this morning on "world news now," supreme court showdown. >> the supreme court justice nominee chosen by the president. his prominent legal background and why most republicans will not back lim. campaign drama. why donald trump fears riots and and what hillary clinton is saying about trump now after big political gains. tearful testimony. the woman seen on the hulk hogan sex tape and her words of embarrassment heard in court. did she know she was being recorded? and later superhero adventure. it's batman versus superman. ben affleck and henry cavill talk about this widely anticipated action movie on this thursday, march 17th. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now."

it's thursday. st. patrick's day. >> st. paddy's day. >> i guess i should go by kendis e' gibson. >> you're going to get a pinch because you don't have any green on. >> i do in some parts. literally, the pants, dirty. >> how exactly are we going to go from this to the supreme court justice? >>? you make that transition, my friend. >> we'll try. a lot of people are feeling green with envy because they would love to be in his position. >> that was pretty good. >> others are saying they don't envy the position he's in. it's a tough one. it's going to be a raging battle over the president's nominee for the supreme court. we're talking of course, about merrick garland. he has meetings today with democratic senators who are all but certain to support his nomination. >> those meetings the first in a long series of introductions. abc's terry moran starts us off with more about judge garland himself. >> reporter: after weeks of anticipation, there was president obama striding into the rose garden, introduci

>> i've made my decision. >> reporter: judge merrick garland, standing quietly at the president's side, then stepping forward. the emotion of the moment overwhelming him. >> this is the greatest honor of my life, other than lynn agreeing to marry me 28 years ago. >> reporter: his family there watching, minus daughter becky. >> i also wish that we hadn't taught my older daughter to be so adventurous that she would be hiking in the mountains out of cell service range when the president called. >> reporter: for decades, merrick garland has been a prominent figure in american law. 63 years old, he's one of the oldest nominees ever. he is chief judge of the u.s. court of appeals in washington, where he served for 18 years, and before that, a top federal prosecutor. >> associate deputy attorney general merrick garland. >> reporter: garland was there in oklahoma city in 1995, as seen here in a video released by the white house, leading the prosecution of timothy mcveigh, a death penalty case.

victims with him everywhere he went while prosecuting that case. >> we promised that we would find the perpetrators, that we would bring them to justice, and that we would do it in a way that honored the constitution. >> reporter: he also led the prosecution of the unabomber. as a judge, garland is known as a moderate on the appeals court though he would tip the balance of the supreme court by replacing staunch conservative antonin scalia. in choosing merrick garland as his nominee, the president has selected someone who in any normal time with his endorsements from both sides of the aisle and his record would be easily confirmable. but this is not a normal political time. terry moran, abc news, the supreme court. >> it didn't take long for the political backlash against the nomination to start. senate republicans have said since the death of antonin scalia, that the next president should pick someone to replace

mitch mcconnell made that position clear in a senate floor speech. >> it's the senate's constitutional right to act as a check on a president and withhold its consent. >> at least six of his republican colleagues including judiciary committee chairman chuck grassry say they're at least open to meeting with gar land. ted cruz is not one of them. in a statement about garland, cruz said he would undermine second amendment gun rights and legalize late term abortion stlooz let's talk about the republican presidential hopefuls. donald trump, ted cruz and john kasich who are now actually focusing on next tuesday's primaries in arizona and utah. they were supposed to debate in utah on monday. but when trump with drew, followed quickly by kasich, the event was cancelled. trump says given his big delegate lead, republicans should be rallying around him. he's warning about the consequences if the republican establishment tries to block his nomination. >> i think you'd have riots. i think you'd have

many, many millions of people. i think you would have problems like you've never seen before. i think i think bad things would happen. i really do. i believe that. i wouldn't lead it but i think bad things would happen. >> well, that said, house speaker paul ryan quickly took himself out of consideration for the gop nomination in the event of a contested convention. a small group of conservatives opposed to trump are meeting today to discuss a possible third party option. and in the democratic battle, not only are their primaries in arizona and utah next tuesday, there is a caucusing in idaho. hillary clinton's campaign is expressing confidence describing her delegate lead over bernie sanders as unsurmountable. abc's cecilia vega with more. >> reporter: the democratic nomination now within arm's reach, and hillary clinton is focusing her fire on donald trump. >> we should be breaking down barriers, not building walls. >> reporter: trump firing off too saying clinton doesn't have the strength or energy to be president, recycling an

his favorites. >> by the way, hillary's low energy, okay? she's low energy. she doesn't have the strength or the stamina. she's got no strength. she's got no stamina. no, she doesn't. >> reporter: clinton earlier told me, she's ready. >> he can talk about whatever he wants to talk about. if he wants to focus on me and talk about me, that's his choice. >> reporter: clinton closer than ever to locking up this race. and when that happens, she said she will ask bernie sanders for help. >> i would hope to be able to enlist bernie in helping me reach out to his supporters. >> reporter: sanders still defiant. >> don't let people tell you that you can't think big. >> reporter: the vermont senator would need to win every remaining primary state by nearly 40 points in order to clinch the nomination. the path to victory for him now next to impossible. >> whether he i spoke to hillary clinton, i asked her if she would

