sonia sotomayor makes history today. the first hispanic woman to face a confirmation hearing for the supreme court. >> the only thing standing between her and confirmation is herself. >> we'll tell you why some people are saying her past could catch up with her. breaking news. arrest made in the grisly murder of a florida couple with 16 children. >> when i refer to it as a humdinger, this is like a movie script. >> we'll ask the sheriff about a possible motive. shocking allegations by la toya jackson that her brother michael was murdered for his money. we'll tell you who she suspects. as sheryl crow remembers the legendary king of pop "early" this monday morning, july 13th, 2009. captioning funded by cbs good morning. welcome to "the early show." i'm harry smith here in new york along with julie chen, who is in los angeles. maggie is on assignment. good morning, julie. >> good morning, harry. >> it's going to be a busy morning in washington this morning as the hearings finally get under way. the confirmation hearings for sonia sotomayor. the first female hispanic nominated to take a seat on supreme court. we'll get to that in a little bit. also this morning, we're learning what alaska governor sarah palin has planned after she leaves office later this month. we're going to tell you what that is, and a new cbs poll answers the question, do americans think she could be an effective president? first, three men are in custody this morning in connection with the murder of a well-known florida couple in their home last week. cbs news correspondent terrell brown has the very latest from pensacola, florida. terrell, good morning. >> reporter: julie, good morning to you. two of the three men that are in custody right now are expected in a courtroom later on today. you know, julie, it's a tragedy for this town. this is a family that has adopted a dozen children with special needs, and many of those children were in the home the night their parents were murdered. >> we are proud and pleased to announce a third arrest. >> reporter: byrd and melanie billings, married for 18 years, were shot and killed in their nine bedroom home on thursday night. 8 of their 16 children were asleep in the home when it happened. three suspects were caught on this home security camera leaving the billings' property in a red van. it's the same red van that was found on saturday night at the mobile home of 56-year-old leonard patrick gonzalez sr. gonzalez has been arrested and charged with tampering with evidence. he reportedly tried to disguise the van with paint. two other suspects, wayne coldiron and leonard patrick gonzalez jr. were arrested yesterday, both charged with murder. >> once we had located the van, developed an address of where the van had been registered to, interviews with associated neighbors, friends, and family, then led us to two persons of interest. >> reporter: florida police don't believe the suspects knew the couple. meanwhile, the mystery behind the killings continues. >> motive and motives in this investigation are still being developed. >> reporter: and you may notice something interesting about the names of the suspects in this case. leonard rodriguez sr. and leonard rodriguez jr., they are father and son and had a chance to talk to authorities here in pensacola this morning. this investigation still well under way, and many more arrests expected in the coming days, harry. >> cbs' terrell brown, thanks. also joining us from pensacola is escambia county sheriff, david morgan. sheriff, good morning. >> good morning, sir. >> are you ready to talk about a motive in this case yet? >> not specifically, mr. smith, because we are developing, as with many things in this case, multiple motives. >> this couple, byrd and melanie billings, the suspects, did they know them? >> we have a sort of tie with this family through a business relationship, but to state that the participants in this crime knew the billings family, we cannot confirm that. >> all right. this is a little bit of an off the wall question. is it possible that the suspects in this case were actually hired to murder these folks? >> well, of course, that would be speculation, but as i've stated in other press conferences, i wouldn't be surprised at any turn this case would take at this time. >> to your knowledge, or at least for folks down there in that part of the world, did byrd and melanie billings have any known enemies? >> to the best of our knowledge at this time, at this point in the investigation, no, sir. we cannot confirm that. >> this is a wild story. talk a little bit about this family and in how high regard they were held. this couple had their own children and then went on to bring into their homes all these special needs kids. these folks were highly, highly regarded. >> that's correct, sir. again, especially melanie has been referred to as an angel. they opened their home and their fortune to children with special needs with autism and down's syndrome, and also children that are had been born of drug ridden mothers. that was one of the most shocking things about this case was everyone initially asked themselves why this family? why a family that had just given their fortune and their home to such a humanitarian cause? >> which must make it all the more interesting and probably puts even extra pressure on folks in escambia county hold them in such high regard, the shock level must just be stunning. >> and, again, because the hatefulness and the senselessness of this, it has stricken community, i must admit. >> sheriff david morgan, we thank you very much for your time this morning. >> thank you, sir. it was an honor to be here. >> you bet. now here's julie. >> thanks a lot, harry. senate confirmation hearings for president obama's supreme court nominee judge sonia sotomayor begin today. a new cbs poll finds that 23% of americans have a favorable opinion of judge sotomayor while 15% were unfavorable. 