with judge somayor foremost ong them. judge somayor went own to employ her eormous talentsat princeton, where she achved thehighest honor. this isn award thats given not just to t smartesttudent in t css but to the most ceptionally smart student who's given the most to her commit she graduated from yale law school. i believe that theearings will mte less than for the several previous nominees or at the least, that these hearings ll bear outwhat is obvious about her. that she is modest and humble in her approach to judging. as we become even mo familiar wi her incisive mind and balanced views, i am certain that this heang will prove to all what is already clear to many. this is a moment in which all americans canake great pride. not just new yorkers, not just hispanics, not just women, but all americans who believe opportunity and who want for themselves and their children a fair reading of the laws by dge who understands that while were a nation of individuals, we are all gorned by on law. mr. airman,eople felt at the fou

judge somayor, let me als extend my welcome to yound to your family.naon is a reflection of who we ares a countrynd it representsan american succs story that we all can b proud of. your academic and professional accomplishments prsecutor, privat practitioner, trial judge, and appella judge are exempla exemply. as a judge you he brought a richne to the bench and t the diary which has been an inspiration for so many. toy, we begin a process through which the senate enges in i constitial role to advise and consent on your nomination. this wees hearing is the only oppounity and t american people will have toearn about your judicial philosophy, yr temperament, and your movations before you put on the black robe and are heard from only in your opio. the president has asked us to entrustou with an immense amou of power. r which, bydesign,is free from political constraints, unchecked by the people, and unaccountable to congress, except in the mostxtreme circumsts. our democracy, our rights and everythinge hold dear about america are builton the founda of our-

. >> todos sabemos que la jueza somayor será confirmada y esperamos que no hallan más demoras en el plenoesponsabilidades y mayores xhors afirmó el mayor republicanan dice que examinantn las divorc las diferencias con sus testimonios no han declarado la posición pero el único hispano republicano en la cámara alta dice que la apoya por su experiencia y mérito personal. >> yo creo que es hora de dejar la política a un lado y veamos a los jueces como si tienen las calificaciones o no. >> la senadora republicana susan lo li collins declaró que la apoyaba. un crítico de la jueza afirma que no es por las audiencias. >> no s si las respuestas de la jueza han cambiado la mente de alguien. de izquierda o de derecha. >> es a favor del aborto alegó que mostró su defensa al derecho de la privacidad. algunos de estos grupos estaban preocupados. elh@tnliúrtkakph@h sotomayor y no sigue de ningún republicano que quiera intentarlo, quiere decir que la confirmaci confirmación final de la jueza sería en agosto. lourdes m. univisión. >> después de la comercial, líderes de la oposición venezolana llevan sus q

the political mind field tomorrow, 's not just for dge somayor. it's also for the senats questioning her. >> it coulbe ver interesting. this time tomorrow, we could be talking about the gaffe made by one of thosesenators. >> fainating. >>> a story deloping now out of washinon. a fema u.s. sailor has be found dead in the barics. we're told the cau of deat under inveigation, but a senior official is sayin there is foul play. sh worked at t pentagon and was und dead in her room this morning. s one of only a handful of women living in the barics. next, outrage over the a's counrterror program. >> what was the secr program? >> and why a conserti blog was allowing attacks aainst the first daughter, malia obama we'll be r rig back with the ils on msnbc. ♪ on th endless ocean ♪ finally lovovs know no shame ♪ ♪ wchg in slow motion ♪ as you turn to me and s ♪ take my brthaway (announcer) ge locomiv. stomers love them almo a as much as we love e maki them. ♪ my ve (announcer) innovaon today for amamerica's tomorrow. acker hip-hop. ♪ that cacan rara your rela

. >>> confirmationurrieabe hs ngg torr sows or fuprtmeorou c ne onnomi seia s somayor. id esprent obama took time out today to call the jurors from the oval office. he wished her luck during the hearings. she's expected to easily win confirmation in the democratic controlled senate. 54-year-old grew up in public housing and if confirmed will be the first hispanic to ever serve on the high court. some who oppose her confirmation voiced their opinions today. the anti-abortion protesters were outside the supreme court. they want arch bishop donald worrell to refuse communion to any catholic senators who vote to confirm. >> it is the duty of pro-life senators to filibuster this nomination with all their hearts. oh, but we don't have the votes! it's a fight worth fighting. it's a fight worth losing for the sake of the innocent. >> norman mckorvy joined the protesters today. he's b she's better known as jane roe. >>> former vice prident dick cheney reportedly ordered the ci airks to keep one of its programs secret from congress. some democrats in congress say that may have ve

