Category: Federal

  • Richard Ojeda suspends 2020 presidential campaign

    Posted on

    Former West Virginia State Senator Richard Ojeda (D) suspended his 2020 campaign for President of the United States on Friday. Ojeda served in the West Virginia State Senate from 2016 through 2019. He lost a bid to represent the state’s 3rd Congressional district in 2018 to Carol Miller (R).   Ojeda was one of nine…

  • Federal Register weekly update; four final rules published as government shutdown continues

    Posted on

    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.   During the week of January 21 to January 25, the number of pages in the Federal Register increased by 212 pages, bringing…

  • Three years ago, Iowa caucuses were just around the corner

    Posted on

    Three years ago more than a dozen presidential candidates were storming through Iowa, making their final pitches to voters ahead of the February 1, 2016 caucuses. The Des Moines Register announced its endorsements of Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio. The New York Times reported that Michael Bloomberg was considering a run for president as an…

  • Trump administration asks U.S. Supreme Court to decide census citizenship question case early

    Posted on

    On January 22, United States Solicitor General Noel Francisco filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision made by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The district court ruled on January 15 that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by including…

  • Federal Register allows for publication of significant rules during government shutdown

    Posted on

    The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) issued guidance to administrative agencies on January 14, 2019, allowing for the publication of significant regulations during the government shutdown that, if otherwise delayed, would negatively impact funded government functions. Under the prior publication standard, the Federal Register could only publish emergency rules, such as those necessary to…

  • President Trump resubmits 51 nominees for federal judgeships

    Posted on

    On January 23, 2019, President Donald Trump (R) resubmitted 51 judicial nominations to the U.S. Senate. The nominees had been returned to the president earlier in January at the sine die adjournment of the 115th Congress.   The list included 37 nominees for the U.S. district courts, nine nominees for federal circuit courts of appeal,…

  • SCOTUS agrees to hear firearms case

    Posted on

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, New York. The case concerns provisions of New York City’s premises license that prevent a gun owner from transporting a licensed, locked, and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city…

  • SCOTUS issues seventh unanimous ruling this term

    Posted on

    The U.S. Supreme Court issued its seventh unanimous ruling of the 2018-2019 term in Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., a patent law case. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion affirming the ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. It was Justice Thomas’ third opinion this term.…

  • Electoral history of U.S. Senate elections in Tennessee

    Posted on

    On December 17, 2018, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced that he would not seek re-election to his seat in 2020. He was first elected to the Senate in 2002 and was re-elected in 2008 and 2014. Alexander was previously a two-term governor of Tennessee and served for two years as the U.S. Secretary of…

  • Sen. Kamala Harris announces 2020 presidential run

    Posted on

    Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) became the seventh Democratic elected official to enter the 2020 presidential race, announcing her run Monday on Good Morning America. She was first elected to the Senate in 2016 after previously serving as California’s attorney general.   Harris joins former Obama Cabinet member Julian Castro, former Rep. John Delaney (Md.), Rep.…