Outside the Beltway

While the Trump Administration slowly tries to remake the Federal Judiciary, states are moving to pass radical new challenges to Roe v. Wade.

After hastily removing the House Chaplain under unclear circumstances, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has reversed himself.

A new lawsuit seeks to have the 2012 DACA program declared unconstitutional.

Another one of Trump’s lawyers bites the dust, and hired someone with some very specific experience.

In a new book, Senator John McCain makes an announcement that everyone was anticipating.

The White House is pushing back on the allegations of misconduct that were made against Ronny Jackson this week, and trying to use them in a high-profile Senate race in Montana.

Republicans joined with Democrats to advance a bill to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but it’s unlikely to go anywhere beyond that.

With the accusations mounting, the nomination of Ronny Jackson to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs is becoming more and more imperiled.

The GOP’s most vulnerable incumbent is still looking very vulnerable.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument yesterday in a case alleging that Texas’s Congressional and state legislative districts were drawn with the intent to discriminate based on race.

As expected, a Republican won the Special Election in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, but it’s not a win Republicans should really be celebrating.

For better or worse, Mike Pompeo will be confirmed as the 70th Secretary of State by the end of this week.

The transformation is complete. The GOP is now the party of Donald Trump. If you’re sticking around and not speaking out against what the President represents, you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Hillary Clinton isn’t running for anything in 2018, but that isn’t stopping Republicans from running against her.

Republicans are planning on pushing judicial nominees through the Senate in case they lose control in November. Meanwhile, the possibility of a Supreme Court vacancy raises the stakes.

Mitt Romney stumbled in his bid to become Utah’s next Senator but he’s still likely to win the nomination anyway.

With just over six months to go before the 2018 elections, the storm clouds are starting to gather for the Republican Party.

The highest ranking Democrat in the Senate has introduced a bill that would effectively decriminalize marijuana nationwide and leave it up to each state to decide how far they wish to go with regard to cannabis regulation. It’s a huge step in the right direction.

Republicans on Capitol Hill and in positions of power are slavishly backing their President over their country. They should be ashamed.

Kyrsten Sinema, the likely Democratic nominee for the Senate in Arizona, is leading all three of her potential Republican challengers. This could spell trouble for the GOP.

Tammy Duckworth recently became the first sitting Senator to give birth. Thanks to a rule change, she’ll be allowed to bring her baby on the floor of the Senate if she needs to.

The first real poll of the Senate race in Texas shows Ted Cruz with a much thinner lead than might be expected in a state like Texas. That doesn’t mean we should expect a Democratic upset there, though.

Republicans are blaming the President for the fading popularity of the tax reform law passed in December. It’s more complicated than that.

The Supreme Court heard argument yesterday on the issue of whether online sellers can be required to collect sales taxes, and the status of the issue remains as confused as ever.

Republicans have been hoping that the tax bill passed in December would help them in the midterms. That’s appearing to be less and less likely by the day.

The Editorial Board of the Newspaper of Record urges Congressional Republicans to steady themselves for a constitutional crisis.

New polling shows the Democrat’s lead in the Congressional ballot poll shrinking slightly, but enthusiasm is still on their side.

Without Congressional authorization, any attack on Syria would be illegal, but don’t expect Congress to do anything about it.

Some Republicans are suggesting that Paul Ryan should be pushed out as Speaker before the November elections.

Mark Zuckerberg’s second day before Congress was somewhat more contentious than the first, but at the end of the day it’s still unclear that more regulation is the answer to the issues raised by recent Facebook “scandals.”

Paul Ryan won’t be running for re-election this year, opening up both a Congressional seat and a leadership spot.

Not surprisingly, a joint Senate Committee failed to really lay a glove on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at yesterday’s hearing.

Republicans are raising the fear of impeachment to motivate a base that could become disaffected heading into November.

Governor Rick Scott has entered the race to challenge Bill Nelson in Florida, creating what is likely to be one of the most closely watched races of the year.

We’re set to return to the era of trillion dollar budget deficits, and Republicans won’t do a thing about it.

In a bizarre Twitter rant, President Trump declared a DACA deal “dead,” blaming Democrats when it’s clear that it’s largely his fault.

Joe Arpaio is saying he might reopen his “investigation” into former President Obama’s birthplace if he’s elected Senator.

Supporters of Roy Moore tried to bribe the attorney for a woman accusing the former Senate candidate of sexual assault when she was just fourteen years old into repudiating his client.

Congress passed a funding bill to avert a shutdown with time to spare early this morning, but now the President is threatening a veto.

Republicans on Capitol Hill worried about all the leaking coming from the Trump White House would be wise to actually do the oversight the Constitution compels them to do.

This is no way to run a railroad.

Mississippi’s Governor has chosen a replacement for Thad Cochran, but the White House isn’t too happy about the pick.

A gadfly candidate who has denied the truth of the Holocaust won a GOP primary in Illinois because nobody ran against him.

Challengers to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling on Congressional redistricting suffered two big setbacks in court yesterday that suggest that they’ve reached the end of the road legally.

The head of the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation admitted yesterday that the committee was never focused on any potential evidence of collusion.

Things continue to look good for Democrats as we get closer to the midterm elections.

Things are looking good for Democrats in 2018, but there’s some speculation that Nancy Pelosi’s position at the head of the party in the House could be in danger.

Conor Lamb’s win in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District has set off an inevitable debate inside the Democratic Party about how to approach the upcoming midterm elections.

Republicans are claiming that Conor Lamb won Tuesday’s Special Election in Pennsylvania because he campaigned as a conservative. These people are either deluded or lying.

The nominations of Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel could be in trouble in the Senate.