. >> ernethy: all signs point to judge somayor's confirmation. if and whenhat happens, she will be the rst hispanic americanustice. thcourt will include two women. and s of the nine justices will be caolics. pope benedict the sixteenth underwent surgerafter breaking is wrist while on vacation i the italian al. he vatican says the 82-year-d pope fe in his room overnight. nevertheless, the pope celrated mass before being taken to theospital. there was an intertional controversthis week about assisted suicid sir edwardownes was a highly reected 85-year-old briti symphony orcstra conductor. his wife for more tn 50 years, lady downe 74, had terminal cancer, and heas increasingly blind and deaf. they were said to wanto die, together. assisted suicide is iegal in briin, but not in switzerland. sohe couple flew to zurich, to clinic that specializes in assistinsuicides. they dnk a lethal fluid and died side by side, hding hands, in the prence of their two ildren. in washingto a federal commission is urginthe iraqi government torotect that cotry's christia

after weeks of courtesy calls on capitol hill, judge sonia somayor is ready to fight for a seat on the supreme court. president obama called to give her a private pep talk from the oval office. and some democrats are predicting a slam dunk confirmation. >> i think there's a very good chance she's going to get as many or more votes than judge roberts, which was 78. she has wowed people. >> the i'm going to be playing for the constitutional team. i don't know what more you can ask of a judge sfwlr some republicans want tknow more about her swun comment that a wise latina judge might make wiser decisions than a white one. >> i think that's a fair air to question her about. certainly the rule of law depends on the same rules that apply to each one of us no matter our color, sex or ethnicity. >> reporter: they report to her role in a racial discrimination case where no african-american were qualified. the supreme court overturned her ruling but supporters say she was following the law, not making it. today, judge sonia sotomayor has a chance to defend herself. today has been reserved for op

. >> judge sonia sotomayor soon- to-be justice somayor. >> c you give your opinion whether n in this country and i personallyas an individual citizen have a right to self- defense. >> as i said, i don't know i don' knowif that legal questionas been ever esented. >> now, unless you have a complete meltdownou are going get confirmed. >> members of the senate judiciary commite tried pin down judd sonia sotomayor. you just saw one. they failed. if ldsey graham is right an this thing is over, whats t point of four endless ds to tk about latinoisdom? >> they didn't haveuch else. and republicans wanted extd a hand to their coerts -- conservative conituencies. there is no blood there. particully no blood because she obviously studied an memorize theranscript of the alito and rerts earrings and literally used the same vbal formation. the ly one sheidn't use fro roberts was, i have no quarrel with that that is the one she stayed aw fro. but other than that, she stuck to their script and e republicanwere just as frustrated as the democrats were a few years ago. >> what do y know about this judg

republicans intensity question somayor about her pledge to be impartial. >>> battle front. bob woodruff returns to iraq and afghanistan, and gets a sense how the military's missions are changing. >>> high and dry a community that hasn't had running walter for six years. how can that happen in america? >>> and, a new airline devoted to flying fluffy and fido first >>> and, a new airline devoted to flying fluffy and fido first clas captions paid for by abc, inc. >>> good evening. imagine yourself on an airline flight, everything nominal, and then you look up and see a hole appearing in the top of the fuselage. you're looking at sky. unnerving, to say the least. southwest airlines 2294 was on its way to baltimore when it happened. the plane lost cabin pressure and made an emergency landing. no one was injured. but the plane was old. and that raises questions about the safety of aging airlines. lisa stark is in washington this evening. lisa, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, charlie. well, it was just 30 minutes into that flight when the hole suddenly opened up in the sk

in t d dperate effort to make e something, anyththg,g, sck against suprpremcocournominee sosoa a somayorhe confirmation heariringetet t bebegin ndnd, the newest senator al franken m mtiting with thehe judge today, threrepuicans tryiyi t to ne their attack. senator jeffff sesonongriping agagaiababousotomayor's former position on the board d of rerects of the puerto rican legal defefee e fu saying the organinizaonon iextreme because filed some, wait for itit, ra discriminationon lsusuit senator sessision m mig notwant to acknowledgege it,utut race discriminationons s ilgal, and even i ifessions were right, setor goldwatat w wou have admoninishedimim e legal defense fund h h w wri ton sessions saying neneitr r th bobod d as whole or any individual m mbeber lects tigation to be undertatan n or controls ongoing lititigioion. and 25 latiningrgrou criticizing hifofomischaracterizing suchch civil rightstsorork d trying to createteththnianimosity. anpatrick leahy releasededndnd analysis of jusushohow derate to conservatiti t theudge is on crimalalustice. reversed only 2% of f imimin convnvictis s

