Outside the Beltway

Should the Legislature take back legislating from the Executive?

An unsurprising ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that only seems to bring closer the day when same-sex marriage will be legal nationwide.

Despite speculation, both Angus King and Joe Manchin will stay with the Democratic caucus. And that makes sense for both of them.

Arguably the most surprising Senate race of 2014 was in Virginia, and it’s not over yet.

The Supreme Court will decide if Congress can override American foreign policy when it comes to declaring who has dominion over Jerusalem.

Always as many military personnel identify as Independents as with the GOP.

Rebranding alone isn’t going to fix what’s causing the GOP to lose ground among a whole host of demographic groups.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul continues to challenge Republican orthodoxy on foreign policy, and that’s a good thing.

Republican Senate candidate Ed Gillespie picked an odd issue on which to start his closing argument to Virginia voters.

A Federal Judge has dismissed lawsuits filed by Tea Party groups over the IRS targeting scandal.

Despite conventional wisdom, there remains little incentive for the GOP to change its position on immigration reform.

And Alaska makes 30.

Mike Huckabee is threatening to leave the GOP if the party backs down on same-sex marriage. He’s bluffing.

The Supreme Court has given the GOP a way out of a battle that they are going to lose anyway.

An unsurprising decision from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bush 2016?

President Obama hits new job approval lows, while the GOP seems poised for success in November,

A set back for opponents of Voter ID in Wisconsin.

The Obama Administration’s legal justification for war against ISIS is laughably flimsy.

Dan Froomkin says Obama is as bad as Bush, if not worse.

The chattering class is chattering about the President’s vacation again. It really is quite tiresome.

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

Does Hillary Clinton remember that she was Secretary of State for four years?

It’s hard for a party to win four straight presidential elections. The Democrats may pull it off.

A major voting rights ruling out of North Carolina.

Once something that generally benefited Republicans, social issues are now becoming a wedge issue for Democrats.

Republicans in the House seem determined to make life difficult for whomever wins the GOP nomination in 2016

Your tax dollars, not at work.

Republicans are dismissing talk of impeachment as a Democratic fundraising ploy, but it may be they are protesting just a bit too much.

Once again the GOP finds itself on the wrong side of public opinion.

Contradictory rulings from two Federal Courts of Appeal show that statutory construction isn’t a simple thing.

Rick Perry is sending 1,000 members of the Texas National Guard to the border for no apparent reason.

Later today, President Obama will sign an Executive Order barring Federal Contractors from discrimination based on sexual orientation. But that’s not even the most controversial part for some conservatives.

Another step closer to the Supreme Court.

The most novel argument yet against capital punishment.

Health experts are saying we could basically eliminate AIDS, or at least bring it under control, in fifteen years if we do the right things.

A lot of Republicans dislike the President enough to think that he should be removed from office, but will that make impeachment more likely to happen?

Rather than being a bad thing, negative campaigning is an essential part of our political system.

There are legitimate issues regarding Presidential overreach and separation of powers that President Obama’s actions while in office have raised. But none of that will be discussed in our hyperpartisan political culture.

A new poll shows that Americans don’t buy into the idea of “American exceptionalism” as much as they used to. That’s a positive development rather than a negative one.

Americans disapprove of how the President is handling Iraq, but they don’t like what his critics are proposing either.

Obama is the worst President since FDR died? Only if you believe a mostly worthless poll.

Public faith in government institutions is at all all time low.

The evidence is clear. When it comes to the ability to handle foreign crises, the President has lost the public’s confidence.

Even the most ideologically divided members of the Supreme Court agree with each other 65% of the time.

However you feel about the Redskins name, the decision to retroactively repeal their trademarks is troubling on many levels.