In aftermath of the Newtown shooting, 52 year old Kirill Bartashevitch of St. Paul, Minnesota decided he should probably stock up on assault weapons “due to fears that such weapons would be banned under President Obama’s push for gun control legislation.” Possibly also to defend against tyranny, though that latter part is only my speculation. Unfortunately for Bartashevitch’s daughter, the gun ended up being aimed at her. Read More

Wisconsin Senator attacks Washington Post for saying he got owned by Hilary Clinton.

Evan McMorris-Santoro reports on Joe Biden’s roundtable meeting on gun control today in Richmond.

McConnell campaign email brags about blocking filibuster reform.

A key Republican state senator in Virginia comes out against GOP scheme to apportion electoral votes by congressional district.

Lawyer readers will enjoy perusing the DC Circuit’s decision (.pdf) finding that President Obama exceeded his recess appointment powers in three NLRB appointments.

I’ve only had a chance to review the decision quickly, but it represents a dramatic limitation on the recess appointment, finding that the power can only be exercised during recesses between sessions of Congress and only to fill vacancies that occur during the same recess. So that’s the big news from this: a major limitation on the recess appointment power. It’s a decision the Supreme Court will be hard-pressed not to review.

The other news, while not as big, is nonetheless quite serious: The decision would seem to void any action taken by the NLRB since last January. It will take some time to get a better handle on what that means, but you can imagine the chaos and confusion that could create.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) announced this morning that he will not seek re-election in 2014. Or as he put it in a call to supporters, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, “Sitting on a back porch drinking whiskey with some of y’all is exciting to think about.”

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that President Obama’s recess appointments of two three members of the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional because the Senate was not actually in recess at the time.

Mississippi clearly missed the boat by not having a Joint Legislative Committee on the Neutralization of Federal Law back in the 1960s. But a couple of Republican state legislators are proposing one now.

The full rundown on the White House staff changes being announced today.