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Google CEO Eric Schmidt last May, introducing Google TV at the company’s annual developer conference in San Francisco. (ROBERT GALBRAITH – REUTERS) Even before he’s out as Google’s chief executive, Eric Schmidt is reportedly on the short list to be President Obama’s next Commerce Secretary. Buzz has been building for the past week that Schmidt is being seriously considered as a candidate for the administration post once he leaves the company in April, after a decade at Google’s helm. Google co-founder Larry Page will step in as CEO this spring.

Schmidt recently secured a nod from former Reagan administration Commerce Department counsel Clyde Prestowitz. Prestowitz, whose endorsement could signal bipartisan support, said in a Foreign Policy piece that he would “wholeheartedly urge President Obama to move ahead with this appointment.”

Schmidt is known not only for his business acumen but also for his colorful and controversial comments, particularly when it comes to explaining Google’s privacy policies.

The rumors about Schmidt’s possible nomination are apparently substantial enough to make Schmidt’s critics nervous as well.

Consumer Watchdog, well-known for its opposition of Google — and Schmidt in particular — issued a release Thursday in opposition to a possible appointment. The group also sent a letter to Obama asking him not to nominate Schmidt for the position. “Putting Eric Schmidt in charge of policing online privacy is like appointing Bernie Madoff to direct the Securities Exchange Commission,” the release said.

Others who have been mentioned as possibilities for the nomination include U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler and FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.

Current Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is Obama’s nominee to be the next ambassador to China.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that Google CEO Eric Schmidt was “splitting” with the company. Schmidt will step down as CEO of Google but will remain the company’s executive chairman.

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President Obama on Wednesday nominated Virginia A. Seitz, a law firm partner who specializes in appellate litigation to lead the Justice Department’s powerful Office of Legal Counsel.

The nomination represents Mr. Obama’s second attempt to get someone confirmed to lead the agency, which tells the executive branch whether proposed policies would be lawful. His last nominee, Dawn Johnsen, a former Clinton administration lawyer, withdrew after her nomination had lingered for more than a year without a Senate vote.

In a statement, Mr. Obama described a group of executive branch nominees that included Ms. Seitz — whose nomination to the position of assistant attorney general for the office has been rumored for months — in glowing terms.

“The extraordinary dedication these men and women bring to their new roles will greatly serve the American people, he said. “I am grateful they have agreed to serve in this administration and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

Ms. Seitz is currently a partner at the law firm of Sidley Austin. Her work there has included being the counsel of record for a group of retired military officers who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of upholding affirmative action policies in a 2003 Supreme Court case, Grutter v. Bollinger.

She does not have a great deal of experience in national security legal policy matters – a factor that could both hurt and help her. Critics may attack her lack of relevant experience, since the Office of Legal Counsel has been deeply involved in setting limits – or sometimes secretly proclaiming a lack thereof – on what the executive branch wants to do to combat Al Qaeda.

On the other hand, critics are unlikely to find much of a paper trail laying out specific views on such matters as Bush administration interrogation policies and the balance between handling terrorists as wartime combatants or as criminals. Such issues have served as recurrent fodder for partisan controversy.

The Office of Legal Counsel wields extraordinary power. If a proposed policy would be illegal, it has the responsibility of telling the president that it cannot be done. But if it signs off on a policy, then any official who takes an action based on its opinion is essentially safe from prosecution – even if the legal analysis invoked by the office is later repudiated.

Once obscure, the Office of Legal Counsel became notorious during the administration of President George W. Bush after its political appointees, citing expansive theories of executive power, issued secret memorandums approving surveillance and interrogation policies that bypassed statutory and treaty limits.

The controversy that surrounded the office after those memorandums came to light have made it difficult for presidents of both parties to get anyone confirmed to lead it. It has not had a Senate-confirmed assistant attorney general since 2004.

Ms. Seitz earned an undergraduate degree from Duke University, was a Rhodes Scholar, and graduated first in her class from Buffalo Law School. She also clerked for Harry T. Edwards, a former appeals court judge, and William J. Brennan, a former associate justice of the Supreme Court.

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9:31 a.m. | Updated LONDON – Frederick A. Goodwin, the former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland widely blamed for the bank’s demise, was cleared by Britain’s financial regulator of any major wrongdoings. The Financial Services Authority said Thursday it had completed a 17 months’ investigation together with PricewaterhouseCoopers into R.B.S. as one of [...]

Noah Berger/Bloomberg NewsAndrew Mason, the founder and chief executive of Groupon. If Google ends up buying Groupon for $6 billion, it will get a high-growth social buying site and, many expect, Andrew Mason, the start-up’s founder and chief executive. And just who is Mr. Mason, a 30-year-old who created a company with 3,000 employees in [...]

Ever since the economic crisis hit in 2008, Nicholas Calio has taken his share of lumps from Washington as a top lobbyist for Citigroup, the financial giant. Now, Mr. Calio is moving from high finance to high altitudes to become the face of another beleaguered industry — the airlines.

Mr. Calio, 57, was named Monday as the new president and chief executive of the Air Transport Association of America, the leading industry trade group, and its point of contact with Capitol Hill and the executive branch on a number of pressing regulatory and economic issues.

He takes the helm at a time of some tumult for the airline industry.

While commercial air travel is up this year, new pat-down procedures at airports by the Transportation Security Administration have set off a national debate, and a survey released Monday, hours before Mr. Calio was named to lead the airline group, found continued dissatisfaction among many travelers over baggage fees, high ticket prices, long waits and other problems.

Mr. Calio, who takes over Jan. 1 from James May, said that he wasn’t ready yet to offer any detailed prescriptions for handling such issues. “I still have a lot to learn,” he said.

But he acknowledged that “image is important,’’ and he said he plans to stress to Washington regulators and the flying public the acute financial pressures that the airlines are facing, as well as their critical place in the domestic and global economies. Although Mr. Calio comes to the job with Republican credentials – he was the top White House liaison to Congress for both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush – he said he intends to work closely with both Democrats and Republicans.

The Republican takeover of the House may mean “a more business-friendly environment,” but he said good relations with both parties are essential for the airline industry.
As for his personal travel experiences, Mr. Calio admitted to a few unspecified “horror stories” on flights over the years, but he said that in general, “I’m a very satisfied flier.’’

And where he does come down in the endless debate over how best to get from Washington D.C., where he lives, to New York City on his frequent trips? “Plane or train,”’ he said, “depending on the weather.”

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Jim Lee/BloombergMillard S. Drexler, J. Crew’s chairman and chief executive. J. Crew on Tuesday confirmed that it would sell itself for about $3 billion to the private equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners, with the support of the company chairman, Millard S. Drexler. The buyout firms will pay $43.50 a share, a [...]