agent was killed in arizona last december. homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve has been working her sources and joins us now. jeanne? >> reporter: joe, this is an embarrassment for the atf. this is an agency that is supposed to stop the illegal trafficking of firearms specifically. in recent years, its mission has been to stop trafficking to mexico. it has had some success in that regard, but when atf whistle-blowers stepped forward and said, no, their hands were tied, they were forced to stand by and watch as straw-buyers purchased weapons and passed them on to criminals and cartels. it is an embarrassment, particularly when you hear how they found out about the guns later. here's an excerpt of an interview that drew griffin did with an atf agent and whistle-blower. >> the only way you're going to find those guns in mexico is where? >> at crime scenes, at the death, at the site of somebody who's dead, at a gun battle between the police and the bad guys, in which either the bad guy was killed and his gun was left at the scene or used during the commission of a crime in which the gun was left behind. >> reporter: now, the atf says its goal was to dismantle the larger drug trafficking organizations, but we haven't seen any of those large organizations dismantled, and they said they didn't want to dwell on the small fish. we haven't heard a lot from the atf yet, though. they are doing an investigation. i'm sure we'll be hearing more detail from them. joe? >> jeanne, i have to ask you, are there other cases out there like this? do we know how many? >> reporter: cases where "fast and furious" guns were found? well, we know about boarder agent brian terry, where two of the guns were found nearby. whistle-blowers said they showed up at crime scenes in mexico. i can tell you that at a hearing last week, atf agents testified that when they heard that congresswoman gabrielle giffords had been shot, they all looked at one another in horror, with the fear that this was one of the "fast and furious" guns that had been used there. it turns out that was not the case, however. joe? >> i would assume there are some wild reactions from the family members of the border agent who was killed. >> reporter: well, they were at this hearing last week. the mother of the border agent says she was flabbergasted when she heard about this, and a cousin of the atf agent said it was his hope and wish that everybody who was responsible for the killing of brian terry would be held to account. he was promised that would be the case. what was a little bit unclear from the testimony and the response is what that included. does that mean simply the people who were using those guns or could that involve the people who were trafficking the guns? could it be people who approved the program? we don't know yet. joe? >> jeanne meserve with some great reporting from washington tonight. stay with the story, will you, and check back with us if you get any more information. there's lots of fallout this morning from syrian president bashar al assad's hardline speech today about the pro-democracy demonstrations in his country. his choice of words speaks volumes. assad said spiros 8 times, vandals 18 times and said freedom only once. the speech provoked a new round of demonstrations. one opponent says it will give the uprising another push. but tonight, u.s. officials say there is growing evidence that iran is stepping up efforts to influence events in syria and may be involved in the assad regime's brutal crackdown on demonstrators. cnn pentagon chris lawrence has that part of the story. chris, we've known about ties between syria and iran, but these new revelations take it up to another level. what is the defense department worried about at this stage? >> reporter: well that iran is increasingly taking an even bigger role in syria than it has up until now, especially when these protests are concerned. a u.s. official was confirming to us that they've had a number of electronic communications that were intercepted that show iran's revolutionary guard has an increased presence in syria. they say iranian personnel are moving in and out of damascus, not only helping to train syria's forces there, but also facilitating the flow of weapons, which one official said just remains completely unchecked at this point. another official says iran is also providing riot gear to the syrian government. really, a lot of this confirms what the british foreign secretary claimed about a week or two ago when he said that iran was helping to give technological advice and other things to syria to help it crush the protests there. and if it's true, it really makes a mockery of something that the spokesman for iran's foreign secretary or foreign ministry claimed just last week in which he said the internal affairs of syria are internal. the people there are mature enough to deal with it on their own. joe? >> sort of opens up a whole slew of questions. thanks so much, chris lawrence at the pentagon tonight. so, is it any surprise that iran's fingerprints may be all over syria? and what else does that tell us? what do we need to worry about, especially about iranian influence? cnn national security contributor fran townsend is a member of the external advisory boards for both the cia and department of homeland security. she also advised president bush on homeland security. and fran, how dangerous is this revelation at a time when syria's in political turmoil and it could be leaderless at any moment? >> well, look, you know, it's interesting, because as you mentioned, joe, the relationship between syria and iran is not new, and in fact, the transfer of weapons from iran to syria's not new. we've had intelligence, we've had public reports of those weapons going there in the past. and so, iran would rally to bashar al assad's assistance in this moment of his crisis is not a surprise to me. look, this is a client state of the iranian regime. and so, you're bound to see technical assistance and weapons flowing into syria, but syria's not the only place. during