6 in 10 are still undecided or have not heard enough yet. and 35% say it's very important to have another woman on the high court. cbs news correspondent wyatt andrews has the very latest. wyatt, good morning. >> reporter: julie, good morning to you. a bit of history unfolds this morning. for the first hispanic nominee to the u.s. supreme court, confirmation hearings are set to begin here at the senate judiciary committee. now, sotomayor herself is set to give her first public comments, her opening statement this afternoon, but this morning is devoted to the speeches that will be given by members of the judiciary committee. in the physical layout of the room, the republicans, senate republicans literally will speak from here on my right, and the 12 democrats on this committee will speak from here on my left. to democrats, sotomayor is the perfect nominee. that a child of the projects would progress through ivy league schools and later a 17-year career as a federal judge makes her an all-american story. >> she's the most experienced judge in nearly 100 years to go on the u.s. supreme court. >> reporter: republicans plan tough questions on why sotomayor ruled to dismiss the discrimination claims of 18 white firefighters in new haven, a dismissal the supreme court overturned. most analysts predict her answer will be simple. >> she's going to say that she was bound by existing precedent. she picked the best standard available to her. many and most of her colleagues on the second u.s. circuit court of appeals agreed. >> reporter: she will also be asked about the president's demand for judicial empathy and her now famous comment that "a wise latina woman would reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." the question would be does this reflect an ethnic bias? >> that is a deep and serious challenge to the very notion of the rule of law. so there's plenty in her record that, as i say, ought to cause real concern. >> reporter: sotomayor should easily have the votes to be concerned, and so republicans are not only mindful of that, but they're also mindful of the fact that much of the nation's 15% hispanic population views sotomayor with great pride. so republicans have promiseded questions to her that are challenging but also professional and respectful. harry? >> cbs' wyatt andrews in washington this morning, thanks. senator jeff sessions is the ranking republican member of the judiciary committee. he joins us now. good morning, sir. >> good morning, harry. how are you? >> very well. is this confirmation hearing, is this a foregone conclusion? >> well, i think the democrats would certainly like to be supportive of president obama's nominee, and she's met with a lot of senators, and they've enjoyed meeting with her, as i have. but i do think there's some very real questions, fundamental questions about the nominee, and i hope that people will consider all the background and record fairly. i think you just don't know. odd things happen at hearings, and there are moments that you don't expect. >> the nominee does, in fact, have to speak for herself. and in certain situations in the past nomination processes, that has gone awry. on the other hand, there's a front page story on "the washington post" this morning that basically said the hearings are not just about sotomayor, but sort of a platform for republicans to kind of say, this is who we are. this is what we're about. and this is a way we can differentiate ourselves from the people across the aisle. is that what this is really about? >> i think there's some truth to that because i believe we're in this country debating about the directions our courts could go and should go. i believe this nominee, from what i've seen so far, is the typical liberal activist judge who will push the law, who believes in identity type politics and seeing people as groups more than individuals. >> with her record -- you feel like her record indicates that? she gets a glowing review from the american bar association. her record doesn't seem to necessarily match up with what some of the things she said. >> right. there's a disconnect there, i will agree. her record is better than her speeches. her speeches tend to reflect, i think, her philosophy. and if confirmed to the supreme court, i think we have every reason to believe that philosophy will flower more than when she's in a lower court position bound by the authority of the supreme court and even her other colleagues. that's the pattern for justice ginsburg. she had a pretty good record as a lower court judge but has now become the leading activist on the supreme court. i do think this is an important issue, and the american people truly want that neutral judge, that neutral umpire who will not allow their political agendas to infect their decisions. i think the american people strongly favor that, and we need to move our court back to that view. >> because it's interesting, we talk about the supreme court case the other week with the new haven fire department, people have brought that out as an example. but basically, she was following precedent. i think people who actually look at it will agree she was basically acting as any judge in that position as most judges would have acted in that position. you really believe her words indicate that there are -- she's a different person than her record would indicate? >> i think philosophically her statements indicate an approach to judging that's outside the mainstream so far as i can tell, and that i think it would allow her to do things like she is a leading exponent -- maybe one of the leading in the country of utilizing foreign law to interpret american law. i think that's fundamentally unsound. >> right now, if you had to vote this minute, would you vote against her? >> well, i think we should give her that hearing and a fair hearing. i'm committed to that. and i think that's the right thing. i hope people will say, this is the best hearing we've had in many years. >> senator sessions, thanks