Outside the Beltway

An attempt at defining the conversation.

Once again, there’s speculation in Washington that Justice Anthony Kennedy could retire this year.

Do yourself a favor and skip the State Of The Union Address tonight. You won’t be missing anything important.

Another win for forces fighting partisan Gerrymandering.

Late last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving the question of whether online and out-of-state businesses can be required to collect sales taxes in states with which they have no connection.

The pardoning of Joe Arpaio was distasteful and an affront to the Rule of Law, but it was completely within the powers of the President and should not be a ground for impeachment.

Donald Trump’s Secretary of State is refusing to defend his response to the violence in Charlottesville.

Chicago is joining the growing list of jurisdictions challenging the Administration’s policy on sanctuary cities.

Two years after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, nearly two-thirds of Americans support the idea of legal marriage rights for gay and lesbian Americans.

French voters face a stark choice in the May 7th runoff for President. Hopefully, they’ll make the correct choice.

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.

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.

The Washington State Supreme Court has ruled against a florist who refused to provide services for a same-sex wedding.

Trump’s tweet may have been casual bluster posted while sitting at the breakfast table (presumably eating Wheaties®—The Breakfast of Champions). We can’t know. And finally it matters not because what really matters is that it was taken at face value by President Peña Nieto.

Donald Trump resurrects an old debate and desecrates the Constitution in the process.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case challenging the President’s deportation relief plan, but it’s unlikely we’ll see a ruling on the merits.

Notwithstanding polling that indicates the American public disagrees with them, Senate Republicans emerged from a meeting today largely united on the idea of not giving any Supreme Court nominee named by President a hearing, or even the courtesy of a meeting.

After oral argument today in a high profile case, it appears likely that public employee unions are likely to suffer a major legal defeat later this year.

I am having a hard time seeing a system of districts based on eligible voters and not simply population.

The Supreme Court has declined to accept an appeal challenging a law barring certain types of so-called ‘assault weapons’ in a Chicago suburb.

Two months after seemingly promising to remain loyal to the Republican Party, Donald Trump is again refusing to rule out an independent run for the White House next year.

A Federal Judge has ruled that part of a lawsuit filed by the House of Representatives can go forward, but the legal battle is far from over.

Relying on a particularly strained and incredulous legal analysis, the EEOC has ruled that laws against discrimination based on gender also bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.

SCOTUS has upheld the use of election commissions to draw Congressional district lines.

Five years after it became law, the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act appears to be over.

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

A Federal Judge has issued a ruling that sort of says that President Obama’s Immigration action is unconstitutional. Except it’s poorly reasoned, and apparently not legally binding on anyone.

Sony is warning the press not to publish material leaked by hackers, but it doesn’t have much of a legal leg to stand on.

Texas has joined with 16 other states in a lawsuit against the Obama Administration over the President’s executive action on immigration. At first glance, it doesn’t appear to have much legal merit.

Well, so much for that “people’s revolt” that brought down a military dictator.

Next week, the Supreme Court will be asked to determine the line between free speech online and criminal threats

On a preliminary examination, the President’s executive action on immigration appears to be within the boundaries of applicable law. However, as with other exercises of Executive Branch authority, it raises some important concerns about the precedent that it sets.

The White House is now leaking out details of what seems like an inevitable decision by the President. How it plays out politically, though, is the big question.

Opponents of Voter ID laws should not get too excited over the fact that the Supreme Court has stayed Wisconsin’s law from going into effect for now.

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

A Federal Appeals Court has rejected a challenge to Obamacare based on a somewhat obscure provision of the Constitution.

Relying on the policies of a man who was President in a very different time is not a substitute for a rational foreign policy.

The Supreme Court has saved the biggest case of the term for its last day.

A landmark ruling out of California that could help propel a real debate on education reform.

James Oliphant asks, “Why Hasn’t the GOP Treated Fort Hood Like Benghazi?”

A bizarre case in Alabama highlights a more bizarre judicial precedent.

Today’s oral argument before the Supreme Court on the issue of police searches of cell phones and smartphones left much up in the air.

The Supreme Court may have just found a way to end the debate over Affirmative Action in education.

There are lots of different ways of looking at the situation in Ukraine—historical, game theoretical, and interpersonal perspectives.

The Supreme Court turns down a case dealing with student’s First Amendment rights.

Another Circuit Court finds that the Second Amendment protects a right to carry a weapon in public.

From Florida, a small victory for Fourth Amendment rights.

A Federal Judge in New York upholds, for the most part, that state’s new gun control law.