Ever since he led the fight for the DMCA, Orin Hatch has been the Cartel's Number One sock puppet in Congress. He's pushed a variety of offensive and lopsided initiatives. Now Hatch is going to have to step down from the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of Arlen Specter.

Specter has gotten a lot of press lately because of his remarks on abortion and judgeship confirmations. But the Judiciary Committee is also a key player in shaping intellectual property law and it will be interesting to see over the next couple of terms how Spector's leadership differs from Hatch's. One bad scenario has Specter reconstituting an IP-focused subcommittee and giving the lead on that to Hatch.

Remarks about the Hatch(et) job continuing are hereby elided.