Friday morning docket: All eyes on SCOTUS pick
With the prospect of lawmakers coming to a consensus on the health care bill all but dead, next week the hottest item on the legislative agenda will be confirming Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. The Senate is set to take up her nomination on Tuesday, but expect many, many senators to speak on the nominee, so there is no telling just when the actual vote will take place.
In other news to wrap up this work week:
Raising the red flag: With the American Bar Association threatening to sue to exempt lawyers from new identity theft rules set to go into effect this week, the Federal Trade Commission has delayed the rules for 90 days and issued guidance to help lawyers and other businesses better understand the requirements. (Lawyers USA)
Tax break speed bump: Legislation filed earlier this year that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow attorneys to deduct certain expenses and costs in contingency fee cases up front is stalled in Congress – and won’t move unless it can be attached to a bigger tax bill. (Lawyers USA)
GOP ‘yea’:Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Senate’s No. 3 Republican, has announced he will vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. (AP)
Rove-ing report: Remember when all those U.S. attorneys got fired a few years ago, and the ensuing political brouhaha that ultimately led to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ resignation? Well Karl Rove had a little more to do with all that than previously reported. (WaPo)
Rove-ing response: Rove himself says his role in the whole thing was very small. (NYT)
Not wild for Gonzo: Speaking of Gonzales, he’s excited about his new teaching gig at Texas Tech University. The dozens of professors who signed a petition seeking protesting his presence on campus? Not so much. (WSJ’s Law Blog)
