The oldest two justices — half the court's liberal wing — top the list of those considered likely to retire during the next presidential administration. Despite Stevens' and Ginsburg's apparent vigor, change on the Supreme Court is more likely than not over the next four years.

"One would think that over the course of the next four years the actuarial tables would catch up with the oldest members, as they do for us all," said Pepperdine University law professor Douglas Kmiec.

With five justices 70 or older by the time the court meets again in October, interest groups and commentators have been talking about the court's role in the presidential election. One change on a court that divides 5-4 in key cases can alter the results.

But their forecasts depend on three factors: Who wins the presidency, who leaves the court and who is appointed.

Democrat Barack Obama would most likely be replacing liberal justices with like-minded successors. Republican John McCain could get the chance to fulfill a campaign pledge and put a conservative justice on the court in the mold of Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Samuel Alito.

Alito, among President George W. Bush's two selections, repeatedly has demonstrated the difference one justice can make on a closely divided court. The result in disputes over abortion, religion and school desegregation almost certainly would have been different had Sandra Day O'Connor not retired in 2006.

"Given the likely retirements, the next election probably will determine whether the court gets more conservative or stays ideologically the same," said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at University of California, Irvine.

The Supreme Court rarely becomes a big issue in the presidential campaign and this year — with $4-a-gallon gas, steep declines in the stock market and two wars — appears to be no exception.

The one case decided recently that could have elevated the court's importance in the campaign came out in favor of Americans' gun rights, placating the highly energized and politically effective gun rights groups.

If the case "had come out the other way, we'd be having a very different conversation," Thomas Goldstein, a Supreme Court watcher and advocate, told a Federalist Society meeting a week after the guns decision.

The unpredictably of Supreme Court retirements is another reason why the court rarely becomes an issue in presidential campaigns.

What if the justices decide to grow even older together?

It has happened before. Nine of the last 10 justices who retired or died in office were at least 75; six of those were 79 or older.

No one left the court during President Carter's four years in office, President Clinton's second term or Bush's first.

On the other hand, six justices ranging in age from 76 to 85 stepped down between 1986 and 1994, spanning three presidencies.

Bush had two appointments in the space of three months in 2005. He filled them with two men in their 50s, Roberts and Alito.

Goldstein predicts only Stevens will retire during the next four years and not before he surpasses Oliver Wendell Holmes — who stepped down two months shy of his 91st birthday, in 1932 — to become the oldest sitting justice. That would happen in February 2011.

Goldstein's views shifted as he watched the court over the past year. He used to expect the retirement of three justices — Stevens, Ginsburg and Justice David Souter. Though only 68, Souter has made no secret that he prefers New Hampshire to Washington and intends to return there someday.

But justices find it hard to leave the court unless they're in poor health, Goldstein said.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist didn't retire even after he was diagnosed with cancer. His death in 2005 created the second vacancy for Bush.

The FEC convened for the first time in more than six months, a period of inactivity caused by a confirmation standoff in the Senate.

With four of six commissioners new to their jobs, the FEC faces a backlog of work that has accumulated during an election year marked by a hard-fought and financially record-breaking presidential campaign.

Among the top issues the FEC must sort through are a Supreme Court decision invalidating a campaign finance law that governs congressional contests involving wealthy candidates who spend large sums of their own money. It also is behind schedule in writing rules addressing candidate air travel as well as new rules on lobbyist fundraisers.

McGahn, general counsel to the National Republican Congressional Committee since 1999, also represented former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, on a number of federal campaign finance related matters. DeLay is awaiting trial in Texas on unrelated state campaign finance charges.

Watchdog groups such as Common Cause opposed McGahn's nomination, citing his association with DeLay.

But McGahn also had support from Democrats, including campaign election lawyer Robert Bauer, who is counseling Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

The State newspaper of Columbia reported Wednesday that Tenenbaum has jointed the McNair Law firm.

The newspaper reported Tenenbaum will work on financial matters, such as bond referendums for school districts seeking to build or renovate schools.

Tenenbaum was state education superintendent from 1999 to 2003. She says she's missed working with school officials.

Managing partner Bill Youngblood says the McNair law firm has represented about 60 of the state's 85 school districts on financial issues in the past five years.

Youngblood says Tenenbaum brings the firm intellect, institutional memory about public education and an understanding of government.

Former U.S. senator and University of Colorado president Hank Brown is joining the Denver law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as senior counsel.

