National Politics

The Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday that it will continue to defend a federal law that allows religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students. The filing came in a federal lawsuit in Oregon from students at religious schools who are suing the government for providing funding to schools with discriminatory policies. The

When President Joe Biden told officials this spring that he wanted to meet soon with his Russian counterpart for a summit, his team quickly set out to make it happen — even if some wondered what he really hoped to achieve. The last two administrations — including the one Biden served as vice president —

The Republican governors of Florida and Texas are headed toward showdowns with some of the world’s largest cruise lines, including Norwegian and Carnival, over whether passengers boarding ships leaving their states can be required to show proof they’ve been vaccinated. The entrenched positions Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have staked out

President Joe Biden on Thursday revoked a series of executive orders signed during the Trump administration targeting TikTok, WeChat and other Chinese apps, and replaced them with a new executive order addressing apps linked to foreign adversaries, including China. Thursday’s order is aimed at protecting Americans’ personal data, according to a White House news release,

A federal judge has ruled that California’s 32-year-old assault weapons ban is unconstitutional — and that the state cannot limit civilian access to weapons he considered to be “fairly ordinary, popular, modern rifles.” Judge Roger Benitez wrote that the weapons under California’s ban were not “extraordinary weapons lying at the outer limits of Second Amendment

President Joe Biden delivered a taped graduation message at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where students who were freshmen during a mass shooting three years ago graduated on Tuesday. “Three years ago, your lives and the lives of this community changed in an instant. And this class lost a piece of its

The private investigator hired by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell to serve a civil lawsuit against Republican Rep. Mo Brooks related to the US Capitol insurrection has described, for the first time, the tense situation that unfolded at Brooks’ home when he handed over the legal papers. The lawsuit was filed in March by Swalwell, a

Senate Republicans are holding up President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of Personnel Management over concerns about her stance on critical race theory. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has placed a hold on Kiran Ahuja’s nomination to lead the federal personnel agency “because of her history promoting radical critical race theorists,” Hawley

At first glance, they seem like an odd couple — Sen. Bernie Sanders, the progressive and quintessential outsider, and President Joe Biden, moderate politician and political insider. And yet, the 79-year-old Vermont senator has become a key voice in the Biden administration: called upon, consulted and indispensable in keeping the liberal Democratic flock in line.

Infrastructure negotiations between President Joe Biden and a Senate GOP group led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito broke down on Tuesday, and now the White House is shifting its focus toward an impending proposal from a bipartisan Senate group led by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. And late Tuesday, a bipartisan group of 58 House members

The top Republican negotiator of a broad policing reform bill said that the two sides remain far apart on a number of issues that go beyond the key sticking point of qualified immunity and include many other issues that they’re finding “really hard” to resolve. GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina also said the

A DC Metropolitan Police officer who defended the US Capitol on January 6 said Tuesday evening that characterizing the incident as an “insurrection” has become “triggering” to some lawmakers seeking to downplay the violent episode. Michael Fanone, who was stun-gunned several times and beaten with a flagpole during the attack, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on

The Senate passed rare bipartisan legislation on Tuesday aimed at countering China’s growing influence by investing more than $200 billion in American technology, science and research. The final vote was 68-32. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was the only member of the Democratic caucus to vote against the bill. Nineteen Senate Republicans joined Democrats

Senate Democrats, growing impatient as they watch their ambitious agenda imperiled in the evenly divided chamber, are prepared to go it alone on President Joe Biden’s sweeping infrastructure package — and pressure Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema into backing a Democratic-only approach. At a closed-door lunch on Tuesday, Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, informed her

Jack Ciattarelli will win the Republican nomination for New Jersey governor, CNN projected Tuesday, setting him up to take on Gov. Phil Murphy in the fall. Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman and the establishment-backed candidate, edged out three other Republican candidates — engineer Hirsh Singh, pastor Phil Rizzo and former Franklin Mayor Brian Levine —

Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe will be the commonwealth’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, CNN projected on Tuesday, besting four other primary challengers as he seeks to become the first person in decades to serve multiple terms as top executive of a commonwealth that bars governors from consecutive terms. McAuliffe’s win sets a general election between the