d.c. circuit is woefully underworked. so good morning.f us who are familiar with gathering of the federalist society, this is the obligatory panel on the part of the constitution that seems to be of the greatest interest to federalist society event organizers everywhere. when a conservative administration is in power. those three enigmatic and inviting words in the constitution quote, the executive power close quote. as the moderator of this distinguished panel i plan on being seen more than heard. but i do feel obliged to answer a question i know that my colleague and friend judge silverman would want me to answer before going further. what are you doing on a panel about the executive power? you see my colleagues on the d.c. circuit for whom i have boundless admiration make two assumptions about me, neither of which is correct. first, that my time as senate legal counsel predisposes me to side with the congress in disputes between thepo

d.c. circuit when they challenge their detention in the d.c. circuit presumes that everything that the detainees say is true so the burden falls upon the detainees to prove that what they have said is not true and i think that the lawyers who represent some of these detainees will be challenging that well yeah i guess that now that this report has actually come out that might make a difference right and so this as far as i understand the inspector general decided to start this investigation take a look at the matter in two thousand and eight then they compile this report and two thousand and nine so then they just decided to to hide it not to release it to the public that's why you have ended up having to you know to file this point request. exactly the report was classified and we followed freedom of information act requests actually my colleague jeffrey k. who is the lead reporter on the story he filed the freedom of information act requests i filed what's known as a mandatory declassification review we wanted to get the you know the ball roll

d.c. circuit. he was on leave from the law school to serve as counsellor on international law and the office of the legal adviser at the u.s. department of state in 2008. today's panel is titled czars, libya, and recent developments perspectives on executive power. we settled on a slightly more narrow theme of the relationship between the constitutional design. we broke down the issue into three questions. first, how does the constitution distribute power that is executive in nature. second, what are the benefits and problems of such a constitutional design, and third, what might an ideal constitutional design look like? to give each panelist sufficient time, i will vigorously monitor the time limits. we are going to ask each to speak for ten minutes and rather than passing notes, i would announce when one empty is left. because i favor him, i will not cut you off mid-syllable. with that in mind, i turn the floor over to professor levin to begin the discussion. >> i want to join the discussion. wit

d.c. circuit who was a former columbia student, also had been editor in chief of "the law review" every year took a columbia clerk, harold leventhal. harold leventhal was an interesting judge. he'd been involved in democratic politics. have been the lawyer handling the fannie lou haimber issues. he'd been an oil and gas regulatory lawyer, a power commission lawyer in washington and became a wonderful circuit court judge with a specialty in administrative law. so, i clerked for him for a year. and i clerked for a year nor a year for potter stewart. potter stewart had been involved in republican politics. his father had been mayor of cincinnati. he imhad run for the cincinnati council. he'd practiced law in new york city. so, harold leventhal from the democratic side and potter stewart from the republican side were both similar in their approach to issues, in their love of writing, for example, and crafting opinions, so it taught me that there is a little bit of a difference between judging and politics. if people came from two very different political backgrounds. getting a clerkship on the s

d.c. circuit court of appeals is skr scrutinizing the delay. 19 months have passed would access by the fcc. sky angel remains injured by the decision of discovery and its affiliated program interests. we believe that our experience with starting and operating an innovative new family video distribution service show that there's anti-competitive conduct in the industry and significant problems with the manner in which is fcc is failing tone force program access laws and regulations so that a valuable new competitive internet is facing unfair discrimination. the program access requirements under the 1992 cable act require fair treatment of competitors such as sky angel, but those requirements are not being enforced. the will of congress is being ignored and competition by sky angel and likely others is being stifled. we believe the public interest in video distribution, expanded use of the internet, diversity in programming sources and affordable choices for american families requires the attention of the congress to ensure that the existing legal framework is fairly and properly enforced. t

