memeorandum: Hulk Smash Indictment? DOJ to Drop All Charges Against Ted Stevens (Christy Hardin Smith/Firedoglake)

11:05 AM ET, April 1, 2009

Top Items:

Nina Totenberg / NPR:

Sources: Sen. Stevens Conviction To Be Voided — Audio for this story will be available at approx. 9:00 a.m. ET — · NPR's has learned that the Justice Department will drop all charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. — A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts …

Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:

Some in Justice Department See D.C. Vote in House as Unconstitutional — Holder Overrode Ruling That Measure Is Unconstitutional — Justice Department lawyers concluded in an unpublished opinion earlier this year that the historic D.C. voting rights bill pending in Congress is unconstitutional …

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Note, The Corner, The Foundry, Commentary and Bench Memos

Reuters:

U.S. to drop charges against former Sen. Stevens: report — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has decided to drop all charges against former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens amid accusations of prosecutorial misconduct, NPR reported on Wednesday, citing Justice officials.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Raw Story, Riehl World View, Don Surber and Gateway Pundit

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:

Hulk Smash Indictment? DOJ to Drop All Charges Against Ted Stevens — Lego Hulk via dunechaser. — NPR's Nina Totenberg reports that DOJ sources say Ted Stevens' indictment will be dismissed this morning by AG Eric Holder. This would, effectively, end pending criminal sentencing from Stevens' trial.

Discussion: At-Largely

Del Quentin Wilber / Washington Post:

U.S. Seeks to Drop Case Against Former Sen. Stevens — The Justice Department filed court papers this morning asking a federal judge to toss out the conviction of former senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on corruption charges. — The move comes as a federal judge was preparing to conduct hearings …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Law Blog and Patterico's Pontifications

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:

Holder abandons Stevens prosecution — Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to abandon the criminal prosecution that brought an end to the political career of one of Washington's most powerful figures: former senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. — Stevens, 84, was convicted in October …

Discussion: TPMMuckraker

Devlin Barrett / Associated Press:
Feds drop case against former Sen. Stevens

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Wizbang and DISSENTING JUSTICE

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:
Ted Stevens Conviction Voided

Discussion: The Agitator

The Politico:

Obama referendum: no winner, one loser — SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There's no winner yet in the Upstate New York special election and it might be mid-April before the race is settled. But a few things are clearer after Tuesday's contest, none of it welcome news to the Republican Party.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Ben Smith's Blog, Think Progress, The Hill, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Gawker

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

Upstate New York House Race Is Too Close to Call — A mere 65 votes separated the two candidates late Tuesday in a Congressional contest in upstate New York that received national attention and was widely seen as a referendum on the Obama administration's economic recovery efforts.

Discussion: The Opinionator, JammieWearingFool, TPMDC, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Monthly, Albany Times Union, Washington Post, Sister Toldjah, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Capitol Confidential, Clusterstock, PoliBlog, TIME.com, DownWithTyranny! and Truthdig

Baltimore Sun:

Steele chides GOP for infighting — Embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele lashed out at GOP infighting Tuesday and urged the party faithful - some of whom have criticized his erratic statements - to be more like him: “unconventional, unpredictable ... to do from time to time the unexpected.”

Discussion: Think Progress, Taegan Goddard's … and TPMDC

The New Republic: Vote of Confidence: Murphy Refutes Murphy's Law

Irene Jay Liu / Capitol Confidential:
Race too close to call

Discussion: The Other McCain, The Daily Politics, MSNBC, The Campaign Spot, WNYT-TV and Runnin' Scared

Paul D. Ryan / Wall Street Journal:

The GOP's Alternative Budget — President Obama offers us the option of European big government. — Today, the House of Representatives will consider two budget plans that represent dramatically different visions for our nation's future. — We will first consider President Barack Obama's plan.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, Washington Wire, Glenn Thrush's Blog, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Ben Smith's Blog and Townhall.com

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
GOP has unified budget message but is split on spending

Discussion: MSNBC

Guardian:

Twitter switch for Guardian — • Newspaper to be available only on messaging service — • Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters — Consolidating its position at the cutting edge of new media technology, the Guardian today announces that it will become …