. >>> uswho is the real sonia somayor? is she the radical lefty that her critics want to portray or is she the sober, carefu moderate admired by r supporters? we'll lk to someone who has just finished a study of her judicial record. >>> also, esident obama >>> senatoroland burris will not run for reelection next year in 2010. burris was caught up in the play for pay scandal and rack obama's ol senate seat is now totally up for grabs. that story is in th politics fix. and finally -- what does it mea to pull a palin? the term is now oicially in the new online urban dictionary. 'll fill you inon whatt means in the "hardballside show. >>> but we begin, the charge b democrats that the cia has sled cgress begins in 2001. congssman silvestre reyes of texas is the docrat chairman of the select intellence committee in the house of representatives, and texas republican congressman mac thornbry is also a member of the committee. mr. chaian, describe how we ca to know in the last 24 hours that there's an accusaon going from you to the

and somayor said she followed precedent by supreme court and it was on the testing issue itself, not the discrimination. and the grilling by senators is expected to stretch from today, possibly into thursday and we also know that the issue of row v wade came up. we understand she considered it settled law and didn't want to go any further into that issue. of course wel have the very latest coming up at 5:00 and 6:00. back to you. >> sarah, thank you very much for that. and we're streaming the interview live on our website at myfoxdc.com. >>> it's been a busy dy on capitol hill. hearings will beheld this afternoon on metro's deadliest crash. it's been less than a month since two trains -- one tin ran into the back of another one, killing 9 people. the ntsb is pushing for urgent changes. the recommendations center around monitoring the sensors on the tracks in realtime. metro says that's not possible right now. maureen umeh has the details. >> reporter: an urgent representation for metro coming from the ntsb. they want the transit authority to upgrade its track circuit. tests after the

how dodoyou thinkk t day wenen for judgdge somayor todayay? >> i tnk it went fine. ihink that lindsey graam for instanceaying she'd have to ha a complete meltwn in order to notot be confirmed is sisign of e position t the republicans are in,,n terms of trtrng to stop heher. i think shehe is in avery, v ve good positioio to b coconfirmed and that a areat deal of what's going on right now is positioningg for thenext nominee andighting for t visionf what unit states supreme courjudge should think l like and lolook lik with the republicans fifitingvery hard to try to normamalize the right wing ininfiltraon into thehe judiciary y they'v accomplilishd over the p pt couple of yearars >> when yousay lk like, do you meano implply that they havv raisised the issue ofer gendnd and race aainst her? >> well, theye tried to rt of setet as whwh's normal and a the sort of basic benchmark t almost exclusivelyly white mae,6 out of 8 rightt now status of te court, and they have trie to suggest that when she says she brings a a differe pspective that tt's a sigig of a p problem on h h

judge somayor, you must prove to the senate that you will adhere to theroper role after judge, and only basyour opinions on the costitution, statutes and when apppriate treaties. that's your oath. that's what the constituon demands of you. you st demonstrate that you will strictly interpret the constitution and o laws, and will not be swayed by your person biases or your political preferences, which you are entitled to. as alexander hamilton stated in deralist paper number 78, the interpretation of thelaw is a proper and peculi provinc of the ourts. the constitution, however, st e regarded by the judges fundamental la. he further you the stated, it was indispeable in theourts of justices that judge have an inflexible and uniform adherence tohe rights of the constitution. a nominee who does not adhe to the standards necessarily rejects the role of audge as dictatedy the constiution and shoulnot be confirmed. iook forward to a respectful nd rigorous intchange with youuring my time to question you. i have several questions that i hope you ll be able to swer. i will try no to put new case w