the bush administration, we saw iran providing critical parts for electronically performed projectiles, parts of the ieds blowing up our soldiers in iraq. we've seen very aggressive iranian activity using their intelligence services in afghanistan. and so, this is part of a piece for iran's -- in terms of their own foreign policy where they're a destabilizing force throughout the region. >> what happens if assad is gone? do we have any idea what iran's role will be then? >> i don't think so. look, iran has been providing financial and military support to hezbollah. hezbollah is a shiite extremist group. it was the most deadly in terms of killing of americans until al qaeda. and so, they have safe haven in syria. they're a very strong political force. hezbollah is also a very strong political force in lebanon. and so, you know, what will happen if bashar al assad goes, it is not at all clear, because you would think the opposition would insist most of the regime go with him, and who will follow them is not at all clear. >> now, fran, you know and i know iran's influence is something secretary gates has been very frank about in his exit interviews. take a listen to this. >> i am worried about iranian influence. the truth is, most of our kids who have been killed recently have been killed by extremist shia groups, not by al qaeda in iraq, but by extremist shia groups, and they are clearly getting some fairly sophisticated and powerful weapons from iran. and so, i do worry about that. and frankly, i think, based on what i've seen in the last few days, i think prime minister maliki's beginning to get worried about it as well. >> so, fran, what is this warning from the outgoing defense secretary telling us? >> well, as i mentioned, joe, look, this is not a new worry for him. i can remember my own time in the white house, we saw weapons being transferred from iran to extremist groups inside iraq and being used against our soldiers. and so, i think this is an ongoing -- this is not a new concern for him. the interesting thing secretary gates said there is he thinks prime minister maliki is also beginning to get concerned. i will tell you, joe, there are many -- i put myself in this category -- who are suspicious of prime minister maliki's own relationship with ahmadinejad and with the iranian regime. i will tell you also, throughout the region, governments in saudi arabia and around that region were also deeply suspicious of maliki's relationship with iran. and so, it remains to be seen whether prime minister maliki has the political will and the courage to try and push back against the iranians who are providing these weapons that kill our soldiers. >> fran townsend, one last question, i think very quickly. the president's giving a major speech on afghanistan on wednesday. how does this fit into the debate over troop withdrawal? >> you know, i actually think they've kept this within the national security council quite separate. i don't think that this really plays into the president's decision really at all in terms of troop levels in afghanistan. the white house has made pretty clear they're focused on al qaeda and bin laden. we've killed bin laden in the tribal areas. al qaeda is feeling the heat. and i think they're going to use this probably to be more aggressive in terms of a troop drawdown, and i would think wise. >> fran townsend, thanks so much for that. we'll be checking back with you. coming up, the supreme court dismisses a massive job discrimination case against walmart. how does this ruling affect you? and the controversy caused by the comedian at the rlc was no laughing matter for the conference's organizers. igence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪ bridgestone is using natural rubber, researching ways to enhance its quality and performance, and making their factories more environmentally friendly. producing products that save on fuel and emissions, and some that can be reused again. ♪ and promoting eco-friendly and safety driving campaigns. ♪ one team. one planet. bridgestone. i don't always have time to eat like i should. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes, which can help lower a1c. 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they were the ones who were against ford. they were like they're a truck company. for the most part i am pretty sure i have changed most everyone's mind. krystal, you seem pretty comfortable up there, are you sure you haven't done this before? umm. . . i did 8th grade telecommunications class. the bottom line in an important u.s. supreme court ruling today is that walmart won and women who claimed job discrimination lost. but there's more going on here than meets the eye. for one thing, the ruling could affect every private employer, large or small. plus, there's the politics of the court and the possibility of future lawsuits. cnn's kate bolduan has the details of the case. kate, will you just break down for us now exactly what did the court say? >> reporter: yeah. there's a lot going on here, joe, but let's break it down. a huge win for walmart here, a big blow for the women who brought this discrimination case and beyond. these women claim in a lawsuit that's now stretched over a decade, that they were paid less and they were passed over for promotio promotions in terms of their male counterparts, and this happened for years. they called it a corporate culture of discrimination, but walmart, they defend themselves. they say they've had a longstanding policy against discrimination in their 4,300 facilities, and in the end, the court sided with walmart, ruling in their favor, saying very briefly in the majority opinion, joe, that the workers "provided no convincing proof of a company-wide discriminatory pay and promotion policy," effectively ending this class-action lawsuit, joe. >> is there a lot of impact for businesses and employees going forward? >> reporter: the fallout could be huge. bottom line, it keeps the upper hand in the hand of businesses, if you will. businesses say that this offers them some protection