From NBC's Mark Murray and Ali Weinberg
As expected, President Obama today addressed the controversial anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona, calling it irresponsible and misguided, and arguing that it undermines the "basic notions of fairness" in this country.

At an naturalization ceremony for active-duty members of the military, Obama stated his desire for comprehensive immigration reform and pointed out that 11 current Senate Republicans voted to for reform four years ago.

"If we fail to act responsibly at the federal level," he said, "it will only open the doors to irresponsibility by others" -- transitioning to the Arizona bill that, among other things, would require local law enforcement to force anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant to produce proof of legal status.

He contended that the legislative efforts in Arizona "threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe."

Obama added that he instructed his White House staff to monitor the situation in Arizona, examining its civil-rights implications. "But if we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country."

The president concluded, "As a nation, as a people, we can choose a different future -- a future that keeps faith with our history, with our heritage, and with the hope that America has always inspired in the hearts of people all over the world."

The immigration battle in Arizona becomes a national story, and President Obama could weigh in when he speaks at a naturalization ceremony at 10:00 am ET… Note that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) is facing a GOP primary this August, and that's certainly a factor in whether she allows the state's controversial immigration bill to become law… Two different tones on Wall Street from Obama and Senate Dems… Republicans seize on new health-care numbers… Charlie Crist's indie transformation now seems complete… First Read profiles SCOTUS possibility Janet Napolitano… First Read's Top 10 Primaries… Two Super Senate Tuesday debates occur today -- Lincoln vs. Halter and Grayson vs. Paul… And Biden stumps for Specter in PA.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** The border battle: In a midterm season where rural and conservative voters have taken center stage at tea parties, is it the wisest move for Democrats and the White House to move forward on immigration reform? Then again, do Republicans want to find themselves in the uncomfortable position of dealing with the perception that they are anti-Hispanic. Well, it looks like we're about to find out the answers to these questions -- especially with the state of Arizona about to force Washington's hand. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has until Saturday night to decide whether she will sign into law legislation that, among other things, would require state law enforcement officials to force anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant to produce proof of citizenship/legal status. The Arizona Republic reports that Brewer is expected to act today (her options are to sign the bill, veto it, or do nothing and allow it to become law). Before heading out for a weekend trip to Asheville, NC, President Obama will speak at a naturalization ceremony for active-duty service members at 10:00 am ET, and he could very well address this controversial bill during his remarks.

*** Brewer in the spotlight: A TELEMUNDO reporter last night asked Gov. Brewer if she was concerned that the immigration bill would lead to racial profiling in the state. Her response: "I am … am looking at that particular bill. I've been meeting with lawyers, and I've been looking at it very diligently. And when I make my decision, you will be one of the first to know." The reporter followed up by asking if she was concerned that Arizona is sending the wrong message to the rest of the country with the bill's potential for racial profiling. Brewer's reply: "You know, I think that we should be concerned about racial profiling. Um, it's illegal." Note: Brewer, who became governor after Janet Napolitano became Homeland Security secretary, is facing a primary challenge from a handful of Republicans this August, and that is certainly a factor here. Also note that John McCain, who also is facing a primary, is backing the legislation.

*** Two different tones: Was it a bit inconsistent to see, on the one hand, President Obama urging everyone to come together on the financial reform legislation and, on the other hand, have Senate Democrats accuse Mitch McConnell and other Republicans for engaging in "lies" and mischaracterizations on the bill? We can tell you that some folks at the White House viewed the Senate Democratic press conference yesterday as celebrating when Democrats haven't yet reached the end zone on the Senate legislation. (Remember, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has set a cloture vote for 5:00 pm ET on Monday, and even though the momentum is in the Dems' favor, they still haven't locked down 60 votes.) Conversely, we've heard from Senate Dems that they didn't want to repeat the mistakes from the health debate, in which the GOP's messaging scored big points. In fact, a new Kaiser poll finds that 55% of Americans say they are confused about the health law. This is an example of congressional Democrats realizing that they are the ones, not the White House, who are on the ballot this fall.

*** New health-care numbers: Speaking of health care, Republicans are seizing on new numbers from Medicare's Office of the Actuary showing that the new health-care law will raise health costs $311 billion from 2010 to 2019 (yet that increase represents just nine-tenths of 1%; total health care spending during that period is expected to cost $35 TRILLION). And expect GOP press releases today to note this cost increase. These figures, of course, differ from the Congressional Budget Office's estimate that the law would lower health costs. The Obama administration responds that the report reaffirms the law "will cover more Americans and strengthen Medicare by cracking down on waste fraud and abuse, modernizing payment systems and improving benefits by providing free preventive services, supporting innovations that help control chronic disease and closing the prescription drug donut hole." 

*** The reason for the lack of bipartisanship? In the latest issue of National Journal, Ron Brownstein notes that the most moderate U.S. senators come from states dominated by the other political party in presidential elections (Examples: Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe in Maine, and Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas and Mary Landrieu in Louisiana). And Brownstein makes this interesting find: There are only three GOP senators -- Collins, Snowe, and Scott Brown -- who hold seats in states that voted Democratic in all of the past three presidential elections. That explains, in part, why there isn't that much bipartisanship on legislation. It also explains that Democrats pretty much grabbed every Senate seat they could in the '06 and '08 cycles.

*** The transformation is now complete: We're now seeing what appears to be Charlie Crist's transformation into Independent Crist. When asked yesterday about Dick Cheney's endorsement of Marco Rubio, Crist said, per video posted by the Palm Beach Post: "It's just another Washington politician telling Florida what to do. I don't think Floridians appreciate it." Here we go, folks. The filing deadline is April 30. By the way, the Miami Herald is reporting that the Florida Education Association, "the state's largest teachers union, is running a 30-second television ad in Tallahassee Thursday thanking [Gov. Charlie] Crist and pushing for collaboration on future education reform efforts." 

*** Meet Janet Napolitano: In our latest SCOTUS profile, we take a look a Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the former Democratic governor of Arizona. In addition to those jobs, she served as Arizona's attorney general, worked in private law practice, and clerked for 9th Circuit Judge Mary M. Schroeder. She's also a breast cancer survivor and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Among Napolitano's pros (from the White House's perspective): As a politician, she'd bring a different perspective to the court; in fact, she'd be the first non-judge to be elevated to the court since 1972… She also would bring education diversity (with an undergraduate degree from the University of Santa Clara and a law degree from the University of Virginia)… If selected and confirmed, she would be the third woman to currently sit on the court, which would be a record (but she wouldn't be the first Arizona woman on the court; Sandra Day O'Connor has that distinction)… She is pro-choice (having vetoed a bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period for abortions as governor)… And she's widely respected inside the Obama administration.

*** Napolitano's pros and cons: Her cons: Despite her national security credentials, Napolitano's confirmation hearing would -- again -- bring attention to the Obama administration's response to the failed Christmas Day terrorist plot, especially her widely criticized reaction that the system worked… If she's seated on the court, the president would have to find another Homeland Security secretary, producing another potential confirmation battle… And she angered conservatives when DHS released a report suggesting that right-wing radicals, some seeking to capitalize on the election of the nation's first African-American president, might try to recruit members from the U.S. armed services returning from Iraq and Afghanistan; she later apologized to members of the armed services who might have taken offense.

