Remember way back when Elena Kagan was first nominated to the Supreme Court? And folks were saying that, because she is not a former judge, she wouldn’t have much of a paper trail?

Well, it looks like that may not be true.

The Clinton presidential library (Kagan previously worked in the Clinton administration) has identified about 168,000 pages of documents that may be of interest to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Will committee members have enough time to wade through that documentation before Kagan’s confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin on June 28? The committee’s ranking member, Sen. Jeff Sessions, doesn’t think so. He’s calling for a delay, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire.

But wait, there’s more! Perhaps the record won’t be that voluminous after all. Former President Clinton could object to the release of the some the documents, citing executive confidentiality.

Meanwhile, this morning the current justices of the Supreme Court will get back to doing what they do: releasing orders and opinions. Check back here for any newsworthy developments.

Meanwhile,

Open up: As part of a Food and Drug Administration initiative to help consumers, stakeholders and others understand how the agency operates and makes decisions, a task force has unveiled 21 draft transparency proposals for public comment. (Lawyers USA)

The lawyer’s lawmaker: Sen. Arlen Specter’s election defeat marks the end of a 30-year career for the longtime member of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee who often pressed for progress on issues important to lawyers. (Lawyers USA)

New deputy in town: James Cole is President Obama’s nominee for deputy attorney general. (ABA Journal, Washington Post)

When to end a sentence? The U.S. Sentencing Commission will hear testimony on issues including mandatory minimum sentences at its scheduled hearing this week. (BLT Blog)

Oral arguments for the term have concluded, but the U.S. Supreme Court still has 44 opinions to release before the term concludes at the end of next month. Expect some of those rulings to be released this morning. The Court could also add new cases to next term’s docket. Updates on newsworthy developments from the Court can be found later on this blog.

As for the search for the news Supreme Court justice, President Obama interviewed the candidate that is currently seen as the frontrunner – Solicitor General Elena Kagan – at the White House Friday. The interview was the third the president has conducted so far in his search. Last month he talked to D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland, and last week he spoke with 9th Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas.

Meanwhile, the White House – which had planned to focus on the message of economic recovery this week while continuing the Supreme Court selection process – instead is focusing on the Golf Coast disaster caused by a massive oil spill and the possible terrorist plot in New York City’s Times Square over the weekend.

In other news:

Change at the top: The top lobbyist for the American Association for Justice, the nation’s largest trial lawyers group, will be named its chief executive officer today. Linda Lipsen helped lead efforts to keep medical malpractice liability caps and other measures out of the law overhauling the nation’s healthcare system. (Washington Post)

Safety suits: Auto design defects – similar to the sudden acceleration problems linked to Toyota vehicles – have been brought to light through civil lawsuits that ultimately led to increased safety standards, according to a new report from the American Association for Justice. (Lawyers USA)

Camera ready? The Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced a bill that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to allow cameras in its courtroom unless the justices vote otherwise in a particular case. (Lawyers USA)

Obama seeks campaign spending cap: Warning of a “potential corporate takeover of our elections,” the president has called on Congress to undo the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizen’s United v. FEC. (New York Times)

This week the U.S. Supreme Court hears the last oral arguments of October Term 2009. The justices will hear cases concerning employment arbitration contracts, ERISA attorney fees, genetically engineered crops and the privacy of names on ballot petitions.

Meanwhile as the White House and members of Congress focus on financial industry reform, a new law in Arizona is refueling the debate over immigration – an issue that may soon get pushed top of the Obama administration‘s agenda.

Meanwhile,

Risky business? The risk of abuses in arbitration of consumer debt collection that led to the downfall of the National Arbitration Forum and an agreement by four major banks to cease enforcement of mandatory arbitration provisions in debt collection has not gone away, according to a report issued by the National Consumer Law Center. (Lawyers USA)

Counsel contempt: Former Bush special counsel Scott Block has been charged with contempt for withholding information from Congress. (Reuters)

Sensitive Supreme: The White House is looking for a Supreme Court nominee who is sensitive to “ordinary Americans.” (Washington Post)

SCOTUS point man: You want to learn more about the man at the White House in charge of the search for the next justice? (AP)

The US. Supreme Court resumes oral arguments today with two high-profile cases.