there several waysys of measurg mododesty in t judicial record anand judge somayor more than measurur up to each ofthem. first, as we'll hear in th next few dayays, judgeotomayor puts rule of law above everytything el. given hehe extensive d even-hded record i'mot sur how w any memb of this panel c n sisit he today and serisly suggest that she c ces to the benc with a persrsonal agenda. unke justice alitoto, you don't come tthe bench with a record number of didissent. instead, her record showows tha she is i the mainstrtream. she'sreedith republican coeagues 5% ofhe time. she hass ruledor the governmemet in 8 of iigration cases against the immigtion aintiff. shshe has rud for the gernment in % of criminal cases. shshe has denied race clalas in 83% o of the cases. and has splili e evenly on employment casas betwe employer a and empyee. second, and this isan importantt pot because of a uniqueue experienence in th district court. jue tomayor delves thorououly intthe facts of each case. she t trustshat anndersnding of thehe fts will lead ultitely to justice. i would ask my collgues to do

judge sonia somayor's confirmation hein begin on monday and behind closed dors she is fielding praccewhite house wyers to get in some real hearsal before the bigday. m joined now liveby msnbc potical analyst pat buchanan andemocratic strategy morris reid. so, gentlemen, we'll turn our attentioto this subject this hour. pat, do conservatives really think they can block sotomar's nomination? is that the best-case scenar for them and i itrealistic at all? >> no, i don't think they think they can block her. democrats have 60votes. you have republicans ing to vote forjudgesotomayor. i think what republicans ought to do is not get preed along this. don't do any of the sagery thatas done claren omas. but what they oht to dos lay out judge sotomayor'srecord, especially in thisarea, if you will, of racbased justice. the firemen up the in new haven were denied for a long timepromotions,simply because they were all white, or one spanic in with tm. and i thin what the republican party ought t do islay out the caseoes judgeomayor beeve race should be taken into considetion in hiring and promotions

. >>> senate republicans turning up the heat on supreme court nominee sonia somayor. the judge back on capitol hill for day two of the confirmation hearings after monday's opening statements. the judge finally got to lay out her judicial principles and answer questions from lawmakers today. tom fitzgerald has more. >> reporter: laura, as expected, much of this early focus today has been on judge sotomayor's now famous latino speech which she suggested she would make better decisions from the bench because of her gender and her race. we want to you look at some of the exchange, both democrats and republicans pressing the judge on this issue. she in fact said tay she doesn't believe that gender and race is a sound advantage. >> i want to state up front unequivocally and without doubt, i do not believe that any ethnic, racial or gender group has an advange and sound judgement. >> i also have to say had you been saying that with clarity over the last decked or 15 years, we would have a lot fewer problems today. >> very considered nominee is being characterized as being an

. >>> new kids on the blbloc as the gop tririeso o chge justice e toe e somayor. surprisingly, she's s milele o the road. . > worst. paining e cell phone. ading the financial acacununts of gwyneth paltrowowelelle mamacprson, and -- no, that's not chris. e mayor. not t e e bu administration, not even anotherer gerernmt. >>>>anand e new phrase just added to the u urb d dtionary. poen of palin. i i'mot a quitter. m a fighter. >> a few more lili h hikg an sign and on the appalachiaian trail. all that and morore "countdodown >>> good eveveni f fm new york. the same republicans w whoayay w cannot trust theheovoverent insisted today theheres s on agency aboboveususpion. onongogovement agency which would never, ever lie.e. the cia. this despite today's a admsision to the cia that whwhilitits not cia policy t tlilie wants credititoror t director telling congngre a abo times the cia did lie anyway.. it's s stotiti. irming last night's blockbustetererevetion leon pennnnet t td congress last month thatat, s,s, ncy pelosi said the cia misled cocongssss since 2001. the house e

in our matters jue somayor's opinions refct discipline thinking -- it's a great letter. d i would ask that it be entered into the recd. sir, cai enter it into the record? oy. thank you. thank yo judge sotomayor, for your patience and your terrific answers. have heard a lot about you thoughts on scific cases and prinples of jurisprudence. i'd like to ask a much more general question and one that i think is a reallyood question inob interviews. an that iwhy do you want to be a supreme court jtice? >>ou're going to hate me for taking a few mites, but can i tell you a story? >> i would love it. >> this would elain who i am a why. when senator moynihan first told mee'd consider sending my name to senato dmato for considerati as a district court judge, hasked me to keep it quiet for a little bit o time. and i asked permissiono tell my mom, d omr. he said sur they were visiting and i to them and mom was vey, very excite and she tn said how much more money are you gng to earn? and i stoopped and i said,'ll ta a big pay cut. en she stopped and she stopp and she said,re you going

