WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Saturday, March 25, 2006; Page A04
Replacement Judge Named To U.S. Surveillance Court
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates has been named to replace a judge who resigned from the secret court set up by Congress to oversee domestic spying.
Bates, who was a prosecutor in the Whitewater investigation of President Bill Clinton, was appointed to replace U.S. District Judge James Robertson, who quit shortly after news reports about the Bush administration circumventing the court to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens suspected of communicating with terrorists.
  Judge John D. Bates takes the place of a judge who resigned. (Handout) |
The appointment, made by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in February, was not announced by the court. Secrecy News reported the appointment yesterday.
Justices Will Rehear Case On Kansas Death Penalty Law
The Supreme Court said it will hear arguments a second time before ruling on the constitutionality of a Kansas death penalty law, apparently so new Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. can break a tie.
The case is the second to deadlock the court after Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement in late January. The other one involves government whistle-blowers.
The court heard arguments Dec. 7 in the Kansas case, which involves rules for how juries weigh evidence for and against the death penalty.
The 1994 law provides that if the evidence for and against a death sentence is equal, Kansas juries must impose death instead of life in prison. The state Supreme Court struck it down, invalidating the death sentences of six convicted murderers.
FEMA Reneges on Promise To Reopen Katrina Contracts
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has broken its promise to reopen four multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts for Hurricane Katrina work, including three that federal auditors say wasted significant amounts of money.
Officials said they awarded the four contracts last October to speed recovery efforts that might have been slowed by competitive bidding. Some critics, however, suggested they were rewards for politically connected firms.
Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison pledged last fall to rebid the contracts, which were awarded to Shaw Group Inc., Bechtel Corp., CH2M Hill Cos. and Fluor Corp. Later, the agency acknowledged the rebidding would not happen until February.
This week, FEMA said the contracts would not be rebid after all.
Judge Sets May Date To Start Safavian Trial
U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman set a May 22 date for the trial of David Safavian, former director of the White House Office of Federal Procurement Policy, on charges of lying to federal officials about a controversial trip to Scotland with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Friedman put off ruling on a defense motion to quash the charges, although his comments during a hearing suggested that he is inclined to allow the case to go to trial. A number of times he told defense attorneys that he thought the kind of challenges they raised to the charges appeared to be best resolved by a jury, not by a pretrial judicial order.
-- From News Services