First the justice will take up whether a public university law school can deny funding and recognition to a religious student organization that bans non-religious and gay students from its membership in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez.

Then the justices take up City of Ontario v. Quon, a case considering whether employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the text messages they send using electronic devices supplied by their employer. The case could have wide-ranging implications affecting how employees use the cell phones, laptop computers and other equipment given to them to use on the job.

More on these arguments, as well as any newsworthy orders today from the Court, later on this blog and on Lawyers USA online.

Meanwhile, in other news:

Scalia speaks: During the Court’s latest recess, several justices took to the lecture circuit. Justice Scalia spoke Friday at the University of Virginia, where he used to be a law professor, and discussed – wait for it – originalism.  (Charlottesville Daily Progress)

Breyer’s prediction: Meanwhile, while testifying last week along with Justice Clarence Thomas before Congress, Justice Stephen Breyer predicted that the new health care reform law would probably end up before the Supreme Court for review. (AP)

Not ready for a close-up: Would you like to see Supreme Court proceedings televised? Don’t hold your breath, Breyer said. (Washington Post)

The absent justice? If Solicitor General Elena Kagan becomes a Supreme Court justice this summer, she may have to recuse herself from a host of cases being considered by the Court. Might that harm her chances of getting President Obama’s nod? (SCOTUSblog)

New issue in NLRB case: The Supreme Court asked the attorneys for the parties in the case testing the authority of the former two-member National Labor Relations Board to file supplemental briefs on the effect of the two recent appointments. (SCOTUSblog)

Clinton‘s SCOTUS advice: Former President Bill Clinton thinks President Obama should pick a young non-judge to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. And neither he nor his wife fit the bill, he added. (AP)

As lawmakers await President Barack Obama’s selection to fill the Supreme Court seat being vacated by retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, Democrats are stepping up their call for a speedy confirmation while Republicans are trying not to use the F-word – filibuster – but remaining firm that the president must pick a mainstream candidate.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press” yesterday, ranking Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Jeff. Sessions was asked whether there would be big confirmation fight.

“The answer to that is in the president’s hands,” said Sessions. “If we have a nominee that evidences a philosophy of judges know best, … then we are going to have a big fight about that because the American people don’t want that.”

Meanwhile, fellow committee Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, speaking yesterday on ABC’s “This Week,” called the most oft-mentioned potential candidates “nominally qualified.” Among those reportedly on Obama’s short list are Solicitor General Elena Kagan, federal appellate Judges Merrick Garland and Diane Wood and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Kyl, who voted against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor last year, didn’t take the issue of filibuster off the table, but he downplayed the possibility. “It is unlikely that here will be a filibuster unless its an extraordinary circumstance,” Kyl said, adding that “President Obama himself attempted to filibuster Justice [Samuel] Alito.” During the Sotomayor confirmation hearings last year, Republicans made much of Obama’s votes against Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Alito during their confirmation hearings.

This is gearing up to be another long summer for the White House, the Senate and Supreme Court junkies.

Meanwhile, in other news (is there other news?):

Health case surprises: In addition to universal health care, the new reform law includes various provisions relevant to lawyers, including tax changes, an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, new whistleblower provisions for hospital employees and other employment-related updates. (Lawyers USA)

DOJ pick withdraws: Dawn Johnsen, Obama’s pick to lead the powerful Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department who faced staunch Republican opposition that slowed her nomination to a full stop,  withdrew from consideration for the post on Friday. (The New York Times)

States’ suit: More and more states are signing on to the lawsuit over the health care law. (WSJ’s Law Blog)

Washington and national news organizations were all atwitter this past weekend over news that – wait for it – Justice John Paul Stevens may or may not retire this term.

Stevens, who turns 90 in a few weeks, told the New York Times‘s Adam Liptak that he will surely retire while President Barack Obama is in office. That essentially restates what he told the New Yorker‘s Jeffrey Toobin that retirement was in the cards at some point within the next few years. Whether this term will be his last remains a mystery.

Stevens did acknowledge that he needs to make a decision one way or another, and reiterated that it will come soon.

“I do have to fish or cut bait, just for my own personal peace of mind and also in fairness to the process,” he told Liptak. “The president and the Senate need plenty of time to fill a vacancy.”

