CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-10-04

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:04] Hello, I'm Bob Schaefer and welcome to

[0:06] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:09] Just ahead, a tough case for the new

[0:12] Chief Justice. The Supreme Court here's

[0:14] arguments on a state law that would

[0:16] permit assisted suicide. Also, we'll

[0:19] have the inside story of a 4-year FBI

[0:22] investigation into the anthrax killer

[0:26] and predicting Alzheimer's. A promising

[0:28] new method may help identify those at

[0:31] risk. It's all starting now on the CBS

[0:33] Evening News online edition.

[0:37] Well, the new Chief Justice, John

[0:39] Roberts, heard arguments today in his

[0:41] first major case since coming to the

[0:43] Supreme Court. And as another Justice,

[0:45] Anthony Kennedy, put it, "It is a tough

[0:48] one whether terminally ill patients have

[0:50] the right to ask a doctor for help to

[0:52] end their lives." Roberts was aggressive

[0:55] as he questioned lawyers for both sides,

[0:57] but all sides agreed. Neither he or nor

[1:00] the other justices on the court

[1:02] indicated how they'll eventually rule.

[1:05] We begin with Wyatt Andrews at the

[1:07] court.

[1:09] In a case literally about life and

[1:12] death, Oregon is defending its law

[1:14] allowing assisted suicide. A law that

[1:16] lets terminally ill patients like Jack

[1:19] Nubold ask a doctor for a lethal dose of

[1:22] barbituates. It's about having control.

[1:25] >> Jack, who has bone cancer spread

[1:27] throughout his body, gets to decide when

[1:29] or if he takes the drugs.

[1:32] >> And I feel that u I should have the

[1:34] absolute right to decide whether I want

[1:37] to, you know, die in pain and agony and

[1:39] rotten away in a hospital or I should be

[1:41] able to gather my loved ones around me

[1:43] and and uh and go out my way.

[1:46] >> That's your right.

[1:47] >> That's my right. The Bush administration

[1:49] challenges that right, asserting that

[1:52] federal control over drugs trumps state

[1:54] control over medicine. The

[1:56] administration would block the law by

[1:58] prosecuting the doctors who prescribe

[2:00] the drugs. That drew fire from Justice

[2:03] Okconor. Medicine is regulated by the

[2:06] states. No, she asked. Paul Clement, the

[2:08] solicitor general, said, right, and

[2:10] nothing in the statute, she went on

[2:12] gives the attorney general authority to

[2:14] practice medicine. Clement responded,

[2:16] "Yes, but the federal government has

[2:18] regulated drugs controlled substances

[2:21] for 90 years." When Oregon's assistant

[2:24] attorney general appeared, the new chief

[2:26] justice, John Roberts, zeroed in,

[2:29] demanding to know if the state was

[2:30] claiming the right to legalize anything.

[2:33] "What if you have one state that allowed

[2:35] morphine for recreational purposes?" The

[2:37] Chief Justice asked. Robert Atkinson, on

[2:39] the receiving end of that question,

[2:41] conceded the Chief Justice had a point.

[2:43] and I've been pinned down before uh by

[2:47] people who are much less polite about it

[2:48] than Chief Justice Roberts was.

[2:51] >> The case is also a showdown between

[2:53] religious groups who argue that assisted

[2:55] suicide isn't proper medicine and

[2:58] patients who think that stopping

[3:00] assisted suicide isn't the role of

[3:02] government. Is this the federal

[3:04] government's business?

[3:06] >> Simply no. It's an intervention in and

[3:08] individual human rights.

[3:11] This was the first high-profile case for

[3:13] the new Chief Justice, John Roberts. And

[3:15] just like his predecessor, William

[3:17] Renquist, he was active and he was

[3:18] strict. When Robert said a lawyer's time

[3:20] was up, that lawyer stopped in

[3:22] mid-sentence and sat down. Bob, so why

[3:25] let me ask you this question. We know

[3:26] that Justice Okconor is retiring. What

[3:29] happens if the Senate confirms Harriet

[3:32] Meyers, who the president has nominated

[3:34] to replace her, before the court finally

[3:37] decides this case? Bob, there's a

[3:40] procedure for this. This kind of thing

[3:41] has happened before. And what's happened

[3:43] before, the eight justices who heard the

[3:45] case, presuming Okconor's absence, will

[3:47] vote. If there's a majority, five to

[3:49] three or eight to nothing, then the case

[3:50] is decided with just those eight

[3:52] justices. If it's four to four, though,

[3:54] that's the tricky part. They'll ask all

[3:56] the lawyers to come back and reargue the

[3:58] case. This time in front of the new

[3:59] court with the new ninth justice.

[4:01] >> All right. Thank you very much, Wyatt.

[4:03] Well, it was just weeks after 9/11 that

[4:05] there came a series of anthrax attacks

[4:08] by mail, including one here at CBS News.

[4:11] It was four years ago today that the

[4:13] first victim of the attacks died. A

[4:16] photo editor at the Sun newspaper in

[4:18] Boca Ratan, Florida, and still there

[4:20] have been no arrests. Jim Stewart has an

[4:23] update on the investigation in tonight's

[4:26] inside story.

[4:28] >> It was the simplicity of it all that was

[4:30] so scary. Someone drops a letter in the

[4:33] mail, it disappears into the system and

[4:35] there mingles with millions of other

[4:37] letters to spread its deadly sports.

