. >>> joining us now is jeffrey toobin and sunny hostin. great to see both of you.urprised to hear that the judge announced that the jury pool, anyone in it, having seen the movie, "american sniper", or read chris kyle's book is not a disqualifier. they could still serve as jurors. is that unusual? >> i don't think that's necessarily unusual. you don't want a juror that's been living under a rock. this is a blockbuster film. most people have seen it. i've seen it. you've seen it. i don't think that should disqualify a juror. what you want is a juror who has seen the movie and read the book and still be open minded as to the evidence coming in. and i think our jurors do a pretty good job of that. >> and it's also, jeffrey, not unusual in a high-profile trial to hear something like that. but counter balancing that, for three straight weeks, every showing of this movie was sold out. so that tells you something about the intensity of interest, but which way will that play out? >> i don't think it's a disqualifying factor. i understand why the judge didn't move the trial

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jeffrey toobin is standing by. also our global affairs analyst bobby go.e's written extensively on this in the united states. much more coming up on this important story right after this. don't want that one. yea, actually i do. it's mucinex fast-max night time and it's got a nasal decongestant. is that really a thing? it sounds made up. i can't sleep when i'm all stuffy. i take offense to that. i'm not going to argue with a talking ball of mucus. i think you're being a little hasty... he's not with me. mucinex fast max night time. multi-symptom relief plus nasal decongestant. breathe easy. sleep easy. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. ♪ music ♪ ...the getaway vehicle! for all the confidence you need. td ameritrade. you got this. >>> university of north carolina chapel hill north carolina state university the communities there all mourning the loss of three wonderful muslim students at this hour. a funeral service at the islamic center? raleigh is being held right now. you're looking at live pictures coming in. the sister of the sixty spo

jeffrey toobin thank you. i know we're going to talk more about this.ermit me for a moment, ruth baiter ginsburg, she has a blog. she said this just today to bloomberg about the same-sex ruling that may be coming down the road in junish. the change in people's attitudes on this issue has been enormous. people have said, this is the way i am, and others looked around and we discovered it's our next door neighbor. we're very fond of them, or it's our child's best friend or even our child. i think that as more and more people came out and said that this is who i am, the rest of us recognized that they are one of us. maybe no big surprise how she may vote on this. but it is always instreeging to hear anything from the mouths of the supreme court justices. i have to leave it there. >>> aaron hernandez, another development in this case. now the jury has laid eyes on some pretty graphic images. the crime scene itself. the body of the victim. the shoe prints, the tire tracks, all extraordinarily important as to whether that man on your screen ends up behind bar

cnn senior analyst and preeminent supreme court writer jeffrey toobin joins me now with more. so jeff now we know why they have lifetime appointments so they can go to the state of the union hammered. >> there's your answer. berman here's the thing you have to know. ruth ginsburg and marty ginsburg were married for many years, and marty was a very outgoing funny, life of the party type person and ruth was really very quiet. but marty died in 2010. and over the last four plus years, ruth has turned into a notorious rbg. this is the new ruth ginsburg. she's telling stories. she's getting hammered in public. this is it's quite a change. >> look. it's wonderful from the perspective of we don't get to see the supreme court justices unplugged. we don't get to see behind the robes, if you will forgive me for that but here you saw ruth bader ginsburg and anthony scalia have this conversation out in the open and it was lovely. >> and those two have been friends for pushing 30 or 40 years. they serve together on the d.c. circuit before either of them was appointed to the united states s

i'd like to see congress take that same approach. >> joining us now, senior legal analyst jeffrey toobinbefore you said the president was on firm legal footing. what do you think of the judge's order? >> judging these days especially in the federal courts is a very political act. this judge was very carefully chosen by texas. he's a known conservative judge who has been hostile to the president on immigration reform. this is a very bad ruling for the president and his administration, but it's not over and i think this case is on a rocket ride to the supreme court, maybe in a matter of weeks. >> really, that fast? this judge in texas isn't actually ruling on the legality of the immigration order, correct? >> not yet. this was simply a ruling that the department of homeland security didn't follow the appropriate administrative procedures in implementing the policy. he didn't even deal with the merits yet. but now you have a situation where a program that was supposed to go into effect tomorrow is completely on hold. that's why the obama administration is going to go to the fifth circuit co

