On CBS Evening News: Judge rebukes Trump administration for ignoring orders in deportation flights case; Mariah Carey wins "All I Want for Christmas Is You" copyright dispute. On CBS Evening News Plus: Domestic extremists and foreign actors threaten energy infrastructure, officials warn; Reporter's Notebook: Are we subjects in a social media experiment?
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NewsTranscript
00:00From CBS News Headquarters in New York, this is the CBS Evening News.
00:10Good evening.
00:11I'm John Dickerson.
00:12I'm Maurice DuBois.
00:13We begin with President Trump's crackdown on immigration.
00:15Today, he revoked a Biden program that allowed more than half a million Cubans, Haitians,
00:22Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to escape oppression in their homelands and come to the United
00:27States.
00:28They now have five weeks to leave.
00:29And a constitutional showdown is underway between the executive and judicial branches,
00:34a stress test on the more than two-century-old system of checks and balances.
00:40Did the president defy a federal judge?
00:42Today, that judge demanded, again, to know why the administration flew hundreds of Venezuelans
00:48to El Salvador after he ordered a delay to consider whether the deportations were legal.
00:54The White House insists the Venezuelans are criminals, but as we have reported, there
00:58is reason to believe at least some of them are not.
01:01Scott McFarlane was in the courthouse for the face-off between the judge and the Justice
01:06Department.
01:07Scott?
01:08John, nearly a week after the deportation of those 200-plus Venezuelan nationals, the
01:14legal battle has metastasized into something quite different, into questions over whether
01:19the president intends to follow or defy orders from judges across America.
01:26Before the unannounced deportation of 200-plus Venezuelan nationals, including suspected
01:31gang members, few had ever heard of James Boasberg.
01:35But as the week ends, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington is now at
01:39the center of a potentially landmark standoff with the Trump administration.
01:43Again today, Boasberg and the deported men were blasted by the president.
01:47They're bad people.
01:48We don't want them in our country.
01:50We can't let a judge say that he wants them.
01:53He didn't run for president.
01:54He didn't get much more than 80 million votes.
01:58And we just can't let that happen.
02:00In court this afternoon, Boasberg blistered the administration for ignoring his order
02:04to turn the planes around Saturday, mid-flight, and instead keep the Venezuelan men locked
02:09up in the U.S. until he could review their cases.
02:13Boasberg asked a Justice Department attorney, did you not understand?
02:17And he accused the administration of disrespecting the court, ignoring orders and missing deadlines.
02:23Trump's critics say the president is openly defying the judge and risks destabilizing
02:27American democracy in the separation of powers.
02:30Former Department of Justice lawyer Aram Gavour said the stakes are high.
02:34What do you make of this standoff, this one in particular?
02:37The president has invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a statute from the 19th century that's
02:44quite powerful, but also untested.
02:48So as a result, the litigation is necessarily going to be fast-paced, intense, high stakes,
02:56and there will likely be, and there already currently is, further review with appellate
03:00courts.
03:02Attorneys have argued to Boasberg some of those scooped up last weekend weren't gang
03:05members at all, including a soccer goalie who's a native of Venezuela.
03:09An attorney argues the Trump administration mistook his soccer tattoo for a gang symbol
03:14and gave him no opportunity to make his case from jail before he was deported.
03:19Lee Gelernt of the ACLU represents plaintiffs in the case.
03:22And so I think what we're going to see are many, many people being falsely accused of
03:27being a member of this gang.
03:28And what that means is they could end up in a Salvadoran prison for a year, two years
03:32of their whole life.
03:33And Scott, the president says the judge wants these guys to stay here in the country.
03:39People might wonder, is that true?
03:40What's the answer?
03:42Now, Maurice, quite the opposite.
03:44The judge asked point blank today, why not just keep these men in jail and deport them
03:49through the normal channels to ensure no mistakes are made?
03:52The Department of Justice didn't directly answer that, but did indicate in court today,
03:55Maurice and John, they intend to do more of these types of deportations.
03:59Scott, what happens if the Justice Department keeps not answering the judge's question and
04:04he keeps saying, please answer my questions?
04:07Where does that go?
04:10Could be a dramatic showdown next week.
04:12The judge has scheduled the hearing, which could lead to a contempt finding if this defiance
04:16continues.
04:17But John and Maurice said it'd be tricky.
04:18The people signing their names to these court documents, the U.S. Attorney General herself
04:23and her top deputies.
04:25Scott McFarlane in Washington.
04:26Thank you, Scott.
04:27The Trump administration also wants to deport the Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who
04:32led anti-war demonstrations at Columbia University.
