Outside the Beltway

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearings begin Monday morning, but it’s Senate Democrats who are in the hot seat.

Senate Democrats are divided on how to approach the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, making it likely that he’ll be confirmed.

In the end, an effort by Democrats to block Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court does not seem like a good use of their rather limited options.

With a relatively smooth announcement, Donald Trump has named a solid and qualified conservative who will likely be confirmed to the nation’s highest court.

President Trump will name his first Supreme Court pick on his 11th day in office.

President Trump hinted today that he’s likely to name his Supreme Court choice next week, and the list to appears have narrowed to three men.

Just under a year ago, Senate Republicans took a big risk regarding the Supreme Court. Now, it’s paid off big time.

Donald Trump resurrects an old debate and desecrates the Constitution in the process.

A Federal Judge has dismissed a lawsuit that tried to make an end-run around the Senate and put Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court.

Future Supreme Court Justice?

Defying the odds, Republicans held on in several traditionally Democratic states to keep control of the Senate.

John McCain said that Senate Republicans will unite to block any Supreme Court appointment by a President Hillary Clinton.

The Supreme Court begins another term faced with the prospect of having to spend much of their time dealing with the fact that they’re short a member.

Comments from one Republican Senator are raising the possibility we could see hearings and a vote on Merrick Garland during the post-election lame duck session of Congress.

Early indications are the Ruth Bader Ginsburg and other older Justices don’t plan on leaving any time soon.

A Federal Judge in North Dakota has struck down that state’s Voter ID Law, the fourth such decision in less than a month.

Depending on the outcome of the election, the Supreme Court’s just concluded term will most likely be remembered as the point at which the Court’s rightward tilt that began at the end of the Warren Court Era came to an end.

In a somewhat surprising opinion from Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court upheld the University of Texas’s race-based admissions program.

Clarence Thomas is the latest Supreme Court Justice to be the subject of retirement rumors. You should treat these rumors skeptically.

With the race for the Democratic nomination over, President Obama is ready to hit the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton.

Faced with the prospect of a 4-4 tie, the Supreme Court instead came up with a decision on the PPACA’s birth control mandate that didn’t decide anything.

Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s fate lies the hands of the Supreme Court.

It may be the talk of Washington, but the political fight over Justice Scalia’s vacant Supreme Court seat does not seem to be something voters care very much about.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case challenging the President’s deportation relief plan, but it’s unlikely we’ll see a ruling on the merits.

For most Americans, the debate over same-sex marriage is over and marriage equality has won. This would not, however, include the social conservatives who continue to have a much too vocal role in the Republican Party.

Two Republicans who broke with their party to support hearings for Judge Merrick Garland have changed their minds and gotten back in line with the Senate GOP Caucus.

The Light Flyweight Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

A victory in the fight to reform civil asset forfeiture laws.

Thanks to an equally divided Supreme Court, public employee unions won a case they most likely would have lost had Justice Scalia lived.

Conservatives are doing all they can to make sure Merrick Garland does not get either a hearing or a vote in the Senate, and it’s working.

The Supreme Court appeared deadlocked during oral argument in the latest case dealing with the PPACA’s contraceptive coverage mandates.

It increasingly appears that the GOP is on the losing side of the argument over whether to hold hearings and a vote on the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

A crack in the wall.

President Obama has selected his nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, now the question is whether the Senate will act.

The coming political battle over President Obama’s effort to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia will likely be unlike anything we’ve seen before.

The President could nominate someone to fill the vacancy created by Antonin Scalia’s death as soon a next week, but Republicans in the Senate remain firmly committed to their decision to deny the as yet unnamed nominee any consideration.

Another poll shows that most Americans would prefer that the vacancy on the Supreme Court be filled by President Obama than that it be left open for the next President to fill, but other factors make it unlikely the Senate will act.

The Supreme Court seems as closely divided as ever on an issue that has divided the nation for forty years, but the implications of Justice Scalia’s death were quite apparent during oral argument in the Texas Abortion Law case.

Is President Obama planning a Checkmate move in the SCOTUS nomination fight?

Notwithstanding polling that indicates the American public disagrees with them, Senate Republicans emerged from a meeting today largely united on the idea of not giving any Supreme Court nominee named by President a hearing, or even the courtesy of a meeting.

The American people do not seem to support the Republican position on whether President Obama’s expected Supreme Court nominee should get proper consideration by the Senate.

Conservatives are sending a message to Senate Republicans about the vacancy on the Supreme Court, and it may require them to initiate a suicidal game plan.

In 1992, Joe Biden said that no action should be taken on any potential Supreme Court nominations until after that year’s Presidential election. Sound familiar?

Two new polls show that Americans are basically split equally on the question of who should appoint the Justice that will replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.

The unity of the Republican Senate on the idea of no hearings or votes, if it ever really existed, appears to be cracking.

A crack in the Republican wall?

What would Jed Bartlet do?

Republicans are putting much on the line in their refusal to consider any Supreme Court nomination from President Obama.