Senate Judiciary Committee

Just when Washington looked like it was completely preoccupied with the scandals, real and imaginary, swirling around the White House, a group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate managed the unexpected (and, these days, extraordinary): They agreed on something. The vote Tuesday night in the Senate Judiciary Committee to forward to the floor a massive overhaul of the nation's immigration system was, to be sure, a small step and doesn't guarantee success in the full Senate, much less the House of Representatives.

Just when Washington looked like it was completely preoccupied with the scandals, real and imaginary, swirling around the White House, a group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate managed the unexpected (and, these days, extraordinary): They agreed on something. The vote Tuesday night in the Senate Judiciary Committee to forward to the floor a massive overhaul of the nation's immigration system was, to be sure, a small step and doesn't guarantee success in the full Senate, much less the House of Representatives.

Canada's new prime minister is a first in gender, generation and geography. Otherwise, ho-hum.Don't worry about Judge Breyer. Only women lawyer nominees for high legal office are obliged by the Senate Judiciary Committee to pay Social Security taxes for domestics, not men lawyer nominees. He'll make it yet.The Western peace-keeping role in genocide is to herd the Muslims into small target areas where incompetent Serb gunners have a better chance of hitting them.If the Somalis don't behave, all the rest of the U.N. will leave the Pakistanis in charge.

The Boston Marathon bombing has brought out the xenophobes. Often when America suffers some large, inexplicable tragedy, we want to blame "foreigners" and look for ways to fortify ourselves against them. It's more reassuring to believe that an evil lies outside our borders -- in "them" -- than to face the possibility that it's randomly among us. And like the communist scare before it, the so-called "war on terror" -- a war without end -- offers a convenient means of targeting the source as a foreign menace bent on destroying us. Let's blame immigrants, say the xenophobes.

Nearly 57 percent of callers to SUNDIAL, or 285 out of 502 callers, say Clarence Thomas should be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice. The 43 percent against confirmation represents 217 callers.Fully 69 percent of 499 callers, or 345, guess that Thomas will be endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and 154 callers (30 percent) say he won't."It's Your Call" represents a sampling of opinions from certain segments of the community, but it is not balanced demographically, as a scientific public opinion poll would be.@

/ CredibilityOn a question of credibility, 698 of 1,197 callers to SUNDIAL (58 percent) think Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and his supporters were telling the truth at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, and 499 callers (41 percent) think Anita Hill and her supporters were truthful.Nearly 71 percent of callers say that both Hill and Thomas should have been permitted to rebut testimony by corroborating witnesses. The vote for rebuttal was registered by 851 of 1,199 callers, while 348 callers (28 percent)

Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow to answer allegations of sexual harassment brought by University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill, a former assistant to Thomas a decade ago.The Evening Sun wants to know if you think the Senate should have voted on the confirmation Tuesday or do you agree that the Senate acted properly in delaying the vote?Call SUNDIAL, the Baltimore Sun's telephone information system, on a Touch-Tone phone.

House of Delegates convenes at 10 a.m. Senate convenes at 10 a.m. Hearings of interest: The Senate Finance Committee receives a briefing at 8:45 a.m. on the Constellation Energy-FPL Group merger. The House Economic Matters committee receives the same briefing at 10:45 a.m. The Senate Judiciary Committee hears testimony on legislation (SB 136) that would add commercial photographic processors and forensic computer analysts to the list of people such as teachers and police officers who are required to report suspected child abuse to state officials.

WASHINGTON -- After sometimes bitter debate, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 yesterday to send Michael B. Mukasey's nomination for attorney general to the Senate, where confirmation is likely. With two Democrats, Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Charles E. Schumer of New York , joining all nine Republicans on the panel in support of the nomination, the retired federal judge moved a step closer to heading the Justice Department - despite deep concern about his refusal to declare a coercive interrogation method known as waterboarding to be illegal torture.

THE SENATE Judiciary Committee's refusal to approve the Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas raises some doubt about a confirmation that once seemed certain.Judge Thomas's supporters, still claiming a majority in the Senate, seek a swift floor vote lest their numbers erode. Opponents, hoping for just such erosion, say there's no hurry. The opponents have the better argument.If Thomas had been more forthcoming with the committee, there might be a more satisfying and complete record ready for prompt Senate action.

