you know in a fundamental way. >> reporter: justice ruth bader ginsburg had this exchange -- >> a majort of your argument was that the people who don't participate in this market are making it much more expensive for the people who do. >> reporter: today will focus on the rest of the law. specifically, if the individual mandate is ruled unconstitutional, can the remaining parts survive? >> we believe that if the mandate is struck down, the entire law must fall. >> reporter: others believe it can stand but say insurance premiums could rise as fewer people buy in. after today the justices will conference and a decision is expected in june.

the four liberals on the court, stephen breyer, ruth bader ginsburg and elena kagan tried to defend the law. 3 asked sympathetic questions of verrilli, challenging questions of clement and mike carvin. they did not look like they had a fifth vote in that courtroom. and you know, it takes five votes to win and look likes the conservatives have them. >> kate, you were inside the courtroom, the solicitor general donald verrilli, was he sort of stumbling, did he not have the right answers? did he seem unprepared and overly nervous in responding to the conservative justices' tough questioning? >> it's hard to get into his mind but i can say if you compare it to yesterday, he did -- he did appear to stumble more, almost seemed apologetic for some of the answers he was giving. there was a stark difference from his delivery yesterday as to compared to today. and jeff was talking about the conservative justices really going after and asking him tough questions. barely letting him finish his sentence before they piped in. looking over my notes as we wait for the audio. justice kennedy asking clea

justice ruth bader ginsburg compared this debate about social security retirement systems. she asked, how congress would be able to get workers to pay into social security but not have the same ability to address health care. >> newt gingrich received a standing ovation from the chamber during his visit today. the former house speaker toward the state house and stopped at a jewelry store owned by republican delegate ron george. before blasting the governor's proposal to raise the gas tax. >> this shows as much political insensitivity is you can imagine. -- as you can imagine. the gas will be higher here if this tax passes. he said he plans to stay in the race until the winner is declared but concedes the campaign will stay on a high -- a tight budget to make it to the national convention. >> ron paul is expected to be at the university of maryland college park tomorrow. it will hold the town hall style meeting tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. i hope you have your ticket or tickets. tonight's drawing is one for the record books. >> the winning numbers will be announced in a few m

. >> justice ruth bader ginsburg had this exchange with solicitor general arguing for the obama administration. >> you made your point of your argument was that the people who don't participate in this law are making it much more expensive for the people who do. >> reporter: today will focus on the rest of the law, specifically if the individual mandate is ruled unconstitutional, county remaining parts survive? >> we believe if the mandate is struck down, the entire -- the law must fall. >> reporter: others believe it can stand but say insurance premiums could rise as fewer people buy in. after today the justices will conference and a decision is expected in june. at that point we'll be just a few months away from the presidential election and this ruling could have a profound impact, betty. >> indeed it can. susan mcginnis in washington, thank you. >>> a deathly wildfire continues to burn out of control just south of denver, colorado, this morning. residents of 6500 homes have been given preevacuation order. 2500 homes or other buildings have been damaged or destroyed by the fire that now cov

that so much of the defense of the law fell to the justices in the court, including justice ruth bader ginsburg and we can listen to this exchange between her and paul clement, a former solicitor general who is arguing against the law today. >> when i'm sitting in my house deciding i'm not going to buy a car, i am causing the labor market in detroit to go south, i'm causing maybe somebody to lose their job and for everybody to have to pay for it under welfare. so the cost shifting that e government tries to uniquely associate with this market,'s it everywhere. and even more to the point, the rationale that they think ultimately support this is legislation that, look, it's an economic decision, once you name economic decision we aggregate the decision, there's your substantial affect on commerce. that argument works here, it works in every single industry. >> of course, we do know that there are a few people-- more in new york city than in wyoming-- who never will buy a car. but we also know here-- and we don't like to admit it-- that because we are human beings we all suffer from the risk of ge

is what justice ruth spader ginsburg can say. ruth baderinsburg. >> this is not a revenue-raising because if it is successful, nobody will pay the be noy because there will revenue to raise. not want the penalty the health care intended it as a fine. there is agreement for the that most of them want move forward as expected. wednesday began the e ofment on the broader issu not the mandate is unconstitutional. we will be your continuing therage of live from supreme court. , abc7 news.er >> let's take a look at the top stories. d.c. police have arrested a connection with a hate crime shooting at a local ihop. lashawn carson has been charged aggravated assault while armed. anti-case letters n the restaurant and then shot him. anti-gay slurs. >> local farmers are preparing freeze.tential blooming ahead of schedule due to the unseasonably winter. farmers are scrambling against time and mother nature to try young blooms. details about the death trayvon martin. he had been suspended from .chool witness is telling abc that it was is the man help, n

