Wonkette

So the FEC investigated Arlen Specter and it turns out he broke every single campaign finance rule. When he ran for re-election in 2004, Specter took a million dollars from people who had already maxed out, failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars from PACs, and missed a reporting deadline before the primary. In his defense though, the rules are complicated and it’s not like the five-term senator has ever run for anything before. MORE »

* Heard on the Hill: Real estate website features on online tour of Samuel Alito’s house… Joe Lieberman voted on Shabbos, walked to the Capitol from his Georgetown house… Orrin Hatch’s website is full of lies. [Roll Call]
* Yeas and Nays: Dennis Kucinich’s website is full of pictures of his hot wife. [Examiner]
* Shenanigans: Hillary has not co-sponsored legislation to make her husband’s childhood home a national historic site… Tony Snow is going to ask questions of reporters tonight at the Press Club in a hilarious switcharoo. [Politico]

* At a summit in Vietnam President Bush confronts regional economic realities, North Korean diplomatic complexities, and some goofy, goofy pajamas. [NYT, Time]
* Supreme Court Justices Roberts and Alito do battle over whose mildly amusing dinner party quips are better. [WP]
* Pentagon internal review of Iraq war uses football metaphors for policy options. Typical. [WP]
* Gay-marriage ban may go to a ballot in Massachusetts. [WP]
* Charlie Rangel wants to make politicians “think twice” about starting wars and believes legislation to renew the military draft will do that. Plans to propose the legislation, “as soon as we start the new session.” [WP]
* New pointless coin to celebrate old pointless Presidents. [NYT]

Washington people just never quit working. Bill Kristol rises early to have breakfast with congressmen, Michael Chertoff spends Friday nights securing the homeland’s movie theaters, and Valerie Plame reads political non-fiction on street corners cause she can’t get enough. And kindly father Alito (at right — ain’t he loveable?) spends his weekends carting his daughter’s luggage all over 37th street. This plus philandering soccer players, jaywalking TV gangsters, and mustachioed wrestlers, after the jump!

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I should point out that I have a problem with posting the Facebook profiles of politicians’ kids. Do I think Wonkette is acting malevolently by posting them from time to time? Sure. So when a Georgetown student passed along the profile of Laura Alito ‘10, I decided not to post any pictures of Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s daughter. And then I saw the above image. Laura, like plenty of undergrads, had a little fun with Facebook’s “Relationship Status” category and got “married” to one of her girlfriends. That’s funny, because Laura’s straight. It’s also funny because her dad is Samuel Alito. MORE »

Just this morning, the Supreme Court struck down the Bush Administration’s plan to try Guantanamo detainees before military commissions, as violative of both U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions. The decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld was 5-3, with the conservatives — Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito — in dissent. (Chief Justice Roberts was recused, since he had ruled on the case — in favor of the government — as a lower court judge.) MORE »

No, this isn’t a Benetton ad. Left to right: Grant Vinik; Jeannie Rhee; Jessie Liu; Justice Samuel Alito (duh); Robin Meriweather; and Anna-Marie Roop.

Last night, one-half of Wonkette attended the annual dinner of the Yale Law School Assocation of Washington, DC, at the National Press Club. The dinner honored Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Yale Law School class of 1975, the newest member of the Supreme Court.

The proceedings were declared off the record, so we can’t tell you about Justice Alito’s thoughtful, erudite, and highly entertaining remarks. Nor can we share with you the fantastic conversations we had over dinner, at a star-studded table. All the journalists — and quasi-journalists — had to put away our notebooks for the night.

But no one said anything about cameras. So we took lots of photographs of the assembled legal luminaries — such as the picture shown above, in which Justice Alito “strikes a pose,” looking like a general about to head into battle.

Additional pictures — including photos of the evening’s other celebrity, Sen. Arlen Specter, Yale Law School class of 1956 — appear after the jump. (These are amateur photos; please don’t mistake them for the work of Liz Gorman.)

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The conventional wisdom was that Samuel Alito, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, would turn out to be Antonin Scalia’s trusty conservative sidekick. Hence the popularity of the nickname “Scalito.”

But maybe the conventional wisdom was wrong. Justice Alito has only been on the Court a few months, and he’s already pissed off Nino. Tony Mauro of the Legal Times reports:

Alito wrote Zedner v. United States for a unanimous Court on Monday, siding with a criminal defendant in a dispute over interpretation of the Speedy Trial Act. But Scalia, while joining the decision, wrote a concurrence criticizing Alito for citing the legislative history of the statute, which Scalia believes is irrelevant.

“Because the use of legislative history is illegitimate and ill advised in the interpretation of any statute — and especially a statute that is clear on its face — I do not join this portion of the Court’s opinion,” Scalia wrote.

The lovers’ quarrel explained, after the jump.

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* Nationwide boycott and simultaneous rallies are planned for today by pro-immigrant groups; Senate leaders are near a compromise, “but the White House may be underestimating the degree of opposition from within his party.” [USAT, WP]
* Thousands rally on the mall to call for action on Darfur. Sen. Obama: “Paralysis in the face of genocide is wrong.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Conservatives inundated with complaints about plan to rebate $100 to taxpayers for high gas prices. Rush Limbaugh: “What kind of insult is this? Instead of buying us off and treating us like we’re a bunch of whores, just solve the problem.” [NYT]
* Official report admits “shortfalls and deficiencies” in Iraq reconstruction as well as “substantial progress.” [WP]
* Josh Bolten, making his television debut on Fox News, says the West Wing is trying “to get our mojo back.” [WP]
* Bringing impersonator to Correspondents’ Dinner was Bush’s idea, officials say. [NYT]
* Democrats want to use minimum wage as a “wedge issue.” [W$J]
* Alito will likely cast the deciding vote in three upcoming cases. [WP]

Springtime in the city, and everybody is out grubbing. This week in Wonk’d finds Bill Clinton, feasting like a king, er, president; Justice Samuel Alito, chowing like it was his constitutional right; and Michael Chertoff, securing some risotto. Also spotted: Steve Carell, filming a new movie; Tom Brokaw, picking up some workout threads; and Grover Norquist, doing the shimmy-shimmy-shake. All this and more, of course, after the jump.

Loyal readers, you have supplied us with a bounty of celebrity sightings this week. Take advantage of the warm season, and go out and spot more people that may or may not want to be spotted. Then send the info to us via email, with “Wonk’d” or “Sighting” in the subject line (along with the name of the spotted celeb). Thanks!

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