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Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that New York state will sue the federal government over the new Republican tax law, but legal experts are skeptical the lawsuit will hold up in court. Cuomo said New York will challenge a provision of the law that limits how much Americans can deduct from their federal taxes for payments made to state and local governments. Many of the people most affected by that provision live in states run by Democrats, which tend to have higher state and local tax rates. Cuomo, widely seen as a potential contender for the Democratic presidential...

Fate of Boehner, Reid Debt Limit Plans UnclearBoehner rewriting plan; Reid plan saves $2.2 trillion says CBO Washington, DCWednesday, July 27, 2011 Debate and a vote on House Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) debt reduction legislation was postponed at least one day as the Speaker rewrites his bill.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis of his plan. It says it cuts $850 billion over ten years, less than the $1.2 trillion Boehner claimed it would save.  Additionally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) also postponed debate of his debt ceiling proposal until at least Thursday. Media reports say he is...

Authorities have closed three upscale townhouses operating as a maternity center for Chinese mothers paying thousands of dollars to give birth in the United States so the children would automatically gain citizenship. Police and city inspectors found seven newborns and two mothers when they closed the homes for building code violations on March 8 in San Gabriel, a suburb east of Los Angeles that is home to a large Asian population. The women, who were Chinese and Taiwanese nationals and spoke little English, told officials their families had paid to send them to the United States to give birth, said...

The importance of Section I of the 14th Amendment to our Constitution, which was ratified in 1868, cannot be overemphasized. Not only did it confer citizenship on ex-slaves, it strengthened our civil rights and liberties. The definition of citizenship contained in the amendment was clearly designed to confer citizenship on ex-slaves; however, its wording has opened the door to citizenship for anyone born in the United States. Did the framers of the amendment intend for it to confer citizenship on children of illegal aliens, children of foreign visitors, children of foreign exchange students, children of foreigners with work permits and...

I know we like to post news stories on this board and go OMG OMG OMG teh udder side teh suXorZ!!11! It's rare that anyone really writes anything somewhat original so, here, I'll do something like that. I'm amazed at some of the twists that are going on in political and legal life right now. So much so that I really think it's worth commenting on. In some ways, we're going in the absolute wrong direction. Now before you get a knee jerk reaction and say i'm a "traitor" or some DUmmie here to quiety say "It's because of Bu$hco...

This is what the AP reports Justice Scalia as writing in dissent in the Texas sodomy case: "The court has taken sides in the culture war," Scalia said, adding that he has "nothing against homosexuals." Here is what he actually wrote: "Let me be clear that I have nothing against homosexuals, or any other group, promoting their agenda through normal democratic means."

U.S. Supreme Court rewrites Constitution and 3,000 years of history WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court today rewrote the U.S. Constitution and 3,000 years of legal history by striking down the Texas sodomy law in a 6-3 decision. The court overrode the Constitution, the history of American law, and its own precedent by declaring in Lawrence v. Texas that there is a right to privacy to protect private, adult consensual sexual activity. Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority, and only Justices Scalia and Thomas and Chief Justice Rhenquist dissented. The majority reasoned, unbelievably, that because of the trend in state...