The AP reports that the White House is close to announcing President Bush's next nominee for Supreme Court Justice. It mentions two names: Former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson and White House Counsel and former Bush personal lawyer Harriet Miers.

I was on a blogger conference call a few hours ago with Sen. Harry Reid, and he said that he would like to see Ms. Miers get the nod. Sen. Reid also said that if Bush picks any of the 10 nominees the Democrats previously balked at, they will "go to the mat."

This is hard for me because I know both Larry Thompson and Harriet Miers personally - through legal organizations and boards we have been members of together. I know Larry Thompson much better than Harriet Miers, but I like and respect them both. As to Larry, I've previously written:

Ashley Smith has always said it was the power of faith that spared her from being the next victim of the Atlanta courthouse gunman who afterwards made his way into her apartment. Turns out, it might have been the power of meth.

Ashley Smith, the woman who says she persuaded suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols to release her by talking about her faith, discloses in a new book that she gave him methamphetamine during the hostage ordeal. Smith did not share that detail with authorities at the time. But investigators said she came clean about the drugs when they interviewed her months later. They said they have no plans to charge her with drug possession.

In her book, "Unlikely Angel," released Tuesday, Smith says Nichols had her bound on her bed with masking tape and an extension cord. She says he asked for marijuana, but she did not have any, and she dug into her illegal stash of crystal meth instead.

David Webber at The Nation has a new article on Judge John Roberts' 1985 AIDS memo to then President Ronald Reagan that Roberts wrote in conjunction with a major announcement Reagan was about to make. According to the article, he refused to disavow the memo when being interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Here's a snippet:

Five days before the press conference, [Roberts] reviewed the presidential briefing materials and recommended deletion of a sentence encapsulating the CDC's conclusion: "As far as our best scientists have been able to determine, AIDS virus is not transmitted through casual or routine contact." In a memorandum, the Assistant Counsel to the President explained, "I do not think we should have the President taking a position on a disputed scientific issue of this sort. There is much to commend the view that we should assume AIDS can be transmitted through casual or routine contact, as is true with many viruses, until it is demonstrated that it cannot be, and no scientist has said AIDS definitely cannot be so transmitted."

by Last Night in Little Rock

CNN just reported that NOLA Police Supt. Eddie Compass is retiring as soon as a transition can be established. CNN.com reports today that 15% of the NOLA PD was AWOL, and Compass has determined that a special tribunal will be established to determine their fates.

Update: Wednesday's Times-Picayune and NY Times have the story.

by Last Night in Little Rock

USA Today reports on the chaos in the criminal justice system in New Orleans that is just starting to rear its ugly head, at least as far as the public is concerned: defendants, victims, and witnesses are missing or scattered, courts and lawyers are out of business, the police force lost hundreds who went AWOL and have their jobs in jeopardy. It is a long and compelling article. The criminal defense list servs have been on this since the flood.

Just the first three paragraphs are here:

by Last Night in Little Rock

FEMA Spokesperson and former Director Michael Brown is presently before a House Committee, reading from a script about what a great job FEMA did and that the local officials simply bickered and couldn't get their act together.

The first questioner, however, is Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). It is getting interesting. It is on CNN, MSNBC, and C-Span. FoxNews, however, isn't covering it.

Even the CNN talking heads aren't buying this dissembling and blame shifting.

Update: CNN reports that all but two Democrats are boycotting the hearing, thereby, in their estimation, depriving the Committee hearing of some counterpoint, apparently expecting the Republicans to throw softballs. One Representative from Mississippi who lost his house was working Brown over, and Brown wasn't answering questions very well. The NY Times has posted a story with a link to live video.

If this were a trial, the jury wouldn't be believing any of it. My opinion is that he wasn't well prepped, if it was possible in the first place.

by Last Night in Little Rock

On July 10th, the LAPD SWAT team shot and killed a toddler in the arms of an armed man as noted here.

CNN.com reports today that the family of the toddler has filed a notice of claim against the LAPD. A notice of claim is a prelude to filing suit.

by TChris

Fred Black, the acting U.S. Attorney in Guam, advised the public integrity section of the Justice Department in November 2002 that he had opened an investigation of Jack Abramoff. Days later, Black was demoted. His new boss then prohibited him from pursuing public corruption cases. Coincidence?

Colleagues of Mr. Black, who had run the federal prosecutor's office in Guam for 12 years, ... said F.B.I. agents questioned several people in Guam and Washington this summer about whether Mr. Abramoff or his friends in the Bush administration had pushed for Mr. Black's removal. Mr. Abramoff's internal e-mail messages show that he boasted to clients about what he described as his close ties to John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, and others at the department.

The French newspaper Le Monde excoricates the Bush Administration for Abu Ghraib in today's editorial.

“...the use of torture is one less chance for Washington to win its wars, because for each martyred prisoner, for each image of Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo, ten fighters rise against the United States.”

And it reminds the anti-war movement that it shouldn't just be about saving American lives.

CNN reports that President Bush may announce his nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on Friday - the day after the Senate votes to confirm John Roberts as Chief Justice.

Reading between the lines of what sources tell CNN:

• It will be a woman or a minority
• It will not be an extremist like Priscilla Owen, or Janice Rogers Brown or even conservative Edith Clement
• It could be former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson

I would add to the list of possible nominees: 9th Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan. Like 5th Circuit Judge Ed Prado, she was put on the Court by Bush - and overwhelmingly supported by Democrats on the Judicary Committee.

Can you believe this? Raw Story reports that according to CBS News, FEMA has rehired the recently resigned Mike Brown..."as a consultant to evaluate the agency's response to the disaster!"

CBS's Katrina Blog reports:

6:44 p.m. (CBS) — CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Michael Brown, who recently resigned as the head of the FEMA, has been rehired by the agency as a consultant to evaluate it's response following Hurricane Katrina.

Update (TL):

Caption from Jane at Firedoglake: DC Police Study for Gyno Exams.

************
Original Post by TChris

Cindy Sheehan was arrested today while protesting outside the White House.

Others who were arrested also cooperated with police. Sgt. Scott Fear, spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said they would be charged with demonstrating without a permit, which is a misdemeanor.

So much for free speech, and the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.