"The president is free to nominate whomever he likes," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "But picking judges based on his or her perceived sympathy for certain groups or individuals undermines the faith Americans have in our judicial system."

McConnell's Republicans are turning to a conservative Southerner as their point man on Obama's nominee, signaling that they won't shy away from a protracted fight despite risks of being cast as obstructionist.

Sen. Jeff Sessions' ascension as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee comes more than 20 years after the panel rejected him for his own federal judgeship during the Reagan administration over concerns that he was hostile toward civil rights and was racially insensitive.

Coincidentally, Sessions, R-Ala., replaces Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a moderate who was one of just two Republicans in 1986 to oppose Sessions as a U.S. district court judge. Specter left the GOP last week to become a Democrat, creating the vacancy atop the committee just as Justice David Souter announced his retirement.

After a four-year legal dispute, a jury last year awardedMattel $10 million for copyright infringement and $90 million forbreach of contract.

After the verdict, Mattel sought to block MGAfrom ever making the Bratz dolls, and Larson ordered the company inDecember to end its sales in early 2009.

MGA argued thatretailers would not order the toys unless the court could guaranteethey would remain in stores through most of this year. MGA got areprieve in January when Larson ruled that the dolls could remain instores for the rest of the year.

He left open the possibility that Mattel or a court-appointed receiver could ultimately market the dolls this year.

A hearing is scheduled for May 18 to discuss whether the receivership should be made permanent.

The court will hear arguments Tuesday in an Oregon case in which alocal school district contends that students should at least givepublic special education programs a try before seeking reimbursementfor private school tuition.

Afederal appeals court sided with a high-school student identified incourt papers only as T.A. The student enrolled in a $5,200-a-monthprivate program and sought reimbursement from the Forest Grove SchoolDistrict.

The Supreme Court heard a similar case from New York in 2007, but split 4-4 on the outcome.

The case is Forest Grove School District v. T.A., 08-305.

Prosecutors had sought an 18-month prison term for Park Dae-Sung, 30 --better known by his Internet alias "Minerva" -- while some mediafreedom groups criticised the decision to charge him.

Parkwas arrested in early January and charged with spreading online rumoursthat the government in late December ordered local banks not to buydollars as part of efforts to stabilise the won.

Prosecutorsclaimed the December posting led to dollar hoarding, forcing thegovernment hurriedly to inject two billion dollars to stabilise thecurrency market.

"Considering all the circumstances, it is hardto conclude that Park was aware the information was misleading when hewrote the postings," said Judge Yoo Young-Hyun of Seoul CentralDistrict Court.

The judge said that even if Park had realised theinformation was false, it cannot be concluded he intended to damage thepublic interest, considering the circumstances at the time or thespecial characteristics of the foreign exchange market.

Parkwrote more than 200 economic commentaries in recent months and gained amajor following after correctly predicting the collapse of USinvestment bank Lehman Brothers last September.

But McMaster said in a filing with the Supreme Court on Monday that hewon't oppose the state Supreme Court taking up the challenge filed lastweek by a Chapin High School student.

McMaster says the timing may not be right to shift the issues raised in the case from a public policy debate to the courtroom.

Law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell recruited the Securities andExchange Commission's former enforcement chief and another formerhigh-level government lawyer to join its white-collar defense group,part of an effort to expand its Washington practice.
Linda Chatman Thomsen, who left the SEC earlier this year, and RaulYanes, former staff secretary to President George W. Bush, are joiningthe law firm as partners.

Both had worked at Davis Polk in New York before joining the government.

The duo will be the first litigators in the 11-person Washington office in years.

FormerSEC Commissioner Annette Nazareth and Robert Colby, a former deputydirector of the SEC's trading and markets division, also recentlyjoined the firm's Washington office to focus on financial regulatoryissues.

Davis Polk clients, including large financialinstitutions, are closely entangled with the government as it haspumped billions of dollars into financial rescue plans. Congress isstudying new regulation of financial markets.