U.S. Representative Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, spoke on the House floor this week about the importance of preserving and strengthening legal services, especially in tough economic times. Cohen appealed to his colleagues' sense of justice and compassion to not cut funding for the Legal Services Corporation. Watch his remarks

The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee last week approved $328 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in 2013, a cut of $20 million from current levels. The funding is included in the Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, which committee leaders said would be on the House floor May 8. The companion committee in the Senate has approved $402 million for the agency, which received $348 million last year. Read more from the LSC

Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives have revived a medical malpractice bill that caps non-economic damages at $250,000 and limits contingency fees as a way to reduce the federal budget and avoid cuts in defense spending. The House passed the bill in March, even though President Barack Obama said he would veto it and House Democrats say it will be dead on arrival in the Senate. But the bill was revisited during budget discussions this week after the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would reduce federal health care costs. The Blog of Legal Times reports

The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies approved $328 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in Fiscal Year 2013. Earlier this week, the subcommittee’s counterpart in the Senate approved $402 million for the agency. Read more from the LSC

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee this morning (Thursday) approved by voice vote the nomination of Memphis Criminal Court Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. for the vacant federal judgeship in the Western District of Tennessee. The next step is a floor vote on the confirmation. The Senate leadership is working through a compromise plan that allows floor votes on several federal judges previously approved by the committee, but Fowlkes is not on that list. The Commercial Appeal has the story

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies yesterday approved the president's request of $402 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in Fiscal Year 2013 -- a $54 million increase from current levels. ?LSC funding was approximately $404 million in Fiscal Year 2011 before falling to $348 million in Fiscal Year 2012. Read more from the agency

The Senate confirmation process for federal judicial nominees has descended to a new level of contentiousness, Sen. Al Franken and a group of panelists said Tuesday in an event at the liberal Center for American Progress, the Blog of Legal Times reports. Even nominees with bi-partisan support in their home states are going through days of filibusters, he said. Jeremy Paris, chief counsel for nominations and oversight for the Senate Judiciary Committee majority staff, said there were only 28 judicial vacancies at this point in President George W. Bush’s presidency, compared with 82 vacancies for Obama right now. That is about one in 10 judgeships that remain open, including four judicial emergencies in the overwhelmed Ninth Circuit, he said.

Six members of Congress will be honored today by the American Bar Association for helping preserve legal aid funding and providing leadership on issues critically important to the legal profession. Receiving the annual Congressional Justice Award will be Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Maryland; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina; Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas; Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington; Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island; and Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky.

Senate Republican and Democratic leaders ended their standoff today over President Barack Obama's judicial nominations and agreed to debate a small-business bill that both parties favor. On the brink of 17 grueling votes to fill vacant judgeships, leaders announced a schedule that would speed up the confirmation process. Under the deal, the Senate will consider two or three noncontroversial nominees per week between now and May 7. The parties had been at odds over whether the body should be spending its time confirming judges or handling other business. Read more from the AP in the Memphis Daily News

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. was set to go before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today for a confirmation hearing to be the next U.S. district judge for Western Tennessee. Fowlkes was nominated by President Barack Obama on Dec. 16, 2011, to replace Judge Bernice B. Donald of Memphis, who was elevated to the Sixth Circuit last October. Fowlkes has been a criminal court judge since 2007. The Memphis Commercial Appeal has more about his experience and the hearing.