pushing for decades. a divided nation. >> we believe that the constitution means something. >> a divided court. >> can the government require you to buy a cell phone because that would facilitate responding when you need emergency services? you can just dial 911 no matter where you are? >> no mr. chief justice, i think that's different. >> arguing against the individual mandate. >> i think anybody has to be skeptical about the very unprecedented and unbounded power that the federal government is trying to assert for the first time. >> all three. >> walter is a former solicitor general in the clinton administration. >> clearly where they are going to come out, but justice kennedy did not. they asked tough questions of both sides. >> but justice kennedy was among those that questioned whether the federal government has the power to order people to buy health insurance or anything else. >> that changes the relationship of the federal

government to the individual in a very fundamental way. >> the four liberal justices offered a ringing defense of the law. >> a disease is sweeping the united states. and 40 million people are susceptible of whom 10 million will die. can't the federal government say all 40 million get inoculation? >> state government can solve those problems. federal government is limited government. >> how can you wait until after you get hit by a car to go out and purchase insurance? it's impossible. >> no. obviously once you go to the emergency room, they can sign you up. >> but the justices tough questions do not always presage their final vote. and justice kennedy, the potential swing vote here may have had just tough questions for the laws opponents as for its supporters. at the supreme court, bruce leshan, 9news now. >> so, new today's proceedings mean the court will strike down the healthcare law or at least a very important piece of it.

joining us now to talk about that, paul. professor, welcome back. let's talk about how dangerous it can be to draw too much from what the questions are. >> well, that's right. it is dangerous. it's like reading tea leaves because the justices play devil's advocate. they use hypotheticals. i did get some feeling as to how it's going to shape up from today's argument. >> at least there is a 4-4 split with the swing being anthony kennedy. is that your take? >> he started out being against the healthcare plan, but by the end of the day, i sense a little bit of softening. so i don't know how far that's going to go. i can't call him. he's a conservative, but he's a moderate conservative. >> it's weird because i think a will the of us made up our mind about whether or not this law aught to go forward or not. dos the justices make up their minds or do they go into their

discussions and people change minds and go back and forth? >> it's a mixed bag. sometimes they do change their mind from the oral argument. they could also change their mind in the discussions that they have among themselves. that's why you can't guess from today really very certainly as to which way it's going to go. and the oral arguers today, this was really a battle of the titans. one former soliciter general was fanning the flames in the conservative justices. there's no stopping place here. if you let this plan go through, the federal government can do anything you want. and then the other side, the current general was arguing that no, there is a stopping place. so when you have such high level, high powered people like this and law on both sides, cases on both sides. >> which lawyer did a better job to your mind? >> well, paul clemens, the

former soliciter general was the better arguer. that doesn't mean he's going to win. in fairness and equity to the nation, this health plan is a good idea. but that's a different question than the constitutional question. >> as you think about this argument we just saw today. what does that bode for the argument tomorrow on the medicaid question? >> yes, i think those are very separate questions from what went on today. the court hears them and the first question, remember yesterday was, should we be in this case at all? they are going to hear it as though they are going to decide the case. but they could decide down the road on one of these other things. it seems to me that all of the different provisions of the healthcare act, except for some haven't been so publicized are knitted together. today's issue, if the mandate to buy insurance falls, i think

there will not be enough money in the pool to do a will the of the other things that a lot of people think are good. >> professor, thank you so much for coming in. >> thank you. >> we'll talk to you again tomorrow as this unfolds. tonight, the outrage over the trayvon martin shooting made its way to capitol hill this afternoon and martin's parents were here in town for a special congressional forum. that forum focusing on racial profiling, hate crimes, and stand your ground laws. trayvon martin's parents believe their son was shot because of the color of his skin. >> trayvon was our son. trayvon is your son. a lot of people can relate to our situation. and it breaks their heart just like it breaks mine. >> we have come so far in this country that when something like this happens, the whole nation indeed, many places of the world rise up to question

how this could happen. >> down in florida meantime, the police department is again under criticism after the police report from the night of the shooting was leaked. in it, george zimmerman told officers he fired at martin in self-defense. he exchanged words with martin who punched him and bashed his head against the sidewalk. >> we are looking into the leak. the so-called leak, if you will. >> they can't keep having leaks in the sanford police department. all these leaks are beneficial to george zimmerman. >> sanford police insist the report is consistent with the evidence they collected. the general's office is handling the investigation into martin's death. they are asking everybody to have patience. >> the federal commission behind the building of that memorial, the president dwight d. eisenhower is sticking to its original design. members issued a statement saying the architect and his design have their quote, total

