Category: Federal
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U.S. Rep. Doug Collins seeks election to Senate, 2,456 major party candidates filed for 2020 Congress elections
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins (R) announced January 29 that he is running in the special election for U.S. Senate in Georgia. Former Sen. Johnny Isakson (R) resigned in December. Collins has represented Georgia’s 9th Congressional District in the House since 2013. He is the third member of Georgia’s congressional delegation to announce he would not…
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OIRA reviewed 31 significant rules in January
The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) reviewed 31 significant regulatory actions issued by federal agencies in January 2020. The agency approved one rule without changes and approved the intent of 28 rules while recommending changes to their content. Agencies withdrew two rules from the review process. OIRA reviewed 17 significant regulatory…
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Federal tobacco age restriction increase followed five years of state increases
On December 20, 2019, President Donald Trump (R) signed H.R. 1865 into law setting the federal tobacco age restriction at 21. At the time H.R. 1865 was signed into law, 54% of the country’s population already lived in states that had signed legislation setting their tobacco age restrictions at 21. The first law in the…
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U.S. Supreme Court releases March argument calendar
The U.S. Supreme Court has released its March argument calendar for the 2019-2020 term. The court will hear 11 hours of oral argument in 14 cases between March 23 and April 1. As of January 2020, the court had agreed to hear 73 cases and had issued decisions in four cases during its 2019-2020 term.…
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Democratic pageviews increase ahead of Iowa caucus; Delaney accumulated 62k pageviews by end of his campaign
Each week, we report the number of pageviews received by 2020 presidential campaigns on Ballotpedia. These numbers reflect the time investments of our community of thousands of readers who visit Ballotpedia because they think the candidate is worth knowing more about, whether they believe the candidate has a strong chance of winning or is an…
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Senate rejects motion to allow witnesses in impeachment trial
On January 31, 2020, the U.S. Senate rejected a motion to allow witnesses and documents to be subpoenaed in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump by a vote of 51 to 49. • All 47 Democrats and two independents (Sens. Angus King and Bernie Sanders) voted yes. • 2 Republicans (Sens. Susan Collins and…
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Immigration judge union calls for independent immigration courts
The president of the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) on January 29 urged members of the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship to create independent immigration courts outside of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). “America needs an immigration court that is free from improper influence on the decisions of immigration judges,”…
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Federal Register weekly update; highest weekly document total of 2020 to date
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. From January 27 to January 31, the Federal Register grew by 1,334 pages for a year-to-date total of 5,902 pages. Over the same…
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87 candidates file to run for 8 U.S. House seats in Maryland
On January 24, the major-party filing deadline passed to run for elected office in Maryland. A total of 87 candidates filed for Maryland’s eight seats in the U.S. House. The Congressional District 7 seat is currently vacant due to the death of Elijah Cummings (D) on October 17, 2019. A special election to fill the…
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Justice Neil Gorsuch argues against nationwide injunctions
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote a concurring opinion to a recent case arguing that lower courts often abuse their judicial powers when they issue nationwide injunctions. Gorsuch ended his opinion saying he hoped that the U.S. Supreme Court would resolve questions about the rise of nationwide injunctions. The U.S.…