Here's a little riddle: What do these three senators have in common?

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho)

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

First, they're all Republican senators from underpopulated sparsely populated states.

Second, they've all run into ethical, legal, or political problems. You know all about Senator Craig -- in fact, more than you ever wanted to. As for Senator Stevens, see here and here. As for Senator Murkowski, see here.

What's the third thing they have in common? Find out, after the jump.

We linked to this interesting MSNBC article, about possible replacements for outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in Morning Docket.

We'd now like to link to it again, and draw your attention to the very end of the article. Doug Kmiec, a top Justice Department official in the Reagan and Bush I administrations, is quoted as follows:

"[T]he president might be well advised to pick a senior court of appeals judge appointed by Reagan; perhaps, Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the Ninth Circuit, Kenneth Ripple of the Seventh Circuit, or Edith Jones of the Fifth."

[Kmiec] said, "The integrity of these individuals is unquestioned; by virtue of judicial office, they have been freed of partisanship for some time, yet, by virtue of appointment, would be acceptable to the base of the President’s party."

Judge O'Scannlain for Attorney General? What a fabulous idea!

Having clerked for Judge O'Scannlain, we're admittedly biased. As we previously wrote:

During two decades of distiinguished service, Judge O'Scannlain has established himself as a shining star in the federal judicial firmament. We had the honor and pleasure of clerking for Judge O'Scannlain during the 1999-2000 judicial year. He was a wonderful boss to us and our co-clerks, and he continues to be a great mentor and friend to this day. (He's also quite handsome, in a Paul Newman sort of way; see photo at right.)

But you don't need to be a former O'Scannlain clerk to recognize the soundness of Kmiec's reasoning. (As for the other two judges Kmiec mentions, we're not that familiar with Judge Ripple. Judge Jones, while diva-licious, she might be a tough sell to a Senate controlled by the Democrats.)

So we hereby issue this official ATL endorsement: Judge O'Scannlain for Attorney General!

(Psst, Nixon Peabody peeps: Can you do up a theme song?)

Senate confirmation hearings promise drama [MSNBC]

"Okay, Judge Bork. Smile and say 'The Original Understanding'!!!"

(Also: Is that Harvard Law prof Laurence Tribe standing behind Robert Bork, or just someone who looks a lot like him?)

Earlier this week, we gave you a detailed report about the fabulous nuptials of Ted Olson -- the winning lawyer in Bush v. Gore, former Solicitor General, and current Gibson Dunn partner -- and his beautiful and brilliant bride, Lady Booth.* The Olson wedding was attended by the crème de la crème of D.C. and conservative legal circles.

Now we have an update to our prior coverage, an ATL exclusive: WEDDING PICTURES!!! And they're not boring, like the ones your college roommate makes you look at every time you visit her house. Did Justice Sandra Day O'Connor attend your college roommate's wedding?

Check out the pics -- there are just a few of them, it won't take you long -- after the jump.

* "Lady" is her given name, not a title. See here.

The Ninth Circuit may be getting slapped around by the Supreme Court lately. (Yeah, what else is new.) But they continue to go about their business. Keep on truckin', Your Honors!

One of you was kind enough to attend a recent Ninth Circuit sitting -- not just any old sitting, but the one graced by that judicial celebrity, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- and send us a detailed report.

That account of the oral argument -- plus a bonus judicial sight-ation, and some added commentary from us -- appears after the jump.

This past Saturday, October 21, Washington superlawyer Ted Olson and his fiancee, Lady Booth, were married. The wedding ceremony took place at the stunningly beautiful Meadowood resort, in Napa Valley, California.

Olson, a giant of the Supreme Court bar, served as Solicitor General -- the federal government's top lawyer before the Supreme Court -- from 2001 to 2004. He's currently a partner in the elite D.C. office of top-flight firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Olson successfully litigated the landmark 2000 election case, Bush v. Gore, in the Supreme Court. On the losing side: renowned litigator David Boies. But presumably there were no hard feelings, since Boies showed up for the wedding festivities -- along with many other legal luminaries.

Some legal celebrity sightings, from the Washington Post's Reliable Source:

More than 300 guests attended the midafternoon ceremony on the golf course, including Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, former justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, legal commentators Victoria Toensing and Joe diGenova, NPR's Nina Totenberg, legal names such as Robert Bork, Kenneth Starr, David Boise [sic], and Olson's law partner Bill Kilberg. U.S. Appeals Court Judge Laurence Silberman performed the ceremony, and Wall Street Journal Publisher Gordon Crovitz served as best man.

This is Booth's first marriage and Olson's fourth. The couple will honeymoon in Hawaii.

We hear through the grapevine that the wedding was, not surprisingly, "a great time. It seemed like half of Washington was there!"

Other notable guests: Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, of the Fourth Circuit; Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, of the Ninth Circuit, and his ever-stylish wife, Maura O'Scannlain; Frank Fahrenkopf, former RNC chairman and current gaming industry superlobbyist, with his wife, Mary; current Solicitor General Paul Clement; and conservative pundit Laura Ingraham.

