Outside the Beltway

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dealt President Trump another setback in his effort to keep his financial records out of Congressional hands.

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear argument in a case likely to decide the fate of former President Obama’s DACA program.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals handed President Trump a loss in his effort to prevent prosecutors in New York from getting copies of his tax returns.

The stage for the sixth Democratic debate in December is likely to be much smaller.

In what seems to be clear violations of the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses, the President is seeking to enrich himself and his family,

The norms of social discourse are rapidly changing in the #MeToo era.

California, joined by 22 other states and jurisdictions, is suing to block the Administration’s efforts to revoke the state’s waiver to impose tougher clean air regulations.

The criteria for the November and December debate will make it much harder for some Democrats to get on the national stage. That isn’t a bad thing.

In a rebuke to traditional conservative views of Federalism, the Trump Administration intends to revoke California’s authority to set its own clean air standards,

A Federal Appeals Court has reinstated an Emoluments Clause lawsuit against the President that had been dismissed nearly two years ago.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has once again upheld a local ordinance banning assault weapons.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that states cannot punish electors who fail to follow the will of the majority of voters n their state or state laws purporting to direct how they should vote.

Justice Ginsburg has some kind words for her two newest co-workers, perhaps to the surprise of many of Ginsburg’s own supporters.

In contrast to the idea of granting statehood to the District of Columbia, the American public appears to strongly support statehood for Puerto RIco.

A new poll finds that a majority of Americans oppose statehood for the District of Columbia.

The legal and political showdown between Congress and the White House has entered into a new stage.

Just over nine years after retiring from the Supreme Court, former Associate Justice John Paul Stevens has passed away at the age of 99.

Trump’s self-congratulatory July 4th nonsense bankrupted the District of Columbia’s security fund, now they’re seeking reimbursement.

A federal appeals court has ruled that DC and Maryland officials have no right to bring the suit.

Joe Biden recently said that he’d consider nominating Merrick Garland again if there were a Supreme Court vacancy while he was President. Don’t count on it.

Well, of course they are.

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

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal in a series of cases challenging the President’s decision to end the DACA program.

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

Scot Peterson, the school resource officer who hid from fire during last year’s school shooting in Florida has been charged criminally. The legal basis for those charges seems flimsy.

A Federal Judge in Washington, D.C. dismissed a lawsuit against Trump “national emergency” to fund the border wall, but his ruling did not reach the merits of the lawsuit’s claim.

The House of Representatives will vote to hold the Attorney General in contempt next week but it may not mean anything.

Further progress for advocates of marijuana legalization from the Land of Lincoln.

Starting tomorrow, we should be getting some headline-grabbing opinions from the Supreme Court.

I continue to be opposed to impeachment of the President, but I’m slowly moving in that direction thanks primary to the Administration’s own actions.

The Trump Administration lost what is likely to be the first of many court challenges to its effort to stop Congress from doing what the Constitution requires it to do.

In a first of its kind move, voters in Denver have voted to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms.

Recent poll numbers suggest that the President is vulnerable in the part of the country that assured his Electoral College victory in 2020, but Democrats are going to have to work hard to flip these states.

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 Federal Court in Michigan has found several of that state’s Congressional and state legislative districts to have been subject to extreme partisan gerrymandering.

Despite the obvious connection with the university’s namesake, the word does have other connotations.

Are people fleeing blue states to avoid repressive taxes? It depends who you’re asking.

Sanders’ suggestion is not as outside democratic norms as one might think.

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

Paul Manafort walked into court yesterday facing the possibility of 20 years in prison. He came away with a much better outcome.

Democratic candidates for President are quickly voicing support for marijuana legalization.

Last week, the House passed two bills to strengthen the laws regarding background checks for guns, but they’re not likely to even make it to the floor of the Senate.

A Federal Judge in Washington, D.C. has upheld the Administration’s ban on bump stocks.

There’s only one solution to the D.C. statehood issue. It’s called retrocession.

After posting an image that clearly threatened a Federal Judge, Roger Stone walked out of court with a full gag order imposed on him. It could’ve gone a lot worse.

The Supreme Court issued a ruling that places new limits on civil asset forfeiture by state and local government.

Justice Clarence Thomas argues that a 55-year-old precedent should be overturned.

The lawsuits against President Trump’s “national emergency” have begun. Except more.

A Federal Judge found that former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort lied repeatedly after entering into a plea agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller. This either makes him incredibly stupid or willing to sacrifice himself to hide the truth from Federal investigators.