By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
A hearing this week in federal court in Washington involving former Sen. Larry Craig, whose political career crashed after his 2007 arrest for soliciting sex in a bathroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, could have far-reaching ramifications on the future use by lawmakers of campaign cash to pay legal bills.
A federal court hearing in a lawsuit by the Federal Election Commission accusing former Sen. Larry Craig, whose political career crashed after his 2007 arrest for soliciting sex in a bathroom at a Minneapolis airport, of misusing campaign funds was postponed Wednesday until March 6.
The former director of human resources at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Washington to a charge of conflict of interest for negotiating employment with a polling and consulting services company that had a multimillion-dollar contract with FEMA that he supervised.
Lawyers for the Justice Department and a House committee investigating the failed "Fast and Furious" gunrunning operation met this week to discuss a possible compromise over the release of disputed documents sought by House investigators in an attempt to resolve a pending lawsuit.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's ban on federally registered lobbyists serving on government advisory boards.
A federal judge has backed the Obama administration's ban on lobbyists serving on government advisory boards.
An appeals court has reversed a lower court ruling that likely would have led to greater disclosure of who is paying for certain election ads.
The National Federation of Independent Business is endorsing Republicans over Democrats by a better than 10-1 margin in congressional races this year. But when the small business group needed someone to head its campaign for rolling back federal regulations, it turned to former Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that serving on an advisory board is not a valuable government benefit.
"The Supreme Court has recognized tax exemptions, unemployment benefits, welfare payments, and public employment as valuable government benefits that cannot be withdrawn as a consequence of an individual's exercise of his First Amendment rights," Judge Jackson wrote. "In each of these contexts, the plaintiffs were deprived of a nontrivial economic benefit."
