Politics
- USThe New York Times
What the First Amendment means for campus protests
Protesters on college campuses have often cited the First Amendment as shelter for their tactics, whether they were simply waving signs or taking more dramatic steps, such as setting up encampments, occupying buildings or chanting slogans that critics say are antisemitic. But many legal scholars, along with university lawyers and administrators, believe at least some of those free-speech assertions muddle, misstate, test or even flout the amendment, which is meant to guard against state suppress
5 min read - USAssociated Press
Georgia governor signs law requiring jailers to check immigration status of prisoners
Jailers in Georgia must now check the immigration status of inmates and apply to help enforce federal immigration law, under a bill that gained traction after police accused a Venezuelan man of beating a nursing student to death on the University of Georgia campus. Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law Wednesday at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth. The Republican governor signed a separate law that requires cash bail for 30 additional crimes and restricts people and char
3 min read - PoliticsThe Guardian
What do campus protests mean for Joe Biden in November?
Thousands of students have rallied for Palestine, after hundreds of thousands of Democrats declined to vote for Biden in the primary
5 min read - PoliticsReuters
Republican-led states sue to block expanded gun background checks
More than two dozen Republican state attorneys general sued the Biden administration on Wednesday to stop a new rule that would require gun dealers to obtain licenses and conduct background checks when selling firearms at gun shows and online. The lawsuits challenge a rule finalized last month that U.S. Justice Department officials said is aimed at closing the "gun show loophole." The rule, which has not yet taken effect, will affect tens of thousands of gun sales a year, according to the Bide
2 min read - PoliticsAssociated Press
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene vows to force a vote next week on ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Wednesday she would call a vote next week on ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson, forcing her colleagues to choose sides in a difficult showdown after Democratic leaders announced they would provide the votes to save the Republican speaker's job. Speaking outside the Capitol, Greene ranted against Republican Party leaders at the highest levels and pushed back against their public entreaties, including from Donald Trump, to avoid another messy political
5 min read - PoliticsThe New York Times
A Bystander to ’60s Protests, Biden Now Becomes a Target
WASHINGTON — When students took over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University in April 1968, a young Joe Biden was studying law 250 miles away, just weeks from graduation. Protests and chanting and tie-dye shirts were not his style. “I was in law school,” he later recalled. “I wore sport coats.” Now, 56 years to the day after the police stormed Hamilton Hall to evict demonstrators in one of the most iconic moments of the 1960s protest movement, Biden has no more affinity for their modern-day success
7 min read - USThe New York Times
Federal Money Is All Over Milwaukee. Biden Hopes Voters Will Notice.
MILWAUKEE — Across Milwaukee, residents can see evidence of federal money from laws passed under the Biden administration, if they know where to look. It shows up in a growing array of solar panels near the airport. Ramshackle houses rehabilitated and sold to first-time buyers. The removal of lead paint and pipes. The demolition of a derelict mall. A crime lab and emergency management center. A clinic and food pantry for people with HIV. Funding to help dozens of nonprofits provide services such
8 min read - PoliticsThe New York Times
Law firm defending Trump seeks to withdraw from a long-running case
A law firm that has long defended Donald Trump’s campaign and businesses from employment lawsuits has abruptly asked to withdraw from a yearslong case over what it calls an “irreparable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.” The firm — LaRocca, Hornik, Greenberg, Rosen, Kittridge, Carlin and McPartland — has represented Trump’s political operation in numerous suits dating to his first presidential run, helping secure several settlements and dismissals and billing nearly $3 million in th
4 min read - PoliticsNBC News
Democrats say Big Oil misled public for decades about climate change
Major oil companies have misled Americans for decades about the threat of human-caused climate change, according to a new report released Tuesday by Democrats in Congress.
3 min read - PoliticsAssociated Press
Trump will speak at the Libertarian National Convention, addressing a party linked to Kennedy Jr.
Former President Donald Trump will speak at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C. later this month as he tries to woo voters beyond the Republican base and avoid losing support to independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Libertarians are some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers in our Country, and I am honored to join them in Washington, DC, later this month," Trump said in a statement issued Wednesday. “We must all work together to help advance freedom and li
3 min read - WorldHuffPost
National College Democrats Slam Biden On Gaza And Back Campus Protesters
The Biden White House has pursued a “cold shoulder strategy for its own base and all Americans who want to see an end to this war,” the group said.
