Outside the Beltway

Mitt Romney decided not to run in 2016 but he’s very much in the race.

Iowa Republicans may be a day away from putting the Iowa Straw Poll out of its, and our, misery.

The largely conservative state of Nebraska seems to be on the verge of repealing its law authorizing capital punishment.

Jeb Bush will not participate in this year’s version of the Iowa Straw Poll.

Two Republican candidates for President say that Republican elected officials should simply ignore the Supreme Court if it strikes down bans on same-sex marriage.

Ben Carson is running for President.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are talking about fundamentally changing what it means to be an American, and it’s a bad idea.

A sharply divided Court heard argument today on an issue that has sharply divided the nation.

Tomorrow promises to be an historic day at the Supreme Court, but it’s been a long legal, political, and social battle.

The scandal that will make everyone forget about Benghazi.

Ben Carson will be entering the race for President next month, but don’t pretend for a minute that he’s a serious candidate.

Another case of teenagers ‘sexting,’ another dumb overreaction by law enforcement.

Indiana is about to become the latest state to grants special rights to religious business owners.

Ben Carson doesn’t seem to know much about foreign policy or history. And he doesn’t belong on anyone’s list of serious Presidential candidates.

Alec MacGillis argues for Slate that “Veterans Should Pay Taxes Like Everyone Else.” I agree!

Wisconsin has become the 25th “right to work” state.

The two decade long argument over same-sex marriage appears headed for its final legal showdown.

Shortly after the new year, we could know whether or not the Supreme Court will issue a definitive ruling on same-sex marriage by the end of June.

Should a professor who says she “hates Republicans” keep her job?

The Supreme Court says that police who have a “reasonable” misunderstanding of the law can still pull you over.

The GOP donor class would like the 2016 race to be short and sweet, but that’s unlikely to happen.

The Supreme Court is set to decide if the state can deny a license plate with the Confederate flag design because it is “offensive.”

For the fourth time in three years, a Federal Court has ruled that Florida’s law requiring drug tests for welfare recipients is unconstitutional.

You’ve got your playoff College Football fans, as imperfect as it was inevitably going to be.

Clearly, the Romney campaign didn’t get the point of social media.

Fresh off his third statewide win in four years, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appears to be getting ready to run for President.

An adviser close to Hillary Clinton is talking about expanding the Electoral College map in 2016, but even without such an expansion the GOP faces an uphill battle.

Every member of the Supreme Court graduated from an Ivy League Law School. That kind of homogeneity is not healthy.

The process that seems likely to lead to a Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage has begun.

After the 2010 elections, several newly Republican state legislatures flirted with the idea of changing the way their state allocates Electoral Votes. The outcome of last weeks elections raises the possibility that this could happen again.

A popular idea that does nothing useful while simultaneously violating the Constitution.

Support for legalizing marijuana continues to grow slowly but surely.

The Fourth and Fifth Amendments do not prevent the police from compelling you to unlock your phone if you used fingerprint scan technology to lock it, Virginia Judge has ruled.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Supreme Court has accepted the appeal of a case that could completely gut the financial structure of the Affordable Care Act.

Trying to explain one of the biggest surprises of Election Night 2014.

An unsurprising ruling from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that only seems to bring closer the day when same-sex marriage will be legal nationwide.

The Republican wave extended even to Governor’s races that, in any other year, they should have lost.

The B.C.S. was far from perfect, and the College Football Playoff system will be, at best, only slightly better.

Polls continue to show that most Americans are largely tuning the midterms out.

Rich guys are backing organizations that are taking over traditional party functions. Is that a problem?

Bill Scher examines “How Republicans Lost the Culture War.”

The death of the Tea Party is greatly exaggerated.

Combining politics, an incessantly sensationalist news cycle, and a virus that scares a lot of people can’t end well.

A legal setback for the Affordable Care Act, but the important arguments on this issue lie in higher courts.

While it still seems unlikely that he’ll run, Mitt Romney does seem to be leaving the door open to a third run at the White House.

Justice Ginsburg had some interesting things to say about the same-sex marriage cases headed to the Supreme Court.