04:35Khalil is a legal resident.
04:37He was arrested in New York last week and appeared today in an immigration court in
04:42Louisiana as he fights to stay in the country.
04:45CBS News talked with his pregnant wife.
04:47Here's Elaine Quijano.
04:50This video shows ICE agents arresting Mahmoud Khalil a few weeks ago.
04:55He was one of the leaders of protests last year at Columbia University, demanding a cease
05:00fire in Gaza.
05:02You guys really don't need to be doing all of that.
05:04Khalil, a legal resident with no criminal record, is being held in a detention facility
05:09in Louisiana, where he's fighting deportation.
05:13My husband was taken away from me in the middle of the night.
05:16It was one of the most terrifying times of my life.
05:19His wife, Noor Abdallah, shot the video of her husband's arrest.
05:24She spoke to Erin Moriarty for CBS Sunday Morning.
05:27I understand him not wanting to take those precautions.
05:32What do you mean precautions?
05:33Just wearing a mask and, you know, just trying not to be so visible.
05:36Because for him, that's such an important piece, and standing up for the rights of his
05:40people is so, so important.
05:42And so I do understand why he made the decision that he made, you know?
05:46Do you think, though, that made him a target?
05:48I think it definitely did.
05:51Abdallah also said at first she thought her husband's arrest was a misunderstanding and
05:55that he'd be home in a few hours.
05:57He remains in detention in Louisiana.
06:00His next hearing is April 8th.
06:02Mike Yohano, thank you.
06:04Now more of the top stories from around the world in tonight's Evening News Roundup.
06:08The Trump administration has resumed flights of migrants to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
06:14Twenty-one migrants were transferred to the U.S. Navy base there yesterday.
06:18More flights are expected in the coming days.
06:20Immigration reporter Camila Montoya Galvez will have more on the migrant crackdown on
06:25Evening News Plus.
06:27Runways, that is, have reopened at London's Heathrow Airport, a fire at a nearby substation
06:32forced Heathrow to shut down today, disrupting more than 1,300 flights.
06:37A Texas judge has temporarily closed several Houston-area health clinics.
06:43They are linked to a midwife accused of performing illegal abortions and operating without a
06:48license.
06:49She and an associate are the first to face criminal charges under the state's strict
06:54abortion ban.
06:56And Elon Musk was at the Pentagon today, meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
07:01The president and Hegseth denied news reports that Musk was to receive a briefing on secret
07:06battle plans for a potential war with China.
07:09The latest targets of President Trump's government cutbacks include Radio Free Asia.
07:14Its stated mission is to provide fair, objective, accurate, and uncensored news and information
07:19to Asian nations where there are few, if any, free speech protections.
07:24Today was the last day on the job for hundreds of RFA employees, and Margaret Brennan reports
07:30some of them fear they could be deported.
07:34After the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Congress created Radio Free Asia to broadcast
07:40facts into countries where governments are afraid of them.
07:44RFA President Bei Feng.
07:46The U.S. saw China gunning down its own citizens and then also successfully covering it up
07:51afterwards.
07:52The U.S. Congress created us with an eye to giving these people in China and other authoritarian
07:59countries around Asia the ability to have free press.
08:04So bringing free speech to places where free speech is prohibited.
08:09Exactly.
08:10Feng put 75 percent of the staff on leave.
08:14We saw journalists saying their goodbyes in the newsroom.
08:17It's a result of the funding cuts ordered by the U.S. Agency for Global Media's Carrie
08:22Lake.
08:23Costing you, the taxpayer, a fortune.
08:26At least eight RFA journalists could be forced to leave the U.S. if they lose their work
08:30visas.
08:33Vietnamese journalist Khoa Lai is one of them.
08:36Do you think you will be deported?
08:39I believe so, but I hope not.
08:41I believe that if I go back, then the government will snatch me right away.
08:50Five who work for RFA are already behind bars overseas.
08:53RFA funds their families and their defense.
08:57These are not U.S. citizens, but they are people who are in jail because they worked
09:01for a U.S.-funded network.
09:04So a decision like this has a blast radius that impacts a lot of people.
09:09Yep.
09:10So you need Congress to continue with these grants.
09:15How do you convince them you're worth saving?
09:16We're worth saving because we actually bring benefit to the U.S. taxpayer.
09:22I think it is in the U.S. national security interest.
09:26We are actually one of the lowest cost effective elements of soft power that they could have.
09:35Soft power meaning influence without military force.
09:38Exactly.
09:39And Margaret Brennan joins us now.
