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President Obama quietly nominated Ronnie White, who was rejected for a federal judgeship in 1999, to the bench last month. Experts say they can't remember a time when a judge who's been voted down in the Senate has been renominated.

The White House has taken some heat for its slow pace in nominating federal judges. But the administration has quietly pursued candidates who are far more diverse in terms of race, gender and sexual orientation than any of its predecessors, a move praised by many. But that strategy may have a cost.

White House spokesman Jay Carney put an end to intense speculation Thursday about whether President Obama would do an end run around Congress with one simple line: "This administration does not believe the 14th Amendment gives the president the power to ignore the debt ceiling — period."

The Justice Department has a big decision to make. Parts of new laws in Colorado and Washington that legalize recreational marijuana take effect next month. The Obama administration must decide whether it will sue to stop that or let the states go their own way, despite federal law.

Days after the Supreme Court's landmark decision on the health care law, lawyers say they're still teasing out the consequences in other areas of the law — including civil rights. That's because the ruling involves two federal powers that happen to be the backbone of most civil rights legislation.

Some of the people vying for attention from the Senate during the lame-duck session are key Obama nominees, including the right-hand man at the Justice Department and nearly two dozen federal judge candidates.

Jeb Boasberg is taking over as chief judge of the federal district court in Washington as grand jury investigations of former President Donald Trump intensify.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi with the goal of getting Russian combat forces out of the former Soviet country. Rice is carrying a draft cease-fire that requires Russia to withdraw combat troops and allows peacekeepers to remain in the flash-point separatist region.

President Bush cautioned that the country faces a severe economic crisis. The speech from the White House East Room Wednesday night, followed a second day of hearings on Capitol Hill with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Some lawmakers are pushing the White House to accept a smaller bailout of $150 billion.

Steve Inskeep talks with NPR Ed's Anya Kamenetz about her book, The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed with Standardized Testing — But You Don't Have to Be.