* Enjoy the inauguration. Even if work sucks—America is awesome. There is a lot of news concerning the inauguration, but one interesting point is that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is the “designated successor” to run the federal government in case of emergency and will not attend the inauguration. [The Washington Post]

* A federal judge granted Cheney discretion over which records of his actions as Vice President have to be preserved in the national archives. Good idea. Surely we can count on Dick Cheney not to destroy any documents that make him look bad. Especially since he has been so truthful and transparent in the past. [The Washington Post]

* Former public defender Randy Koshnick’s representation of cop-killer Ted Oswald could hurt him in his bid for a seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. [The Chicago Tribune]

* Frequent ATL readers are probably sick of reading about Guantanamo. But the war crimes court at the prison convened yesterday, and proceedings were disrupted by the self-proclaimed mastermind of 9-11. [Reuters]

* The International Court of Justice ruled that the U.S. violated a previous order when Texas executed a Mexican national guilty of rape and murder. [The Los Angeles Times]

* The 213 families in China whose babies got sick from drinking tainted milk brought the case to Chinese Supreme Court. [The Associated Press]

* Chicago lawyer Anton Valukas is in charge of investigating Lehman Brother’s bankruptcy. [Bloomberg.com]

* Renomination of Steven Bradbury to head OLC seen as diss to Dems. [New York Times]

* Barry Bonds seeks dismissal of perjury charges. Depends on what the meaning of “is” is? [San Francisco Chronicle via How Appealing]

* Senate debates whether to grant phone companies immunity from suits arising out of their helping out on warrantless wiretapping. [Washington Post]

* Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan seeks Supreme Court review of his conviction. [Chicago Tribune via How Appealing]

* Also turning to the SCOTUS: cheeky pro se litigant who forestalled foreclosure for 11 years. [WSJ Law Blog]

* You’ve got mail? Maybe not, at least at the White House, which is having some email archiving problems. [Washington Post]

Welcome. If you’re at home, tune in to C-SPAN, which is rebroadcasting the recent book party for Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Thomas’s eagerly anticipated memoir, My Grandfather’s Son, is now in bookstores — and topping the bestseller charts (to the relief of his publisher, HarperCollins, which reportedly paid him a $1.5 million advance).

7:05: The party is being held at the elegant, red-brick Capitol Hill home of radio host and syndicated columnist Armstrong Williams. Expected to attend: 250 guests, including six Supreme Court justices, Vice President Dick Cheney, and several U.S. senators.

Armstrong Williams is interviewed. He explains that the party has been in the works since June. An overwhelming turnout is expected; more people were turned away than allowed to attend.

7:08: Justice Thomas climbs the stairs. When he enters the kitchen — which is right at the top of the stairs, and thus (oddly) where everyone enters and exits — he’s greeted by hearty applause.

Various guests hug him. One guest gushes over his 60 Minutes appearance. CT explains that CBS News made no promises about the nature of its coverage. Interesting. Considering how flattering that segment was, and how uncritical Steve Kroft was in his questioning of Justice Thomas, one might have suspected that Brangelina-type stipulations were in place.

More after the jump.

* She was listed in the NYT wedding announcements as an HLS magna grad — and would have gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids! [Jossip] [FN1]

* Don’t dress up in a giant pink bunny suit and hang out by a bank, unless you want to get yo’self tasered. [FourthAmendment.com]

* Thelen kicks O’Melveny’s ass — in dodgeball. [Legal Pad]

* Not worth a separate post, but here’s a link, plus a comment: “Dickie C is taking the reigns while GW gets poked in the anus. What’s funny about this is how the media reports this as news. As if Dick isn’t always in control.” [AFP]

[FN1] In response to an email we received: our tagline is tongue-in-cheek. We have no reason to doubt the Times’s explanation that the magna mistake resulted from “an editing error,” and not any attempt at deception by the bride.

(Jeez, people, you need to lighten up a bit…)

Happy Valentine’s Day!

* Miss Brazil wins lawsuit competition. [CNN]

* ABA: Pay the judges! [Law.com]

* Cheney and Libby will not testify in CIA leak trial. [CNN]

* What makes a good or bad law school exam answer? [Volokh]

* If this were illegal, then Hollywood would have more criminals than Compton. But Vincent Gallo claims he has never had sexual relations with this woman girl. He also uses the word “Negro.” Your call. [New York Post]

* Ever the gentleman, Cheney tries to compensate for Uglygate in a big way. He’s also been thinking about Barack McDreamy. [Los Angeles Times]

* And people say that the media is biased. Michael Moore has a worthy successor. By the way, in case it’s not crystal clear, I mean “worthy” in a sarcastic way, yes I do. [Reuters via All Media News]

* Keep this Artist/Activist/Anarchist/Archivist’s ass in jail. He sounds like a tool anyway. [NPR]

* $15.5 million buys a lot of bling. [SOHH.com]

* “Surfing champion Sunny Garcia… looked gloomy as the sentence was handed down.” Nice. [CNN]

* Justice O’Connor sat by designation on the Ninth Circuit this week. She must have had so much fun the last time she flipped a coin in California , she’s back for more. [San Jose Mercury-News]

* Another swing justice in NoCal. Justice Kennedy: “[T]he verdict on democracy is still out.” Didn’t he give this speech somewhere before? [San Francisco Chronicle]

* “The only thing missing from [Wednesday’s] three-judge Third Circuit oral argument panel was any judge from the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.” [How Appealing]

* Busy bees at the SEC: Civil securities-fraud suits against former execs of Delphi Corp. are expected soon. [Wall Street Journal via WSJ Law Blog]

* Poor Dick Grasso. The former New York Stock Exchange chairman must return about $100 million of his $139.5 million payout. [New York Times]

* A federal judge has ordered that Vice President Dick Cheney’s visitor logs be opened. There’s at least one name that won’t be on there. [Associated Press]