Outside the Beltway

It’s been a rough two years under Trump, but America’s institutions are surviving.

A second Federal Judge has found that the Commerce Department violated the law when it moved to put a question about citizenship on the 2020 Census form.

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.

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

Once again, President Trump is threatening a shutdown over the border wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for.

A brewing fight over funding for the President’s border wall could throw a monkey wrench into plans to pass a budget by next Friday.

The evidence that the GOP lost the midterms because of public repudiation of President Trump is overwhelming. The GOP will either accept this and learn from it, or they will not.

Democratic pickups in several state legislatures could impact redistricting after the 2020 Census.

In addition to winning back the House, Democrats also made gains in Governor’s races.

The Trump Administration is preparing a policy change that will essentially define transgender Americans out of existence.

After a week, the race for the GOP nomination for Kansas Governor is over. Now it’s on to what could be an interesting General Election.

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

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.

Republicans are trying to fight back against efforts to limit their ability to gerrymander Congressional and State Legislative Districts. It’s a fight they deserve to lose.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument yesterday in a case alleging that Texas’s Congressional and state legislative districts were drawn with the intent to discriminate based on race.

Tim Pawlenty is attempting a comeback in Minnesota. It won’t be easy.

Yet more troubling news about the proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census.

New York and nearly two dozen other jurisdictions have filed a lawsuit seeking to bar the Trump Administration from asking about citizenship in the 2020 Census.

If you recall your grade school civics, you already knew this.

California has pushed back quickly against the Trump Administration’s decision to include a question regarding citizenship in the 2020 Census.

Critics warn this move would lead to a drastic undercount of Hispanic voters, impacting Congressional districting, federal programs, and more.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has redrawn the state’s Congressional Districts based on its recent ruling finding the current map to be unconstitutional partisan Gerrymandering. It makes a lot more sense than the map the state is currently using.

Another win for forces fighting partisan Gerrymandering.

A Federal Court in North Carolina has issued a stinging ruling against the partisan gerrymandering undertaken by the Republican legislature in that state.

The battle for control of the Virginia House of Delegates remains up in the air as both sides continue to dispute the outcome in one district.

The Supreme Court appears split on the question of whether or not partisan Gerrymandering is unconstitutional.

An important redistricting decision was handed down by the Supreme Court today.

Polling indicates that voters find the Democratic Party to be even more out of step than the Republican Party.

As things stand, Democrats will have a hard time winning back control in the Senate in 2018.

To the surprise of nobody who paid attention, Nancy Pelosi won re-election as leader of the House Democrats.

Alabama’s Jeff Sessions will become the nation’s top law enforcement officer. That’s not a good thing.

In what seems like a replay of the primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, some top Democratic Party leadership positions may be in jeopardy.

A Trump loss in November could lead to battles inside the GOP that could take years to resolve.

If these numbers hold up, then the GOP may as well start planning for the 2020 primaries now.

If Donald Trump is the Republican nominee, the GOP may have more to worry about than losing the White House and the Senate.

If last night’s debate is any indication, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is about to get much more aggressive in its critique of Bernie Sanders.

The Supreme Court has accepted for appeal a Virginia case that deal with the issue of using race and politics as a basis for drawing district lines.

Forget about Congress, the real story going forward is likely to be Republican dominance of state legislatures nationwide.

With only a handful of opposition, Paul Ryan was easily elected the 62nd Speaker of the House.

The Supreme Court accepted a case that will require the Justices to decide just what it meant when it established the “one person, one vote” rule for drawing legislative districts.

The Supreme Court seems likely to strike down state laws that take redistricting completely out of the hands of state legislatures.

In addition to gains at the national level and in Governor’s races, the GOP also saw more gains in state legislatures around the country.

The Founders would never have thought to do more than count people in the Census!