The Wall Street Journal lists the top three contenders for Stevens seat (the same three that Lawyers USA noted): Solicitor General Elena Kagan and federal judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland.

Meanwhile, if it seems like the Supreme Court justices are seen and heard more outside the courtroom, that’s because they are, according to this report from the Washington Post‘s Robert Barnes.

In other headlines:

It could be ugly: Sen. Arlen Specter predicts a Republican filibuster of Obama’s Supreme Court pick, should Stevens retire. (Politico)

Constitutional duty: Criminal defense lawyers are weighing in on Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision, which held that they must inform non-citizen clients about the risk of deportation when taking a plea deal. (Lawyers USA)

Cause for concern: The Environmental Protection Agency has added bisphenol A – a chemical linked to some health problems and the subject of several lawsuits – to its list of “chemicals of concern.” (Lawyers USA)

International justice: Justice Stephen Breyer said he can read foreign law if he wants to, and calls the debate over whether justices ought to consult the law of other lands “irrelevant.” (AP)

Last week, during oral arguments at the Supreme Court, Deputy Solicitor General Neal K. Katyal urged the justices to find that the National Labor Relations Board had authority to act and issue opinions with only two members – as it had for more than two years.

The fact that the Senate had held up the confirmation of President Obama’s three nominees to the board – and had in fact blocked one of the candidates, union attorney Craig Becker, with a failed cloture vote – “underscores the general contentious nature of the appointment process with respect to this set of issues,” Katyal told the justices.

“And the recess appointment power doesn’t work why?” asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.

Over the weekend Obama showed that the power does indeed work. With the Senate in recess for more than three days, Obama made 15 recess appointments to administration posts – including Becker to the NLRB.

Late last week Republican senators as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged Obama not the use the recess appointment power for Becker. They argued that Becker represented a campaign promise made by Obama to unions during the election, and that Becker would essentially push to authorize “card check” unionizations in worplaces after legislation that would have done so lost steam in Congress. Much more on the Becker brouhaha here from Lawyers USA.

Meanwhile oral arguments continue today at the Supreme Court. The justices will hear arguments in cases involving double jeopardy and securities law.

In other news:

Predicting Stevens’ replacement: Since no one else is waiting for Justice John Paul Stevens to actually retire before opining about who might replace him, we won’t either. (Lawyers USA)

Gun law ok’d: A a federal court has upheld the gun regulations enacted in the District of Columbia after the Supreme Court’s ruling in D.C. v. Heller. (The BLT Blog)

Money talk: What’s the impact of the latest federal court ruling rejecting a constitutional challenge by the Republican Party to some federal limits on donations to political parties? SCOTUSblog explains. (SCOTUSblog)

Things should be quiet at the U.S. Supreme Court for most of this week. The justices are not set to meet until a private conference this Friday. The break allows Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg time away from the office to celebrate her birthday. Ginsburg turns 77 today. Oral arguments at the Court resume next week.

Meanwhile, Justice John Paul Stevens told the New Yorker‘s Jeffrey Toobin that he’ll decide within the next month whether this term will be his last on the Court. Speculation about Stevens’ future swirled since last fall when the Justice hired only one law clerk for the 2010 term instead of the customary four. Retired justices traditionally have one clerk while active justices have four.

Stevens told Toobin that his bases are covered should be decide to return.

“Well, I still have my options open,” Stevens said. “When I decided to just hire one clerk, three of my four clerks last year said they’d work for me next year if I wanted them to. So I have my options still. And then I’ll have to decide soon.” See Toobin’s full profile of Stevens here.

And in other justice-related news, an effort by Butler University students to invite Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. to speak at the commencement ceremony on May – where Roberts’ niece will be among the graduating class – was nixed by school officials. The reason? Supreme Court justices are just way too political, officials said.

“We try to steer clear of political divides if possible,” pharmacy school Professor Jeanne VanTyle, president of Butler’s faculty senate, told the Indianapolis Star.

The decision not to allow Roberts, who grew up in Indiana, to speak drew the ire of some students and conservative faculty members.