Brown will work in strategy and development for the firm in banking, water, natural resources and public affairs.

"Joining Brownstein represents my career coming full circle," Brown said. "Norm Brownstein, Steve Farber and I have been friends since our days at the University of Colorado more than 40 years ago.

"While our paths have crossed throughout the years, we have had limited opportunities to work together. I look forward to being a part of the firm that they have built into one of the West's most influential and respected law firms."

Brown served from 2005 until this year as president of CU.

He spent six years as a Republican in the U.S. Senate and five consecutive terms in the U.S. House representing Colorado's 4th Congressional District during the 1980s and '90s.

Brown also was president of the University of Northern Colorado and president of the Daniels Fund.

"Brown possesses an unbeatable combination of vast experience and exceptional ability," said Brownstein, founding partner and chairman of the firm. "We are proud to add such a notable member of the Denver community to the firm."

A co-founder of the Deters, Benzinger & LaVelle law firm, Charlie Deters, is retiring and withdrawing from the firm, according to a Wednesday announcement.

Deters' name will no longer be associated with the Crestview Hills-based law firm, according to a news release from Deters and his family. Three sons who formerly were members of the firm have left over the past decade to start their own practices - Eric Deters in 1998, and Jed and Jeremy Deters in 2007.

A graduate of Covington Latin School, Villa Madonna Academy (now Thomas More College) and the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Deters, 78, has practiced law for 53 years. He joined Dressman, Dunn and Deters in 1955 as a partner, then joined with Gerald Benzinger and the late Jack LaVelle to form Deters Benzinger.

Deters remains chairman of the Deters Co., which owns several fast-food and convenience store franchises, and is the controlling owner of the Farmers National Bank, which has four offices in Northern Kentucky, and the Independent Bank of Ocala, in Florida. Deters also operates two thoroughbred horse farms, in Walton, where he resides, and in Ocala, Fla.

Deters Benzinger is the largest Northern Kentucky-based law firm, and the 15th largest in the Tri-State, with 34 attorneys, according to Courier research. The firm also has a downtown Cincinnati office in the Carew Tower.

The White House announced Thursday that Bush had nominated G. Steven Agee to the Richmond, Va.-based appeals court, which has handled some of the country's biggest terrorism cases.

If confirmed by the Senate, Agee would fill the seat of J. Michael Luttig, who resigned in 2006.

"Justice Agee is an experienced attorney, dedicated public servant and respected judge," White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said.

Bush wants the Senate to consider Agee's nomination swiftly because heavy caseloads and the duration of vacancies have created a "judicial emergency" at the 4th Circuit, she said.

Five of the 15 seats on the court are vacant. Agee was one of several people that Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Jim Webb, D-Va., recommended to Bush after conducting a search of their own.

Confirmation of Bush's judicial nominees has caused friction between the Senate and the White House for years.

"Bush has a history of not consulting home-state senators or seeking consensus nominees, so Agee's nomination is a healthy sign," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. "Bush should consult more often and select consensus nominees."

Tobias said it's unclear, however, whether there will be time for Bush's nominee to be confirmed. Judicial nominees must go through security checks, American Bar Association evaluations and Senate hearings and votes.

Typically, "appointments slow down in an election year and stop after the (political) conventions," Tobias said. "If the Virginia senators push, Agee could be confirmed, though he would have to move ahead of a number in the queue."

Bush has accused the Senate of dragging its feet on his judicial nominees.

The White House says there are 11 circuit court nominees awaiting Senate confirmation. The current Congress has confirmed only six circuit court judges while the Senate has confirmed an average of 17 circuit court judges in the final two years of the past three administrations, according to the White House.

Agee, 55, a native of Roanoke, Va., was an associate and partner in several private law firms before becoming a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, a position he held from 1982 to 1994. From 2001 to 2003, he was a judge on the Virginia Court of Appeals and since 2003 has been a justice on the Virginia Supreme Court.

Agee, who is married with one child, is a graduate of the University of Virginia and New York University schools of law.

Carol A. Hyde, a founding partner of Iseman, Cunningham, Riester & Hyde, LLP, a law firm with offices in Poughkeepsie and Albany, was elected the firm’s first managing partner at the partners’ annual planning retreat held in January.

The firm was formerly managed by a three-person executive committee.
Hyde practices in the areas of health care and business transactions.

A native of Michigan, Hyde earned her general studies degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and graduated magna cum laude from Albany Law School of Union University, where she was co-valedictorian of her class.