d.c. circuit. the system that's set up there now is that everything of detainees says in a hey vs in there hey vs corpus case is presumed to be true so the burden falls upon the detainees to prove that it's not true in the case of one detainees that we identified in the report he confessed to his interrogator that he was a member of al qaida and we also know that this detained he was injected with how dull and after he made this confession while he was on these while he was on this anti-psychotic they kept him locked up in guantanamo for three more years so you can imagine that basically they were looking to just get confessions whether they were false confessions i think. i think that the evidence to show in fact that there were false confessions he was eventually freed and to repatriated back to saudi arabia but. again another troubling example of how we were extracting false confessions it appears from detainees captured. strain ties with its neighbors has plagued paraguay ever since its ousted

d.c. circuit under george w. bush. you can await that. switching to reuters, briefly, it is a wire service like jesse worked for a.p., but my work is not quick at the keyboard filing the stories. my job is more to step back and look at the broader trends. it's still, even though i don't have to file in a daily way, it's still the wire. you have to fill a hole faster than you would for a newspaper all the time. >> anybody else working on a book they want to out? not yet? gentlemen, you did a biography of justice o'connor? are you still in touch with her? >> she's always on an airplane. i said, you know, are you going to be there? she said she had so much planned and she went into the various plans. i asked her if she had an instinct and she declared, i haven't had time to read the statute. do you know which way they are going? no clue, no clue. she was in the courtroom the week before. all this speculation of when it will be handed down. nobody knows until the writing on both sides or all sides in this case is finished. so, she didn't know

d.c. circuit the system that set up there now is that everything of detainees says in a v is in their heaviest corpus case is presumed to be true so the burden falls upon the detainees to prove that it's not true that's that's must be very troubling to learn for these lawyers to have learned this. new word on what exactly this medication is and how it does impact and whoever it's being used on psychologically . sure well you know in the report it does state how doll which is a very powerful anti-psychotic medication the can even will lead to permanent nerve damage but there's a very long list of side effects. the report names that medication as the only medication that they identify that was summoned tain these were injected with or at least one detainee was injected with there's no other mention of any other medication that would take. a good look but you have to take a good look at their medical records which again has been very difficult if not impossible for certainly the public in the the attorneys to get in fact when i file a freedom of information act request for these medical records i

d.c. circuit. he received his undergraduate degree from miami university and his j.d. from duke. colonel ken alard is a commentator on foreign policy and security issues. for more than a decade he was a featured military analyst on nbc news, msnbc, and cnbc. in 2006 he joined the faculty of the university of texas, san antonio, as an second 95 residence and senior lecturer in management. his military career included overseas services as an intelligence officer as well as tours of duty as an assistant professor at west point, special assistant to the army chief of staff, and dean of students at the national war college. he received his undergraduate degree from lycoming college, his mpa from harvard, and his ph.d. in national security from the fletcher school of law and diplomacy at tufts. professor steven vladic is a professor of law and associate dean for scholarship at american university, washington college of law. he is also a supreme court fellow at the constitution project. he is a senior editor of "the peer review journal" of national security law and policy. the senior co

d.c. circuit court of appeals decided speech now vs. f.e.c. which the supreme court upheld. these two cases gave rise to super pacs. they opened the floodgates of secret cash. super pacs have poured millions of dollars into negative and misleading campaign ads, and they often do so under the cover of darkness. quiet, stealthy, without disclosing the true source of the donations. it's ironic, they make all the sound and fury on the airwaves, but they are silent on who is paying for it. why? why the silence? why the cat and mouse? the american people are blessed with common sense. they know that usually when someone will not admit to something, it's because there is something to hide. and they have seen where all that shadowy campaign money can take us: to corruption, to scandal, to places like watergate, dark days where we have been before. and believe me, i don't think the american people want to go back to the era when we had big suitcases of cash and the president was keeping in his white house safe, cash. we don't want, the american people don't want to return there. the