*** First Read's Top 10 Primaries: If it's Friday, it means another First Read Top 10 list -- this time our look at what we consider to be the Top 10 remaining primaries this cycle. Note that FOUR of these races take place on May 18, which we're dubbing Super Senate Tuesday. The number in parentheses is our ranking from last month.
1. AR SEN -- D (2): After the developments in Florida, the Lincoln-vs.-Halter contest is now not only the best Democratic primary; it's the best overall primary. As our friends at Hotline have asked, does Lincoln's work to crack down on derivatives blunt Halter's/the left's message that she is a lackey for corporate interests?
2. UT SEN -- R (4): Bob Bennett looks to be in worse trouble than previously thought. Will he even finish in the top two in the May 8 convention to force a primary? And what if there isn't even a primary?  
3. KY SEN -- R (3): Trey Grayson vs. Rand Paul continues to be a great fight to watch. They have both gone negative in their ads, even sparring over 9/11. Paul continues to hold the upper hand.
4. FL SEN -- R (1): This dropped to No. 4 -- and probably will drop off our list altogether next month – because it's pretty clear that Charlie Crist is done as a GOP candidate in this race. We'll find out for sure by the April 30 filing deadline.
5. PA SEN -- D (5): Joe Sestak has failed to catch on in the polls, but both candidates remain well funded and are now hitting each other on air. Specter unloaded with a tough negative ad.  
6. KY SEN -- D (6): While Grayson vs. Paul has grabbed most of the national attention, Mongiardo vs. Conway is a competitive race, too.
7. CA SEN -- R (unranked): Carly Fiorina vs. Tom Campbell looks like it's going to be a tough, expensive fight for the right to take on Barbara Boxer. And don't miss that Obama is doing ANOTHER fundraiser for Boxer next month.
8. SC GOV -- R (7): This remains our top gubernatorial primary; the winner could have a profound impact on the 2012 GOP presidential contest.
9. AZ SEN -- R (8): McCain's campaign continues to run circles around J.D. Hayworth's. The question is whether McCain's record from 2001-2007 catches up to him.
10. CO SEN -- R (unranked): The Norton-Buck contest is increasingly turning into the next competitive GOP primary, with Jim DeMint lining up behind Buck and with some campaign changes for Team Norton.

*** Super Senate Tuesday: In Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln and Bill Halter square off in a debate… In Kentucky, there's another debate -- between Trey Grayson and Rand Paul… And in Pennsylvania, Vice President Biden stumps for Arlen Specter in the Scranton area; before that, he attends an event for PA congressional candidate Mark Critz.

Countdown to IN, NC, and OH primaries: 11 days
Countdown to NE and WV primaries: 18 days
Countdown to AR, KY, OR and PA primaries, and PA-12 special: 25 days
Countdown to HI special election: 29 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 193 days

Click here to sign up for First Read emails. 
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter.

The New York Times: "President Obama took his rhetoric of reform on Thursday to the nation's financial capital in a high-profile foray to chide Wall Street bankers for their 'reckless practices' and to press for tighter regulations meant to avert another financial crisis… But the president also struck a note of conciliation with an industry that has contributed generously to his party, beseeching bankers to work with him to forge a new regulatory structure. While he spoke, his Democratic allies in Washington moved to force a showdown in the Senate on Monday, scheduling a procedural vote that will test the prospects for bipartisan compromise and Republican resolve to block the president's plans."

Two very different impressions here: The AP writes, "Obama also struck a note of conciliation with an industry that has contributed generously to his party, beseeching bankers to work with him to forge a new regulatory structure."

But here is he New York Daily News on the speech: "Bull fight: Prez gores Wall St."

Fast times with the facts? Democrats yesterday hit Republicans for playing fast and loose with the facts. And they have been. But President Obama also bent the truth yesterday in his speech in New York when he said that a vote for this bill is a vote to end taxpayer bailouts. That's not exactly true, because without breaking up big banks, there's no guarantee that if there won't be future bailouts.

That's a point NPR makes this morning: "This is close to a consensus view among the experts. Some say that's a good idea, some say it isn't. But most say that unless you chop up the big banks into lots of small banks, you won't end too big to fail."  

Whoa. "The country's top financial watchdogs turned out to be horndogs who spent hours gawking at porn Web sites as the economy teetered on the brink, according to a memo released Thursday night. The shocking findings include Securities and Exchange Commission senior staffers using government computers to browse for booty and an accountant who tried to access the raunchy sites 16,000 times in one month. Their titillating pastime was discovered during 33 probes of employees looking at explicit images in the past five years, said the memo obtained by The Associated Press." 

New health care numbers are out. "Nearly 4 million Americans -- the vast majority of them middle class -- will have to pay the new penalty for not getting health insurance when President Obama's health care overhaul law kicks in, according to congressional estimates released yesterday," the AP writes. 
 
And an Obama administration Health and Human Services Department study found: "The overhaul will increase national health care spending by $311 billion from 2010-2019, or nine-tenths of 1 percent," the AP says. "To put that in perspective, total health care spending during the decade is estimated to surpass $35 trillion. Administration officials argue the increase is a bargain price for guaranteeing coverage to 95 percent of Americans. They also point out that the law will decrease the federal deficit by $143 billion over the 10-year period." 

Some Republicans are signaling that they will oppose any move for immigration reform by invoking the economy. Here's a statement Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions released yesterday: "One in ten Americans are unemployed. Wages are stagnant. The pace of job creation is too slow. In this context, there is little enthusiasm in Congress to pass legislation that would legalize millions of unlawful residents to compete with out-of-work Americans for needed jobs, further driving down pay and draining government resources. The Senate and the American people soundly rejected that approach at a time when the economy was doing far better, and they will again today. One has to ask: are members raising the idea of comprehensive reform now because they believe the majority of Americans truly want it, or because it serves a specific political purpose in a tough election year?

Drill, baby, drill? "President Barack Obama is ordering federal agencies to devote every resource necessary to help with the situation in the Gulf of Mexico where an oil platform exploded and sank. ... Officials fear a massive oil spill could result from the sinking of the drilling platform about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast."

The Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) plans to move forward Monday with an expansive bill to overhaul the nation's financial regulatory system, setting up a possible showdown between Republicans and Democrats if efforts at a compromise fall short. As President Obama spoke Thursday in New York about the "essential" need for the landmark legislation, Reid set in motion the Senate procedures necessary to hold a crucial test vote late Monday afternoon." 

"Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) appears to be fighting an uphill battle to get her piece of the financial regulatory reform bill into the larger package before it hits the floor, possibly next week," Roll Call writes. 

The Washington Post profiles Merrick Garland. "Unlike several other possible candidates to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Merrick B. Garland probably won't face conservative opposition. Instead, it could be liberals lining up against him. A small but vocal group of activists is privately saying that Garland is not liberal enough to replace the legendary Stevens, whose opinions defended gay rights and abortion rights and opposed the death penalty. They say Garland is a centrist who won't champion liberal concerns, too often finds middle ground with his conservative colleagues on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit."

