Toby finds Joe Quincy (remember him?) in the hallway. Matthew Perry's doing a fine job, and he fits in well, but I just can't stop seeing Chandler. I suppose that will go away in time, like in thirty or forty years. Toby mentions that Joe clerked for Ashland, and says that it's interesting. Joe can't imagine why that would be terribly interesting, but is polite about it. Toby: "Guys around here with two-bit appellate clerkships staple it to their foreheads." Joe quickly susses Toby's interest in his relationship to Ashland, and says he can't do it. He walks away, and Toby follows, claiming he didn't say anything about getting Joe to approach Ashland about resigning. Joe says he can do the math: "You've got a limited amount of time to pick the guy and get him confirmed before the midterms politicize everything. But I work for you. It's a question of propriety." Toby: "I see." Joe: "Do you? The White House can't be seen pressuring a Supreme Court Justice to change his breakfast order, let alone resign. Separation of powers." Toby: "I see." Joe: "You say that, but in a way that makes me wonder if you really do." Joe starts to wander away as Toby says, "The President sets the direction of the court. I've read the Constitution, too." Joe points out that POTUS sets the court's direction when there's a vacancy. Toby: "You don't have to ask him to resign; only to sit down with the President." Joe replies, "You're talking about a guy that stood up to six administrations, twenty-two Congresses, and at one time or another, had half the country ready to lynch him. You think a former clerk can pry him loose?" He stalks off to a meeting at the OEOB.
Donna complains, "What am I, chattel?" This is news to you, Donna? Josh says he authorized the request from Angela's office for budget documents. Donna's surprised, and mentions that they also asked for her along with the files: "A living index, if you will, for Angela Blake." Josh wearily says that they can call her "Angela" now. Donna: "You authorized that, too?" Josh: "Sure." Donna looks vaguely hurt. Man, Josh, you'll tell her there's no tooth fairy. Josh asks whether someone named Hamurashi ever got specifics on the trade bill. Donna hands him the relevant file.
Charlie approaches C.J.'s office, where C.J.'s barking out instructions to Carol. He stands at the door listening to her carrying on, until finally, getting no response from Carol, she asks, "Carol?" Charlie: "She's not out here." C.J. says she was just talking to her. Oh, well. If that was supposed to be hilarious, it wasn't. And what's with C.J.'s hair? It's all kinda flipped back in this scene, like a modified Farrah 'do. And she's wearing a long, flowing skirt and boots with her jacket, something she rarely wears. I'm going to call this look "PMS week." Charlie asks C.J. to give Zoey a CD for him. C.J. takes it, saying, "I love Macy Gray." Ooh! Me, too. I've been playing her third album to death for a couple of months. It looks like Charlie gave her that one, The Trouble With Being Myself. Charlie says, "Zoey's been in a solo-whispery- female-acoustic kind of rut right now. I'm trying to get her to listen to something with drums." C.J. suggests John Philip Sousa. Charlie: "Drums, but not so much with the batons." Word. Charlie says his mother used to watch Diane Mathers's old talk show all the time: "She seemed nice, sympathetic, sincere." C.J.: "This is a woman who gets dictators to cry, talk about their love of puppies and mama's cooking...confess they had the concentration camps built because they couldn't get a date for the prom." So she's a Baba Wawa stand-in. Charlie assures her that Zoey will be fine. C.J.: "So everyone keeps saying." She asks if POTUS has changed his mind about coming. Charlie says he hasn't. C.J. leaves, saying, "I thought he would in the end." I don't get the impression that it's up to Jed, frankly.