5 min read - USAssociated Press
Biden to travel to North Carolina to meet with families of officers killed in deadly shooting
President Joe Biden is expected to travel to North Carolina on Thursday to meet with the family members of four officers killed earlier this week in the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since 2016. The four officers were killed when a task force made up of officers from different agencies arrived in the residential neighborhood in the city of 900,000 to try to capture 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes Jr. on warrants for possession of a firearm by an ex-felon and fleeing to elude in Lincol
3 min read - PoliticsBusiness Insider
Democrats' dilemma: Which hard-right Republican should they side with?
Some Democrats are unsure how they'll vote on tabling MTG's motion to oust Speaker Johnson. Either way, they could be seen as helping a Republican.
4 min read - USAssociated Press
Rollout of transgender bathroom law sows confusion among Utah public school families
Utah public schools have been rushing to prepare students and teachers as the state starts cracking down Wednesday on any school found not enforcing new bathroom restrictions for transgender people. Residents and visitors are required under state law to use bathrooms and changing rooms in government-owned buildings that correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Although the law took effect when Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed it Jan. 30, it was not widely enforced before a key compliance
4 min read - WorldReuters
US senator urges Biden to include safeguards in any nuclear power deal with Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A Democratic U.S. senator on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to include strict nonproliferation safeguards in any nuclear power deal with Saudi Arabia that might come as part of a potential normalization of relations agreement brokered by Washington between the kingdom and Israel. The Biden administration has been talking with Saudi Arabia and Israel on a potential peace agreement since before the Oct. 7 deadly attacks by Hamas on Israel and talks have continued during
3 min read - USAssociated Press
Ex-Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has been threatened with jail time in his divorce case
A Republican who spent years as one of Ohio's highest profile politicians has been threatened with jail time for violating the terms of his 2020 divorce agreement. Josh Mandel, a former two-term state treasurer who ran three times for U.S. Senate, was sentenced to seven days behind bars, as was his ex-wife, Ilana Mandel, after an Ashland County court magistrate found them in contempt of court for violating elements of the deal. Common Pleas Magisrate Paul Lange found the Mandels each entered t
2 min read - PoliticsHuffPost
Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She’ll Pull Trigger On Mike Johnson Ouster Next Week
It’s unclear how delaying the vote on Johnson will affect the outcome, but it will certainly maximize attention on the Georgia Republican.
3 min read - USThe Guardian
Mitt Romney says his dog scandal doesn’t compare to Kristi Noem’s: ‘I didn’t shoot my dog’
Republican senator says Noem’s story of killing her 14-month-old hunting dog makes her unlikely to be Trump’s running mate
3 min read - PoliticsReuters
Firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene to force vote to oust US House Speaker Johnson
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conservative firebrand, Wednesday on Wednesday called for a vote to oust Republican Mike Johnson as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, a move that could embroil their party in chaos months before the November election. The move is a rare open act of defiance of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has publicly backed Johnson as speaker and dismissed the ouster threat as "unfortunate." "Mike Johnson is not capable of
3 min read - USNBC News
Morehouse College pushes the White House for 'direct engagement' ahead of Biden's speech
Morehouse College faculty remain apprehensive about the decision to have President Joe Biden deliver the school’s commencement speech on May 19, and have asked the White House to take some steps to address their concerns.
4 min read - PoliticsLA Times
Lauren Boebert is her own best asset — and worst enemy — as she fights to stay in Congress
In a new district, the fiery Colorado congresswoman enjoys a solid base among the GOP's MAGA wing. But some are put off by her indiscretions and messy personal life.
9 min read - USAssociated Press
Lawmakers want the Chiefs and Royals to come to Kansas, but a stadium plan fizzled
Some Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure Kansas City's two biggest professional sports teams across the Missouri border, but an effort to help the Super Bowl champion Chiefs and Major League Baseball's Royals finance new stadiums in Kansas fizzed over concerns about how it might look to taxpayers. Members of the Republican-controlled Legislature pushed a bill Tuesday that would have allowed Kansas officials to authorize at least $1 billion in bonds to cover the entire cost of building each ne
5 min read - PoliticsReuters
VP Harris visits Florida as abortion ban limits women's options
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris sought to blame Republican candidate Donald Trump for Florida's six-week abortion ban that took effect on Wednesday, saying his Supreme Court picks when he was president cleared the way for the policy. The remarks in Jacksonville, Florida, were the latest effort by Harris and President Joe Biden to keep their re-election focus on abortion rights, an issue Democrats are hoping will galvanize voters to pick them.
4 min read - PoliticsPolitico
Trump’s trying to dismantle the Blue Wall again. That would be disaster for Biden.
Biden’s loss of support with younger voters and voters of color has helped make the Sun Belt swing states less competitive — and the “Blue Wall” Rust Belt states key to his reelection.
