Outside the Beltway

To no real surprise, the Obama Administration has rejected the application to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. It is likely to remain an issue in the upcoming Presidential campaign, though.

Forget about Congress, the real story going forward is likely to be Republican dominance of state legislatures nationwide.

Another piece of news that all but guarantees the fate of the Keystone XL project will not be resolved before President Obama leaves office.

Ben Carson will spend most of October on a book tour rather than campaigning for President. Further proof that he is not a serious candidate despite his standing in the polls.

The 2016 election will be fought on a very small battlefield, and right now the makeup of that battlefield heavily favors the Democrats.

It will never actually happen, of course, but some of Donald Trump’s fellow candidates for President have been eager to endorse his idea to abolish birthright citizenship.

Low costs and regulatory barriers are attracting people to red states–thus turning them purple and blue.

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the way the death penalty is administered, dealing a serious blow to opponents of the death penalty.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court let stand a ruling striking down North Carolina’s mandatory ultrasound law.

Despite a veto from the state’s Governor, today Nebraska became the latest state to repeal the death penalty. Hopefully, others will follow.

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

In a 6-3 vote that defied traditional expectations, the Justices have limited the ability of police to detain people on the side of the road for long periods of time.

President Obama’s decision on Keystone XL is apparently to delay things long enough so he doesn’t have to decide at all.

Just one day into the new Congress, the first confrontation is already set.

Nebraska and Oklahoma are suing Colorado over the Centennial State’s decision to legalize marijuana, but they don’t seem to have much of a case.

Texas has joined with 16 other states in a lawsuit against the Obama Administration over the President’s executive action on immigration. At first glance, it doesn’t appear to have much legal merit.

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.

Approval of the Keystone XL pipeline will likely pass the Senate today, and will eventually go forward despite an expected Presidential veto. But, Mary Landrieu’s political career is still dead.

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.

Voter Turnout was lower this year than in any midterm since the one held eleven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Tuesday’s Republican wave didn’t change the fundamentals.

Increasing the minimum wage proved to be popular at the ballot box Tuesday, unsurprisingly, However, it did not help Democrats on the same ballot.

Everything old is new again.

Sobering news from the World Health Organization.

The death of the Tea Party is greatly exaggerated.

Chief Justice Roberts lamented recently that an increasingly partisan confirmation process could mean that Justices who have contributed much to the Court would not be confirmed today. He’s right.

The Tea Party v. “establishment” battle in the GOP has been pretty one-sided this year.

The Army is sending a strong message on sexual assault. It picked the wrong poster boy.

Another victory for marriage equality.

A pretty clear violation of the First Amendment.

A Tea Party battle in the Cornhusker State

The Supreme Court has again ruled that prayers that open legislative sessions are not unconstitutional.

It might not be pretty.

Once again, the Obama Administration punts on the Keystone XL Pipeline.

New York has joined nine other states and the District of Columbia to vote to for an Electoral College bypass.

Time to start talking about lame ducks?

Do prayers opening legislative sessions violate the First Amendment? The Supreme Court is set to decide that issue.

Are these four men our last, best hope for a deal that will end the shutdown and avoid breaching the debt ceiling?

To borrow a phrase from Stephen Colbert, if you want to understand how Congress works, you better know a District.

With just hours to go, the Republicans on Capitol Hill seem prepared to take a big political risk.