and unqualified support. that design has come under fire lately and just last week, the house subcommittee held a hearing and eisenhower's family criticized it saying it focuses too much on the president's roots instead of his time in office. >> so much for all that spring- like weather. mother nature gave us a taste of winter. temperatures all over the d.c. area fell two or below freezing. that had folks breaking out the winter coats. the carves, the sweaters, things that may have been put in the back closet. it never really got that warm today. but topper says don't worry, the cold isn't going to stick around too long. >> it's a tough call here in the metro area. you know it's going to get cold again and it has and it will again, believe me. let's start with current temperatures. right now we're 53 downtown. 57 down in fredericksburg. the sun is about to go down. temperatures will fall quickly. why? because the air mass is dry and

we have generally clear skies. we'll have a few clouds come in later tonight. for the most part, clear to partly cloudy. for tonight, not as cold. but cold enough. one blanket night. lows 32 to 42. winds southwest at 10 and despite those upper 20s, all the fruit trees are fine. we'll come back and talk about a cold front on the map and what that means to your evening commute tomorrow. >> thank you, topper. coming up, a we can out from the maryland primary, a gop hopeful hits the campaign trail. hear what newt gingrich had to say about taxes in maryland. but first, hold the hugs. why one school is telling students no hugging on campus, my friends. a lot of focus don't like it. let's talk about it.

public schools from oregon to florida have banned hugging over concerns about inappropriate physical contact. and a school in new jersey appears to be joining the list. students at madawan say the principal got on the loud speaker and announced this is a no hugging school. that triggered a lot of conversation among students and parents, but the principal has sent a letter home or recorded message for them hoping to clarify things. >> hugging can be inappropriate. we want to make sure there's no inappropriate physical contact. we certainly do not have a policy against hugging. nor do we intend or have suspected students. >> the principal's message

went on to say they want the students to be focused on school. is it a distracted on class? your thoughts are never a distraction. mother nature is giving us a taste of winter once again today, but no worries. the warm weather is coming back soon and topper will let you know when that's going to happen in his full forecast. that's coming up. >> i'm scott broom on the campaign trail in montgomery county. coming up, the surprising democratic dog fight in a brand- new congressional district here in maryland. i'll tell you why the candidates are at each other's throats. ♪

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one week from today, voters in maryland and d.c. will be heading off to the polls in the primary. and one of the gop candidates focussen on focusing. he stopped by the state house, visited a jewelry store and had lunch. and while he was over at the state capital, he took some time out to blast martin o'malley for his plan to impose sales taxes on the purchase of gasoline. >> shows as much political insensitivity as you can imagine. given everybody's concern about the price of gasoline, to have an effort made to raise the price by as much as 25 cents a gallon, strikes me as being very, very antievery day

working american. >> gingrich talked about his energy policy later in the day at a campaign event in south berry. another republican candidate, ron paul, will be in town tomorrow. he scheduled to hold a town hall at the university of maryland. the hottest race has nothing to do with gingrich or the white house. instead, it is a battle to unseed a western maryland republican congress member. we're talking about rosco in the sixth congressional district. that has been redrawn to include democratic parts of montgomery county and as scott broom explains, top democrats are now running a very heated, very close campaign to take on that nomination. >> the democratic front runners in this congress race are state senator rob gariashaola. he is up against john delany of big money financier who managed to nail down the endorsement of bill clinton. while the majority leader in

the state senate has a lead sponsor of legalizing gay marriage. two democrats at the top of the pile have no less than a dozen candidates. mixing it up to unseat 20 year incumbent republican of western maryland after the lines of the six were redrawn. >> it's a district that actually enabled the democratic or republican to win. that's a good thing. >> it's a great thing for the democrats to take back the seat. we see what's happening in congress with the republicans kind of really rooting for the president to fail. >> the district was drawn by democratic leaders with him in mind. the race is now tight. delany estimated worth $50 million, is spending heavily on advertising, attacking for failing to report lobbying work. >> i'm a proven job creator. he's been in annapolis. i think there's been a lack of transparency on his part about how he spent his time, what he has done as a lobbyist. >> i did report my income on

my tax returns when i provided those in december. so nothing was hidden. there's been full transparency. i lobbied on the hill on a number of issues. i advocated for rural hospitals. those are good things and i'm proud of those things. >> hitting for refusing to show his taxes. >> i'm self-made. first in my family to go to college. i went to college from a scholarship and i built a business that created a thousand jobs here in maryland from scratch. >> we know some of his business practices are questionable as far as how he earned his money. he put some businesses into bankruptcy. >> whichever of these democrats emerges on top, that democrat will have the best chance in more than two decades of turning this six congressional district in maryland blue, which explains the bitterness of the fight. in montgomery county, scott broom, 9news now. >> and that has been criticized by state republicans and now gop delegate is starting a referendum to get the state's redistricting map.