. >> joining us now, sunny hostin and jeffrey toobin. sunny, let me start with you.he federal prosecution now rested its case. what were the strongest points zm. >> i think the prosecution had a good case. five days with this kind of case. i think using the victim's own words, quite frankly, the text message that kyle sent saying this guy is nuts, almost contemporaneous to the incident, i thought that was strong and put on that sort of confession he gave. the police interview. that was a very good way to bookend this kind of case because that's the lasting impression that will be left with the jury. >> jeffrey, the prosecution theory there was, let's put on the stuff that may be damaging to us to at least define it ourselves and yet, it is arguably damaging to them. this is a man who does seem different. look at the pictures from the night he committed the murders and the pictures of him now. how much weight he gained. he's obviously different. could it work against him, they had to put it on, but the things eddie ray routh said could feed the jury the obvious impres

i want to bring in cnn's martin savidge who's at the courthouse and jeffrey toobin, cnn's senior legallyst. martin, we've had serious delays in this trial. but tell me what's happening now that they're back in that courtroom. >> reporter: it looked like on friday, we were tying things up and heading to some kind of conclusion. then the weather derailed that. and now it appears it may not come as fast as we thought. this morning, we have the defense, the prosecution and the judge all in the courtroom. but for a long time this morning, the jury was not because they were querying a potential witness for the prosecution. so while they figure out if that witness could testify, the jury was left out. we've just been told this witness has been cleared to testify. so the jury's been brought back in. about this witness, interesting person, crime scene investigator instructor who specializes in shooting incident reconstruction. that gives you a heads-up that this is a person who is likely to break down very clearly and technically how this shooting took place. that's something we have not heard

thank you, danny cevallos jeffrey toobin paul callan. the v.a. released him against the wishes of his family worried he was a threat to himself and others. that angle tonight from our gary tuchman. >> reporter: what if what if the v.a. hospital in dallas that had "american sniper" chris kyle and chad lyttelton's killer as a patient on four occasions listened to this woman, eddie ray routh's mother. during the trial she said under oath she told the v.a. her son was a danger to himself and others because of his ptsd and begged v.a. employees not to let him out. what if? we don't know if the daughter also expressed concerns but her views about her brother's mental state became clear in a frantic 9-1-1 call. >> she said he killed two guys. it's like he's all crazy. he's psychotic. >> reporter: officials at the v.a. called her saying they were releasing eddie and needed to pick him up. she testified she pleaded with them not to let him go but they did even though he had threatened in the past to kill his family and himself. so why did the hospital rel

joining us legal analyst mark geragos and jeffrey toobin. according to police report one of the myers brandished a gun first. >> that's a new claim, as of today. i mean this whole story is a good example of why we and people out in the world shouldn't make up our minds about what we think happened in a crime story upon hearing the first reports. i mean the issue of who was the investigator of this confrontation, how it unfolded i think the only thing clear, absolutely this is why you do an investigation first before you go to trial. >> mark, i mean if the family knew who did this i guess i don't understand why they wouldn't share that information with the police or share information that there was a prior relationship with the police and looking for an unnamed suspect and looked nothing like this guy. >> i think we discussed last night and i said jeff one of the reasons i wanted to see what was unfolding here was because i don't think that the police were so convinced that they wanted to tell the family what was going on. and today, we now f

