Charles Krauthammer says banning the most popular Governor in the country from CPAC may be a bad idea. Watch.

SCOTUSblog has some early analysis of the still-ongoing oral arguments in the Supreme Court this morning on the Voting Rights Act. It appears that things are going about as expected, with the conservative justices unpersuaded that Section 5 remains constitutional and a 5-4 vote to overturn that portion of the law looking likely.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the top Republican in the House on immigration reform (he’s the chair of the relevant committee) seems to be opening the door to supporting a ‘path to citizenship’ as part of immigration reform.

Others have done an excellent job explaining why so many pundits and news analysts are constitutionally unable to describe the impasse over sequestration as anything other than a bipartisan failure — while also revealing, perhaps unintentionally, that President Obama is advocating the very compromise they claim to believe is necessary.

But mark down Feb. 27, 2013, as the day this self-deception morphed into something more like the establishment’s very own Obama derangement syndrome. Read More

Our initial report from today’s Supreme Court oral arguments on the Voting Rights Act.

How did it go?

This question from Chief Justice John Roberts to Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, Jr., who was defending the law, gives you a good sense of the proceedings: “Is it the government’s submission that citizens in the South are more racist than citizens not in the South?”

Sahil Kapur has more.

While the Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act this morning, across the street at the Capitol President Obama and the congressional leadership were unveiling a statue of Rosa Parks.

Let’s not be too hasty escalating penalties for assault and domestic violence, says one New Hampshire lawmaker, because “a lot of people like being in abusive relationships.”

Sahil Kapur has more on Justice Scalia’s questioning during today’s oral arguments on the Voting Rights Act — and on Justice Sotomayor’s indirect rejoinder to Scalia’s line of questioning.

TPM Reader JS chimes in on Justice Scalia’s textualism …

Compare and contrast.

1. Justice Scalia today regarding the voting rights act: “This is not the kind of question you can leave to Congress.”

2. The United States Constitution, Amendment XV: “SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” (My emphasis.)

The big non-Tea Party potential Senate candidate for the open seat in Iowa just said he’s not running.