Government prosecutors led by Patrick Fitzgerald spent nearly four years investigating the case, but never charged anyone with the leak. Libby will be the only one charged in the case, Fitzgerald said.

Libby's attorneys tried to use that during the trial to persuade jurors that, since nobody was charged in the case, Libby didn't fear prosecution for the leak and so he had no reason to lie. Juror Denis Collins summed up the dilemma that he and his associates faced behind closed doors.

"There was a frustration that we were trying someone for telling a lie apparently about an event that never became important enough to file charges anywhere else," he said Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

At the White House, press secretary Tony Snow brushed off questions about whether President Bush would entertain a pardon for Libby, saying the case remains under legal review. Snow also said Cheney's stature within the administration has not changed or waned as a result of the verdict.

Pataki spokesman David Catalfamo said the governor is not ruling out a possible later jump into the presidential campaign, although Pataki has lately cut back on campaign-like activities.

"I am thrilled to be joining Chadbourne," said Pataki in a news release issued by the law firm. "This is one of the great New York firms, and I look forward to participating in its growth."

Chadbourne's managing partner, Charles O'Neill, said the addition of Pataki and Cahill to the firm "will build upon Chadbourne's growing renewable energy practice."

Cahill is a former state environmental conservation commissioner. Pataki was praised by environmental groups throughout his 12 years in office, particularly for his efforts to add 1 million acres of preserve land to the state.

Pataki, who ousted Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1994, did not seek re-election last year to a fourth, four-year term.

Native American plaintiffs in the decade-old Indian Trust case have rejected a new $7 billion settlement proposal from the US government but the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee nonetheless says he will hold a hearing later this month to provide administration officials, plaintiffs, and representatives from other interested parties an opportunity to testify publicly on the settlement offer. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) says the government is admitting liability, but Department of the Interior officials have disputed that interpretation. Native plaintiffs say that the offer does not go far enough, being "pennies on the dollar" in respect of the value of their claim, and that it goes too far in precluding further claims.

The class-action Indian trust litigation involves the alleged mismanagement by the US Department of the Interior of American Indian money - lease and sales revenues, permit fees and and interest - received and held for Native Americans by the US government over the last 120 years. In July, the Cobell plaintiffs said they might consider an $8 billion settlement, much lower than the $27.5 billion figure that the plaintiffs demanded for settlement in 2005.

The KIPCO Group is one of the biggest diversified holding companies in the Middle East and North Africa, with assets worth more than US$18 billion under management or control. The Group has substantial ownerships interests in a portfolio of 54 companies operating across 17 countries. The company's main business sectors are financial services and media & telecommunications. We were retained by KIPCO on this transaction following our work as issuer's counsel on the proposed IPO of one of its subsidiaries, to whom we were introduced by another client of the firm.

The Weil Gotshal team was led by corporate partners Jeremy Dickens and Ian Hamilton, assisted by Simon Lyell and Simon Burrows. Partner Michael Nicklin provided finance advice.

About Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an international law firm of over 1,100 lawyers, including approximately 300 partners. Weil, Gotshal is headquartered in New York, with offices in Austin, Boston, Brussels, Budapest, Dallas, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Miami, Munich, Paris, Prague, Providence, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Warsaw, Washington, DC and Wilmington.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich today called on lawmakers to "seize the moment" and enact new taxes on business, lease the state lottery and borrow money to fund a massive expansion of health care, pump new money into education and relieve the state's growing pension debt.

Delivering a combined budget address and State of the State message to the General Assembly, Blagojevich said he stood with the middle class against business interests who have failed to "simply pay their fair share" of the state's tax burden.

"For decades, it's been the middle class and the working families of Illinois that have shouldered more and more of the tax burden. And while they've paid more, the wealthiest corporations in our state have paid less and less. The impact of this imbalance weakens our economy, burdens our families and holds our state back," Blagojevich said.

"And the saddest irony of all, the very people burdened by an unfair tax system, middle class families and working families were hurt by the underfunding of education, health care and pension funds," he said.

Telling lawmakers the choice was theirs to make, Blagojevich said, "To me, the choice is simple. I stand with the people."