against frivolous lawsuits, but it now makes it harder for the american workers to ban together and ultimately succeed in a class-action lawsuit, if they so choose to file one. joe? >> kate bolduan at the supreme court, thanks so much for that. >> reporter: thank you. >> here to discuss it, our d.c. congressional delegate eleanor holmes norton, the first woman to lead the equal employment opportunity and senior analyst jeffrey toobin. congresswoman norton, i'd like to start with you. you fought for equal rights all of your career. in your view, is this a setback for women? >> it's a setback, particularly since this is a court intent upon breaking new reactionary ground. remember the ledbetter case, the case that congress had to overturn because they gave a similar procedural interpretation of equal pay for equal work. now, here, they're saying that there's not enough commonality. in my judgment, that's clearly not the case. >> commonality, just to be clear, you're talking about the glue that sort of holds the lawsuit together as to the 1 million or so people who had actually filed to try to come into a class-action lawsuit? >> precisely, but let me tell you what there is commonality in. walmart had a centralized personnel system, and supervisors had unbridled discretion to hire and promote. as a result of that discretion, look at what you have in walmart. 14% of the managers are women. 80% of the floor line supervisors and workers are women. this should have been a classic case of discrimination. i still think for a class-action, and i still think that there are things that can be done. >> jeff toobin now, to sort throw out all of the grandiose language here, what we're talking about is the federal rules of civil procedure. at least, that's what the court said today. it has nothing really to do with gender discrimination. >> right. i mean, the issue here was do these million women who were the plaintiff class, do they have enough in common, are their situations similar enough to each other so that they can bring the case as one case? and the court says no. and i think, you know, this is characteristic of the roberts court, which has been very suspicious, very hostile to large civil litigations where corporations have to devenfend themselves, particularly when the accusation is not so much that person aqua a bigot, but the allegation is that statistically, women were disadvantaged. that is something this court has been very hostile to, and that's why they lost here. >> eleanor holmes norton, the bureau of labor statistics reports the average female worker earned something like 80 cents for every $1 earned by her male counterpart. so, at what point do you actually think we'll start seeing women earning the same as men? >> well, so far, women have had to do it mostly on their own without a lot of help from the courts, except in the early days. and i agree with mr. toobin's notion of this court, it's beginning to be called the corporate court. but today i had a conversation with the young woman who holds the very seat i once did, this chair of equal employment opportunity commission, to discussion what kinds of things can be done. i certainly agree that we can go in to smaller classes. >> jeff toobin, a lot of people really do not like the idea of the courts interfering in american life in general, and so this notion of there being a million people in a class-action lawsuit, is that just too many? is that sort of the reasonable argument in your view? >> well, i think that was very much on the court's mind. i was in the courtroom when this case was argued, and it's also important to remember that all nine justices, the conservatives as well as the liberals, said this case had to be thrown out in its current form. so, i mean, this was pushing the outside of the envelope. and you know, the plaintiffs got smacked down. but i mean, it is important to emphasize that parts of this case could be brought back. and if, in fact, there was real discrimination against women, there is a remedy, but it's a lot longer road than it once appeared to be. >> thanks so much, jeff toobin and eleanor holmes norton. appreciate the discussion. coming up next, the latest headlines, including the first lady's big trip to south africa. and a report from hollywood. the u.s. open golf champion's hometown. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and talk to chuck about ttd# 1-800-345-2550 rolling over that old 401k. i really didn't see it coming. i didn't realize i was drifting into the other lane. 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[ male announcer ] a world you can't predict... demands a car you can trust. the e-class. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. welcome back. here's the latest news you need to know right now. the army corps of engineers today closed the last flood gates on louisiana's bonnet carre spillway. the spillway's been opened since may 9th to divert the mississippi river floodwaters from new orleans and baton rouge. first lady michelle obama and her two daughters arrived in south africa today, the first stop? n a week-long trip that includes meetings with leaders as well as a safari. the sports world is beating a path to, of all places, hollywood, northern ireland. that's holywood with one "l." now it's the home of the youngest u.s. open golf champion since 1923, rory mcilroy won the tournament with a record-breaking 16 under par. yes, that is even better than tiger woods in his heyday. so, cnn's dan rivers takes us to holywood. >> reporter: joining me at holywood in northern ireland. this is where rory mcilroy learned his trade, and it was here that hundreds of his well-wishers and family and friends crammed into the clubhouse to watch him making golfing history. the records fell all evening. he was the youngest winner of the u.s. open in 88 years at just 22 years old, and he also had the lowest aggregate score of 16 under par in the history of the competition, and it was here, on the fairways behind me, that a 2 1/2-year-old rory first picked up a golf club and started pl