National Journal's Stuart Taylor is a Garland fan. "[T]he president could do no better than Garland if he wants a moderate liberal universally seen as a paragon of fairness, open-mindedness, and collegiality, with broad experience as a high-level Justice Department troubleshooter, as a prosecutor who showed extraordinary empathy for victims, and as a corporate litigator." 

Given the back-and-forth between reports and allegations that the RNC's donor program is insolvent, and that committee's attempts to prove otherwise, "the story is no good for an RNC that desperately needs to stay out of the news," The Washington Post writes.

"Sarah Palin could testify as early as Friday in the federal trial in Knoxville of a former University of Tennessee student charged with breaking into the ex-Alaska governor's email," AP reports. "Palin's husband, Todd, is also a potential government witness in the trial that will likely last into next week." 
 
But Palin's also scheduled to do this: "Sarah Palin could have hardly picked a more crunchy granola town to give a speech in than Eugene. Despite its pioneer and logging heritage, the town where Nike running shoes were born from a waffle iron is high on organic food, snobby about craft beers and tattoos, home to the University of Oregon and dependably votes Democratic. Last year, the mayor declared the first week in May as Medical Marijuana Awareness Week. Yet the Lane County Republican party couldn't be prouder of landing the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, who uses 'granola' as a term of derision, as the headliner for its Lincoln Day fundraiser dinner Friday night."

FLORIDA: "The Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, is running a 30-second television ad in Tallahassee Thursday thanking [Gov. Charlie] Crist and pushing for collaboration on future education reform efforts," the Miami Herald writes. 
 
"Billionaire real estate developer and financier Jeff Greene is mulling whether to enter the Democratic Senate primary in Florida," the Washington Post reports. Greene made a fortune pioneering credit default swaps, the Post adds, but his connections to characters like Mike Tyson and Heidi Fleiss seem to make him a "ripe target for political opponents."  

MARYLAND: The Washington Post chronicles incumbent Gov. Martin O'Malley's taxpayer funded jaunts around the state, observing that he's "continuing a long tradition enjoyed by incumbents before him [by] taking full advantage of his status as Maryland's sitting governor to blur the line between policy and politics heading into November's election, political observers say."   
 
MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Globe profiles the gubernatorial candidate Tim Cahill, a former Democrat-turned-independent. 

NEVADA: "U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden said Thursday Harry Reid is trying to make her look bad over remarks which included suggesting a return to the barter system with doctors," the Nevada Appeal writes.   

UTAH: "In jeopardy of being swept from office by a torrent of frustration with Washington from conservative activists, Sen. Bob Bennett made a vigorous case at a debate Wednesday night for why he should retain his seat," the Salt Lake Tribune writes. "Bennett, in his 18th year in the Senate, sought to distance himself from the image of a Washington insider, saying he was a businessman most of his career." 

From NBC's Ken Strickland
The date and time are now set for the first vote on the Senate's financial regulatory reform bill.

The vote to start debate -- to actually put the bill on the floor -- will be Monday, April 26 at 5:00 pm ET. (For the wonk in you, it's called a vote on "the motion to proceed.")

Democrats will need 60 votes to be successful.

From NBC's Pete Williams
Lawyers for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich today asked a federal judge to subpoena President Obama, so they can ask him questions on videotape to be used at Blagojevich's trial.

"The defense does not take lightly the overwhelming schedule the president has and the security constraints surround his testimony. A videotape deposition will remedy both of those legitimate concerns," the lawyers said in court documents filed today.

They claim that Obama could give important testimony about two prosecution witnesses.  The first is a person identified only as "a labor union official" who, the government has claimed, was in contact with Obama about the senate seat he vacated. The second is Tony Rezko, the Chicago real estate developer who the defense lawyers call "President Obama's former friend, fundraiser, and neighbor." 

"President Obama has pertinent information as to the character of Mr. Rezko" and can "testify as to Mr. Rezko's reputation for truthfulness." The court documents note the favorable deal Rezko gave the future president for his Chicago house, a deal which Mr. Obama later called a mistake.

The lawyers also say they want to ask only about matters that arose before Obama became president. For that reason, they say, there would be no issue of executive privilege.

Presidents are not immune from having to give testimony in criminal cases: Jefferson, Monroe, Grant, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Clinton have given evidence in criminal cases.  Even so, the government can be expected to vigorously oppose this request to subpoena President Obama.

From NBC's Ken Strickland, Sarah Blackwill, and Mark Murray
Since the financial regulatory debate began, Democratic leaders have accused Republicans of misrepresenting the facts about their bill. But in a news conference today, Senate Democratic leaders turned up the heat with a video presentation of Republican "lies" and alleged  mischaracterizations.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Sens. Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer played clips showing Republican statements and speeches about the reform bill. One clip featured Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell saying that "this bill not only allows for taxpayer bailouts; it institutionalizes them."

Responded Durbin: "So if you listen to this comment by the minority leader of the United States Senate, you wonder if he's read the bill -- particularly if he's read the section between pages 110 and 295, which is entitled orderly liquidation authority. Liquidation. Liquidation is the end of the bank, not a bailout that it can continue in business."

Durbin continued, "No matter how many times the minority leader says endless bailout, the fact is the clear language of this legislation says just the opposite. What he's reading to us is not from the bill. It's from a memo prepared by [GOP pollster] Frank Luntz, prepared even before this bill was written."

Reid added: "The Republican leadership has so far decided to be against reform, to in effect kill reform. They're betting on failure again. They decided the best way to stop us from cleaning up Wall Street is by polluting the debate with myths and mischaracterizations."

And Schumer said: "On the health-care bill, we allowed too many lies to get out there without rebuttal, because we thought they were so obviously untrue. But we've learned our lesson. And the minute these things come out of the mouths of some of our Republican colleagues, we rebut them. And we rebut them again and again. And fortunately, these lies are not taking hold.

From NBC's Athena Jones
President Obama returned to Cooper Union Thursday to make the case for changing the rules governing Wall Street firms in order to better protect both consumers and investors and to avoid another financial collapse.

In his 2008 speech here, then candidate Obama argued that because the financial industry had evolved, a "21st Century regulatory framework" with new rules of the road was needed to adequately protect the system and restore confidence in the markets. In making the same argument today, he touched on one of his common themes: responsibility.

"One of the most significant contributors to this recession was a financial crisis as dire as any we've known in generations -- at least since the '30s and that crisis was born of a failure of responsibility -- from Wall Street all the way to Washington -- that brought down many of the world's largest financial firms and nearly dragged our economy into a second Great Depression," he said. " Some -- and let me be clear, not all -- but some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged there's family looking to buy a house, or pay for an education, open a business, save for retirement. What happens on Wall Street has real consequences across the country, across our economy."

White House officials have repeatedly painted the battle for improved financial rules as a fight to protect ordinary Americans against big firms who take risky bets that put the entire economy at risk. Officials argue that Republicans who oppose reforms are fighting on the side of banks instead of for the interests of the American people.