joining us criminal defense attorney mark geragos and former federal prosecutor jeffrey toobin.f what do you make of this? obviously, there's a lot of stuff we don't know. >> the key issue here is what is the version of the facts from the mystery man involved in all of this? but it would have been better if they went home and forgot about this. i know it's sacrilege to say this but if people didn't have guns none of this would have happened. >> the son saying he was defending his family how? >> it doesn't make sense. the incident had already taken place. they had an unplesasant encounter on the road. there was no follow-up necessary as far as i can tell. so i don't want to blame this guy who lost his mother but i mean, it certainly seems it would have been better off for all concerned if they simply left this alone. >> mark could the suspect still at large claim he was acting in self-defense even though apparently from the early information we have he apparently then followed these two people and that's where the shooting took place? >> it's amazing how far this story has turned

joining me to talk about this is jeffrey toobin and tom few wen test. good to see both of you.f low income people claiming officers are targeting minorities for traffic violations and putting them in jail when they can't pay the fine. isn't this bigger really than michael brown? >> it's definitely bigger than michael brown. this is something the justice department has done a number of times. basically what they say is there are systemic problems with a police department and they negotiate with the department to make changes in training, in hiring, in how people interact with the police. they can even demand changes in leadership. now usually these are worked out in a settlement with the police department, but if there is no settlement, the justice department can go to court and have a judge demand that settlement -- that changes are made. >> i'm curious how likely it is we'll see this lawsuit. because the ferguson police chief said any time anybody has come to them, the justice department has suggested changes in the past, they've done so, they've complied. >> it's always struc

joe johns is with us as well as our senior legal analyst, jeffrey toobin.horrific, this story. it's hard to believe this could happen in the united states. but tell our viewers what the police are saying what we know. >> the latest information is that we have been able to hear some of the 911 calls that came in around 5:00 last night in the chapel hill area. two callers tell essentially the same story. one caller says she heard about eight shots. another caller says between five and ten shots. a series of screams and then silence. the police arrive and they discover these three people dead. the suspect in this case has turned himself in, in fact. craig hicks. he's 46 years old. he is cooperating with the police. and they're trying to determine exactly what it was. they were told initially that this was a dispute over a parking space. however, the police said in a statement that came out just a little while ago that they are aware of the community's concerns about the possibility of this being a hate crime and they intend to investigate that angle to the ful

i am joined by lisa bloom and jeffrey toobin. let's talk about what he said.cutors are going to be charging one individual with arson at the ferguson market and this is in the protests after the michael brown grand jury decision not to indict officer darren wilson, and what do you make of this before we talk about it? >> well this is a monstrous crime. what these folks did to the businesspeople and what they did to the community, and the danger they put individuals in, and i think that it is very good that people are being prosecuted, and we will see if they are guilty obviously down the line. but these were serious crimes, and very serious from the legitimate protests that went on in ferguson. >> and you say this is one reason that we have the fbi, right? >> absolutely. these are dangerous crimes, and they should be investigated and prosecuted prosecuted. >> and we heard from the fbi director james comey on the sensitive issue of police and race e relations. we will talk after this statement. >> after years of police work officers can't help but be influenced

joining me, cnn senior analyst jeffrey toobin and marcus l litrell, author of lone survivor on a mission in afghanistan. marc marcus, first of all, talk about chris kyle. what kind of a guy was he? we've seen the book and the movie. saw him on television. i know his lovely wife. what are your memories of him? >> we obviously became friends when we were young frogs. i mean, tadpoles. still going through training. went to the teams together. and obviously, you know, how tight knit our community is, we grew from there. both being texas boys. once we got out, stayed together. our wives are very close and i mean, he's a great man. i could say that until i'm blue in the face. a great father. i can't attest to being a good husband, i wasn't married to him, but i know taya loved him very much. >> and he, i mean, he cared about veterans. as you do, he cared about helping guys who are coming back. men and women coming back. >> absolutely. the way he stayed connected like a lot of veterans do, we do stuff with veterans and outside of the military. that's what he did. he took the guys to the range,

