Laurie Kellman

May 09, 2006 | Law.com

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked Republican medical malpractice legislation during the GOP's opening session of a "health week" of proposals designed to win support from conservative voters, if not passage. Republicans forced votes on the bills to demonstrate the GOP's commitment to fighting what Majority Leader Bill Frist called a "litigation lottery." Added Frist: "It really boils down to the fact that health care dollars should be spent on patients and not on lawyers who are out abusing the system."

By Laurie Kellman

2 minute read

July 29, 2005 | Law.com

The Senate sparred Thursday over legislation to shield the firearms industry from some lawsuits, rejecting an argument that gun makers and others are liable if they irresponsibly allowed a criminal to obtain a weapon and use it to kill or wound. The amendment from Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., to allow some suits by victims of gun crimes failed 62-37. The bill's supporters said the proposal would undermine the purpose of their legislation: keeping the gun industry out of financial peril from damage suits.

By Laurie Kellman

2 minute read

February 10, 2006 | Law.com

The White House gave a lukewarm endorsement Wednesday to an asbestos bill in the Senate, saying it has serious concerns about some parts of the legislation that would establish a $140 billion fund for asbestos victims and end their lawsuits. The bill's sponsor, Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., acknowledged there are unresolved problems. Topping the list of issues is whether the trust fund financed by asbestos manufacturers, users and their insurers would be drained by claims.

By Laurie Kellman

3 minute read

August 02, 2007 | The Legal Intelligencer

By Laurie Kellman

3 minute read

October 24, 2005 | Law.com

Under a deal struck Friday, the Senate won't vote until early next year on a controversial bill to loosen restrictions on publicly funded embryonic stem cell studies. Before the agreement, the deal's sponsors had said they would hold up a must-pass spending measure until lawmakers voted on the research. The deal releases Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist from his promise to hold a vote this year on the measure. The bill is controversial because the research process destroys fertilized human embryos.

By Laurie Kellman

2 minute read

May 09, 2006 | Law.com

The American Bar Association has downgraded its rating of appellate court nominee Brett Kavanaugh amid doubts about his courtroom experience and open-mindedness. Steven Tober, chairman of the ABA's peer review panel, wrote Monday that interviews conducted since the ABA's 2005 rating of Kavanaugh raised "additional concern over whether this nominee is so insulated that he will be unable to judge fairly in the future." The White House defended the nomination, saying Kavanaugh is still a good choice.

By Laurie Kellman

3 minute read

May 17, 2007 | Law.com

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came under renewed pressure Wednesday, as two more Republican senators came out against him and Democrats challenged his truthfulness about President Bush's no-warrant eavesdropping program. The developments revived a debate over Gonzales' fitness to head the Justice Department a day after a former deputy attorney general recounted a dramatic hospital bedside confrontation between Gonzales and his predecessor, John Ashcroft.

By Laurie Kellman

6 minute read

September 13, 2007 | Law.com

Senate Democrats will block Ted Olson from succeeding Alberto Gonzales as attorney general if President Bush nominates him, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday. "I intend to do everything I can to prevent him from being confirmed as the next attorney general," Reid, D-Nev., said in a written statement. The comment gave weight to Republican warnings that Olson would face brutal confirmation hearings and that the White House can't afford a fight now over who will head the troubled Justice Department.

By Laurie Kellman

4 minute read

August 01, 2008 | Law.com

A federal judge on Thursday rejected President George W. Bush's contention that senior White House advisers are immune from subpoenas, siding with Congress' power to investigate the executive branch and handing a victory to Democrats probing the dismissal of nine U.S. prosecutors. The unprecedented ruling undercut three presidential confidants who have defied congressional subpoenas. Democrats swiftly announced they would schedule hearings in September, at the height of election season.

By Laurie Kellman

5 minute read

September 19, 2007 | Law.com

Michael Mukasey, President Bush's choice to be the next AG, would fire any Justice official who receives a call from a politician and does not report it to higher-ups, one of his chief Senate patrons said Tuesday. The proposed rule is the first detail of what a Mukasey-led DOJ might look like in the troubled aftermath of the Gonzales era. Gonzales was battered for eight months by those who said he let the White House make political decisions for the traditionally independent law enforcement agency.

By Laurie Kellman

4 minute read