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The Republican chief judge of the Richmond-based federal appeals court has retired suddenly because of illness, giving President Obama another opening to fill on what was once considered the nation's most conservative appellate court. Karen Williams of South Carolina, the first female chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, stepped down this week shortly after learning that she was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, according to her family. Alzheimer's, for which there is no cure, can cause mental deterioration and memory loss. Williams is 57 years old. The 4th Circuit, an influential voice...

Comment: Drudge has posted the latest article by Bob Novak that gives strong hints that Judge Williams is the front runner (see 3rd paragraph): ______________________________________________________________________________ WASHINGTON -- Managers of the failed Harriet Miers nomination for the Supreme Court set the actual day of her demise as Oct. 18, when conservative Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sam Brownback of Kansas called for the release of her work product as White House counsel to justify her confirmation. Miers's strategists at that point felt the game was over because of inability to fight congressional demands for documents that the White...

WASHINGTON -- Managers of the failed Harriet Miers nomination for the Supreme Court set the actual day of her demise as Oct. 18, when conservative Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sam Brownback of Kansas called for the release of her work product as White House counsel to justify her confirmation.  Miers's strategists at that point felt the game was over because of inability to fight congressional demands for documents that the White House would not release. This was compounded when her visits to Republican senators went so badly that further sessions had to be suspended.  A footnote:...

Senator George Allen (R-VA) named names Thursday when asked by Fox News to suggest viable replacements for the now withdrawn Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. Allen mentioned Judges Michael Luttig, Karen Williams, J. Harvey Wilkinson, and Janice Rogers Brown as potential nominees. Luttig, Williams, and Wilkinson serve on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals covering Allen’s home state of Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. Luttig has served on the Fourth Circuit since 1991. He had previously served as a law clerk for Antonin Scalia, when Scalia was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for...

The Second-String Supreme Court ShortlistThe judges the White House just started talking about.By Emily BazelonPosted Friday, Sept. 30, 2005, at 2:03 PM PT The Bush administration has recently been professing its interest in nominating a woman or a minority to the Supreme Court—and to that end, floating a new list of judges as candidates. Two of the top names, Priscilla Owens and Janice Rogers Brown, are familiar from the Senate battle over the filibuster that eventually ended with their appointments to the federal courts of appeal. But along with them (and with these candidates) there are some judges on the shortlist...

HOW TRADESPORTS AND OTHER OUTCOME STOCK EXCHANGES WORK Tradesports is a stock exchange which sells "shares" of "stocks," which can be traded just as if they were business stocks... except that rather than paying dividends, their value is based on the perceived likelihood of an outcome, and instead of business shares, the shares of possible outcomes to current events are sold. When one of several outcomes occurs, the stock of that outcome becomes worth 100 units (=$10). All shares of stock of other outcomes become worthless, once it is known that the outcome will not occur. The theory is that...

Per Redstate.org: My friend in the White House thinks that the next nominee will be from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals -- Luttig or Williams. **************************** WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is recommending a female judge from South Carolina as a Supreme Court nominee. Karen Williams of Orangeburg, a judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for 13 years, has made President Bush's list of possible replacements for retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. His advisers have pored over her resume and judicial decisions. "I'm enthusiastically advocating her selection," Graham said. "I told the...

The Supreme Court buzz earlier today was all about Alberto Gonzales (a trial balloon that I think failed badly once again), then Miguel Estrada, then Karen Williams. Now there's an AP story out that adds pretty much every attorney in the United States. Estrada was burned during the hearings and has little stomach for the process -- he was twice nominated and twice filibustered. He's a stealth candidate who is rumored to be pro-life. Estrada allegedly told associates of the National Organization of Women (NOW) at a luncheon in 1994 that he believes abortion to be murder -- but are we really...

If Edith Jones is nominated for the Supreme Court, at least she'll know what she's in for. The confirmation process for federal judges has deteriorated into "trench warfare," she told The American Enterprise magazine in June. "Every time I think it can't get any worse, it does." John Roberts's confirmation may be the exception that proves Judge Jones's rule. During his hearings, Sens. Arlen Specter and Dianne Feinstein asked insulting questions about his Catholicism; Ted Kennedy called his Reagan-era writings "mean-spirited"; and several Democrats roughed him up over his views on civil rights. By modern standards, that's a love fest....

THE O'CONNOR VACANCY SHORT LIST See here : http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/politics/politicsspecial1/20confirm.html?pagewanted=print The New York Times reports that, "The White House is reshuffling its short list of potential Supreme Court nominees with a new emphasis on finding someone who will hold up under the pressure of what is expected to be fierce confirmation battle..." This revised criteria allegedly weakens the chances for Judge Janice Rogers Brown. Also on the list is Judge Priscilla Owen, who, "strategists say the White House is evaluating whether her reticence and mild manner would be a strength or a weakness under interrogation in the Senate." The Times lists...

here’s a few tidbits: 1. Luttig has an autographed photo of Clarence Thomas in his chambers, with the inscription “this wouldn’t have happened without you, buddy). Now if Luttig and Roberts are good friends and worked together and were at each other’s wedding, what does this tell us, if anything? 2. Williams got on the 4th because she was friends with Strom Thurmond through her husband and is apparently “anti-gay”, “anti-women”, “anti-black” and “anti-freedom” Can you imagine if John Roberts had an AUTOGRAPHED PHOTO of Clarence Thomas or Scalia in his chambers? I’d want Luttig picked just to see the...

<p>Prosecutors urged a federal appeals court Tuesday to keep terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui from interviewing a senior al-Qaida operative, arguing he has no constitutional right to question an enemy combatant and disrupt a military interrogation.</p> <p>"The damage to the United States will be immediate and irreparable," Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff argued as he tried to convince the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that Moussaoui can receive a fair trial without access to the al-Qaida witness he demands.</p>