Today was another day of jury selection. To get the full flavor, you need to read Pach at Firedoglake who lived-blogged the whole thing. His updates are in the comments here and here.

His reporting makes you feel like you are in the courtroom, witnessing the questioning and hearing the jurors speak.

Recaps are one thing, but it's great to get the play by play.

He'll be live-blogging tomorrow too.

Murray Waas has a new article on Scooter Libby up at HuffPo. He recounts yesterday's N.Y Times profile and an earlier WAPO profile, and asks,

How could it be that Libby--- seemingly such a stickler for the rules-- outed Valerie Plame, as prosecutors claim in their case against him?

There is always, or course, the possibility that Libby will be found innocent of any and all of the charges. He should be entitled, as should any of us, to a presumption of innocence.

As Murray notes, people don't become loose cannons overnight. He gives two possibilities:

There has been a dearth of reporting on who got deals in the Scooter Libby case. Who agreed to testify for the Government only with the assurance that they wouldn't be charged with a crime? Similarly, who, if anyone, copped a plea to a minor or lesser charge in exchange for testifying against Libby.

Why do I think there's at least an immunized witness? First, there almost always is in cases like this. Second, Patrick Fitzgerald says as much in his Response to Libby's tendered jury instructions:

The government proposed that the Court give 15 additional D.C. Form Instructions: .... 2.23 (Testimony of Immunized Witness) (if applicable);

I think the "if applicable" part means Fitz may or may not call an immunized witness, but if no one had been granted immunity, there'd be no need to ask that this instruction potentially be given to the jury.

All lawyers like to humanize their clients, to show to the world (in a high profile case) and the jury in a routine case, that their client is more than the sum of any misdeeds he may have committed.

Very little of that has gone on so far in the Libby trial, but today there is a long profile of Mr. Libby in the New York Times, that attempts to do the job.

You read, you decide. Did it accomplish its mission?

Update: Is That Legal? says "no." On a related note, James Joyner at Outside the Beltway wonders if Scooter Libby can get a fair trial. Pacachutec at Firedoglake recaps Day 1 of jury selection and already beginning to blog on Day 2.

Jury selection has begun in the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Pachacutec from Firedoglake is in the media courtroom, blogging away (make sure you read the comments where's he is posting continual updates.)

The Judge has read the jurors the list of potential witnesses. Here they are:

CNN's Situation Room Monday ran this segment on bloggers covering the Scooter Libby trial. [Via Raw Story.] TalkLeft is prominently mentioned, with some quotes by me, as to what readers can expect from our coverage, namely, a fresh perspective and gut reactions, from those of us who have followed and written about the case from Day 1.

Thanks to the Media Bloggers Association, I will go to Washington after Feb. 15 (hopefully to cover some of the defense portion, assuming the trial, which is expected to last six weeks, is still going on.) Crooks and Liars will cover a week in early February.

Jane and Christy of Firedoglake have their own press passes, in conjunction with Huffington Post, and are already on the scene in D.C. Marcy Wheeler, whose book on the case, Anatomy of Deceit, will be published in February, who writes as Empty Wheel at the Next Hurrah and used to write for Daily Kos, is also covering the trial.

Jury selection in the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby begins Tuesday.

I will be doing a live chat at 2:00 pm ET for the Washington Post. It will focus on the key players, the charges, the likely defense, the jurors each side will look for, and the probable key witnesses for each side.

I hope you'll join me. You can begin submitting questions now on these or other related issues at this link.

The jury trial of I. Lewis Scooter Libby begins Tuesday. I intend to follow it closely. However, I don't want TalkLeft to become all Libby, all the time. And, there will be days when I can't monitor live developments.

As I did with the Duke Lacrosse players case, I have set up a TalkLeft forum for those interested in following the trial and commenting on it on a detailed level.

The forum can also be used as a reference section as it has links to documents in the case, other bloggers covering the trial and the archives of several bloggers who have followed the Valerie Plame leak investigation and Scooter Libby Indictment since the beginning.

I will be adding documents to the document section over the weekend.

It is open for posting and registration. Your TalkLeft registration doesn't work on the forums. You will need to do a separate, free registration. You can hide your e-mail address and register using a moniker.

Judge Reggie Walton has issued the following trial decorum order (pdf) for the Scooter Libby trial. There will be two overflow courtrooms.

Also, from another order granting the following persons 24 hour access to the courthouse during the trial, here's a clue as to who's on the Government's trial team (some could be agents and paralegals in addition to lawyers.).

ORDER as to I. LEWIS LIBBY granting the following individuals access to the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse 24 hours a day/7 days per week from the date of the Order until the conclusion of the trial of this matter: Patrick Fitzgerald, Peter Zeidenberg, Kathleen Kedian, Debra Bonamici, Debbie Bond, Gerard Francisco, Jared Richards, Katie Hance, Bonnie Hansen, and Harry Brady.

The Washington Post reports that two of the coveted media seats in the Scooter Libby trial will go to bloggers.

After two years of negotiations with judicial officials across the country, the Media Bloggers Association, a nonpartisan group with about 1,000 members working to extend the powers of the press to bloggers, has won credentials to rotate among his members. The trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the highest-ranking Bush administration official to face criminal charges, could "catalyze" the association's efforts to win respect and access for bloggers in federal and state courthouses, said Robert Cox, the association's president.

Firedoglake announced last week that with the aid of Arianna Huffington, it had been granted a press pass for the trial.

It's official. Team Libby told the Judge presiding over his trial today he absolutely will call Veep Dick Cheney as a trial witness.

More information is available here, as well as last week's filings.

Update: Empty Wheel and Christy at Firedoglake share their thoughts.

Update: I'd love to see Fitz impeach Cheney at trial using Cheney's statements made in 2004 to federal investigators.

More on Cheney's involvement here and here.

Both the Government and Lewis "Scooter" Libby filed status reports yesterday. I have uploaded them here and here.

Editor & Publisher notes the key details: While Libby states two reporters may resist testifying for him, Fitz reports none of its witnesses, including White House officials, will claim privilege to avoid testifying.

We can expect Dick Cheney and others to be witnesses and not to claim privilege -- at least during the Government's questioning. Cross-examination by Libby could be different. From Fitz's pleading: