After a tense two-hour meeting Tuesday evening, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) appears to have won the support of some important GOP peers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, seemingly securing the committee chairmanship that will open when term limits force the resignation of Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in January. Specter's comments cautioning President Bush against the [...]

Filling the vacancy left when Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced his resignation on Monday, President Bush will nominate domestic policy advisor and longtime confidante Margaret Spellings to fill the top post in the Department of Education, according to White House sources. Spellings was Bush's education advisor for six years in Texas, putting together programs [...]

In Tuesday's environmental law news, Greenpeace, the international environmental activist group, was allowed to speak for the first time Tuesday before the UN General Assembly. Today is the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the group used the occasion to challenge a proposed [...]

A British high court hearing became the first ordinary legal case to be filmed by TV cameras in the UK Tuesday. The court heard the appeal of former council leader Jim Speechley from a misconduct conviction. Footage from the appeal is being used by the Royal Courts of Justice for evaluation purposes, but will not [...]

Dan Tokaji, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University: "The A.P. has this story summarizing the problems that the states had in implementing provisional voting. It quotes my colleague Ned Foley as suggesting that Congress consider repealing HAVA's provisional voting requirement. My take: I agree that there were serious problems in the way the provisional [...]

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who launched an investigation into insurance companies including Marsh & McLennan, told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Tuesday that more criminal pleas related to bad practices are coming. Spitzer is urging Congress to take a stronger look at the insurance industry. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told the committee [...]

A partial recount of the New Hampshire presidential vote sought by independent candidate Ralph Nader is set to start Thursday. The Nader campaign filed for the recount November 5, citing the inaccuracy of optical scan vote-counting machines. The request covers 11 of the state's precincts that use Diebold Inc. Accuvote optical scanning machines to count [...]

BBC News is reporting that President Bush has officially selected current National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to fill the secretary of state post, as reported on JURIST's Paper Chase Monday. Current Secretary of State Colin Powell announced his resignation Monday. A live webcast of the White House press briefing will begin at 12:45 PM ET. [...]

The Pacific Legal Foundation has initiated a challenge to plans by the government to designate four dozen endangered species for protection under the Endangered Species Act. The foundation notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service Monday of its plans to challenge the agencies' action. The foundation claims that the [...]

In Tuesday's corporations and securities law news, Oracle's hostile bid for PeopleSoft Inc. has not been defeated as top shareholders in PeopleSoft are split on whether to accept the bid. Capital Guardian Trust Co. will tender its 10% stake to Oracle while Private Capital Management LP will not vote its 9.3% stake because PeopleSoft may [...]