In June, President George W. Bush announced that Laurence H. Silberman would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. Silberman, who currently is a senior federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, has had a distinguished diplomatic and governmental career and recently cochaired the Iraq intelligence commission. He was affiliated with AEI as a visiting and senior fellow. Ten other AEI scholars have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Frederick M. Hess

Frederick M. Hess was nominated in April to serve as one of two independent evaluators conducting a long-term study of the effectiveness of D.C. public school governance under new chancellor Michelle Rhee. Rhee spoke at AEI in February about her tenure as chancellor.

In May, then-president Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan conferred the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Christopher DeMuth and John R. Bolton for their support of Taiwan and contributions to U.S.-Taiwan relations.

On June 4, the Senate unanimously confirmed James K. Glassman as under secretary of state for public diplomacy. "As the U.S. field general in the battle of ideas, his superb preparation will be matched by deep conviction and fine temperament," said Christopher DeMuth.

The Supreme Court in May ruled in Department of Revenue of Kentucky v. Davis that states can offer their residents a special exemption for investing in home-state municipal bonds, upholding a long-established and widespread practice. In October, AEI held a conference discussing the case after several AEI scholars, led by Alan D. Viard, in September filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, urging that the exemption be struck down because it impedes an efficient national market in municipal bonds. The justices generally upheld the tax exemption, but Justice David Souter's court opinion cited the brief in reserving judgment about the exemption in the private-activity-bond segment of the municipal bond market.

Resident Scholar Norman J. Ornstein

In early June, Norman J. Ornstein hosted the inaugural Nelson Polsby Congressional Conversation featuring Representatives Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass). The late Nelson Polsby, a distinguished political scientist, was a member of AEI's Council of Academic Advisers.

Paul Wolfowitz was appointed in May as chairman of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing the trade and business relationship between the United States and Taiwan.

In May, Sally Satel participated in a live debate at Intelligence Squared (IQ²) U.S.--a New York City forum for Oxford-style debate--on legalizing the sale of organs in the United States. Satel, herself the recipient of a donated kidney, is a forceful advocate for organ markets in the United States and overseas, and her promarket team won the IQ² U.S. debate. Her latest book, When Altruism Isn't Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors, will be published by AEI Press in the fall.

Resident Scholar Frederick W. Kagan

On May 22, Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-D-Conn.) quoted from the work of Frederick W. Kagan during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nominations of General David Petraeus, the commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq, as new chief of U.S. Central Command and his deputy, Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, as his replacement.

At a May event, Michael Perino of St. John's University School of Law presented his new paper, "The Milberg Weiss Prosecution: No Harm, No Foul?"--published as part of the AEI Legal Center's Briefly series--which seeks to examine objectively the validity of the indictment of securities class actions firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman. Perino's study was cited by the New York Sun, Law.com, the New York Times's DealBook, the Washington Examiner, and others in coverage of the trial.

On June 8, AEI held its annual picnic for scholars, staff, and their families. Despite high temperatures and humidity, many enjoyed summer picnic activities such as dining on hamburgers from the grill, jumping in a moonbounce, sitting for face painting, and enjoying good conversation with friends and colleagues.