WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court broke new ground this month when it ruled the Constitution forbids school policies in California that prevent parents from being told about their child's gender transition at school.

But the reach of this new parental right remains unclear.

Does it mean all parents have a right to be informed if their child is ...Read more

Here’s a quiz question on Tuesday’s primary elections: Who spent the most money in support of a single candidate?

If you answered the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, you’d be forgiven because that big-spending lobbying group got outsized attention as candidates without its largesse cast it as a millstone around the necks of the ...Read more

CHICAGO — Following his win in the crowded Democratic primary to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss took victory laps around the big-money interests that sought to sink him and acknowledged he still had loose ends in his day job leading the city.

“As I’ve come to learn, this is a big district that ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Less than 24 hours after Senate Majority Leader John Thune kicked off his attempt to satisfy those demanding passage of a voter identification bill, House Republicans were already saying they weren’t fooled.

“What’s happening right now in the Senate is a SHOW VOTE,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., a leader of the House ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House lawmakers who met with Trump administration officials Wednesday on Capitol Hill emerged with no clear consensus, with some still undecided over whether to reauthorize a powerful surveillance authority without adding more privacy guardrails.

The administration, according to lawmakers, has said it wants Section 702 of the ...Read more

A U.S. House subcommittee created to consider ethics charges against U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick has rejected her requests to delay its work until after the conclusion of her criminal trial and to conduct its hearing examining her conduct behind closed doors.

The result: a public hearing of the House Ethics Committee adjudicatory ...Read more

An attorney for California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa is threatening “legal remedies” if ABC and the University of Southern California do not include the former Los Angeles mayor in an upcoming debate, a move that comes amid criticisms that candidates of color were not invited to participate in the event later this month.

...Read more

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court twice last year cleared the Trump administration to end protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants fleeing violence and instability. In the months that followed, current and former judges repeatedly called out the justices for failing to explain their reasoning.

The issue is before the ...Read more

U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley of California has been removed from all his House committee assignments, a consequence of his decision earlier this month to leave the Republican Party to become an Independent.

Kiley was formally taken off three committee assignments Wednesday in what his spokesperson John Pirsos said is a procedural move under House ...Read more

MIAMI — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to appear on Tuesday as a central witness in the Miami federal trial of his longtime friend, David Rivera, a former Republican congressman who decades ago shared a house with Rubio in Tallahassee when both were members of the state Legislature.

Rivera, 60, and political consultant Esther ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Senators on both sides of the aisle criticized liability protections for social media platforms at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday, but largely stopped short of supporting a full repeal as sought by some lawmakers.

The hearing, billed as a review of Section 230 of a 1996 communications law 30 years after enactment, ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky lawmakers’ current effort to remove a Lexington judge from the bench by impeachment is nearly unprecedented in the state’s history.

And in Kentucky’s modern court system, it’s never happened.

Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman faces impeachment after a petition was filed against her in January by a ...Read more

Every major escalation in the Middle East sends shock waves far beyond the region. In the United States, those shock waves arrive not as distant tremors but as catalysts for domestic radicalization and violence, particularly against Jewish communities.

The data is unambiguous.

Following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Three months after Inside Elections shifted a dozen House race ratings toward Democrats, nine more are moving the same way as Republicans look to defend their narrow House majority.

The national atmosphere remains tough for the GOP. Historical midterm trends, President Donald Trump’s negative job approval rating and consistent...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Four Democrats running to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell debated Tuesday night on how they could flip the script and win a U.S. Senate in Kentucky — something that hasn’t been done since 1992.

Former state Rep. Charles Booker, former U.S. Senate and House candidate Amy McGrath, Louisville horse trainer Dale Romans and state...Read more

MIAMI — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to appear on Tuesday as a central witness in the Miami federal trial of his longtime friend, David Rivera, a former Republican congressman who decades ago shared a house with Rubio in Tallahassee when both were members of the state Legislature.

Rivera, 60, and political consultant Esther ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Illinois Democrats picked their nominees for four open House seats on Tuesday, with one former member taking a step toward returning to the chamber and another denied a comeback.

And in an election where the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s involvement in several races was under scrutiny, the group saw mixed results. ...Read more

If there’s a better public agency than the National Transportation Safety Board, we can’t find it.

It is universally admired for the professionalism and expertise of its staff members and for their independence from politics as they investigate accidents.

Admired everywhere, that is, except at President Donald Trump’s White House. The ...Read more

The Department of Justice in President Donald Trump’s second term has sometimes been referred to as the president’s personal law firm. But that characterization is unfair to law firms. Although private lawyers advocate zealously on behalf of their clients, most constrain themselves within the limits of the law and professional ethics.

Under...Read more