somehow everybody survives. welcome to our viewers around the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer is off. you're in "the situation room." the obama administration gives in and replies to a rare order from a federal judge. the latest round there a legal and political fight over the health care reform law. things escalated this week when president obama warned the supreme court against overturning himself cherished legislation. some appeals court judges took offense and demanded a written explanation. they got one. let's begin with cnn congressional correspondent kate baldwin. kate, the administration has answered this request. so where do things stand now? >> to use a sport metaphor, i'd say the ball may still be in play, joe. i wouldn't call this letter a bombshell but it's definitely another strange twist in this political battle that has no end in sight. three pages single spaced. that was the unusual order by a federal circuit court. attorney general eric holder personally responded saying nothing has changed. the power of the courts to review the constitutionality of legislation is beyond dispute. president obama's top law enforcement official saying of course the administration believes the courts have the power to declare acts of congress unconstitutional, a long accepted pillar of constitutional law. still, this seemingly academic exercise is at the center of a testy political dispute over the supreme court's review of the health care law. >> i'm just saying that there's a lot of -- i mean, it kind of ridiculous to believe that the president wasn't talking about the context of the case. >> the white house remains on the defensive with many republicans happy to continue the fight. >> the president crossed a dangerous line this week, and anyone who cares about liberty needs to call him out on it. so i would respectfully suggest the president needs to back off. >> all of this stems from these comments by the president monday. >> i'm confident that the supreme court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected congress. >> federal judge jerry smith tuesday demanded an explanation. the attorney general in his letter defends the president saying his remarks were fully consistent with the principles of judicial review, though don't expect this to mark the end of the controversy. >> he's making it clear to the court that the position of the president of of the united states and the executive branch is that the courts basically should keep their nose out of the shaping of economic policy, except in the most dire of circumstances. so, you know, i think there's still quite a bit of tension now between the executive and judicial branches of the government and this is rare. >> and while tensions remain high, this is all political talk since the reality is the final word on the fate of the health care law comes from one place and one place only, the supreme court and this public spat isn't likely to have any impact on the justices and their final decision. of course you know that's coming in june. to talk about the legal battle versus the politics, those are two very different stories. >> it is fascinating to see the public of the united states engaged with this public dialogue with the sport. >> a lot of commentators, and court watchers sass this tension may exist in private, very rarely do we see it spill so publicly out there. >> wolf got reaction to the show down from senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. >> a former law professor said the president misspobd with he seemingly warned the supreme court. tribe said president obama didn't say what he meant and in order to avoid misleading anyone, he had to clarify it. jeffrey toobin also studied with tribe at the harvard law school. do you disagree with your former professor lawrence tribe? >> i revere lawrence tribe and i think he's completely wrong here. i don't get what this controversy is about. it's a totally phony, made-up controversy. barack obama did not suggest he was not going to comply. he did not suggest the supreme court didn't have the authority to overturn the health care law. he simply said the court, in his opinion, should not do it. presidents express opinions about the constitutionality of laws all the time. he signed this law. of course he thinks it's constitutional. so the idea that there is some challenge to the court seems to me completely absurd. >> but, jeffrey, the president said it was unprecedented if the supreme court were to overturn a law passed by the house and senate signed into law by a president of the united states, that's what the u.s. supreme court has been doing for a couple hundred years. >> since marbury versus madison they have the authority to overturn laws. no one is challenging that. what's unprecedented in the president's opinion is a ruling saying this law is unconstitutional because the president believes the law, the precedent of the court itself justify what congress did in passing the law. i don't see how you could be so willfully, you know, looking for a fight to say that the president was somehow defying what the supreme court has historically done here. >> yesterday right here in the situation room, you remember this, jeff, you accused that appeals court judge, fifth circuit, of what you called a judicial hissy fit by demanding this three-page letter. eric holder, though, the attorney general formally responded with a very serious legal opinion. what do you make of the response and what do you make now that you've had a chance to digest this whole exercise between this fifth circuit court of appeals judge and the attorney general of the united states? >> well, i thought over what