**Justice Souter Retiring
*NPR: "At 69, Souter is nowhere near the oldest member of the court. In fact, he is in the younger half of the court's age range, with five justices older and just three younger. ... Factors in his decision no doubt include the election of President Obama, who would be more likely to appoint a successor attuned to the principles Souter has followed as a moderate-to-liberal member of the court's more liberal bloc over the past two decades," NPR reports.

*NYT: "The departure will open the first seat for a Democratic president to fill in 15 years and could prove a test of Mr. Obama's plans for reshaping the nation's judiciary. ... Replacing Justice Souter with a liberal would not change the basic makeup of the court, where he and three other justices hold down the left wing against a conservative caucus of four justices. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate Republican appointee, often provides the swing vote that controls important decisions."

*WSJ: "Justice Souter has complained about life in Washington and even about aspects of the court's work, such as the numbingly technical cases involving applications of pension or benefits law. Earlier this year, he told friends he planned to retire at the end of the present term if Justices Stevens and Ginsburg decided to remain on the court for at least another term."

*AP reports that the pick will likely not come until the Supreme Court finishes its session in June. And it notes that because Arlen Specter is now a Democrat, Orrin Hatch will lead the Republican opposition in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

*The Atlantic's Ambinder, on who Obama may choose to replace him: "Among those who might make the list of replacements: incoming solicitor general Elena Kagan, formerly the dean of the Harvard Law School, Cass Sunstein, a brilliant constitutional law prof who now works at Obama's Office of Management and Budget, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ppellate judge Diane Wood, and Leah Ward Sears, the chief justice of Georgia's Supreme Court. A dark horse might be Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York. If Obama has a short list, it is probably much longer than mine, and includes many judges I haven't considered."

*AP also has a list of potential candidates, which includes two governors: Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, and Deval Patrick of Massaschusetts.

**President Obama
*Gallup finds that Obama has strong approval from most religious groups, with Muslims and Jews among the strongest backers, 85 percent and 79 percent, respectively. He ranks lowest with Mormons, with only 45 percent approving.

*Anita Dunn will join the White House as communication director, some saying on an interim basis. ABC: "Dunn was originally President Obama's first pick to be communications director. She turned down the job to spend more time with her family, but after Moran announced she was leaving to become the chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the President asked Dunn to re-consider her original rejection of the job offer"

*The AP on Biden's gaffe: Less than two hours after he said on the Today show that he'd avoid confined spaces, his office "put out a statement gamely trying to rewrite the vice president's words." By 10 am, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tried to correct his intent. And at his briefing, press secretary Robert Gibbs tried to close the gap that Biden left between "what he said and what he meant to say."

*Interesting note from the Washington Post: "The Obama administration has relied on a Bush-era public health strategy aimed at coordinating its response across an array of government agencies in the week since the first reports of a swine flu outbreak emerged, officials say, as it attempts to balance safety concerns with a desire to prevent a panic."

*New York Times notes that the White House pinned the blame on the Chrysler collapse on Peter A. Weinberg, Joseph R. Perella "and a handful other financiers. ... As Chrysler's fate hung in the balance Wednesday night, this group refused to bend to the Obama administration and accept steep losses on their investments while more junior investors, including the United Automobile Workers union, were offered favorable terms."

**Congress
*"NYT: Behind closed doors, after the Senate recessed on Wednesday night, workers moved Mr. Specter's desk to the increasingly crowded Democratic side of the center aisle, giving the Democrats 59 seats. Congressional Quarterly reports that the Pennsylvania senator's desk, which he has not yet been seen using, has been squeezed in between those of new fellow Democrats Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont."

*Climate change bill stuck in subcommittee: "Several moderate Democrats on the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment said Thursday that fundamental issues such as how to soften the impact of the legislation on constituents and industries in their regions are still unresolved and that the panel might not be ready to vote on the measure by next week as Democratic leaders have called for," WSJ reports.

*Wiretapping Members: "House officials are hoping to restart dormant talks with the Justice Department on establishing guidelines for wiretapping and searching the offices of members of Congress, just days after the disclosure that federal investigators recorded the phone conversation of Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) sparked fresh controversy on the issue," WaPo reports.

*Credit Card Holders' Bill of Rights: "Responding to anger and frustration from consumers, and a push from President Barack Obama, the House of Representatives on Thursday passed sweeping legislation aimed at shielding consumers from sudden credit card rate increases," McClatchy reports.

**Republicans
*Politico says the new National Council for a New America launched "with an open letter that's notable for what it leaves out: The issues that a large segment of the party's base are most passionate about": same-sex marriage, immigration -- legal or otherwise -- or abortion.

*Now some RNC members are firing back at Newt Gingrich, who claimed that "they're a small bunch of egomaniacs who need to be coddled by the party chairman." Gingrich was reacting to an internal fight brewing over the powers of the party chairman. Tennessee GOP chair Robin Smith: "RNC members, on the whole, are committed individuals who sincerely work for the best of our party. Forming circular firing squads only gives aid to the Democrats who are doing quite nicely in undercutting the public trust in our government."

**Campaign Stuff
*KY Sen: "Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning, the most endangered Republican up for reelection in 2010, appears headed for retirement after giving his leading GOP rival the blessing to prepare to run for his seat next year."

More from The Hill: "Bunning, who has angrily pushed back against talk that he would retire in 2010 at the end of his second term, met with Grayson on Wednesday in Washington. The senator has not announced his 2010 intentions but he made clear to Grayson that he would not begrudge an exploratory committee, a move sources said will allow Bunning to appear as a kingmaker."

*PA Sen: "The National Republican Senatorial Committee is recruiting Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) to run for the Senate because it views Pat Toomey as unelectable against Sen. Arlen Specter, according to Gerlach's lead consultant," Politico's Kraushaar reports.

More PA Sen: Sestak v. Specter in the Dem primary? Sestak has done numerous on-air interviews since Specter's decision to switch parties and run as a Dem next year, and he's never once ruled out running. The Hill reports he did so again yesterday and "also said he would not let Democratic leaders in Washington push him out of the race."

**Sports Alert: The Bulls-Celtics series has to now go down as one of the greatest NBA playoff series ever. Game 6 last night went into triple overtime, the fourth game of the series to go into bonus time. Kyle, unfortunately, fell asleep in the third overtime, but luckily the Bulls won to force a Game 7 Saturday night. What a boring series this would have been had the Kevin Garnett not been hurt.

--Mike Memoli and Kyle Trygstad