Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., has reached an agreement with ranking Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and California Democrat Dianne Feinstein on provisions regarding damages awards in patent infringement lawsuits, as part of a broader patent law overhaul bill, according to sources familiar with the compromise.

Leahy, Specter and Feinstein are expected to announce this morning that they have agreed to rewrite the damages section so that the judge in patent infringment lawsuits is the "gatekeeper" for criteria used to assess damages.

The damages section has been the thorniest part of the legislation. The prospective deal might not sit well with a coalition of large high-tech companies who have been pushing for more restrictions on how damages awards are calculated.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is ruling out the use of the "nuclear option" against Senate Republicans in the event they decide to filibuster President Obama's judicial nominees, reports our CQ colleague Kathleen Hunter.

"There is no way that I would employ or use the nuclear option. I want every Republican to hear that," Reid told reporters at a Friday morning breakfast in Washington sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.

Reid was referring to a parliamentary strategy requiring the support of only a simple Senate majority that then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican, threatened to use in 2005 to eliminate the Democrats' ability to filibuster President George W. Bush's circuit court picks.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court not to void a section of the landmark Voting Rights Act that requires some jurisdictions to get Justice Department approval for changes in election procedures.

Section 5 of the law requires eight states -- most of them in the South -- along with much of Virginia and dozens of cities and counties throughout the country to get Justice Department approval of any changes in election rules or districts before the changes can be put into effect.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers Jr. and other lawmakers filed the brief in the case, Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder. The utility district also argues that Congress exceeded its authority in reauthorizing Section 5 without enough evidence that it was necessary.

"The most fundamental right is the right to vote and that can be seen on the faces of the individuals who are participating in the democratic process," said Wisconsin Republican Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. "We built an impressive record during the 2006 reauthorization, and the evidence presented to Congress was overwhelming. While progress has been made, much still needs to be done, and the Voting Rights Act remains as necessary as ever in maintaining that progress."

David F. Hamilton

"We'll do it next week," Leahy said. He brushed aside Republican complaints that he is moving too fast on the nomination, which Obama made on March 17, saying that his acquiesence in delaying some of Obama's Justice Department nominations was met with more Republican delaying tactics.

The committee's top Republican, Arlen Specter, voiced his displeasure during a committee hearing this morning. Specter also made it clear that when it comes to Obama's judicial nominations, support from Republican home state senators, by itself, won't be enough to eliminate GOP opposition.

The Supreme Court today weighed whether campaign finance laws should have allowed for video-on-demand distribution, during the 2008 presidential primary season, of a 90-minute documentary excoriating Democratic contender Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Under a provision in the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, there are restrictions on such "broadcast, cable, or satellite communication which refers to a clearly identified candidate for federal office" airing within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election.

Former Solicitor General Theodore Olson -- who defended McCain-Feingold as the executive branch's top litigator in 2003 -- argued against the law's restrictions today in the case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is scheduled to testify before the Senate Special Committee on Aging on Wednesday about Alzheimer's disease.

O'Connor's husband, John, suffers from the disease. The retired justice is a member of the Alzheimer's Study Group, which was formed in 2007 to develop a strategic plan for fighting the disease. O'Connor will present the plan along with other members of the group, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The committee will webcast the hearing.

Iowa Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley introduced legislation yesterday;that would provide for cameras in federal courtrooms, at the discretion of judges.

Such legislation has been introduced before, but the federal judiciary has always managed to keep it bottled up.

The Judicial Conference does not allow cameras in district courts, and federal criminal rules also bar cameras in criminal trials. And if there's one thing the judiciary doesn't like, it's having the other two branches of government tell it how to manage its affairs.

The Senate voted 61-31 today to confirm Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan to be the Solicitor General, filling the last top-tier Justice Department post in the Obama administration -- and maybe foreshadowing debate on a Supreme Court nomination.

Kagan's confirmation had been delayed while Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sought fuller answers to questions on several legal issues. Specter, who voted against the nomination, had worried that Kagan would not set aside her personal views while serving as the government's top litigator. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination on March 5.

Judiciary chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., did not miss the opportunity to launch a quick rhetorical attack against Republicans on judicial nominations.

