And picked Attorney General Michael Mukasey as Lawyer of the Year for 2008, for having to deal with the problems left by the former AG.

“The top legal story of 2007 was unquestionably the unraveling of support for the Bush administration’s expansive view of presidential power during wartime, and with it, the slow-motion destruction of Alberto Gonzales’ reign as U.S. attorney general,” said a statement issued by the ABA Journal today.

Do you agree?

Who’d be your pick for Maryland Lawyer of the Year?

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Surprised?

A report (PDF) from the Government Accountability Office yesterday says that the Pentagon is planning to run over about $10 billion on base closings and realignments. Oh, and there’ll be about $200 million less in savings.

“The Defense Department expects to spend $31 billion to implement Base Closing and Realignment Commission’s recommendations and predicted net annual savings of $4 billion. Also, it will take until 2017 for the Defense Department to recover upfront costs, four years longer than the base closing commission predicted.”

In addition, the closure of New Jersey’s Fort Monmouth will cost more than any other installation on the Pentagon’s 2005 “hit list” (it’s now estimated at $1.5 billion). The new information has fueled many Garden Staters who call for the decision to be re-examined.

Other one-time cost increases include:

-$970 million more for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency at Fort Belvoir, Virginia

-$700 million more to relocate and realign Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C.

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

FYI: Today at 4:30 p.m. is the deadline to apply for the Court of Appeals seat vacated by Judge Dale Cathell when he turned 70 last summer.

Cathell sat from the 1st circuit, which covers Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico and Worcester counties. That means his replacement’s got to be from one of those places.

The Court of Special Appeals judge who sits from that circuit is Sally Adkins, who has been on the appellate bench nine years and served on the Wicomico County Circuit Court for two years before that. She is also relatively young – 57 – which would let her sit on the Court of Appeals for more than a decade.

Adkins is considered a likely applicant, but I wonder who else will try for the seat. Does anyone who knows more about Shore judicial politics than I do – not exactly tough – want to hazard a guess in the comments?

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer