This week's top story is David Ingram's report that President Barack Obama's successful nominees for district and circuit courts make up the most diverse group ever along racial, ethnic and gender lines. About two in five are members of minority groups, with Asian-Americans and African-Americans, in particular, seeing their numbers rise. Exactly half are women.
Leigh Jones reports that educators at colleges and universities face tough challenges when it comes to warning authorities and students about potentially dangerous students. In the wake of the shooting in Tuscon that left a federal judge dead and a congresswoman critically injured, Pima Community College in Tuscon has been bombarded with questions about whether the school did enough to warn of the danger posed by Jared Loughner, a former student who had been suspended and who is now the primary suspect in the Tuscon shooting.
Amanda Bronstad filed this dispatch on what could be the next great pharmaceutical multidistrict litigation, which comes in the form of thousands of claims against the prescription pain medications Darvon and Darvocet. Those two drugs were recalled by their manufacturer under government pressure about two months ago.
In Washington, Marcia Coyle wrote a profile of Glenn Fine, who has served as inspector general at the U.S. Department of Justice since 2001. Fine, who is stepping down from that post on Jan. 28, has led a series of special investigations into a department awakening to — and often making missteps in — the post-Sept. 11, 2001, world. They've also grappled, in some of the department's darkest hours, with a DOJ enmeshed in partisan politics.
Mike Scarcella examines the case of sanctions lodged against the Democratic Republic of Congo when the country ran afoul of two court orders in Washington last year. The sanctions, which doubled every month, topping out at $80,000 per week, have now grown to more than $2 million. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is set to hear the dispute on Feb. 4. Adding to the case's intrigue is a move by the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene on behalf of the State Department to support Congo, arguing that U.S. District Judge Richard Leon overstepped his authority and created a potential foreign relations headache for the United States.
In Inadmissible: how Howrey is doing after a week of defections; Republicans like Seitz; Ohlson's new Justice Department job; the state dinner guest list; Scalia and Breyer give talks; Thomas and Scalia's Koch connections; and some judicial nominees may go another around with the Senate
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