The Latest: Senate confirms Sessions as attorney general

The 52-47 vote broke largely along party lines and capped weeks of divisive battles over Sessions, an early supporter of Donald Trump and one of the Senate's most conservative Republicans. Democrats laced into Sessions over his ties to Trump and his record on civil rights and immigration.

Trump Once Again Attacks the Judiciary, Dismissing Courts as ‘So Political’

A protester outside of the ninth court of appeals in San Francisco, which on Sunday dismissed a motion by President Donald Trump to reinstate his travel ban. President Donald Trump once again attacked the U.S. court system on Wednesday, complaining that the judiciary branch is "so political" while a federal appeals court weighs arguments regarding the administration's travel ban for immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Carbon tax push from former GOP officials faces uphill slog

President Donald Trump sits at his desk after a meeting with Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, left, and members of his staff in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017. President Donald Trump sits at his desk after a meeting with Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, left, and members of his staff in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017.

Trump lashes out at judges over travel ban

Washington, Feb 9 - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at the appeals court judges weighing his travel ban and told crowd of law enforcement officials that some of the deliberations he had heard were disgraceful. He said that the executive order couldn't be written any plainer or better and even a bad high school student would understand this, The Guardian reported.

Trump moves leave LGBT groups, religious conservatives wary

Mixed signals from the White House on gay rights and conscience protections have put two constituencies on edge: LGBT advocates already wary of President Donald Trump and religious conservatives determined to hold him to his campaign promises. Last week, Trump pledged to maintain President Barack Obama's job protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender federal employees, and the White House touted him as a protector of the broader LGBT community.

ACLU files new lawsuit challenging Trump’s immigration order

The ACLU claims [press release] that the ban is unconstitutional under the First Amendment prohibition on government establishment of religion and the Fifth Amendment [text] guarantee of equal treatment under the law. The Department of Justice and the president have argued [JURIST report] that the order does not fall under the First Amendment as it does not specify religion, but country.

Hard Questions From Appeals Court

It was, by any measure, high legal drama: For just over an hour, appeals court judges sharply questioned the lawyer defending President Donald Trump's ban on travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Less than three weeks after Trump took the reins of a divided nation, a hearing that in other circumstances might have been dry legal back and forth was a media event, played out by disembodied voices on a conference call that was streamed live.

A 21st-century Glass-Steagall? It’s called the Volcker Rule

During the presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump called for a 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act. While that Depression-era law required the complete separation of commercial and investment banking, it is unclear exactly what now-President Trumps envisions in a modern version.

Trump travel ban in hands of federal appeals court

A federal appeals court will decide whether to reinstate President Donald Trump 's travel ban after a contentious hearing in which the judges hammered away at the administration's motivations for the ban, but also directed pointed questions to an attorney for two states trying to overturn it. It was unclear which way the three judges of the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would rule, though legal experts said the states appeared to have the edge.

‘Justice Scalia’s seat’ has a history going back 150 years

On the night Judge Neil Gorsuch was nominated to fill Justice Antonin Scalia's seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, he was thinking about history. "The towering judges that have served in this particular seat on the Supreme Court, including Antonin Scalia and Robert Jackson, are much in my mind at this moment," Gorsuch said in the East Room of the White House following his nomination by President Donald Trump .

Court mulls travel ban: To compound whiplash, or calm it?

President Donald Trump 's surprise executive order on immigration and a Seattle judge's stunning decision to temporarily block it a week later have induced a national whiplash, riveting attention first on protests that filled airports around the country and then on Trump's Twitter rants questioning the judge's legitimacy. Whether the travel ban gets immediately reinstated is now up to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where three judges heard arguments Tuesday .

Trump’s tweets are a sideshow: His executive orders are building a corporate state

The destructive toll of Donald Trump's presidency is beginning to emerge, foreshadowing what's likely to come as the White House and congressional Republicans begin to reverse, repeal and replace federal laws and regulations and downsize agencies. While Trump's red-state supporters may be cheering now, they'll soon feel the consequences.