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The Supreme Court handed President Obama a defeat in NLRB v. Noel Canning this week, declaring that Obama’s three appointments to the NLRB made during “recesses” between pro-forma sessions the Senate convened every three days were clearly unconstitutional. If the Senate says it’s in session—even pro-forma—then it’s in session, and
While this year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Civil Rights Act, it also marks the first anniversary of Shelby County v. Holder, in which the Supreme Court struck a key portion of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965. Congress passed the VRA to increase African American voter
Some Republicans are eager to impeach the President. Some are so eager that they go on the record saying that impeachment would probably pass the House. Representatives Barletta (R-LA), Farenthold (R-TX), and Senator Cruz (R-TX) say that the only obstacle is the Democratic Senate, which would not convict the President.
There has obviously been no shortage of post-race analyses of Eric Cantor’s primary defeat on Tuesday. No one has claimed credit for predicting the outcome; the most accurate polling had Cantor up by 13 percent, while his internal polling had him up by 34 percent. Since defeating Cantor, David Brat
Dana Milbank’s recent article on the record number of “closed rules” approved by the Republican-led House leaves out one important factor: fundraising. The House Rules Committee is one of the chamber’s most powerful committees as it sets the parameters for floor debate. The committee determines how long each bill will
Last December, the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) conducted a drone strike in Yemen that appears to have gone horribly wrong by mistakenly targeting a wedding convoy and killing scores of civilians. By early January of this year, U.S. officials had launched an internal investigation of the strike and in
The Fix recently wrote about how “A 2015 rebellion against John Boehner would be unprecedented.” In the piece Philip Bump argues that “no speaker has overseen a pick-up of House seats and subsequently lost his job.” Setting aside problems in closely connecting congressional elections and the speakership election across this
The Washington Post’s Wonkblog had a write up on congressional productivity not long ago. Its central thesis is Congress is more productive in election years than in non-election years. This is a good counter-intuitive point. Many pundits discuss congressional productivity only in terms of major bills passed. However, Congress often
Earmark reform is a hot topic on Capitol Hill and in the advocacy community. Earlier this week, Senator Reidcommented on the need to repeal the ban on earmarks. This is not a new sentiment for many members of the House and Senate. What is new is for a congressional leader
Last Friday Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced that he would appoint a select committee to further investigate the September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound and the CIA facility in Benghazi, Libya. This decision comes in the midst of a midterm election season and predictably it has
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