Outside the Beltway

It’s Nixon’s fault?

When prejudice overrides simple humanity.

Who knew they got cell reception?

Is a threat in the eye of the receiver or the issuer?

The court, rightly, punted the issue to Congress and local leaders.

He’s using a tool he denounced as cruel to deal with a humanitarian crisis.

Another example of the arbitrariness of the death penaly

An already awful system on steroids.

An example of security theater with proven negative social impacts

An ugly divorce exposes a gap in our legal structure.

It’s happened. What does it mean?

Unlimited dialog makes conversations harder.

Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion. Alas.

It doesn’t matter what I believe. It only matters what I can prove.

The reactions to a verdict that were predictable (indeed, predicted) are over the top.

Officers are under enormous pressure–including from the Federal government–to write tickets.

An arrest underscores what the problem isn’t.

It’s not just Red states that put up too many barriers.

The Supreme Court isn’t taking much of a break this year.

A researcher has documented 66 separate incidents since May 27.

Gina Raimondo has apparently lost her copy of the Constituiton.

Two Federal Courts have blocked the Administration from diverting Defense Department funds to pay for the President’s border wall

A Federal District court Judge in Alabama has blocked implementation of that state’s latest attempt to challenge Roe v. Wade

A Federal Court has struck down the President’s diversion of funds for his border wall.

The Trump Administration from projects to build on-base schools and daycare facilities to spend on his border wall.

The Supreme Court handed the President a victory last night, ruling that the Plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging his funding of the border wall did not have standing to challenge his diversion of Defense Department funds. This may only be a temporary victory, though.

A great public intellectual, pioneering blogger, and all-around good man is gone.

Another case where the cruelty is the point?

Virginia has finally repealed a dumb and unconstitutional restriction on how bars could advertise Happy Hours.

A day after appearing to have conceded the issue, the Trump Administration says it is still looking for a way to include a citizenship question on the ballot.

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

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

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

Instead of merely seeking to block the President’s declaration of an “emergency” at the southern border, Congress should instead significantly amend the National Emergencies Act.

The House of Representatives has begin the process of challenging the President’s recent declaration of a ‘national emergency’ at the southern border.

The American Civil Liberties Union has joined the list of groups with lawsuits against the President’s declaration of a “national emergency” at the southern border.

Florida voters approved an amendment to the state’s Constitution that will restore the voting rights of as many as 1.2 million ex-felons and make it easier for future released felons to get their civil rights back.

The Supreme Court is set to consider whether to take a case involving employment discrimination based on gender identity.

For the second time this year, a Federal Court has struck down a state law designed to punish businesses that engage in a boycott aimed at Israel.

The State of Texas is arguing in Court that a school district can force a student to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment.

Care to guess the demographic makeup of the county?

Another Federal Judge has ruled in favor of a transgender student seeking the right to use the gender that conforms to the gender they identify with.

We may finally get a ruling applying the Excessive Fine Clause to the states and limiting the ability of police to confiscate property.

A federal trial court has ruled the practice an unconstitutional infringement on suffrage.

An inordinate amount of cruelty is being perpetrated in the name of border security. It’s only partly the fault of the current President.

The Trump Administration has lost track of nearly 1,500 children at the same time that it is implementing a new policy that will result in children who arrive at the border with their parents or other family members.

Enforcing our immigration and drug laws comes at the cost of fundamental rights.

While longtime supporters have turned on the legendary attorney over his support of Donald Trump, he’s been astonishingly consistent.