The justices’ views did not track along simple ideological lines. Justice Byron White, a Kennedy appointee, felt that limiting spending was critical; otherwise, “you can get and spend all the money you want,” according to notes kept by Justice William J. Brennan Jr. But five other justices were First Amendment hard-liners, from William Rehnquist, a…
The House on Wednesday voted to extend a high-profile warrantless surveillance law for three years, but the fate of the measure was uncertain as the Senate vowed to make changes that could delay final passage past the program’s midnight expiration on Thursday. Bipartisan approval of the bill capped a chaotic struggle in the House, where…
The White House on Tuesday urged the House to immediately pass a stalled bipartisan spending bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, which Republicans have refused to take up since the Senate passed it nearly a month ago. The request, in a memo sent to members of Congress by the White House’s budget office,…