09:41So, Margaret, what would replace RFA?
09:43Have they got a plan?
09:45You know, Maurice, I have asked people in the Trump administration and in Congress that
09:49question, and no one has offered or explained any plans to refurbish or replace RFA, just
09:55to dismantle it.
09:57Now, in the meantime, RFA tells us that unless the courts or Congress or a private financier
10:03steps in, they only have enough money to continue broadcasting for about another month.
10:08They've actually already started to dim their radio transmitters that broadcast into closed
10:14countries like North Korea and China.
10:16Margaret, these journalists who worked for an American-funded entity that are in danger,
10:20is there anything that the U.S. can do to try to help them or anybody else try to help
10:24them?
10:25Well, Radio Free Asia does plan to go to court to try to force the Trump administration to
10:30release the funds so they can get these journalists back to work.
10:34You know, the journalist we introduced you to there said he came to this country so he
10:38could freely report back to his home nation.
10:43And you know, one of the things that we did was go to the State Department and say, what's
10:49going to happen with the visas for these at-risk journalists?
10:53And we were told they can try to apply for asylum while they remain on U.S. soil.
11:00There's no plan.
11:02Margaret Brennan in Washington.
11:03And remember, Sunday on Face the Nation, you can see Margaret.
11:07Margaret's guests include National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
11:10Still ahead here on the CBS Evening News, Rob Marciano with severe weather in the Deep
11:14South and a big warm-up in the West.
11:16And Steve Hartman with a coach rooting for a young boy facing a tough fight.
11:22In my prayers, it's, God, don't let this thing relapse.
11:27Take me.
11:29Let Sam live.
11:34I'm Carter Evans in Los Angeles.
11:36There is lots of concern about how tariffs could increase new car prices, but it turns
11:40out it's going to impact everyone who has a car.
11:44That's next on the CBS Evening News.
11:55We are now 12 days away from another salvo in President Trump's trade wars.
12:00On April 2nd, a 25 percent tariff on imported automobiles and parts is due to go into effect.
12:06Carter Evans reports that for car shoppers, it could be a case of buy now or pay more
12:11later.
12:12Even after 20 years selling cars, General Manager Brandon Wishingrad can't find a way
12:17to predict how tariffs would impact prices at his family's Nissan dealership.
12:22If a customer comes in now and says, how long are the prices going to be steady on these
12:26cars, what would you tell them?
12:28It's tough to say.
12:29I don't know just as much as anybody else does.
12:31The one thing he can do is keep inventory.
12:33He stocked up for three months.
12:35So all of the cars on this lot right now are safe from tariffs.
12:39Yes, that's correct.
12:41The best estimates predict the average cost of a new car could increase between $3,500
12:46and $12,000.
12:48A lot of the vehicles are final assembled in the United States, but get engines, transmissions
12:52from Mexico and Canada.
12:53Jessica Caldwell is head of insights at Edmunds.
12:56She says the threat of tariffs has created a spreadsheet nightmare for the auto industry.
13:01So you think it's possible automakers don't even know what this is going to cost them
13:04yet?
13:05I'd say in many cases, probably not, especially things like if a part does cross the border
13:09eight times.
13:10Well, can they go ahead and build factories here to build all those parts here?
13:13They can.
13:14They can build factories here in the United States.
13:16It's just going to take time.
13:17Caldwell told us anyone who drives a car should prepare to pay more.
13:21It's not just people buying vehicles.
13:23I think anybody that is having to repair their vehicle or just service their vehicle
13:27are going to experience higher costs as well.
13:30And when it comes to new cars, Caldwell says low interest rates and cash rebates will be
13:34among the first to disappear.
13:36So if someone is looking to buy a new vehicle in the next few months, I'd say probably do
13:40it sooner rather than later.
13:44The tariffs could also cause car insurance prices to increase and even used car prices
13:49to rise as demand surges when people start looking for deals.
13:53Carter Evans on the car lot there in Los Angeles.
13:57A warm up is coming in the West.
13:59But before that, Rob Marciano, some dangerous weather in the deep south.
14:03Rob.
14:04Hey, good evening, gentlemen.
14:05Yeah, the system that's going to bring that dangerous weather is now heading in the northwest
14:08in the form of rain and mountain snow.
14:10This is snow quality passes east of Seattle 990, about five inches of snow still coming
14:14down there.
14:15That energy is going to get in the plains tomorrow.
14:17Spread into the Great Lakes on Sunday.
14:19Then the tail end of this is going to trigger severe weather across Louisiana, Mississippi,
14:23Alabama and through Tennessee.
