Sessions to take over top GOP slot on Judiciary  —  Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) will take over the ranking member position on the Senate Judiciary Committee after striking a deal with his more senior colleagues over the weekend, sources confirm to The Hill.  —  Sessions and Sen. Chuck Grassley …

The Case Against Sotomayor  —  Indictments of Obama's front-runner to replace Souter.  —  This is the first in a series of reports by TNR legal affairs editor Jeffrey Rosen about the strengths and weaknesses of the leading candidates on Barack Obama's Supreme Court shortlist.  —  RELATED CONTENT

Ridge Trails Pennsylvania's Specter By 3 Points, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; New Democratic Senator Tops Toomey By 20 Points  —  Newly-minted Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter would whip old Republican rival Pat Toomey 53 - 33 percent if the 2010 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race were held today …

N.Y. Times to File Notice It Will Close Boston Globe  —  The New York Times Co. said last night that it is notifying federal authorities of its plans to shut down the Boston Globe, raising the possibility that New England's most storied newspaper could cease to exist within weeks.

GOP turns to Bush aides for advice  —  Republicans looking to recover from Bush-era defeats are turning to an unlikely source for advice: top aides to former President George W. Bush.  —  Former White House press secretary Dana Perino, former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie …

5/4: Paterson Approval Rating: Scraping Bottom?  —  How low can New York Governor David Paterson's job approval rating go?  Based on the latest Marist Poll numbers, it can still go lower, but not by much!  Not quite one-fifth of New York registered voters statewide — 19% …

US Soldiers in Afghanistan Told to “Hunt People for Jesus... So We Get Them into the Kingdom” (Video)  —  Military officials at Bagram are caught on tape urging US soldiers to evangelize in the Muslim country.  —  New video evidence has surfaced showing that US military forces in Afghanistan …

Sarah Palin's “Revelation”  —  This is unfinished business - a news event that got swallowed up by the release of the ICRC report, the OLC Memos and the Senate Armed Services report.  But given this blog's coverage of governor Palin's various strange stories about Trig …

Firms Face New Tax Curbs  —  Obama Plan Aims to Limit Use of Offshore Havens by Multinationals and the Wealthy  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will roll out details Monday of what aides are calling a far-reaching crackdown on offshore tax avoidance, targeting …

Worries Rise on the Size of U.S. Debt  —  The nation's debt clock is ticking faster than ever — and Wall Street is getting worried.  —  As the Obama administration racks up an unprecedented spending bill for bank bailouts, Detroit rescues, health care overhauls and stimulus plans …

Obama criticism shuts down conversation  —  Parties were more fun when George W. Bush was president.  You could debate, argue even, praise and condemn, throw darts and laurels and solve the world's problems over a bottle of wine.  —  No more.  At least not in my circles.

Looking to Big-Screen E-Readers to Help Save the Daily Press  —  The iPod stemmed losses in the music industry.  The Kindle gave beleaguered book publishers a reason for optimism.  —  Now the recession-ravaged newspaper and magazine industries are hoping for their own knight in shining digital armor …

Personal Savings and the Age of Reagan  —  I've heard Europeans ascribe the low American savings rate to some aspect of our national character, but as you can see on this chart it's something that's changed quite a bit over the years:  —  Any political observer will look at this trend …

Supreme Court Rules Against Government in Identity-Theft Case  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that the federal government has been going too far in using identity-theft laws to prosecute undocumented workers who use fake identification to get and hold jobs.

As Foreclosures Surge ...  The Obama administration sat by last week as 12 Senate Democrats joined 39 Senate Republicans to block a vote on an amendment that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify troubled mortgages.  —  Senator Obama campaigned on the provision.

White House Cheat Sheet: Republicans Redouble Re-Branding Efforts  —  Is Eric Cantor the man to revive the Republican Party?  Photo by Ricky Carioti of the Washington Post.  —  National Republican leaders gathered in Northern Virginia over the weekend for the first in a series …

Bush's Lawyers Strike Back  —  Blogs and Stories  —  In a brutally frank and at times contentious interview, former Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales sat down with Dan Abrams to talk about:  —  •their definition of torture ("Were the interrogations harsh?  Yes.

Iran Launches Airstrikes on Iraqi Villages  —  Iranian aircraft attacked three villages inside Iraq over the weekend.  The airstrikes — Iran's first on Iraqi soil since the U.S. invasion — could complicate the Obama administration's efforts to normalize relations with Tehran.

European economy ‘will shrink 4%’  —  EU economies will contract by 4% this year, the European Commission has forecast, in a massive revision from its earlier prediction.  —  The worsening of the global financial crisis, dropping levels of world trade and continuing house value falls had prompted the downgrade, it said.

GOP leaders give Palin cold shoulder  —  In the latest instance of a high-profile GOP member taking a passing swipe at the party's 2008 vice-presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney jokingly dismissed Sarah Palin's inclusion on Time's list …

Former MI6 chief says Britain was ‘dragged’ into Iraq war  —  Britain was “dragged into a war in Iraq which was always against out better judgment” the former deputy head of MI6 has claimed, in a remark that will reignite the debate over political interference in the war.

Proposals Would Transform College Aid  —  Obama Plan to Expand Federal Control of Lending Includes Creating Entitlement  —  President Obama's health-care goals may be garnering attention, but his higher-education proposals are no less ambitious.  —  If adopted, they could transform …