Given the lack of interest in Congress in protecting children from guns, it was nice to hear a grown-up in Washington speak on behalf of kids, any kids - in this case, the nearly 40,000 kids who live with same-sex parents in California. "They want their parents to have full recognition and full status," Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said during Tuesday's hearing on Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California. "The voice of those children is important in this case, don't you think?"

For all the clamor from the White House and many in Congress to address the American scourge of gun violence, signs continue to point to a half-measure solution at best. President Barack Obama's State of the Union plea to the nation's lawmakers that the victims of the Newtown and other tragedies "deserve a vote" on gun-control legislation is sounding more like advice to provide window-dressing than bold action to curb the mayhem. The Obama administration has called for three-pronged approach that includes restoration of the assault-weapons ban enacted in 1994 but dropped in 2004, the tightening of background checks on gun purchases, especially at gun shows, and tougher limits on bullet-bearing gun clips and magazines.

A Baltimore circuit judge has been nominated to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. George Levi Russell III, who has presided over 2,700 cases since 2007 on the Circuit Court, would fill a vacancy created with the retirement in 2008 of Judge Peter Messitte. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Thursday to approve Russell's nomination, which will now move to the Senate floor for a yet-to-be scheduled vote. "He has already had a hearing, and this is the second step," said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. "This means Russell is well qualified for the position.

WASHINGTON -- After sometimes bitter debate, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 yesterday to send Michael B. Mukasey's nomination for attorney general to the Senate, where confirmation is likely. With two Democrats, Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Charles E. Schumer of New York , joining all nine Republicans on the panel in support of the nomination, the retired federal judge moved a step closer to heading the Justice Department - despite deep concern about his refusal to declare a coercive interrogation method known as waterboarding to be illegal torture.

To sum up, here's how the attorney general of the United States explained to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday how seven U.S. attorneys came to be fired last December, joining an eighth who had been let go earlier: He was given a list of prosecutors to fire. He didn't at the time know why they were being fired, but he trusted his staff. Since then, he's looked into it and decided that firing them was the right thing to do. He doesn't know who prepared the list, or how. He did have discussions earlier with his staff about some of the attorneys, and their alleged shortcomings, but that was unrelated to the dismissal process.

WASHINGTON -- Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, believing there is more to learn about the firings of eight federal prosecutors last year, formally asked Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales yesterday to turn over additional documents concerning the terminations and threatened to issue subpoenas if the materials are not forthcoming. Specifically, the four senators want the internal rankings of all 93 U.S. attorneys that were made by the Justice Department over the years, as well as employment charts that Monica M. Goodling, a top aide to Gonzales, provided for top department officials as they decided which prosecutors to fire.

WASHINGTON -- First, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden, D-Del., had the national headache of presiding over the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Then at 2 a.m. Saturday, he had a root canal.Committee aides said that one of Biden's teeth began hurting while he was presiding over the first day of hearings Friday. The pain in the tooth got so bad that early Saturday morning Biden called a dentist. But a few hours after the root canal, he was back on the job -- though when out of public sight, a friend said, "he was wearing a big ice pack on his mouth."

Ronald H. BrownSecretary of CommerceBorn: 1941, Washington, D.C.Educated: Middlebury College, B.A.; St. John's University School Law, J.D.Career: former deputy executive director, National Urban League; former chief counsel, Senate Judiciary Committee; partner in the Washington law firm Patton, Boggs & Blow; chairman, Democratic National Committee.Reputation: A pragmatic, diplomatic man who can be hard-nosed. A skilled negotiator.Quote: "His approach is designed to get the job done." -- attorney Clifford Alexander.

The former Justice Department official who designed the plan for firing eight U.S. attorneys took the rap for its ineptitude. But Kyle Sampson told Congress yesterday that his boss, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, was far more deeply involved than Mr. Gonzales has admitted, and that top White House aides gave the final sign-off. Mr. Sampson's voluntary appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee underscored the importance of congressional efforts to get to the bottom of this sorry saga.

Washington -- Saying that he wanted to be "more precise" about what he had done, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales acknowledged yesterday that he had a role in approving an aide's recommendation to dismiss several U.S. attorneys last year, but he denied that he was involved in the process of identifying which individual prosecutors should be replaced. His remarks, in an interview with NBC News, were the first by Gonzales seeking to reconcile his public statements about his involvement in the firings with internal e-mail made public by the Justice Department on Friday.