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Obama pick for Justice post withdraws — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has withdrawn her bid for confirmation, after several Republicans objected to her criticism of the Bush administration's terrorist interrogation policies.
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Dawn Johnsen, Key Obama Justice Nominee, Withdraws Her Nomination — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Dawn Johnsen, the president's appointment to the Office of Legal Counsel whose nomination has lingered in Congressional limbo for more than a year, has officially withdrawn her candidacy for the post …


Justice Stevens' retirement and Elena Kagan — Justice John Paul Stevens, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gerald Ford in 1975 and then became the leader of its “liberal” wing, told the White House today that he was retiring in the Summer. I had been planning to write …

SCOTUS Short-List: from Left to Lefter — By: Daniel Foster — With the news of Associate Justice John Paul Stevens' retirement this summer, both sides in the Senate are rearing for a confirmation fight that, I suspect, could make Robert Bork's look like John Jay's.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens retiring
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Jindal: ‘It Hurts Our Feelings’ To Be Called The ‘Party of No’ — Today in his speech at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) complained that characterizations of the GOP as the “Party of No” are hurtful: … Yet in the very next breath …
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A tough crowd for Joseph Cao — NEW ORLEANS — The Southern Republican Leadership Conference is happening inside the district of first-term Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.), who won a supremely safe Democratic seat in a December 2008 runoff against the indicted incumbent, then-Rep. Bill Jefferson (D-La.).


Base stirred by Palin, but not sure she's ready yet — NEW ORLEANS - Sarah Palin dominated a sleepy Southern Republican Leadership Conference here Friday, stealing a show that had largely been ceded to her by other Republicans of national stature. — When Palin was introduced …
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Taylor Marsh

Sarah Palin on the Obama Doctrine: Advance Copy
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Where's the Left's Sarah Palin?
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Pick a politician for the Supreme Court — My first thought on hearing that Justice Stevens was retiring was that it'd be nice to see him replaced by a legislator with legal training rather than another lawyer. As Matt Yglesias writes, “this is one of these things that pundits …
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Riehl World View
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Who Should Replace Justice Stevens? — An offbeat shortlist. — Justice John Paul Stevens has announced his plans to retire. Let the shortlist parlor game begin. Of course, it already has. The three names that the White House has been bandying about to reporters are Judge Diane Wood …

Justice Stevens to Retire After 34 Years
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Justice John Paul Stevens to retire from court in June
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VIDEO: Alan Grayson Interrupts Republican District Meeting — On Thursday, April 8th, 2010, Congressman Alan Grayson, Democrat in Florida's 8th district, interrupted a district meeting of the local Orange County Republican Executive Committee. The meeting was being held at Perkins, a family restaurant.
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Grayson crashes local GOP meeting, tells Orange mayoral critic “take a walk” — U.S. Rep Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, walked in on an Orange County Republican Executive Committee meeting Thursday night at a Perkins restaurant and got into a confrontation with county mayoral candidate Matthew Falconer …

Video: Alan Grayson crashes the tea party — A chance encounter from yesterday's meeting of Orange County Republicans via the Tea Party Patriots. What happens when tea partiers meet a man fondly known to us all as Teacups? Magical things, my friends:
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AmSpecBlog

A “Seditious Rant” — Yes, the right gets nuttier and nuttier. From Liz Cheney's favorite Arab (Pushtun Karzai) to Gingrich's latest attempt to portray a responsible center-left president as some kind of radical socialist, it's a nuthouse. But the nuthouse is not resisted by the establishment.
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URGENT: Stop CNN From Airing Deficit Propaganda — This weekend, CNN is giving four hours of free airtime to the leading propagandist fanning the flames of deficit hysteria, Pete Peterson, along with his lackeys. Bloggers and online activists are joining today to promote this action:
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QUOTE OF THE DAY.... I appreciate the role a nuclear arsenal can play in serving as a deterrent against adversaries. But Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota may not appreciate the notion of a proportionate response. … There are obviously a lot of errors of fact and judgment in that quote …
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Generic Ballot Points Toward Possible 50+ Seat Loss for Democrats — A couple of weeks ago, we examined the potential upside case for Democrats in November's midterms. If the party were able to limit their losses to about 20 House seats and 3-4 Senate seats, it might not have as deleterious …


Republicans expected to line up behind New START — WASHINGTON - Despite near gridlock in the Senate, Republicans were expected to swing behind a new arms control treaty with Russia that President Barack Obama said they will like, even though some are reserving judgment until Obama can assure …
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George W. Bush ‘knew Guantánamo prisoners were innocent’ — George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq …


Stupak won't seek reelection — Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who played a central role in the health reform fight as the leader of anti-abortion Democrats, announced that he will not run for reelection Friday afternoon, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.
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Breaking: Stupak Will Retire
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