Outside the Beltway

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

There isn’t a lot of legislating going on.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is being accused of giving preferential access to businesses and businessmen tied to her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

The House of Representatives passed a bill that would extend protection to DACA beneficiaries and other Dreamers, but it’s likely to die in the Senate.

The President’s foolish tariffs against Mexico are finally causing many Republican Senators to stand up against him.

Republicans nationwide are trying to discourage Roy Moore from running for Senate again. Roy Moore doesn’t care.

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.

Mitch McConnell has had an unsurprising change of heart on the issue of Senate consideration of Supreme Court nominees in a Presidential election year.

Hypocritical? Sure. Surprising? No.

Bart Starr, who led the Green Bay Packers to five N.F.L. Championships in the pre-Super Bowl era and in Super Bowls I and II, has died at the age of 85.

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.

Jon Bel Edwards is a reminder that our divide is cultural, not just partisan.

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

The problem is with our politics, not our institutions.

The President’s eldest son has been subpoenaed to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding Trump campaign contacts with Russia.

While he campaigned on a message of restraint, Donald Trump has largely adopted the interventionist foreign policies of his predecessors.

The former Kentucky coal executive, Republican fundraiser, and Ambassador to Canada would replace Nikki Haley in what used to be a position dominated by more experienced diplomats.

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

President Trump has not surprisingly vetoed a Congressional resolution to limit American support for the Saudi war on Yemen. His defense for doing so is utterly absurd.

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

While polarization in our national politics gets the most attention, several states also face serious rural-urban tensions.

In 2016, a crowded Republican field yielded an unlikely nominee. Could history repeat itself in 2020?

The Southern Law Poverty Center has fired its co-founder for vaguely-specified reasons.

Congress is doing its damned job for a change.

Sometimes symbolism is important. This is one of those times.

Mandatory vaccination laws raise personal liberty issues that ought to be taken seriously, but in the end, public health concerns weigh heavily in favor of laws mandating vaccination.

There appear to be enough votes in the Senate to pass the resolution disapproving President Trump’s border wall “emergency,” but there’s not enough Republican support to override an expected veto.

Republicans face a choice in the coming days. Do they support the Constitution, or do they support Donald Trump? You can count on them making the wrong choice.

Gun laws requiring guns to be taken away from convicted felons are either being ignored or have too many loopholes. We need to fix that.

While I’m sympathetic to his plight, he has no case.

Supreme Court watcher Jeffrey Toobin speculates that Clarence Thomas could be the next Supreme Court Justice to step aside.

The President will sign the bill to fund the government and avert another government shutdown, but in doing so he’ll also lay the groundwork for another showdown with Congress.

In his business career Donald Trump relied largely on fear and intimidation to get his way on business deals. As President, he’s finding that nobody is afraid of him.

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is the latest entrant into the race for the 2020 Democratic Nomination.

In a deal that can only be described as a cave by the President, the government shutdown is on course to be ended by the end of the day today.

There’s a way that Congress and the President could make future government shutdowns impossible, but they probably won’t do it.

The Senate has the ball this week in terms of action on the government shutdown, but its work is going to end up being utterly pointless.

Not surprisingly, the President’s proposed shutdown deal is not being received well by Democrats on Capitol Hill.

The longer video and deeper investigation of the incident reveals a very different story.

With Democrats making a new proposal and the President set to speak later today, there could be movement on ending the government shutdown. I wouldn’t be too optimistic, though.

As the government shutdown continues, Washington is coming to resemble a fight between toddlers. Except the toddlers have the excuse of not knowing any better.

Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case that could make it easier to order and ship wine from out-of-state retailers.

If you’re looking for the biggest obstacle to a resolution to the government shutdown, look no further than President Donald J. Trump.

As the shutdown drags on, Republicans are beginning to fear that members in the House and Senate may begin to fall away from supporting the President.

Washington has become the latest state to ban the sale of semiautomatic assault rifles to persons under 21.

As the shutdown drags on, Mitch McConnell finds himself facing pressure from the White House and from members of his own caucus.

With Democrats set to take control of Congress today, a resolution to the shutdown doesn’t appear to be any closer.

The government entered its third shutdown of the year with little sign of an immediate resolution.

With just hours to go, a partial government shutdown is becoming more and more likely.