We must be dreaming,
For it has gone to fast.
The time we have spent together,
Will soon be in our past.

I’ll forget this day is coming,
Today I stand here.
Trying to tell you,
How much I really care.

We’ll go our seperate ways,
And I’ll make it if I try.
Just hold on to our memories,
Say Never, Say Goodbye!!!

Judge Ann Claire Williams, the first African American ever appointed to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, joins a list of about 10 other candidates to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, the White House confirmed.

Obama said Wednesday that he would announce a nominee before the end of May, but aides to the president — a former constitutional law lecturer — said he was nowhere near winnowing his list of candidates. Senior administration officials say Obama wants to look outside the so-called judicial monastery: the domain of federal appeals court judges and top-tier law professors.

In a bipartisan meeting with Senate leaders and Judiciary Committee members, Obama said he was interested in hearing their “thoughts and concerns” and that they should feel free to submit the names of judges they wanted considered.

After the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said they had recommended candidates to the president but would not elaborate.

The gulf between the president and the Republicans at the meeting was evident, even as Obama promised he would not rule out candidates based on their views on abortion rights or any other particular issue.

“I don’t have litmus tests around any of these issues,” Obama said in response to a reporter’s question. “But I will say that I want somebody who is going to be interpreting our Constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, and that includes women’s rights, and that is going to be something that is very important to me.”

White House aides said this week that Obama was searching for a nominee who could build a consensus on the court — much like Stevens has done over his nearly 35-year career — and was less interested in a judge who would simply dissent from the left. That seems to be an indication that the president is more inclined to choose a moderate judge, who also may face less of a fight from Senate Republicans in an election year in which the White House wants to focus on its domestic legislative agenda.

The favorites for the nomination appear to remain Solicitor General Elena Kagan and federal appeals court Judges Merrick Garland and Diane Wood, but the White House has also been considering other candidates, including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears.

Before she became a lawyer, Williams was a music and third-grade teacher in the Detroit public schools. She spent nine years as an assistant U.S attorney in Chicago, trying major felony cases and ultimately becoming chief of the Organized Drug Enforcement Task Force for a five-state region. President Reagan first appointed her to the federal bench in 1985, making her the first African American woman to serve as a district judge in the 7th Circuit. President Clinton elevated her to the appellate court.

cparsons@latimes.com

joliphant@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-court-20100422,0,4753181.story

Mo'nique

The brother of Oscar winner Mo’Nique recently appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to apologise for abusing the Oscar winner for “a year or two” when they were children.

“I abused and betrayed the trust of another sibling, my sister, my blood sister,” said Gerald Imes, who began molesting Mo’Nique when he was 13 and Mo’Nique was about 7 or 8. He apologized to the actress, saying “I’m sorry, Mo’Nique. I’m sorry.”

Mo’Nique won an Academy Award this year for her gritty portrayal of an abusive mother in the film Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire.

Imes said he decided to appear on “Oprah” to apologize to Mo’Nique and reunite their family. Imes said he himself was molested and he was using drugs and alcohol at age 11.
“Hopefully somewhere, somehow as siblings we can come back together as brother and sister,” he said.

Mo’Nique, who has discussed her brother’s molestation in previous interviews, didn’t participate in the programme but gave her blessing for it to go ahead.

“She said if your expressing what you had done to her could save one family then it would be worth it,” Winfrey told Imes.