Wonkette

One of the weirder angles on the John Edwards Sex Scandal is the part where the guy who says he’s Rielle Hunter’s baby daddy, Andrew Young, has to live in the same weird compound (OK FINE A “GATED COMMUNITY”) in North Carolina as Rielle Hunter, and then they all have to move to California, together, with their families, including Mrs. Young and their three children, because they are all in a terrible sex-induced Witness Protection Program. MORE »

Today in the exciting world of horse race politics: Obama lawyer tries to sneak into McCain lawyer conference call, gets rejected, is called sexist — and obvious political motives glue each development together! Jesus, this must be “Friday Night At The Movies” for Mark Halperin ‘n’ pals. MORE »

There’s nothing we can add to this: “A magazine published by the American Bar Association on Wednesday named former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales its Lawyer of the Year for 2007 — mostly for creating so much controversial news.The ABA Journal also picked Attorney General Michael Mukasey — Gonzales’ successor — to be its lawyer of the year for 2008 because he has to deal with the problems left when Gonzales resigned under fire last fall.” [AP]

Yesterday, we posted a fairly testy letter from former gossip columnist and all-time dog enthusiast Karen Feld. MORE »

Former Examiner gossip and queen-of-all-media Karen Feld has a small bone to pick with Wonkette. So she sat right down and wrote a letter to our bosses. It’s reprinted in its entirety after the jump, but here’s the gist:

What documentation does he have that I suffer from dementia?
And that I am a dog abuser?

Pareene gets a stern, rambling talking-to, after the jump.

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Welcome back to the internet Mr. David Lat, former federal prosecutor, anonymous blogger, and, yes, co-proprietor of this very site. Mr. Lat is back in the warm, tubular embrace of the blogosphere with Elizabeth Spiers’ brand new legal weblog, “Above the Law” (rejected name: “Barely Legal”). MORE »

• Sweet old lady hates Bush so much she works a room of children into a murderous rage. Grandma’s Militia now on terrorist watch list.
  [The Australian] MORE »

Last month we updated you on the apparent difficulties that Jessica Cutler, a.k.a. Washingtonienne, has been encountering in paying her lawyers. Those difficulties persist.

On Friday, Judge Paul Friedman, who is presiding over the invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against Cutler, ordered the following:

[O]n or before July 7, 2006, defendant Jessica Cutler must personally respond in writing to her counsel’s motion to withdraw and/or advise the Court of her retention of new counsel or her intention to proceed pro se.

The judge issued this order after Cutler failed to respond to her lawyer’s motion to withdraw (for nonpayment of fees). So Jessica, if you’re out there reading this, please get back to the court — ASAP.

Personally, we would give multiple body parts to watch Jessica Cutler represent herself. It would be the greatest pro se performance since Anna Nicole Smith. We suspect Judge Friedman would become very sympathetic to Cutler after having an ex parte conference with her in chambers.

For all you law geeks out there, the text of the full order appears after the jump.

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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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• Delayed discovery of three detainee suicides at Guantanamo Bay raises questions concerning whether regulations for supervision of prisoners were followed. Army general compares the suicides to the 9/11 attacks. [NYT; WP]

• Race between House immigration hawk J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) and Democratic challenger Harry Mitchell is shaping up as a referendum on immigration policy. [WP]
• Immigration issue also complicates Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election bid in California. [WSJ]
• Iran offers initial reaction to Western nuclear proposal; deems some parts acceptable, but offers no specifics. [WP]
• Democrats’ chances of scoring wins in governors’ races may be slipping. [USAT]
• Prominent Democrats schmooze with bloggers at Yearly Kos, reflecting growing clout of netroots. [Time; LAT]

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