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As expected, the Senate confirmed Elena Kagan as solicitor general Thursday. Kagan, the first woman to hold the post, was confirmed by a vote of 61-31. As

For the past few weeks, House liberals have been urging Democratic leaders in the Senate to bring up the public insurance option via the budget reconciliation

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke announced last month that the recession was “likely over” and that the economy was in the early stages of a recovery. The problem is, many Americans don’t look around and see a recovery.

The Republicans blasting the Democrats’ health reform proposal as an unaffordable new entitlement are continually running smack into the tiny inconvenience

Let me state up front that I fully support the policy that President Obama announced at West Point last week, said Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S.

The Dennis Blair Show continues: Former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, New Jersey Republican, and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, Indiana Democrat, said U.S. intelligence

Things aren’t looking up for Ben Bernanke, nominated by President Obama for a second term as head of the Federal Reserve. Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) has become

To much fanfare, the Obama administration a year ago launched a $75 billion program designed to prevent foreclosures by providing financial incentives to

Jonathan Martin follows up on Ralph Z. Hallow’s story about Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) being willing to campaign for Democrats by ... asking a bunch of

Republican lawyer Barbara Comstock, a candidate for a swing House of Delegates seat in northern Virginia, is holding a fundraiser tomorrow in Washington with a

I never met a spending freeze I didn’t like, said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the chairman of the Republican conference.

Religious conservatives are stepping up the pressure on Republicans legislators as the final week of the legislative session approaches and a proposed amendment to add a ban on gay marriage to the Minnesota Constitution appears stalled. The Minnesota Family Council threatened Republicans that any effort to stall the bill will be redefined as a vote against the bill, while the National Organization for Marriage pleaded that if the bill doesn’t go forward it will encourage “gay marriage activists.” “Contact your legislator and tell them to vote yes on the marriage amendment,” the Minnesota Family Council wrote to supporters

Here’s an interesting tidbit from yesterday’s Legal Times: Attorney General-designate Eric Holder last week revealed to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he

As the Michigan House prepares for a possible vote today on the controversial anti-bullying bill that passed the Senate last week, legislators are reacting to the analysis of that bill by a prominent First Amendment scholar published earlier this week. In that analysis, Douglas Laycock , the Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School and one of the nation’s foremost experts on the First Amendment, said the legislation was poorly drafted and did little to address bullying

Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford ruled today that the process by which the Florida Legislature pushed through a plan to privatize prisons in 18 counties was unconstitutional, writing that the Department of Corrections “proceeded without statutory authority and contrary to statutory authority” by implementing the plan. The lawsuit was filed by the Police Benevolent Association, a union that represents corrections officers and prison guards. The Florida Independent’s Travis Pillow outlined the argument behind the union’s lawsuit last month: The union has long questioned the financial benefits of privatization and the calculus behind the 7 percent savings mandated by Florida statutes.

I’ve cooled off on the birther movement after the forged Kenyan birth certificate debacle killed a lot of their enthusiasm. And one fringe benefit of the

Today, the Obama administration announced it will spend $3 billion more to help jobless homeowners. First, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is

Anti-immigration groups are accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement of trying to limit immigration enforcement, citing a draft policy memo ICE released

This nugget from Jake Sherman and Patrick O’Connor’s preview of the House GOP retreat deserves more attention. Boehner has told his rank and file to embrace

It’s looking like political insiders might prevail in tomorrow’s most anticipated Senate and gubernatorial primaries in Florida, an outcome that would throw a

U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle this morning denied the government’s attempt to further delay the hearing of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Mohammed Jawad and, as