. >> those of us with insurance foot the bibl as ruth bader ginsburg explained in court today. >> the rest of us are paying because these people are getting cost-free health care, and the only way to prevent that is to have them pay sooner rather than later, pay up front. >> reporter: the question for the justices, in order to pay for all that care, does the government have the power to force every american to buy health insurance as the obama health care program requires? scalia tore into the administrationes's lawyer saying that the government can insist everyone get insurance. >> everybody has to buy food sooner or later. so you define the market as food. therefore everybody in the market and therefore you can make meem by broccoli. >> reporter: health care is different because you don't know when you'll need it, unlike food. justice anthony kennedy, the crucial vote on the court whose decision will likely make or break this law summed up the skepticism about the government forcing people to buy something. >> that changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual

i want to put up a quote from a woman sitting on the supreme court at that time, ruth bader ginsburg, who wrote the dissent in the lee ledbetter case. "in our view, this court does not comprehend or is indifferent to the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination." pretty straightforward, but at least there were some folks on that court who did understand what you were trying to do. >> that is right. i have had many calls from all over the united states. she was right on justice alito said in the opinion that it did not makes sense -- it did not make sense. he said my problem was not that i was not discriminated against, but it was because i did not file a charge the first time i got that discriminatory paycheck even though i did not know it. that does not make sense. that is not what the law was. but justice ginsberg hit the nail on the head. tavis: that was pretty crazy. i thought that decision was pretty -- how can you miss the statute of limitations about something you did not even know. you went to work on the halls of congress. you've got congress to pass

americans buy health insurance-- the so-called individual mandate-- liberal justices including ruth bader ginsburg pushed to save the rest of the massive health care law. >> reporter: opponents argue that without everyone buying insurance, the rest of the law doesn't work, including one provision that bars insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions and a second that prevents companies from hiking up premiums based on a person's medical history. the obama administration concedes those two popular provisions can't be paid for unless everyone in the country buys health insurance. but it argue there is' a lot more to the law than that and all those other parts should stand, including the requirement that insurance companies let adult children in on their policies. all four of the court's liberal justices seemed to agree. it appeared the court's conservatives and moderate swing justice anthony kennedy saw it differently, that if the mandate was gone, the entire law should be scrapped. justice antonin scalia was typically blunt. >> reporter: conservatives suggested t

in this exchange justice ruth bader ginsburg tossed a friendly question to the administration's top lawyer solicitor general donald verilli. >> i thought a major, major point of your argument was that the people who don't participate in this market are making it much more expensive for the people who do. >> reporter: now there was a lot of talk outside the courtroom after these arguments that verilli, the administration's lawyer, really struggled today underneath tough questions. but scott, i've got to tell you, in these kind of complex cases, the justices always hammer the lawyer. these questions go back and forth, rapid fire, just like we saw today, just like verilli got today. >> pelley: jan you have written a book about the supreme court, jan, and you were warning us earlier today not to draw too many conclusions from the questions that the justices asked. >> reporter: oh, that's exactly right. i think if we saw today and we had to guess today what the justices would decide, they'd strike down this individual mandate. but think about what happens next, they go into their conferences, t