i said to you and then i decided to say it again on cnn.com in an opinion column. i think this was completely outrageous on the part of the fifth circuit. the president is entitled to his opinion on any number of matters, including the constitutionality of laws. the attorney general of course had to respond. when a judge makes an order and you had better comply, especially if you're a litigant before that judge. i did think it was interesting that even though the order was for a three-page, single-spaced letter, the way i look at that letter, it basically two and a half pages. >> but it was on three pages. the third page was not complete. >> wolf, i think you'd make a good lawyer there. it was on three pages. >> i'm going to play the clip of what lawrence tribe says the president misspeaking on monday. lawrence tribe, well known, a liberal law professor at harvard. these conservative justices -- judges from the fifth circuit, they seem to agree with lawrence tribe. here's what the president said. let's talk about this a little bit more. >> okay. >> i'm confident that the supreme court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected congress. >> all right. that's the clip. as you know, since 1803 marbury versus madison, that's exactly what the supreme court has been doing and now he's saying a lawrence tribe points out, this would be unprecedented? >> he is saying it would be unprecedented in this context. remember, this is a president who is asking the courts to overturn the defense of marriage act. it's obvious that the president knows the courts can overturn laws. the courts have been doing this for many, many years. i mean, you don't have to be a lawyer to know that the united states supreme court has the power to overturn a law. i don't know how you could be so willfully obtuse, with all due respect to my beloved professor tribe, to think that the president is saying it is outside the power of the supreme court to overturn a law. that clearly is not what he was saying there. >> i think what lawrence tribe was saying and what i say as well is what the president did on tuesday gives some context, some perspective he should have done on monday instead of just speaking the way he did because he could leave the wrong impression, not only with his critics, conservative judges down in the south, but also with someone like lawrence tribe. i think the context would have been much more important on monday. but that's just me. >> you're in good company with lawrence tribe, that's for sure. >> jeffrey, thanks very, very much. >> political fallout from a disappointing jobs report. what does it mean for president obama and for the republican candidates who want his job? cnn senior political analyst david gergen is standing by. also, south carolina governor and mitt romney supporter nikki haley talks about his problem with voters. and images of an unfolding tornado disaster. >> holy moly. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪ 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- together for your future. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious. here's a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone. from the canadian border, through the mid west, to the gulf coast. benefiting hundreds of thousands of families throughout the country. this is just what our economy needs right now. the latest employment figures show a sharp showdown in hiring last month. employers added 120,000 in march, half as many as in february. the unemployment rate dropped from 8.2% from 8.3%. david gergen, this is certainly worse new than expected. cnnmoney.com's forecast was for more than 200,000 jobs. apparently it's seen as a disappointment to the obama administration. how bad do you think it is? >> i think it was such a surprise, joe. everyone expected over 200. to come in at 120, which is such an anemic figure, it was the surprise element and people thinking is the economy slowing down. we had in the last two years each time in the beginning of the year there was a false dawn, there was a sense the economy has finally turned the corner, we're finally going to see more robust growth and that happened again this year. i don't think we should read too much into this but if you have two, three more months of these numbers, that would be serious political trouble for the president. >> this is what alan kreuger, the chairman of the economic adviser says about it, there's more work to be done but today's employment report provides further evidence the economy is continuing to recover from the work economic downturn from the great depression. mitt romney came out with this statement -- this is a week and troubling report that shows the employment market remains stagnant, millions of the americans paying a higher price for president obama's economic policy, more and more are dropping out of the labor force all together. what are the voters supposed to make of this? >> i think this will give the voters because but i don't think it's going to be determinative. we shouldn't read too much in this. there are seasonal factors in this. we may have had more jobs in the last three months when we got over 200,000 a month because it was warm weather. it was unseasonably warm and that caused people who hire more. so we're going to have some ups and downs. from the president's point of view, politically what he had opened for was a steady climb out, slow but steady out of the trough. if we stall or things seem to be slowing down, that is bad news for him because it tells the voters, you know, that dawn you thought you saw out there is not there yet, it's still illusionary. and people are going to be making up their minds over the