Outside the Beltway

The Democratic frontrunner is being wrongly blamed for an explosion in the prison population.

Mitch McConnell has had an unsurprising change of heart on the issue of Senate consideration of Supreme Court nominees in a Presidential election year.

Hypocritical? Sure. Surprising? No.

Justin Amash’s call for impeachment of the President, and the Republican Party’s reaction to it, is telling us a lot about the current state of the GOP.

The House of Representatives has not even acted on impeachment, but Senate Republicans have already made up their mind.

Stan Lee’s former business manager has been arrested on charges that he used his influence over the late Marvel Comics founder to divert funds and alienate Lee from his family in his final months of life.

In the latest development in the child sex abuse investigations in the Catholic Church in the United States, five former Priests in Michigan have been arrested on sex abuse charges.

A Virginia woman left unusual instructions for the Executor of her will, and it’s become something of a controversy.

A Federal Judge in Mississippi has blocked Mississippi’s law that purports to ban abortions after detection of a fetal heartbeat.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Alabama’s patently unconstitutional abortion law.

Yet another violation of norms by the 45th President.

A Federal Judge has put at least a partial hold on President’s Trump’s effort to use a “national emergency” to fund his border wall.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been indicted on seventeen counts under the Espionage Act arising out of his role in the Chelsea Manning affair.

John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” has been released from prison but the war in which he was captured goes merrily along.

Michael Avenatti, the former attorney for Stormy Daniels who briefly flirted with the idea of running for President, has been charged with multiple counts of fraud and other charges, some of them in connection with his representation of Daniels herself.

New York has passed a law that would allow Congress to obtain copies of the President’s New York State tax returns.

President Trump’s stonewalling strategy suffered another legal setback in New York City yesterday.

A new poll shows that roughly two-thirds of Americans, including a large number of Republicans, do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned.

A previously confidential I.R.S. memo contradicts the Administration on the issue of providing copies of the President’s tax returns.

The House has passed legislation that would extend the protections of the Civil Rights Act to LGBT Americans, but it is probably doomed in the Senate.

The Trump Administration lost what is likely to be the first of many court challenges to its effort to stop Congress from doing what the Constitution requires it to do.

In the latest example of the White House’s ongoing effort to block Congress from exercising its duty to investigate the Executive Branch, the White House is blocking the former White House Counsel from testifying before Congress.

President Trump is reportedly planning to pardon several American servicemen convicted of war crimes, an action that would be an insult to everyone who has ever worn an American uniform.

The way the Navy and Congress have handled this has been abysmal.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt another legal setback to the Trump Administration’s efforts to end the DACA program,

Republicans have spent the past week putting as much distance as they can between themselves and the latest round of radical anti-abortion laws.

Republican Congressman Justin Amash has always been a rebel within his own party, now he’s making that even more apparent.

An investigation has found that a doctor linked to Ohio State’s wrestling program abused more than 170 students during his time at the school.

Jon Bel Edwards is a reminder that our divide is cultural, not just partisan.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has informed Congress that he will not comply with a subpoena seeking the President’s tax returns, meaning that we’re headed for a court battle.

Following in the footsteps of Alabama, the Missouri legislature has passed a law that would severely restrict abortion rights in the Show Me State.

Not surprisingly, Chelsea Manning is headed back to jail for her refusal to answer questions before a Federal Grand Jury investigating Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

We’ve soon see whether the current Supreme Court will overturn Roe v Wade.

Attorney General William Barr has opened a new investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation, a move that seems suspiciously political.

Disturbing news in the Eddie Gallagher case.

Despite similar paths to the Supreme Court, it turns out the two don’t share the same style and approach.

A longstanding legal question may finally come to a head.

The university has bowed to student pressure.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted to issue a subpoena the President’s tax returns, but whether it will ever see them is unclear.

The President is systematically defying Congress. Whatever can be done about that?

Chelsea Manning, who was being held in jail for refusing to comply with a Grand Jury subpoena, was released yesterday but it’s likely to only be a temporary freedom.

In a first of its kind move, voters in Denver have voted to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms.

As expected, the House Judiciary Committee voted yesterday on party lines to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for refusing to turn over a full copy of the Mueller Report

In an effort to block the release of the full report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the Trump Administration is invoking Executive Privilege.

California is the latest state to try to force all Presidential candidates, including the President, to release their tax returns as a condition for getting on the ballot. It’s not at all clear that this is permitted under the Constitution.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared “case closed” on the Mueller Report and the Russia investigation. This is far from the truth.

The Treasury Secretary is declining to comply with a Congressional request for the President’s tax returns. Whether this is proper is a question that will have to be resolved by the courts.

This could be a very big deal – unless it isn’t.

A seemingly out-of-the-blue political movement is arguing in favor of independent election of Vice-Presidents.