5 min read - USAssociated Press
Trump's comparison of student protests to Jan. 6 is part of effort to downplay Capitol attack
Donald Trump this week lamented the possibility that Columbia University's pro-Palestinian protesters could be treated more leniently than the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, marking the second time the former president has invoked the ongoing campus protests to downplay past examples of right-wing violence. Speaking Tuesday in the hallway outside a Manhattan courtroom where his criminal hush money trial is taking place, Trump questioned whether student demonstrators who h
6 min read - PoliticsBusiness Insider
Elon Musk and 'anti-Biden brain trust' bonded at exclusive Hollywood Hills dinner, report says
Elon Musk hosted a dinner for billionaires that got political, and attendees discussed their distrust of Democrats like Joe Biden, Puck reported.
3 min read - PoliticsNBC News
Trump to hold Ohio fundraiser with VP contender JD Vance
Sen. JD Vance, an Ohio Republican who is among the contenders to be Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, will help the former president raise money next month in Cincinnati, according to an invitation obtained Tuesday by NBC News.
2 min read - PoliticsNBC News
Trump on political violence in 2024: 'If we don't win, you know, it depends'
Donald Trump said he doesn't think there'll be political violence this election because he'll win — but that it "always depends on the fairness of an election."
7 min read - PoliticsNBC News
RFK Jr. hires GOP operative who called Jan. 6 'Democrat misdirection'
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign has hired a former spokesperson for hard-right Republicans who has called the Jan. 6 Capitol riot “Democrat misdirection.”
3 min read - LifestyleNBC News
Binoculars in hand, reporters go Trump-spotting at New York trial
The must-have accessory at Donald Trump’s hush money trial?
3 min read - USNBC News
Cease-fire talks come at a key moment as Biden faces growing campus protests
WASHINGTON — Senior Biden administration officials are increasingly concerned about where protests on college campuses over the war in the Gaza Strip will expand to next and view a potential cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas as perhaps the only development that could quell some of the political blowback over President Joe Biden’s handling of the conflict.
4 min read - PoliticsNBC News
Biden administration plans to reclassify marijuana, easing restrictions nationwide
The Biden administration plans to reclassify marijuana for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act was enacted more than 50 years ago.
7 min read - PoliticsNBC News
Key witnesses in Trump’s criminal trial describe how the hush money deals came together
The criminal trial of former President Donald Trump resumed in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday with testimony from a key witness who described in detail how the hush money transactions at the center of the trial came together.
7 min read - PoliticsAssociated Press
Biden's historic marijuana shift is his latest election year move for young voters
President Joe Biden may eventually ban TikTok, but he's moving to give something back to the young people who dominate the popular social media app — a looser federal grip on marijuana. Facing softening support from a left-leaning voting group that will be crucial to his reelection hopes in November, Biden has made a number of election year moves intended to appeal in particular to younger voters. The push to highlight issues that resonate with younger voters comes as the Democratic president
5 min read - PoliticsAssociated Press
Mississippi Medicaid expansion plan could struggle for bipartisan support, Democratic leader says
A Medicaid expansion plan endorsed by leaders in the Republican-led Mississippi Legislature could struggle for bipartisan support because it includes a work requirement that is unlikely to receive federal approval, the state House Democratic leader said Tuesday. Approving the plan could create false hope among people who want Medicaid coverage but might not receive it, Rep. Robert Johnson told reporters after his party's caucus met privately to discuss the issue. “The Democratic Caucus in the
3 min read - PoliticsNBC News
Biden’s election-year move on weed: From the Politics Desk
The Biden administration is easing federal restrictions on marijuana ahead of the 2024 election, a move that could boost his standing with young voters.
6 min read - PoliticsAssociated Press
Some North Carolina abortion pill restrictions are unlawful, federal judge says
Some of North Carolina government's restrictions on dispensing abortion pills, such as requiring that doctors to prescribe and provide the drug to the patient in person, are unlawful because they frustrate the goal of Congress to use federal regulators to ensure the drug is distributed safely, a judge ruled on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles in Greensboro granted a partial victory to a physician who performs abortions and who last year sued state and local prosecutors and state he
4 min read - USHuffPost
'I Didn't Shoot My Dog': Mitt Romney Resents Being Compared To Kristi Noem
"I loved my dog and my dog loved me," the Utah senator said when asked about comparisons between him and South Dakota's GOP governor.
3 min read - PoliticsAssociated Press
US House votes to remove wolves from endangered list in 48 states
The U.S. House voted Tuesday to end federal protection for gray wolves, approving a bill that would remove them from the endangered species list across the lower 48 states. The measure now goes to the Senate, but it appears doomed after the White House issued a statement Monday warning that the Biden administration opposes it. Hunters and farmers across the country maintain the species is stable and have been complaining for years about wolf attacks on game species and livestock.
