Supreme Court divided on Voting Rights Act

(CBS News) WASHINGTON -- The Voting Rights Act has been the law of the land for nearly half a century, helping to ensure that minorities are not denied the right to vote. On Wednesday, Shelby County, Ala., challenged the law at the Supreme Court.

The arguments sharply divided the justices: The court's conservative majority appeared poised to strike down at least part of the act and eliminate the current federal oversight of voting in the South.

At issue is a decades-old provision in the law that requires nine states, mostly in the South, to get approval from the federal government before changing voting laws or procedures.

Justice Antonin Scalia called it a "racial entitlement."

Chief Justice John Roberts asked if the government believed "the citizens in the South are more racist than citizens in the North." Roberts said current data on voter turnout revealed more problems in Massachusetts than in Mississippi.

Congress did not rely on current data when, in 2006, it reauthorized the Voting Rights Act. It continued to rely on rates of minority voter registration and turnout in the elections of 1964, 1968 and 1972.

Will the Voting Rights Act survive the Supreme Court?
Proposed changes to Voting Rights Act stir controversy in Alabama

Alabama attorney Frank Ellis said Congress should look at the modern-day South.

Frank Ellis

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CBS News

"We ask for some recognition that we and these other converted jurisdictions have made great strides over the last 48 years," Ellis said.

The liberal justices strongly defended the law, saying Congress had thousands of pages of evidence documenting discrimination.

"Discrimination is discrimination, and what Congress said is it continues," Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.

Justice Stephen Breyer said, "The disease is still there ... it's gotten a lot better, a lot better, but it's still there."

Debo Adegbile

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CBS News

That's why civil rights attorney Debo Adegbile said the provision is as necessary today as a generation ago.

"The problems are much more serious, much more repetitive, there is a much greater continuity in certain places than others," Adegbile said.

The liberal justices -- and the Obama administration -- say the court should defer to Congress, which they say is was better situated to make judgments about discrimination in voting. But based on the arguments today, it does appear a majority of the conservative judges are ready to tell Congress it's going to have to make some changes in that law.

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Holder Says Sequester Makes America Less Safe

The looming budget sequestration will make Americans less safe, Eric Holder says—and anyone who says otherwise isn't telling the truth.

"This is something that is going to have an impact on the safety of this country," the U.S. attorney general told ABC's Pierre Thomas on Wednesday in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview.

"And anybody that says otherwise is either lying or saying something that runs contrary to the facts," Holder said.

In his interview with ABC News, Holder reiterated warnings that if automatic spending cuts are triggered on Friday, the Justice Department will be handicapped in some of its most vital missions to prevent terrorist attacks and crime.

"The Justice Department is going to lose nine percent of its budget between now and September 30th. We're going to lose $1.6 billion. There are not going to be as many FBI agents, ATF agents, DEA agents, prosecutors who are going to be able to do their jobs," Holder said. "They're going to be furloughed. They're going to spend time out of their offices, not doing their jobs."

Portions of the interview will air Wednesday, February 27 on "ABC World News"

Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

Eric Holder Says Homegrown Terror Threat Equals International: Exclusive Watch Video

Eric Holder Remembers Newtown, His Worst Day on the Job: Exclusive Watch Video

President Obama's Cabinet members have been warning for weeks that budget sequestration, which will begin Friday unless Obama and Republicans reach a deficit-reduction deal to avoid it, will leave their agencies shorthanded and could bring about disastrous consequences. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood have both appeared at the White House press briefing room to warn that furloughs for border-patrol agents, TSA agents and air-traffic controllers will mean weakened border and port security, longer waits in airport security lines, and logjammed air travel.

Holder, for his part, warned in a Feb. 1 letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee that cuts to the FBI, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals Service, and U.S. Attorneys would limit the department's capacity to investigate crimes. Cuts at the Bureau of Prisons, Holder wrote, would mean lockdowns and potential violence, with fewer staff members on hand. In a separate letter, FBI Director Robert Mueller warned that counterterrorism operations would be affected, with the possible elimination of some joint terrorism task forces with state and local police. Limited surveillance and slower response times would mean unwatched targets and the possibility that individuals on terrorism watch lists could gain entry to the U.S.

"FBI's ability to proactively penetrate and disrupt terrorist plans and groups prior to an attack would be impacted," Mueller wrote.

To Holder, the problem is simple.

"If you don't have prosecutors and agents doing what we expect them to do, and we won't if this thing actually takes place, we are going to be a nation that is going to be less safe. And that is simple fact," Holder said.

