Outside the Beltway

A Federal Appeals Court recently found that chalking the tires of a car parked in a public place is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. It’s not at all clear that this decision is correct.

One opinion writer says that Senator Kamala Harris should be disqualified as a Democratic candidate because she owns a handgun.

A Federal Court in Michigan has found several of that state’s Congressional and state legislative districts to have been subject to extreme partisan gerrymandering.

A novel argument, untested in court, suggests that it might.

The Deputy Attorney General has some things to say about Congress, the press, and others.

In military justice Bizarroland, Rep Duncan Hunter intentionally commits “reverse UCI.”

President Trump claims that he’d challenge any effort to impeach him in court, but the law makes clear that he can’t.

The House of Representatives is asking a Federal Judge to block the President’s emergency declaration to fund his border wall.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appears poised to uphold the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census.

Sanders’ position on felon voting is logical, yet politically suicidal.

A Federal appeals court says the traditional means of parking enforcement violates the 4th Amendment.

A Federal Appeals Court has rejected Chelsea Manning’s bid to be released from jail notwithstanding her refusal to comply with a Grand Jury Subpoena.

The Supreme Court has agreed to accept a group of cases dealing with the issue of whether or not existing civil rights laws bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Blasts at Christian churches and tourist hotels appear to be a coordinated terrorist attack.

The Wall Street Journal tries, and fails, to defend President Trump’s indefensible veto of the Congressional resolution regarding the war on Yemen.

Thus far, the full(ish) release provides plenty of juicy details but no real revelations.

The Justice Department will release a ‘lightly redacted’ version of the 400-page report at 11 Eastern.

President Trump has not surprisingly vetoed a Congressional resolution to limit American support for the Saudi war on Yemen. His defense for doing so is utterly absurd.

As Democrats at the state level seek to limit the ability of parents to decline to vaccinate their children. they are facing resistance from Republican colleagues.

The Supreme Court is likely to finish striking down restrictions on offensive trademarks.

The other shoe has dropped.

The Wikileaks founder has been detained by London authorities after 7 years hiding in Ecuador’s embassy.

There are even higher obligations than taking care of Marines.

The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez edition.

California Governor Gavin Newsome may have put the issue front and center for 2020.

As many states contemplate restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their sentence, a leading Democrat wants to go further.

The Justice Department has issued a damning report.

The esteemed biographer on his process.

The replacement of Anthony Kennedy with Brett Kavanaugh is already having a significant impact.

Oral argument hints that we may have a 5-4 ruling allowing state legislatures to continue stacking the deck.

The decision to hand Democrats a victory and step on the good news from the Mueller report apparently came from the very top.

One of the most bizarre cases in recent memory gets . . . much more bizarre.

The Justice Department has reversed course and will not fight a December ruling overturning the Affordable Care Act.

The Lawfare gang and Popehat weigh in.

The Speaker says she will reject any attempt to deliver it in a “highly classified” manner.

“His sexual needs were his sexual needs.” And, you know, criminal.

A racist scholar took some fascinating photos of an enslaved man in 1860. Now, his descendants want the rights to them.

Last November the state voted overwhelming to amend its constitution. The lawmakers they elected at the same time are sabotaging it.

Another white supremacist attack raises disturbing questions about our information environment.

The President’s latest ravings are “very bad, very bad.”

Minutes after a Federal judge added 43 months to his sentence, New York state prosecutors unsealed an indictment that could yield another 7 years.

An over-the-top police response to a non-violent offense.

Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are the most famous of dozens of rich folks trying to get their kids into elite schools.

Mandatory vaccination laws raise personal liberty issues that ought to be taken seriously, but in the end, public health concerns weigh heavily in favor of laws mandating vaccination.

It’s been a rough two years under Trump, but America’s institutions are surviving.

The relatively light sentence that Paul Manafort received is raising eyebrows. Hopefully it will lead to a long-overdue debate on sentencing reform.

Chelsea Manning is in jail for refusing to comply with a Grand Jury subpoena apparently related to an ongoing investigation of Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

Paul Manafort walked into court yesterday facing the possibility of 20 years in prison. He came away with a much better outcome.

A novel proposal for making SCOTUS appointments more responsive to election outcomes.

The Senate yesterday confirmed a 37-year-old to a lifetime Court of Appeals seat.