drop out of this race even if his prolonged presence ends up hurting her in this campaign. she said "i will never ask anybody to step out." cecilia vega, abc news, new york. a sudden passing overnight. music fans mourning the death of singer frank sinatra junior. his team family says he died unexpectedly of cardiac arrest while on tour in florida. sinatra followed his famous father's footsteps into music as a teenager eventually working for his dad as his musical director and conductor. he was 72 years old. also in florida, the woman shown having sex with hulk hogan has testified in his lawsuit against gawker. heather coal told the st. petersburg courtroom she didn't know the encounter was being taped. she was very upset her then husband had recorded it. >> what was that?

be anything. i wanted it to go away. >> cole also testified in her opinion, hulk hogan is someone who likes publicity. hogan is suing gawk ker for $100 million for posting the edited video. he says it was an invasion of his privacy. >> this could be a game changer when it comes to auto safety. carmakers have agreed by 2022 to make auto braking standard on cars and midsized subs and on large suvs and pickups by 2025. now, automatic braking uses cameras, radar and other sensors to see objects in the way and slow or stop a vehicle if the driver doesn't react. auto brakes could cut rear impact collisions by 40%. not bad. someone just got a deal on a fantastic used car. >> used car. cream puff. what i cream

this 1937 due gatti, '57 rodester was just caucused off in florida for $9.7 million. that's a deal. the seller aid it was the most valuable car of its kind. >> you know what, never trust everything you hear at a car dealer because a similar model sold for $100,000 more a few decades ago. but this beauty was a race car before world war ii and it was restored to show room condition back in the 1980s. but you should probably get a lot of insurance for this one. there's no air bags and no heated seats or no cup holders. >> no cup holders. is there at least like an eight track player in there? >> i doubt it. you have to sing your own show tunes. jazz hands. by yourself. coming up "the mix," little known facts about st. patrick's day along with a little surprise. >> also ahead, good guy against good guy. the stars of batman versus superman reveals new details about this long

movie. >> and the emergency shutdown of washington, d.c.'s subway system. urgent investigation. the upset commuters and whether he it will be back up and running. >> check us out on instagra instagram @abcwnn. you're watching "world news now." human coronavirus... hepati- >>c virus. there are a lot of different kinds of yucky germs. but not all disinfecting wipes... are approved to kill the same number of them. lysol wipes are approved to kill more types of germs than clorox. don't pick just any wipe. try that one! this cold and flu season lysol that. (sound♪ of music ♪histling)

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plumes of smoke. the coast guard teped tow the yacht to a remote location. no injuries were reported and authorities are still trying to determine what caused that fire. the yacht reportedly sold for more than $2 million in 2014. guessing it's worth a lot less now. >> probably right. heart break flk massachusetts as a state trooper is killed during a traffic stop. thomas clarity was handling a track violation when his cruiser was hit by another vehicle. he was a state trooper for 11 years. other officers and first responders lined the streets to pay respect to the former marine. cla herty leaves behind a wife and six children and was 44 years old. to one of the busiest subway systems in the country is set to reopen in a few hours. washington, d.c.'s metro which we're both familiar with. >> i love it. >> i don't. was shut down for the day for emergency inspections. >> the action taken after a fire on the tracks earlier this week.

new developments. >> good morning. i too am familiar with the d.c. metro system. this is believed to be an unprecedented shutdown of what is the country's second busiest rail system. 700,000 rides a day are taken on the metro. but wednesday that number falling to zero. >> commuter train transportation in washington, d.c. grinding to a halt wednesday. for more than 24 hours, all 91 metro rail stations in and around the nation's capital closed. >> i thought it was a hoax. like really. >> after a fire on the tracks monday, fear of a systemic mechanical failure causing officials to shut down the entire system. and spend wednesday checking 600 electrical connections over 100 miles of underground tracks. crews discovering these fraying jumper cables. >> as bad as that is looks, these do not indicate they're imminent for fire but clearly this is

that we cannot accept. >> inspectors finding three cables damaged to that degree. he had called them showstoppers and found more than two dozen damaged areas in total. despite the inconvenience, some comrirts expressing support. >> probably a good decision but it definitely ruined a lot of people's commute this monk. >> disasters and the loss of life in the last year, i think this is a really smart thing to do. >> reporter: monday's fire had eerie similarities to a metro fire last year that left one person dead. so despite traffic moving slowly wednesday morning and row afro of train cars sitting in the yard, officials standing by their choice. >> we are aware of the inconvenience that was caused but we still believe today that we made the correct decision. >> reporter: inspections are complete and the metro is set to reopen at 5:00 a.m. with all that damage fixed. so reena and kendis, just in time for the morning commute. >> tough day for commuterers. there's an

businesses. >> this was kind of interesting. what's bad for metro may be good for things like bike sharing. 500 people say sign the up for a free trial membership over a 24 hour period just yesterday. you know what comes with uber when there's high demand. uber cars were available but there was the surge pricing. shares were 2 1/2 times the normal rate. >> that is absolutely wrong. >> i didn't think about uber. >> i always think about that, every time i look at the uber, surge pricing, not today. >> things returning to normal on the metro. the trains will all be delayed as usual in d.c. >> i love the metro system. i really do. coming up, thank you so much. coming up in our next half hour, the alarming rise of bank tellers involved in identity thist. why the police are warning you to be careful with your own information even with your own bank. >> first the epic battle between two super heros and the battle for ben affleck to make it into his bat suit as the oldest man to be cast as the caped crusader. you're watching "world news now."