Democrats on the Hill also gained momentum from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's announcement that it was suing Goldman Sachs for fraud. And in recent days, GOP leaders have signaled a willingness to work with Democrats on the bill, which could come to the floor next week.

Today in New York, the president touted the decisions his administration had made - many of them unpopular -- to try to put the brakes on the economic freefall and said that while businesses were now adding jobs again, there was still more work to do to make sure progress was felt "not just on Wall Street but on Main Street." He urged Wall Street to back changes he believes will strengthen the system, rather than fighting them.

"Our markets are only free -- when there are basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excesses, that ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system and that is what the reforms we've been proposing are designed to achieve -- no more, no less," he said. "We will rise or we will fall together as one nation and that is why I urge all of you to join me. I urge all of you to join me, to join those who are seeking to pass these commonsense reforms."

Obama also touched on the Volcker Rule, which would limit the size of banks and kinds of risks they can take and say on pay rules that would give investors and pension holders a stronger role in deciding compensation at big firms.

The roughly 700 people in the audience at the college included members of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board like Paul Volcker, labor leaders, elected officials like Gov. David Paterson and Mayor Mike Bloomberg, consumer advocates and leaders from the financial industry, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and NASDAQ CEO Bob Griefeld.

The House of Representatives passed a comprehensive overhaul of financial regulations last year and the Senate is poised to take up its version of legislation in the coming days that would, among other things, regulate the highly profitable derivatives market, end future taxpayer-funded bailouts, give the federal government resolution authority to unwind a failing firm without putting the entire system at risk, require large firms to have more capital on hand and less debt and create a new consumer protection agency housed in the Federal Reserve.

From NBC's Pete Williams
The Justice Department says it intends to appeal a federal court ruling that found the National Day of Prayer to be a violation of the separation between church and state.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed against President Obama and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. One week ago, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled that the president's declaration of a national day for prayer was unconstitutional.

The government today informed the court that it will appeal the decision.

Since 1952, when Congress required the president to issue a proclamation designating a national day of prayer, all presidents have done so. Beginning in 1988, the day has been the first Thursday in May, because Congress amended the original law to declare it the day for the event.

A Wisconsin group, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, challenged the law and named Obama and Gibbs as defendants after they defended the tradition as "an acknowledgment of the role of religion in American life."

But Judge Barbara Crabb ruled last week that while the government can be involved in prayer when it serves a secular purpose, it cannot go further and call for religious action on the part of its citizens. "No one can doubt the important role that prayer plays in the spiritual life a believer," she wrote. 

But, she said, that "does not mean that the government may enact a statute in support of it, any more than the government may encourage citizens to fast during the month of Ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves in a sweat lodge, or practice rune magic.  In fact, it is because the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual's decision whether and when to pray."

But Judge Crabb also ordered that her ruling would not take effect until the government had completed its appeals, a process that starts today.

From msnbc.com's Carrie Dann
It's BFD: The True Hollywood story.

Vice President Joe Biden offered a first-person account Thursday of his infamous bleep-necessitating aside to President Obama at the March signing of the health-care overhaul bill.

In an appearance on ABC's The View, Biden said that Obama was "laughing like the devil" after learning that Biden's whispered labeling of the landmark reform legislation as "a big f---ing deal" had been audible over an open microphone.

"I was just thankful my mother couldn't hear it," Biden said. "I realized there was a microphone, I just had no idea it was that sensitive."

At times visibly betraying an effort to choose his words carefully, Biden responded to questions about the tenor of debate in Washington and the appeal of his onetime campaign counterpart, GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Biden called the former Alaska governor "a charming person."

"People look at me as though I'm kidding -- but I like her," he said. 

Biden also fielded more serious questions from the show's hosts about the economy and the threat of a nuclear Iran. He said that he expects new United Nations sanctions against Iran by the end of this month or beginning of next month. 

Responding to a reference by host Whoopi Goldberg to a proposal to institute a national value-added tax, Biden said that Obama has expressed openness to hearing more about it, but dismissed the notion that it is under serious consideration. "We aren't talking about that," he said.

The appearance on the ABC talk show was Biden's second. He was a guest on the show in 2007 to promote his book, "Promises To Keep: On Life and Politics."

For political channel-surfers, the interview served as an opening act to Obama's televised remarks on financial regulatory reform at Cooper Union in New York City. Obama's speech began moments after the vice president signed off with the ladies of The View.

From NBC's Mark Murray
In the Florida GOP Senate contest, the latest high-profile Republican to endorse Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist -- as Crist apparently mulls an independent bid -- is former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Says Cheney in a press release:

Charlie Crist has shown time and again that he cannot be trusted in Washington to take on the Obama agenda because on issue after issue he actually supports that agenda. Lately it seems Charlie Crist cannot be trusted even to remain a Republican. I strongly urge him to either stay in the Republican Primary or drop out of the race. The only winners from an independent bid by Crist would be Barack Obama and Harry Reid.

I am proud to stand with Marco Rubio and I urge all Florida Republicans, regardless of who you have been supporting, to unite behind him.

Obama gives speech on financial reform in New York at 11:55 am ET… According to excerpts, he will say that "a free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it"… Obama categorically denies that the White House had anything to do with the SEC's action against Goldman Sachs… It's looking like financial reform is a done deal… It also looks like OMB's Orszag might be first cabinet member to depart… Immigration before energy/climate change?... First Read profiles Leah Ward Sears… But there's smoke that the SCOTUS front-runners are Kagan and Garland… And Joe Sestak appears on "Daily Rundown."

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Taking it to the Street: President Obama today returns to Cooper Union in New York City -- where he spoke during the presidential campaign and also where Abraham Lincoln gave a famous speech on slavery -- to push for passage of the Senate financial reform legislation. The White House has released excerpts of Obama speech, which he'll deliver at 11:55 am ET. "One of the most significant contributors to this recession was a financial crisis as dire as any we've known in generations. And that crisis was born of a failure of responsibility -- from Wall Street to Washington," he is expected to say. "It was that failure of responsibility that I spoke about when I came to New York more than two years ago, before the worst of the crisis had unfolded. I take no satisfaction in noting that my comments have largely been borne out by the events that followed. But I repeat what I said then because it is essential that we learn the lessons of this crisis, so we don't doom ourselves to repeat it."

*** "The free market isn't free license": Obama also is expected to deliver these words: "As I said two years ago on this stage, I believe in the power of the free market. I believe in a strong financial sector that helps people to raise capital and get loans and invest their savings. But a free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. That is what happened too often in the years leading up to the crisis. Some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged, there is family looking to buy a house, pay for an education, open a business, or save for retirement. What happens here has real consequences across our country."

