Outside the Beltway

Be clear on what one is defending.

Concepts, basic applications, and even a bibliography! Merry Festivus, everyone.

In the wake of the Democratic victory in the North Carolina Governor’s race, the Republican-controlled legislature has stripped the Governor’s office of significant power.

Godspeed, John Glenn.

Notwithstanding the election results, support for eliminating the Electoral College is at a 20-year low.

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

Senior Republican Senators are throwing cold water on the idea of eliminating the filibuster.

Reports of the demise of the Democratic Party have been greatly exaggerated.

The minimum wage has been a big part of this year’s election cycle, mainly due to Bernie Sander’s campaign and his idea of a national minimum wage. There has been lots of discussion of this, but most of it is just, well, bad. There are really two things that one can point to as to why wages above the market wage can be good.

The idea that Donald Trump has gotten his racialized rhetoric from libertarians is simply errant nonsense. The libertarian view, broadly speaking, is not defined by Murray Rothbard, Llewellyn Rockwell, and Ron Paul and those who share their views. This is but a small and even fringe group of what could be called the libertarian community.

After a unanimous Supreme Court victory, Bob McDonnell won’t be facing another corruption trial.

Responding to comments on this morning’s post.

Donald Trump’s support among African-Americans is at historic lows, and seems unlikely to recover.

Basic trust in process is essential for democratic governance to function and major party nominees ought not be undercutting that trust for cynical gain.

Big losses for proponents of Voter ID laws in two swing states.

A quick succession of events this morning means that Theresa May will become Britain’s Prime Minister far sooner than anticipated.

Vice-President Gingrich? Really?

A new poll finds strong public support for enhanced background checks and barring people on Federal watch lists from purchasing weapons.

President Obama signed a law vastly expanding public access to government records yesterday. In other news . . . .

The Supreme Court won’t hear the appeal of a pharmacist who objects to providing the ‘morning after’ pill.

Thanks to a 4-4 tie, President Obama’s temporary immigration relief program remains blocked by a Federal Court Injunction.

As expected, the Senate rejected four gun control measures introduced in the wake of the attack in Orlando.

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 Trump campaign is out with its own ‘short list’ of potential running mates.

The Senate has passed an amendment to a military spending bill that would require women to register for the draft.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is the latest Democrat to unite behind the party’s presumptive nominee. A marked contrast to the chaos that reigns on the Republican side of the aisle.

Oklahoma’s Republican legislature passed a clearly unconstitutional bill outlawing abortion in the state.

A Federal Court has ruled that the Administration violated the law when it spent funds allocated under the PPACA for purposes other than those authorized by Congress.

Thanks largely to the fact that she has moved left on coal, Hillary Clinton seems likely to lose today’s West Virginia primary. But it will have only a minimal impact on Clinton’s quest for a delegate majority.

Several top Republicans have already said that they would not accept a position on a ticket with Donald Trump, so who might he choose?

The passage of a new law in North Carolina has revealed an apparent obsession among some on the right with who gets to use which restroom.

Just days before a high stakes primary in New York, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed over familiar themes in their latest debate.

How much command of detail should we demand of presidential candidates?

Five months after becoming Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan seems to be running into some of the same difficulties that John Boehner did.

A victory in the fight to reform civil asset forfeiture laws.

The Supreme Court appears to be looking for a way to resolve an issue that has been mired in controversy for six years now.

Michael Bloomberg announced today that he’s not running for President, but he came awfully close to getting into the race.

Donald Trump is motivating people! The problem for Republicans is that he’s motivating them to become citizens so they can vote against him and, potentially, other Republicans.

A Federal Judge in New York has denied an F.B.I. request to force Apple to extract data from iPhones involved in a Federal drug case.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions became the latest prominent Republican to endorse Donald Trump, but there are a lot more Republicans who are starting to panic over what Trump could do to their party.

The President has another plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. It’s as likely to be well-received on Capitol Hill as all of his other previous plans on this issue.

Apple is resisting a Federal Court order that it assist the F.B.I. in decryption of the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists.

Another step forward with regard to the American-Cuban relationship.

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.

Marco Rubio was the man in the cross hairs in last night’s Republican debate.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in what is guaranteed to be a high profile case heading into the 2016 elections.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed in the final debate before the Iowa Caucuses in the context of a race that has appeared to become tighter than it was before Christmas.

Polling is continuing to show a tightening in the race for the Democratic nomination, even though most Democrats continue to believe that Hillary Clinton will be their eventual nominee.