Outside the Beltway

The pardoning of Joe Arpaio was distasteful and an affront to the Rule of Law, but it was completely within the powers of the President and should not be a ground for impeachment.

Texas suffers another legal setback in its effort to pass a Voter ID law.

The dangers of the tyranny of the majority have only magnified.

A Federal appellate court has ruled that a transgender student must be allowed to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.

As expected, Senate Republicans invoked the so-called ‘nuclear option’ to move the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch forward to a final vote on Friday.

More fireworks on the second day of the questioning of Neil Gorsuch, but his confirmation nonetheless seems assured.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Maryland’s ban on certain so-called “assault weapons,” but it’s unclear if the Supreme Court will even take up the case.

Not surprisingly, the Trump Administration has revoked guidelines to public schools that required accommodation of transgender students.

Wherein a law professor makes the absurd argument that the Electoral College, which exists pursuant to the Constitution, is unconstitutional.

Donald Trump resurrects an old debate and desecrates the Constitution in the process.

A report over the weekend raises questions about whether or not Donald Trump is changing positions on a central tenet of his campaign.

In a somewhat surprising opinion from Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court upheld the University of Texas’s race-based admissions program.

Continuing a pattern that began six years ago, the Supreme Court has again declined to hear an appeal in a case involving a challenge to state gun control laws.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals deals a setback to the gun rights movement.

A New Jersey judge, along with a Judge in Pennsylvania, is among the first to rule on the meaning of the ‘natural born citizen’ clause.

A divided Supreme Court heard argument today in a case involving affirmative action in college admissions that is before the Court for the second time in two years.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in a case that could have big implications for redistricting, and the make-up of state legislatures and the House of Representatives.

I am having a hard time seeing a system of districts based on eligible voters and not simply population.

Remarks by a Democratic politician in Virginia regarding the Administration’s Syrian refugee program have brought up disturbing reminders of a shameful time in American history.

The marriage equality issue is resolved, but that doesn’t mean the Supreme Court won’t have a lot of high profile cases on its docket over the next eight months.

Scott Walker is flip-flopping on immigration again, while his poll numbers sink like a stone.

It will never actually happen, of course, but some of Donald Trump’s fellow candidates for President have been eager to endorse his idea to abolish birthright citizenship.

A Federal Appeals Court has dealt a setback to Texas in the battle over its Voter ID Law.

Despite the clear language of the 14th Amendment, Texas is apparently refusing to issue birth certificates to some children born in the United States whose parents happen to be in the country illegally.

A 1980 debate between Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush shows a different GOP.

A County Clerk in Kentucky is being sued because she thinks she can refuse to do her job and still keep that job.

The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to wade back into the thorny issue of race and higher education.

Debating the proper role of the judiciary.

Wherein I take the view that as our understanding of language changes, so too does our application of the Constiution.

The Supreme Court has issued a ruling whose roots can be found in case law going back half a century.

The US Supreme Court has ruled 5-4 that the U.S. Constitution contains a right to same-sex marriage.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are talking about fundamentally changing what it means to be an American, and it’s a bad idea.

A sharply divided Court heard argument today on an issue that has sharply divided the nation.

Tomorrow promises to be an historic day at the Supreme Court, but it’s been a long legal, political, and social battle.

We’re down to debating whether bigots should have to sell cakes to gay people.

Indiana is about to become the latest state to grants special rights to religious business owners.

The two decade long argument over same-sex marriage appears headed for its final legal showdown.

A new poll provides some interesting context to the political context to the President’s expected executive action on immigration.

The process that seems likely to lead to a Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage has begun.

After the 2010 elections, several newly Republican state legislatures flirted with the idea of changing the way their state allocates Electoral Votes. The outcome of last weeks elections raises the possibility that this could happen again.

New York State’s gun law takes rights away from nearly 35,000 people without any due process whatsoever.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has made an incredibly weak argument in favor of his state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

And Alaska makes 30.

A Federal Judge in Ohio has issued a very troubling ruling on that state’s early voting law.

Another Federal appellate Court has struck down state law bans on same-sex marriage, but the only thing that matters now is the Supreme Court.

A lower court judge has upheld the Louisiana Constitution’s limitation of marriage to “one man and one woman.”

A trial court judge in Tennessee is the first jurist since the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Windsor to uphold a ban on same-sex marriage

Another Circuit Court of Appeals has weighed in on the marriage equality debate.

Another step closer to the Supreme Court.