Discussion: First Draft, PoliGazette, The Curious Capitalist, Full Comment, Discourse.net, The Agonist, The Sundries Shack and Harry's Place

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

Breakthrough on US-Russian Relations? “We're Not Looking Into Anybody's Soul,” Says US Official, Previewing “Sober” Yet Optimistic Announcement — LONDON — Senior officials with the Obama administration tell ABC News that this morning, after a bilateral meeting between President Obama …

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel and Don Surber

Kevin Hechtkopf / CBS News:
Text: Statement From Obama, Medvedev

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog

Washington Post:
Obama and Medvedev to Announce Broad U.S.-Russia Agreement

Discussion: Time and TIME.com

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

So Erick Erickson Says He Wants a Revolution — Erick Erickson is mad as hell and asks “at what point do people revolt?” … At issue here is . . . an environmental regulation relating to dishwasher detergent. — I think it's safe to say that we're not going to see violence in the streets over this one.

Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
At What Point Do People Revolt?

Discussion: RedState, Comments from Left Field and Whiskey Fire

David A. Patten / NewsMax.com:

NY GOP Moves To Block Franken-Style Vote Grab — New York Republicans Tuesday slapped the state's Election Board with a wide-ranging injunction to prevent Minnesota-style snafus seen in the Al Franken-Norm Coleman race from disrupting the hard-fought 20th congressional district race in upstate New York.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, City Pages and Political Machine

New York Times:
Franken Wins Ruling in Minnesota Senate Race

Discussion: Washington Monthly, City Pages, Law Blog, Political Machine, Ta-Nehisi Coates, TPMDC, Gawker, Buck Naked Politics and The Reaction

Ted Barrett / CNN:

Dems could use controversial ‘fast track’ for budget — CNN Congressional Producer — WASHINGTON (CNN) — A key Democratic senator said Tuesday that he's not ruling out a controversial budget procedure to speed passage of President Obama's health care and global warming legislation.

The Hill:
Momentum grows among Dems for using rules to avoid filibuster

Discussion: Human Events and Michelle Malkin

Mark Steyn / The Corner:

The Death of England (cont) — Jay, that fire story from Doncaster is almost unbearably sad: The characteristically moronic behavior of the braindead British coppers transformed it from a family tragedy to a national metaphor. I have written recently in Canada of the disturbing passivity of the …

Discussion: Vox Popoli, Wizbang, Pundit & Pundette and Chicago Boyz

Jason Clayworth / Des Moines Register:

BREAKING NEWS: Hundreds of Iowans thrown out of public hearing — More than 500 people who are upset with a plan to change Iowa's tax laws were cleared from a hearing tonight at the Iowa House after they interrupted multiple times. — House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque …

Discussion: Sweetness & Light

Times of London:

Brown and Obama deny G20 splits as protesters scuffle with police — Anti-capitalist protesters scuffled with police outside the Bank of England today as Gordon Brown received a series of world leaders in Downing Street to prepare for tomorrow's G20 summit.

Discussion: Reason and naked capitalism

Guardian:
Obama arrives in Downing Street for talks with Brown

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times and TIME.com

Joseph E. Stiglitz / New York Times:

Obama's Ersatz Capitalism — THE Obama administration's $500 billion or more proposal to deal with America's ailing banks has been described by some in the financial markets as a win-win-win proposal. Actually, it is a win-win-lose proposal: the banks win, investors win — and taxpayers lose.

Discussion: TalkLeft

Bloomberg:

Obama Said to Find Bankruptcy Likely for GM, Chrysler — President Barack Obama believes a quick, negotiated bankruptcy is the most likely way for General Motors Corp. to restructure and become a competitive automaker, people familiar with the matter said. — Obama also is prepared …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Daily Finance, Wizbang and Clusterstock

Martin Wolf / Financial Times:

Why G20 leaders will fail to deal with the big challenge — The summit of the Group of 20 leading high-income and emerging countries in London on Thursday seems set to achieve progress. But achievement must be measured not just against past performances, but against “the fierce urgency of now”.

Discussion: BBC