Stephen Dinan

Supreme Court rules for ex-mail carrier refusing to work on Sabbath

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of an ex-postal worker who challenged the U.S. Postal Service for refusing to back his religious accommodation not to work on the Sabbath.

June 29, 2023

Gas giants: Biden team spewed greenhouse gases by flying 400 people to climate talks

Sometimes it takes a little gas to try to stop more gas. At least that was the logic of the Biden administration, which flew more than 400 government officials to two U.N. climate change conferences in Scotland and Egypt, spewing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

June 29, 2023

Supreme Court rules race-based affirmative action unconstitutional

Race-infused affirmative action programs violate the Constitution's guarantees of equal treatment, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a pair of monumental decisions striking down the policies used by major colleges and universities to try to add more Black and Hispanic students to their ranks.

June 29, 2023

Pork product: Congress bellies up to the trough with earmark spending

Roy Blunt departed the Senate in style last year, helping direct $61 million in taxpayers' money to a University of Missouri building that the school had named for him. For good measure, he earmarked another $30 million for a Missouri State University building that also bore the Republican lawmaker's name.

June 29, 2023

Three House committees to investigate DOJ’s handling of Hunter Biden investigation

The chairs of three House committees said Wednesday they are now investigating the government's handling of its investigation into Hunter Biden, saying the president's son was given kid-glove treatment.

June 28, 2023

Debt squeeze: Interest payments will swamp the federal budget

Uncle Sam's massive pile of debt is really starting to bite, according to a new Congressional Budget Office analysis Wednesday that shows rising interest costs are starting to eat up more of the government's spending money.

June 28, 2023

U.S. charges four Mexicans in death of 53 migrants trapped in sweltering truck

Federal prosecutors announced charges Tuesday against four Mexicans they say helped orchestrate last year's smuggling tragedy that saw 53 illegal immigrants die after being trapped in a tractor-trailer on a 100-degree Texas afternoon.

June 27, 2023

The Great Grift: More than $200 billion in COVID-19 aid may have been stolen, federal watchdog says

The Small Business Administration paid out $1.2 trillion in pandemic loans and more than $200 billion of that may have gone to fraudsters, according to a new estimate Tuesday by the agency's inspector general.

June 27, 2023

Justices limit reach of threat-speech laws, rule prosecutors must show intent to harm

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reaffirmed that truly threatening speech is not protected by the First Amendment, but said states have to prove that the person who said it had at least some understanding that the words crossed a line.

June 27, 2023

Courts hold power over legislatures in election decisions; SCOTUS tames pandemic chaos

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that state legislators are not the ultimate authority on how elections are conducted, reasoning that state courts can review election rules enacted by lawmakers.

June 27, 2023

Agents back up claims on Hunter Biden; sensational tales documented over years of tax investigations

For a Washington that's often been burned by too-good-to-be-true stories, the revelations about Hunter Biden by two IRS criminal investigators may seem, well, too good to be true. They testified for hours, under oath, that they had the goods to back up what they were saying.

June 26, 2023

Justices OK law banning encouragement of illegal immigration

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that makes it illegal to encourage illegal immigration, ruling that it does not stifle First Amendment speech.

June 23, 2023

Mayorkas’ non-deportation policy survives Supreme Court challenge

The Supreme Court breathed new life into President Biden's lenient immigration policies Friday, giving the Department of Homeland Security tacit approval to refuse to arrest and deport illegal immigrants even where the law says it must try.

June 23, 2023

IRS investigator says Justice Dept. protected Hunter Biden in tax probe

IRS whistleblowers delivered to Congress a devastating indictment of the Justice Department's handling of the Hunter Biden tax investigation, saying prosecutors blocked search warrants and shut down pursuits of leads, including some that could implicate President Biden.

June 22, 2023

Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation in dispute over water rights

The Supreme Court ruled against the Navajo Nation on Thursday, finding that the peace treaty signed in 1868 does not obligate the federal government to secure water for the tribe.

June 22, 2023

Supreme Court broadens grounds of deportation for immigrants who obstruct justice

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that someone can obstruct justice even if an official investigation has not yet been opened -- a decision that makes it easier to deport some immigrants with criminal records.

June 22, 2023

House GOP advances bill to restart border wall construction

The House Appropriations Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would inject $2.1 billion into border wall construction and would prod the Biden administration to stop slow-walking the building effort.

June 21, 2023

DOJ fires Black immigration judge in the ongoing purge of Trump hires

Edwin Pieters is searching for answers to why the Biden administration fired him as an immigration judge.

June 21, 2023

Border Patrol sets record with 29 terrorism suspects encountered in May

The Border Patrol reported encountering 29 terrorism suspects along the southern border in May, setting a new single-month record even as the government said the overall pace of illegal border crossings dipped.

June 20, 2023

Public backs GOP calls for U.S. military to attack Mexican cartels

Americans are showing a surprising appetite for direct military intervention in Mexico to wage war against smuggling cartels that are pumping drugs and illegal immigrants into the U.S.

June 19, 2023