Brevity is the soul of wit, as Polonius said in Shakespeare’s classic drama “Hamlet.” And while we would never, ever, compare any legislation to the Bard’s creations, we commend Sen. Ted Cruz, R.-Texas, for his pithy five-word amendment to the RICO statute introduced in the Senate. By including rioting as an activity that falls under RICO, Cruz’s amendment would…
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal tells The Daily Signal that any renewal of the Highway Trust Fund needs to come without any tax increases. “I don’t think they need to be raising taxes. The Democrats never saw a tax increase they didn’t want to increase. They want to use this as an excuse to grow government,”…
This week, a dispute over playground surfaces in Missouri made its way to the Supreme Court. At question was the constitutionality of a provision in Missouri’s state constitution known as a Blaine Amendment. The court heard oral arguments on Wednesday for Trinity Lutheran v. Comer, a case involving a Lutheran preschool and its application to…
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving two former Georgia college students who were prevented from sharing their faith on their school campus. “The bottom line is this: Government officials must be held responsible for enacting and enforcing policies that trample students’ constitutionally protected freedoms,” John Bursch, senior counsel and vice president…
Jarrett Stepman joins us on today’s podcast to talk about the history and original purpose of the 25th amendment, and the long history in the United States of fake news — and what the Founders thought about it. Plus: we talk about how a new sugar tax in Seattle has people fuming at Costco and …
On January 13, Senator John McCain (R–AZ) filed an amendment to S. 1, the Keystone XL Pipeline Act, that would repeal part of a 95-year-old protectionist policy that does not allow foreign seagoing vessels to engage in trade between United States ports. Though it ultimately did not go to a vote, McCain’s amendment would have…
Tens of thousands of protesters—and maybe more—gathered in Washington, D.C., and around the country Saturday to protest in favor of gun control. The demonstrations, called the March for Our Lives, featured children calling for an end to gun violence and ultimately stricter gun control laws. The Daily Signal hit the streets to observe the event…
The Supreme Court has spent over a decade quietly acquiescing to gun control advocates at the expense of the Second Amendment. Commentators on both sides of the aisle, however, believe that may change soon. If Judge Amy Coney Barrett—President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—is confirmed to the Supreme…
UPDATE: The Senate Budget Committee approved the amendment to end Operation Choke Point on Thursday by a 13-9 vote. They also passed the committee’s 2016 budget proposal. Sen. Crapo’s Operation Choke Point amendment will now go to the full Senate with the budget package for a vote. Debate in the Senate will begin at 2…
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., wants to build broad, bipartisan support for taxpayer funding of a nonprofit foundation with the audacious task of combating and ultimately eliminating the modern slave trade, known as human trafficking. Conservatives, however, argue that Corker’s bill would duplicate current government programs and not sufficiently guard against the use of funds to…
The Pacific Legal Foundation has asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court ruling in California that said elementary school students have no First Amendment rights. A 6-year-old nicknamed “B.B.” in the Capistrano Unified School District in Southern California was introduced to the phrase “Black Lives Matter” in her first-grade…
Abortion proponents in Ohio submitted language for a radical new ballot initiative on Tuesday—one that would enshrine abortion into the red state's constitution. Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, the groups behind The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety amendment, said in a release that they hope…
A 14-year-old boy with a history of troubling behavior used a semiautomatic rifle to shoot and kill two fellow students and two teachers Sept. 6 at a high school in Georgia, police say. The teen faces criminal charges, as does his father—who police say recklessly gave his son “unfettered access” to the gun despite knowing…
“Trump really blew it with this one!” That is one example of the many reactions I have received in the days after President Donald Trump followed through on issuing a pardon for former Culpeper County, Virginia, Sheriff Scott Jenkins. The Daily Signal previously reported on Jenkins’ conviction on federal bribery charges brought by the Biden…
Voters in five Republican-leaning states oppose a same-sex marriage bill under consideration by the U.S. Senate on the grounds that it undermines religious liberty and punishes people of faith. The survey of 2,000 likely voters in Indiana, Iowa, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming puts support for the deceptively named Respect for Marriage Act at just…
A new survey finding that college students generally support free speech also shows what for some is a worrisome divide over what students value more: an “inclusive society” that “welcomes diverse groups” or protecting “the extremes of free speech.” The Knight Foundation’s “Free Expressions of College Campuses” report polled students over the course of three…
On Thursday, a three-judge panel vacated a ruling by a Maryland district court that had upheld the state’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” and large-capacity magazines (holding more than 10 rounds). In Kolbe v. Hogan, the panel (in a 2-1 decision) sent the case back to the district court, holding that the district court judge…
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The person behind a popular X (formerly Twitter) account aimed at exposing leftist ideology in schools is threatening legal action after a Maryland school district that has become notorious for clamping down on parents restricted the account's access to what courts have ruled constitutes a public forum. Montgomery County Public Schools…
No wonder so many Americans on the left and right are disgusted and fed up with career Washington bureaucrats and insiders. Common sense ideas which folks outside the beltway understand and take for granted are hard to come by inside the beltway. Exhibit A is the novel idea—to the Army, Air Force, and some key…
Attorneys for Joe Kennedy, the Washington state high school football coach fired in 2016 for praying briefly with members of his team after games, have petitioned the Supreme Court to hear his case and to reverse a lower court decision. Previously, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit found it was lawful for the…