Word: benching
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Appointed to the bench by President Nixon in 1971, Wood had earned the title "Maximum John" because he handed out stiff sentences in the many drug cases in his district, which stretches from San Antonio to El Paso. In 90 cases involving heroin traffic, he gave out maximum sentences in 65 and never granted probation. He was often reversed and occasionally criticized for his rulings by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. On July 23 he was scheduled to preside over one of his most important trials, that of Las Vegas Gambler Jimmy Chagra, who has been charged with conspiracy...
...past decade has produced a single cultural bench mark of note, it has been the remarkable turnabout in Americans' estimation of their bricks-and-mortar legacy. In their new appreciation of the old, well-made, neglected structures in their midst, one New Yorker notes wryly, city dwellers resemble the estimable bourgeois gentilhomme of Moliere's play who discovers to his delight that he has unconsciously been speaking prose all his life...
Laskin's inscription: A distinguished legal scholar now firmly and wisely interpreting constitutional questions from Canada's supreme bench...
Belying her reputation as a combative iron lady, the new Prime Minister was relaxed and gracious at her maiden appearance before the House of Commons. Taking her seat on the government front bench under the speaker's rostrum, she gently chided a Tory colleague for his reference to the "new boys" in the House. She drew more laughter with an anecdote about re-elected Speaker George Thomas; his noted propensity for hedging parliamentary questions, she said, was an inspiration to them all. After a subsequent Cabinet meeting and a series of asides with separate ministers, Thatcher worked long hours...
After that, Thatcher's star began to rise rapidly. She became a junior minister for pensions in 1961, and three years later, when the Conservatives were in opposition, she was promoted to the front bench, which allowed her to shine in debate. In 1967 she joined the shadow cabinet and held a number of portfolios, including housing, transport and education. She also spoke up on treasury matters. Some Tory backbenchers remember vividly the verbal exchange that marked Thatcher as a fighting lady to be reckoned with. Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey, who is renowned for his brutal...