here to help sort it all out is cnn's senior legal analyst, jeffrey toobin, who's live with us from washingtonand also joining us is attorney roberta caplan who's argued for gay marriage before the fifth circuit court of appeals and before the united states supreme court on behalf of her famous client, edith windsor. jeff, i'm going to begin with you on the reporting side of it. to make it real simple here, the supreme court said to alabama, marriage for gay couples is a go. and then the supreme court judge, the state level judge in alabama said, no, even though he's not supposed to, nor does it seem legally he can, although that's in question. and some people decided to follow his order. what's missing? why are they doing that? and can they? >> well, what's missing is that the supreme court justice, the chief justice of the alabama supreme court, roy moore, is an eccentric. he's kind of a nut. and he has a long history of defying federal court orders. he was thrown off the alabama supreme court a while ago. and what he's doing essentially is defying the will of the -- >> i have to interrupt y

joining us now, criminal defense attorney mark geragos and former federal prosecutor jeffrey toobin.ean jeff you embarked mark both last night raised a lot of questions about this. now it seems though the husband, the wife knew this young man. had tried to help him and left the house afraid, essentially, that he knew where she lived. >> right. the first version of this we heard was that she had gone with the son to try to chase him down. and obviously, a lot of people were very critical of that. the version we heard today was that she left the house to escape to run away from him because she feared that he was coming to get her. again, we're -- the police investigators are going to have to learn a lot more. but, you know, the facts matter and it seems like the facts are somewhat different than what we understood initially. >> mark, again this coming from the victim's husband, the fact that she knew the suspect, and again, according to the husband, spent hours consoling him certainly adds a whole other dimension to this. >> well there's a whole other dimension, but i still don't think

much more to chew on with our cnn legal team's criminal defense attorney mark geragos and jeffrey toobin both of course cnn analysts. jeff first of all, the fact that the police let him get high before turning himself in. i guess it makes sense if it prevents them from storming in. >> it does actually. the goal of the standoffs is to have them end peacefully. i have personally never heard of that deal being made but it doesn't seem out of question if it would mean a peaceful resolution. and this did have a peaceful resolution. >> mark the police then you know asked questions to his client before his client came down from being high. >> right. that's what the -- as jeff i think, will agree with me there will be an issue as to the voluntariness of any statement that was made. i will tell you, listening to that interview, it's the first time since any of this happened that anybody has made coherent sense as to what i think actually transpired here. >> does it matter though whether or not there was some you know drug relationship whether this woman purchased narcotics, and again, there's no

louis alderman antonio french don lemon, tom fuentes and jeffrey toobin. n what it means for the ferguson police department to be complying with the justice department? cot justice department still sue? what's going on? >> certainly, the threat of a lawsuit is what's hanging over this whole situation. clearly, the justice department believes that there are certain policies in place in ferguson that are racially discriminatory. we don't know all the details, because the suit hasn't been filed. but there's been a lot of investigation. and in these situations which happen with some regularity cincinnati new orleans have all been sued for these sorts of issues. is the training racially discriminatory? are there policies about whom to arrest and when that are discriminatory? are any of the people at the top -- should they be removed? all of these issues are up for debate and possibly settlement in advance of a lawsuit. but if the justice department isn't satisfied with the changes that ferguson is prepared to make they will sue and get a judge to force it or a s

let's bring in jeffrey toobin. the side of why this could be seen as somehow connected? because i don't see it. >> well i would add one more to the trend, because i think there really is a trend here in the sense of opponents of president obama having failed to defeat him, having failed to defeat enough members of the democratic members of the senate are taking their efforts to the courts. look at what's happening with health care. the affordable care act. there is a life or death case about the future of the obama care that is going to be argued in the supreme court on march 4th. this is an attempt to overturn the immigration regulation that's about to go into effect. i think the marriage thing is a little different but it is -- you know the courts always wind up with our big political issues. that's what's happening here as well. >> right. but as we -- we who knows better than you. this especially is pretty careful about what it takes on and if it's taking on the obamacare case and if it's taking on laws like sam