neil announced the drive today. he and his supporters now have to collect signatures for more than 55,000 voters to get the issue on the ballot. we have all the election information you need at wusa9.com. including sample ballot information both d.c. and maryland. anywhere you want to go. click on campaign 2012. okay, so now last night, if you went outside, you really were cold. you needed a hat. >> i talked to folks who were watching their kids play games and it was cold. 30-mile per hour winds. good news, no winds today. bad news, it was only 55. we had a day below average. only the fifth time in the whole winter. let's start with a live look outside. it's gorgeous out. we're looking at a weather cam. that's the white house. 53 right now after a high of 55. the dew point is 11, which is scaring me. we may have to revisit the overnight lows at 11:00. we'll keep you posted on that. the winds are calm. if the winds are calm and the dew point is 11.

it's a very dry air mass. without the winds, which saved us last night from damaging the fruit trees, with calm winds tonight, it might get a little bit colder than we think. we'll keep you posted. right now 52 in arlington. 51 in rockville. when the sunsets, it's going to fall like a stone. 51 in reston. 52 in leesburg. 52 in manassas. to the east, 55 in college park. 54 in beltsville and 53 in laurel. we have a cold front on the map for tomorrow. not as cold tonight, but you need a coat if you are headed out. breezy and warmer on wednesday. we'll have southwest winds. that's a warmer wind. also give us a chance of a shower or thunderstorm. again, kind of few and far between. not everybody sees the storm and breezy and cooler. 2:45, 3:00, maybe some light showers. essentially out 66 through manassas and back toward winchester. we put this back into motion and a couple showers and storms try to develop to the south and

west of us. maybe down towards fredericksburg and culpeper, but everything clears out of here. about 24 hours away now. for tonight, clear to partly cloudy. 32 to 42. maybe a one blanket night. winds will turn southwesterly at 10 and you can go outside again tonight and look to the west. there's jupiter, venus, and a waxing crescent moon. do not need binoculars. you need a coat for the morning, however. 30s and 40s and by afternoon, partly cloudy, breezy, and warmer. shower or thunderstorm possible. but highs 70 to 75. and winds out of the southwest at 10 to 20 and rather gusty. all right, next seven days. once the front goes through, it will be cooler on thursday, but a nice day. all be it breezy. 62 and nice on friday. sunshine and 65. 70 on saturday. that's the good news. bad news, showers and thunderstorms possible. nice on sunday. more storms possible on monday

in the upper 70s and upper 60s with showers ending on tuesday. >> starts off nice. we'll be back in a minute. we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address, mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back.

in the mail bag tonight, the troubling case of trayvon martin goes on. yesterday, we chatted with a george washington university law professor who says a very close reading of the florida law explains why the sanford police could not arrest george zimmerman for shooting martin. john from virginia says it is about time. finally, glad to hear something other than hysterical one sided rhetoric. you aired via an academic legal expert what's been bubbling about a witness that observed mr. martin on top of mr. zimmerman beating him while mr. zimmerman was calling for help. let's calm down and get to the truth of the matter and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. and we have similar sentiments from john who feels for the

martin family. however, the more details emerge from this tragedy, the less obvious it is that we have an unarmed teenager shot by some gun happy nut. as bad as the florida self- defense law may be, you can shoot someone who is beating you up. we're going to have to wait for the experts to say how this went down before anyone else gets charged with anything. that is the law. you know what? we do know if was an unarmed teenager shot by well, an armed neighborhood watch guy. we also know that zimmerman followed martin for reasons that appeared dubious. what we don't know yet is how the confrontation went down. for now, it seems obvious that one thing is true. none of this ever happened if zimmerman heeds the police warning to not follow trayvon martin in the first place. then there was this on the bag tax that now resides in montgomery and d.c. yesterday, i called it extremely annoying with a number of you. still, craig from king george, virginia, is a fan. the purpose of the bag tax is to encourage the use of

reusable bags and thereby reduce plastic waste. plastic waste accumulates in the major oceans, retains and absorbs heat. that's why we need the bag tax. okay. that's why we need your e- mails, too. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. that is our report. i'll be back at 11:00 along with anita brikman. log on any time to wusa9.com. have a great evening. we'll see you later. bye bye.

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