the president' supreme court nomineeonia somayor goes before the senate judicia ittee.neof the top reblicans thismorning, senator john ornyn, saying they'll ask about her stateme that judges n't beneutral i heard senatorchumer say this morning that he thinks she'll get northf the ves that even judge roberts got and he got 78 votes. is this lookinlike she going to be comed and confirmed by a wide margin? >>he will definitely be confirmed. i don't think it is wise for democrats to tell what kind ofumber she'soing to get in nal pass, in fal vote, for confirmation because you just don't know. we don't know what's goingto haen in the hrings. we know she will be confirmed. the republicans don'have the numbers. i've actually heard senator coyn saythey just won't be able to mount filibuster no matterhow srongly conservatives feel because they won't have the numbers. i think thereill be a strong attempt byepublicans during these hearings course to bring up the hot issues, affirmative action, abortion, gun control, gay rights, they willoh on everythg and they are hopi to cat her

he at one point got ched up whenen he wa talki about somayor's background, her rsonal story, this americican dream journe that,, you know, at she los her father. her motherorks six da a ek as a nurse to sd heher d her brother to hool. shgoes to princon and yale law school. that entire stoory, and senator scscmer ev got choked up. and then, of urse, the think the other keyy moment was th sound bibite you just ayed which was senatoror lindseyey graham sayingng unle you have mpletemeltdown, y are going to be confmed. the onone othe thing of note, dadavid,as ur times these heings and openingng samen got ininrru -- - statemen got interrupted protesters. one of ththe ptesters was the origiginal e in roe versus wade. she is arrested todadaybut she came here tomake a stand and washout being ortion rights before this whwhole grgrup. of course, setor leahyhy sternly id no interruptionons. >> msnbcbc chief washiton correspondent norahah oonnell. ththanks for the updatete. tomorrowowhould interesting,g, interesting ieed. norah, thank you.. tamron? thee cntdownontinues for tonit's scheduled launch of f "

seems a foregone conclusion unless something astonishin happens, sonia somayor will be confirmed. try tohow that republicans are more likely over time to put judges that are more likely to follow the laws an democrats, they'll tryo say, are more likely to put judges on the court that will llow their own instcts. that's the perception they're going to try to crte from these hearings. but there have been a lot of groups that have looked at sonia sotomayor's rulings and have come to the conclusion tha she's the libal side of the judicial inst, slightly more likely tooverturn laws or prior cour decision on cotitutional ground, about where her colagues on the second circuit are on discrimination claima little more likely to get into the eds in terms of the detailsf lower court decisions. "the washington po" ha interesting ud of that today. and a mixed record on business ses. in some cases siding with businesses and others agai perhaps more lely than david sought, the on she would replace, to overturn high nitivedamages. mage judgment again companiethat are intended to punish them. >>et

and in the ricc case, here's whereudge somayor deferred to what the legislature was doing -- >> she let the w haven decision stand. the political desion. >> and then that becomes someh controversial. t her argument could , buti didn't want to oppose my view. i didn't decide whethe to use the tes or not, i w just deferring to the politicians. let's take the issue o guns. she didn't decide wheth the shooter should not be gun restrictions. she was justaying,s the republicans would say to be a judici restraint,e're leaving it up tthe states and locals to decide whether there should be gun control. andou'll remember t very controversial terry schiavo issue down in florida? that kinof argument is going to fall flat because it's lf-contradictory how the republicans apply . >> if the democrs are successful in puncturing it. you can may as many contradictions as you want as long as nobody point it out to you. chard, in tes what this does for president obama, barrin a meltdn, to use the phrase of lindsey grahamin the rst part of the hearingtoday, barring a meltdown, she is likely to not only be c

supreme court ruled for the group and reverd an appeals cou panel that included somayor. >> this was t a quota case. this was not an affirtive action ce. this was a challenge to aest that everybo agreed had very wideifference between the pass rate of a entire of diffent groups. the cy here, after a number of different hearis and aariety of different witnesses, deced that it wouldn't certify t tes and i woul't certy it in an attempt to determine whether they could develop a te that was of equal value in measuri qualifations but which didn't have a disparat impt, and so the queston fore the pel wa, was the decision a -- of the city based on rce or based on its understandingf what the law required it to do? given second-circuit precedent bushi vs. new yor state -- new york state civil services commission, the panel conclud at the city decisn in that particularituation was lawful under established law. the supreme court in looking and reviewing th case, applied a new standard. in fact, it announced that it w applying a standard from a different area of law and explaining to employersand