14:24The same areas that got a total of over 120 hours last weekend.
14:28This shouldn't be as bad, but I do want to show you this picture out of some damage out
14:31of Covington County, Mississippi, where there's two tornadoes that crisscross.
14:34You see that the trees going this way with one tornado and then coming this way with
14:38another tornado.
14:39This was within 40 minutes of each other.
14:42Remarkable stuff.
14:43All right.
14:44Yesterday, spring arrived.
14:45The lower 48 over the next two weeks is going to be well above average.
14:48Might feel more like summer, especially across parts of the southwest and the northwest,
14:52where temperatures could be 15 to 20 to 30 degrees above average.
14:56Nearly 50 records could very well be threatened next week.
14:59Phoenix on Tuesday, 99.
15:00That would be a record.
15:01They typically hit 99 on May 6th, so we're way ahead of schedule with this warm weather.
15:06Guys.
15:07Flip the switch on the air conditioning.
15:09Rob Marciano, thank you.
15:10A coach comes up with just the right game plan for a boy facing the battle of his life.
15:16Steve Hartman is next with On the Road.
15:20This portion of the CBS Evening News is sponsored by Alexion.
15:24Call us and ask about events for GMG.
15:31Top-ranked Auburn defeated number 16 Alabama State, 83-63, in the first round of the NCAA
15:38tournament.
15:39Auburn's team manager traveled a long way to get to March Madness.
15:43He shared his journey with Steve Hartman.
15:45On the Road.
15:46You can't hear him over the crowd, and that may be a good thing, as Auburn University
15:53coach Bruce Pearl sneers and snarls his way through yet another basketball game.
16:00You see him on the court being tough and stuff to all the players, but there's a whole totally
16:03different side of Bruce outside of basketball, which is a nice, loving, and caring person.
16:09As we first reported last year, Auburn sophomore Sam Cunningham's unique perspective comes
16:16from his greatest struggle.
16:18When he was 12, Sam was diagnosed with leukemia, and not long after, someone asked Coach Pearl
16:25to record a video for him.
16:26You're going to beat this, son.
16:28Cancer?
16:29Pick the wrong hombre.
16:30Pick the wrong dude to mess with, okay?
16:33It was just real funny to me, cancer, pick the wrong hombre, pick the wrong dude to mess
16:37with.
16:38That quote is what I kept with me when I got in my darkest days in the hospital and stuff.
16:43Through all his complications.
16:44You're going to beat this, son.
16:46Through his relapse.
16:47Pick the wrong hombre.
16:48Through the days that felt like they would be his last.
16:51Pick the wrong dude to mess with.
16:54Sam kept watching that video over and over.
16:58Okay?
16:59Eventually, Coach Pearl delivered the same lines in person.
17:04And they became friends.
17:06And then one day, Bruce gave him another, even more inspiring, message.
17:10Tell you what, you're going to get better, you're going to come to Auburn, and you're
17:15going to be my assistant.
17:16And he takes me at my word.
17:18He believed it.
17:19He did.
17:20He is.
17:21Today, he is the team manager, and so happy to be here.
17:27In fact, Sam says Coach Pearl's encouragement may have saved his life.
17:33That truly healed me.
17:34I didn't think I would really get to this point from all the complications I had.
17:38So that was pretty amazing.
17:40I'm just a miracle to be here right now.
17:44It's been a year since we first told this story.
17:47Sam remains healthy, and all eyes are now on his team, the number one seed in the tournament.
17:53While Tiger fans pray for a championship, Coach Pearl says if God is to grant anything,
18:00victory would not be his first choice.
18:04In my prayers, it's, God, don't let this thing relapse.
18:08Take me.
18:10Let Sam live.
18:14Basketball seasons come and go.
18:18But the impact of great coaching lasts forever.
18:23Steve Hartman, on the road, in Auburn, Alabama.
18:33There are about 170,000 words in the dictionary.
18:38For a writer, it comes down to choosing a few and putting them in the right order.
18:42From that score, a couple of items caught our eye.
18:49Vince Vance wrote the 1989 country song, All I Want for Christmas is You.
18:54Five years later, Mariah Carey chose the same words and put them in the same order.
19:04Vance sued, claiming Carey stole elements of his song for her mega hit.
19:10This week, a judge said, no, the only things the songs share are Christmas song cliches.
19:16That's a tough review.
19:17And Anthony Dolan has died at 76.
19:20He chose two of the most famous words a president ever spoke.
19:24Dolan wrote the 1983 speech in which Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an evil empire.
