Category: Federal
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U.S. Supreme Court: Agencies had authority to create religious and moral exemptions from Obamacare contraception mandate
With a 7-2 decision in Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld religious and moral exemptions to Obamacare’s contraception mandate. The majority opinion held that federal agencies followed proper procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to create the exemptions, and that the Little Sisters…
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FEC loses quorum once again with commissioner’s resignation
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is down to having three members after former chair Caroline Hunter (R) resigned from the commission July 3. The six-member body requires four members to form a quorum, which is the number of active commissioners needed for the FEC to formally conduct business. Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, a…
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Richter defeats Gibbs to win the Republican primary in New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District
David Richter defeated Kate Gibbs to win the Republican nomination in New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District. As of 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time on July 7, Richter had received 67% of the vote to Gibbs’ 33% with 53% of precincts reporting. Richter, the former chief executive officer of Hill International, had been endorsed by the National…
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Sessions, Tuberville face off in Alabama’s U.S. Senate primary runoff
Jeff Sessions and Tommy Tuberville are running in the Republican primary runoff election for U.S. Senate in Alabama on July 14. Sessions held the Senate seat for 20 years before President Donald Trump (R) appointed him as U.S. attorney general in 2017. Sessions says he committed to the Trump agenda as a U.S. senator and…
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SCOTUS issues opinion in consolidated cases regarding employment discrimination claims filed against religious institutions
On July 8, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued an opinion in the case Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, which was consolidated with the case St. James v. Biel. Both cases originated from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and concerned employment discrimination claims filed against religious…
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SCOTUS issues opinions in July
On July 6, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued opinions in two linked cases, Colorado Department of State v. Baca and Chiafalo v. Washington, and in the case Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants Inc. The cases were argued during the court’s October Term for 2019-2020. According to SCOTUSblog, this is…
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Van Drew defeats Patterson to win renomination in New Jersey’s 2nd District
Incumbent Jeff Van Drew defeated challenger Bob Patterson to win the Republican primary in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District. As of 9:45 p.m. Eastern Time on July 7, Van Drew had received 81% of the vote to Patterson’s 18% with 36% of precincts reporting. Van Drew was first elected to the district as a Democrat…
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Kennedy wins Democratic nomination in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District
Amy Kennedy defeated Brigid Callahan Harrison and three other candidates to win the Democratic nomination in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District. As of 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Kennedy had received 55% of the vote to Harrison’s 32%. Local political observers described the race as part of a larger battle among state Democrats. Harrison’s supporters included…
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U.S. Rep. Fred Upton completes Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey
U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R) completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey recently. Upton, who was first elected in 1986, faces Elena Oelke (R) in the Aug. 4 Republican primary for Michigan’s 6th Congressional District. Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey so voters can discover what motivates them on political and…
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3,035 major party candidates filed for 2020 Congress elections
As of July 6, 3,035 major party candidates have filed to run for the Senate and House of Representatives in 2020. So far, 464 candidates are filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run for U.S. Senate. Of those, 372—187 Democrats and 185 Republicans—are from one of the two major political parties. In 2018,…