TNR and Jeff Rosen, take note. This is some actual legal reporting on Judge Sonia Sotomayor, from Tom Goldstein at SCOTUSblog:

Judge Sonia Sotomayor is an obviously serious candidate to serve on the Supreme Court. We have been struck by how the amount of commentary about Judge Sotomayor has ignored the most accessible and valuable source of information: her opinions as an appellate judge. Last year, I directed a project in which a team of Akin Gump summer associates extensively reviewed Judge Sotomayor’s opinions. Amy Howe subsequently revised and expanded their work, with contributions by me. Here, we summarize what we regard as Judge Sotomayor’s principal opinions in civil cases. Our only goal is to identify and summarize the opinions, not evaluate them.

A good roundup. And how the discussion should have started about the possibility that Judge Sotomayor may be President Obama's choice for the Supreme Court. It is worth a careful read. BTW, Judge Sotomayor will not be chosen by President Obama, imo, because of speeches like the one Orin Kerr reports on here. To me, the speech is unexceptional. To the Village, it will be an outrage. And Obama has shown no inclination to standing up to the Village. Just watch.

Speaking for me only

Update: Agent Lucas was acquitted by the jury.

Original Post

Former DEA Agent Lee Lucas has pleaded not guilty to an Indictment unsealed this week charging him with fabricating evidence, perjury and obstruction of justice in 17 cases.

A federal drug enforcement agent pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a federal indictment that accuses him of framing 17 people in controlled drug buys made by an informant.

Lee Michael Lucas, 41, of Cleveland appeared before U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver on the 18-count indictment that includes counts of obstruction of justice, making false statements in official reports, perjury and violating civil rights.

The informant Lucas worked with, Jerrell Bray, pleaded guilty in 2007 and is serving 15 years. Several civil suits are pending against Lucas and the DEA by those the duo falsely accused.[More...]

In an Orwellian lede, the AP reports:

President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Census Bureau is ruling out the use of statistical sampling in the 2010 head count, seeking to allay GOP concerns that he might be prone to put politics over science.

(Emphasis supplied.) Of course what occurred is exactly the opposite - politics was put over science. It is undisputed that the most accurate census count requires the use of statistical sampling due to the difficulties of getting an accurate count. More . . .

Mika Brzezinski writes a letter to the NYTimes:

. . . Joe’s evenhanded approach angers harsh ideologues on both sides. Last week, he was attacked by right-wing hosts for being too open-minded, and now by your liberal editorial page.

This liberal thinks The New York Times should follow Joe Scarborough’s example of speaking truth to power — regardless of which party is in power.

Mika Brzezinski
New York, May 11, 2009

Yeah, I laughed too.

Speaking for me only

Ian Welsh writes:

The refusal to make [banks] take their losses; the refusal to wind up any of the big banks; the refusal to recognize that what is important isn’t the banking system but what the banking system does, and thus the unwillingness to cut past the big banks and lend directly means that those trillions of dollars of losses are going to have to be paid back by consumers and taxpayers. You will pay. You will pay not just in high interest rates, but in lower wages, and for many of you, a lack of jobs. The economy will not, before the next recession after this downturn, return to the same level of employment the US had before this crisis. All of this because neither party, and neither President, had what it took to stand up to the banks.

(Emphasis supplied.) This very well could end up being President Obama's lasting legacy - his horrendous policy regarding the financial crisis.

Speaking for me only

Via Digby, it worked for Dick Cheney. How did it work for Dick Cheney? He wanted a war in Iraq. And he got one. And he used torture to get it. As Marcy Wheeler writes:

[S]ometime in February 2002--when Bush was declaring that the Geneva Convention did not apply to al Qaeda and when Bruce Jessen was pitching torture to JPRA--Cheney was personally (according to Wilkerson) ordering up waterboarding. And a month later, when the CIA captured Abu Zubaydah, James Mitchell immediately set up as a contractor so he could waterboard Abu Zubaydah.

Cheney wanted his Iraq War. And he got it. Through torture. See? Torture does work.

Speaking for me only

Anyone see the 2 hour season finale to Grey's Anatomy? Did Izzie and George both die, just one, or neither? Talk about keeping your options open.

One theory: Since Izzie didn't step off the elevator to meet George, he's dead, she returns.

I would have preferred a firm resolution, but I'll take what they gave us because it was the best episode of the season -- especially Derek and Meredith finally getting married by hand-writing vows on a post-it note. (Thus the theme, despite all the sadness, there's a little bit of joy.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Arianna: Ending the War on Drugs: The Moment is Now :

So the question becomes: is the Obama administration really committed to a fundamental shift in America's approach to drug policy or is this about serving up a kinder, gentler drug war?

....But the cost of the drug war -- both human and financial -- is far too high to allow politics to dictate the administration's actions. Indeed, with all the budget cutting going on, how can anyone justify spending tens of billions of dollars a year on an unwinnable war against our own people?

[More...]

Are House Democrats concerned that President Obama is all talk and no action when it comes to closing Guantanamo? Today they rejected his request to include $80 million in funds in a war spending bill, saying they want to see a a concrete plan first.

The House directive was part of a $96.7 billion emergency financing measure for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the House approved by a vote of 368 to 60, with 168 Republicans joining the Democratic majority in support.

But in a clear rebuke to Mr. Obama, Democratic leaders refused to include the $80 million that the White House had sought for closing the Guantánamo center. On his third day in office, Mr. Obama signed an executive order requiring that the camp be shut by Jan. 22, 2010.

[More...]

Tomorrow, President Barack Obama will announce his decision to continue military commissions trials against Guantanamo detainees.

He will say he's giving the detainees greater rights, including:

• Restrictions on hearsay evidence that can be used in court against the detainees.

• A ban on all evidence obtained through cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. This would include statements given from detainees who were subjected to waterboarding.

• Giving detainees greater leeway in choosing their own military counsel.

• Protecting detainees who refuse to testify from legal sanctions or other court prejudices.

It's not enough. The commissions are flawed beyond repair. More from the Center for Constitutional Rights.

The new Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, in an interview, suggests the war on drugs may be facing changes -- or is it just an image lift?

The Obama administration's new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting "a war on drugs," a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use.

In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation's drug issues.

There's some cause for hope: [More...]

The White House has released the first ever Citizen Briefing book (pdf), "composed of ideas submitted by ordinary people and reflecting the enthusiastic engagement from the public we saw throughout the course of Change.gov."

125,000 users submitted over 44,000 ideas and cast over 1.4 million votes, with the most popular ideas accumulating tens of thousands of votes each. This book contains some of the top ideas, broken into groups by issue area. You can tell how popular each idea was by looking at the number next to it – it represents how many people voted for the idea, with 10 points awarded for each positive vote.

The number one vote getter, by miles: Legalizing marijuana (90,000+ points, p. 26) Also high-up: Ending the war on drugs (40,000 + points) and Stop using federal resources to undermine states’ medicinal marijuana laws, (60,000+ points.)