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♪ ♪ batman, batman >> i can't put my hand on it. is it the theme from america's greatest hero. >> the latest incarnation after batman includes a challenger, an alien from the planet krypton. >> superman and batman will be on the big screen together. chris connelly is up "up all nightline" with the star film's as fares. >> he may be the new man in the bat suit with major bat boots to fill but ben affleck says he's long been drawn to the depths of the dark

>> batman's the most interesting super hero in a way because she's the most human. he's the most like us. he can be kind of broken with, i with is fascinating be coupled with all this heroic stuff. >> reporter: the movie pits the two mightiest icons of the dc comics universe against each other's as he takes on 32-year-old henry cavill's super man clark kent. affleck at 43 is the oldest actor to be cast as batman bruce wayne supply wanted to be in a movie that was ballsy and had something to say. i wanted to do a movie my kids would think is cool. my son thinks it's cool. >> inside the suit, a physique painstakingly primed to super hero standards. an absolute necessity given cavill's impeccable pecs. >> i thought if i have to be as good a shape as this guy, i'm in trouble. i worked out for almost a year before the movie started to get

advanced age. that does not come easy. that's what audiences have come to expect. i look at the adam west batman and i think god, this guy got away with murder. >> reporter: audiences expected to dplok to its march 25th opening will be honest, as well with supplieder looking to show batman versus superman is a worthy successor to nolan's film. and affleck eager to provide more than just moral support as his director turns 50. >> are you going to do anything special for him? >> i'm going to give him a lap dance. it's the only gift i can be sure he won't give back. and you can't regift. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm chris connelly in los angeles. >> he was talking about the director there. >> yeah, who's hotter? >> you or him? >> no,

>> oh, i thought you said you or ben affleck. >> don't try to filibuster. i'm going to try. >> henry or ben. >>

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k-y touch. ♪ i don't know why. you have to get into the spirit. why aren't you wearing that hat an. >> i'm trying to go for a subtle look here. >> you subtle? there you go, into the spirit mr. kendis 'o gibson. >> miss reenen mcninan. there's facts about st. patrick's day you might not know. did you know he wasn't born in ireland. what. >> he was born in britain and kidnapped and sold into slavery. this is hard to believe. >> all of depressing story. >> i know. apparently he banned snakes from ireland and did you know the holiday was dry. he was a pligsry. it was a dry holiday. blue was the color most associated with lim. >> is that why we drink so much on the day. >> that was when the

we americanized it. >> i bet you didn't know this about your hat. >> yeah. >> urns into a disco ball. >> oh. look at that. >> uh-huh. >> it just lights up. >> i like that. >> miss mcninan. >> it's very cool. >> all righty. since we're in the mood for st. paddy's story, this story has nothing do with that. we're talking about adam la roche flounced he's retiring from baseball. and yes. okay. so he had a bad season with the white sox. we faen final found out why he's retiring and walking away from $10 million. he tells this writer it's because his son has been banned from the white sox clubhouse. apparently there's his son. he's been in the clubhouse quite a bit as the president, the team said that his son is in the clubhouse 100% of the time and says no more. tone it down. he says i'm walking away.

over the clubhouse. >> yeah. >> wow. >> and his son. >> great. well from kids to the elderly. chicago blackhawks very interesting. what's going on here? i said elderly and suddenly people are walking through our shots. the chicago blackhawks, the chicago blackhawks turned an area for senior citizens into a hockey rink. a game at the united center and it was done with the folks from the centennial activities center. it's a way of giving them a chance to play hockey. they look pretty good, mr. o gibson. >> it's great and very similar to like real hockey. dentures were lost, as well. >> oh. >> all right. here's a big bike. isn't the largest bike ever. heaviest and rideable. in fitting with the theme of today, it is green. so this is -- it is 1895 pounds. that's pretty huge.

this morning on "world news now," donald trump's warning. why he fears violence at the gop convention. and why he's skipping a debate as hillary clinton's attention takes a new turn. supreme court controversy. the president's nominee for supreme court with a prominent background. why top republicans insist there will be no hearings for this judge. and new this half hour, the footwear invention taking us back to the future. >> the athletic shoe that laces itself is one step closer to the marketplace. you're in for a kick. and later, the first lady's big announcement made at one of the hippest festivals in the country. what michelle obama refuses to do. that's in "the skinny" on this thursday, march 17th. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now."