Outside the Beltway

A Federal District court Judge in Alabama has blocked implementation of that state’s latest attempt to challenge Roe v. Wade

Senator Elizabeth Warren released a more detailed version of her ‘Medicare For All” plan late last week. It leaves much to be desired.

At last week’s debate, Beto O’Rourke handed Republicans and gun rights advocates a nicely wrapped gift with his claim that he would seize guns from otherwise law-abiding Americans.

The top ten candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination clashed last night in a debate that made clear the different ideological directions that this race is pulling their party.

A new poll finds that a majority of Americans oppose statehood for the District of Columbia.

A new poll shows the former Vice-President leading Senator Elizabeth Warren in her home state.

Kamala Harris is trying to jump-start her Presidential campaign with an idea for a new law, but it’s probably unconstitutional and would never get through Congress.

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

Based on the early stages of the campaign for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination, it appears as though the party’s progressive wing has misread the signals being sent by the party’s voters.

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

Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts is the latest Democrat to enter an already crowded field.

Senate Republicans are pushing for the end of minority obstruction—and the Democrats can’t wait.

Massachusetts Democrat Seth Moulton makes an argument familiar to OTB readers.

Democratic candidates for President are quickly voicing support for marijuana legalization.

A novel proposal for making SCOTUS appointments more responsive to election outcomes.

While not subject to filibuster, it’s still subject to Presidential veto.

A new poll shows most Americans oppose President Trump’s border wall and support more liberal immigration laws.

The President is blaming Democrats for the fact that so many of his Ambassadors have not been confirmed. The truth, of course, is quite the opposite.

The government entered its third shutdown of the year with little sign of an immediate resolution.

The Senate passed a bill that keeps the government funded through the beginning of February, but fails to provide any funding for the President’s border wall.

This month’s budget fight is likely the last chance the President will have to get any funding for his border wall.

The GOP is likely to lose control of the House of Representatives tomorrow, but could this actually help Trump?

Donald Trump is talking about a tax cut that appears to exist only in his own mind.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley says he would not consider a Supreme Court nominee in 2020. But does he really mean it?

The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh is, effectively, assured. Democrats should be careful about how much further they push their opposition.

Day One of questions for Judge Brett Kavanaugh went about as you’d expect.

The confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh begin today, but the outcome seems foreordained.

Senate Democrats appear to be recognizing that there’s basically nothing they can do to stop the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

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.

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

Democrats are rallying around the “Abolish ICE” slogan in response to the Trump Administration’s immigration policies, but it could end up backfiring on them.

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.

There is a frustration and a growing sense that the American political system is illegitimate.

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.

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.

House Republicans are supposed to vote on one or more immigration bills this week, but can’t even agree what their policy should be.

President Trump and his supporters are blaming the policy of separating parents and children at the border on Democrats. This is, simply put, a lie.

While the Trump Administration slowly tries to remake the Federal Judiciary, states are moving to pass radical new challenges to Roe v. Wade.

Despite facing headwinds in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mike Pompeo will probably be confirmed as the next Secretary of State. That’s unfortunate.

A Federal Judge in Texas has ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is barred by Federal Law. Legally speaking, this is a tenuous argument at best.

Like many Presidents before him, Donald Trump wants a line-item veto. Getting there won’t be easy, nor should it be.

Organizing protests was the easy part. The hard part for those who would seek to expand gun regulations is yet to come.

President Trump appeared to change positions on several gun control ideas, but he probably doesn’t mean it.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals rules that existing civil rights laws bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Presidents are much more constrained in issuing and rolling back regulations than they or the public think.

A bipartisan group of Senators has proposed a largely reasonable fix to the DACA problem, but its fate remains unclear.

With time seemingly running out, the Senate debate over extending DACA is moving slowly.

Congress seems likely to pass a budget deal today that will massively increase spending, putting to rest once and for all the rank hypocrisy of Republicans when it comes to claims that they are “fiscally conservative.”