and newshour regular marcia coyle of the "national law journal." have been covering solicitor general kagan in that role for the last year and a half. and she has argued before the court. what is kind of a solicitor general has she been. what have we learned that would tell us what kind of justice she would be in the same chambers. >> well, i think first her style is very distinctive. it was hard to believe last fall that she was arguing her first case ever in any appellate court when she took on the campaign finance case citizens united in the supreme court. she's very energetic at the podium. but also easy going and has a quick sense of humor. and she seems to really enjoy engaging with the justices. she's not intimidated at all by them. she chose citizens united, as her first case, which was a very complicated case and it was clear that the government had an uphill battle trying to win that case. the government lost it. but she's also taken on the term's only terrorism related case. she's defending a federal law that bars material support of desi

here to walk us through it as always marcia coyle of the national law journal. now, mars ya, the first case involved the nfl. contracts to provide hats, t-shirts, jersey, that kind of thing. what kind of relief was american needel looking for. what did they argue in their original case? >> well, american needle had sued the nfl and its 32 teams claiming that they violated the federal anti-trust laws when they granted an exclusive licence to reebok to manufacture and sell trademarked head quarter-- head ware for the nfl teams. so american needle was asking the supreme court, because it had lost in the lower court, to find that the nfl did not have immunity from the federal anti-trust laws. >> suarez: so american needle wanted the nfl to act like 32 separate companies instead of one company. >> that's right. american needle had been selling trademarked headwear for something, i think, close to 40 years as were other vendors. so it was saying, basically, this was a very anti-competitive arrangement that the nfl had come up with reebok. >> suarez: so what did the ju

ray suarez talks with marcia coyle of the "national law journal." >> ifill: we get the latest on the battle between two republicans for a senate seat in kentucky from joseph gerth of the "louisville courier." i won't vote for any budget that's not bald, republican or democrat. >> and i want to be a part of the solution. and whether it's doing it over a couple of years, i think that a more practical approach. >> lehrer: and judy woodruff looks at iran's agreement to ship uranium to turkey, and possibly avoid international sanctions. that's all ahead, on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: the national science foundation. supporting education and research across all fields of science and engineering. 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. >> ifill: the oil company b.p. reported progress today in its struggle to control the oil spill in the gulf of mexico. but sci