Despite the tremendous collective brainpower of these august guests, we hear that several of them were left scratching their impressive craniums by one wedding detail: the request on the wedding invite for "Napa Casual" attire.

These leading minds of the bench and bar can slice, dice, define and parse the most complex legal terms known to man. But throw two innocent little words at them -- "Napa Casual" -- and watch them panic.

If only every day could be a court day. Who doesn't look good in black?

Update: You can check out photographs from the wedding by clicking here.

Napa Nuptials for Olson and His Lady [Washington Post]
Theodore B. Olson, Solicitor General bio [USDOJ.gov]
Theodore Olson [Wikipedia]

Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain's current law clerks, a merry band: Vincent Kalafat, from Notre Dame; Rod Forter, from Columbia; Marah Stith, from Yale (blogged about supra); and Father Bill Dailey, from Columbia.

Well, Ninth Circuit and O'Scannlain groupies, we've come to the end of the road. This is our last batch of pictures from our delightful weekend in Portland, Oregon, attending DFOpalooza.

After the Friday night reception at the Pioneer Courthouse, and the Saturday night dinner at the Town Club, the weekend concluded with a farewell brunch at the O'Scannlain residence. The weather couldn't have been better, and many guests sat out on the expansive judicial patio, where they enjoyed wonderful brunch fare (including an amazing artichoke-and-chicken dish that was nothing short of a revelation).

More pictures, after the jump.

Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, Mrs. Maura O'Scannlain, and two decades' worth of law clerks and judicial assistants. (We apologize for the less-than-stellar quality of this pic. If you live in the D.C. area and would like to give us a tutorial in digital photography, email us.)

Our photo essay about the historic Pioneer Courthouse, in Portland, Oregon, is complete . But our coverage of "DFOpalooza" -- the delightful weekend of events celebrating Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain's 20th judicial anniversary -- isn't quite done.

After the jump, more fun photographs. We traveled across the country to be there, so we intend to milk it for all it's worth. And, of course, it's good publicity for our awesome former boss.

If you're a federal judge who's wondering, "Why isn't my law clerk reunion being covered this lavishly?", there's a solution: Invite us to your next one! (Hey Frank -- we hear your house in Alaska is pretty sweet.)

No, we didn't forget about our little caption contest. But we almost did, due to the paucity of entries. The runaway winner: Schopenhauerian, our "celebrity commenter" here at ATL.

Here is his -- or her? -- winning entry, to accompany the photo shown above:

Meet legal supergeniuses Emily and Mandy, the youngest clerks in the history of the Supreme Court.

After earning her JD from Harvard Law summa cum laude, Emily previously clerked for Judge Kozinski. Mandy, first in her class at Stanford Law, served in the office of Solicitor General Paul Clement and went on to clerk for Judge Luttig. Emily's interests include comparative constitutional law, baton twirling, 18th century German literature, and roller skating. She has also written extensively on all aspects of international arbitration law. Mandy specializes in federal jurisdiction and statutory interpretation, and is the world's leading authority on "My Little Pony" collectibles.

What clinched it for us: the "My Little Pony" shout-out. We have a weakness for all things MLP.*

And Schopenhauerian gets bonus points for the superior graphics skills demonstrated in this photoshop masterpiece:

"Mr. Lat, we know you love attention, but don't you think this is taking it a bit too far?"

Congratulations, Schopenhauerian! (Please email us -- we're very interested in getting to know you.)

* We will refrain from telling you, due to its embarrassing nature, about how when we were little, we commandeered our sister's "My Little Pony" collection to convene a "Pony Parliament." In the end, the tenuous governing coalition assembled by Pretty Parasol© fell apart after a vote of no confidence.

(Clearly we evinced a keen interest in political and legal affairs from an early age.)

Earlier: ATL Caption Contest

Yes, ladies, he really is this handsome. Sorry, he's taken.

From left to right: Professor William Birdthistle; Mark Schneider, an AUSA in Chicago; Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain; Brian Murray (OT 2002/Scalia); Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Cohn (OT 2000/Thomas); Carol Murray (we think); Cindy Zmijewski Demers (in profile); Ryan W. Bounds, of the Office of Legal Policy (and the Office of Sartorial Counsel).

For those of you who don't like eye candy (of the admittedly blurry kind), you'll be happy to know that this is the last in our series of photo essay posts about the historic Pioneer Courthouse, in Portland, Oregon. The prior installments can be accessed here (scroll down).

The latest batch of pictures, showing former O'Scannlain law clerks on a judge-led tour of the renovated Pioneer Courthouse, appear after the jump.

This post is continued from The Pioneer Courthouse: A Photo Essay (Part 1). For background on this glorious historic courthouse, located in the heart of Portland, Oregon, we refer you back to that post.

For additional pics, skip ahead to the jump.

The festivities of the O'Scannlain law clerk reunion weekend, held in honor of Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain's 20th anniversary on the Ninth Circuit bench, began on Friday night with a reception in Judge O'Scannlain's chambers. They're located on the third floor of the beautiful Pioneer Courthouse (see above), in downtown Portland, Oregon.