*** Obama on Goldman Sachs: In an interview yesterday with CNBC's John Harwood, Obama categorically denied that the White House had anything to do with the SEC's fraud case against Goldman Sachs. "The SEC is an entirely independent agency that we have no day-to-day control over," Obama said. "And they never discussed with us anything, with respect to the charge that will be brought. So this notion that somehow there would be any attempt to interfere in an independent agency is completely false." The president also dismissed the conservative complaints that his presidential campaign raised nearly $1 million from Goldman and its employees. "Anybody who gave me money during the course of my campaign knew that I was on record … pushing very strongly that we needed to reform how Wall Street did business." These two GOP/conservative attacks are inconsistent: You can't both allege that Obama is in Goldman's pocket, and that he orchestrated the SEC charges against the firm, right? You have to believe in one or the other, but you can't believe in both.

*** A done deal? Meanwhile, as Obama speaks in New York today, financial reform's passage in the Senate looks to be all but a done deal. The Washington Post: "Key members of both parties said Wednesday that they are close to agreeing on the main elements of a bill to overhaul the nation's financial regulations, raising the prospect that the Senate could begin formal discussion of the landmark legislation early next week… If no last-minute hurdles arise, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) plans to hold a test vote Monday, aides said. If he gets 60 or more votes, he could move ahead with formal debate on the bill." What a switcheroo: On Monday, the talk was, "Uh-oh, another partisan fight will drag on for weeks." Looks like McConnell made one effort, saw that he didn't really have the votes to sustain a filibuster, and raised the white flag. Fascinating week.

*** Orszag the first to leave? Bloomberg News reports: "White House Budget Director Peter Orszag was poised to become the first member of Barack Obama's Cabinet to leave, as early as this summer. Then came an appeal from the president insisting that he reconsider. Orszag will make his decision soon, according to a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg BusinessWeek will report in its April 26 issue. The 41-year-old budget director had been signaling to White House officials that he didn't plan to remain for the next budget cycle, the person said." An OMB spokesman tells First Read that Orszag is "focused on his job and idle speculation is just that." Still, is there a more thankless job over the next three years than budget director? Look at the grief he got with attempting to cut a tad from NASA; is it any wonder why someone might want to leave before the real deficit-reduction fights begin?

*** Immigration before energy? Today's the 40th Earth Day, and the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman energy/climate change legislation is supposed to be introduced on Monday. But it's starting to look like immigration could be the Senate's next legislative priority, not energy. One, you have Harry Reid, who sees galvanizing Latino voters as a way to help his struggling re-election campaign. Two, The Hill is reporting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is fine with the Senate taking up immigration reform before energy. And three, it appears that this anti-immigration bill in Arizona is going to force the White House to move to immigration, if it becomes law. As the Arizona Republic writes, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) "has until the end of the day Saturday to decide if she'll sign Senate Bill 1070, veto it or do nothing and allow it to become law. The bill, among other things, would make it a state crime to be in the country illegally and requires local law enforcement to determine an individual's legal status if there is reasonable suspicion that he or she is in the U.S. illegally." The Hispanic constituency is too important to the Democratic Party these days to ignore the calls for reform in the wake of this growing Arizona controversy.

*** Step One for GM (and the White House): One big story from yesterday was the news that GM has already repaid a $6.7 billion loan, although that's a fraction of the $50 billion the U.S. government gave the automaker last year. Still, that's a big step for GM and the Obama White House. But it's just Step One; Step Two is for GM to actually start succeeding, and that next big moment for GM is to become a publicly traded company again. If that does happen by the end of this year or early next, and the stock price isn't simply a few bucks but is a growing stock and the cars begin to move off the lot, then it could become a good government-can-work story for this White House.

*** Meet Leah Ward Sears: In the next of our brief profiles of Obama's potential SCOTUS picks, we take a look today at Leah Ward Sears (who we also profiled on May 22 of last year). Sears, 54, is the former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court -- the country's first African-American chief justice of a state supreme court. She retired from the court last summer and is now in private practice. Sears is viewed as a liberal, but she's also friendly with Clarence Thomas. In the widely reported case of 17-year-old Genarlow Wilson -- who was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having consensual oral sex with a 15 year-old girl -- Sears wrote the majority opinion, calling the punishment "grossly disproportionate" to the crime and not rising "to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children." Aside from the racial and gender diversity she would bring to the court, she also brings intellectual diversity with degrees from Emory University and Cornell.
 
*** Ward Sears' pros and cons: Although her ties with Thomas could allay some conservative criticism, they could possibly hurt her among some liberals. She also has a unique personal story, being born in Germany to a U.S. Army colonel and elementary school teacher. (She remarked as a 4-year-old while touring New York City, "Why do the brown people here live so poorly?" Sears later said, "That was the moment I came to realize there was such a problem with race in this world.") Because of her father's job, she also lived in Northern California, Washington, D.C., and Savannah, GA. She eventually won a full scholarship to Cornell, where she wrote poetry and became involved in the black and women's studies movements. She joined an all-black sorority and didn't join her mother's, because she felt it "was not black enough," according to a profile of her in Notable Black American Women. But one University of North Carolina professor, who analyzed Ward Sears' cases said she "is definitely not a judicial extremist, the kind usually found always dissenting on a court. To label her a liberal or an activist judge is clearly incorrect." Her positions on hot-button issues tend to be nuanced."

*** And the front-runners are… : By the way, there's a lot of smoke that the two SCOTUS front-runners are U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan and Merrick Garland of the D.C. Circuit; that they've essentially separated themselves from the rest of the so-called pack. Of course, the interviews do matter a GREAT deal, and Sotomayor blew away the president during that process. So anything is still possible. 

*** Super Senate Tuesday: In Pennsylvania, Vice President Biden is set to appear at a rally for Arlen Specter on Friday (Biden today is in New York to appear on "The View")… Meanwhile, Joe Sestak appears this morning on MSNBC's "Daily Rundown."

Countdown to IN, NC, and OH primaries: 12 days
Countdown to NE and WV primaries: 19 days
Countdown to AR, KY, OR and PA primaries, and PA-12 special: 26 days
Countdown to HI special election: 30 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 194 days

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter.

President Obama heads to New York City to speak on regulatory reform. The New York Daily News' cover: "In belly of the beast."

The New York Times: "As the Senate debates how to rewrite rules governing the financial industry, Mr. Obama will lay out the elements he insists must be in any legislation to get his signature. Among them are more consumer protections, limits on the size of banks and the risks they can take, reforms on executive compensation and greater transparency for controversial securities known as derivatives."

The Washington Post: "President Obama's speech in Manhattan on Thursday marks the culmination of a strategic, month-long acceleration of his personal involvement in financial regulation, according to White House and Treasury Department officials."

The New York Post launches a defense of Wall Street with its cover: "Mr. President, Don't Kill the Golden Goose."

Time looks at the case against Goldman Sachs.

In his interview with CNBC's Harwood, Politico says Obama "punted when asked if he'd categorically rule out raising rates on taxpayers earning more than $200,000 – a key campaign pledge. Obama said he won't decide until a bipartisan deficit reduction commission releases its recommendations later this year. And he wouldn't commit to vetoing a bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts on families making over $250,000 – even though eliminating the tax break is a central part of his deficit reduction agenda."

