Obama's impressive new OLC chief  —  The Office of Legal Counsel, inside the Justice Department, is probably the most consequential federal government office that remains relatively obscure.  The legal opinions which it issues become, more or less automatically, the official legal position of the Executive Branch.

Panetta On Torture  —  Here's Central Intelligence Agency director-designate Leon E. Panetta, writing about torture, in the Washington Monthly.  Actually, no — he's writing in the Washington Monthly about torture:

Court rejects Coleman bid to consider rejected absentee ballots  —  The ruling clears the way for election officials to certify results showing Democrat Al Franken in the lead.  —  The Minnesota Supreme Court today rejected a bid by Norm Coleman in the disputed U.S. Senate election …

Minnesota elections board says Franken won  —  The Minnesota Board of Canvassers certified Democrat Al Franken as winner of the state's Senate race, but incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman's (R) attorneys have vowed to challenge the decision.  —  After two months of political and legal wrangling …

Secretary of the Senate rejects Burris' appointment  —  Judge also grants prosecutors 90-day extension to indict Blagojevich, former chief of staff  —  Firing the first shot in Washington in the fight over the appointment of Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate, Gov. Blagojevich's acting chief …

The Three-State Option  —  War in the Gaza Strip demonstrates yet again that the current governance paradigm for the Palestinian people has failed.  Terrorists financed and supplied by Iran control Gaza; the Palestinian Authority is broken, probably irretrievably; and economic development is stalled in Gaza and the West Bank.