Outside the Beltway

Indiana’s RFRA will be amended to address most of the concerns of its opponents. That counts as a victory.

As expected, New Jersey’s senior Senator has been indicted.

Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia may soon see the same battle over RFRA laws that is playing itself out in Indiana

Kentucky has offered the Supreme Court a defense of its ban on same-sex marriage that seems laughable.

The devil is in the details of what the legislature passes, but Indiana’s Governor has essentially conceded defeat in the battle over his state’s controversial new “religious freedom” law.

Once again, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren says she isn’t running for President, and has no plans to do so.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of three students disciplined for wearing American flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo

Ted Cruz kicks off with the first of what is likely to be a string of candidates getting into the 2016 race in the coming month.

Alec MacGillis argues for Slate that “Veterans Should Pay Taxes Like Everyone Else.” I agree!

The 2008 runner-up has scared off all serious challengers for 2016. Why?

Once again, the Supreme Court appears to be sharply divided on the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act.

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

With three days to go, there are signs the GOP is ready to give up on its showdown over DHS funding.

Do the nonprofit’s foreign donors create a conflict of interest?

Reflecting a growing national trend away from the barbarity of capital punishment, the Governor of Pennsylvania has imposed a moratorium on executions in the Keystone State.

Justice Ginsburg acknowledges the fact that, over the past nineteen years, same-sex marriage has gone from something that most Americans oppose to something that most Americans are willing to accept.

By refusing to stay the legalization of same-sex marriage in Alabama, the Supreme Court has sent the strongest signal yet that it is ready to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

The debate over whether kids need to be vaccinated against communicable diseases baffles me.

Mitt Romney is set to make an announcement at 11 Eastern today. [UPDATE: He’s out!]

With no real opponents in the race for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton has no reason to rush getting into the race.

Advantage: Hillary.

A former Democratic state legislator in Virginia was re-elected last night despite the fact that he’s in jail.

West Virginia’s Joe Manchin is reportedly mulling leaving the Senate to run once again for a job where he’d have the ability to actually accomplish something.

Just one day into the new Congress, the first confrontation is already set.

Some will say two years isn’t long enough, but under the circumstances it seems appropriate.

Several Tea Party backed Members of Congress claim to be challenging John Boehner in tomorrow’s vote for Speaker. They are, of course, delusional.

An entirely unsurprising decision from Federal Prosecutors in Washington, D.C.

Not surprisingly, the F.C.C. has rejected a petition to ban the word “Redskins” from the airwaves.

Rand Paul is one of the few Republicans who seems to be evaluating the new policy toward Cuba through something other than an outdated Cold War perspective.

The families of many of the Sandy Hook victims are seeking to have the manufacturer of the AR-15 held legally responsible for what happened. While understandable, their lawsuit is misplaced and largely without legal merit.

The Justice Department won’t force James Risen to testify in a legal investigation, but faces a new choice in a different case.

Some on the left are suggesting Democrats should write off the South for the foreseeable future, but that would be as foolish as Republicans assuming that their dominance in the region will last as long as Democratic dominance did in the century after the Civil War.

A dark and regrettable time in American history is finally seeing the light of day.

The GOP donor class would like the 2016 race to be short and sweet, but that’s unlikely to happen.

How will Republicans react if, as many expect, the Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage across the nation?

You’ve got your playoff College Football fans, as imperfect as it was inevitably going to be.

An utter journalistic failure from Rolling Stone.

A wholly successfully first test for NASA’s next generation manned space vehicle.

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.

On substance, the President’s immigration actions aren’t very objectionable. How he is implementing them, though, is problematic and seems needlessly confrontational.

The idea that the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists is simply not historically accurate, so should we be reconsidering the policy of not negotiating with ISIS for the release of Western hostages?

Former Senator Jim Webb is the first Democrat to kinda, sorta, throw his hat into the ring for 2016.

An adviser close to Hillary Clinton is talking about expanding the Electoral College map in 2016, but even without such an expansion the GOP faces an uphill battle.

The Keystone XL pipeline bill is dead until the next Senate. Mary Landrieu’s political career, on the other hand, is basically dead for the foreseeable future.