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He has argued he had no operational control over interrogations and spent most of his time trying to improve soldiers ' living conditions.Wearing a green dress uniform on Tuesday , Jordan generally said only , " Yes , sir , " and " No , sir , " to the judge 's routine questions.He is not in custody but is on extended active duty at the Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Belvoir , Va.Capt . Harding 's howler was featured last year in a journal article on bad scholarly writing by Jethro K. Lieberman , professor and associate dean of New York Law School - - though Liberman allowed it may not be " a good or fair example of bad writing , only bad thinking . " Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. spoke to his fellow members of the Federalist Society , a coalition of conservative lawyers and legal scholars who have gone from rebel outsiders to Washington insiders - - the group drew 1,500 people to its annual banquet and warranted appearances by administration leaders from Vice President Cheney on down.Roberts 's turn on the stage was the most complete , and it showed that his sure-footed performance in his confirmation hearings , where he left even senators opposed to his conservative philosophy aglow , was no fluke.He has a politician 's gift for appearing open while answering only the questions he wants to answer , along with an almost over-the-top humility about being , at 51 , the youngest chief justice since John Marshall , and he offers a reassuring middle ground between those worried about threats to judicial independence and those alarmed by activist judges.He provided a little something for everyone . " Though some of this may seem frivolous , it really is not . Many U.S. troops still remain in the South , though their numbers have decreased since the 1960s . " No byline accompanies Wittes 's editorials , but they , along with his frequent essays in the Atlantic Monthly , have already marked him as a highly cogent legal commentator.Wittes 's target in his short but acutely argued Confirmation Wars : Preserving Independent Courts in Angry Times ( Rowman &amp; Littlefield , $ 22.95 ) is the Senate process that confronts federal judicial nominees , particularly prospective Supreme Court justices . Paddies are found along the coasts , in reclaimed tidal areas , and in river valleys . Livestock previously played a minor role in Korean agriculture , especially in the North , where the steep and often barren hills are unsuitable for large-scale grazing , but since the end of the Korean War beef has become a significant component of the diet in the South . But because this year that day fell on Yom Kippur , the holiest day of the Jewish calendar , the session was brief - - about 10 minutes - - and the justices did not hear oral arguments . After the war the boundary was stabilized along a line running from the Han estuary generally northeast across the 38th parallel to a point south of Kosong ( Kuum-ni ) , with a no-man 's land or demilitarized zone , 1.24 mi ( 2 km ) wide and occupying a total of 487 sq mi ( 1,261 sq km ) , on either side of the boundary . It was death penalty day yesterday at the Supreme Court , coincidentally 30 years to the day since Gary Gilmore became the first person to be executed under the country 's modern capital punishment laws.The court heard three death penalty cases from Texas even as executions are on hold in an increasing number of states , from Maryland to California , and as the number of new death sentences continues to fall . Senate Republicans Prevent Vote on Minimum-Wage BillSenate Republicans blocked Democrats yesterday from fulfilling a campaign promise to increase the federal minimum wage , demanding that the pay increase be paired with a tax break for small businesses.On a vote of 54 to 43 , Democrats fell six short of the 60 needed to end debate and go to passage of a House-approved bill to raise the minimum wage for the first time in a decade - - boosting it over two years to $ 7.25 per hour from $ 5.15 . " It is a burden on them . " For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil . A lawyer for MedImmune Inc. asked the Supreme Court yesterday to let the company sue to overturn a patent owned by Genentech Inc. on a component of MedImmune 's blockbuster drug Synagis , even though MedImmune is paying royalties to use it.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit , which has jurisdiction over patent law , blocked MedImmune from suing in 2004 , ruling that a 1998 deal that MedImmune agreed to with Genentech amounted to a recognition of its patent 's validity , leaving no genuine conflict for the courts to resolve . " Since the mid-1990s when a federal crackdown in San Diego and El Paso forced illegal immigrants into the desert , Arizona has become the highway through which millions of crossers enter the United States . The site also is within walking distance of the Metro station and five bus routes.The Rev. David Rocha of Gaithersburg 's Camino de Vida United Methodist Church , who meets with the workers most days , said they are " celebrating the decision and are in support 100 percent . " Incandescent light bulbs were first developed almost 125 years ago , and since that time they have undergone no major modifications , " said Levine , a Democrat from Los Angeles , said in a news release Tuesday . The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals , nevertheless , reaffirmed the death sentence , saying that if an error was made , it was harmless to the outcome of the jury 's decision.And so Smith v. Texas ( 05-11304 ) was back before the Supreme Court yesterday , with Smith 's advocates and others - - including four retired federal appeals court judges - - arguing that the state court ignored specific directions from the Supreme Court.As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg put it , it was as though the state court were saying , " Thanks , thanks , that 's very interesting advice , " but we're deciding it on different grounds.But the state appeared to have strong supporters in Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Antonin Scalia.Scalia said the Texas court decided that , though the mitigating evidence should have been presented more straightforwardly , it was in the best position to decide that such evidence would not have affected the jury 's decision to sentence Smith to death .