Advocates of stronger campaign finance regulations haven’t had much to cheer about when it comes to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Republican-appointed majority voted, 5-4, to overturn decades worth of legislation and precedents in its Citizens United decision in 2010, and then...
Read more »Campaign Finance Reformers Cheer Court for What It Doesn’t Do
Photograph by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A same-sex couple during a sit-in protest after same-sex couples were denied marriage licenses from the San Francisco county clerk on Feb. 14, 2013.
Democratic Chair to Supporters: Get Obama’s ‘Back’ on Gay Marriage
So far, President Barack Obama has gone little further than voicing his own personal support for same-sex marriage, although the platform he gave it in his second inaugural address was significant. Impending arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court over the...
Read more »
Photograph by Jin Lee/Bloomberg
Same-sex couples emerge from the Manhattan City Clerk's office with their marriage licenses in New York.
Gay Marriage TV Ad: Odd Bedfellows
Gay-marriage backers today began a $1 million national television and print advertising campaign that features big-name Republicans and Democrats exhibiting a rare bit of simpatico. President Barack Obama, former First Lady Laura Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former...
Read more »
Photograph by Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. Marines 2nd Batallion, 1st Marines Regiment with Female Engagement Team Sargeant Savanna E. Malendoski, center, and Sargeant Patricia A. Aquino, left, talk to Afghan villagers during a visit to a village in Gamser, Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan.
When Will Women Be Drafted for War? — When Congress Says So
So women will go to war. But when will they be drafted? The Defense Department’s decision to lift the ban against women on the front lines of combat leaves open the question of the draft. Men were drafted for the...
Read more »
Photograph by Piotr Powietrzynski/Getty Images
Obama’s ‘Cashier’s Window’
President Barack Obama, who pledged as a presidential candidate in 2008 to strengthen the Federal Election Commission and nominate members “committed to enforcing our nation’s election laws’, is now creating “an unprecedented vehicle for potential influence-buying, influence-selling and government scandals...
Read more »
St. Thomas More
Scalia Channels St. Thomas More
For all the designer fashions festooning the inaugural ceremonies for President Barack Obama’s second term today, none appeared quite as inscrutable as the hat donned by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. However, it took a mere reminder of the last...
Read more »Obama Sworn-In: Second Start Today — ‘I Did It,’ He Tells Family
Updated at 4:15 pm EST President Barack Obama took the oath of office today for a second term. The private White House ceremony led by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. played out at 11:55 am EST. It wasn’t all that...
Read more »
Photograph by Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo
Cristina Castro, 23, of New York, wraps up against the cold while waiting to enter the Capitol to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama.
Obama’s 40-Degree Inaugural Day — History Dictates a Heavy Top Coat
The real inauguration will play out indoors. The outdoor celebration the next day will be chilling. President Barack Obama’s second term actually starts at noon Sunday, on the date and time demanded by the Constitution. The president will have Supreme...
Read more »
Photograph by Tim Pugmire/Minnesota Public Radio/AP Photo
A billboard on Interstate 94 east of downtown St. Paul, Minn. makes an appeal to soldiers and military veterans to support a proposed voter ID amendment on the ballot in Minnesota.
Citizens United Foes, Civil Rights Pros: Common Ground on Voter ID
Advocates trying to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision or otherwise enact new limits on campaign spending are finding a common cause with civil rights groups fighting Republican efforts to enact voter-identification laws. They say the issues are related....
Read more »
Photograph by Cliff Owen/AP Photo
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas laughs while talking with other guests at The Federalist Society's 2011 Annual Dinner in Washington.
Thomas Breaks Silence: Yale Training?
For almost seven years, Justice Clarence Thomas has sat silently through Supreme Court oral arguments. Until today, when he apparently offered a crack about a couple of the nation’s top law schools. Thomas jumped in as Justice Antonin Scalia was...
Read more »
Contributors
-
Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