It looks like the state of Arizona might force the White House's hand on immigration reform. "Police chiefs from across the nation jumped into Arizona's immigration battle Wednesday," the Arizona Republic reports. "During a telephone press conference, four chiefs - including former Mesa Chief George Gascón - criticized the proposed immigration law the state Legislature passed. The bill now awaits Gov. Jan Brewer's signature."

"Brewer has until the end of the day Saturday to decide if she'll sign Senate Bill 1070, veto it or do nothing and allow it to become law. The bill, among other things, would make it a state crime to be in the country illegally and requires local law enforcement to determine an individual's legal status if there is reasonable suspicion that he or she is in the U.S. illegally."

"Forty years after that first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, smog levels nationwide have dropped by about a quarter, and lead levels in the air are down more than 90 percent," the AP writes. "Formerly fetid lakes and burning rivers are now open to swimmers. The challenges to the planet today are largely invisible -- and therefore tougher to tackle."

"Key members of both parties said Wednesday that they are close to agreeing on the main elements of a bill to overhaul the nation's financial regulations, raising the prospect that the Senate could begin formal discussion of the landmark legislation early next week," the Washington Post front-pages. "'I'm more optimistic than I've ever been,' said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (Ala.), the lead Republican negotiator. 'I think we can put a bill together pretty soon.' His counterpart in months of talks, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the banking committee, agreed that they were on the cusp of a consensus."

The New York Times: "Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, voted with Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee in favor of imposing tougher rules for derivatives, the complex securities that were at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis. The Agriculture Committee, which deals with derivatives because it oversees commodities futures trading, voted 13 to 8 to approve the bill, which was sponsored by Senator Blanche Lincoln, Democrat of Arkansas, the panel's chairwoman. The bill is expected to be part of the wider regulatory overhaul put forward by the banking committee, though Democrats are still figuring out how to combine the proposals."

Roll Call adds, "Democratic and Republican Senators appeared to be closing in on a financial regulatory reform deal Wednesday, but Democrats said that regardless of the outcome of talks, they are confident they have Republicans on the run and are in a position to force the bill to the floor next week."

The Washington Post: "President Obama forcefully stated his desire to nominate a Supreme Court candidate who supports abortion rights, saying Wednesday that it is 'very important' to have a justice who interprets the Constitution as protecting individual rights, including women's. Obama was careful to say that he would impose no litmus test on potential nominees. But he made it clear during a meeting with Senate leaders that he would take into account a candidate's views on the constitutionality of abortion."

"It's official," Roll Call writes, "President Barack Obama has moved the Supreme Court nomination process to the top of his priority list, packing his schedule with phone calls to key Senators and informal meetings with potential nominees in the lead-up to announcing his final selection in the next few weeks. A bipartisan meeting with Senate leaders on Wednesday set the tone for how Obama plans to proceed: quickly, thoroughly and with Republican involvement."

The New York Times profiles Diane Wood and her working relationship with 7th Circuit conservatives Richard Posner and Frank Easterbrook. "'It's hard to find more confident and strong-willed judges than Frank Easterbrook and Richard Posner — they're brilliant and they know it,' Mr. Goldstein said. 'If she can have a decades-long relationship with these judges and maintain their respect, and do things like have Easterbrook come around in the mezuzah case, it really shows that she's not tilting at windmills. She is very invested in persuading.'"

Politico wonders if the media, the left, and the right are all exaggerating the Tea Party's influence and impact.

The Boston Globe profiles Mark Williams, a talk radio host and chairman of Tea Party Express. The Globe calls him "the traveling voice of the insurgent political group," who "has thrust himself onto the national stage with fiery, polarizing rhetoric that has won him both adoration and scorn, even in his own party. The 54-year-old Massachusetts native regularly lambastes President Obama as a communist bent on undermining the Constitution, and last week likened him to such dictators as Stalin and Pol Pot. On his blog and elsewhere, he rails against Obama as an 'Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug,' and 'racist in chief' for his comments about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his own home. His incendiary remarks, which include long-discredited assertions, have alienated some Republicans and fellow Tea Party members, and raised fears that such extreme rhetoric will marginalize the movement and undercut its momentum as a political force." Yet he says, "I refuse to cater to the lowest common denominator," he said. "We need to restore our constitutional balance."

Does Michele Bachmann stand by her "gangster government" comment on the Obama administration? You betcha. "Absolutely, I do," she told The Hill. "When government comes in and decides who the winners are, who the losers are and there's no recourse, that's what happened to 3,400 dealerships across the country. That's one example of gangster government," Bachmann said.

Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol testified yesterday in a hearing about emails from her mother's account being posted online during the 2008 election. She said she "received countless phone calls and hundreds of text messages when her cell number was posted online after her mother's e-mail account was hacked."

ARIZONA: The AP writes, "Republican Sen. John McCain, who once championed a path to citizenship for the nation's roughly 12 million undocumented immigrants, is now pushing for a crackdown on illegals amid the toughest re-election fight of his career. McCain's hardline stance on immigration comes in the face of a credible GOP primary challenger, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, and the possibility that the party's 2008 presidential nominee could lose his Senate seat because many conservatives don't consider him one of their own. Engaged in a fierce contest with the tea party-backed Hayworth, McCain has moved to the right on numerous issues, including gay rights and climate change, and disavowed his long-standing maverick label."

FLORIDA: "If he chooses to run as an independent, [Gov. Charlie] Crist would be betting that the prevailing political logic of the moment is wrong -- that despite the Tea Party's rise, the broader electorate still wants the pragmatic approach that propelled Barack Obama to victory here," the New York Times writes.

KENTUCKY: "Republican Rand Paul held his fifth and, his campaign said, final online 'money bomb' fundraiser, bringing in more than $101,000 in 24 hours," Roll Call reports. "Although breaking six figures, the fundraiser brought in quite a bit less than similar events staged by Paul's campaign to win the GOP Senate nomination. … As of April 1, Grayson had more than $1 million in the bank compared with nearly $400,000 banked by Paul's campaign."

MINNESOTA: Roll Call jumps into MN-6, Michele Bachmann's seat.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Gov. John Lynch launches the first campaign ad in his re-election campaign, WMUR reports.

PENNSYLVANIA: "U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will headline the rally Friday for U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, according to a news release from Citizens for Arlen Specter. The rally will be in Hanger No. 1, with the doors open at 12:30 p.m. and the rally beginning at 2 p.m."

WEST VIRGINIA: "Rep. Alan Mollohan (D) is airing a campaign commercial that attacks state Sen. Mike Oliverio, his opponent in the May 11 Democratic primary, for his ties to a conservative-leaning organization of state legislators," Roll Call writes. "The ad, which began airing Tuesday, responds to an Oliverio spot that criticized Mollohan's ethics." Ethics was a top issue used against Mollohan in 2006, but he was able to survive because of the national Democratic wave.

From NBC's Doug Adams
Five prominent Republicans came to the Senate press gallery today to say they're "optimistic" about getting a financial reform bill they can support.

Sen. Richard Shelby said he was "more optimistic than I've ever been" and Sen. Saxby Chambliss said they have "90 percent agreement" with Democrats. "We've narrowed it down to a limited number of areas where we disagree. And we're going to work very hard to see if we can try to bridge the gap between the two of us."