just as ruth bader ginsburg offered a view of how that might work. >> if it's successful, nobody will pay the penalty. >> reporter: just anthony scalia summed up the legal murk. >> i find it hard to think that this is clear. whatever else it is, it's easy to think it's not clear. >> reporter: but right now the court seems divided. four likely to uphold, two likely to strike it down and three with cautious conservativism. justice scalia could surprise and anthony kennedy hold the keys to the case. >> this is about as dramatic as it gets. let me ask you something. some provisions of the health care law have already gone into effect. for instance, two and a half million young people have been added to their parent's health care already. and we know it's illegal for children under the age of 19 to be denied because of preexisting conditions. so would this be revoked? what will happen to the changes already? place? >> if the court decides to strike down that individual mandate, and they could decide that the whole law has to go, all those benefits you described, would also go and it would

off: >> he went further questioning the hand dates constitutionality: >> meanwhile justice ruth bader ginsburg said a broader health care market reduces cost for those participating: >> joining me now to help us figure out what went on today jonathan turley, george washington university law professor. thanks for your time again tonight. >> hi, keith. >> it seems the justices were not heading toward a ruling that might find part off all of this unconstitutional. today looked like a different court with a completely different case. what happened today? >> we talked about this yesterday, i things that had really the two justice that were being watched most closely by most of us were justice kennedy for the obvious swing vote but also justice scalia. many people did not realize that scalia had said things in past cases that made his vote somewhat in play. i think that the administration was trying to see if they could nudge him to stay consistent with that prior statement. what we sauteed is that scalia does not appear to be in play, which means it's a greater burden for the administration. they r

not fair said justice ruth bader ginsburg. >> the people who don't participate are making it more expensive for those who do. >> reporter: anthony kennedy. >> this is a step beyond what our cases allow. >> reporter: a health concern requirement might be unconstitution. >> the young person is uniquely, close to affect iing the rates insurance and the cost of providing medical care in a way that is not true in other industries. >> love obama care! >> reporter: outside, both sides rallied. >> we have not waved the white flag of surrender on socialized medicine. >> reporter: the battle will be among the nine justices. with justice kennedy not signaling support for the mandate, court watchers here are guessing obama care looks more likely to be declared unconstitutional when the decision is rendered in a few months. steve handelsman, news 4 at the u.s. supreme court. >>> president obama is on his way back to the white house after a two day trip to seoul, south korea. he attended a nuclear summit there. it's the first time the president and pakistan's president met since they killed osama bin lad

said something in the beginning of this i thought was interesting that i thought echoed what ruth bader ginsburgid. >> the choice of -- which is what you're requesting or a salvage job and the more conservative approach would be salvage rather than throwing out everything. >> i mean -- yeah, right? >> exactly. and, you know what, the nation does not want to relive this piece of legislation. they do want to -- they want to see, you know, it's benefiting them, it's already benefiting people. you can go down the list, you know as well as i do women small business, seniors, young people but the -- you know, the irony of all of this is that when social security was first put into law there was a challenge to social security and challenge to the supreme court whether or not it was social security was constitutional. as a matter of fact, the woman who wrote a majority of social security legislation was frances perkins, the labor secretary first woman labor secretary. she was pilloried that some wanted to try to impeach her because they viewed this as socialism, whatever they want to attach to it. do yo

. >> when ruth bader ginsburg was nominated and i suggested that it had been a zigzag process he got mad and shut down -- you remember that my feeling was b. that was i'm sorry he got mad but i'm glad i asked the question. yong -- zong zelleny had any intention of writing the comment out of context. obama care vs. romney care. i don't object to the question. the question almost never gets publicity. >> bill: santorum doesn't like this guy. where does he go from here? what's up? >> the next big event. there is several, next big test will probably be wisconsin, which is going to be winner take all. a number of delegates. and this is the kind of state which romney has been able to eke out wins over santorum and held santorum back. and if santorum could pull off an upset it might give his campaign. >> bill: when is that? >> a week from tomorrow. there is also a primary in maryland where santorum would not be expected to do well that day. one in the district of columbia where he is not even on the ballot. romney will get another batch of delegates. probably win the night on delegates. thi