. >>> still ahead, wrming up, the hot seat for judge sonia somayor's confirmation hearing. is there anything th could derail her nomination? >>> also ahead, charges, tho are words you're hearing a lot mo these days at the doctor's office. is it good forhe well-being of your wallet? >>> and it's sour news f your sweet tooth. this another sign of an econo stuck in arecession. you're wching msnbc sunday. this is ththe new hone. you wanna tell it whto call, just say, "cl ve taylor." caininve taylor mobile. and if you wanna telit what to play, st say, "play songs by jack johnson." playaying songby jack johnson. ♪ voice control.l. on e iphone 3gsgs, the most powererful ipho yet. dinner bell sfx: ping pg ping fancy feast elegant memedleys tuscany entrÉes restaurant inspipiredidies with long g gra r ric and garden gres is it lo?? or is it fancy feast? a revolutionary -wash booster that.. works with your deteteent to help remove tough ains... ththfirst time. coming to o orores late july. get your dollar ty coupon at tidestainrelelease.c today! th i iad a fracture... and missed t the

it reported whe house officia were reassuring liberal groups about somayor's record on abtion rights. >> there was a "washiton post" it goes on to say, "white hoe press secretarsaid the presint did not ask sotomayor specificallabout abortion rights during their intervw." is that correct? >> yes, it's ablutely correct. i waasked no questio by anyone, including the psident, about my views on y specific legal issue. >> doou know then on what basis, if that's the case-and i cept your statement-- on what basis that white house offials would subsequently send a message thatbortion rights groupso not need to wor about how you might rule in a challenge to "r v. wade?"@ > no, sir, because you just have to ok at my record to knowhat, in the cases that i addressed on a issues, i follothe law. >> holman: nnsylvania democrat arlen specter, an abtion rights supporter, alsoaised the issue. he asked ifroe v. wade" has become a "super predent" not to be changed. >> how about the facthat the supremeourt of the united states has had 38 cases ter "roe v. de" where it could have reversed oe v. wade?" >> t

. >> justice somayor has said shaccepts that her opinions, sympathies, and prejudes will affect hulings. >>f your irony sensing ulc is spitting bile right now l me confirm that last guy there was republican senator jeff sessions of alaba accusing sonia sotomayor of having a prejudice problem. that would be the me jeff sessns who own nomination for a federal judgeship could not make it out of t republican-run judiciary committee in 198after teimony that he had called the naacp unamerican and cmunist inspired, had ked that he thoughthe ku klux klan was ok until he found out members of the klan smoked pot, and at he agreed with anotherawyer who sa a department of justice attorney who was white was a disgraceo his ce because he represented african-americs. and those are the ings that he admitted to saying andried to defend. the charges he dend included the allegation that he told a black attorney he ld, quote, be careful aboutow he lked to white fol and that he called a black aorney boy. now jeffessions is leading the charge against sonia sotomayor on the grounds that she has a prudice prob

some of them arere a autrere by sosoa a somayor, some of thehe are thingsgshher she'sjujust sasayi i agreeith judge catsman whwho ototthis opinion, right? y. and a lotofof tm it's hard t to llllho wrote the opinion because ththee opinion is uigne. >> and how does it line upup does her n nam s shoup only on the side where democratatic apapintees to that court a are agagrengng wh themselves or iss she evever finding herself inn agreement with republilin n appointees to thatat court. >> what we found,d, andd w look at almost 1,200 cases, we looked at evevery constitutional decisn of t second circuit over the past ten years that she habeen sittg on the court, and what we found was striking unanimity d striking bipartan consensus. seeudge stomayor basically writing- joining unanous decisions. her decisions are unanimous 94% of the time. >> l's go back over that for a second. on a court that is composed of both docrat and rublican appointees to that court -- >> yes. >> all confirmed by the united states senate, her onions are unanimous what pernt of the time? >> n just her pinion her decis

