California

Bush administration resubmits nominees

The Bush administration Monday followed through with its pledge to resubmit 12 controversial judicial nominees blocked by Democrats last year, including another attempt to put California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown on the federal bench.

The White House forwarded the nominations to the Senate, setting the stage for renewed partisan hostilities over President Bush’s judicial choices that could continue to escalate if a vacancy occurs on the U.S. Supreme Court. Democrats in recent years have used filibusters to block votes on nominees considered too conservative, but the White House is hoping a larger Republican majority this year can break the logjam.

Brown, who is vigorously opposed by a coalition of Democrats and civil rights organizations, is one of the central figures in the feud over Bush’s judicial nominations. A favorite of conservatives, Brown, if confirmed to the D.C. U.S. Court of Appeals, is considered a strong candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court.

New York

Mobsters enter pleas in consumer fraud case

A half-dozen Gambino mobsters copped pleas Monday to the biggest consumer fraud in U.S. history — preying on porn Web site users and phone sex customers in a $650 million scam.

The last-minute deals headed off a trial into the scheme masterminded by Richard Martino — a John Gotti favorite believed to be the biggest earner in the infamous crime family’s history.

Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf said thousands of customers in the United States, Europe and Asia were victimized by the vast operation, which slammed them with bogus credit card and phone bill charges between 1996 and 2002.

The guilty pleas, Mauskopf said, will ensure the defendants “will serve significant time in prison, but they also will forfeit the spoils of their crimes, including luxury homes and other significant assets, which will be used to compensate the victims.”

Martino and a business partner, Norman Chanes, devised the Internet and so-called “phone cramming” scams, which grossed sums that dwarfed the mob’s traditional rackets.

Maryland

Daughter of conservative confirms ‘open secret’

The daughter of conservative firebrand Alan Keyes announced her homosexuality at a gay rights rally here Monday, publicly revealing for the first time what had been an open secret during her father’s failed senatorial campaign.

Maya Marcel-Keyes, 19, spoke only obliquely of her sexual orientation in a brief speech before a crowd of several hundred people outside the Maryland State House.

Marcel-Keyes addressed the difficulties she faced growing up as the daughter of one of the country’s most outspoken opponents of homosexual lifestyles and gay marriage.

Her father issued only a terse statement about his daughter’s coming out.