. >> ruth bader ginsburg. >> if it is successful, nobody will pay the penalty. >> it is world not a tax, they can move immediately to the constitutionality, of what the white house now calls obamacare. rick santorum showed up, hoping for a ruling repudiating the plan pioneered by his massachusetts rival. .>> the reason that i talk about obamacare and its impact on the economy and fundamental freedoms and mitt romney does not. >> the justices talk tomorrow about the requirement to buy coverage, the mandate. it is the main complaint about the obama health-care. steve handelsman, wbal tv 11 news. commitment 2012 update, another gop presidential candidate will make his way to maryland before in the primary. in annapolis tomorrow. he will meet with area business leaders on the campaign trail. maryland has been drawing more attention than usual in the race for the white house. mitt romney had visited recently in arbutus. >> if you live in northeast baltimore, you may hear some strange noises over the next few days. >> there will be a siren and and with an echo. >> the company that makes the p

i want to play for you what ruth bader ginsburg, a justice on the panel, was talking about while she was questioning the attorneys in this case. and when you hear what she has to say, put it in this context. 26 states are suing the federal government over this health care law. they don't like the individual mandate because they say you shouldn't be forcing an american to buy a product, even if it's health care. and if you do, it isn't fair it we get a tax or penalty if we don't buy it. here is how justice ginsburg was asking the question about that mandate. have a list rn. >> all this talk about tax penalties, all beside the point because this suit is not challenging the penalty. this is a suit that is challenging the must buy provision, and the argument is made that if, indeed, must buy is constitutional, then these complainants will not resist the penalty. so walt they're sehat they're s determination that the must buy requirement stated separately from the penalty, that that must buy is unconstitutional and if that's so, does it end the case? if it's not so, they're not resisting

here's ruth bader ginsburg. >> tell me if i'm wrong about this, but i thought a major, major point of your argument was that the people who don't participate in this market making it more expensive for the people who do. a good number of them will get services that they can't afford at a point when they need them and the result is that everyone else's premiums get raised. so it's not your free choice just to do something for yourself. what you do is going to affect others, affect them in a major way. >> so what do you hethink when u hear about that? what do you think about the justices who think this is overstepping. >> well, you know, it was very interesting. . you listen carefully who that she said there. she said i thought your argument was, she was talking to the solicitor general who was defending the law. and i think what you saw there was the frustration of the frustration of the liberal justices at the job he was doing defending the law. he wasn't as aggressive and outspoken as they wanted. and there was considerable frustration even among the justices who agreed with the soli

ruth bader ginsburg, she took the rare step of reading her dissent from the bench.he woman whose case was the subject of that ruling, after that ruling she got to work. she is lilly ledbetter, worked at goodyear for 20 years before she discovered she was being paid 40% less than men who were doing exactly the same work. when she lost that case at the supreme court, she kept working. she took her case to congress and in congress, she won. and being able to put his signature to that win is one of the things that president has been bragging on ever since he did it. and getting big applause every time he does so. joining us tonight for the interview, is lilly ledbetter, a new book out how this all happened, called "grace and grit, my fight for equal pay and fairness at goodyear and beyond" thank you for being here. >> thank you. thank you. >> did explain that right? >> wonderful job, you sized the situation up, exactly right. and the president takes a lot of credit for signing that bill and it was so historical, because it put women and their families back out front. it

. >> reporter: liberal justice ruth bader ginsburg. >> and this is not a revenue raising measure becauseral. nobody will pay the penalty. >> reporter: if the fine is ruled not a tax the high court can move immediately to the constitutionality but what the white house now calls obama care. rick santorum showed up hoping for a ruling repudiating the plan pioneered by his massachusetts rival. >> the reason that i talk about obama care and its impact on the economy and fundamental freedom and mitt romney doesn't. >> reporter: the justices talk about buying coverage, the mandate. it's the main complaint about barack obama's health care plan. rick santorum here today is a reminder this u.s. supreme court could have an effect again like it did in the year ton on the presidential election. live from the ghco urt, i'm steve handelsman, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, steve. also from the supreme court today the justices retuesday in to hear two cases involving religion in the classroom. the first case involves banners declaring in god we trust and god shed his grace on thee hanging in a san dieg