d.c. circuit under george w. bush. you can await that. reuters is a wire service, like a.p., but i am not quickly filing alerts the way jim of the done.- jim matheny had i look at broader trends. i do not have to file every day, but it is the wire, so you have to fill a hole faster than you would for the newspaper. >> is anybody else working on a book they want to out? >> not yet. >> you did a biography of justice o'connor. are you still in touch with her? what is she up to? >> she is on an airplane. she is always traveling. i asked if she would be in the room for health care. she said, "i have so much planned." i asked her if she had an instant. she said, i have not even had time to read the statutes. do you know which way they are going? no clue. it turned out that she was in the courtroom the week before. all the speculation about when it will be handed down -- nobody knows until the writing on all sides is finished. she did not know exactly when it was going to come. she could have suspected, the way we did, that it would come on june

d.c. circuit under george w. bush. you can await that. reuters is a wire service, like a.p., but i am not quickly filing alerts the way jim of the knee -- jim matheny had done. i look at broader trends. i do not have to file every day, but it is the wire, so you have to fill a hole faster than you would for the newspaper. >> is anybody else working on a book they want to out? >> not yet. >> you did a biography of justice o'connor. are you still in touch with her? what is she up to? >> she is on an airplane. she is always traveling. i asked if she would be in the room for health care. she said, "i have so much planned." i asked her if she had an instant. she said, i have not even had time to read the statutes. do you know which way they are going? no clue. it turned out that she was in the courtroom the week before. all the speculation about when it will be handed down -- nobody knows until the writing on all sides is finished. she did not know exactly when it was going to come. she could have suspected, the way we did, that it would come

d.c. circuit, he carefully looks at a case.f us who have not clerked for a chief justice, when we deconstruct the process just a little bit, prior to the official vote, the judges schedule an informal meeting where they argue or debate the topic and then they vote. as we look at that,uwÑi are the justices allowed to informally talk to one another after that vote? what do they know, josh? >> they are certainly allowed to talk to one another after the vote. they do speak with one another, typically that back and forth takes written form. the justices rarely converse in person after the conference. the conference that follows the oral argument. after that point, they typically will exchange membrane raorandar types of notes. there are months çlong, ongoin conversation that happens, but it's rarely done in person. >> what might have told you about chief justice roberts' decision on this opinion, what doxd you know of him that would have made you understand that his decision would go with the liberal associates' justices? >> you ha

d.c. circuit court is considering whether the nrc is bound to review the application. in march secretary chu committed to honor that court's decision. will you also commit? >> absolutely. >> what do you see as the federal government's proper role in encouraging the use of alternative fuel in vehicles if. >> alternative fuel in vehicles? >> yeah -- i have no idea why this is on there. [laughter] >> because the nrc doesn't do that. >> well, when we talk about electric vehicles, there could be some debate on electricity generation. to each of the serving commissioners, um, you know, we've been -- as a hearing, it's been a very good hearing. now, that's mr. markey to stop me on my final -- see? i called him out. so i think the hearing's been very, very good, and we've got one more colleague back to ask questions. but there is some issues that have been raised, and i want the give commissioner svinicki, commissioner magwood and commissioner ostendorff an opportunity the -- because some of your votes have been questioned by people who say -- [inaudible] safety. so can each o

d.c. circuit said that this is actually the commerce clae ismore erbee anuiila a tytv woi n tsete x power is less dangerous. second we know from the political standpoint taxes are toxic which is why the jue os udn i isn'tn in hiidha g thida ifficult line to draw what he basically said look, if the penalty gets too i'm ng k atht be unreasonable. lemao edsit ti oth only part of the decision that is really bad for us which is the tax power decision. what kind of decision was this? itooon tolaesayahi s oldisn t 't ea sn. the merits all on or side this was a political decision on the i t o o havwinge anw d ths at news reported yesterday and that is chief justice roberts changed his vote afr conference. we walked out thinki thate n. tu dttat w weketnkwh friske t coenotth d some time, weeks after that, beginning in the next week the president and thenited states began to attackths er hhel me on. arnt, e 'tw w l enthd e ni politics into the supreme court because the case had alreadybeen submitted. and then i was amstrup. evermajodemoatic ogivope,n r ut ayajol te teytt intha should b decided in se

