The snoozer: The Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Thursday on the Administrative Conference of the United States, which provides –what else?– administrative support for the federal judicial system.

On the first panel: Supreme Court Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Antonin G. Scalia.

Now for the weird part: During the hearing, subcommittee chairman Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) asks the justices: “Have either of ya’ll ever considering tweeting or twitting?” He laughs. “I don’t even know what that is.” (Clearly.)

Scalia got in on the ‘twitting’ conversation, saying, “I’ve heard it talked about. My wife calls me Mr. Clueless. I don’t know…”

C-SPAN cameras captured their answers below.

MSNBC Hardball “Host” Chris Matthews had no shortage of words Thursday night on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno. As everyone who watches him knows, he’s a talker.

E!’s Chelsea Handler cracked on him early on, glancing over at him, saying, “Can you talk any faster?”

To which Matthews zinged her back, saying, “You know, my dear, you are beautiful, but if you concentrate you could keep up.” (At the time, Matthews was opining on former V.P. Dick Cheney and the oil spill situation in the Gulf.)

On Rush Limbaugh saying environmentalists should clean up the spill: “He would say that — he’s a joke,” Matthews said.

For the rest of the interview, Handler and Matthews barely interacted. At the interview’s close, Matthews leaned over and lightly knocked her with his elbow, as if to say, still friends? There was clearly no ease between them.

Watch the interview here.

E!’s late night talk show Chelsea Handler, who recently attended the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner as a guest of CBS’s Katie Couric, was a guest on NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” Thursday night.

And boy did she screw up.

“I sat next to Samuel Jackson, who had his hand on my leg the whole time,” Handler told Leno.

Only it wasn’t Jackson she sat next to, but actor Morgan Freeman. “Sorry about that woopsy,” she said, while admitting to Leno, “That’s going to sound really racist.”

At the dinner, Handler told FishbowlDC that she was open to hooking up with a Republican that night. Thankfully Leno cleared up the matter for us, when he asked about any romance that night. “I didn’t hook up with anyone that night, no,” Handler said.

Forget the Salahis – there was another party animal at the White House Thursday, although not as well-dressed as the fame-seeking couple. Still, impressive.

On ABC’s Jake Tapper‘s Political Punch blog, ABC’s Ann Compton and Sunlen Miller report on an unusual, hairy site on the steps of the Rose Garden as the President stood at a podium talking about Wall Street reform.

It was a rodent that somehow got past Secret Service.

Read the entire post here.

Quote(s) of the Day

Leno on Matthews: He’s wound up

“Chris Matthews is literally foaming at the mouth he’s so wound up tonight.” — NBC Tonight Show host Jay Leno Thursday night on his show while discussing upcoming guests, one of whom was MSNBC “Hardball” Host Chris Matthews.

Blogger gets trapped in Constitution Ave. traffic

“I’d be lying if i said i didnt want a big fat nap right now-& Const Ave traffic blows-move it people! –Pamela Sorensen of “Pamela’s Punch” blog in a bad traffic moment Thursday, she tweeted.

Chef needs to pinch himself

“Truth 7:I can’t believe I was offered such an honor:Cooking from WH garden,walking thru rose gardn, platng n State Dining Room, servg n E Room.” — Chicago Chef Rick Bayless in a tweet on cooking at the White House State Dinner this week. He’s the chef of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine.

Each day, Ashley Estill surfs your sites for the most popular stories of the day. Here are the top headlines for March 20, 2010:

Washington Post: Man found dead on Metro train started day as usual

Washington Times: YOUNG: The left’s intolerance of tea

Washington Examiner: Top 5 lessons from yesterday’s elections

USA Today: Floyd Landis comes clean, accuses Lance Armstrong

CQ Politics: DCCC Hits Downer on Gulf Crisis

The Hill: Oil spill taxes prove handy for funding summer jobs

Politico: Paul: No repeal of civil rights law

Roll Call: Souder’s Affair May Not Break the Rules

National Journal: Democrats End Debate On Dodd Bill

Gallup.Com: Smoking and Age: The Baby Boomer Bulge

Talking Points Memo: CNN Headline: ‘Miss USA: Muslim Trailblazer Or Hezbollah Spy?’

