By
Humberto Sanchez
| March 30, 2013, 10:37 p.m.
Sen. Marco Rubio on Saturday urged Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy to hold new hearings and provide for lengthy debate on immigration legislation that the Florida Republican is drafting with a bipartisan group of eight senators.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| March 28, 2013, 1:07 p.m.
President Barack Obama rejected pessimism in the Capitol over his gun control agenda Thursday, telling Congress “don’t get squishy” and vowing not to forget the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Craig DeRoche
| March 28, 2013, 5 a.m.
The current federal prison system has taxpayers playing the fool. Despite extraordinary increases in scope and cost, it may be making us less safe. In 1980, the federal prison population stood at 25,000 inmates; today, it’s at 218,000 — 139 percent of its capacity. Half the people are serving time for drug offenses. Since 2000, the Bureau of Prisons’ budget has nearly doubled, to about $6.7 billion. While that number sounds small in comparison with what we spend on health care, it is crushing the Justice Department. Federal prisons now consume a full quarter of the Department’s budget.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| March 27, 2013, 4:45 p.m.
In the second day of arguments about gay marriage, the Supreme Court wrestled with the Defense of Marriage Act. The central question is whether the federal government has the authority to define marriage separately from states for the purpose of federal benefits and, if so, whether defining it to the exclusion of gay couples violates the Constitution’s requirement of equal protection under law. Many court watchers opined that most justices seemed inclined to rule in favor of gay rights.
By
Emily Cahn
| March 27, 2013, 2:32 p.m.
The mood in front of the Supreme Court was buoyant Wednesday morning, as hundreds of demonstrators supporting same-sex marriage showed up to rally for a second straight day.
By
John Gramlich
| March 27, 2013, 1:55 p.m.
A majority of the Supreme Court may be willing to strike down the controversial 1996 federal law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but perhaps not on the grounds being sought by the Obama administration and supporters of gay marriage.
By
John Gramlich
| March 26, 2013, 4:56 p.m.
Tuesday’s historic arguments before the Supreme Court left the strong impression that a majority of the nine justices is not yet willing to establish a nationwide, constitutional right to marry for all same-sex couples, even if the court allows such marriages to occur in California or a subset of states.
By
Steven T. Dennis, John Gramlich
| March 26, 2013, 4:22 p.m.
Supreme Court justices jousted with lawyers over California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage, weighing whether marriage should be a national fundamental right, left up to the states or somewhere in between. Of the 80 minutes of legal questioning, here are the 12 best moments.
By
Emily Cahn, Rebecca Shabad
| March 26, 2013, 3:38 p.m.
More than 1,000 demonstrators descended upon the Supreme Court Tuesday morning, voicing their opinions on gay marriage as the nine justices heard oral arguments on the first of two landmark same-sex marriage cases.
By
John Gramlich
| March 26, 2013, 11:28 a.m.
A little-noticed Senate vote just before 4 in the morning on March 23 — amid the chamber’s 13-hour vote-a-rama on a fiscal 2014 budget resolution — suggests trouble for President Barack Obama’s gun control agenda.
By
Niels Lesniewski
| March 26, 2013, 10:54 a.m.
Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee may be out of luck in their quest to prevent the Senate from taking up gun control legislation.
By
Kate Ackley
| March 25, 2013, 6:45 p.m.
Activists on both sides of the debate over same-sex marriage are saying “I do” this week to rallies and other demonstrations that coincide with oral arguments in two pivotal Supreme Court cases.
By
Meredith Shiner
| March 25, 2013, 5:47 p.m.
Sen. Mark Warner announced Monday in a Facebook post that he supports same-sex marriage, just the most recent of a string of senators to do so.
By
John Gramlich
| March 25, 2013, 5:38 p.m.
Advocates on the left expressed frustration Monday that President Barack Obama has not pushed harder to seat judges on the powerful federal appeals court in Washington.
By
David Harrison
| March 25, 2013, 1:25 p.m.
President Barack Obama on Monday renewed pressure on congressional negotiators to deliver on an immigration overhaul.
By
Ellyn Ferguson
| March 24, 2013, 1:46 p.m.
A gun control group backed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans a new television advertising campaign this week in a $12 million effort to sway senators’ votes on legislation headed to the floor next month.
By
Meredith Shiner, Humberto Sanchez
| March 22, 2013, 5:57 p.m.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer has stuck his neck out on immigration and gun control, and the next two weeks could determine whether he successfully leads Democrats on those issues or sees his influence on them eroded.
By
John Gramlich
| March 22, 2013, 4:28 p.m.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, will offer an amendment to the Democrats’ fiscal 2014 budget resolution that seeks to require a two-thirds majority for the passage of any gun control legislation in the Senate.
By
John Gramlich
| March 22, 2013, 3:40 p.m.
The Justice Department responded Friday to Sen. David Vitter’s request for more information about its enforcement of a federal voter registration law — a response the Louisiana Republican demanded before deciding whether to drop his threat to block the nomination of Thomas Perez as the next Labor secretary.
By
Niels Lesniewski
| March 22, 2013, 2:24 p.m.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., doesn’t believe the gun violence legislation that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to bring to the floor early next month has a chance to become law without significant changes.