. >> let's get to the campaign circuit -- scandal surrounding d.c. mayor vincent gray. calls are mounting for him to step down. three members of the d.c. council are urging mayor great to leave office. this comes as three people tied to the great campaign have pleaded guilty to criminal charges. >> revelations in yesterday's court proceedings. it was the last straw. >> we are all very concerned. this calls into question the entire election. >> muriel bowser, david catania and mary cheh are all calling on mayor vincent gray to step down. this is after the revelation that more than $650,000 in e legal funds top elected and. >> when you have a $1.2 million reported campaign, you cannot miss the infusion of $600,000. >> i get up in the morning every day and i see somebody i respect. >> at a news conference, gray said he has no plans to resign. he said he could not answer all questions, but he did say this. >> this is not the campaign we intended to run. >> regardless of whether or not he knew, his campaign it -- did it. for him to say this is not the campaign we wanted to r

d.c. circuit. he received his undergraduate degree from miami university and his jdfrom do. colonel ken alla is a mmento o forign pol d ctyises fomore than a decade he was a featured military analyst on nbc news, msnbc and cnbc. in 2006, he joned the faculty of unirsity of exs n nia eciv deinsnior lecturer and management. his military career included overseas services and intelligence officer, as was tours of duty as a system professor at we point, special asanemyeff f, dfde e iowrcge he received his undergraduate degree, his mba from harvard, and his ph.d ininternational security from the fletcher school of law anddpocyatft ofr heae esof asste f scholarship at american universi washington college of law. he is also a supreme court fellow at the constitution project. nnacu loi arnalfitor of a ortror he lawfare blog, a member of the executive committee of the section on federal courts of the association of american law schools. previously, he was an associate professor of law at he laiversity of miami school of esvlk ker hra as berson on the u.s. court of appeals for the nint

d.c. circuit and for the honorable justice of the united states supreme court. our second speaker will be michael carvin. he also has extensive appellate experience. he served in the department of justice and handled a number of cases there and now in private practice again, heading up the supreme court advocacy there. he was one of the lead lawyers in the famous case of bush against gore. he has been involved in a number of other major cases. our third speaker is professor richard epstein. he is a distinguished professor both at the university of chicago law school and also at new york university. he started his career in california at the university of southern california where he started teaching and is also a fellow of mine at stanford university. he is an extensive writer on legal subjects, having published many books and many more articles of the various sorts and specializes in his teaching in a variety of legal setbacks, including constitutional law and legal history and law policy. we are pleased to have the speakers with us. please join me in welcoming

d.c. circuit; richard griffin, nominated to the circuit court; david m mckague, nominated to the sixth circuit and harold siyed, also nominated to the sixth circuit. i would note at the time the sixth circuit alone had a 25% vacancy rate, and every one of those vacancies were designated as judicial emergencies. that, of course, didn't matter to the other side, despite the fact that the sixth circuit was in dire straits, the other side filibustered every one of those nominees. i don't recall too much concern from my friends on the other side of the aisle about the need to confirm those judges, even considering the fact that they were judicial emergencies. and now when our side seeks to enforce the rule the other side helps to create and perfect, all we hear are complaints. so, mr. president, if ever there was an example of crocodile tears, this is it. in 2008, the other side was at it again. once again they closed up shop on circuit nominations in june. this time it was the fourth circuit that was in dire straits. despite the fact that the fourth circuit had a 25% vacancy, the democrats refused

