Free Republic

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) is alarmed that Democrats might expand the membership of the Supreme Court It is true that leading Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, have welcomed “ideas, for example, that are about Supreme Court reform, including the notion of expanding the court.” But it is wrong to call it court-packing. In fact, the Supreme Court has already been strategically stacked by President Trump and his Senate allies, entrenching an illegitimate conservative supermajority. Adding four seats under the next Democratic trifecta would actually be unpacking the court. After Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb 13. 2016, President...

The Supreme Court strengthened President Trump’s control over independent agencies in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, overruling 91 years of precedent that allowed Congress to insulate certain executive branch officials with firing protections. In an expansion of presidential power, the ruling gives Trump the right to sack Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic appointee who took center stage in his quest to set aside constraints on his removal authority.It formally overturns the high court’s 1935 landmark decision, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which laid the groundwork for certain agencies across the executive branch to enjoy a degree of...

CNN’s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins pushed back on President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about the rise of democratic socialism in the U.S., which Trump has incorrectly conflated with communism, following several victories from progressive House candidates in New York primaries. During “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” on Friday, the CNN anchor aired remarks Trump made earlier that day at the annual Faith & Freedom Coalition Conference, where he described democratic socialists as “hardcore Godless communists” and “the most serious threat to our country since its existence.” Collins challenged the president’s “border apocalyptic” comments that America could become a communist...

Some Black Democrats are frustrated with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-Fla.) decision to run in a South Florida congressional district home to a large Black voting population, sparking an intraparty clash that is poised to become a defining battle of the campaign season. Wasserman Schultz, a veteran lawmaker who has served in Congress since 2005, is running in Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which had been represented by former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) for four years before she resigned in April. Wasserman Schultz’s bid comes after GOP-led redistricting efforts in the state reshaped her current 25th District, making it far more...

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) didn’t mince any words Tuesday in calling out what he characterized as the “bulls—” arguments of fellow Republican Sen. Mike Lee (Utah) on social media, revealing the tensions within the Senate Republican Conference over how to push forward on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act. Tillis said Lee’s push for Republicans to force Democrats to actively hold the floor in continuous debate to block the bill — in other words, to force Democrats to employ a talking filibuster — is “goofy.” “I think it’s silly. All of it’s just goofy stuff,” he said. “It’s...

Republicans on Capitol Hill are split over Vice President Vance’s rebuke of Israeli officials who criticized the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the U.S. and Iran, highlighting the broader debate on the right about foreign entanglements and the U.S.’s relationship with Israel. The MOU establishes a 60-day window for peace talks — which Vance is helping lead — and pauses active hostilities, including by securing a ceasefire in Lebanon where Israel has been battling the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. But the deal has drawn sharp criticism from some Israeli officials, including national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who argued that Israel is...

But voters were also asked in the online survey conducted by YouGov: "Which of the following outcomes would you prefer occur on November 3, 2020? Donald Trump wins re-election or A giant meteor strikes the earth, extinguishing all human life." Sixty-two percent of Democrats picked the meteor, while 38 percent chose a second term for Trump.

The Iran war is on the ballot in South Carolina, where GOP primary voters will determine the political fate of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a steadfast ally of President Trump and one of the Senate’s most hawkish members. … Graham’s advocacy for the war has even extended to telling South Carolinians to prepare to send their sons and daughters to the Middle East.

President Trump denied Friday that he campaigned on avoiding “endless” wars, as he seeks to reach a deal to end hostilities with Iran. “I didn’t promise anything. I don’t like these endless wars. This is not an endless war,” he told host Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” in an interview that aired Sunday. “We’ve been doing this for three months,” Trump added, referring to the Iran conflict that began on Feb. 28. “Much of it has been under… a pretty good form of ceasefire.” The president later said that he would “not have built the strongest military in...

The Trump administration on Friday auctioned off rights to drill in a pristine wildlife refuge in Alaska, but the lease sale attracted only two bidders on a few tracts of land. Of the about 60 tracts of land opened up for leasing by the Trump administration, only five received bids.

