New Kid on the Bench

Yesterday was Justice Samuel Alito's first day of Supreme Court oral arguments, as the Court heard two consolidated challenges to the 1972 Clean Water Act. Slate's Dahlia Lithwick has a good dispatch, and Dana Milbank devotes today's "Washington Sketch" to the topic. The cases argued are both very important challenges to one of the country's most basic and effective environmental laws, and how they're resolved will have major implications far into the future.

For other Supreme Court news, don't miss Linda Greenhouse's twin pieces, one on a decision from the Court to hear arguments on the constitutionality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and the other a roundup of yesterday's other developments.