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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing on September 18th reverberated throughout the nation and our institutions. Mourners congregated at the Supreme Court immediately following the news, with Mitch McConnell’s statement that the Senate would vote on President Trump’s nominee coming just over an hour after the Supreme Court’s announcement. The prospect
The Supreme Court vacancy created by Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing has thrust the Senate’s constitutional confirmation function into an already chaotic 2020 election cycle. Senate Majority Leader McConnell appears poised for a pre-election rush to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett—in direct contravention of his previous statements about confirming Supreme Court
Reports emerged yesterday of a plan among House Freedom Caucus (HFC) members to oust Speaker Pelosi via a “motion to vacate the chair.” This motion has been a more frequent political tool recently. In 2015, the HFC used it against Speaker Boehner and threatened to do so again against Speaker
How should we understand the fire this time? In the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, a movement has re-ignited for civil rights in general and against police brutality specifically. August 28 saw a March on Washington, 57 years after the original march with MLK’s famous “I have
At the end of season one of the popular HBO comedy series Veep, a panicked staffer from the Vice President’s office hurriedly solicits advice from a lawyer during a fundraising event. The staffer dreads being asked to testify before Congress because of his role in a series of hilariously incompetent
The pandemic has disrupted many things, including voting, the practice of democracy itself. As state primaries go by and the country gears up for November, some states are more ready for mail-in voting than others. Meanwhile, false claims have been circulated about mail-in voting having a partisan advantage (it doesn’t)
In politics, we often learn the lesson of the last time. Our current economic troubles prompt comparison to previous episodes, particularly the 2007-2009 Great Recession. While the past six weeks may seem like an eternity to many Americans, we are early in the government response to this crisis, particularly its
In response to the global coronavirus pandemic, three major bills were passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in March. On March 6, the president signed into law H.R.6074, an $8.3 billion supplemental appropriations bill, mostly aimed at providing additional funding for the Department of Health and
Amid a growing pandemic where social interaction could threaten health, many questions have been raised about the continuity of operations on Capitol Hill. Not for the first time, remote voting is among the ideas being floated. It has been more frequently mentioned in congressional discourse since smartphones became commonplace. Over
Welcome to appropriations season on Capitol Hill. With the President’s budget officially submitted last month it is now up to Congress to decide what to keep, what to discard, and what to enhance. I want to focus on the third category, and I offer these thoughts from the perspective of
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