. >> it's interesting, two supreme court nominees sonia somayor she is saying when she spoke those wordrything she's written and all the judges and the world seemsx s night. he bounded out of the dugout looking relaxed inqaç jeansq% >> president obama threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all-star game in st. louis last night. he bounded out of the dugout looking relaxed in jeans and sneakers. >> he lobbed the ball toward home plate where albert pujols reached taught catch it. the president said he just wanted to keep it from bouncing. >> the ball will probably be worth a lot of money someday. a baltimore man is paying close attention >> he's put together a collection of baseball memorabilia. espn mark swartz shows us why. e's some of the most valuable pieces of america's national pastime. his downtown baltimore penthouse is a veritable meum of memorabilia. he has george brett's jersey from the pine tar game. >> he's out! look at this! >> reporter: and just so happens to have the can. the lineup card from the night cal ripken broke lou gehrig's consecutive game streak. and the hea

teteing his audience during the sotomayorearing todayaysoso rs feingold a c coue e rds that soa a somayort of context, you mean l lik macaca? gege allen saying macacaca we heard about that t fowewes and montnths sotomayor's comments arere mh h worse than m maca a anthey're eqeque. quick refreseshesesenar george lelen lled a dark skinned blogger videotaping onone h his speeches t t r racl epithet macaca. to tieallen on the racial slur level, the j jud wouldaveadad to call somebody like e mbmbau whitey or hehey,imimbah, yeah you, you ofafay u.u. the runner-up jim thomomps t t owner ofof t r rig wing website free repububliwiwithoderated comments meaning a g gwnwnup should read anandedele the crazier ononesutut h folks waited three days bebefo momong a comment and a disturbing large n nbeber his posters.s. afaftepresident obama's dauguger appeared in a t-shshirwiwi a peace e si o on at the g-8 the free republic had anotheher otot t theirst lady captioned to entertain her r dahthterichelle obama loves s toakakmonkey soundsds some of ththe ststs scribe the dividually and coectively as, quick, t

th all eyes here tned to judge somayor. finally seven weeksfter she was nominated, the country would ge its firs chance to see and hear froher on an extended basis. >> in recent weeks iave had the privilege and pleasur of meeting 89 senator, including all of the members of this coittee. eacof you has been gracious to me, and i have so much enjoyed meeti you. our meengs ha given n illuminating tour of the 50 states and invaluable insights into the american peop. there are coulessfamily members and fends who have done so much or the years to make this dayossible. i am deepppreciative for their love andsupport. i ant to mke one special note of thks to my mother. i am here, asany of you have noted, cause of her aspirations dacrifices for both my brother jn and me. i a very grateful to the president andumbled to be here today. as a nomiee to the uted states suprme court. the progressn of my life has been unuely american. my pants left puerto rico ring world war ii. i grew up in modest circutances in a onx housing project. my fat

at the same time,enate minority leader mcconne suggested today that somayor has let racial bias cloudhe decisions. the senate confmation hearings egin next week. >> lehrer: and still toome on the newshour tonht: teachers in new orleans; neguidelines on stem cell research; d the jackson fewell. that follows our look at e violee in northwestern china betweehan chinese and the uighurs, a group with etic turk roots. we begin with aeport from ian wiiams of independent television news in beijing. >> reporter: armed lice ooded urumqi today but could do little to prevent the simmering ethnic teions again bursti onto the street this time, angry ms of han chinese widing sticks, pipes and shovels. they headed towards musli uighur neigorhoods, chanting "defend the country." the ri police eventually blocked their way, later ring tear gas to sperse the crowd. eaier, scores of uighur women confronted anothegroup of police, protesting gainst mass arrests of men from their muim community. it began as chinese ofcials busd journalists and phographers to the city to see the aftermath of the weend riing t

