Professor Sues University of Iowa
COSTELLO: Coming up on 30 minutes past the hour, checking our top stories. The Pakistani school girl shot in the head for defying the Taliban is now able to stand up. Doctors say Malala is doing well and communicating very freely by writing notes. But of course she still has a long way to go to fully recover. Hackers believed to be supported by the Iranian government have attacked more U.S. banks this week. According to U.S. officials, Capital One and BB & T were with cyber attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday. But little damage was done and no accounts were compromised. Now U.S. officials the attacks may be in response to western sanctions on Iran. The Mars rover is venturing into new territory. NASA scientists are interested in this, beware. The "Curiosity" rover will pick up rocks and examine them. Scientists believe they may be indigenous to Mars. What if you were held back at work because of your political views? A University of Iowa professor said it's happening to her right now. Theresa Wagner is suing the University of Iowa. She says twice she was passed over for full-time positions because she is a Republican. This despite positive reviews and her claims at being the most qualified. CNN contributor Will Cain has been following this case. Welcome, Will.</s>WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Hi. You're a lawyer.</s>CAIN: I am.</s>COSTELLO: And you're -- you're passionately following this case. Why?</s>CAIN: I am. And it's not because as some of your viewers might know, I'm a conservative. I lack that one essential quality of a great pundit Carol and that's outrage. I'm a little outrage deficient. But this one really bothers me. So -- so here's the deal. Can a state employee, a government employee like the University of Iowa discriminate against a potential employee because of their political beliefs. Well first of all we have to decide are they discriminating against her. Now Mrs. Wagner thinks she has proof and she's in trial this week. It should wind up today where she says she has e-mails that suggest they discussed her political beliefs, that they worried about it could be a problem. And she once worked for the Family Research Council and the National Right to Life Foundation. So she thinks she has proof. It wouldn't be a big surprise by the way Carol. Look 75 percent of college professors self-identify as liberals to only 15 percent conservative. Former Harvard President Larry Summers, who worked for President Obama, has worried that this could be a result of discrimination in higher education. And I think that presents real problems.</s>COSTELLO: Well she's even saying it's a constitutional issue, but --</s>CAIN: Right.</s>COSTELLO: -- but you know it's discriminating against someone's political views a constitutional issue?</s>CAIN: So what's she's doing Carol is she's making a first amendment claim. She's saying that -- that by denying her this job because of her beliefs and her associations, they're intruding upon her first amendment rights. So the government has said -- the court has said, the Supreme Court has said the government cannot deny you employment, cannot base your hiring decision based upon your political beliefs. They make one exception and that's for policy makers. So for example, Barack Obama could -- could deny a cabinet position to Grover Norquist, right? I mean, they don't agree and that's kind of an important part of the process. But -- but are colleges policy makers? Are law schools policy makers? I think that's an important decision -- answer to that question. I think no, unless we're treating you know universities and law schools as like -- as like institutions for teaching a certain way of thinking or a certain ideology, we've got a real constitutional violation here.</s>COSTELLO: So in fairness to the university and it's not commenting because this thing is going to court, right, the university claims that she had a terrible interview and that's really why she wasn't given the job. So you can't really rule that out, right?</s>CAIN: No, you can't. That's their claim, right. They're saying they did not discriminate against her based on her political beliefs. They're saying she gave a terrible interview. Whether or not that's true or not, that's something for the jury in that case to sort out this week. Does she have valid proof of discrimination or is the school right, it was about her interview? I do think it's a bigger question for all of us, that is interesting and that is you know should your political beliefs be a valid claim for -- for discrimination, ideological discrimination when it comes to employment, if it exists.</s>COSTELLO: Well I'm sure you'll continue -- I'm sure you'll continue to follow this case. And you've written a fascinating article about it on CNN.com.</s>CAIN: Yes.</s>COSTELLO: So if you want to know more, just log on to CNN.com/opinion. And tweet us at CNN Opinion. Thanks so much, Will Cain.</s>CAIN: Thanks Carol, as always.</s>COSTELLO: Throughout her tour, Madonna has been shooting a prop gun at audiences. But now her gun stunt is striking a nerve for the people in Denver.