Elena Kagan (Ryan Kelly/CQ)

Kagan, the dean of Harvard Law School, has tried to fend Specter off by saying that her personal views would not influence how she would perform as the administration's top litigator. But Specter says Kagan has not fully answered several written questions on subjects such as the death penalty and the scope of the president's authority as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Specter met privately with Kagan on March 12. Last Saturday, Specter sent Kagan not only some of his previous written questions, but those of other Republican Senate Judiciary members who, according to Specter, also were dissatisfied with Kagan's initial responses.

The Judicial Conference of the United States has voted to recommend that Congress create 12 new appellate court judgeships and 51 new district court judgeships.

The Third Circuit's chief judge, Anthony J. Scirica, told reporters at the Supreme Court today that the Judicial Conference was conducting a "major effort" to get lawmakers to create the new judgeships. Scirica said he was "hopeful" that would happen. He noted that Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the committee's ranking Republican, both "spoke favorably" before the Judicial Conference about adding new judgeships.

Congress passed the last major legislation on federal appellate judgeships in 1990. According to the Judicial Conference, appellate court case filings are up 42 percent since then.

The American Bar Association has announced that its Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary has resumed its traditional role of vetting judicial nominations before the president makes them.

"The Obama Administration has requested that the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary resume its historical role in evaluating the professional qualifications of potential federal judicial nominees on a pre-nomination basis," said ABA president H. Thomas Wells Jr. "The ABA Standing Committee, which has been involved in the evaluation process for over 50 years, is pleased to continue to perform this important public service on a pre-nomination basis."

Former President George W. Bush had discontinued the presidential practice of submitting judicial nominees to the Standing Committee before submitting them to the Senate.

President Obama has nominated Indiana federal judge David F. Hamilton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

It is too early to tell just how much of a battle will occur in the Senate over Obama's appellate court picks. But Hamilton appears to meet the Senate Republicans' threshold test: he has the support of his GOP home state senator, Richard G. Lugar.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a statement today saying she would undergo a "precautionary, post-surgery course of chemotherapy" following her surgery last month for pancreatic cancer.

"The treatments, which will commence in late March, are not expected to affect my schedule at the court," Ginsburg said. "Thereafter, it is anticipated that I will require only routine examinations to assure my continuing health."

Ginsburg, who turned 76 years old on Sunday, will undergo the treatment at the National Institutes of Health.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's chairman expects President Obama's first batch of judicial nominations to arrive by early April.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., said he expects the first judicial nominees to be announced before the Senate leaves for its recess on April 3.

"I'm hoping we will have hearings right after the recess," Leahy said after a speech at American University's Washington College of Law.

The Justice Department filed a memorandum in federal court in Washington today that steered clear of President George W. Bush's argument that the president's commander-in-chief status authorized him to detain suspected terrorists as "enemy combatants."

Instead, the Justice Department relied on the use-of-force resolution Congress passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and international law, to stake out essentially the same broad detention authority that Bush claimed.

Moreover, the administration told the court that its new rationale applied only to current Guantanamo detainees, and could evolve as the administration settles on a new detention regime.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Getty)

During an appearance at Boston's New England Law School, Ginsburg said during a question and answer session that the nine justices only take a group picture when a new member is added.

"We haven't had any of those for some time, but surely we will soon," the AP reports Ginsburg said.

Senate Democrats still have not scheduled the nomination of Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan to be Solicitor General for a confirmation vote, a week after the Judiciary Committee approved the nomination.

Kagan's is the only nomination to a top-tier Justice Department post that the full Senate has not taken up. Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter is still trying to satisfy himself that Kagan can put her personal views aside while serving as the administration's top litigator. Specter voted "present" in committee. He was scheduled to meet privately with Kagan today.

"Some of her points of view raise a question as to whether, given the very strongly held views she has expressed, she can totally put those views aside," Specter said in a Senate floor speech yesterday.

The New York Times took a stab today at predicting President Barack Obama's potential judicial nominees.

According to the story, M. Elizabeth Magill -- a professor at the University of Virginia and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- is a leading candidate for a Virginia vacancy on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

But as our CQ colleague Leah Nylen noticed, Magill may well be President Obama's pick but she didn't necessarily pass muster with the Virginia State Bar.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy plans to stick to the practice of not advancing judicial nominees without the approval of both home state senators.

But the Vermont Democrat has also made it clear that Republicans should not try his patience.

"I intend to continue using the same practices in this Congress in considering the nominees of President Obama," Leahy said last week. "I expect good faith on all sides. I do not expect my efforts to be fair and protect the rights of all members to be abused."

