EDITORIAL: Judicial conduct panel can shore up sagging prestige of our federal judiciary

Republicans, Democrats and legal scholars were right to call foul last week when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lambasted the idea of a "faker" such as Donald Trump becoming president. While the gifted jurist created the same ire that her late friend and fellow justice, the equally outspoken Antonin Scalia, quite often provoked, critics' outrage is justified.

This week at progressive state blogs: Pro-gun goofballs flee; Trump’s mouth v. RBG’s brain

Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, which is frightening.We must make sure his hateful rhetoric does not even... Sign if you agree: Presidents do not stop working in the final year of their term. Neither should the Senate.

For black gun owners, bearing arms is a civil rights issue

A photo provided by Dallas police shows open-carry activist Mark Hughes at a rally against excessive use of force by police, Thursday, July 7, 2016, in Dallas. Hughes told a television station that he was A defamedA by the Dallas Police Department, which tweeted the photo of him and described him as a suspect in the shootings of police officers.

Susan Estrich: Ginsburg v. Trump

"I can't imagine what this place would be - I can't imagine what the country would be - with Donald Trump as our president," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in The New York Times this week. Trump responded in his usual unpresidential way, tweeting : "Justice Ginsburg has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me.

NHS a&E doctor smeared man’s eyeball with highly corrosive chemical by accident

'Inexcusable use of excessive force': Family of Fresno teen killed by cops in traffic stop shooting that sparked 'White Lives Matter' protests say new bodycam footage proves his death was unlawful 'The only place racism doesn't exist is Fox News and the police department!': Comedian D.L. Hughley blasts network live on air during explosive row with Megyn Kelly Negative views of race relations reach an all-time high in the wake of police shootings and Black Lives Matter backlash Republican senator reveals how he has been hassled by police just because he is black and tells conservatives to wake up to the 'anguish' of racial profiling How did the Dallas sniper get honorably discharged from the army despite sexual harassment claims? Mystery surrounds how Micah Johnson left the armed forces NYPD captain caught on tape 'pressuring officer to stop and question more black men saying they are ... (more)

Mitch McConnell: A Legacy of Obstruction

Next Tuesday marks 125 days since President Barack Obama nominated D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Merrick Garland, an eminently qualified judge, to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The Senate's inaction on the Garland nomination is the longest a Supreme Court nominee has ever waited for a hearing or confirmation.

Head of group that led efforts to ban gay marriage to retire

The head of an Ohio-based conservative group who has been an outspoken foe of same-sex marriage and other gay rights issues plans to retire following the November elections. Phil Burress told The Columbus Dispatch he plans to spend time with his family after leaving his position as president of Citizens for Community Values, based in the Cincinnati suburb of Sharonville.

It’s fine for Supreme Court justices to speak their mind

Doesn't everyone have an outspoken Jewish grandmother? That was my thought on reading the indignant commentary on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's unflattering assessment of Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times. To put the point more seriously, there's nothing wrong with a sitting Supreme Court justice expressing her personal political views when they don't implicate any case that's currently before the court.

Ginsburg picks NZ over Trump

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has strayed from the usual apolitical public stance of Supreme Court Justices to tell people just what she thinks of presidential hopeful Donald Trump . "I can't imagine what this place would be - I can't imagine what the country would be - with Donald Trump as our president," she told the New York Times .

A less cynical view of Comey’s decision on the Clinton emails

FBI Director James Comey made his announcement last week that there will be no criminal charges recommended for former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton A less cynical view of Comey's decision on the Clinton emails Clinton ad: Trump 'seems to be impressed' by dictators Poll: 56 percent disapprove of FBI's Clinton decision MORE Many have commented on the fact this action by an FBI director is unprecedented, and largely depending on which side of the political aisle one sits, you either cheered the decision or were outraged by it.

Abortion foes promote fetal-pain laws

Stung by the recent Supreme Court decision that overturned Texas abortion clinic restrictions, leaders of the country's largest anti-abortion group are redoubling their efforts for restrictions on abortion that they claim will prevent fetal pain and that they think can fare well in the public eye and, they hope, in the courts. The National Right to Life Committee's leaders said they remained confident in their strategy of undermining Roe v.