d.c. circuit and also for the honorable william brennan, then-justice of the united states supreme court.ur second speaker will be mike carvin. mike also has extensive appellate experience. he served in the department of justice and handled a number of cases there and now is in private practice again heading up supreme court advocacy there. he was one of the lead lawyers in the famous case of bush against gore and argued in that case. he has been involved in a number of other major cases, and we're pleased to have him with us this morning. and our third speaker is professor richard epstein. he is a distinguished professor both at the university of chicago law school and also at new york university. he is also, started his career really in california at the university of southern california where he started teaching and is also a fellow, a colleague of mine at the hoover institution at stanford university. he is an extensive writer on legal subjects having published many books and even many more articles of various sorts and specializes in teaching in a variety of legal subjects including

d.c. circuit said that the commerce clause is more dangerous because they could put you in jail, and with tax penalty, you just pay the fine, and that changed my view about that. i think in that sense, the tax power is less dangerous. secondly, we all know that taxes are toxic, which is why the administration is now doing a dance about why this is taxed or not, and chief justice roberts also included in his opinion that i agree with david is a difficult line to draw. he said, look, if the penalty becomes too high, they may rein in, and i am not saying that is something they may necessarily do. this goes to the legitimacy of this decision. the only part of the decision which is bad for us, which is the tax power decision. what kind of a decision was this? we all know what kind of a decision this was. before the reporting took place yesterday, it this was a political decision on the part of a swing vote. now we are in doubt from yesterday's reporting that indeed, we won this case after oral arguments. i don't know if all of you read this. cbs reported that she justice roberts changed his vo

d.c. circuit. generally held to be the second highest court in our judicial system.ly, the visitor center in the wildlife ruge after senator buckley is a particular fitting tribute. this is good legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from the northern mariana islands. mr. sablan: mr. speaker, could i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks? the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. sablan: and, mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. sablan: mr. speaker, h.r. 5958 renames the jamaica bay wildlife refuge visitor center to the james l. buckley center. we do not object to this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield four minutes to the author of this legislation, the gentleman from new york, mr. turner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman

d.c. public schools are closed today. same case for montgomery county school there's. montgomery county circuit court is also closed today. we're running all the closures on the bottom of your screen. you can find them online at nbcwashington.com. >>> a dc diner is ale couping center right now. a few people spent the night at the american city diner on connecticut avenue northwest near the

>> the san francisco-based 9th circuit court of appeals is changing plans after being criticized for wasteful spending. jamie dupree joins us via skype from washington, d.c more. >> reporter: good morning. at first, the 9th circuit basically told several members of the u.s. senate to go mind their business and butt out but now after some thought, the 9th circuit has decided they will go ahead with their judicial conference in maui. but any will delay next year -- bur they will delay next year's conference. so instead they will delay that until 2014. obviously, the issue of the budget has come up. a number of senators accuse the 9th circuit of wasting tax payer dollars. if it is a million bucks that would be more -- that would be more expensive than that gsa conference in las vegas that create the all of the -- created all of the furor earlier this year. tori? >> do you have any more information on the commerce department scandal 1234. >> reporter: department -- department damage signal. >> signal -- department scanned signal. >> reporter: yes, this is really interesting. there's a yearly conference down in orlando, florida. this year, it cost $670,000 wh

the circuit runs nationwide, oakland, san francisco, santa barbara, l.a., phoenix, atlanta, up to washington, d.c, minnesota, seattle, back down to san francisco and oakland. the pimps bring them all the way around. >> he says more often than not the girls have been so brutalized they are brainwashed into protecting their abuser. >> every girl we stop will tell us she's an independent or, you know, something like that. she doesn't have a pimp. it's drilled into them to say it. that's why it's hard to put a case on these guys. they're protective of their pimps. but they don't keep a dime. >> with millions of dollars at stake officers say more violent criminals are turning to the trafficking game. >> the drug dealers in the past were selling dope and now switched to this because it is harder to get caught. it's a renewable source. they don't have to buy the product. the product is already there. they are low maintenance. they don't spend a lot of on the girls. it is money rolling over. >> you catch a guy with the drug. the guy sells it to the undercover cop. when the undercover cop's picking up a y