[4:40] Anyone could get it from well-known

[4:42] newsmen and politicians to elderly

[4:44] retirees. Anthrax didn't discriminate.

[4:47] And as we soon learned, the same person

[4:50] was behind it all.

[4:51] >> The strains are indistinguishable.

[4:53] >> Four years have passed since the anthrax

[4:55] attacks. Five people died, 22 were

[4:58] contaminated. But despite what it calls

[5:00] the biggest investigation of all time,

[5:02] the FBI has no solution and admits it

[5:05] could happen again.

[5:07] >> Should we we be concerned about anthrax

[5:09] attacks in the future? Yes, we should.

[5:11] >> It's become a frustrating global quest

[5:13] for the bureau. Agents have fanned out

[5:15] all over Asia and Africa in recent

[5:17] months. And the valleys of Afghanistan,

[5:19] they heard someone had hidden the

[5:21] anthrax they sought. It wasn't there.

[5:23] Earlier, they drained a pond closer to

[5:25] home. Nothing. After 53,000 tips and

[5:29] 5,000 subpoenas, zero. Randall Merch, a

[5:32] former FBI lab manager, sympathizes.

[5:35] >> We have a situation where uh there's no

[5:37] smoking gun, per se. There's no link,

[5:39] direct link between the person and the

[5:43] and the event and the material used.

[5:45] >> So, increasingly, the bureau likens this

[5:47] case to another one that perplexed them.

[5:49] It took them 17 years to finally flush a

[5:52] disheveled Ted Kazinski out of the

[5:54] mountains and expose him as the uni

[5:56] bomber. they remind us. But what about

[5:58] this case? The answer is always the

[6:00] same.

[6:01] >> To the best of my knowledge, no

[6:02] suspects, no significant leads.

[6:06] >> That's not real reassuring. No, it's

[6:08] not.

[6:08] >> And privately, FBI officials concede the

[6:11] chances for an arrest are getting

[6:12] slimmer by the day. Jim Stewart, CBS

[6:15] News, Washington. It is preliminary to

[6:18] be sure, but there is what looks like

[6:19] some very good news on Alzheimer's

[6:22] disease. And our medical correspondent,

[6:24] Elizabeth Callatin, is here with that.

[6:26] Elizabeth. Well, Bob, one of the biggest

[6:28] challenges with Alzheimer's disease is

[6:29] figuring out who is at risk. This could

[6:32] be a step in the right direction.

[6:35] >> Sarah Martinez is hoping to get a

[6:37] glimpse of the future. She's been

[6:39] forgetting things lately and both of her

[6:42] parents had Alzheimer's disease. So,

[6:44] she's participating in a study to see if

[6:47] Alzheimer's can be predicted years

[6:49] before it strikes.

[6:51] >> I would like to have the control to know

[6:53] that something is going to happen and

[6:56] that I have to get my affairs ready.

[6:58] >> Using EEG technology that measures

[7:01] electrical activity in the brain,

[7:02] researchers have discovered that they

[7:04] can pinpoint the earliest warning signs.

[7:07] We see slow activity here.

[7:10] >> Patterns of brain waves that

[7:11] consistently show up in people who go on

[7:13] to have dementia and Alzheimer's.

[7:15] >> It's like the smoke alarm. You know, you

[7:17] you see the smoke before the fire and if

[7:20] you detect it, possibly that's a time

[7:22] when you can stop it.

[7:23] >> The study followed 44 people over 7

[7:26] years, basically healthy people like

[7:28] Sarah, who were having concerns about

[7:31] memory loss. The EEGs accurately

[7:34] predicted who went on to get symptoms of

[7:36] Alzheimer's in 95% of the cases.

[7:40] >> So we were quite pleased with that. That

[7:41] means that five times out of 100 we may

[7:43] miss um an individual but in 95 out of

[7:46] 100 we will identify them correctly. But

[7:50] this was 44 people.

[7:52] >> Alzheimer's Association President Dr.

[7:54] William thes is concerned the findings

[7:56] are too preliminary. We have a fair

[7:58] amount of work to do before it would

[8:00] become a routine clinical test.

[8:02] >> He believes blood tests and imaging

[8:04] techniques might be better ways to make

[8:06] an early diagnosis. Those methods are

[8:09] being developed, too. Not a moment too

[8:11] soon for Sarah Martinez, who wants to

[8:14] know what's in store.

[8:16] >> I mean, we prepare ourselves for

[8:17] everything else in our lives, but this

[8:20] comes on and you're not aware.

[8:23] So far, Sarah's test shows normal age

[8:25] related memory loss, but the prospect of

[8:27] developing Alzheimer's disease remains

[8:29] one of her leading health concerns. Bob,

[8:32] >> well, since we really don't know what

[8:33] causes this, this has got to be very

[8:36] good news, as preliminary as it is.

[8:38] >> Sure, because the consensus is the

[8:39] earlier we can detect it, the better we

[8:41] can treat it. There are a handful of

[8:43] good drugs out there and they seem to

[8:44] work best when they're delivered early.

[8:47] >> Okay. Well, thank you very much,

[8:48] Elizabeth. More stories are just a click

[8:50] away, but don't forget to join me on

[8:51] television for the on air edition of the

[8:53] CBS Evening News. On Thursday's

[8:56] broadcast, preventing cervical cancer

[8:59] will have the test results of a

[9:01] groundbreaking new treatment. For

[9:03] cbsnews.com,

[9:04] I'm Bob Sheeper.