The Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly approved a Democrat-backed Supreme Court ethics reform bill on July 20 on a party line 11–10 vote. Republicans oppose the legislation, which they say is unconstitutional. They have suggested that Democrats—many of whom want to pack the Supreme Court with liberal justices—only want to move against the Court because…

Democrats can regain a majority on a key Senate committee if Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) resigns, a top Republican senator said on April 23. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has been away from Washington for months due to a bout with shingles. That’s left Democrats with the same number of votes on the Senate Judiciary Committee…

Republican senators joined Democrat colleagues in advancing multiple judicial nominees from a Senate panel after a weekslong pause due to the absence of a Democrat senator. The Senate Judiciary Committee discharged seven nominees from President Joe Biden on April 20 as at least one Republican joined all remaining Democrats on the panel. GOP senators helped…

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has asked to be temporarily replaced on the Judiciary Committee as she continues her recovery from shingles but has not heeded calls for her resignation. Feinstein, 89, was diagnosed in late February and has been absent from the Senate since then. Acknowledging that her absence has hindered the work of the…

Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector-General (IG) Michael Horowitz has been asking Congress for years to expand his authority to include investigating professional misconduct allegations against government lawyers, but his request is getting a cold reception in the Senate. Horowitz’s most recent plea for the added authority—he is the only one of the 72 statutory IGs in…

Engaging in fiery exchanges with Republican lawmakers about the southern border crisis, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on March 28. Mayorkas appeared before the panel a week after DHS launched Operation Blue Lotus, a strategy designed to curtail the volume of fentanyl flooding into the…

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Senate Republicans are set to introduce on a bill on Thursday that would codify the right to bear arms for self-defense outside the home. The bill would incorporate elements from the Supreme Court’s 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller decision and the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v….

Concern about potential political bias at the Department of Justice (DOJ) was bipartisan on Capitol Hill on March 1 as Attorney General Merrick Garland was set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Merrick Garland, sadly, has been the most political attorney general we’ve ever had,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told NTD News, sister outlet…

Senate Republicans on March 1 grilled Attorney General Merrick Garland over his handling of the Department of Justice (DOJ), which oversees the enforcement of federal law. Garland appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in his first appearance before the 118th Congress. During the hearing Garland, whose DOJ has been at the epicenter of GOP investigations…

Attorney General Merrick Garland, head of the Department of Justice (DOJ), is scheduled to testify before lawmakers of the 118th Congress for the first time on March 1. Judiciary Committee Chairman and Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced that Garland will testify at 10 a.m. ET at a Senate hearing titled “Oversight of the Department…