Outside the Beltway

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

The Supreme Court ordered a new trial in the case of a Mississippi defendant whose trial was tainted by a prosecutor who routinely struck black jurors from the jury pool.

The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s sex offender registry violates due process protections in the state and Federal Constitutions.

The Supreme Court ruled that a World War One memorial that had been on public grounds for 70 years can stay where it is.

Donald Trump has endorsed a proposal by a Republican Senator to ban flag burning.

Democrats are trying to rein in President Trump. It won’t work.

The Supreme Court rejected an effort by the Virginia House of Delegates to overturn a Federal Court ruling that the state’s district lines constituted gerrymandering by race. But they didn’t rule on the merits of the appeal.

A new poll finds that public support for abortion rights is increasing, but it also shows growing support for extreme views at both ends of the spectrum.

The Supreme Court has ruled to keep the long-standing “dual sovereigns” exception to the Double Jeopardy Clause in place.

A new report in The New York Times raises both national security and Constitutional concerns.

While the scope of Federal power has expanded beyond the ken of the Framers, this is not an example.

The President is once again claiming Executive Privilege to prevent Congress from getting access to certain documents.

Kamala Harris is trying to jump-start her Presidential campaign with an idea for a new law, but it’s probably unconstitutional and would never get through Congress.

The Supreme Court let a ruling against students opposed to a school district policy allowing transgender students to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity stand.

The Supreme Court sent a signal yesterday that seems to indicate how it might deal with future abortion law challenges and it doesn’t bode well for pro-lifers.

The House of Representatives has not even acted on impeachment, but Senate Republicans have already made up their mind.

A Federal Judge in Mississippi has blocked Mississippi’s law that purports to ban abortions after detection of a fetal heartbeat.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Alabama’s patently unconstitutional abortion law.

A Federal Judge has put at least a partial hold on President’s Trump’s effort to use a “national emergency” to fund his border wall.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt another legal setback to the Trump Administration’s efforts to end the DACA program,

Republican Congressman Justin Amash has always been a rebel within his own party, now he’s making that even more apparent.

Following in the footsteps of Alabama, the Missouri legislature has passed a law that would severely restrict abortion rights in the Show Me State.

We’ve soon see whether the current Supreme Court will overturn Roe v Wade.

An absurd theory for an absurd time.

A longstanding legal question may finally come to a head.

The problem is with our politics, not our institutions.

The President is systematically defying Congress. Whatever can be done about that?

California is the latest state to try to force all Presidential candidates, including the President, to release their tax returns as a condition for getting on the ballot. It’s not at all clear that this is permitted under the Constitution.

A seemingly out-of-the-blue political movement is arguing in favor of independent election of Vice-Presidents.

A panel of three Federal Judges has found Ohio’s Congressional District map to be unconstitutional, but a case currently pending before the Supreme Court could mute the impact of this decision.

Newly discovered evidence shows that foreign governments have expanded their leasing of space from at least one Trump-owned office building in New York City.

A Virginia Judge has ruled that automated license plate collection systems violate state law.

200-odd Congressional Democrats are taking an odd route to go after corruption.

A cautious analyst makes a strong claim.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez edition.

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

The law is not on the President’s side.

The Constitution’s invitation to struggle over foreign policy continues.

Princeton historian Sean Wilentz lays to rest a pernicious idea propagated by . . . Princeton historian Sean Wilentz.

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

The (Acting) Secretary of Defense has issued an unconstitutional order.

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