President Bush said last week that telecommunications companies that helped government wiretapping efforts need protection from "class-action plaintiff attorneys" who see a "financial gravy train" ahead.

[O]ne law enforcement official who has been briefed on the case said that Mr. Spitzer’s lawyers would probably meet soon with federal prosecutors to discuss any possible legal exposure. The official said the discussions were likely to focus not on prostitution, but on how it was paid for: Whether the payments from Mr. Spitzer to the service were made in a way to conceal their purpose and source. That could amount to a crime called structuring, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

While few clients of prostitutes face criminal charges, law-enforcement affidavits raise at least the possibility of criminal charges based on transporting a woman across state lines for prostitution.

Lawyers said customers of prostitutes are rarely charged, although they didn't rule it out in this case. A century-old law known as the Mann Act prohibits the movement of prostitutes -- or women intended to participate in "immoral" acts -- between states or from the U.S. to a foreign country. The prostitute who served Client-9 traveled to Washington from New York.

The case is being handled by public-corruption prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan. A spokeswoman for the office declined to comment on possible charges against Mr. Spitzer.

Michael Bachner, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office, said: "The Mann Act really was designed more towards those who get someone to travel against their will....If Spitzer gets indicted, it would seem to me he would be indicted based on who he is rather than what he's done."

As for possible state charges, Mr. Bachner said, "customers are rarely prosecuted in the state," and charges that are brought are typically disposed of with a plea to disorderly conduct, "which is akin to a traffic ticket."

Just one fact piqued interest for some in the room: The lead prosecutor on the case was Boyd M. Johnson III, the chief of the public corruption unit of the Manhattan United States attorney’s office.

Later that day, reporters at The New York Times learned of the unusual presence of three lawyers from the corruption unit, including the boss of that division and an F.B.I. agent from one of the bureau’s public corruption squads. The public corruption units often look at the conduct of elected officials.

Within hours, the reporters were convinced that a significant public figure was involved as a client of the prostitution ring.

Those standing in line to see the court's arguments were also discussing the case, but in calmer tones. Some were activists, but many were students, waiting hours for their three-minute glimpse of the greatest law tutorial in the land. They were an unusual lot: high school students who had postponed spring-break trips, college kids who got up at dawn, and even that rarest of D.C. creatures -- the teen-aged Scalia groupie. "He writes fascinating dissents," said 17-year-old Lauren Franz, who rose at her Alexandria home at 4:30 a.m. in hopes of glimpsing 72-year-old Justice Antonin Scalia.

Judges' comments: This compelling documentary was aired by MSNBC and produced by David Ridgen of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The piece impressed the judges for its creative vision, thorough reporting and dramatic results. By literally digging up the past, following every lead and hounding key witnesses and participants, the producer showcased how original investigative reporting can solve cases. And by stirring up the interest of federal prosecutors, the piece also led to the prosecution of a key perpetrator of a long-forgotten murder of two African American men in 1964. By highlighting the emotional journey of the victim's brother, the film told a story of reconciliation that gave larger meaning and context to the investigation. The medal was awarded for the originality of the work and the use of old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting.

Judges' comments: This investigation uncovered the fact that many of the people convicted of serious crimes in Richmond County, Georgia, were not able to appeal their cases. By obtaining and reviewing hundreds of cases from a ten-year period, the reporter not only discovered a miscarriage of justice, but also affected change: the local judges responded with a promise to solve this serious problem. The piece was unique in that it focused on the administration of the justice system, not just the results of that system.

the Knight Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence and Joseph M. Goldstein Senior Fellow. In that capacity, she will advise on the framing and development of the new Yale Law School Law and Media Program (LAMP), work on her own research about the Supreme Court and constitutional law, teach through lectures and seminars, and participate in various Law School activities, including Yale Law School’s Supreme Court Clinic.

I haven't ever taught a whole course before, but I've done a lot of academic lecturing. For two academic years, 2004 and 2005, I was a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, and lectured in colleges all over the place.

The Yale Law School’s Law and Media Program, in which Ms. Greenhouse will be Journalist-in-Residence, is supported by an earlier challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, to build upon the Law School’s longstanding focus on the intersection of law, media, and journalism. The Law and Media Program is directed toward Yale Law School students who plan to be journalists, advocates for journalists, policymakers, or leaders in the media industry; working journalists who seek a deeper understanding of law, media, and policy; and scholars who study cutting-edge issues of law and media. The Program’s co-directors are Professors Jack Balkin and Robert Post ’77. The Law School has also long offered the degree of Master of Studies in Law (M.S.L.), a one-year law degree for journalists seeking an intensive immersion in legal thinking to better educate their audiences upon their return to journalism.

contend that scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, have played down the chances that the collider could produce, among other horrors, a tiny black hole, which, they say, could eat the Earth. Or it could spit out something called a “strangelet” that would convert our planet to a shrunken dense dead lump of something called “strange matter.”