Outside the Beltway

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

The era of legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act is over.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appeared in public for what is likely the last time in his life, apologized for the crimes he committed, and was unsurprisingly sentenced to death by a Federal Judge.

Pope Francis’s new encyclical isn’t exactly being received positively by American conservatives, because they seem to be missing the point.

The Supreme Court ruled that states don’t have to grant license plates that display the Confederate flag. Their decision has the potential to seriously harm the First Amendment.

Starting tomorrow, we can expect to see the Supreme Court hand down decisions in some of its most high profile cases. Here’s a preview.

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.

Final justice, but far from the end of the road.

If a new campaign succeeds, Harriet Tubman could replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.

The N.F.L.’s league office is giving up its tax exempt status, but that means far less than the headline implies.

Senate Republicans are working on legislation to fix the PPACA’s subsidies if the Supreme Court rules against the Federal Government in June.

The parents of the youngest victim of the Boston Marathon bombing argue that his killer should be spared from the death penalty.

A volunteer for an Oklahoma Sheriff’s Department killed a suspect thanks to what can only be described as extreme criminal negligence.

Freedom of speech means freedom for all speech, even when it is racially offensive.

Once again, the Supreme Court appears to be sharply divided on the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act.

Reflecting a growing national trend away from the barbarity of capital punishment, the Governor of Pennsylvania has imposed a moratorium on executions in the Keystone State.

By refusing to stay the legalization of same-sex marriage in Alabama, the Supreme Court has sent the strongest signal yet that it is ready to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

Several Tea Party backed Members of Congress claim to be challenging John Boehner in tomorrow’s vote for Speaker. They are, of course, delusional.

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.

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

A 69-year-old former polygraph examiner for the Oklahoma City police department has been indicted for coaching people to thwart the machines.

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

The GOP is dominant in the Southern United States, but it’s unlikely to last as long as Democratic dominance of the region did.

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

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

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 Supreme Court’s expansion of same-sex marriage seems to be sitting well with the American public.

In the space of one week, we’ve gone from 19 states that recognize same-sex marriage to 29. Soon, it will be 35.

The die is cast.

By failing to act, the Supreme Court has effectively legalized same-sex marriage in eleven more states.

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

A fired Oklahoma worker beheaded a woman and was attacking another when he was shot. Workplace violence? Or terrorism.

Opponents of marriage equality clearly don’t like the idea of a “big tent” in the GOP on the issue.

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

Another Federal appellate Court has struck down state law bans on same-sex marriage, but the only thing that matters now is the Supreme Court.

A trial court judge in Tennessee is the first jurist since the Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Windsor to uphold a ban on same-sex marriage

Another Circuit Court of Appeals has weighed in on the marriage equality debate.

Another step closer to the Supreme Court.

The Texas Senator is threatening to block any bill dealing with the border crisis that doesn’t defund the relief President Obama granted to children of illegal immigrants last year.

A case pending in Federal Court in Washington, D.C. could pose new legal problems for the Affordable Care Act