For now, Senate Republicans will be able to hold up Obama's appeals court nominees from their home states simply by not returning the traditional "blue slip" piece of paper on which senators indicate their support for one of their state's nominees.

Senators will head across First Street tonight for a dinner organized by the Supreme Court Historical Society.

The dinner, which is held every two years at the start of the new Congress, is expected to attract a majority of senators and most of the justices, according to the Senate's Office of the Secretary, which helps coordinate the event.

"It's one of the rare times when the two branches of government meet in a social setting," Majority Leader Harry Reid noted in remarks on the Senate floor this morning. "It's been very helpful in years past and I'm confident it will be a very nice event tonight."

No word on the menu -- or whether Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., plans to attend. Bunning apologized last month after predicting that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was likely to be dead within nine months due to her pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

A badly fractured Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that the North Carolina General Assembly was wrong to draw a state legislative voting district in a way that violates state law.

The state's constitution bars dividing counties into different legislative districts. The legislature said it had to draw a state district in such a way in order not to run afoul of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

But the plurality opinion opinion in Bartlett v. Strickland, by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, rejected that argument.

The Supreme Court has granted the administration's motion to dismiss a detainee's challenge to his imprisonment as an enemy combatant.

The Justice Department had asked the court to dismiss al-Marri v. Spagone because President Obama decided to try Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri on criminal charges. As part of its order today, the court also granted the Justice Department's application to transfer al-Marri from military to civilian custody.

Al-Marri's case was a test of President George W. Bush's argument that a use-of-force authorization Congress passed after the Sept. 11 attacks gave Bush the authority to arrest and indefinitely imprison people on U.S. soil. Al-Marri was arrested in Peoria, Ill, in December 2001. In June 2003, Bush declared him an enemy combatant, and he was imprisoned in the U.S. naval brig at Charleston, S.C.

In an interview with USA Today, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she plans to stay on the Supreme Court, notwithstanding her battle with pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg told Joan Biskupic -- the paper's Supreme Court reporter and a CQ alumnus -- that she attended President Obama's Feb. 24 address to Congress because she "wanted them to see I was alive and well, contrary to that senator who said I'd be dead within nine months." Ginsburg was referring to Kentucky Republican Sen. Jim Bunning, who said last month that Ginsburg would be dead within nine months. Bunning subsequently apologized.

Late Thursday afternoon, the D.C. Circuit granted a motion to stay proceedings in the House Judiciary Committee's lawsuit against senior Bush White House officials.

The Justice Department filed the motion Wednesday, after the committee struck a deal with former President George W. Bush, whereby aide Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers will be deposed about the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ruled last year that Miers and Bush White House chief of staff Joshua B. Bolten were not immune from committee subpoenas. (Bolten was subpoeaned for White House documents related to the prosecutor firings. Rove is not a party in the lawsuit.)

Under the court's order, the parties must file status reports every 30 days.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Elena Kagan's nomination to be Solicitor General but Republicans aren't through with her yet.

The nomination of Kagan, who is Harvard Law School's dean and is considered a leading Supreme Court contender in the future, was approved 13-3. Republicans Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and John Cornyn of Texas voted no while Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania voted "present."

The vote tally raises the question of whether some Republicans might want to avoid being on record supporting the nomination of a Solicitor General who might return in the not-so-distant future as a Supreme Court nominee. But interestingly, two of the committee's most conservative Republicans -- Jon Kyl of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma -- voted yes.

The Justice Department and the House Judiciary Committee are asking the D.C. Circuit to put a landmark executive privilege lawsuit on hold. The move comes after the committee struck a deal with former President George W. Bush on testimony from Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers regarding the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. The panel also gets to see White House documents related to the firings.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ruled last year that Miers and White House chief of staff Joshua B. Bolten were not immune from complying with committee subpoenas. (Bolten had been subpoenaed as custodian of White House records.) The Bush Justice Department appealed.

The D.C. Circuit is expected to honor the two sides' wishes and suspend that appeal, at least for the time being. The Obama administration has also apparently blessed the deal between the House and Bush.

A day after lawyers for Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri urged the Supreme Court not to drop his challenge to detention as an enemy combatant, the Justice Department again urged the high court to dimiss the case.

President Obama has ordered al-Marri transferred to the Justice Department's custody to stand trial on criminal charges, after being imprisoned for more than five years in the U.S. naval brig at Charleston, S.C.The administration is arguing that Obama's decision means al-Marri's case is moot.