Politics Daily: Wall Street Reform Passes Senate With Scott Brown’s Backing

The New Republic: How They Did It (Part One)

The Daily Caller: Democrats move quickly in attempt to marginalize Rand Paul

This afternoon Dr. Jane Goodall and musician Dave Matthews converged at the St. Gregory Hotel to discuss the Gombe 50, a celebration of Goodall’s work as a primatologist, conservationist, and UN Messenger of Peace over the past 50 years.

The unlikely pair first met during 2008′s LiveAid concert, and ever since Dave Matthews has been a strong supporter of Dr. Goodall’s work. “I was knocked out by her courage and beauty,” he recalls “She supports this idea of harmony, and maybe it’s because I’m a musician, but that strikes a chord with me.”

Jane spent the morning with members on the Hill to garnish support for a Global Conservation Act. “If we can get all these agencies to work together, USAID, the Fish and Wildlife foundation, and so many others then having the money pooled will help us get more done.” Goodall added, “This most certainly isn’t a partisan issue. This is something that affects everyone. More people need to realize that and take action in supporting their elected officials that are doing well and criticizing the ones that are doing poorly.”

When asked if either of them saw a future in a political career, Matthews responded, “I’m constantly disappointed by our leaders…and I have too many skeletons in my closet that I wouldn’t want to account for on a political stage.”

Claire Jones from the Jane Goodall Institute mentioned that Dr. Goodall has been working with 60 Minutes, and had positive beltway coverage recently from WaPo‘s Juliet Eilperin and the National Geographic Society concerning her movement. Goodall concluded saying, “Bottom line, this is an issue about our future and it affects us all.”

Tonight Matthews with be performing alongside friend Tim Reynolds at DAR Constitutional Hall (where Goodall gave her first major speech for National Geographic in 1962) to raise awareness for the Jane Goodall Institute. JGI is typically known for its work with conserving chimpanzees but has also spearheaded a movement called Roots & Shoots which helps communities, specifically children, learn about conservation and development for a better tomorrow.

*Special thanks to Meghan Smith and Matt Duckworth who contributed to this post.

Sommer Mathis is leaving DCist to take a position with TBD in June. Read her letter here. As you will see, she highly recommends her job: “This is hands down the greatest job I have ever had, and I’m positive whoever takes the reins after me will love it just as much as I have,” she wrote.

This is on the Web site front and center today:

“Our beloved editrix is moving on to a new job, and DCist is looking to hire a new senior editor. This is a paid, full-time position. As the Gothamist main office is in NYC, the new DCist editor will work from home.”

Read the full post here.

In this unusual fictitious account of what really happens at newspaper job interviews in these lean, precarious times, Real Clear Politics writer Doug Clawson takes a crack at today’s newsrooms.

It’s funny, well worth a read.

Here’s the faux list of questions the interviewer poses to a made-up interviewee named Ms. Pennybroker:

First, do you have a family that might need you around occasionally — I mean, other than a cat or a gerbil?
Are weekends all that important to you?
If you were asked to be on call 24/7 would that present a problem?
Are Christmas, New Year’s, Easter and Thanksgiving really that big a deal to you?
Does sleeping during the day bother you?
Do you have what you might consider a, um, real life?
If we asked you to take two weeks unpaid leave each year would that present a problem?
We haven’t given raises at Conglomerate in three years, is that a cause for concern?
Any pre-existing conditions we should know about?
Are you a smoker?

Read the full story here.

When your congressman boss turns up half naked in a Capitol Hill gossip column, how does that kind of exposure (pun intended) play in the office that day?

Well, today is that day for Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.), who, as a member of his 70s era band, posed sans clothes for an album cover. The item appeared in Roll Call‘s HOH “One-Minute Recess” feature that comes out everyday around lunchtime. The congressman’s album cover turned up on a list that Roll Call linked to in its item. The spokesman was not quoted in the item.

How are the congressman and his aides faring today?

“He’s gone for the day,” the receptionist replied after FishbowlDC tried several times to reach Doug MacPherson, the press secretary, by phone and e-mail. MacPherson requested to conduct the interview by e-mail and then did not respond to multiple requests for comment about his boss’s naked album cover.

FishbowlDC: “He’s gone for the day at 3 p.m.?” (Admittedly, there was attitude in my voice.)

The receptionist then hemmed and hawed and said MacPherson was “Gone for the day … with the congressman.” (Right, of course.)