19:30Evil empire is from Star Wars, but nobody sued.
19:35Thankfully, that is the CBS Evening News.
19:37I'm Maurice DuBois.
19:38I'm John Dickerson.
19:39We'll see you shortly on Evening News Plus, streaming on CBS News 24-7.
19:43March Madness is coming up right here on CBS.
19:46Have a fantastic weekend.
20:01Welcome to CBS Evening News Plus.
20:03I'm John Dickerson.
20:04CBS News has obtained a Homeland Security bulletin warning domestic violent extremists
20:10are the most prevalent threat to America's energy supply.
20:14This, as CBS's Nicole Skanga confirms, the FBI and DHS are cutting or reassigning domestic
20:21terrorist prevention units.
20:23A wildfire in Southern Florida is now larger than the Palisades fire that wiped out so
20:29many homes in Los Angeles in January.
20:32This is Christian Benavidez's reports from the scene.
20:36And a developing story.
20:38We wanted to hear more about that collection of long forgotten Kodachrome film, which revealed
20:44striking images of San Francisco in the 60s and 70s.
20:47John Blackstone has more on the search for the mystery photographer.
20:52Those stories and more right after our news headlines.
20:59You're going to have to take the lorry.
21:01More than 1,400 flights were disrupted at London's Heathrow Airport after a fire at
21:06a nearby power station forced it to shut down flights.
21:10They've now been resumed.
21:12Police say there's no sign the fire was deliberately set.
21:15Putin's not done yet.
21:17President Trump says he remains hopeful about a possible ceasefire deal between Russia and
21:21Ukraine.
21:23Russian drones hammered the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, igniting fires and knocking
21:28out power.
21:30My husband was taken away from me in the middle of the night.
21:32It was one of the most terrifying times.
21:35The wife of Columbia University grad student Mahmoud Khalil is speaking out in her first
21:40TV interview.
21:42Her husband is accused of supporting Hamas and is facing deportation.
21:46Our Abdallah's full interview airs on CBS Sunday morning.
21:59We begin tonight with a warning about our nation's energy supply.
22:03CBS News has obtained a Department of Homeland Security bulletin that says domestic extremists
22:08and malicious foreign actors threaten energy infrastructure.
22:13This is Nicole Scanga joins me now with the latest.
22:16Nicole, why is infrastructure, energy infrastructure, I should say, why is it the target?
22:21Well, electricity is life sustaining, John.
22:25So the stakes are high and cyber criminals and bad actors know exactly that.
22:30And not only are power outages devastating in their own right, but they have a domino
22:35or downstream effect on other U.S. critical infrastructure.
22:40This bulletin highlighting that as we also expand into renewables, that attack surface
22:45grows beyond that.
22:47We know that the energy grid is already a vulnerable and expansive U.S. critical infrastructure
22:54sector that is easy to target.
22:56Now there are a range of threats that are listed in this bulletin, including cyber criminals
23:02with ransomware attacks and state actors.
23:05But most notably, you alluded to it there, domestic violent extremists are the most prevalent
23:12physical threat actors targeting energy, electrical substations.
23:18And what's more, they're sharing tactics online and encouraging one another to target just
23:23that.
23:24And Nicole, you have reporting that there are cuts at DHS and the FBI in the parts of
23:29those of the government that that go after these domestic terrorists.
23:35Yeah, that's exactly right at the FBI, some shifted staff and cuts within the domestic
23:41terrorism operations sector.
23:44Also an open question as to whether it will ultimately be disbanded.
23:49The statement from the FBI tonight saying that the FBI is committed to protecting the
23:54U.S. from many threats.
23:56But of course, this coming in the wake of the pardoning of more than 1,600 individuals
24:01connected to those January 6th riots, this administration already saying that's not our
24:07definition of domestic terrorism.
24:09And within the Department of Homeland Security, a little known office known as CP3, responsible
24:15for tens of millions of dollars for counterterrorism programming throughout the United States.
24:22Really important federal grants, probationary workers were cut there.
24:27That workforce has been reduced by about a third, John.
24:30Nicole Skanga, thank you so much.
24:32Israel's defense minister is threatening to annex parts of Gaza unless Hamas militants
24:37release the remaining Israeli hostages.
24:39The warning follows Israel's intensified offensive, which started Tuesday.
24:44Today the Israeli military expanded its ground operation further into Gaza.
24:48More than 500 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed.
24:53That's according to the Gaza health ministry.
24:56Now to that late afternoon notice from the Trump administration to revoke the legal status
25:00of potentially more than half a million immigrants currently living in the United States.
