Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Obama administration vows to take deportation amnesty fight to Supreme Court — and win
The White House vowed Tuesday to appeal to the Supreme Court this week's court ruling blocking President Obama's deportation amnesty, and Hispanic voters said they'll make Republicans pay at the polls for supporting the lawsuit in which a three-judge panel ruled President Obama broke immigration law in granting tentative status to illegal immigrants. Published November 10, 2015
GOP clashes over minimum wage hike
The Republican presidential hopefuls clashed over the idea of setting a national $15 minimum wage, kicking off Tuesday'sfourth presidential debate with most of them saying hiking the wage would backfire and actually chase lower-income people from the workforce. Published November 10, 2015
Judge: State Dept. ‘lackadaisical’ in processing Hillary Clinton files
A federal judge scolded the State Department Tuesday for being "lackadaisical" in processing the emails turned over by former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as messages and notes from other department officials. Published November 10, 2015
Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton cheer Obama appeal of immigration case
Hoping to cash in on Hispanic voters' support, Democratic presidential candidates pushed President Obama Tuesday to speed an appeal of this week's decision blocking his deportation amnesty, saying they're confident he'll prevail at the Supreme Court. Published November 10, 2015
Ben Carson’s son says dad ‘isn’t perfect,’ but lived ‘exemplary’ life
GOP presidential hopeful Ben Carson tapped his son, Ben Carson Jr., to push back against new questions over the candidate's background, with a new fundraising email Tuesday in which the younger man says his dad is "isn't perfect, nor does he claim to be." Published November 10, 2015
Congress passes defense policy bill that keeps Guantanamo open
President Obama's plans to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay took another hit Tuesday as Congress passed the annual defense policy bill that keeps in place a ban on shipping any of the terrorist suspects to the U.S. Published November 10, 2015
Judges use Obama’s own words to halt deportation amnesty
A federal appeals court said President Obama's own words claiming powers to "change the law" were part of the reason it struck down his deportation amnesty, in a ruling late Monday that reaffirmed the president must carry out laws and doesn't have blanket powers to waive them. Published November 10, 2015
2016 Republican field largely intact after Alabama, Arkansas filing deadlines
Former Govs. George Pataki and James S. Gilmore III missed the filing deadlines to get on the primary ballots in Alabama and Arkansas, signaling their struggling campaigns may not make it very deep into next year. Published November 9, 2015
Obama plan to shield millions from deportation rejected by appeals court
President Obama's effort to grant up to 5 million illegal immigrants work permits and amnesty from deportation suffered a major blow late Monday when a federal appeals court ruled it was likely illegal, in yet another move by the courts to set limits on this White House's efforts to stretch presidential powers. Published November 9, 2015
Bernie Sanders promises halt to deportations, faster citizenship for illegal immigrants
Democratic presidential candidate Bernard Sanders said Monday he would grant a blanket deportation amnesty to most illegal immigrants and welcome a new surge of illegal immigrants from Central America as he accused Republicans of "racism" for demanding stiffer immigration enforcement. Published November 9, 2015
Federal judge rules against NSA phone-snooping program
A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency must immediately stop snooping on a lawyer who challenged the spy agency's phone data collection program -- but issued a stay later in the day after the government made an emergency appeal, saying the decision would have forced them to shutter the whole program. Published November 9, 2015
Alaska kills ‘bridge to nowhere’ that helped put end to earmarks
Alaska officials have put the final kibosh on the infamous "bridge to nowhere" -- a $400 million project tucked into the federal transportation plan 10 years ago that became the symbol of Washington pork, spawned massive voter outrage and forever changed the way the government does business. Published November 8, 2015
Hillary Clinton explains gay-marriage stance, says DOMA was to head off worse options
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton begged Democratic primary voters to get beyond her support, and her husband's signature, for the 1990s Defense of Marriage Act, saying Friday it was actually meant as a way to head of a secret effort to be even tougher on same-sex marriage. Published November 6, 2015
Ben Carson fights back, accuses press of treating him worse than Obama
Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson said his political opponents are desperate to tear him down and are feeding erroneous stories to the press -- but said he will not provide the names of friends who could corroborate his childhood stories. Published November 6, 2015
Anti-cop violence spreads as illegal immigrant gang member slugs deputy sitting in car
An illegal immigrant MS-13 gang member the Obama administration had released on bond committed an unprovoked attack on a sheriff's deputy, slugging the deputy as he worked on a traffic report while sitting in his car, the Frederick County, Maryland, sheriff's department said Friday. Published November 6, 2015
Illegal immigrants release ‘Bill of Rights’
An immigrant-rights group proposed a "Bill of Rights" for illegal immigrants Thursday, demanding that Americans recognize there are millions already in the country who deserve health care, in-state tuition rates for college and a guarantee of citizenship in the long term. Published November 5, 2015
California sanctuary cities elimination initiative boosted by San Francisco sheriff’s ouster
A California group has launched a ballot initiative to eliminate sanctuary cities, hoping to take power away from state and local lawmakers who have banned their police and sheriff's deputies from cooperating with federal deportation authorities. Published November 4, 2015
Judge tosses lawsuit trying to force new constitutional convention
A federal court rejected a lawsuit trying to force Capitol Hill to call a constitutional convention of the states, with the judge saying the man who sued can't prove he has suffered an injury from congressional inaction. Published November 4, 2015
Ted Cruz illegal immigration crackdown blocked by Harry Reid
Senate Democrats rejected an effort to push back against sanctuary cities Wednesday, denying a request by Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz to immediately begin debating a bill to impose mandatory minimum federal sentences on repeat-illegal immigrants. Published November 4, 2015
Senators accuse NFL, other leagues of ‘paid patriotism’
Senators accused the Pentagon and top sports leagues Wednesday of using taxpayers' money to pay for some of the ceremonies honoring U.S. troops that have become staples of big-time American sporting events in a practice the lawmakers dubbed "paid patriotism." Published November 4, 2015
