. >> brown: gwen ifill talks to marcia coyle from the "national law journal" over who owns montana's rivers. >> woodruff: we update the growing tensions in syria with a surprising denial of president assad that he ordered a deadly crackdown on protesters. >> brown: and censer michels reports on the discovery of a so called goldilocks planet. not too hold, not too cold, maybe just right to support life. >> it will be hard to learn too much more about the potentially habitable planets any time soon since it's 600 light years away. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's naur. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: th

joining us to assess the court's big year are newshour regular marcia coyle of the "national law journal." and jeff shesol, author of the book "supreme power: franklin roosevelt vs. the supreme court." marcia, starting with you. how are these cases alike and how are they different? >> well, they're different because they involve either different laws or different provisions within the constitution. they're alike because they all have to do, if you step back from them, with the proper role of the different branches of government as well as the relationship between the federal government and state governments. if you boil it down simply, they all have to do with power. who should exercise it properly under the constitution. >> ifill: in your experience covering the court, how unusual is it for all three branches of government to get supreme court review like this? >> i don't think it's unusual at all. but i think what's unusual about these three cases is the potential political ramifications they may have for the upcoming election. as well as issues that people really care about and could

. >> ifill: jeff shesol author of supreme court and marcia coyle, our regular newshour regular from national law journal, thank you both very much. >> pleasure. >> brown: again, the major developments of the day. house republicans moved to adopt a payroll tax cut extension, but the bill faced a possible presidential veto because it also mandates approval of hotly debated oil pipeline. the national transportation safety board called for a sweeping ban on using cell phones and other portable devices while driving. and a gunman in belgium killed three people and himself, and wounded more than 20 others. online, we look at the sub- atomic particle that may help scientists better understand our universe. hari sreenivasan explains. hari? >> sreenivasan: we have the latest on the hunt for the elusive higgs boson, and why it's so hard to find. that's on our science page. on our world page, we explore what happe wheu.s.roops leave afghanistan in 2014. will the international community step in to promote development? and tomorrow morning, we will live stream jim lehrer's interview with secretary of sta