Ukrainian soldiers are racing against time to achieve a breakthrough in the southeast before the rainy and cold weather kicks in and worsens fighting conditions, which could happen as soon as next month. The counteroffensive is unlikely to end just because of poor weather, but it is expected to complicate the fighting and slow down operations. Ukraine is stressing the weather will not impact the overall military operation, but some analysts expect the war could soon shift into a new phase. Mathieu Boulegue, a nonresident senior fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy...

Senate Republicans on Tuesday vented their frustration and disappointment over President Trump’s decision to endorse state Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R) in the Texas Senate Republican primary, a move that deals a crushing blow to Cornyn’s hopes of winning the May 26 runoff. “I don’t understand. He is an ethically challenged individual,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said of Paxton, who was charged with defrauding investors in a Dallas-area tech startup before he completed a pretrial diversion program. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was “supremely disappointed” in Trump’s endorsement of Paxton over Cornyn. “I don’t understand...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Friday warned Democrats against forming alliances with former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), accusing the former lawmaker of being a “proven bigot.” A student at an event hosted by the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics asked Ocasio-Cortez about working across the aisle with Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), and if she stood by comments she made in 2021 about “legitimate white supremacist sympathizers at the core of the House of Representatives caucus.” Ocasio-Cortez said she stood by the comments, and that her work with Republican colleagues has been “about where we trust...

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said the Supreme Court system is “working” in a Sunday interview where he reflected on the country’s founding principles. .... “Americans file about 50 million lawsuits a year, and you give us the 70 hardest ones, where lower court judges have disagreed about what the law means about a statute or a provision of the Constitution dictates in a particular case — there are nine of us. Can you get nine people to agree on where to go to lunch?” he asked Bream. “All right, we’ve been appointed by five different presidents over 30 years,...

The chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Service committees on Saturday expressed they are “very concerned” about the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany amid President Trump’s feud with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump on Wednesday had announced that he was reviewing a possible reduction of U.S. troops in Germany. “We are very concerned by the decision to withdraw a U.S. brigade from Germany,” the chairs, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), said in a joint statement. “Germany has stepped up in response to President Trump’s call for greater burden sharing, significantly increasing defense spending...

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on Friday warned that the growing national debt is “a ticking time bomb” and he called on his fellow lawmakers to do “much more.” The U.S. national debt crossed 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of the first quarter, the first time the debt crossed that line since 1946. The debt surpassed $39 trillion in March, a mere five months after it reached $38 trillion. Roy told Fox Business’s Cheryl Casone that the debt is “a ticking time bomb and that some of us have been talking about for a long time.”...

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) on Wednesday said he is not interested in launching a presidential campaign for 2028. “I have zero interest in running for president in 2028. I love serving the state of Georgia. I’ve got two young daughters,” Ossoff said during a Wednesday appearance on MS NOW’s “The Briefing.” The Georgia lawmaker warned against playing “fantasy football” with the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, arguing it “risks distracting us from the urgent task at hand.” … In addition to Ossoff, strategists have floated Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as potential...

The United States has burned through thousands of missiles since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, diminishing the armaments needed in a potential future conflict with China tied to its tensions with Taiwan.The U.S. military has used 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles — nearly all of the total number left in Washington’s stockpile — and fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, The New York Times reported. The U.S. only produces roughly 100 Tomahawks a year, meaning under current production, it could take 10 years to replace.In addition, in less than eight weeks American forces have spent more...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday said $400 million in Ukraine support was released after Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) penned an angry op-ed criticizing the stall in funding. “The department recognizes that $400 million was allocated for European capacity building, and as of yesterday, it has been released,” Hegseth said in response to a question about the aid from Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.). Elfreth followed up to ask whether the money was released under contract. Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III said the aid was “not under contract, but released to be put under contract.” When pressed by Elfreth on when...

California gubernatorial candidates struggled to break through on the debate stage Tuesday, as Democrats look to capitalize on former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-Calif.) dramatic exit from the crowded field. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, billionaire Tom Steyer, former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and five other rivals, including Trump-backed Republican Steve Hilton, fought for standout moments in the 90-minute program at Pomona College in the unique, nonpartisan contest. Faced with questions about affordability, housing and other crises facing the Golden State, the candidates clashed in crosstalk, interruptions and squabbles with moderators just a week after a more muted showdown. Becerra jabbed...