"In these circumstances, petitioner's claim is entirely abstract," the administration told the high court.

Civil libertarians have hailed Obama's decision to charge al-Marri rather than keep him locked up as an enemy combatant. But they also want the Supreme Court to rule on the question of whether President George W. Bush had authority to arrest and imprison al-Marri in that manner.

The House and Senate Judiciary Committees plan to hold a rare joint hearing next week on a proposed Constitutional amendment that would bar governors from appointing senators.

Russ Feingold, the sponsor of the Senate version, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. will jointly preside over the March 11 hearing.

The question of how best to fill Senate vacancies has gotten new attention this Congress because of the high-profile departures of several senators, beginning with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., along with two other senators Obama tapped for his Cabinet: Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. and Ken Salazar, D-Colo. A third, Judd Gregg, R-N.H., decided to stay in the Senate rather than become Commerce Secretary.

Patrick J. Leahy, the Senate Judiciary Committee's chairman, was particularly pleased with the Supreme Court decision announced Wednesday holding FDA approval of a drug label's warnings doesn't preempt state lawsuits for injuries it might later cause.

The Court upheld a jury verdict awarding one of Leahy's constituents, Diana Levine, $6.7 million in damages for injuries she suffered after using a drug manufactured by Wyeth.

Levine developed gangrene and had her hand and then her entire forearm amputated after the drug, Phenergan, an antihistamine used to treat nausea, was injected directly into her vein.

In the 6-3 opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens rejected Wyeth's argument that Levine's claim was preempted by federal law because the label had been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief at the Supreme Court Tuesday opposing the Obama administration's push for dismissal of a detainee case.

The high court is scheduled to hear oral argument next month in Al-Marri v. Spagone. The case tests the proposition that the use-of-force authorization Congress passed after the Sept. 11 attacks authorized President Bush to arrest and imprison people on U.S. soil without charge or trial. Last week, the Obama administration unveiled criminal charges against Ali Saleh Kahleh al-Marri and asked the high court to dismiss its case.

"The president's memorandum directing al-Marri's transfer to civilian custody does not repudiate the possibility that al-Marri will be returned to military custody and detained without charge," wrote a group of ACLU lawyers and other attorneys representing al-Marri. "Furthermore, the government's motion does not renounce the government's untenable reading of the Authorization for Use of Military Force...nor does it claim that the meaning of that law has somehow changed absent congressional action."

The Justice Department has until tomorrow to file a brief in response.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in a case testing the proposition that the substantial appearance of potential judicial bias should be enough to require judges to recuse themselves from certain cases.

In the case, Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., the petitioners are arguing that a West Virginia state Supreme Court justice should have recused himself from a case because the defendant company's CEO had engineered millions of dollars in expenditures to get him elected. Among the spectators at the court today: retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Every justice except the taciturn Justice Clarence Thomas asked at least one question during the argument. It's always dangerous to read too much into the back-and-forth. But based on their questions and comments during the argument, Justice Antonin Scalia doesn't think judges should have to recuse themselves just because someone with a direct and intense interest in a case single-handedly got them elected; Justice John Paul Stevens thinks that the case is a clear example of a situation where recusal was warranted; and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is struggling to come up with some kind of new recusal standard.

The entire Senate Republican caucus wrote President Obama Monday threatening to filibuster judicial nominations from their states if they are not allowed to sign off in advance.

"If we are not consulted on, and approve of, a nominee from our states, the Republican Conference will be unable to support moving forward on that nominee," stated the letter signed "All Republican Senators."

The GOP caucus members wrote that they expect Patrick J. Leahy, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, to honor the "blue slip" policy, whereby nominees for appellate and district courts do not advance without the approval of both home-state senators.

Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, doesn't just watch the Circuit Courts, he'd like to sit on one.

Tobias was one of 21 applicants for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit evaluated by the Virginia State Bar.

But Tobias was not among the 11 candidates deemed highly qualified or qualified by the Virginia State Bar's judicial nominations committee.

If you've had difficulty getting a bar prep loan this year, you're not alone, Leah Nylen reports in CQ Weekly.

Since 2005, students have been able to use government-backed loans to cover professional tests, such as bar exams, with one catch: the money can't be spent on test prep.

In better times, law students simply turned to private lenders for the cash to cover bar review. But because of the credit crunch, only four lenders are offering bar prep loans this year, down from 19 in 2007.