Outside the Beltway

Another Federal Judge has dealt a legal blow to President Trump’s effort to shut down the DACA program.

The noose around the Trump Administration just keeps getting tighter.

Next week, some of the same groups that rallied in Charlottesville last year will be gathering in Washington, D.C. and the D.C. Metro is considering a transportation plan that is causing controversy.

A Federal Appeals Court has found that a Trump Administration policy purporting to punish so-called sanctuary cities is unconstitutional.

In what amounts to a significant, albeit not surprising, change in Catholic doctrine, Pope Francis has declared that the death penalty is unacceptable in all circumstances.

President Trump says he wants to talk to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but his own lawyers clearly don’t trust him enough to allow that to go forward.

A Federal Judge in Washington State has, at least temporarily, blocked the release of files that would allow anyone to make a 3-D printed gun. The First Amendment seems to clearly indicate that this ruling is wrong.

A Federal Judge in Oregon has rejected an efforts by a parent’s group to block a school district policy that allows transgender students to use the restroom facilities that conform to their gender identity.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she’d like to stay on the Court at least until she turns 90, but it’s unlikely she’ll go anywhere voluntarily as long as Donald Trump is President.

Senate Democrats appear to be recognizing that there’s basically nothing they can do to stop the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

A Federal Judge in Maryland ruled last week that a lawsuit against the President based on a rather obscure provision of the Constitution could go forward.

One of the most prominent members of the American Catholic hierarchy has been removed from office in the face of mounting allegations of sexual abuse that stretch back decades.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly looking at the President’s Twitter feed as part of his ongoing investigation.

Former Trump lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen is reportedly ready to tell investigators that the President is lying about his knowledge regarding the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down part of a Hawaii law barring open carry of weapons, but this win for gun rights advocates may turn out to be short-lived.

A new recording of a conversation between Donald Trump and his one-time attorney/”fixer” Michael Cohen appears to put the President in a more difficult position than he has already been in.

A fourth poll in less than a month shows that most Americans support keeping the rights protected in Roe v. Wade alive.

New York and several other states have filed an incredibly dubious lawsuit against the Republican’s new tax law.

Donald Trump’s longtime attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen apparently recorded a conversation where the two men discussed paying off a Playboy model who claims she had an affair with him.

An initiative that would have purported to split California into three separate states has been barred by the California Supreme Court from appearing on the November ballot.

Some Democrats want to compel President Trump’s translator to testify about his private meeting with Vladimir Putin. That’s a bad idea.

Initial polling on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court find the public more divided than they have been for other recent SCOTUS picks, but that’s unlikely to impact the fate of his nomination.

Mariia Butina, a Russian “gun rights activist, is accused of being an unregistered agent of the Russian government and attempting to influence Republican Party policies regarding Russia in an operation that pre-dates the Trump Presidential campaign.

The Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller has issued indictments against twelve Russian intelligence officials for election-related hacking, and in the process has shown most of the arguments made by the President and his surrogates regarding the Russia investigation are nonsense.

Another poll shows that the vast majority of Americans do not want to see the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade overturned.

At least in these early days, Democrats appear to lack a coherent message, or a coherent strategy, to propel any effort to block Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

There’s a reason President Trump’s Supreme Court picks are “normal” in a way his national security and economic teams are not.

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

A Federal Judge has rejected a Trump Administration effort to change a 20-year-old legal settlement that bars long-term detention of immigrant families.

There are good arguments as to why progressive Senators should vote against his confirmation. Let’s stick to those.

A selection that is likely to keep the Senate GOP united and red-state Democrats up for re-election under pressure to vote to confirm.

Some considerations on the politics of Roe v. Wade.

A police officer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania who tased an apparently compliant African-American man will not be disciplined by his department, and probably won’t face charges either.

A Federal Judge in California has largely rejected a Trump Administration challenge to a series of new laws in California designed to protect so-called “sanctuary cities.”

Federal law protects internet companies from liability for statements written by others.

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.

With the President set to announce his Supreme Court pick Monday evening, another name has entered the game.

An idiot climbed the monument, wasting police resources and ruining the day for hundreds of visitors.

The right-wing government in Warsaw has purged more than one-third of the members of the Polish Supreme Court in a crackdown on political opponents.

With Justice Kennedy retiring, the new center of the Roberts Court is likely to be the Chief Justice himself.

A thoughtful liberal argues the Justice has “altered and destroyed his legacy” by allowing Donald Trump to appoint his successor.

What was once a rare symbol of national mourning has become so commonplace as to be meaningless.

Next term, the Justices will revisit the issue of whether someone can be tried in state and Federal Court for the same crime for the first time in nearly sixty years.

One of the biggest pre-trial issues in the criminal case against Harvey Weinstein will be the issue of how many women other than his accuser will be able to testify against him.

Another incident involving what clearly seems to be the inappropriate use of force against an African-American man.

The current discussion about SCOTUS is a good excuse to look at how other countries handle these things.

President Trump’s short list of potential Supreme Court nominees consists mostly of conventionally conservative, well-qualified, jurists.

A really weird detail buried in a New York Times story about President Trump’s efforts to get the Justice to retire.

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