Outside the Beltway

The Supreme Court issued a ruling that places new limits on civil asset forfeiture by state and local government.

The American Civil Liberties Union has joined the list of groups with lawsuits against the President’s declaration of a “national emergency” at the southern border.

While I’m sympathetic to his plight, he has no case.

Roger Stone is being ordered to Court after an Instagram post that appears to be a direct threat against the Judge presiding over his criminal case.

Notorious RBG is back on the bench.

The lawsuits against President Trump’s “national emergency” have begun. Except more.

The shooter who killed five people in a factory in Illinois on Friday should not have had a gun to begin with.

The Supreme Court will hear a case dealing with a challenge to the Commerce Department’s decision to put a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census.

The ignominious saga of Anthony Weiner appears to have reached its end.

Pope Francis defrocked former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after decades of allegations of abuse of young boys and seminarians.

Two new reports identify hundreds of Catholic Priests who have been credibly accused of abusing children over the past decades.

Supreme Court watcher Jeffrey Toobin speculates that Clarence Thomas could be the next Supreme Court Justice to step aside.

A confidential agreement has ended a collusion suit filed against the National Football League in 2017.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg returned to the Supreme Court today and appears to have fully recovered from her December surgery.

President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border while at the same time undercutting his own case for doing so.

President Trump’s impending decision to declare a national emergency to get funding for his border wall will quickly face serious legal challenges. It may be more vulnerable than the White House suspects.

The President will sign the bill to fund the government and avert another government shutdown, but in doing so he’ll also lay the groundwork for another showdown with Congress.

William Barr was easily confirmed as Attorney General in a 54-45 votes that included three Democrats crossing over to support him.

A Federal Judge found that former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort lied repeatedly after entering into a plea agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. This either makes him incredibly stupid or willing to sacrifice himself to hide the truth from Federal investigators.

The former #2 official at the FBI is trying to sell a book.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court rejected a challenge by three women to their prosecution for going topless on a public beach in the Granite State.

A death penalty case from Alabama raises First Amendment issues that the Supreme Court chose to brush aside.

Critics on both the Left and the Right rightly see an injustice here but the US Supreme Court allowed it to happen.

Late last night, the Supreme Court blocked a Louisiana abortion law from going into effect, the first significant abortion rights ruling since Justice Kavanaugh took the bench.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned the President against using a national emergency to fund his border wall.

The way we elect Presidents make it unlikely that a third-party candidate like Howard Schultz could ever actually win the the Presidency.

Many people are wondering how CNN knew to be at Roger Stone’s house in Florida this morning. It turns out that it was good old-fashioned reporting.

Roger Stone, who worked with the Trump campaign in an official and unofficial capacity throughout the campaign, has been indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The situation in Venezuela entered a new stage yesterday as opposition leader Juan Guaidó claimed the nation’s Presidency.

For the first tine in nearly ten years, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving Second Amendment rights.

There’s a way that Congress and the President could make future government shutdowns impossible, but they probably won’t do it.

In what amounts to a setback, the Supreme Court has lifted an injunction barring the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender service in the military to go forward pending further legal proceedings.

A Chicago police officer convicted of second-degree murder has been sentenced to seven years in prison, but could be out in as little as three-and-a-half.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a case that could make it easier for consumers to buy and ship wine and other adult beverages across state lines.

A new blockbuster report implicates the President in no less than five Federal crimes.

Tulsi Gabbard was born in American Samoa, an American territory whose residents are generally not American citizens from birth. However, she is nonetheless a “natural born citizen.”

A Federal Judge has blocked the Trump Administration from going forward with a plan to put a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census.

The confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee for Attorney General appeared to go very well, making confirmation essentially a certainty.

Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case that could make it easier to order and ship wine from out-of-state retailers.

Florida’s New Governor has removed the Sheriff of Broward County over his officer’s lack of response before and during the Parkland shooting.

Washington State has a problem with people stealing “Mile 420” signs, so they’ve come up with a solution.

Doctors have declared Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cancer free but she is still expected to miss one more week of oral argument as she recovers from her surgery in December.

President Trump appears to be backing away from the idea of declaring a national emergency to get his wall built. But the other options he’s considering aren’t much better.

The government shutdown has now entered historic territory, and the Trump Administration is moving closer to a “national emergency” or other extra-legal means to get money for his wall.

Paul Manafort’s attorneys reveal in a pleading that their client provided insider campaign data to Russian intelligence sources, something that seems an awful lot like collusion.

The Supreme Court is taking up the issue of partisan gerrymandering. This time, though, they’re likely to reach the merits of the cases rather than punting like they did last year.

President Trump is claiming that he could use authority to declare a “national emergency” to build his wall even if Congress doesn’t authorize it.

For the first time in her twenty-five years on the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is missing oral argument this morning.

Washington has become the latest state to ban the sale of semiautomatic assault rifles to persons under 21.

Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of The House again after eight years out of power, but there’s little time for her to celebrate.