Politics

COURT_WEB_20121204_0001

**FILE** This photo shows the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in a group portrait at the Supreme Court Building in Washington on Oct. 8, 2010. Seated from left to right are: Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Standing, from left are: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. (Associated Press)

Mideast Syria_Lea.jpg

Residents of Aleppo, Syria, collect their belongings after their home was damaged in heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

Somalia Refugees Evic_Live.jpg

**FILE** A Somali internally-displaced child looks out from her family's makeshift home in Maslah camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, on Nov. 29, 2012. (Associated Press)

CLIFF_WEB_20121204_0006

**FILE** House Speaker John Boehner (right), Ohio Republican, and Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, walk in the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 13, 2012, en route to voting on a stopgap spending bill that avoids a government shutdown. (Associated Press)

CLIFF_WEB_20121204_0004

**FILE** House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, touts his 2012 federal budget during an April 5, 2011, news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press)

CLIFF_WEB_20121204_0002

**FILE** Speaker of the House John Boehner, Ohio Republican, speaks Nov. 14, 2012, to reporters at the Capitol in Washington after the House Republicans voted for their leadership for the next session of Congress. He is flanked by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (left), Virginia Republican, and Rep. Lynn Jenkins, Kansas Republican. (Associated Press)

CLIFF_WEB_20121204_0001

**FILE** House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, participates in a ceremonial swearing in with Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 5, 2011. (Associated Press)

SYRIA_WEB_20121204_0010

A man collects his belongings after his home was damaged in heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

SYRIA_WEB_20121204_0009

Syrian rebel fighters stand on a tank they took after storming a military base in Aleppo, Syria, on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

SYRIA_WEB_20121204_0008

A Syrian rebel fighter fires his weapon during clashes with Syrian army forces on the outskirts of Idlib, Syria, on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

SYRIA_WEB_20121204_0007

Smoke rises from buildings during heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

SYRIA_WEB_20121204_0006

Residents walk past buildings damaged during heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

SYRIA_WEB_20121204_0005

A Free Syrian Army fighter aims his weapon during clashes with government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

SYRIA_WEB_20121204_0004

A boy injured by shrapnel receives treatment in a makeshift clinic during heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

SYRIA_WEB_20121204_0003

President Obama speaks at the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) symposium at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

SYRIA_WEB_20121204_0002

In this citizen journalist image, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, anti-Syrian-regime mourners carry the coffins of Syrian civilians who were killed by the shelling of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, in Homs, Syria, on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Lens Yong Homsi)