President Donald Trump is declaring drug cartels to be “unlawful combatants” and informed members of Congress the United States is in an “non-international armed conflict” with them.

“The president determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is weighing slashing “thousands” of federal jobs ahead of a meeting with his budget director, Russell Vought, as the White House looks to ratchet up pressure on Democrats to end a government shutdown that has entered its second day.

“It’s likely going to be in the thousands,” White House press ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration sent letters to a group of top-tier universities this week laying out a proposed compact that would cap international students, ban the use of race or sex in hiring, and require standardized testing as part of the admissions process in exchange for preferential access to federal funding.

The effort — ...Read more

President Donald Trump is weighing slashing “thousands” of federal jobs ahead of a meeting with his budget director, Russell Vought, as the White House looks to ratchet up pressure on Democrats to end a government shutdown that has entered its second day.

“It’s likely going to be in the thousands,” White House press secretary Karoline...Read more

LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump has said many things about "Saturday Night Live" over the years. Few of them are favorable, highlighting his disdain for the late-night sketch comedy show, though his previous stints as host would suggest otherwise.

The president hosted the show in 2004 and in 2015, shortly after announcing his first run ...Read more

President Donald Trump Thursday vowed to take advantage of the government shutdown to permanently shutter federal agencies that he brands “a political scam” and taunted Democrats for giving him the authority to act unilaterally by not voting to keep the government funded.

With no end to the shutdown in sight, Trump said he would meet with ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court begins a new term Monday that could shape the power of the presidency, determine the role of race and federal control of elections and curtail LGBT rights nationwide — with more cases on the horizon on contentious policy and political issues.

The 6-3 conservative-controlled court has agreed to decide cases on ...Read more

President Donald Trump said he would meet with White House Budget Director Russell Vought to discuss potential cuts to the federal workforce, heightening pressure on Democrats to end the government shutdown, which has entered its second day.

Trump on social media said the Thursday meeting would “determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, ...Read more

Whether the Roberts Supreme Court will continue to push American jurisprudence to the right — bending the law toward their preferred policy outcomes rather than precedent or originalist intent — is no longer a matter for debate.

The question is how brazenly and how quickly it will press forward in dismantling democratic guardrails and ...Read more

We’ve heard the president of the United States denigrate and demean Chicago before.

What we haven’t seen until now is President Donald Trump appearing before a gathering of the nation’s military commanders — summoned to Quantico, Virginia, from all over the globe for what turned out to be a bizarre made-for-TV rally of sorts — and ...Read more

The Supreme Court’s recent refusal to grant a stay of a lower court decision telling South Carolina it has to allow a transgender girl to use the boys’ bathroom in a public school emphasizes the importance of issues the court will be reviewing when its new term starts October 6.

The court’s last term featured significant issues ranging ...Read more

When the Supreme Court returns for its new term on Monday, the crucial question will be whether it serves as a check on President Trump or just a rubber stamp approving his actions. And actually, although the court officially has been in recess since late June, it was still quite active over the summer, hearing a number of matters on its ...Read more

It is easy to take for granted that the current Supreme Court has a majority of committed originalists. But only four decades ago, such a court would have been unimaginable. Who deserves credit for this remarkable change?

“If we can envision a Mt. Rushmore of originalism," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a new book that we co-edited, "the three...Read more

WASHINGTON — Amid tough talk from both sides of the aisle about who’s to blame for the partial government shutdown, bipartisan talks began to take shape as the rank and file sought a way out of the impasse.

Various groups of senators were seen huddling on the floor Wednesday during a vote series, even as Democrats again mostly rejected the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The partial government shutdown led federal courts to temporarily delay dozens of challenges to Trump administration policies Wednesday and prompted Justice Department attorneys to seek a pause in civil cases across the country.

The shutdown plan for the DOJ states that civil litigation will be curtailed or postponed when it does...Read more

The shutdown of the U.S. government has brought work determined by the Trump administration to be “nonessential” to a halt across the country as thousands of federal employees have been furloughed and ordered not to do their jobs.

The shutdown — the first in six years — began Wednesday at midnight Eastern time and could last days if not...Read more

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are pushing a flurry of bills that would change how pay and federal benefits are handled during a shutdown, including some aimed at their own House.

Most of these are messaging bills, designed to highlight the pain of federal workers while Republicans and Democrats spar over who’s to blame for the current government ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Whether the Senate can coalesce around an agreement to fund the government or not, Capitol Police officers will continue showing up to work to protect lawmakers. But unlike the members of Congress who steered the country into a shutdown, those officers won’t collect a paycheck until it’s over.

And it might mean weekend and ...Read more

President Trump warned the country's top ranking military officials this week that they could be headed to "war" with U.S. citizens, signaling a major escalation in the ongoing legal battle over his authority to deploy soldiers to police American streets.

"What they've done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles — they're very ...Read more