SFL Friday -- Mother and Child Reunion.

I see my friend Willy Ferrer is due to be invested today -- thanks for the heads up, David!

Also congrats go out to all those old farts -- I mean Legal Legends -- who will be honored in November. Well-deserved all.

I'm gonna have to cut short this entry -- I was fully dressed and equipped for a lengthy windsurfing session -- but now I have to go back home and put on a suit for Willy and hurry back downtown.

Thanks again David.

BTW I found an old picture of my and my mom (see above).

What, is something weird?

Oh well have a great weekend everybody!

Willie!!

Somehow Big Willie was able to break through the nomination gridlock:

The Senate voted unanimously Thursday for Ferrer, a one-time federal prosecutor in Miami and senior aide to former Attorney General Janet Reno. He most recently oversaw federal litigation for the Miami-Dade County Attorney's Office.

Congrats!!

Speaking of gridlock, judicial and other nominations remain in secret limbo:

McCaskill said a total of about 80 nominees have passed through various committees without objection but have been held up on the Senate floor by various GOP senators who are trying to use them as bargaining chips.

I know swlip -- BORK BORK BORK! -- but this is out of hand.

Even if there was merit in that argument, how does two wrongs make a right? At what point does the health of the nation's judiciary matter to our elected representatives?

Finally, for those arbitration junkies out there, the Senate is negotiating today S. 3217, the “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010” which will be on the Senate floor for a vote Monday. The bill would limit or prohibit mandatory arbitration clauses in certain consumer and investment contracts.

No word on whether "selling of soul" clauses would be permissible, though the folks in DC probably would have a conflict of interest on that one anyways.