Outside the Beltway

In one area (with an important caveat) this has been a pretty normal administration.

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.

The White House is hoping for a relatively quick turnaround time to pick a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Progressive enthusiasm for the notion that our governing framework is dynamic and ought be constantly updated by the judiciary is waning.

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.

One of the most prominent Circuit Courts of Appeal in the nation will begin live-streaming nearly all of their oral arguments.

With the end of the Supreme Court term approaching, speculation about a Kennedy retirement is ramping up again.

Democratic norms are eroding.

House and Senate Republicans say they have reached agreement on a final tax bill, and Democrats are engaging in an effort to delay a vote in the Senate until Doug Jones can be seated.

Justice Kennedy is telling prospective law clerks for the term that beings in October 2018 that he is considering retiring at the end of the term that begins this October.

The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is hinting at a new Supreme Court vacancy this summer.

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.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch even as it became inevitable that Republicans would be forced to invoke the ‘nuclear option’ to confirm him to the Supreme Court.

The ordinary and the extraordinary with the latest SCOTUS nomination.

Let the games begin.

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

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings begin Monday morning, but it’s Senate Democrats who are in the hot seat.

Senate Democrats are divided on how to approach the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, making it likely that he’ll be confirmed.

In the end, an effort by Democrats to block Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court does not seem like a good use of their rather limited options.

President Trump will name his first Supreme Court pick on his 11th day in office.

President Trump hinted today that he’s likely to name his Supreme Court choice next week, and the list to appears have narrowed to three men.

Just under a year ago, Senate Republicans took a big risk regarding the Supreme Court. Now, it’s paid off big time.

A Federal Judge has dismissed a lawsuit that tried to make an end-run around the Senate and put Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court.

Future Supreme Court Justice?

Defying the odds, Republicans held on in several traditionally Democratic states to keep control of the Senate.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving Federal law and the rights of transgender students.

Two Republican Senators are exchanging barbs over the idea that the GOP should block any attempt by Hillary Clinton to nominate anyone to the Supreme Court if she becomes President.

John McCain said that Senate Republicans will unite to block any Supreme Court appointment by a President Hillary Clinton.

The Supreme Court begins another term faced with the prospect of having to spend much of their time dealing with the fact that they’re short a member.

Comments from one Republican Senator are raising the possibility we could see hearings and a vote on Merrick Garland during the post-election lame duck session of Congress.

Early indications are the Ruth Bader Ginsburg and other older Justices don’t plan on leaving any time soon.

A big setback for one of the most restrictive Voter ID Laws in the country.

Depending on the outcome of the election, the Supreme Court’s just concluded term will most likely be remembered as the point at which the Court’s rightward tilt that began at the end of the Warren Court Era came to an end.

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

Clarence Thomas is the latest Supreme Court Justice to be the subject of retirement rumors. You should treat these rumors skeptically.

With the race for the Democratic nomination over, President Obama is ready to hit the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton.

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

With Donald Trump now confirmed as the GOP nominee, some conservatives are suggesting that the Senate GOP should just give in on the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

It may be the talk of Washington, but the political fight over Justice Scalia’s vacant Supreme Court seat does not seem to be something voters care very much about.

Justice Sotomayor argued last week that we ought to look somewhere other than just the Courts of Appeal, the Ivy League, and the Northeast for Supreme Court Justices. She’s right.

Two Republicans who broke with their party to support hearings for Judge Merrick Garland have changed their minds and gotten back in line with the Senate GOP Caucus.

Conservatives are doing all they can to make sure Merrick Garland does not get either a hearing or a vote in the Senate, and it’s working.

Another Republican Senator has broken ranks and called for hearings on the nomination of Merrick Garland, as another poll shows most Americans support hearings as well.

It increasingly appears that the GOP is on the losing side of the argument over whether to hold hearings and a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

A crack in the wall.

President Obama has selected his nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, now the question is whether the Senate will act.