Outside the Beltway

Some Democrats want to compel President Trump’s translator to testify about his private meeting with Vladimir Putin. That’s a bad idea.

Initial polling on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court find the public more divided than they have been for other recent SCOTUS picks, but that’s unlikely to impact the fate of his nomination.

Mariia Butina, a Russian “gun rights activist, is accused of being an unregistered agent of the Russian government and attempting to influence Republican Party policies regarding Russia in an operation that pre-dates the Trump Presidential campaign.

The Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller has issued indictments against twelve Russian intelligence officials for election-related hacking, and in the process has shown most of the arguments made by the President and his surrogates regarding the Russia investigation are nonsense.

Another poll shows that the vast majority of Americans do not want to see the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade overturned.

At least in these early days, Democrats appear to lack a coherent message, or a coherent strategy, to propel any effort to block Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

There’s a reason President Trump’s Supreme Court picks are “normal” in a way his national security and economic teams are not.

In one area (with an important caveat) this has been a pretty normal administration.

A Federal Judge has rejected a Trump Administration effort to change a 20-year-old legal settlement that bars long-term detention of immigrant families.

There are good arguments as to why progressive Senators should vote against his confirmation. Let’s stick to those.

A selection that is likely to keep the Senate GOP united and red-state Democrats up for re-election under pressure to vote to confirm.

Some considerations on the politics of Roe v. Wade.

A police officer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania who tased an apparently compliant African-American man will not be disciplined by his department, and probably won’t face charges either.

A Federal Judge in California has largely rejected a Trump Administration challenge to a series of new laws in California designed to protect so-called “sanctuary cities.”

Federal law protects internet companies from liability for statements written by others.

Democrats are making largely meaningless appeals to the so-called ‘Merrick Garland Precedent” to argue for a delay in confirming the President’s next Supreme Court nominee. The American people feel differently.

With the President set to announce his Supreme Court pick Monday evening, another name has entered the game.

An idiot climbed the monument, wasting police resources and ruining the day for hundreds of visitors.

The right-wing government in Warsaw has purged more than one-third of the members of the Polish Supreme Court in a crackdown on political opponents.

With Justice Kennedy retiring, the new center of the Roberts Court is likely to be the Chief Justice himself.

A thoughtful liberal argues the Justice has “altered and destroyed his legacy” by allowing Donald Trump to appoint his successor.

What was once a rare symbol of national mourning has become so commonplace as to be meaningless.

Next term, the Justices will revisit the issue of whether someone can be tried in state and Federal Court for the same crime for the first time in nearly sixty years.

One of the biggest pre-trial issues in the criminal case against Harvey Weinstein will be the issue of how many women other than his accuser will be able to testify against him.

Another incident involving what clearly seems to be the inappropriate use of force against an African-American man.

The current discussion about SCOTUS is a good excuse to look at how other countries handle these things.

President Trump’s short list of potential Supreme Court nominees consists mostly of conventionally conservative, well-qualified, jurists.

A really weird detail buried in a New York Times story about President Trump’s efforts to get the Justice to retire.

The White House is hoping for a relatively quick turnaround time to pick a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy.

President Trump is reportedly considering the 47-year-old Utah Senator to replace Anthony Kennedy.

A Pittsburgh area police officer has been indicted on homicide charges after a video emerged that appears to show him shooting a fleeing suspect in the back

Retiring Arizona Senator Jeff Flake says that he will not seek to block President Trump’s nominee to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.

Contrary to what many people have claimed, the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Hawaii did not overturn one of the most controversial decisions in its history.

Progressive enthusiasm for the notion that our governing framework is dynamic and ought be constantly updated by the judiciary is waning.

The unconscionable violation of norms in 2016 won’t apply in 2018; it’s a matter of power, not principle.

After thirty years on the bench, during which he played a central role in some of the Supreme Court’s most significant rulings, Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that public sector unions cannot force employees to pay membership fees.

It’s been eight years since we’ve seen a Supreme Court retirement, and despite speculation there were none announced today.

The Supreme Court term began with hopes that the Justices would shake up the redistricting process with rulings against partisan gerrymandering. It has ended with three whimpers.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court struck down a California law requiring Crisis Pregnancy Centers to provide information about abortion.

In a ruling that largely relies on the authority granted by Congress to the President to regulate immigration on national security grounds, the Supreme Court has upheld the final version of the Administration’s travel ban.

In a 5-4 party-line vote, the High Court declared that the Constitution and Federal Law give the President broad authority over immigration.

Donald Trump continues to demonstrate that he has nothing but utter contempt for the Rule of Law. At some point, he will either be called to account for this or our nation’s institutions will suffer as a result.

The Supreme Court has largely rejected a challenge to state and Federal redistricting maps in the State of Texas.

The Supreme Court declined, for now, to hear the appeal of a Washington state florist who declined to provide services for a same-sex wedding. The issues it raises, though, are likely to return to the Court in the future.

Some activists on the left are calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be abolished. While that may be a great sound bite, it doesn’t really accomplish anything.

In a case that pit the new rules of cyberspace against the old rules about when the Fourth Amendment protects privacy, the Supreme Court ruled today in a way that breathes new life into both privacy and the Fourth Amendment.

Overruling precedent dating back 51 years, the Court has ruled that states can require businesses that sell to residents within their state collect and remit appropriate sales taxes.

We may finally get a ruling applying the Excessive Fine Clause to the states and limiting the ability of police to confiscate property.

The Supreme Court avoided ruling on the merits of two partisan gerrymandering cases, but the issue will be back before them sooner rather than later.