Previewing Holder: Several news outlets played catch-up this weekend on coverage of Eric Holder Jr.'s confirmation hearing, set to begin Thursday. Everyone seems to think he'll face a grilling but will ultimately be confirmed by a solid margin. The attorney general-designate has the support of former Solicitor General Theodore Olson of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, reports The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, The New York Times focuses on his time with Covington & Burling. (Previous Legal Times coverage on that here.)
Charges for Bush Officials?: One of the biggest questions facing the next leadership at the Justice Department will be whether to pursue prosecutions of those who authorized or participated in waterboarding and other controversial policies. This weekend, President-elect Barack Obama gave his "clearest indication so far of his thinking," according to The New York Times, though he still left plenty of wiggle room. He said there should be prosecutions if "somebody has blatantly broken the law."
Power to the Judges: Federal bankruptcy judges are eager to have the power to restructure mortgages because it could save hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure, reports The Wall Street Journal. "The bankruptcy system depends on people making deals, but the deal-making piece of it has disappeared when it comes to mortgages because of the way mortgages were sold and packaged," says U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Samuel Bufford of Los Angeles.
West Coast Slowdown: "Flat is the new up" for San Francisco-area law firms, The Recorder reports via Law.com. Firms with the least exposure to New York's financial sector, such as employment-heavy Littler Mendelson and Silicon Valley firms, are faring better. Geographic and practice area diversity have helped buoy revenue for wider-focused firms like Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Morrison & Foerster.
Prosecutors' Discretion: The Philadelphia Inquirer takes a big-picture look at the ongoing trial of a powerful former state senator, Vincent Fumo. Prosecutors say that he tried to squeeze corporations for tens of millions while also using "other people's money" to buy chewing gum. "Now that the Fumo trial has gone on for three months, it may seem odd to say the charges are simple," the newspaper says. "But in large part, the government is contending that Fumo, in essence, was a common thief."
Paging the Inky copy editor... couldn't you have picked "in large part" or "in essence" in that last sentence?? It was sort of the money sentence in the article that you could expect to be widely quoted; would have been better to keep it from being a stammering, over-qualified mess.
Posted by: Observer | January 12, 2009 at 10:23 AM