Some Republicans have claimed the Obama administration is exaggerating the sequester's purported consequences as a ploy to campaign for tax hikes. On "Fox News Sunday" this week, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., posited that federal agencies enjoy enough flexibility to avoid the worst consequences of the cuts.

On Wednesday, Holder acknowledged that the Justice Department will do what it can to avoid compromised security, while maintaining that furloughs can't be avoided.

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Newly spotted comet to buzz Mars in 2014

Lisa Grossman, physical sciences reporter

A Martian sunset, as seen by NASA's Spirit rover in 2005.
(Image: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Texas A&M, Cornell, JPL, NASA)

There's a new comet in town, and it is making a beeline for Mars. If projections of its orbit are correct, the icy visitor will buzz the Red Planet in October 2014.

Dubbed C/2013 A1, the comet was discovered on 3 January by prolific comet hunter Robert McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. Colleagues at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona found images of the comet in their catalogue that date back to 8 December 2012, giving additional information about its movements.

These observations allowed astronomers to trace the comet's likely path around the sun. The calculated trajectory has C/2013 A1 crossing Mars' orbit on 19 October 2014, according to Australian blogger Ian Musgrave.

That doesn't necessarily mean a collision will occur. The best estimates right now have the comet passing a safe distance of 900,000 kilometres from the Martian surface. Asteroid 2012 DA14 got much closer to Earth last week, skimming by at a distance of 34,400 kilometres. But with so little data in hand, the calculations are not precise. It's possible the comet will miss Mars by as much as 36 million kilometres - or it could smack right into the planet. "An impact can't be ruled out at this stage," Musgrave wrote.

From Earth, we should be able to see the comet and Mars sitting side by side through small telescopes. And from Mars, the comet could be as spectacular as the expected "supercomet" ISON, which will come into view this year and could outshine the full moon.

Assuming the comet's orbit brings it close enough - but not too close - to Mars, the object should be visible either by rovers on the surface or the armada of Mars-orbiting satellites, which have a history of snapping spectacular shots of the Red Planet and its neighborhood.

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Batman to lose son Robin

NEW YORK: Batman may be able to save the world, but he'll lose his sidekick Robin -- who in his current incarnation as his son -- in the upcoming Batman Incorporated comic book series.

DC Comics said the caped crusader's acrobatic young assistant, Batman alter ego Bruce Wayne's son Damian, will die in Wednesday's issue number eight.

"This master theme of damaged and ruined families was nowhere more in evidence than in the creation of Damian, the first 'Son of Batman' to be acknowledged in the canon," series writer Grant Morrison said in a statement.

"In many ways this has been Damian's story as much as it has been the story of Bruce Wayne and it's a story that had its end planned a long time ago -- for what son could ever hope to replace a father like Batman, who never dies?"

The good news for those who might miss Robin is that this is the comics universe and characters who are killed can easily return. Even a previous incarnation of Robin was killed and resurrected before.

"You can never say never in a comic book," Morrison told the New York Post. "Batman will ultimately always have a partner."

-AFP/gn

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Meet the new Pentagon chief: former Army Sgt. Chuck Hagel

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Senate votes 58-41 to confirm former Nebraska senator, a Republican


• Fight for Cabinet post was deeply partisan, uphill battle for Hagel


• NEW: Obama says he will rely on Hagel's counsel on national security issues


• NEW: Hagel pledges to work with Congress; Will be sworn in on Wednesday

Washington (CNN) -- Chuck Hagel's rocky and inauspicious path to leadership of the Pentagon could haunt him if he doesn't watch his step.

"If people feel Hagel makes a mistake in the future, they will come after him even harder than if this ugly process of recent weeks hadn't happened," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a co-author of "Bending History: Barack Obama's Foreign Policy."

The former Nebraska senator's nomination as defense secretary was subject to harsh criticism from some fellow Republicans over past statements on sensitive political and national security matters.

His shaky performance at his confirmation hearing and the subsequent fierce political wrangling over his selection and on unrelated matters did not help his case.

But efforts to further delay his nomination were swept away on Tuesday as the Senate confirmed him, 58-41, with a handful of Republican votes in his corner. Hagel will be sworn in on Wednesday, succeeding Leon Panetta.

President Barack Obama, a former Senate colleague, called Hagel a patriot who "fought and bled for our country."

Obama said he will count on Hagel's "counsel and judgment" as the United States ends combat operations in Afghanistan and stays "ready to meet the threats of our time."

The task for Hagel, 66, going forward is to swiftly move past the protracted nomination battle, prove himself a strong and capable Pentagon chief, and repair relationships on Capitol Hill, said Fran Townsend, a former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush.

"Of course, when he walks through the door he is bruised and battered. But I think we shouldn't overestimate the impact of that," Townsend said. "Frankly, once he is confirmed as secretary of defense and once he sits in the seat and takes on the mantle of responsibility, everyone in the Pentagon is going to stand up and salute smartly, as well they should."

Hagel, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said in a statement that he was honored to have been nominated and confirmed, and pledged to work closely with Congress to "ensure that we maintain the strongest military in the world."

With Hagel's confirmation, Obama has put in place another crucial piece of his second-term national security team. John Kerry has been installed as secretary of state and John Brennan is awaiting Senate action on his nomination to be CIA director. Thomas Donilon is already serving as national security adviser.

O'Hanlon said Hagel would not "be damaged goods" and the political outcry over his nomination would quickly be overshadowed by the latest budget drama engulfing Washington over spending cuts, which would hit the Pentagon hard, if enacted.

Bad feelings about Hagel stem, in part, from his 2007 comments that the "Jewish lobby intimidated lawmakers." Republicans who are already uncomfortable with Obama's policies toward Israel are uneasy about a defense secretary holding such views.

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, said in a statement that Israel "looks forward to working closely" with Hagel.

Hagel's criticism of the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, and his past positions on Iran and on U.S. military intervention also raised red flags with his opponents.

Moreover, he spoke about an ambassadorial nominee in the late 1990s as being "openly, ggressively gay," remarks for which he has since apologized. Obama ended the prohibition on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military.

And Hagel hasn't been sparing in his criticism of conservative and GOP figures, saying radio show hosts like Rush Limbaugh "try to rip everybody down" but "don't have any answers," and labeling George W. Bush as callous on Iraq when he was president.

Last week, 15 GOP senators sent a letter to Obama calling on him to withdraw Hagel's nomination.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a fierce Hagel critic, did not sign the letter. But he led the charge against him in the Senate, stalling the nomination at one point in exchange for more information from the White House on the deadly September terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

The real reasons why conservative groups are still going after Hagel

That sentiment gained traction in conservative circles.

"There is simply no way to sugar coat it. Senator Hagel's performance before the Senate Armed Services Committee was remarkably inept and we should not be installing a defense secretary who is obviously not qualified for the job and who holds dangerously misguided views on some of the most important issues facing national security policy for our country," said Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.

Vote no and send a message to Hagel

There was a healthy serving of politics behind the Hagel pushback, some experts say. He isn't the only potential member of Obama's first or second-term Cabinet to be grilled during the nomination process.

At the start of his first term, Obama's pick to lead the Treasury Department, Timothy Geithner, emerged from a tough confirmation fight in the wake of recession to help push through Wall Street reform as well as the banking and auto industry rescues. His successor, Jack Lew, is expected to be confirmed.

Some Republicans also believed that Hagel, like Susan Rice, was vulnerable in a divided political climate in Washington made more sharply partisan by Obama's re-election, according to experts.

Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, withdrew her name from consideration for secretary of state after drawing heavy criticism from McCain and other Republicans over her public statements about the Benghazi attack.

Democratic supporters of Hagel came to his defense this week as the vote drew near.

"The president wants him in the room as he's making important decisions. There's no question about his integrity of character. I think the president deserves to have the Cabinet he wants as long as the person is qualified," Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said on "Fox News Sunday."

The consternation over Hagel's confirmation has been "kabuki theater," said David Rothkopf, editor of Foreign Policy magazine.

"The political divisions that dictated the pace and twists of his confirmation process pre-date him and will post-date his confirmation," Rothkopf said. "The reality is that Hagel won't drive (defense) policy, the president and Hill politics will."

And time will heal even these political wounds, Rothkopf said.

CNN's Kevin Liptak and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

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Dozens of prominent Republicans sign brief backing gay marriage

Matthew Wiltse, right, places a wedding ring on the finger of Jonathon Bashford as they took their wedding vows before Superior Court Judge Chris Wickham at the Thurston County Courthouse just after midnight on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, in Olympia, Wash. / AP Photo/Rachel La Corte

More than 80 "conservative voices" have signed onto a legal brief supporting the notion that same-sex couples should have a fundamental right to marriage.

The brief is in support of the plaintiffs in the Hollingsworth v. Perry case now before the Supreme Court, which challenges California's Proposition 8 barring same-sex marriage. The case, which will be argued starting in late March, could result in the invalidation of statewide bans on same-sex marriage across the country. It is one of two same-sex marriage cases being considered this term by the Supreme Court; the other challenges the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage.

