To the Point

The Battle for the Supreme Court Has Begun

In his first interview since Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her resignation, President Bush told USA Today that his nomination of her replacement is an -opportunity for the Senate to get rid of the bitterness and rancor- prevalent in a lot of the recent debates.- Pressure groups on both sides are already firing up the rhetoric, rallying their troops and raising millions of dollars. We speak with reporters, historians, political scientists, and experts in constitutional law, including a former clerk of Justice O'Connor's to get the mood on Capitol Hill, hear how both sides have spent years to prepare for this moment and talk about the legacy of President George W. Bush. Making News: Iraqi Insurgents Step Up Attacks on Arab Diplomats In Iraq today, diplomats from Bahrain and Pakistan were attacked by insurgents and wounded. Egypt's top envoy is still missing after being kidnapped three days ago. Edmund Ghareeb, Professor of Middle East History and Politics at American University and co-author of The Historical Dictionary of Iraq, considers Islamic reaction to the kidnapping of the highly visible, symbolic targets. Reporter's Notebook: NASA's Deep Impact Space Probe Collides with a Comet When space probe Deep Impact struck Comet Tempel 1 yesterday, NASA's Web site registered a billion hits, demonstrating extraordinary public interest even before any data had been analyzed or scientific conclusions reached. The only thing that wasn't predicted about the collision, 83 million miles away, was the size of the explosion. We get the latest from Mission Manager Dave Spencer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena, California.