We now have a Deputy Attorney General. David Ogden was confirmed by the Senate today. The vote was 65-28. This is the #2 slot at Justice and Ogden will be responsible for the day to day running of the department.

Background materials on Ogden are here. Most recently, he served as Obama's DOJ transition team leader.

The radical right really doesn't like him, believing him to be pro-p*rn, pro-gay rights, pro-affirmative action and pro-abortion. On the other hand, PFAW is pleased.

He's certainly qualified. He served in the Clinton Justice Department, including as head of the Civil Rights Division and chief of staff to the Attorney General. He clerked for two Supreme Court Justices and has military law experience, having served as Deputy General Counsel and the Legal Counsel for the Defense department. A Harvard law grad, he was editor of the Law Review. In 2006, he received the National Law Journal Pro Bono Award.

Another Republican governor does not want the money for his state's unemployed -- this time it is Texas Governor Rick Perry:

Gov. Rick Perry will announce today that he is blocking the state from accepting $550 million for expanded unemployment benefits as part of the federal stimulus package. With an upscale Houston hardware store as his backdrop, he will paint the expansion as a burden on small business.

How much this is related to a possible GOP primary challenge by Kay Bailey Hutchinson is easy "impossible" to say. I venture to guess it is about 100% related to it. Playing politics with the struggles of the unemployed. Just terrible.

Speaking for me only

. . . then he should put his principles where his mouth is. He should sue to have the stimulus money NOT sent to South Carolina. Yesterday, the South Carolina Governor insisted again that he will refuse federal stimulus money. The problem is the federal stimulus legislation provides for the South Carolina legislature to bypass him and take the money on South Carolina's behalf. But, according to Jack Balkin, Sanford has a strong case that that provision in the federal stimulus bill is unconstitutional. If Sanford REALLY believes what he is saying, he should challenge the provision in the federal stimulus that renders him powerless to stop South Carolina from becoming Zimbabwe. Balkin writes:

I've spent far too much time following the Bernie Madoff case and am going to be working on my own cases the rest of the day. Final item: Here's the statement Madoff made in court today (pdf).

Here's an open thread for you, all topics welcome.

There's wild speculation all over TV and the internet about where Bernard Madoff will serve his ultimate sentence. A hyper-ventilating legal pundit on Fox News was yelling he'd go to a maximum security facility. Not so fast.

The Bureau of Prisons has a 108 page manual (pdf) (P5100.08), titled "Inmate Security Designation and Custody Classification", on designations. In Chapter 5, it identifies public safety factors and notes they can be waived. Generally, see page 50: [More...]

Final Update: Here's the statement Madoff made in court today (pdf). Here's the transcript of today's plea hearing (pdf)

Update: 11:16 am: Sentencing will be June 16. The Government asked for immediate jailing. CNBC and CNN report the Judge said he intends to grant the request and order Madoff into custody immediately. It's done.

Update 10:55 am: The Judge has accepted the guilty plea. The Government is telling the judge how the scheme operated. The victims who object to the plea are now being heard. Next issue should be bail.

Update: 10:47 am ET: CNBC Updates: [More...]

Glenn Greeenwald writes about the Freeman Affair, pointing out this bizarre Fred Hiatt tirade in defense of AIPAC:

What's striking about the charges by Mr. Freeman and like-minded conspiracy theorists is their blatant disregard for such established facts. . . . Crackpot tirades such as his have always had an eager audience here and around the world.

Fred Hiatt ought to know about the market for crackpot conspiracy theories. After all, he publishes Charles Krauthammer and George Will. But what it truly ironic is that in this very edition of the WaPo, the "crackpot theory" Hiatt derides is supported by the reporting of Walter Pincus and is "disseminated" by the "Dean" himself, David Broder. Hiatt writes that Freeman's "tirade" makes it "clear just how bad a selection" Freeman was. Perhaps. But it has long been clear that Fred Hiatt is an embarrassment to the Washington Post.

Speaking for me only

Since Democrats and others (including me) spent a great deal of time criticizing President Bush for issuing a recordbreaking number of signing statements, it seems necessary to consider President Obama's signing statement issued in relation to the recently enacted Omnibus Spending Bill. TPM has the relevant passage:

Numerous provisions of the legislation purport to condition the authority of officers to spend or reallocate funds on the approval of congressional committees. These are impermissible forms of legislative aggrandizement in the execution of the laws other than by enactment of statutes. . . . Yet another provision requires the Secretary of the Treasury to accede to all requests of a Board of Trustees that contains congressional representatives. The Secretary shall treat such requests as nonbinding.

I think the signing statement is defensible in one aspect and indefensible in another. It appears to be asserting that the provisions in question are a form of legislative veto which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional in the case INS v. Chadha. In one aspect, this claim seems well established and moored to clear Supreme Court precedent. In another, I think it is unmoored and indefensible. I'll explain why I think so on the flip.

Does anyone find it unusual that Bernard Madoff's lawyers didn't file a motion today for bail pending sentencing? I just checked the court docket and the only thing they filed were their entries of appearance. The only filing by the Government was the emails it received from victims, which it filed under seal.

Has the Government agreed to let Madoff stay out on bond pending sentencing? If not, why wouldn't Madoff's lawyers file a big brief arguing for it? The Judge said yesterday it's one of two issues he will take up tomorrow./

Here's Reuters and Bloomberg's latest articles with speculation from lawyers and sources they interviewed about why Madoff may have agreed to plead guilty, but it's still not adding up for me. I have a long post ready on other possibilities, but I'm holding off in case some real information emerges tonight or tomorrow. I don't feel like just fueling more speculation. [Updates below]

Late afternoon on the West Coast. For those wondering, we'll be back in the college hoops coverage business starting tomorrow night as we prepare for the start of March Madness next week.

This is an Open Thread.

“It will be a top priority of the Justice Department to hold accountable executives who have engaged in fraudulent activities.”

-Justice Department spokesman Matthew A. Miller

As opposed to the attitude towards investigating the abuses of the Bush Administration, it seems that the Obama Administration is foregoing the Establishment-favored "Lets not bicker over who killed who" approach and is gung ho for prosecuting financial fraud:

This seems a very good initiative:

President Obama today signed an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families. The Council will be chaired by Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor, and will include as members cabinet-level federal agencies. The Executive Director of the Council will be Tina Tchen, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Public Liaison at the White House.

Giving this brief to Jarrett, who is very close to the President, gives this council a heft that it would not have otherwise. Kudos to the President.

Speaking for me only