by TChris

A Supreme Court Justice's law clerk has the potential to influence some of the Court's written opinions. Justice Alito is catching criticism for hiring Adam Ciongoli, "a former top aide to Attorney General John Ashcroft and an architect of the Bush administration's legal strategy after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to be one of his law clerks." Here's one example:

"It really indicates a lapse in judgment," Deborah L. Rhode, who teaches legal ethics at Stanford, said of Justice Alito's decision. "I just don't think it helps your reputation for nonpartisanship, particularly after such partisan confirmation hearings, to start out by hiring someone who is perceived to have an ideological agenda."

The concern is that Ciongoli might weigh in on cases addressing the administration's detention without trial of those it labels as enemy combatants.

by TChris

An editorial in today's NY Times gives sound advice to the president: fire Michael Chertoff. In the wake of a report by an all-Republican Congressional panel that assigned blame for the inept governmental response to Katrina, Chertoff "stands out above the rest."

According to the panel's report, Mr. Chertoff has "primary responsibility for managing the national response to a catastrophic disaster," yet he handled his decision-making responsibilities "late, ineffectively, or not at all." A FEMA official named Marty Bahamonde sent word back to Washington on the same day Katrina struck, saying the 17th Street Canal levee in New Orleans had been breached. This was not based on a rumor; he had seen it with his own eyes from a Coast Guard helicopter. FEMA public affairs officials sent Mr. Chertoff's chief of staff an e-mail note that night. The former FEMA director, Michael Brown, says he notified the White House at the same time. Yet the next day, President Bush said New Orleans had "dodged the bullet," while Mr. Chertoff flew to Atlanta for a briefing on avian flu.

The president is more likely to give Chertoff a medal or a promotion than to admit that Chertoff wasn't up to the job, and we know he doesn't read newspapers. Still ...

It would be nice for the administration to finally send a message that if important people do a bad job, they go away.

Justice Sam Alito has chosen his five law clerks. The latest pick is not someone just out of law school, but a former Justice Department lawyer who was a close confidant of John Ashcroft:

Adam G. Ciongoli, 37, a senior vice president at Time Warner Inc., served as counselor to Ashcroft from 2001 to 2003. He attended Georgetown University Law Center, clerked for Alito at the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit from 1995 to 1996, and helped prepare the justice for his recent confirmation hearings.

Former FEMA director Michael Brown testified before Congress today, despite Bush's attempt to block his testimony by asserting executive privilege. He blamed Homeland Security. Crooks and Liars has some video.

Mr. Brown said that homeland security officials were being regularly updated by reports delivered through video conference calls, and that he personally contacted White House officials.

"My obligation was to the White House and to make sure the president knows what's going on," he said, "and I did that." Mr. Brown's testimony provided the first detailed look into communications between emergency management officials and the White House.

He said claims the White House didn't know of the levee failures until the next day are "baloney."

More Katrina-related disaster: The public defender's sytem in New Orleans is dead.

Check out the news reports from Washington Post AP, and Henry Weinstein of the LA Times. More than 4000 people without a lawyers spells disaster again.

One month after Katrina, the Orleans Indigent Defender Board laid off more than 30 of its public defenders, said Tessier. There are now only four part-time public defenders in New Orleans, he said.

"My guess is that we have 4,500 people who have been sitting in jail for up to six months and haven't seen a lawyer," Tessier said. "The issue is what do we do with those people if we don't have public defenders for them and don't have money for lawyers."

Judge Sam Alito has been confirmed to the Supreme Court. The vote was 58 to 42. The only confirmed justice to receive fewer favorable votes was Clarence Thomas.

In an e-mail, People for the American Way states that SavetheCourt generated 600,000 faxes and e-mails to Senators in just the past several days.

In my Scoring Scotus column today at Altercation, I talk about the impact that efforts by bloggers and activists had on the Democratic leadership, and what it portends for 2006 and 2008.