25:05This as we are learning more about the Venezuelans deported under the 18th century wartime law.
25:10I'm joined now by immigration reporter Camila Montoya Galvez to help us unravel all of this.
25:15First of all, Camila, let's start with half a million.
25:19Remind us again what that program was supposed to do.
25:22The Trump administration, John, is moving aggressively to dismantle President Biden's
25:27immigration legacy.
25:29And they are now in the process of terminating a process known as CHNV that was set up by
25:34the previous administration as a way to reduce illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border
25:40by offering would-be migrants a legal and safe way to come here without the use of a
25:45smuggler and without the use of illegal entries into the U.S.
25:49About half a million people from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua entered the U.S. under
25:55that process, which required American sponsorships from people who were citizens or legal permanent
26:00residents here.
26:01And in the next 30 days, their work permits and deportation protections will be lapsed
26:08and terminated by the Department of Homeland Security, which is warning that if these people
26:12do not voluntarily depart the country, John, they will be found, arrested and deported
26:18from the country.
26:19In fact, the administration is saying that the people affected by this policy change
26:24should sign up to self-register on a smartphone app provided by the government and tell people
26:29that they will be departing the country.
26:30OK.
26:31Tough to keep track of it all, but you've been keeping track, of course, of those Venezuelan
26:35migrants that have been sent to El Salvador.
26:38What more do we know about that group?
26:41Not only have the deportations to El Salvador triggered this contentious legal battle here
26:46in the U.S., John, but also a debate about who was actually sent to that Central American
26:51country.
26:52The administration is saying that all the Venezuelan men it sent there, 238 Venezuelan
26:57nationals, are part of the notorious transnational gang known as Tren de Aragua.
27:01But we have spoken to relatives and lawyers of the deportees, and they are strongly refuting
27:06those claims, saying that their loved ones and clients have no criminal records in the
27:12U.S. or abroad, and that they are not affiliated with this vicious gang.
27:16And they have actually presented to us documents that do, in fact, confirm that many of these
27:21deportees do not have criminal records.
27:24I will say that some officials have said that some of them do have criminal records, and
27:27we should underscore that.
27:29Camila Montoya Galvez, all over this story.
27:31Thank you, Camila.
27:32Thanks, John.
27:33High winds are whipping a series of wildfires in Florida.
27:35The largest has burned more than 26,000 acres in southern Miami-Dade County, forcing major
27:40road closures.
27:41At this hour, 14 brushfires have been identified across the state.
27:46CBS's Christian Benavidez is in Florida City.
27:50We met up with Florida Forest Service firefighters as they geared up for yet another day of fighting
27:56this massive brushfire, which has exploded in size since Tuesday.
28:00This is a wind-driven fire.
28:03Fire mitigation specialist Ludi Bond took us out to see some of the areas the fire had
28:07already burned.
28:08It is leaving pockets of unburned vegetation.
28:11As the winds are shifting and changing, the fire will shift and change and move into those
28:15unburned areas.
28:17Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is working with the Forest Service to put out the blaze from the
28:22ground and in the air.
28:23These helicopters can carry anywhere from 100 to 300 gallons of water, and they've been
28:24nipping into whatever water resource they can find, something like this canal here in
28:34the Everglades.
28:36One after another, they filled buckets to target areas that are too swampy for firefighters
28:41to reach.
28:42Forest Area Supervisor Tom Coletti.
28:45The vegetation is dry, but the ground is still saturated at a deeper level, so we can walk
28:51on it, but when we use our tracked equipment, that's how we access these areas, the equipment
28:56gets stuck.
28:58The fire has intermittently shut down the only highway to the Florida Keys.
29:02I'm beyond frustrated.
29:03I'm hurting.
29:04Robert Finlay ditched the drive and booked a flight to see his hospitalized son in Key
29:09West.
29:10Just to get to my baby.
29:11He's my youngest.
29:13He's 18 years old, but he'll always be my baby.
29:15Dry conditions this spring could increase fire danger.
29:19We're just in March.
29:20We still have April and May to go.
29:22These, unfortunately, drought-like conditions are going to continue for a while, so we need
29:26people to be safe, use caution, and be patient.
29:31This could be just the beginning.
29:32Could be just the beginning.
29:36No homes have been destroyed, but there are health concerns over the heavy smoke.
29:41This is the height of the spring break season, and in addition to that, you have a NASCAR
29:45event that's bringing up to 46,000 people to the area.
29:50John?
29:51Christian Benavidez in Florida City.
29:54Now, here are three things to know.
