5 YEARS AGO 10 YEARS AGO 15 YEARS AGO 20 YEARS AGO

The U.S. Senate moved one step closer to pulling the trigger on the “nuclear option” on judicial filibusters after the Senate Judiciary Committee pushed through two of President Bush’s most controversial circuit court nominees on a party-line vote. The nominations of Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen were approved by a 10-8 vote. Both had already been filibustered by Democrats in the previous Congress. Republicans had criticized Democrats for exercising the filibuster in judicial nominations, arguing that the Constitution required each nominee be allowed an up-or-down vote. Senate Republican leader Bill Frist was considering invoking an arcane parliamentary procedure that would effectively force subsequent nomination votes to be kept to a simple majority. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid had in turn promised to bottle up Senate business if Frist’s so-called nuclear option was invoked.

Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati helped Peregrine Systems Inc. and Harbinger Corp. merge in a $2.1 billion stock-for-stock exchange announced April 5. The deal had been approved by both boards and was now pending stockholder approval.