President Obama today called for a "practical, common sense" immigration system that will help the U.S. economy and maintain the steady flow of immigrants who have always enriched the United States.

"Such an approach demands accountability from everybody," Obama said during his first major immigration speech as president.

Obama said his administration has already taken record-setting actions to strengthen the border, and also urged Congress to approve "a pathway to legal status" for the 11 million or so illegal immigrants who are already here.

Speaking to lawmakers, academics, and community leaders gathered at American University, Obama stressed the contributions that immigrants have made and the discrimination they faced throughout U.S. history. "Immigrants have always helped to build and defend this country," Obama said.

Immigration has become "a source of fresh contention" in recent says because of new Arizona law that gives police greater authority to question people's citizenship, Obama said in his first major immigration speech as president. His administration is expected to file a lawsuit against Arizona, but the president did not discuss that plan.

President Barack Obama is turning his attention to energy and immigration legislation Tuesday.

He'll meet with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation this year.

The president also will meet with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to discuss the possibility of an overhaul of federal immigration laws — an iffy proposition in this election year.

Obama also will have a working lunch with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

They span the ideological spectrum, including former clerks to Justice Antonin Scalia, the court's conservative icon, and to one of its most liberal stalwarts, former Justice William Brennan.

Vice presidential chief of staff Ron Klain is one of the signers, as are conservative lawyers Miguel Estrada and Peter Keisler, two of former President George W. Bush's failed judicial nominees.

Ever wish you could rifle through a public figure's e-mail? Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's e-mails are about to go public as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee's preparations for her confirmation hearings in a little more than a week.

The William J. Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., is set Friday to release approximately 80,000 pages of e-mails — about 11,000 of them written by Kagan. It's the final installment of documents related to her service as a domestic policy aide and White House counsel to former President Bill Clinton.

It's the third week in a row the files will be made public on a Friday afternoon — the customary time in official Washington for dribbling out unfavorable information or disclosures one hopes won't draw too much attention.

Another roughly 80,000 pages of paper files already have been released, revealing Kagan's role in managing the scandals of the Clinton administration, her pragmatic streak dealing with complex issues such as a massive tobacco regulation measure and her political instincts weighing in on hot-button issues such as abortion, gun control and drug sentencing.

The White House and Clinton have opted to keep a small fraction of the information private, allowing only Judiciary panel members and their top aides to see it. But the 160,000 pages of information is far more than the committee received for other recent high court nominees.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs's briefing, which normally comes in the afternoon, takes place at 10 a.m., and will be conducted by Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander in charge of the response to the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

The briefing is happening early to make way for a Facebook video chat with energy czar Carol Browner, who has become one of the go-to oil spill people at the White House in the past week.

President Obama also plans to hold a full meeting of his Cabinet -- not a common event during his first year and a half in office -- to discuss what the administration is doing to stop the leak and to clean up the coastlines of several states.

Over the weekend, even as BP appeared to have some success diverting a bit of the oil from the broken undersea gusher, it became clear that the crisis above water will be just as difficult to deal with.

More images of oil-covered animals began emerging, and there were increasing complaints about the lack of cleanup effort at beaches . One local official wondered aloud why Obama didn't order workers from other oil companies to help BP clean up the spill.