so much for your time this morning. do appreciate it. lonnie quinn of the saturday early show is filling in for dave price. he has a first check of the weather this morning. good morning. >> good morning to you, harry. good morning, everybody. take a look at the big map. the first thing i want address, the northern plains. you're going to catch wet weather later this afternoon. some of it could be on the severe side. elsewhere, if you're looking for the wet stuff, it would be in the southeast. pop-up storms for you. some of it could drift northward to the mid-atlantic states. elsewhere, sunny skies or partly sunny skies. big time heat from the southwest into texas. places like phoenix, arizona. you could hit 116 degrees. that would be a new >> i will say we're expecting pretty good day here in new york city. julie, out to you. new calls this morning for an investigation of cia torture and anti-terrorism policies. former vice president dick cheney could be on the hot seat. plus how did michael jackson die and who will get custody of his kids? we'll have the latest on the investigation and the legal issues. and the private life of penguins goes public at the san francisco zoo. a romantic triangle that leads to hurt feelings and a nasty breakup. 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(announcer) you can do it. nicorette can help. start your three-course meals with a shared appetizer. choose two entrees from over 15 chili's favorites, then share a decadent dessert. chili's -- busy morning around here. so let's head over to russ mitchell at the news desk for this morning's headlines. good morning, sir. >> good morning, harry. good morning to you at home. some key democrats say former vice president dick cheney ordered the cia to conceal a top secret intelligence program from them, and now they're demanding an investigation. cbs news correspondent kimberly dozier is in washington with the latest. kimberly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, russ. two lawmakers say vice president dick cheney may have broken the law by keeping them in the dark about a clandestine cia counterterrorism program. but cia officials i've heard from point out that no one's calling the program itself illegal. cia director leon panetta informed intelligence committees about the top secret program and cheney's involvement in late june. >> he was told that the vice president had ordered that the program not be briefed to the congress. >> reporter: the program was established as the cia ramped up the hunt for osama bin laden. a u.s. official confirms to cbs news that panetta has now cancelled the program. it's being reported it might involve the alleged, but never confirmed, cheney executive assassination ring aimed at top terror targets. military sources dismiss these reports as overblown. they tell cbs news they already have the right under existing u.s. law to take out high value targets like osama bin laden. the cia is governed under different statutes, so it needed what's called a presidential finding to work alongside the military or alone to do the same thing. but that's been widely reported. u.s. officials close to the case add it's also unclear that cheney wroek broke the law by keeping whatever it was quiet. the law states "congress must be kept informed unless it risks the unauthorized disclosure of classified information." >> mr. cheney probably was wrong in not briefing the congress, but in a sense, he was also right because, as soon as the congress was briefed on the program, they leaked it. >> reporter: former administration officials tell me they believe this was leaked to take the heat off speaker of the house nancy pelosi. she accused the cia of lying to her about waterboarding, which the cia denies. there are reports this morning that north korea's leader kim jong-il has pancreatic cancer. recent images of a gaunt looking kim prompted speculation that his health is failing. a south korea tv report quoting intelligence sources says kim's cancer is life-threatening. and changing directions now big time, a famed same-sex penguin couple is broken up. harry and pepper, two male penguins at the san francisco zoo were together for some six years. but a female penguin named linda befriended harry. that ruffled pepper's feathers, and now harry and linda are a couple instead. what do you know? >> very interesting. i had heard they were plan to go go to iowa to get married. >> you heard that? i see. >> can't do it in california right now. >> that's right. >> they waited too long. >> and that's that whole mate for life thing. >> right. >> it's a myth. obviously. >> you know why? >> yes. >> because the zoo keeper there calls linda the penguin conniving. that's a new one for a penguin description. >> she's a home wrecker. scandalous. >> all right, julie. up next, as she gets ready to leave office, what is alaska governor sarah palin planning to do next? we'll have the latest. >> announcer: this portion of "the early show" is sponsored by york heating and air conditioning. it's time to get comfortable. with rheumatoid arthritis, it seems like my life is split in two. there's the life i live. and the life i want to live. fortunately, there's enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, fatigue, and stop joint damage. because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma and nervous system... and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis. also ask your doctor if you live in an area... with a greater risk for certain fungal infections. don't start enbrel if you have an infection, like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. help bridge the gap. ask your rheumatologist... if enbrel is right for you, and about our co-pay and financial support programs. that's why we created the tide "loads of hope" program, a free laundry service that provides clean clothes to families affected by disasters. 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