees should be careful about their use of their employer's property. it gets more complicated when your email is stored off on a cloud. there are good arguments made when employers should not go after that information. i think people want to look at the computer use policies of their companies.