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The confirmation hearings for President Trump’s cabinet posts begins today with the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on behalf of the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General. Judicial Committee Hearing Link The Attorney General confirmation hearing begins at 9:30am will be broadcast on CSPAN-3 LINK HERE

Supreme Court: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., announced that the confirmation process for Judge Samuel Alito will be the longest in more than 14 years. Advantage: mudslingers. Former Pennsylvania Rep. Pat Toomey came within a hairsbreadth of beating incumbent Specter for the Republican nomination last year, and there was a big reason: fears that, as the new Judiciary chairman, the socially liberal senator would sabotage President Bush's promise to appoint justices in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Now the worries about Specter are coming true. In spite of the White House request to wrap up...

The Republican-controlled Senate will begin hearings Jan. 9 on Judge Samuel Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court, spurning President Bush's call for a final confirmation vote before year's end. "It simply wasn't possible to accommodate the schedule that the White House wanted," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said late Thursday. He outlined a schedule that envisions five days of hearings, followed by a vote in committee on Jan. 17 and the full Senate on Jan. 20. Bush nominated Alito on Monday to fill the seat of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has often held the...

"[Justice Ginsburg] Said She Agreed With A Position Taken By Federal Judge John G. Roberts During His Confirmation Hearing To Replace The Late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist.  Roberts Invoked Ginsburg When He Refused To Speculate On How He Would Rule In Cases Before The Court." (Estes Thompson, "Justice Ginsburg Says She'd Prefer Another Woman On Court," The Associated Press, 9/29/05) Ginsburg: "Judge Roberts Was Unquestionably Right ... My Rule Was I Will Not Answer A Question That Attempts To Project How I Will Rule In A Case That Might Come Before The Court." (Estes Thompson, "Justice Ginsburg Says She'd...

The question of whether Judge John Roberts is qualified to be chief justice of the United States has been rendered moot by his performance in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. He is so obviously -- ridiculously -- well-equipped to lead government's third branch that it is hard to imagine how any Democrats can justify a vote against his confirmation. Start with his intellect. This is a man whose knowledge of constitutional law goes well beyond his intimate familiarity with seemingly every Supreme Court decision. It is rooted in a thorough understanding of American history. He quotes Hamilton in the Federalist...

The clash that surfaced at John Roberts' Supreme Court confirmation hearing Monday over whether he should reveal his views on court cases or issues is not merely a conflict between judicial neutrality and the public's right to know. It's also a partisan battle over a past confirmation hearing and who gets to interpret it. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee urged Roberts, a federal appeals court judge nominated by President Bush to succeed the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, to follow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's example at her confirmation hearing and keep his opinions to himself. Democrats urged him to...

Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee point-man Charles Schumer said Sunday that he wanted to use confirmation hearings on Judge John Roberts to establish a new standard for the kinds of questions a Supreme Court nominee must answer to be confirmed. "I'm trying to set the predicate for future nominations," Schumer told WCBS TV in New York, "by asking and making sure that everyone agrees it's okay for us to ask a whole lot of questions and for him to answer them as a prerequisite for getting the nomination." The New York Democrat complained that "some on the hard right" don't want...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 - Scientific tests have led American intelligence agencies and government scientists to conclude with near certainty that North Korea sold processed uranium to Libya, bolstering earlier indications that the reclusive state exported sensitive fuel for atomic weapons, according to officials with access to the intelligence. The determination, which has circulated among senior government officials in recent weeks, has touched off a hunt to determine if North Korea has also sold uranium to other countries, including Iran and Syria. So far, there is no evidence that such additional transactions took place. Nonetheless, the conclusion about the uranium transfer...

NORM COLEMAN TO JOHN KERRY AT HEARING [KJL] "Some of us are overjoyed you're back."

WASHINGTON -- At the White House's request, confirmation hearings for Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state will not begin until Congress reconvenes in January, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday. When President Bush nominated his national security adviser to replace Colin Powell at the State Department, Sen. Richard Lugar said he would try to bring his committee together in the first week of December to begin the Senate confirmation process. "The White House suggested that that would not be appropriate -- that is, in December," Lugar said on "Fox News Sunday." "So we'll not be having...