In his floor comments opposing Alito today, Senator Harry Reid lamented the rejection of Harriet Miers and blamed the radical right. I agree with him. Miers would have been far preferable to Alito. And she never even got to have a hearing, much less an up or down vote. (no link yet, received by e-mail.)

25 Senators stood proud today and voted to extend debate on Judge Sam Alito. They deserve your thanks and your praise. Here's the list:

Bayh, Evan (D-IN)
Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (D-DE)
Boxer, Barbara (D-CA)
Clinton, Hillary Rodham (D-NY)
Dayton, Mark (D-MN)
Dodd, Christopher J. (D-CT)
Durbin, Richard (D-IL)
Feingold, Russell D. (D-WI)
Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)
Jeffords, James M. (I-VT)

By a vote of 75 to 25, the Senate today ended debate on the nomination of Judge Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. The final vote is tomorrow, and over 40 Senators are expected to vote against his nomination.This means Alito will receive more "no" votes than any other confirmed Supreme Court nominee in the last 100 years, other than Justice Clarence Thomas. (via Save the Court)

TalkLeft offers many thanks to the courageous band of 25 who stood firm, did not yield, and voted their consciences which told them that Judge Alito was outside the mainstream and not an appropriate choice for a lifetime appointment to our nation's highest court.

From People for the American Way (received by e-mail, no link yet):

Republican Lincoln Chafee will vote against Alito but for cloture. Too bad. Lieberman has not yet decided on cloture, despite what CNN said. Call or fax his office now.

Jeffords will vote against cloture. Keep those calls and faxes to all who oppose Alito, particularly those in the Gang of 14, now. It's not over till it's over.

Let's send Judge Alito back to New Jersey. Numbers are below the fold, thanks to Reddhedd and Armando who are way out in front on this:

On ABC's This Week, Sens. Joe Biden and Barak Obama were critical of the Democrats' filibuster plan, but Biden said he will vote for it "one time."

Keep the faxes going. It's not over. And go for the phones Monday morning. You can use these toll-free numbers (and ask for the Senators by name): 888-355-3588 or 888-818-6641.

Fax numbers are here or use Save The Court's form and they'll send it for you.

Don't give up on the filibuster. Even if we lose, it sends a powerful message, not just about Alito but about what we'll do if future uber-conservatives are nominated. And it's still possible, though a long shot, the Dems could pull it off. Pressure from constituents is key.

Sen. Edward Kennedy held a blogger conference call today about Judge Sam Alito's nomination and the filibuster plans. I couldn't make it but McJoan and at Daily Kos and Jane at Firedoglake have reports. Georgia100 at Daily Kos has the fax numbers. From McJoan:

He is encouraging you to contact your Democratic Senators, regardless of what they might have said so far, but specifically mentioned Senators Pryor, Lincoln, Cantwell, Murray, Baucus, Harkin, Levin, Bayh, Lautenberg, Menendez, and Lieberman. In addition, he said to keep the pressure on Republican Senators Snowe, Collins, Chaffee, and Stevens.

Senator Kennedy talked in particular about one thing that I think is critical to keep in mind as we approach our Senators, and for them to keep in mind as they are considering this vote. We need to overcome the media noise machine by letting our Senators know that in voting their conscience, and making it clear that they are voting on principle, on conscience, they will overcome the media noise machine calling them obstructionists. We can help them realize this by letting them know that we've got their backs. That they are voting our conscience as well, and that we will not forget their courage.

Sen. Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Dick Durbin, Russ Feingold, Debbie Stabenow, Ted Kennedy all have come out in support of John Kerry's filibuster plan.

E-mail them your appreciation. And keep working on those who resist. Sen. Feinstein said last week she'd oppose a filibuster and yet changed her mind. Others can as well.

Those Democrats opposing the filibuster, like Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, use reasoning like this:

Democratic officials said Mikulski had said during this week's closed-door caucus that the 2006 and 2008 elections were more important than a symbolic last stand that would fail to prevent Alito's confirmation.

Let your Senators know that if they support the filibuster, you will work even harder for a Democratic majority in 2006. Show Mikulski she's wrong.