Skip to content

Dive Deeper

WATCH: How Charlie Kirk touched the lives of his friends and family

TRENDING:
Donald Trump
Advertisement

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan

Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Stephen Dinan

**FILE** The Supreme Court in Washington is seen June 27, 2012. (Associated Press)

Supreme Court says Voting Rights Act of 1965 is no longer relevant

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states no longer can be judged by voting discrimination that went on decades ago, a decision that argues the country has fundamentally changed since the racially motivated laws of the civil rights era. Published June 25, 2013

**FILE** Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Republican, speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 4, 2013, following a Democratic strategy session. (Associated Press)

Reid moves to end immigration debate

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved Monday to end the debate on the immigration bill, filing a motion to set up final filibuster votes for Wednesday. Published June 24, 2013

**FILE** This photo shows the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in a group portrait at the Supreme Court Building in Washington on Oct. 8, 2010. Seated from left to right are: Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Standing, from left are: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. (Associated Press)

Court sends affirmative action case back to lower courts

The Supreme Court on Monday sent a major affirmative action case back to the lower courts to be reheard, ducking the chance to rewrite discrimination laws and instead affirming the current state of law for racial preferences, saying they can be used for admissions but only if there is a compelling need and no other remedy works. Published June 24, 2013

** FILE ** Visitors walk past the Supreme Court in Washington on Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Supreme Court to rule on Obama recess appointments

The Supreme Court said Monday that it will referee a simmering constitutional crisis between Congress and President Obama, with the justices taking a case on whether the chief executive can use his recess appointment powers to do an end run around a recalcitrant Senate. Published June 24, 2013

**FILE** U.S. Border Patrol agent Jerry Conlin looks to the north on June 13, 2013, near where the border wall ends as is separates Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego. (Associated Press)

Border fence is in the eye of the beholder

The border security deal senators struck this week does not call for 700 miles of new fencing, but rather for 700 miles in total — a figure the Homeland Security Department already claims it's near to completing. Published June 24, 2013

"I've been working on this for almost a decade with Senator [John] McCain. I can look anybody in the eye and tell them that if you put 20,000 Border Patrol agents on the border in addition to the 20,000 we've already got — that's one every 1,000 feet — that will work." — Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Senate border deal may clear way for bill, wave of illegal immigrants

The border security deal senators struck last week has cleared the way for the immigration bill to pass with the support of at least 11 Republicans who say the additional 20,000 Border Patrol agents and potentially 350 miles of new fencing make the bill palatable. Published June 23, 2013

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

Democrats say they didn’t concede on immigration bill

Democrats who wrote the immigration bill insisted they didn't give up any core principles in agreeing to more fencing and adding 20,000 Border Patrol agents to the Southwest border, telling Univision that illegal immigrants will still get legal status well before the new security kicks in. Published June 23, 2013

** FILE ** President Barack Obama, left, walks away from the podium after talking about the Oklahoma tornado and severe weather, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. At right is Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Border security proposal gives Napolitano new waivers

Analysts looking through the new border security deal in the Senate say it includes waivers that would let Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refuse to build any new fencing or install the new technology the plan lays out in close detail. Published June 22, 2013

**FILE** Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, accompanied by Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (right), Texas Republican, and Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 18, 2013. (Associated Press)

McConnell: Obama a free-speech ‘bully’

A year after he warned that President Obama was pursuing a broad government overreach that threatened free speech, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the recent scandal with the IRS shows how far the White House has gone in a "coordinated effort to stifle speech." Published June 21, 2013

** FILE ** Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. (Associated Press)

Coburn slams Agriculture for wasteful spending

Even as it is cutting food programs for poor women and children, the Agriculture Department is still spending money on housing for wealthy residents on Martha's Vineyard and paying companies to run marketing campaigns for alcohol, pickles and jelly, according to a senator who wants to see those priorities changed. Published June 20, 2013

**FILE** James Comey will be nominated by President Obama to replace FBI Director Robert Mueller. (Associated Press)

Obama to officially nominate Comey for FBI

President Obama on Friday will officially nominate James B. Comey to lead the FBI, a White House official said, tapping a former member of the Bush administration to oversee the country's top law enforcement agency at a time when it's facing new pressures over secrecy and snooping. Published June 20, 2013

**FILE** U.S. Border Patrol agent Jerry Conlin looks to the north on June 13, 2013, near where the border wall ends as is separates Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego. (Associated Press)

Border security deal boosts immigration bill’s chances in Senate

Senators struck a deal Thursday to boost border security in the immigration bill, including building 700 miles of fence and adding 20,000 Border Patrol agents to the Southwest, in a move those on both sides say could clear the way for a bipartisan vote next week. Published June 20, 2013

**FILE** Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, speaks at the Faith and Freedom Coalition "Road to Majority" conference in Washington on June 13, 2013. (Associated Press)

Rubio breaks with Gang of Eight

Sen. Marco Rubio broke Thursday with the rest of the Gang of Eight that wrote the immigration bill, voting to back a strict border security amendment that would have imposed real yardsticks for any eventual path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Published June 20, 2013

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican (Associated Press)

Sen. Tom Coburn tells feds to quit propping up wineries, expensive vacation homes

Even as it's cutting food programs for poor women and children, the Agriculture Department is still spending money on housing for wealthy residents on Martha's Vineyard and paying companies to run marketing campaigns for alcohol, pickles and jelly, according to a top senator who wants to see those priorities changed. Published June 20, 2013

** FILE ** This file photo taken July 28, 2010, shows a group of illegal immigrants waiting in line while being deported to Mexico at the Nogales Port of Entry in Nogales, Ariz. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Immigration agents say border security deal not good enough

Republican senators are nearing agreement on a border security amendment they hope can win over wavering votes on the immigration bill, but the head of the immigration agents' union sent a letter to the two key senators Thursday warning that a narrow focus on border security will still leave the U.S. vulnerable. Published June 20, 2013

Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican

Senate cuts itself out of border security certification

Senators said Wednesday they don't want to be involved in certifying whether the border is secure, saying that putting that question before a political body could keep illegal immigrants from being legalized. Published June 19, 2013

**FILE** Rep. Steve Stockman (second from right), Texas Republican, participates in a mock swearing-in ceremony with Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, Ohio Republican, for the 113th Congress in Washington on Jan. 3, 2013. (Associated Press)

House staffer survives — easily — on food stamps

A staff member for a Texas Republican decided to take on the challenge of eating a fill week's worth of meals on the $31.50 allotted for a food stamp recipient, and says he ended up with nearly $4 to spare. Published June 19, 2013

**FILE** In a Aug. 24, 2005, file photo, Reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow adjusts her sterile bonnet as she heads into a micro-surgical procedure at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Clinic has done the nation's first almost total face transplant, a hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday, Dec.16, 2008. Dr. Maria Siemionow replaced 80 percent of a woman's face with that of a dead female donor. The hospital spokeswoman said that the operation was done a couple weeks ago.

Immigration bill boosts costs of ‘Obamacare’

The Senate immigration bill will be good for the U.S. economy as a whole, but for individual workers the picture is not as good — in fact, unemployment will rise slightly and average wages will drop over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office's analysis Monday. Published June 19, 2013