The two senators -- joined by Kay Bailey Hutchison and Orrin Hatch -- said both parties agreed on the major goals, including preventing companies from getting "too big to fail."  As Hutchison put it "We are pretty close. We have the same goal - we want too big to fail to go away. ... Having the populist democrats and the free market Republicans come together and say "too big to fail is wrong"  is a step in the right direction."

Responding to criticism that Republicans are defending Wall Street bankers' interests, Shelby strongly disagreed, adding  "We don't represent Wall Street. Nobody does!  I don't think the Democrats represent Wall Street. Altho they get a lot more MONEY than we do. ... I can tell ya -- Wall Street ain't gonna be writing THIS bill!"

Shelby also said the Goldman Sachs charges have "certainly put some fuel on the fire" in terms of getting the financial reform legislation passed soon.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Breaking News from the AP: "The House ethics committee says it is starting 'a full and complete investigation' into whether anyone covered up sexual harassment allegations against former Rep. Eric Massa."

"The New York Democrat resigned last months after allegations surfaced that he sexually harassed male members of his staff. The committee cannot investigate former members. Rather, the panel will look into what others knew about Massa's conduct, and what they did with any information they received."

Per NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, here are excerpts of what the Ethics Committee released:

The allegations surrounding former Representative Eric Massa are serious and warrant a full and complete investigation.

The Committee voted unanimously to establish an investigative subcommittee to conduct a full and complete inquiry into whether the conduct of any Member, officer or employee of the House violated any law, rule, regulation or any other standard of conduct applicable to the performance of their duties with respect to the allegations of misconduct involving former Representative Massa.

From NBC's Jenna Pfeffer
In a conference call with reporters today, Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH) -- who is running for the Senate to replace retiring Sen. Judd Gregg (R) -- blasted New Hampshire Republicans for not supporting the financial reform legislation that the Senate is considering.
 
It is "time that Sen. Gregg and the Republicans stood up and stood on the side of the middle class families ... instead of the big banks on Wall Street," he said.
 
Hodes urged Gregg, as well as the Republican candidates vying for his Senate seat, to hold big banks accountable to ensure that they never "hold Americans hostage again." He emphasized the fact that this is something that not only New Hampshire families, but also the entire country, desperately need.
 
The New Hampshire Democrat proclaimed that Gregg has "maintained a partisan stance on Wall Street reform," and he insisted that there is no reason that this reform shouldn't be a bipartisan effort. Hodes also claimed that the Republicans would rather stick up for "reckless financial policies that drove our economy into a ditch," instead of standing up for small businesses and families.
 
In particular, Hodes criticized Bill Binnie and Kelly Ayotte -- two of the Republicans running for the Senate seat -- for standing with special interests. "Ayotte must be waiting for talking points from Republican folks in Washington because she said absolutely nothing, and you can only assume from the fact that she said nothing that she opposes Wall Street reform." He also warned that we should not let the lobbyists who are invading Washington "stonewall reform."

ELENA KAGAN, U.S. Solicitor General
Kagan is considered by many to be the front-runner and who's also drawing the most opposition from the left. Pros of a Kagan pick: She's viewed as having an easy road to confirmation (seven Republican senators voted for her confirmation as solicitor general: Coburn, Collins, Gregg, Hatch, Kyl, Lugar, Snowe). She won praise from both liberals and conservatives during her tenure as dean of Harvard Law. She knows the president pretty well (while at the University of Chicago, she tried to recruit Obama, then a part-time lecturer in constitutional law, to a full-time job in academia). A woman, she would be the court's third female, which would be a record. And at 49, she's one of the younger Supreme Court possibilities for Obama.

Pros and cons: Cons of a Kagan pick: Some liberals think that if she's nominated, Kagan would move the Supreme Court to the right (compared with Stevens). They argue that she -- a la Harriet Miers -- has a tiny paper trail, and so they believe it's inconclusive if she's as liberal as other possible Obama picks. Liberal critics also cite Kagan's past statements that suggest she believes in strong executive-branch powers. Meanwhile, conservatives point to this: While at Harvard, she filed a friend of the court brief opposing the Solomon Amendment, which required universities that receive federal funding to be cooperative with military recruiters. Kagan contended that the military's ban on gays broke the law school's anti-discrimination policy against gays. Once the 3rd Circuit ruled that the amendment was unconstitutional, Kagan instructed Harvard Law's Office of Career Services to stop helping military recruiters. But she reversed course when the Supreme Court overturned the 3rd Circuit's decision. Still, she urged students to protest the recruiters.

DIANE WOOD, Seventh Circuit Court
She wins praise from colleagues and lawyers for her smarts, her preparation, and her "incisive" opinions. A Wood pick would please the left, given that she has served as a liberal counterweight to conservative intellectuals on the 7th Circuit like Richard A. Posner and Frank Easterbrook (the three are friends, however, and they often have lunch together, and Posner even officiated Wood's wedding in '06, according to Bloomberg News). In fact, she has won praise for finding consensus on the court, even with her conservative colleagues. If selected, she would bring educational diversity to the court, becoming the only current SCOTUS justice without an Ivy League degree (she earned her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, and you know First Read certainly won't hold that Longhorn education against her). And Obama knows her -- the two taught law together at the University of Chicago, and they were reportedly friendly but not close.

Pros and cons: Conservatives have more ammunition to use against her than they would against Elena Kagan or Merrick Garland, although none of her positions are outside the Democratic mainstream. She has a clear pro-choice record and has praised the late Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion for Roe v. Wade (and for whom she clerked), for articulating privacy and individual rights. Wood delivered a lecture in 2005 stating her view that the Constitution is a living document that's adaptable to a changing world… On the 7th Circuit, she argued that atheists should be able to challenge mostly-Christian prayers that open the Indiana Legislature. And she ruled that a gay Wisconsin teacher should be able to sue for alleged discrimination. But this could be Wood's biggest shortcoming: At 59, she's one of the older Supreme Court possibilities for Obama (and she will turn 60 on July 4).

MERRICK GARLAND, D.C. Circuit Court
Garland is widely respected across the ideological spectrum. Lawyers, who have argued before him, regard him as "fair" (though left-leaning), "polite," even-tempered, "pleasant," "brilliant," and "painstakingly thorough." It seems his whole life and career have been geared toward the Supreme Court: He's a Phi Beta Kappa Harvard law grad; he clerked on the court for Justice William Brennan; he worked in the Carter, Bush 41, and Clinton administrations; and he oversaw the Tim McVeigh and Unabomber prosecutions. In 1997, Clinton appointed him to the D.C. Circuit, which is seen by many as a stepping-stone to the Supreme Court. 
 
