"The president is free to nominate whomever he likes," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "But picking judges based on his or her perceived sympathy for certain groups or individuals undermines the faith Americans have in our judicial system."

McConnell's Republicans are turning to a conservative Southerner as their point man on Obama's nominee, signaling that they won't shy away from a protracted fight despite risks of being cast as obstructionist.

Sen. Jeff Sessions' ascension as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee comes more than 20 years after the panel rejected him for his own federal judgeship during the Reagan administration over concerns that he was hostile toward civil rights and was racially insensitive.

Coincidentally, Sessions, R-Ala., replaces Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a moderate who was one of just two Republicans in 1986 to oppose Sessions as a U.S. district court judge. Specter left the GOP last week to become a Democrat, creating the vacancy atop the committee just as Justice David Souter announced his retirement.

The court will hear arguments April 29 about whether federal oversight of election procedures should continue in 16 states, mainly in the South, with a history of preventing blacks, Hispanics and other minorities from voting.

In 2006, as Republicans sought to improve their standing with minorities in advance of congressional elections, the GOP-controlled Congress extended for 25 years the Voting Rights Act provision that says the Justice Department must approve any changes in how elections are conducted. Republican President George W. Bush signed the extension into law.

But some Republicans said the extension was not merited and that some states were being punished for their racist past. A legal challenge has made its way to the high court.

GOP Govs. Sonny Perdue of Georgia and Bob Riley of Alabama have asserted in court filings that the continued obligation of their states to get advance approval for all changes involving elections is unnecessary and expensive in view of significant progress they have made to overcome blatant and often brutal discrimination against blacks.

Perdue pointed out that President Barack Obama did better in Georgia than did Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.

More than 500 people have been sickened and at least eight may have died. Authorities fault Peanut Corp. of America. Officials said the company shipped products that initially tested positive for salmonella after retesting and getting a negative result.

The outbreak has led to a massive recall of products ranging from ice cream to cookies and prompted consumer groups to urge Congress to require annual inspections of food processing plants.

"I think that the FDA has not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to catch," Obama said in an interview aired Monday on NBC's "Today" show. "And so we're going to be doing a complete review of FDA operations."

The president said Americans should be able to count on the government to keep children safe when they eat peanut butter and that includes his 7-year-old daughter Sasha.

"That's what Sasha eats for lunch probably three times a week. And you know, I don't want to have to worry about whether she's going to get sick as a consequence to having her lunch," Obama said.

The FDA has asked the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation into Virginia-based Peanut Corp. of America. Documents showed that until shortly before the salmonella outbreak, federal food safety inspectors had not been to the plant since 2001.

"The FDA is supposed to be a watchdog for consumers, and for too long, this agency has been coming up short," said Jean Halloran, director of Food Policy Initiatives for Consumers Union.

Some in the region were heartened by Obama's attempt to reach out to Muslims in his inaugural address Tuesday, saying he wanted to put relations on a new path. But he followed that overture immediately with a stern warning to those who foment violence.

"I would like to stress that the region has high hopes that your administration will deal with the Palestinian issue from its first day as an immediate priority and a key for solving other issues in the Middle East," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in a congratulatory message to Obama.

But others were more pessimistic as newspaper editorials and political commentators laid out the challenges facing Obama, from rebuilding the wreckage in Gaza to ending the war in Iraq and confronting a strengthening Taliban in Afghanistan.

"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy," Obama said Tuesday.

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist," he added.

Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden sat in front of a fire on a cold January day in a court conference room with Chief Justice John Roberts and seven other justices.

They chatted for about 45 minutes, then toured the courtroom and justices' private conference room.

Justice Samuel Alito was the only justice absent, although Alito was on the bench for two hours of argument Wednesday morning. Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said she did not know why Alito wasn't there.

Reporters and photographers were not allowed in, so this account comes wholly from Arberg.

Obama and Biden voted against Roberts and Alito when their court nominations were before the Senate in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Roberts will see Obama Tuesday when he administers the presidential oath. Justice John Paul Stevens, who will mark his ninth inauguration on the court, will swear in Biden.

Last month, the chief justice sent a letter inviting Obama and Biden to drop by before the inauguration and promised them a "warm welcome."

Roberts' Dec. 5 letter noted that justices had occasionally met with incoming presidents and vice-presidents in the past. "The associate justices and I would be pleased to see that sporadic practice become a congenial tradition," Roberts said.

Court staffers were kept well away from Obama and Biden, who spent about an hour at the court. When employees glimpsed Obama on his way out, a loud cheer went up in a building that exudes decorum.

Obama on Monday announced that Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan is his nominee for solicitor general. Kagan worked on the University of Chicago Law School faculty at the same time as Obama served on the faculty during the 1990s and at Harvard has won praise for building consensus and for record fundraising.

Obama announced three other leading Justice Department nominations. Washington lawyers David Ogden and Tom Perrelli were chosen as deputy attorney general and associate attorney general. And Indiana University School of Law professor Dawn Johnsen is his choice to be assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel.

He thought wrong.

No Senate Democrats responded to his racial challenge. And they got support from President-elect Barack Obama, who will be the first African-American in the White House.

Rush, D-Ill., dared Senate Democrats Tuesday to block Roland Burris from becoming the Senate's only black member, urging them not to "hang and lynch" the former state attorney general for the alleged corruption by his patron, Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Obama was having none of it, siding with Senate Democrats who vowed to turn Burris away should he show up in Washington to be sworn in.

"They cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat," Obama said in a statement. "I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it."

Obama voiced disapproval for the spectacle unfolding in his home state.

"I believe the best resolution would be for the governor to resign his office and allow a lawful and appropriate process of succession to take place," Obama said.

It was unclear what that process would be and who would choose Obama's successor.

On Tuesday, Blagojevich declared himself the decider, defying the leaders of his party and naming Burris, 71, the next senator from Illinois. At a news conference in Chicago, he urged the Senate not to allow the charges that he tried to sell the same Senate seat to taint a well-respected man.