federal court

A federal judge in Michigan has held the Michigan primary process illegal–but not for any reason you might think. Minor political parties challenged the Michigan practice of supplying voter lists of party registrants to only the Republicans and Democrats. This ruling will not have any practical effect on the 2008 election, but it adds weight to the argument that the Michigan delegates should not be seated at the Democratic Nominating Convention.

A couple of trends in public life collided in Oregon recently–-the heightened politicizing of the secretive federal judicial appointment process and the open forum push-back of the internet. As a result of the impact, we probably won't see the local attorney who famously deposed Monica Lewinsky for Ken Starr's investigation on the federal bench.