. >> reporte manhattan district attorney robert rgenthau hired somayor upon her graduation from yale school he was ask by illinois democrat dicdurbin about his decision to re her, and sotomayor's now famous "wi latina" remarks. >> mr.orgenthau, when you were aleed about her skills in law school, did ty tell you that they had an opportunity he for you to hire a wise latina lawyer? that what you were in the market for? >> absolutely not. i mean, i took one lookt her resume-- summa c laude at princeton, "yale w journal", and i said. and then i talked to her, and thought she was commonsse and judgment and illingness to work. the fact that she was lato or latina had solutely nothing to do with it. >> reporte with sotomayor's testimony now finished, senate vote on her nomination could very welcome before members leave fothe congressional recess on august 7. lehrer: judy woodruff, who anchored ourive coverage of the hearing, takes the story from there. >> woodruff: to asss judge sotomayor's ur days of testimonynd her prospects for confirmation, i'm joined by marcia cle of the "national law

analysisf supreme court nominee son somayor shows heopinions have shown suprt for criminal defendants there aolitical bias on the supreme court and why aren't the biases of our country supposed to be represented in congss, notur court >>> openg bell getting under way on wall street. the street very resilient, holding steady this morningn the face of weaker than expected jobs numbs. integrity or stability in the financial markets as they hang arou that 8000 marker. >>> back to business here, starting with blago and the blago conversation. i nt to bring a few folks . barry, how you doing? bill gin, former assistant director the fbi in w york, jonathan capehart, i think steven a. ith -- stephen's taki a break. befo i get o to lynnnd bill, you, barry, think that you want to defend in blajevich. >> iwish i was his attory. i would basically come forward and say to the crt and to the jury, this is the only honest polician there is. put a senate seat up for sale. rest of the senate has br been bought and sod. if you lk at the lobbying dollars, look at ho much money wall street antheig ban hav

. >>> the gogop setting t stagee r a possible owdown with sosoa a somayor.erititnees includee rmer professional basesellll pitcher david d co, , so new yoyorkayayorichael bloombmbg.g. >>>>president obamaetetti readadtoto mt with the pope. he's goingng tbebe a the vatic. we'l'll watchihi.. we'll ge alolook and see atat going g onvevethere. e e po and the esesidt, contessa. atat'sind of, you know. >>>> and then marriage iss dede madness. sort of -- >> what?? >> y yes,,ontessa, it is. takes one to know one. >>>> yterday wettard something wiwithteteen a. smith. 'll solve the problelemncncend fofo all. it azazy. >>>>>> but first, someme w ouo ov aiaig. their boboseses. secretary geithnhnernn capipito hill talkingabout new regulationons rr some of the sort of exotic finananci oducts. memei'i'm st going t to explain ststenen amith and contessasandd jothth cacapertrt how they make $200 mililonon to $400 million ararith a simple iurance schememe le e e one deoyed at g. t t secretaryyrereasy tending this ararin gegeiterers discussisinghehese tougugrr regulations. but

. >> today, supreme court justice nominee sonia somayor shares the spotlight at her confirmation hearing. those for and against her will testify on capitol hill. yesterday, republicans grilled the supreme court nominee on a number of issues. brooke hart joins us live from capitol hill with more. brooke, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. looks like a few more hours in the hot seat for judge sonia sotomayor. then witnesses will testify, including some who have felt her rulings personally. today, two firefighters from new haven, connecticut, step from the audience to the witness table. they'll testify against sonia sotomayor, lieutenant benjamin vargas is one of them. >> what was done to us is wrong. we feel that everybody should know our story and why it was wrong and what we've gone through. >> reporter: judge sotomayor was on the court panel that threw out a promotions test. white firefighters passed but their black counterparts failed. late last month, the supreme court reversed that ruling. >> you're under a lot of pressure here. >> reporter: republicans pushed on it tuesday. >>

and our top story this morning, sonjaa somayor takes the splight today.publicans se promising to p put up a ght. >> i am really f flabbersted by th depth and consisistency of e philosopophica crique of the ideal of imimpartial justice, a i think that's ann eression of her,r, and it d does nothow up the lower c court wre you are supervrvised byour circrcuit an preme court, but it can show much more on n the supreme cot. >> judgdge, sotomayayor,will she apprproved? >> i believe shehe will apapproved a i think therere is good chance that she will getas many or more votes for rerts. the vevery impmpression sheas me onon 89 senators, shes goioingo be approved b by a large marg. meananwhil some demratic senanators are calling for an vestigation after learningg congress was not biefed on a -called top ciaprogram that was all apparently t the work viceresident dick cheney. >> the answe is yes, coness shouldave been told andnd s would have been befed before the commencemement o this kind f program. they cld have watched t prram and assked for regular reports on th