And in other headlines:

Reid’s wife recovering: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s wife has been released from a Metro D.C. hospital, where she was taken after being seriously injured in a traffic accident last week. (AP)

Open discussion: The Food and Drug Administration is seeking input from the industry it regulates on how the agency can improve its training and education about the regulatory process. (Lawyers USA)

Ginsburg’s with O’Connor: Justice Ginsburg said she believes states should give up the practice of electing judges. Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has been campaigning against judicial elections since leaving the Court in 2006. (The Washington Post)

Behind the plate: Justice Stevens is on a set of baseball cards. He is the catcher on the Supreme Court Sluggers team. (ABA Journal)

Will the SCOTUS-POTUS beef ever end? White House senior adviser David Axelrod defended President Barack Obama’s scathing criticism of the Supreme Court’s recent campaign finance decision during his state of the Union address. (AP)

The bad news? The economy is still in a pretty depressed state. The good news? If you are a lawyer who had a job at the beginning of February, chances are you still have that job!

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal sector lost only 100 jobs in the month of February. That is one tenth of the job losses in the industry in January, and just three percent of the total legal sector jobs lost in December. Perhaps a sign of better things to come? We can only wait and see.

And while you count your Oscar pool winnings, here’s a look at the legal headlines:

When the going gets tough…: Bankruptcy filings in the federal courts rose 31.9 percent in calendar year 2009, according to data released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. (Lawyers USA)

Tough on prisoners? Is Justice Clarence Thomas too dismissive of prisoner abuse cases? (Los Angeles Times)

Anatomy of a (false) rumor: Folks are still trying to figure out just what the source was for last week’s false rumor that Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. was set to resign. (LA Times, Above the Law)

Boon for Levy case prosecutors? A recent Miranda ruling by the Supreme Court could make it easier for prosecutors in the murder case of former intern Chandra Levy. (McClatchy)

New credit card regs: The Federal Reserve Board has proposed a new rule that would protect credit card customers from unreasonable fees and penalties for late payments, and dissuade card companies from making drastic interest rate hikes. (Lawyers USA)

Food safety concerns: After another strain of salmonella was found in a plant that makes processed foods including soups, sauces, stews and hot dogs, lawmakers and a Food and Drug Administration official called for the passage of tougher food safety legislation. (Lawyers USA)

Church and state: If Justice John Paul Stevens steps own, will President Obama feel compelled to pick another Protestant to replace him? (Washington Post)

This month kicks off at the U.S. Supreme Court with oral arguments in some highly-anticipated cases.

Before tomorrow’s arguments in the case questioning the constitutionality of Chicago’s handgun ban, today the Court once again tackles the criminal “honest services” fraud statute.

But unlike the first two honest services cases heard by the Court this term, which questioned the law’s application, today’s case considers whether the law itself is too broad and vague to pass constitutional muster.

The case, Skilling v. U.S. involving former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, could have some wide ranging effects. Prosecutors across the country have often used the law to prosecute public officials accused of wrongdoing, including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The Skilling case will also consider whether a presumption of prejudice is created by widespread media coverage of a criminal case, requiring prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that no juror was actually prejudiced.

There are two other cases on the Court’s docket today, including yet another Miranda case, fresh on the heels of two Miranda rulings by the Court that went against the defense. Today’s case, Berghuis v. Thompkins,  questions whether a suspect waives his Miranda rights when he fails to invoke them, expressly waive them, or for that matter, say anything at all.

Here are some more legal headlines to start your week:

Another red flag: The Federal Trade Commission will appeal a U.S. District Court decision which said that regulations designed to combat identity theft cannot be enforced against attorneys. (Lawyers USA)

Med-mal debate renewed: At President Obama’s health care summit with lawmakers Thursday, the two parties clashed as Republicans called for liability caps and Democrats countered by saying such measures would harm patients without producing any real cost savings. (Lawyers USA)

Speaking of Obama and health care: The president signed a law toughening tobacco regulations last year, but he himself has yet to kick his smoking habit, his doctors say. He also doesn’t eat as healthy as he should. (AP)

Long arm of the court? Plaintiffs’ lawyers want plaintiffs to have an easier time suing foreign manufacturers for defective products, so they are backing legislation to make it easier to serve legal notice on foreign companies. (Lawyers USA)