Court decides endangered species, religion, student speech, campaign finance cases; four new grants  —  Amid several 5-4 rulings on the merits, the Supreme Court on Monday granted four cases for review next Term, including a significant test case on the use of references to the O.J. Simpson …

Reclaiming Control of U.S. Security in the Middle East  —  With the Iraq war well into its fifth year, the Bush administration still lacks a realistic plan for the Middle East and Iraq.  The United States must reclaim control of its core national security interests by taking active steps …

McCain could pull out of race by autumn  —  Presidential hopeful drops campaign staff as Republican consultants predict he'll be gone by September  —  THE former presidential front-runner, John McCain, may drop out of the 2008 race by September if his fundraising dries up and his poll ratings continue …

Drilling for Justice  —  Army officers have been pleased with Michael Gordon's portrayal of the events in Baqubah.  —  On 19 June American forces sealed off Baqubah and began attacking targets within the city.  The immediate goal of Arrowhead Ripper was to free Baqubah of al Qaeda …

Bush aides consider Iraq truce at Capitol  —  Wary of more fights, they're looking into the possibility of a congressional deal to satisfy war foes but preserve presidential goals.  —  WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has begun exploring ways of offering Congress a compromise deal …

Plaintiff Gets Nothing in $54M Case of Missing Pants  —  Ruling for Dry Cleaner May Spell Bigger Woes for D.C. Judge Roy Pearson  —  The D.C. administrative law judge who sued his neighborhood dry cleaner for $54 million over a pair of lost pants found out this morning what he's going to get for all his troubles.

Murdoch Reaches Out for Even More  —  In the fall of 2003, a piece of Rupert Murdoch's sprawling media empire was in jeopardy.  —  Congress was on the verge of limiting any company from owning local television stations that reached more than 35 percent of American homes.

Too little, too late: Gore blames scientists for climate crisis  —  US could have acted sooner if experts had reached consensus  —  In an extraordinary outburst aimed at America's failure to tackle global warming, Al Gore says that if scientific agreement on the climate crisis had been reached sooner …

Just 22% Favor Stalled Immigration Bill  —  As the Senate prepares to resume debate the "comprehensive" immigration reform bill, the legislation continues to face broad public opposition.  In fact, despite a massive White House effort, public opinion has barely moved since the public uproar stalled the bill just over two weeks ago.

Sessions says support for immigration bill is eroding  —  Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a key opponent to the bipartisan immigration bill that will be taken up again next week, said Sunday that support for the legislation "continues to erode."  —  Sessions noted that some of the senators …

Reality Check for the Antiwar Crowd  —  As an Iraq war veteran who participated in combat operations and political reconciliation efforts, I take issue with some of the arguments repeatedly being made on Capitol Hill.  Most recently I was bothered by statements from Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) …