[Baldwin:] On the case today, the fight over which justices, which U.S. Supreme Court justices should or should not be on the bench for the upcoming Supreme Court battle over health care reform. Two justices in particular are being targeted here. Some on the right say Justice Elena Kagan should sit this one out. Keep in mind she was the Obama administration's top Supreme Court lawyer before joining the nation's highest court. And then some on the left want Justice Clarence Thomas to bow out because his wife has been very active in conservative causes and that could create a conflict of interest. Let's bring in Sunny Hostin. Sunny, what do you think? Should these two justices remove themselves from the health care case?
[Sunny Hostin, Cnn Legal Contributor:] Well, you know, if you look at the history, I don't think that's appropriate or necessary in this case. I mean, when you think about Justice Thomas, they're asking that he recuse himself because his wife Virginia is opposed to the health care law. Judges are allowed to have their own personal opinions and their families and friends are allowed to have their own personal opinions. I don't think that would affect Justice Thomas in any way. I think Elena Kagan's position is a little more tenuous. It's a little it's a closer call in the sense that she was the solicitor general for Obama had when this law was passed. And my understanding is she sent an e-mail to Harvard professor Larry Tribe expressing sort of her excitement over the law, saying, wow, we've got the votes. So when you look at that, that's probably a closer call, but the bottom line is, it's up to Justice Kagan to recuse herself. She has given no indication she is going to recuse herself, and I think we would know already if she weren't going to listen to the five-and-a- half of argument, Brooke. So is she going to recuse herself? I think the answer is no.
[Baldwin:] So does anyone even have power, Sunny Hostin, to remove one of these justices from a case?
[Hostin:] I did a little research on this, and, surprisingly, no. It's really p up to the justices to recuse themselves. I think most justices generally do recuse themselves when there is sort of a conflict of interest or certainly this appearance of impropriety. But, in this case, people's opinions are sort of all over the place, not when it comes to Justice Thomas but sort of when it comes to Justice Lagan. But I don't know it's necessary for her to recuse herself in this case, and I don't believe she's going to, Brooke.
[Baldwin:] OK, we have to talk about this eight-year-old boy who lives in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been taken away from his mother, placed in foster care, because he weighs over 200 pounds. Child welfare workers say the mother wasn't doing enough to maintain or control his weight. Have you ever seen or heard of a case like this, Sunny Hostin?
[Hostin:] I have not. It's remarkable, right? Oftentimes children are removed from homes when they aren't being taken care of, when they aren't being bathed, when they aren't being fed. You see these cases when had children are malnourished and abused. You don't typically see cases where this type of thing happens, when a child is fed too much. But I think it's appropriate, because the standard here is what is in the best interest of the child. And we're talking about a kid that's morbidly obese, Brooke. I mean, 200 pounds at age eight is so far off the scale. And look at the average height and weight for an eight- year-old, a boy four foot, two, 57 pounds, a girl four foot, two, 56 pounds. This child is about four times the average weight for an eight-year-old boy. So there's no question this is not healthy for him.
[Baldwin:] Yes, I was reading about this in the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" this morning. They kept talking about medical neglect here. But he's removed from his mother. Are there any other alternatives than simply foster care for a child in this kind of situation?
[Hostin:] That's the thing. I mean, again, the standard is what is in the best interest of the child. Is it ever in the best interest of a child to be taken away from his mother, the only family he's known. I don't think so. A more appropriate method perhaps would be to find a program for the child and for his mother so that they could learn how to make these healthy choices. Just because you take a child away from his mother and place him in foster care, what if that foster parent isn't equipped to take care of a child that's now morbidly obese, to take care of a child and show the child these healthy choices? So we know the first lady has given us so much information about obesity in this country, especially as it relates to children. But most people just don't know enough about it, Brooke.
[Baldwin:] We'll follow this and see what happens with this eight-year- old boy, if he does get to come back home. Sunny Hostin, thank you. Looking for work far from home, they went missing for days. But one man followed his gut.
[Unidentified Male:] Wait a minute. He owns a 688-acre farm and he doesn't know the exact exit it's at? Something's wrong there.
[Baldwin:] Coming up, we'll talk to that man who did not get the job and lived to tell about it.