2 min read - BusinessAssociated Press
Biden administration details how producers of sustainable aviation fuel will get tax credits
The Biden administration spelled out guidelines Tuesday for tax breaks designed to boost production of sustainable aviation fuel and help curb fast-growing emissions from commercial airplanes. The Treasury Department actions would clear the way for tax credits for corn-based ethanol if producers follow “climate-smart agriculture practices,” including using certain fertilizers and farming methods. The announcement was praised by the ethanol industry but got a much cooler reaction from environme
2 min read - PoliticsAssociated Press
Takeaways from the start of week 2 of testimony in Trump's hush money trial
The first week of testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial was the scene-setter for jurors. This week, prosecutors are working on filling in the details of how they say he pulled off a scheme to bury damaging stories to protect his 2016 presidential campaign. Prosecutors are setting the stage for crucial testimony from Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, who arranged hush money payments on Trump's behalf before going to prison for campaign finance violations and other crimes.
5 min read - USAssociated Press
Mississippi lawmakers quietly kill bills to restrict legal recognition of transgender people
Mississippi's Republican-led Legislature will not take final votes on two bills that attempted to restrict legal recognition of transgender people. The bills died quietly when House and Senate leaders failed to agree on compromise versions before a Monday night deadline. One bill would have restricted transgender people’s use of bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings, including university dormitories.
1 min read - USAssociated Press
Kansas has new abortion laws while Louisiana may block exceptions to its ban
Kansas is requiring abortion providers to share new patient information with the state and increasing funds to anti-abortion centers, while in Louisiana bills to loosen its restrictive ban face an uphill battle, thanks to Republican supermajorities in both Legislatures. Democratic lawmakers in Louisiana are pushing bills to add exceptions, including in cases of rape and incest, to the state’s near-total abortion ban. Meanwhile in Kansas, the GOP-controlled Legislature on Monday overrode all fo
5 min read - PoliticsHuffPost
Trump Is Fine With States Monitoring Pregnant Women So They Don't Get Abortions
"I think they might do that," the GOP presidential nominee said of a scenario that sounds straight out of the dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale."
3 min read - PoliticsAssociated Press
Trump says he'll use National Guard to deport migrants, doubling down on anti-immigration rhetoric
Donald Trump says he'd use the National Guard as part of efforts to deport millions of migrants across the country if he's reelected, signaling that he's doubling down on anti-immigration rhetoric that fueled his previous rise to power. Trump didn't say how exactly he'd carry out the deportation operations and what role the National Guard would play in them. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, said he wasn't opposed to using active duty military if needed but that he thoug
3 min read - USAssociated Press
Lawmakers and advocates make last-ditch push to extend affordable internet subsidy
Twenty-three million families in the U.S. will have bigger internet bills starting in May. That's because a federal broadband subsidy program they're enrolled in is nearly out of money. Dozens of people joined Biden administration officials, advocates and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, at a Washington public library on Tuesday to make a last-ditch plea to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program, a subsidy created by Congress and touted by President Joe Biden as part of his p
2 min read - USWashington Post
Your next water heater could save you $170 a year
Your next water heater could be a heat pump. Starting in 2029, many electric water heaters on store shelves will have to use heat pump technology to comply with new energy efficiency standards released by the Department of Energy on Tuesday.Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. The change marks the Biden administration’s biggest step yet in setting appliance energy efficiency regulations, one that will save Americans billio
4 min read - USAssociated Press
More Republican states challenge new Title IX rules protecting LGBTQ+ students
Another six Republican states are piling on to challenge the Biden administration's newly expanded campus sexual assault rules, saying they overstep the president's authority and undermine the Title IX anti-discrimination law. A federal lawsuit, led by Tennessee and West Virginia, on Tuesday asks a judge to halt and overturn the new policy. The suit is joined by Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Virginia.
3 min read - PoliticsNBC News
Trump says he may free every Jan. 6 rioter. His team is eyeing 'case-by-case' pardons.
Former President Donald Trump said he'd "absolutely" consider pardoning every Jan. 6 defendant while his campaign said they'll consider pardons "case-by-case."
7 min read - PoliticsAssociated Press
Trump says states should decide on prosecuting women for abortions, has no comment on abortion pill
Former President Donald Trump says in a new interview it should be left to the states whether to prosecute women for abortions or whether to monitor women's pregnancies. In an interview published Tuesday by Time magazine, Trump responded to questions about how he would handle various abortion questions if elected by repeatedly saying it should be left up to the states. “You don’t need a federal ban,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said.
5 min read
