Stephen Dinan

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer set to retire

Justice Stephen G. Breyer will retire from the Supreme Court, closing out a decades-long tenure for the liberal-leaning justice and giving President Biden his first chance to shape the court.

January 26, 2022

Viral video shows illegal immigrants released at the border

A new viral video shows illegal immigrants nabbed at the border in Texas being released, ferried to airports and dropped off to catch flights taking them deeper into the U.S.

January 26, 2022

OSHA cancels business vaccine mandate after Supreme Court loss

OSHA announced Tuesday that it was canceling its emergency policy mandating large businesses require employees to be vaccinated or face masking and testing, after the Supreme Court put the policy on ice earlier this month.

January 25, 2022

Smuggler who used coffin to move illegal immigrants pleads guilty

A man who used a coffin to try to smuggle illegal immigrants through a border checkpoint in Texas pleaded guilty Tuesday.

January 25, 2022

DHS encountered a record 2 million illegal immigrants on southern border in 2021

Homeland Security recorded more than 2 million encounters with illegal immigrants at the southern border last year, shattering previous records, as the Biden administration relaxed the country's immigration policies.

January 24, 2022

Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Pelosi’s proxy-voting scheme

The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a challenge to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's coronavirus pandemic rule allowing lawmakers to vote without being on the House floor by giving the power to cast their vote to another member.

January 24, 2022

Supreme Court to hear challenge to race in college admissions

The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear a discrimination case involving Asian students who say Harvard University's affirmative action system discriminates against them.

January 24, 2022

Noncitizens skip the vote despite efforts to entice participation in local elections

Montpelier City Clerk John Odum chuckled when he was asked how many noncitizens had registered to vote ahead of the Vermont city's municipal elections in March -- the first time they will have the chance to cast ballots.

January 24, 2022

Judges say Biden vaccine mandates lack congressionally approved authority

President Biden is now batting 25% in his push for vaccine mandates on American workers, after a federal judge in Texas last week shut down the White House's order requiring the federal workforce to get the shots.

January 23, 2022

Court rules California county’s gun store shutdown order for COVID-19 was unconstitutional

The coronavirus pandemic cannot be an excuse to shut down gun stores, a federal appeals court ruled this week, delivering a belated spanking to a California county that shuttered stores and firing ranges in the early days of the virus.

January 21, 2022

Judge halts Biden COVID vaccine mandate for federal employees

A federal judge issued an order Friday halting President Biden's order that all federal employees get the coronavirus vaccine or risk losing their jobs, saying the president overstepped the bounds of his powers.

January 21, 2022

Federal judge blasts unvaccinated jurors as ‘selfish and unpatriotic’

A federal judge in Florida lashed out at unvaccinated potential jurors this week, calling them "selfish and unpatriotic" after he was forced to postpone a trial because he'd wanted to refuse to seat anyone who hadn't gotten a COVID-19 shot.

January 20, 2022

Family of migrants including an infant found frozen to death at U.S.-Canada border

A family of four migrants from India were found frozen to death on the Canadian side of the border last Wednesday after getting separated from the larger group of migrants they were with.

January 20, 2022

Supreme Court denies bid to force faster ruling on Texas abortion law

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from abortion clinics to speed up action on a case in lower courts challenging Texas's new law restricting abortions after about 6 weeks of pregnancy, and allowing private citizens to enforce the law by lawsuit.

January 20, 2022

7-year-old migrant girl drowns in Rio Grande

A 7-year-old girl from Venezuela drowned Tuesday after she was swept from her mother's arms as they tried to sneak into the U.S. by crossing the Rio Grande.

January 19, 2022

Supreme Court rebuts claims that maskless Gorsuch chased Sotomayor from the bench

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a statement Wednesday shooting down a report that she was working from home because a colleague refused to wear a mask during oral arguments.

January 19, 2022

Tim Perry out as chief of staff at ICE

Timothy Perry is out as chief of staff at ICE amid questions over the deportation agency's plummeting arrest numbers.

January 18, 2022

Supreme Court challenges Boston’s refusal to fly Christian flag

The attorney for Boston's government ran into a buzz saw Tuesday at the Supreme Court as the city defended its decision to block a group from flying a banner on a city hall flagpole because of the group's Christian affiliation.

January 18, 2022

40% of guns traced from crimes in Central America came from U.S.

Thousands of firearms manufactured or bought in the U.S. end up being used in crimes in Central America, according to an audit released last week that found about half of the weapons are smuggled into the region and the others are exported legally and "diverted" into criminals' hands.

January 17, 2022

Republicans prepare their wish list for filibuster-free Senate

Democrats may be paving an eventual path to stiffer ballot standards if they trigger the "nuclear option" to carve out a special exception to Senate filibuster rules to approve voting rights legislation.

January 14, 2022