Pros and cons: Conservatives have praised Garland, saying he "may well be the best that conservatives could reasonably hope for from a Democratic president." But despite that bipartisan praise, the left likely wouldn't be as thrilled with a Garland pick as someone they would view as more clearly liberal (like, say, Diane Wood), particularly at a time when Democrats have 59 senators. And he would be replacing a justice considered to be one of the court's leading liberals. Garland is seen as a careful judge, but he also would apparently fit the Obama empathy mold. Said one lawyer, according to the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary: "He is an unusually empathetic man. He is very much aware of the impact of his decisions on real people."  One other pro some are arguing for Garland: that he might have the backbone to go toe-to-toe with John Roberts in a way that could even make him a consensus builder with, say, Anthony Kennedy. This issue of the "Roberts Court" is something that is of concern to the president, and some believe he views this court pick as an opportunity to find someone to "check" Roberts.

LEAH WARD SEARS, fmr. GA Supreme Court chief justice
Sears, 54, was the country's first African-American chief justice of a state supreme court. She retired from the court last summer and is now in private practice. Sears is viewed as a liberal, but she's also friendly with Clarence Thomas. In the widely reported case of 17-year-old Genarlow Wilson -- who was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having consensual oral sex with a 15 year-old girl -- Sears wrote the majority opinion, calling the punishment "grossly disproportionate" to the crime and not rising "to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children." Aside from the racial and gender diversity she would bring to the court, she also brings intellectual diversity with degrees from Emory University and Cornell.
 
Pros and cons: Although her ties with Thomas could allay some conservative criticism, they could possibly hurt her among some liberals. She also has a unique personal story, being born in Germany to a U.S. Army colonel and elementary school teacher. (She remarked as a 4-year-old while touring New York City, "Why do the brown people here live so poorly?" Sears later said, "That was the moment I came to realize there was such a problem with race in this world.") Because of her father's job, she also lived in Northern California, Washington, D.C., and Savannah, GA. She eventually won a full scholarship to Cornell, where she wrote poetry and became involved in the black and women's studies movements. She joined an all-black sorority and didn't join her mother's, because she felt it "was not black enough," according to a profile of her in Notable Black American Women. But one University of North Carolina professor, who analyzed Ward Sears' cases said she "is definitely not a judicial extremist, the kind usually found always dissenting on a court. To label her a liberal or an activist judge is clearly incorrect." Her positions on hot-button issues tend to be nuanced."

JANET NAPOLITANO, Homeland Security Sec., fmr. AZ GOV
In addition to being secretary of Homeland Security and formerly the governor of Arizona, Napolitano served as Arizona's attorney general, worked in private law practice, and clerked for 9th Circuit Judge Mary M. Schroeder. She's also a breast cancer survivor and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Among Napolitano's pros (from the White House's perspective): As a politician, she'd bring a different perspective to the court; in fact, she'd be the first non-judge to be elevated to the court since 1972. She also would bring education diversity (with an undergraduate degree from the University of Santa Clara and a law degree from the University of Virginia). If selected and confirmed, she would be the third woman to currently sit on the court, which would be a record (but she wouldn't be the first Arizona woman on the court; Sandra Day O'Connor has that distinction). She is pro-choice (having vetoed a bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period for abortions as governor). And she's widely respected inside the Obama administration.

Pros and cons: Despite her national security credentials, Napolitano's confirmation hearing would -- again -- bring attention to the Obama administration's response to the failed Christmas Day terrorist plot, especially her widely criticized reaction that the system worked. If she's seated on the court, the president would have to find another Homeland Security secretary, producing another potential confirmation battle. And she angered conservatives when DHS released a report suggesting that right-wing radicals, some seeking to capitalize on the election of the nation's first African-American president, might try to recruit members from the U.S. armed services returning from Iraq and Afghanistan; she later apologized to members of the armed services who might have taken offense.

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, Michigan governor
Granholm is term-limited as governor. She has served in that post since 2003. Before that, she was Michigan's attorney general, worked as a federal prosecutor, and clerked for 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Damon Keith. Among her pros (from the White House's perspective): Like Janet Napolitano, whom we profiled on Friday, Granholm is a politician, and she'd bring a different perspective to the court; in fact, she'd be the first non-judge to be elevated to the court since 1972. She's pro-choice (but while governor to signed a bill giving pregnant women considering abortion the option of viewing ultrasound pictures). And she appears to have good relations with Team Obama (due to her beauty-pageant past, good looks, and considerable debating skills, she played the part of Sarah Palin for Joe Biden's VP debate practice).

Pros and cons: Among her cons: Granholm has never been a judge or a law scholar, so there is no track record about her judicial philosophy. Given that Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation (at 14.1%), critics might seize on that to evaluate her tenure as governor. And she endorsed Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary season. Here's one other thing worth knowing about Granholm: If selected and confirmed, she would be the first Supreme Court justice to be born outside of the United States since Felix Frankfurter (who was born in Vienna, Austria)

MARTHA MINOW, Harvard Law School Dean
Minow has served as Harvard Law's dean since 2009, when she replaced Elena Kagan, who's another SCOTUS possibility. Minow, who has been on the Harvard faculty since 1981, is close to Obama and taught him while he was in law school there. In 2009, Obama nominated her to the board of the Legal Services Corporation. The Boston Globe reported: "Minow helped inspire Obama to enter public service instead of seeking his fortune on Wall Street. 'When I was at Harvard Law School I had a teacher who changed my life -- Martha Minow,' he said during the 2008 presidential campaign." Minow's father, Newt, was one of Obama's mentors at the Chicago law firm where Obama worked." Minow clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall, earned her law degree from Yale, did her undergrad work at Michigan, and got her master's in education at Harvard. (She's also a lecturer at Harvard's Graduate School of Education.) 
 
Pros and cons: Minow is an accomplished academic. The White House could sell her as someone who knows how law affects the daily lives of the American people because of her work on human rights (she founded Co-existence, a U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Program), as well as her background in family law and her work on challenges students with disabilities face. Among her cons: Minow has never been a judge, so there are no judicial opinions to comb through that would signal what kind of justice she would be. What is out there reveals a pretty liberal track record, which could make for a fight from Republicans. She was one of four law school deans to pen a letter to Congress, advocating for a repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Lost in today's SCOTUS, financial reform, and even immigration news was this pretty big story: "General Motors Co. on Wednesday said it paid off a $6.7 billion U.S. government loan ahead of schedule in a move the company hopes will help revive an image marred by last year's bailout," the Wall Street Journal writes. "The loan is a fraction of the $50 billion GM received from the U.S. government last year. The big payback will come when GM goes public and the U.S. can begin to sell off its 60% stake in the company."

And the White House is trumpeting the news. Here's a blog post by chief White House economic adviser Larry Summers:

What a difference a year makes. Just about a year ago, the American auto industry was on the brink of collapse. Today, General Motors announced that it has repaid its $6.7 billion loan to the U.S. government in full five years ahead of schedule, and Chrysler announced that, after taking one-time charges last year associated with its restructuring, it produced an operating profit in the first quarter of 2010 for the first time since the economic crisis began. The prospect of a faster than anticipated exit from government involvement and a return of most of the taxpayers' investment in these companies has materially improved.

This turnaround wasn't an accident of history. It was the result of considered and politically difficult decisions made by President Obama to provide GM and Chrysler – and indeed the auto industry – a lifeline, if they could demonstrate the will to reshape their businesses and chart a path toward long-term viability without ongoing government assistance.