next six months about which way they're going to vote in this election. this strengthens the romney argument, yes, it's a recovery but it's a weak recovery, a wimpy recovery as "time" magazine called it. so many americans are continuing, working people, are continuing to have really tough times. >> so your feeling is that republicans will really be able to make hay out of this, that is of course unless next month's report is a little bit better? >> yeah. it gives them more of an opening. if this thing starts climb being back out again, this lab little speed bump, it won't amount to much. but if it becomes a trend, watch out. >> i wanted to ask you also about the issue of mitt romney's gender issues, if you will, with the american public. also, the issue of the augusta national golf course and membership, women are still not allowed to go there. the chairman of ibm is not allowed to actually be a member at augusta national, even though she's a woman. president obama's weighed into it, the republicans have weighed into it. is this something that will help the republicans if they get on board and behind women? >> i think mitt romney got sucked way too far to the right by rick santorum on health issues, women and contraception and the like. he now has to make a very serious effort to show that he would be a good president for all americans, including women, who would advance. his wife is an asset on this but he needs now in effect a cabinet or advisory board of leading women and people like meg whitman and others who are very much for romney. he needs an agenda that really addresses the issues surrounding women. president obama had a woman adviser when he ran. it was a smart thing to do. there are issues in our society that have particular relevance to women, and mitt romney has to show he not only understands those issues and concerns but he actually sees a way forward, so more women can have jobs, going to have balance in their lives, their kids are going to be protected and have a chance to compete in a 21st century economy. right now he's doing fine among men but among women there's almost a 15-to-20 point gap between president obama and mitt romney. mitt romney comes in a 20-point gam among women, he'll lose the election. >> and i know you've been following the excesses at the general services administration. well, a huge controversy out there and the question i think is whether there's going to be any blowback for the administration as seen as not accountable, since this has been going on for a while. >> i'm not sure about that. i this the fact that three heads did roll right at the top pretty quickly once the facts came out i thought was smart. they cleaned it up as fast as they can. what you look for in this kind of thing, joe, as you well know, you're such a pro, you look for patterns. an isolated incident doesn't cost you very much. but you see two, three of these things, that costs you a lot. >> great. thanks so much. >> take care. >> it's always great to see you, david gergen. >> egypt's muslim brotherhood launches a major charm offensive at the white house. could egypt be taking a dangerous turn one year since the historic revolution? 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[ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, [ traffic passing ] ] ♪ [ music box: lullaby ] [ man on tv, indistinct ] ♪ [ lullaby continues ] [ baby coos ] [ man announcing ] millions are still exposed to the dangers... of secondhand smoke... and some of them can't do anything about it. ♪ [ continues ] [ gasping ] . parts of texas still feeling the wrath of this week's vicious tornadoes. look at these unbelievable images, giant tractor trailers being tossed in the air like toys and hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed. lisa sylvester is looking at all the extraordinary video captured just as the twisters hit. >> tornado down. tornado on the ground. there it is right behind the tree. tornado on the ground. >> reporter: up close, way too close, tornadoes barrelling down on texas. >> oh, my god. >> debris is file -- flying. oh! holy moly. oh, my god! holy holy! >> reporter: the national weather service estimates that 6 to 13 twisters touched down in north texas tuesday. >> a girl that was taking shelter with us pointed up with two fingers and said look up there. we saw two tornadoes at the same time touch down about an eighth of a mile up from us. >> we're all standing out here taking pictures of it. >> it is coming our way, y'all. i swear to god, it's coming our way. >> it's coming. >> it is coming toward us, y'all. get in the building! >> reporter: amazingly no deaths were reported but thousands lost power and hundreds of homes were destroyed. trucks and trailers tossed around. >> the poor city of lancaster has been -- it just took it on like a blender going through some of these structures and it's just been devastating in that city. >> houses were chopped up, roofs ripped off, residents say it was over in about 30 seconds by ut, boy, were those movies terrifying. >> it was scary. so scary. it remind you of "the wizard of oz" when the torn doado hit and everything was going round and round. >> the freight company says all of their employees are safe and accounted for. like many others in the dallas-fort worth area, they are shifting to recovery and the rebuilding effort. >> growing up brown in a black-and-white world. governor nikki haley is here to talk about her new book. and the leader of the controversial islamic party likely to lead egypt's next government launched a charm offensive here in washington. and details of an ominous internet posting warning, quote, al qaeda coming soon again in new york. acce