. >> reporter: liberal justice ruth bader ginsburg. >> this is not a revenue raising measure. if it's successful, it will -- nobody will pay the penalty. >> reporter: if the fine is ruled not a tax, the high court can move immediately to the constitutionality of what the white house now calls obama care. rick santorum showed up. >> the reason i talk about obama care and its impact and mitt romney doesn't. >> the mandate is the main complaint about barack obama's health care plan. santorum here today is a reminder this u.s. supreme court could have an effect again on a presidential election. i'm steve handelsman, news 4, at the supreme court. >>> after a rainy weekend get ready for a big chill overnight. >> meteorologist veronica johnson is in the storm sent tower tell us. >> guys, it means for a couple hours tonight we could be dropping below freezing and we've got the budding spring flowers to worry about. right? check out the morning temperatures here. you can see we dropped down to about 46 to 55, 57 degrees. manassas to culpepper. that wasn't a big deal at all. today was t

here is a bit of what justice ruth bader ginsburg had to say on that line. >> so you not -- it's not your free choice just to do something for yourself. what you do is going to affect others. affect them in a major way. >> the government has argued if you stay out by not buying insurance, you are forcing up other folks cost. it seemed to be an argument that justice ginsburg was very much comfortable with today, shep. >> shepard: shannon bream at the supreme court. thank you. break through in the ongoing civil war in syria. that nation's hard line regime has reportedly accepted a cease-fire planned to end the whole thing. so far no evidence that it's done a bit of good. the united nations reports 9,000 people or more have died in a crackdown. today alone we heard violence in at least three cities. and bullets reportedly even flew across the border into neighboring lebanon. the former united nations secretary general kofi annan recently proposed a six point peace plan endorsed by the u.n. security council. he now says the syrian regime accepted it. but today ourselves hillary clinton s

ruth bader ginsburg was so incens incensed, she read her dissent out laoud from the bench.orked at goodyear before discovering she was paid 40% less than men. she kept working, took her case to congress and in congress, she won. being able to put his signature to that win is one of the things this president has been bragging on ever since he did it. and getting big applause every time he does so. joining us tonight for the interview is lilly ledbetter, a new book how this happened, "grace and grit, my fight for equal pay and fairness at goodyear and beyond" thank you for being here. >> thank you, thank you. >> did i explain that right? >> you did, you did a wonderful job, you sized the situation up exactly right and the resident takes a lot of credit for signing that bill and it was so historical because it put women and their families back out front. it gives them the right when they find out that they are being mistreated in their pay, then they can file the charge the same as i had done. >>> it reinstates what the supreme court undid with the ruling against you. >> exact

. >> when ruth bader ginsburg was nominated and i suggested that it had been a zigzag process he gotd and shut down -- you remember that my feeling was b. that was i'm sorry he got mad but i'm glad i asked the question. yong -- zong zelleny had any intention of writing the comment out of context. obama care vs. romney care. i don't object to the question. the question almost never gets publicity. >> bill: santorum doesn't like this guy. where does he go from here? what's up? >> the next big event. there is several, next big test will probably be wisconsin, which is going to be winner take all. a number of delegates. and this is the kind of state which romney has been able to eke out wins over santorum and held santorum back. and if santorum could pull off an upset it might give his campaign. >> bill: when is that? >> a week from tomorrow. there is also a primary in maryland where santorum would not be expected to do well that day. one in the district of columbia where he is not even on the ballot. romney will get another batch of delegates. probably win the night on delegates. this i

i mean, stephen breyer and ruth bader ginsburg, both nominated by bill clinton, both nominees very muchin the mainstream of kind of centrist democratic thought at that time, the mid '90s, were confirmed within weeks by huge margins. and so if a president chooses to play down the middle, i thought or my observation told me, confirmation was going to be a piece of cake. well, that stopped happening in the last two nominations. we had sonya sonia sotomayor, te wonderful personal story and a person of high achievement, 17 years as a federal judge, i think more federal judicial experience, i believe, than just about anybody else ever nominated to the supreme court. and, you know, what happened in her confirmation hearing? of course, she was confirmed, so at the end of the day it was a happy story for her. but all that garbage about one speech she had made and the wise la latina remark. you probably remember this. kind of wrenched out of context of what actually had been a speech that was very thoughtful and heartfelt, not a sound bite. you know, opposition research that turns up something li