By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's major amendments to bills passed by the General Assembly this year are likely to survive a one-day veto session Wednesday in which lawmakers reconvene in Richmond to consider the governor's legislative changes, political analysts say.
President Obama's record on nominating federal judges lags behind those of his predecessors, and nowhere is his failure more glaring than on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
A federal appeals court has ruled that Maryland can require concealed-carry handgun permit applicants to provide a "good and substantial reason" for wanting to carry a gun outside the home, leaving state officials feeling vindicated and Second Amendment advocates vowing to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling announced Tuesday he would not run for governor of Virginia, putting to rest months of speculation about whether he would pursue an independent bid in a lengthy statement that also warned of what he described as a sharply partisan turn in state politics.
A backlog of judicial vacancies at federal courts is straining the nation's justice system — delaying trials, increasing workloads for judges and posing a disincentive for talented lawyers from pursuing careers on the bench, legal analysts say.
President Obama's effort to reshape the federal judiciary will enter a new phase of open warfare with Republican lawmakers Wednesday when the Senate votes on whether to break the filibuster of Caitlin Halligan's nomination for a seat on the prestigious D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
President Obama already has sketched out a left-leaning legal agenda for his second term on issues such as gun control, climate change and gay rights, but he is falling far short in nominating the judges to help him uphold it.
In proposing sweeping gun regulations Wednesday, President Obama said there are limits to gun owners' constitutional rights when the health and safety of the public are threatened.
"Judicial nominees sitting on sidelines" (Web, Nov. 19) accurately describes the Senate's terrible record for confirming judges, a record that has been persistent during President Obama's first administration.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian hero, finally got his moment at the Republican National Convention in a video tribute Wednesday as his son Rand styled himself as an outsider who works inside the system — not necessarily the standard-bearer the rabid devotees of his father seek.
With Mitt Romney now the official Republican presidential nominee, Libertarian Party nominee Gary E. Johnson is trying to win over liberty lovers who backed Rep. Ron Paul during the GOP's primary process, raising questions of whether either man could play the spoiler for Mr. Romney in a general election.
Republicans' chances of gaining control of the Senate are improving, notwithstanding Missouri Senate candidate W. Todd Akin's self-inflicted calamity.
Activists on Thursday delivered more than 6,000 petition signatures urging Gov. Bob McDonnell to veto recently passed voter-identification legislation, the hot-button issue that has become a recent target of the U.S. Department of Justice and the courts.
!["We're going to challenge [the congressional redistricting plan] in court," said Virginia state Sen. J. Chapman "Chap" Petersen, Fairfax Democrat. (Associated Press)](http://media.washtimes.com/media/image/2012/01/22/chap_s101x71.jpg?c098eea3477ac6ce32c46b9d70a42787e13ce55a)
More than nine months after a congressional redistricting map for Virginia was introduced in the General Assembly, a plan has finally cleared the House and the Senate, but legislators insist the matter is still far from settled.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to garner enough signatures to meet Virginia's stringent requirements to appear on the state's GOP primary ballot, leaving former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul as the only Republican candidates to qualify in the crucial swing state.
"He hasn't appointed anyone to that court yet," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. "That's the major problem at the appellate level."
Obama falls behind on key federal court; faltering nominations set a dubious record →
"It's even more urgent to get the judges confirmed," Mr. Tobias said. "Sequester takes more resources away from the courts. It just puts more pressure on everybody in the system."
Obama falls behind on key federal court; faltering nominations set a dubious record →
