Reproductive freedom has been under assault in America for a very long time, but it has escalated recently with relentless Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and with the seating of an ill-gotten Republican majority on the Supreme Court. If it was not clear enough already, recent remarks by a pair of Republican state legislators in […]

Jeffrey Perkins, the father of an autistic child whom Judge Neil Gorsuch ruled against in a court case, made a strong case against Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination at a Senate hearing. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court recently repudiated Gorsuch’s ruling in Thompson R2-J School District v. Luke P. as his confirmation hearing was in progress. […]

Things took a dramatic turn at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch, the nominee for the Supreme Court seat that was stolen from President Barack Obama, and given to a man who is under FBI investigation. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) was recounting Gorsuch’s record of siding against disabled children, […]

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) grilled Trump Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch on his controversial decision against a truck driver who was fired by his employer for abandoning his vehicle after waiting for repairs after several hours in subzero temperatures. The Tenth Circuit court ruled that Alphonse Maddin had been illegally fired from his job […]

Donald Trump’s nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, Neil Gorsuch, lost his cool under the intensity of  Senator Amy Klobuchar’s questioning during the confirmation hearing. Breaking from his generally overly-polished presentation, Gorsuch appeared visibly irritated, interrupted the Senator, raised his voice, and spoke to her in a remarkably patronizing manner. Notably, before being elected […]

While at Columbia University, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch was a member of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) between 1986 and 1988. The Daily Beast reports, “According to school newspaper reports and interviews with former Columbia students, FIJI’s reputation was unrivaled among Columbia’s 12 other fraternities at the time—defined by accusations of hard-partying, racism, […]

FBI Director James Comey confirmed there is an existing and ongoing investigation into links between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government, saying: “I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI as part of our counterintelligence mission is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential […]

Judge Neil Gorsuch is already facing an uphill battle in the confirmation hearings on his Supreme Court nomination. Democrats have long been on record that they will oppose Gorsuch, noting that the open SCOTUS seat was stolen from President Obama. And Gorsuch himself has provided ample reason to be gravely concerned about a lifetime appointment […]

Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch reportedly told law students that employers should ask women seeking employment about their plans for having children, and also implied that women manipulate companies in order to extract maternity benefits. Jennifer Sisk, a 2016 graduate of the University of Colorado Law School wrote a letter detailing her concerns […]

Republicans and the Trump administration are quickly developing a disturbing reputation for siding against cancer patients. That pattern was made even more starkly clear as family members of a deceased cancer patient spoke out against Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy that was stolen from President Obama. The late Grace […]

As Republicans changed Senate rules to ram through the nomination of right-wing extremist Neil Gorsuch, Senate Democrats held firm and refused to be complicit in the theft of a Supreme Court seat. But some people, like Eric Segall of the Daily Beast and law professor Noah Feldman, argued it was politically stupid for Democrats to filibuster Gorsuch. It […]

The adamant refusal by Republicans in Congress to give Merrick Garland a hearing, and to leave late Justice Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court seat open indefinitely — or at least until Donald Trump was elected — was an unprecedented dereliction of duty. As Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) both bluntly noted, by their inaction, the Republicans stole […]

Ever since Republicans stole a Supreme Court seat from President Obama, the court has remained at an unproductive equilibrium of 4-4 decisions, occasionally broken up by frequent swing Justice Anthony Kennedy. If Donald Trump remains in office, however, the United States faces the prospect of a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, and a Supreme […]

Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Ed Markey (D-MA) held a press conference to “raise serious concerns about President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch’s anti-worker, pro-corporate record,” according to a press release. The Democrats pointed out that “Judge Gorsuch has consistently favored big money, powerful special interests over the rights of […]

Ever since the Supreme Court’s disastrous 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allowed groups unaffiliated with campaigns to spend unlimited amounts of money on behalf of elections, there has been an enormous proliferation of “dark money” groups designed for exactly that purpose. The poster children for these groups are Charles and […]

Moments after Donald Trump announced Judge Neil Gorsuch as his nominee to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat, Senate Democrats and progressive organizations reacted with vigor, denouncing Republicans for stealing the seat and promising to fight the nomination based on Gorsuch’s troubling record. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) immediately noted “very serious doubts” about […]

Even before Donald Trump announced the nomination, Senate Democrats vowed to put up a solid front against the confirmation of Colorado appellate judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court on the grounds that Republicans stole the seat from Merrick Garland — a sentiment echoed by some legal scholars. But new questions are starting to emerge about whether Gorsuch […]

In true Trumpian fashion, unpopularly elected Donald Trump treated the announcement of his Supreme Court pick like a reality show competition, bringing both “finalists” to Washington, D.C., to heighten the suspense — but even that, he could not get quite right. In the East Room of the White House Tuesday night, Trump announced the winner, 10th U.S. […]

Governor John Kasich delivered a fake-out punch to reproductive rights in Ohio on Tuesday when he vetoed a ban on abortions at six weeks, only to turn around and sign a ban on abortion after 20 weeks. Both of these prohibitions are unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade, which sets the point of viability for a […]

Encouraged by an incoming Donald Trump presidency, Ohio has become the first state to pass draconian anti-choice measures in a renewed effort to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. As a last-minute, lame duck salvo, Ohio legislators tacked a fetal heartbeat abortion ban onto a child abuse prevention bill. This amendment would ban abortion once […]

A federal court has ordered that North Carolina’s heavily gerrymandered state districts be redrawn and that the state must hold new primaries for state-level representatives in September 2017 followed by a general election in November 2017. The case, Covington vs. the State of North Carolina, argued that race-based districting — like that in North Carolina, where […]

Almost every day brings a new unqualified, bigoted, and/or otherwise radical cabinet pick from President-elect Donald Trump. Thankfully, there are leaders like Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in the Senate who are willing to tell it like it is: “They’ve been rewarded for stealing a Supreme Court justice. We’re going to help them confirm their nominees, many of […]

Even though John McCain has pulled his support for Donald Trump, what he is now promising to do if Hillary Clinton is elected is every bit as dangerous, undemocratic, and unconstitutional as anything Trump has proposed. But it is nothing new for the Republican Party. Congressional Republicans famously met in secret on the night of Barack […]

It has now been over two hundred days since President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the late Antonin Scalia. This is the longest vacancy in the history of the Court. Senate Republicans have refused to hold hearings for Garland despite the fact that many of […]