The tough-on-crime cycle that began in the 1980s came full circle yesterday when Gov. John Kasich signed criminal-sentencing reform that could reduce the prison population by several thousand inmates in the next three years. Former Attorney General Jim Petro, who was there to watch Kasich sign House Bill 86 into law, said he was relieved. [...]

TALLAHASSEE — A Florida federal judge has struck down a provision of state campaign finance law that attempted to negate an advantage for millionaire candidates like Rick Scott by providing matching tax dollars to their opponents. The decision of U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle parrots Monday’s 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against Arizona’s campaign finance [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Administration officials are acknowledging another unintended consequence of President Barack Obama’s health care law. Older adults of the same age, income and similar medical histories could pay widely different amounts for private health insurance unless the glitch is fixed. People who are old enough to get an early retirement check from Social [...]

Top federal officials urged the Senate yesterday to once again take up legislation that would open a path to citizenship for some immigrants who arrived illegally as children. The DREAM would have allow undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country when 15 or younger and subsequently completed some college or military service to apply for [...]

The vote legalizing same sex marriages in New York state was opposed by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, head not only of the state’s largest archdiocese but also president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). I understand the archbishop’s use of hyperbole in predicting dire consequences for this “assault” on the “sacred” meaning of [...]

President Obama’s White House press conference yesterday only confirmed what we wrote that morning: The negotiation phase of the debt limit crisis is over. Obama’s post-negotiation strategy appears to be to let the markets freak out as we near, and probably pass, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s August 2nd deadline. Obama will then blame Republicans for [...]

California has just concluded its first test of a radical concept: if legislators can’t manage to do one of the most basic tasks they are hired to do in a timely manner, then cut their pay. No on-time budget? No paycheck. Period. And while there’s not enough data to draw any hard-and-fast conclusions, the idea [...]

The majority opinion by a 6th circuit panel Wednesday upholding Obama’s health care reform law is a victory for the administration on its face. But to understand just how big a victory it is, you have to read the concurring opinion by Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton. Sutton, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin [...]

The majority decision, issued by a three-judge panel from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, included the support of a Republican appointee to the federal bench — the first to affirm the individual mandate’s constitutionality. The New York Times: Round 1 In Appeals Of Health Care Overhaul Goes to Obama The Obama administration prevailed Wednesday [...]

China is denying that authorities are manipulating domestic laws to silence human rights lawyers. The denial follows a report from Amnesty International which claims the Chinese government has unleashed an uncompromising series of measures intended to rein in the legal profession and suppress lawyers pursuing human rights cases. Intimidation The report details how the Chinese [...]