"The president is free to nominate whomever he likes," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "But picking judges based on his or her perceived sympathy for certain groups or individuals undermines the faith Americans have in our judicial system."

McConnell's Republicans are turning to a conservative Southerner as their point man on Obama's nominee, signaling that they won't shy away from a protracted fight despite risks of being cast as obstructionist.

Sen. Jeff Sessions' ascension as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee comes more than 20 years after the panel rejected him for his own federal judgeship during the Reagan administration over concerns that he was hostile toward civil rights and was racially insensitive.

Coincidentally, Sessions, R-Ala., replaces Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a moderate who was one of just two Republicans in 1986 to oppose Sessions as a U.S. district court judge. Specter left the GOP last week to become a Democrat, creating the vacancy atop the committee just as Justice David Souter announced his retirement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause outlined the government's position while requesting the maximum sentence for Lori Drew. Probation officials have recommended Drew receive a year of probation and a $5,000 fine.

Krause argued that Drew "coldly conceived of a scheme to humiliate" Megan Meier, a neighbor in a St. Louis suburb, by helping create a fictitious teenage boy on the social networking site and sending flirtatious messages in his name to the girl.

The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her. She hanged herself a short time later.

Drew used her then-13-year-old daughter and a business assistant in the scheme, which played on Megan's insecurities, Krause said.

"Both the callousness of defendant's criminal conduct and the extraordinary harm it caused mandate a sentence of more than probation," Krause wrote.

Drew was convicted in November of three counts of accessing computers without authorization. Besides up to three years in prison, she could face a $300,000 fine at sentencing set for May 18.

Drew's attorney, Dean Steward, has asked U.S. District Court Judge

The Supreme Court didn't say when or if it would rule. The appeal goes first to Justice John Paul Stevens, who can decide the request on his own or refer it to the full court.

The arrest warrant in Germany accuses Demjanjuk of being a guard at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943. Demjanjuk, a native Ukrainian, maintains he was a prisoner of war, not a camp guard. Evidence the U.S. government has used against him includes a Nazi document, an identification card placing him at a training camp and then at various death or forced-labor camps, including Sobibor.

A German court on Wednesday rejected an attempt to block his deportation, saying the issue would have to be decided by American courts.

The U.S. Department of Justice would "respond in court as appropriate," spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said Wednesday.v

Since businesses often land in court, a case involving a company in which a justice has financial ties could be trouble. If chosen for the high court, some potential nominees might have to step aside from certain cases or unload stocks to avoid ethical conflicts between their official duties and personal financial interests.

Among stocks held by people mentioned as President Barack Obama's possible picks to succeed retiring Justice David Souter:

_ Appellate Judges Diane Wood and Kim Wardlaw have reported they have stakes in Whole Foods Market Inc. The upscale grocer won permission from a federal appeals court in Washington in 2007 to buy rival organic grocer Wild Oats Markets despite the Federal Trade Commission's argument that the deal would stifle competition. To settle the commission's claims, Whole Foods agreed this year to sell several stores.

_ At least five Supreme Court prospects have disclosed stock in Zimmer Holdings Inc., a maker of artificial hips and knees that was investigated by federal prosecutors over allegations it paid doctors who used the products. Charges were dropped after Zimmer agreed to pay a fine and undergo monitoring.

Laura Althouse's attorney filed a motion Monday to withdraw the plea after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that undocumented workers who use phony IDs can't be considered identity thieves unless they knew they were using ID numbers from real people.

A judge granted Althouse's motion Tuesday, and her attorney says that effectively dismisses the charge. Althouse still faces sentencing May 13 on a charge of conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville.

U.S. attorney's spokesman Bob Teig declined to comment.

The Munich couple, whose first names were not released, challenged the law after they married. They argued they wanted to share a surname, while each maintaining professional names — Thalheim is a dentist and Kunz-Hallstein a lawyer.

They said the law violated their right to free choice and could be damaging their careers.

But the Karlsruhe-based Federal Constitutional Court rejected their claim, ruling the law exists to prevent clunky "name chains," while still allowing couples to decide for themselves which last name, or two-name combination, they wish to take on.

"This addresses the wish to create names that are viable in legal and business dealings, while at the same time do not lead to name chains in later generations," the court wrote.

Germany has strict laws governing not only which surnames can be used, but also which first names can be given to a child.