Among the signatories to the letter are former Republican Governors Christie Todd Whitman and Bill Weld; Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.; former Republican Reps. Deborah Pryce and Mary Bono Mack; 2012 presidential candidates and former governors Gary Johnson and Jon Huntsman; and former Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman, the onetime George W. Bush campaign manager who has since come out as gay.

Notably not among the signatories are some Republicans who have expressed support for same-sex marriage in the past, including Dick Cheney and Laura Bush.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights, which organized the effort, said more names will be added before the brief is filed. The brief was first reported by the New York Times, which reported that it made the case that same-sex marriage reflects conservative values of "limited government and maximizing individual freedom."

Among those working to legalize same-sex marriage are conservative lawyer and former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson, who was among the first prominent conservatives to express support for same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage supporters hope the fact that numerous well-known conservatives and Republicans are signatories to the brief will help sway conservative justices.

"The conservative movement toward the freedom to marry is what we like to call the 'Ted Olson effect,'" said AFER executive director Adam Umhoefer. "We value the support of our conservative colleagues and welcome their voices to the growing majority of Americans who stand for marriage equality."

CBS News polling has found that a majority of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be legal, though more than six in ten said it should be left to the states to decide. House Speaker John Boehner and most Republicans in Congress oppose both federal recognition of same-sex marriage and a mandate that it be recognized by the states.

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Arias Liked Some Kinky Sex, She Admits

Though accused murderer Jodi Arias said she sometimes felt "like a prostitute" at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, she admitted today that she often enjoyed their sex life and even suggested sex acts they could try.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez, after a day of aggressive questioning and bickering with Arias, asked her about her own suggestions for her sex life with Alexander, including a phone conversation in which she suggested using sexual lubricant.

Arias, 32, is accused of killing Alexander, but claims it was in self-defense.
Timeline of the Jodi Arias Trial

"You introduced KY Jelly into the relationship to make it more sexually enjoyable, right? When we're talking about the level of experimentation, it looks like both of you were experimenting together sexually. So when we hear things like, 'I felt like a prostitute,' that's not exactly true, is it?" Martinez said.

"It was often mutual," Arias said. "I didn't feel like a prostitute during, just after."

Jodi Arias Testimony: Prosecution's Cross-Examination Watch Video

Jodi Arias Remains Calm Under Cross-Examination Watch Video

Martinez showed the jury a text message Arias sent offering to perform oral sex on Alexander, comparing it to a statement she made on direct testimony saying that she once felt like a prostitute when Alexander tossed a piece of chocolate at her and walked away without a word after she performed oral sex.

"How is it you can say you 'felt like a prostitute' when you're moving the relationship ahead like this?" Martinez asked. "The act itself is the same thing, and here you're requesting it. The geography is different, but that aside, isn't it the same act? And you're requesting it?"

"When he (ejaculated) and left afterward I felt like a prostitute. When we mutually went through things together I didn't," she said.

Arias also admitted that she sent Alexander a topless photo of herself after he sent her photos of his penis, and that she only did it after she had her breasts enhanced surgically.

Catching Up on the Trial? Check Out ABC News' Jodi Arias Trial Coverage

The testimony came as Martinez continued his efforts to discredit Arias' testimony on the stand, including her statements that she often succumbed to Alexander's sexual fantasies so she wouldn't hurt his feelings. Martinez has focused on portraying Arias as a liar for much of his direct examination.

Arias is charged with murder for killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander at his home in Mesa, Ariz., in June 2008. She claims she killed him in self defense and that he had been increasingly violent and sexually demanding in the months before the confrontation. She also claimed he was interested in young boys.

The prosecution claims she killed him in a jealous rage. She could face the death penalty if convicted of first degree murder.

Jodi Arias Trial See Tempers Flare

Earlier in the day,tempers flared between Arias and prosecutor Martinez as the prosecutor tried to detail Arias' history of spying on her boyfriends, but Arias complained that his aggressive style of questioning made her "brain scramble."

Arias and Martinez, who have sparred throughout two prior days of cross-examination, spent more than 10 minutes bickering over Martinez's word choices and his apparent "anger."

The morning's testimony, and Martinez's points about Arias' alleged spying, were largely interrupted by the spats.

"Are you having trouble understanding me?" Martinez yelled.

"Yes because sometimes cause you go in circles," Arias answered.