joining me is gloria borger and jeffrey toobin.president has to make. clearly, angela merkel made it obvious once again she doesn't want the u.s. providing aid to the ukrainian military. she thinks it will be counterproductive. >> yes. she is working along with france to try to get a diplomatic resolution but the president has an administration that is divided on this. ash carter the man who will be his secretary of defense, has already said he thinks we ought to arm the ukrainians and so have bipartisan group members of congress. the president himself today said that he hadn't made up his mind. as we know his inclination is to try and do things through diplomacy and not do things unilaterally. but i think we got a little tip from angela merkel today that if the president were to say, we're going to arm the ukrainians that she wouldn't come out and say criticize him and a unilateral act that would harm nato. it's very clear that they understand where each other are coming from but it's obvious to me that it wasn't useful to her as

let's bring in jeffrey toobin tom fuentes and don lemon. in ferguson don. was your reaction to the news that one of the fires in the wake of the michael brown grand jury decision could this cause even more unrest? what do you think? >> it could. we know it's a tinder box there. i don't think it should. i think anyone who burns someone's business down or tries to take someone's livelihood or take lives, they should be prosecuted prosecuted. i don't think it should cause unrest. they should be prosecuted. >> tom, from a law enforcement standpoint the timing of this is significant. it has taken a while. what do you think in. >> in this case where you have eyewitnesses who actually see the individual trying to light the fire use an accelerant they put out the fire to save the business and save their own lives, since they were inside i think it's at the point where they were able to bring the indictment they brought it. >> legally, obviously, it doesn't surprise you that they are doing this. maybe there's going to be more indictments down the ro

also jeffrey toobin and our tom fuentes fuentes. >> before the attorney general leaves office in theup a couple of matters on the michael brown situation. the justice department has been doing a pattern practice investigation of the ferguson police department. we expect that they will announce findings, the attorney general will announce findings there was a pattern of discriminatory policing by the ferguson police department. this includes the practice of doing traffic -- targeting minorities. in some cases, some of the people were not able to pay their fines and ended up serving time in jail. in addition to that at the same time they announced these findings against the ferguson police we expect they will announce that there will be no charges against darren wilson the officer who shot michael brown. those two findingsing will ss will be a big deal to wrap up the attorney general's tenure. >> what will they say was there racism? we know missouri is predominantly african-american. they had a tiny number of african-american police officers. >> the findings will target the department

want to bring in jeffrey toobin former federal prosecutor and joey jackson, hln legal analyst and criminalrney for the prosecution and defense, this is a great conversation for us to have. jeffrey, let's talk about this because, again, this press conference coming at around 11:00 today. we're expecting to hear that he already has been charged, an upgrade from what he was charged with abduction with attempt to defiel in graham's case. help us understand the upgrade in the charge. >> well it can be dna evidence. it could be some sort of forensic evidence. what's been striking about this case is that this man appears to be a suspect in multiple cases, including a sexual assault, the death of a virginia tech student several years earlier. what's curious is that apparently there was forensic evidence tying him to those two cases but not the hannah graham case. perhaps the announcement today will suggest that there is forensic evidence in this case. >> so as a defense attorney, what is the challenge then for the defense if this kind of forensic evidence exists? what poses -- what challenges does

we have cnn senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor jeffrey toobin.eleased everything these are the big moments, you'll get to hear and see it for yourself the way the jury did. let's start with what the prosecution had on its side. one, they had the confession right? i would tell them i'm so sorry for what i've done. how important was this under texas law? >> this is probably the single most important piece of evidence in the case because it is immediately after the shooting. and here you have routh basically saying i know what i did was wrong. and i'm sorry. and right and wrong is the standard under texas law. does the defendant know that what he did was wrong. the jury said yes, and here it seems to me is key piece of evidence. >> that's why it's hard to fault the jury in any way, they applied the law, that's why it was so quick. doesn't mean they didn't do their job. >> the purchase was for two bean burritos $2.18. add 18 cents tax and the total was $2.36. >> he bought two burritos. oh that doesn't mean anything. it could mean everything. because