The Pioneer Courthouse, a national historic landmark, is the oldest federal building in the Pacific Northwest, as well as the second-oldest federal courthouse west of the Mississippi. First built in 1875, it recently reopened to the public after an extensive renovation and seismic upgrade. (Earthquakes make us glad we live on the East Coast.)

After the jump, some photographs of this magnificent building (along with visiting law clerks, who ain't too shabby themselves). This is the first post in a multi-part series -- 'cause these photos take forever to upload, and we didn't want to keep you waiting for hours. Enjoy!

While we were in Portland, Oregon, for the law clerk reunion in celebration of Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain's 20th anniversary on the bench, we took oodles and oodles of pictures. We shared two of them with you yesterday.

We'll be publishing more photographs from the reunion in the near future. Unfortunately, it's taking us hours -- literally -- to review, resize, and upload dozens and dozens of pics (another reason why we'd love some help around here).

For the time being, here's a (slightly fuzzy) photo, along with some Supreme Court clerk hiring news:

The hottie on the left, with the beautifully toned arms (even more buff in person), is current O'Scannlain clerk Marah Stith. The motorcycle-riding Marah has just been hired by Justice Clarence Thomas for an October Term 2009 clerkship. Congratulations, Marah!

The boyishly cute gentleman on her right: Notre Dame Law School professor AJ Bellia, also one of the Elect. Professor Bellia clerked at all three levels of the Article III judiciary, for Judge William Skretny (W.D.N.Y.), Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain (9th Circuit), and Justice Antonin Scalia (OT 1997).

Professor Bellia is married to another legal academic superstar: fellow Notre Dame law prof (and member of the Elect) Patricia Bellia (nee Patricia Small). After graduating from Yale Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, she clerked for Judge José Cabranes of the Second Circuit, followed by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (OT 1996).

Here is their NYT wedding announcement (of course). The Bellias, in addition to being brilliant and well-loved by the ND student body, have two adorable daughters: Katherine and Molly.

Katherine is only three years old (almost four), and Molly is not even a year old. But given the impressive pedigrees of their parents -- A.J. and Tricia Bellia, the Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf of the legal academy -- we expect Katherine and Molly to go on to greatness.

Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito: Do either of you have clerkship openings for OT 2026 and OT 2029?

"We've voted to deny the petition for a writ of mandamus. NOW can we have our milk and cookies?"

We had a delightful time this past weekend in Portland, Oregon, where we attended Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain's law clerk reunion, in celebration of his 20th anniversary on the bench. We'll be blogging about the festivities -- and posting photographs from them -- over the next few days.

We'll kick things off with this photo of us (see below), which taken in the library of Portland's Pioneer Courthouse. As you might have guessed, our provocative pose is an homage to America's hottest ERISA lawyer, Professor Bruce Wolk.

Please enter suggested captions in the comments. We'll declare a "winner" of the contest, and highlight other personal favorites, later today (or tomorrow, or whenever we get around to it).

ATL sends its warmest congratulations to Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain,* of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit! This month, Judge O'Scannlain celebrates twenty years on the federal bench. During two decades of distiinguished service, Judge O'Scannlain has established himself as a shining star in the federal judicial firmament.**

We had the honor and pleasure of clerking for Judge O'Scannlain during the 1999-2000 judicial year. He was a wonderful boss to us and our co-clerks, and he continues to be a great mentor and friend to this day. (He's also quite handsome, in a Paul Newman sort of way; see photo at right.)

This weekend, Judge O'Scannlain is celebrating his federal judicial "anniversary" with a reunion of his law clerks. In a few hours, we'll be leaving for the airport to catch a flight to Portland, Oregon.

We'll be spending much of today in an airplane. But fear not, ATL readers: we have arranged for a brilliant and hilarious guest blogger to entertain you in our absence. We'll be back over the weekend or on Monday.

Happy Friday!

* Not that you'd be calling him by his first name (unless you're a fellow Article III judge), but in case you're curious, "Diarmuid" is pronounced DEER-mid. See here. "O'Scannlain" is pronounced o-SCAN-lin.

** Also celebrating his 20th judicial anniversary this month: Justice Antonin Scalia, a good friend of Judge O'Scannlain (and regular recipient of O'Scannlain clerks in his chambers). Justice Scalia received his commission as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on September 25, 1986; Judge O'Scannlain received his Ninth Circuit commission the following day.

David Lat is the editor in chief of Above the Law. He previously served as editor of Wonkette, the widely read politics blog, and he founded Underneath Their Robes, the judicial news and gossip website.

Prior to that, David worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, in New York; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

David graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude, and Yale Law School, where he served as book reviews editor of the Yale Law Journal.

You can reach David at: dlat AT abovethelaw DOT com.

SCOTUS Watch [New Yorker]
He Fought the Law. They Both Won. [New York Times]
David Lat Takes on the Legal World One Post at a Time [Legal Times]