WATCH ON THE MEDIA.

The Washington Times reported in a front-page article Dec. 26 that some conservative Republicans want to block Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) from becoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee if, as expected, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) bows out after the 2004 elections because of GOP term limits on chairmanships.

Specter's seniority puts him next in line.

While much of the opposition is centered on Specter's defense of abortion, the maneuvering is of interest to those who follow civil litigation because he frequently sides with Democrats in opposing limits on liability.

Times reporter Charles Hurt quoted spokeswoman Connie Mackey as calling Specter a "poster child" for the National Abortion Rights Action League and National Organization for Women.

He reported Specter's primary opponent, Rep. Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA), has seized on the prospect of his opponent's ascension on Judiciary as a fundraising device.

But Hurt also noted President Bush has named Specter as one of the state chairmen for his reelection campaign and recently said he looked forward to working with him" on Judiciary "to make sure my judges get through."

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The Los Angeles Times reported Dec. 3 on the influence of Exxon-funded social-science research upon litigation stemming from the 1989 oil spill of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Puget Sound.

The spill led to a then-record $5.3 billion award of punitive damages in 1994, noted reporter Alan Zarembo.

"Three years later, as Exxon waged its appeal, a new line of research began to appear in several respected academic journals and Ivy League law review articles," he wrote.

"Some articles challenged the competence of juries to set punitive damages fairly. Others suggested such awards are ultimately bad for society. Exxon cited several of the articles in the appeal. What it did not say in court filings is that it had funded the research."

Zarembo said Exxon "hired at least nine esteemed psychologists, economists and law and business school faculty members, giving them research funding that most social scientists can only dream about," and the 13 papers they published "are popping up in legal arguments" in other cases.

"It is very troublesome that work published as scholarship ... is being vetted by lawyers," he quoted Richard Lempert, law professor at the University of Michigan, as saying.

Zaremba quoted Exxon spokesman Tom Cirigliano as saying the company hadn't exerted any control over the studies, and a better understanding of punitive damages benefits not only Exxon but everyone in the country.

The papers were cited in Exxon briefs filed with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which remanded the case to federal court in Alaska with an order to reduce the award. It was cut to $4 billion; Exxon continues to challenge it.

The Exxon-funded research also "became the backbone" of Punitive Damages: How Juries Decide, published by University of Chicago press, Zarembo reported.