Identity Justice  —  Responding to early 19th-century rumors that they drank excessively, the Supreme Court justices decided to drink nothing on conference days — unless it was raining.  At the next conference, Chief Justice John Marshall asked Joseph Story to scan the sky for signs of rain.

Burris on tape offering a check for Blagojevich  —  A transcript of a secretly recorded phone call between the brother of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Roland Burris was released in federal court today, a call in which Burris, then seeking the Senate seat, was recorded offering the Blagojevich campaign a campaign check.

Bush vs. Gore rivals challenge Prop. 8 in federal court  —  Two prominent attorneys who argued on opposite sides of Bush vs. Gore, the legal battle over the 2000 presidential election, announced Tuesday that they will challenge Proposition 8 in federal court and seek to restore gay marriage until the case is decided.

Exploding debt threatens America  —  Standard and Poor's decision to downgrade its outlook for British sovereign debt from “stable” to “negative” should be a wake-up call for the US Congress and administration.  Let us hope they wake up.  —  Under President Barack Obama's budget plan, the federal debt is exploding.

North Korea Threatens Armed Strike, End to Armistice  —  North Korea threatened military action in response to South Korea joining a program to seize weapons shipments, and said it's no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.  —  South Korea's actions are tantamount to a …

AT&T May Have Swayed ‘Idol’ Results  —  LOS ANGELES — AT&T, one of the biggest corporate sponsors of “American Idol,” might have influenced the outcome of this year's competition by providing phones for free text-messaging services and lessons in casting blocks of votes at parties organized …

U.S. Expected to Own 70% of Restructured G.M.  —  DETROIT — In better times, many employees of General Motors called their company “Generous Motors” because of its rich benefits.  —  Now G.M. may stand for something else: Government Motors.  —  The latest plan for the troubled automaker …

Billions in new cuts loom for California — including eliminating welfare and closing most state parks  —  Faced with a ballooning deficit and a clear signal that voters won't pay more to fix it, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released a budget plan Tuesday that would eliminate welfare …

Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look  —  Levy Viewed as Way to Reduce Deficits, Fund Health Reform  —  With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look …

A “'Heritage of the Left' of the Right”  —  The political system enters a period of infinite regress: … This seems pretty misguided to me.  In particular, DHE needs to think harder about the fact that there are already well-resourced conservative think tanks with plenty of capabilities.

Flashback: George H.W. Bush On Clarence Thomas' ‘Great Empathy’  —  Conservatives have curiously decided that one of the best ways to battle Obama's first Supreme Court nominee is by declaring a war on empathy.  When he described his criteria for selecting a replacement for Justice David Souter …

Why I'm Not Running for Mayor  —  I WAS the kind of New York kid who played stickball in the street, made pocket change working at the local bagel store and handed out leaflets on Election Day.  I loved New York.  I couldn't imagine why people would live anywhere else.