Update: It's official. Caroline Kennedy released a statement just after midnight saying she withdrew her name.

Update: Commenters below are saying David Gregory reported on Maddow tonight that the media got it wrong and she has not withdrawn her name.

****With Hillary Clinton confirmed as Secretary of State, it will only be a matter of days before New York Governor David Paterson names her replacement.

It won't be Caroline Kennedy who withdrew her name from consideration this afternoon for personal reasons, specifically, the health of her uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy.

Who's left? [More...]

The Supreme Court's Kimbrough decision should have put an end to the argument that federal judges must impose sentences that treat crack cocaine as 100 times worse than powder cocaine by regarding a gram of crack as the equivalent of 100 grams of powder. Kimbrough held that judges are entitled to disagree with that Congressional policy -- a policy that most reasonable people regard as unwise and that even the Sentencing Commission rejects.

Some federal courts have nonetheless stubbornly clung to their own precedent, refusing to give effect to Kimbrough's holding. In a particularly egregious example, the Eighth Circuit vacated a sentence because it believed the judge had no power to substitute a 20:1 crack-to-powder ratio for the 100:1 ratio. After the Supreme Court ordered the Eighth Circuit to reconsider its decision in light of Kimbrough, it reached the same decision.

Today the Supreme Court delivered a smack down to the Eighth Circuit. [more ...]

Check out the new State Department Website. It has Hillary's theme, Diplomacy in Action and a transcript of her confirmation hearing testimony.

There's a blog, DipNote. Look for other features to go live after she's confirmed. [More...]

The Senate is now voting on the confirmation of Hillary Rodham Clinton as Secretary of State.

Vitter votes no. I think that will be the only no vote. Ooops. Apparently I missed DeMint voting no.

By a vote of 94-2, Hillary Clinton has been confirmed by the Senate as the Secretary of State.

Via Balloon Juice, in a WaPo chat today, Ruth Marcus wrote:

[Q]: But many of us do not want criminal prosecutions which would be almost impossible to achieve since most of the evidence (e-mails, et al) has been “lost.” We simply want the facts about torture, illegal spying, habeas, etc. made public so the next time a President seeks to break the law, he will think twice.

Ruth Marcus: That’s a different question. I’m more agnostic on investigation in a non criminal sense. What I’d like to know is, What needs investigating that has not already been investigated? What information that could reasonably be made public has not already emerged? But do you really think the prospect of investigation would have deterred Bush? Didn’t seem so.

More . . .

Another decision causing one to rue the day Justice Sam Alito made it to the Supreme Court: Pearson et. al. v. Callahan (pdf).

Although the opinion was unanimous, it is authored by Justice Alito, who in his fervor to protect police officers from liability when they violate someone's fourth amendment rights, throws precedent out the window, saying it's okay to ignore it. At least, that's my take.

Even worse, the case was from my own circuit which has held that "consent once removed" doesn't apply to snitches, only to undercover officers. Alito says because at the time of the search, two states and three other federal districts had ruled differently, the cops were entitled to rely on those rulings since their own circuit hadn't yet ruled at the time. And, he writes, the legal test established by the Supreme Court for determining whether immunity applies isn't mandatory for courts to follow. [More..]

Bump and Update: The Obama Administration is circulating a draft of an executive order allowing for up to a year to close Guantanamo. As the Center for Constitutional Rights says, that's too long.

It only took days to put these men in Guantanamo, it shouldn’t take a year to get them out. We are proud that President Obama made addressing Guantánamo one of his first acts in office. Yet we are disappointed that he outlined no concrete steps for closing the base and gave his administration an entire year to sort out its plans – meaning that some men could have been detained indefinitely in terrible conditions for eight full years. Surely he could do better.

[More...]

The Government of Switzerland made a generous offer today -- it is willing to consider taking Guantanamo detainees who cannot return to their home countries:

"For Switzerland, the detention of people in Guantanamo is in conflict with international law. Switzerland is ready to consider how it can contribute to the solution of the Guantanamo problem," the government said in a statement.

Switzerland said it welcomed the expressed intention of U.S. President Barack Obama to close the prison and would investigate security and legal implications of possibly taking in detainees.

Portugal and France have also expressed a willingness to consider taking detainees. [More...]

Read Glenn Greenwald discussing the affidavit of former Gitmo military commissions prosecutor Darrell J Vandeveld (PDF) in support of the habeas petition of Mohamad Jawad (here is the habeas brief prepared by the ACLU) (PDF), held in Gitmo for more than 6 years, since he was transported from Afghanistan when a teenager. A stain on our Nation.

In our names. President Obama ordered military prosecutors to seek a 120 day suspension of the military commission tribunals to allow for a review by his incoming Administration. His review of what has been done in our names must extend beyond the military commissions.

Speaking for me only

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.

Judging an inaugural speech in the moment is a mistake in my opinion. Immediate plaudits and pans are meaningless. Barack Obama's inaugural speech will best be judged after he acts as President. For example, in the most widely admired passage of the speech, President Obama said:

As of the weekend, I had no plans for watching the inauguration down here in New Orleans. I'm firmly in the camp of Andrew Bacevich who rightly believes that we cannot solve our problems by simply electing a new president.

But Monday night I had dinner with a friend who said that she was going to watch the swearing in ceremony from this incredible church in New Orleans' Holy Cross neighborhood.

It seemed like an opportunity too good--and too historic--to pass up. When I arrived at the Greater Little Zion Church yesterday morning, I was immediately glad that I'd made the trip: there was a big, multi-racial crowd and there was an almost electric feel in the air. [More...]