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Today on New Scientist: 25 February 2013

First fruits of a groundbreaking art-science tie-up

A pioneering collaboration between two of London's most prestigious cultural institutions shows that sci-art has come of age

The great illusion of the self

Your mind's greatest trick is convincing you of your own reality. Discover the elaborate illusions involved and what they mean in our special feature

Stunning seeds: a biological meteor wreathed in flames

Some seeds have a look that evokes all-consuming fire, says an artist who captures their portraits with a flatbed scanner

Armband adds a twitch to gesture control

The Myo band turns electrical activity in the muscles of a user's forearm into gestures for controlling computers and other devices

Treat malware as biology to know it better

Treating computer viruses as a biological puzzle could help computer scientists get a better handle on the wide world of malware

Take my taxi to the moon

Susmita Mohanty, the founder of India's first private space company, Earth2Orbit, wants India to claim bigger piece of the space-launch pie

How electrodes in the brain block obsessive behaviour

Why deep brain stimulation can help people with OCD was a mystery, but now it seems the treatment fixes brain signalling well beyond the stimulated area

Ancient continent hides beneath Indian Ocean

The sands on Mauritius's beaches are older than the island itself, suggesting a hidden continent is the source

New blood test finds elusive fetal gene problem

Take parents' DNA and make a computer model of their fetus's genome - comparison with the real thing will show up problems that other tests miss

Amazon to open market in second-hand MP3s and e-books

A new market for second-hand digital downloads could let us hold virtual yard sales of our ever-growing piles of intangible possessions

People in a vegetative state may feel pain

Scans have revealed activity in areas of the brain responsible for the emotional aspects of pain in people thought to have no subjective awareness

Sewage solutions: Six alternative toilet technologies

Two-and-a-half billion people don't have access to sanitary toilets, but standard designs aren't an option without a sewer network. See some alternatives here

Rusty rocks reveal ancient origin of photosynthesis

Iron oxide in the world's oldest sedimentary rocks suggest photosynthesis evolved 370 million years earlier than we thought, not long after life began

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NY Times to rebrand Herald Tribune in its own image

NEW YORK: For a decade the International Herald Tribune has been the global edition of the New York Times in all but name. On Monday, the parent company made it official.

In a statement, the New York Times Company said the 125-year-old offshoot of the defunct New York Herald Tribune will be rechristened sometime this fall as the International New York Times.

"The digital revolution has turned the New York Times from being a great American newspaper to becoming one of the world's best-known news providers," said New York Times Company chief executive Mark Thompson.

"We want to exploit that opportunity," said the former BBC boss, adding that a new website for international readers is also in the pipeline.

The International Herald Tribune (IHT) was co-owned by the New York Times and the Washington Post from 1967 until 2003, when the Times became its sole proprietor and restyled it as "the global edition of the New York Times."

It almost exclusively showcased New York Times content in a bid to appeal to high-earning anglophone globe-trotters in competition with global editions of the Wall Street Journal and Britain's Financial Times.

Sold in more than 160 countries and territories, it has a daily circulation of more than 226,000, an IHT spokeswoman told AFP by email.

Prior to 1967 the IHT was known as the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune -- immortalized in Jean-Luc Godard's New Wave classic "Breathless" by Jean Seberg in a tight yellow T-shirt hawking copies on the Champs-Elysees.

The New York Times published an international edition under its own name from 1946 until it bought into "the Trib" and helped oversee its development as a global media brand through the use of satellite printing plants.

"I have to say I'm sorry to see the Herald Tribune go," said Charles Robertson, author of "The International Herald Tribune: The First 100 Years" and an IHT reader since his childhood in Switzerland.

"I suppose, once the Times pushed out the Washington Post, it was probably inevitable," Robertson, a professor emeritus at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, told AFP.

News of the rebranding came less than three weeks after the New York Times Company posted a 2012 group profit of $133 million, compared with a loss of $39.7 million in 2011.

It gave no breakdown of profit or loss figures for its newspapers, but earlier this month it said it was putting the Boston Globe and other New England assets up for sale to focus on its eponymous core product.

"The New York Times is a very strong brand in the United States (and) there are enough people globally who still read it," said Joscelyn MacKay, senior securities analyst at Morningstar in Chicago.

"The content itself will have to become a bit more global ... but I think it is a definite feasible target for them," she told AFP.

"Whether or not it's going to move the needle over the long run remains to be seen, given the challenges that print media faces."

The International New York Times "will be edited from Hong Kong, Paris, London and New York," according to Monday's statement, and new investments will be made "in print, web and mobile platforms."

IHT spokeswoman Vicky Taylor, in an email from London, said there are "currently no plans to cut staff numbers or offer buyouts."

Half of those on the IHT payroll are in France, where labor costs are higher than the United States or Britain.

"In many ways it will be business as usual at the IHT because as an organization we've already taken significant steps to align with the New York Times to the benefit of readers and advertisers," Taylor said.

"Making the full transition to a multi-platform International New York Times is the next logical step."

-AFP/ac

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