Eric Muller, University of North Carolina School of Law:

"A source (my mom) just called to tell me that my old boss Mike Chertoff is going to be the new head of Homeland Security. This does not surprise me, and I think him a strong choice. Chertoff is a straight shooter and one of the two or three smartest people I have ever met. (Nevermind that he looks frighteningly like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons.)

One wonders, though, what sort of arrangement he reached with the President. It's not everyday that somebody gives up the security of life tenure on a federal circuit court for a political job like this. Has the President agreed to renominate him to a court after a couple of years? Or could this be a step toward the Supremes?" [Janaury 11, 2005; Is That Legal? has the post]