29:56The sun is more than 92 million miles away from Earth, but tomorrow a NASA spacecraft
30:02is expected to get a closer look by coming within 4 million miles.
30:06The closest any man-made object has come to the sun.
30:10Scientists hope the Parker Solar Probe, which launched in 2018, will help them learn how
30:16the sun affects the technology we use back here on Earth.
30:19A one-of-a-kind baseball card of National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skeens was
30:25auctioned off for more than $1.1 million.
30:29Why so much?
30:30It includes not just an autograph, but a patch Skeens wore on his rookie jersey sleeve.
30:35An 11-year-old boy who reportedly found the Topps card will get $925,000 from the sale.
30:41The rest will be donated to Los Angeles fire relief efforts.
30:46And actor Jack Lilly has died.
30:48He was best known for his work on the TV series Little House on the Prairie.
30:52Co-star Melissa Gilbert paid tribute, calling him one of her favorite people on the planet.
30:58Jack Lilly was 91.
31:01As judges across the nation face a surge in threats, we'll ask, is the country's system
31:06of checks and balances under threat as well?
31:09That's next in tonight's interview.
31:16The American system of checks and balances is being tested as the federal courts grapple
31:20with a tidal wave of cases against the Trump administration's sweeping executive actions.
31:25We're also seeing calls for a judge's impeachment and labeling court orders illegal when cases
31:30don't go the administration's way.
31:31So for tonight's interview, we turn to Jeffrey Rosen.
31:34He's president and CEO of the National Constitution Center.
31:37Jeffrey, thank you for being with us.
31:39Can we just start with, it's kind of been lost in this battle over Venezuelan migrants,
31:43what Judge Boasberg was initially trying to sort out.
31:47Before it became a fight about did the Justice Department listen to him, what was the constitutional
31:51principle he was trying to sort out at first?
31:56The constitutional principle is, is the president abiding by the law.
32:01He's invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
32:05This is only the third time in American history this act has been invoked to deport people
32:10who are in the U.S.
32:11The other two times involved the War of 1812 and World Wars I and II.
32:16So never before has this act been invoked at a time that we're not in a declared war.
32:21And the question is, can the president suddenly decide that we're at war, not with Venezuela,
32:25but with this criminal gang, and then decide that these people are members of the criminal
32:29gang without any hearings, and deport them?
32:32So it's a very serious constitutional question.
32:34It may well go up to the Supreme Court.
32:36There's serious questions about whether or not the president is acting within the law.
32:40And that's what makes it so remarkable that the president has been denouncing Judge Boasberg
32:45at this very early stage of the case.
32:47And in his denunciation of Judge Boasberg, he has suggested basically the person who
32:52gets the votes makes the decisions.
32:54Remind us the relationship between the executive and the judiciary.
32:58Well, the relationship is one of total independence.
33:02The foundation of our system of separation of powers is that the president is not a king,
33:08and that the president is not above the law, and that the people who ensure that he's not
33:12above the law and is not a king are independent judges.
33:16And whenever his actions violate the Constitution, those judges have a responsibility to say
33:21so.
33:22And so, that's why, at the very founding of our republic, Chief Justice John Marshall
33:28thought the entire Constitution and rule of law would be subverted if judges could be
33:32impeached because the president disagreed with their rulings.
33:36And that's why when Justice Samuel Chase was impeached in 1804, Justice Marshall really
33:41worried that his conviction would mark the end of the rule of law.
33:44He was so relieved when Chase was acquitted, establishing the principle that judges cannot
33:49be impeached because presidents disagree with their rulings.
33:52And that's why Chief Justice John Roberts, the other day, was correct to say that for
33:55more than 200 years, there's been a bipartisan principle that you don't impeach judges because
34:00you disagree with them.
34:01That's how seriously the stakes of this dispute are.
34:03Jeffrey, there is also supposed to be in the three branches ambition fighting ambition.
34:10Where is Congress in this conversation?
34:13Are they being ambitious in the way that the founders thought?
34:17You're so right to quote James Madison in the Federalist Papers on ambition clashing
34:22with ambition.
34:23And it's arguable that Congress is not performing the constitutional role that the framers thought.
34:28James Madison thought Congress would be the most dangerous branch, sucking all powers
34:33into its impetuous vortex, as he memorably said.
34:36And the framers believed that Congress would vigorously assert its own constitutional prerogatives
34:41against a far weaker and more constrained executive, as overseen by judges.
34:47Congress, for really decades, this is not a function of the Trump administration, has
34:51delegated vast swaths of power to the president, including over immigration.
34:56And the combination of congressional acquiescence and a deferential judiciary has allowed the
35:02president to consolidate and accrete power in ways that some of the founders feared.
35:07Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, thank you so much.
35:13There's more to come on CBS Evening News Plus.
35:17What did you think when you first began to look at these photos?
35:20I was literally stunned by the quality of the work.
35:24We bring the mystery behind these photos into focus.
35:28That's next.
35:34We reported a few weeks ago about a photographic mystery in San Francisco.
35:39For tonight's In Depth, CBS' John Blackstone puts one man's search for clues into focus.
35:47This is the further bus.
35:48This is kind of exciting.
35:49Oh, yes.
35:50Bill Delzell has a massive and mysterious collection of photos.
35:55There's no doubt about the time and place, San Francisco in the 1960s.
36:00Jerry Garcia.
36:02I think this was in Golden Gate Park.
36:04The mystery is who was the photographer?
36:07And why did they leave behind hundreds of rolls of film never developed?
36:12Somehow the work ended up in a storage unit.
36:16That storage unit was abandoned.
36:18A picker bought it, sold it to a collector.
36:21What's interesting about this is this film was completely unprocessed.
36:25So these rolls of film were discovered in a box or bag.
36:29And none of these photographs were ever seen by the photographer that made them.
36:33The collection passed through a couple of hands before Delzell, a professional photographer
36:38himself, had a chance to see them.
36:40What did you think when you first began to look at these photos?
36:43I was literally stunned by the quality of the work.
36:47The unknown photographer seemed to capture every element of an energetic and turbulent
36:53time in San Francisco, from free concerts and spontaneous celebrations to civil rights
36:59marches and demonstrations against the war in Vietnam.
37:04All that, along with famous faces of the 60s counterculture.
37:08Some people speculate that's the best portrait ever done of Timothy Leary.
37:12It's not posed, but it's captured at a really exciting moment.
37:16They literally seem to be everywhere all the time, eight or nine.
37:20Delzell is now on a mission to identify the photographer and perhaps discover why these
37:26images were forgotten or abandoned.
37:29And so to think that someone spent five years capturing these iconic moments in time and
37:35then to have lost the work just hit me really hard.
37:38It was really unimaginable how that could have happened.
37:42And the mystery gets even deeper.
37:44There are still hundreds more photos that have never been seen by anyone.
37:49So this is 75 rolls of film that remain unprocessed.
37:52You know, these canisters haven't been opened for 60 years.
37:57Delzell raised money on Kickstarter to pay for processing the final parts of this photographic
38:02time capsule.
38:03It could be up to 2,700 images.
38:06If they're anything like the images that we have already processed, it's going to be a
38:10spectacular collection.
38:12So with more photos to come, you could say this is a developing story.
38:17John Blackstone, CBS News, San Francisco.
38:20What's the difference between using social media and participating in a lab experiment?
38:26I'll tell you in my reporter's notebook.
38:33Ever feel like social media is a rigged experiment and we're the subject?
38:38One branch of that experiment, Twitter, was founded on this day in 2006.
38:43Yesterday was the birthday of one of the great psychological experimenters, B.F. Skinner.
38:49That one birthday follows the other proves the universe is sometimes right on the nose.
38:54Skinner experimented with rats in a box.
38:57If they pressed a lever after a stimulus, like a light, it released a food pellet.
39:02Then he made the rewards unpredictable.
39:06Sometimes it took two presses, sometimes more.
39:08Uncertainty about the rules made rats press constantly.
39:13They grew vigilant, always pressing, never sure when the reward would come.
39:18You see why this reminded me of social media.
39:21We post and look for rewards, likes, or comments.
39:25They supply an emotional charge.
39:27If the feedback is good, we press the lever again.
39:31More please.
39:32If it's bad, we press the lever again, chasing the high.
39:36Soon, we lull, dead-eyed, drawing our finger time and again over the smartphone glass.
39:44Tech executives have admitted that features like infinite scroll, notification badges,
39:49and algorithmic feeds were explicitly designed to keep us pressing that lever.
39:55Long before Twitter, Skinner's ideas raised alarms about human freedom.
40:00In a 1971 Time cover story on Skinner, a psychologist warned,
40:05any manipulation of others' behavior violates their essential humanity,
40:11regardless of the goodness of the cause that this manipulation is designed to serve.
40:18We're all in an experiment with uncertain consequences.
40:21Unlike Skinner's subjects, we could leave the box,
40:23but Skinner's findings explain why we find it hard to leave.
40:27If the original symbol for Twitter was a bird, it probably should have been a rat.