Top Items:
Adam Clymer / New York Times:
Robert Byrd, Respected Voice of the Senate, Dies at 92 — Robert C. Byrd, who used his record tenure as a United States senator to fight for the primacy of the legislative branch of government and to build a modern West Virginia with vast amounts of federal money, died early on Monday. He was 92.
Discussion:
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Joe Holley / Washington Post:
West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd dead at 92 — Robert C. Byrd, a conservative West Virginia Democrat who became the longest-serving member of Congress in history and used his masterful knowledge of the institution to shape the federal budget, protect the procedural rules of the Senate and …
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Byrd's death triggers special election...but when? — Sen. Robert Byrd's death will trigger a special election. But, when? AP Photo. — The death of West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd (D) will trigger a fierce battle to replace him, although the timing of that race remains an open question.
Discussion:
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Senator Byrd is Ill; A Note on West Virginia's Vacancy Laws — The 92-year-old Senator Robert Byrd, the longest-serving senator in United States history, is seriously ill, according to his office. — Byrd has been hospitalized three times since 2009. If he were not to recover this time …
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Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Filling Sen. Robert C. Byrd's Senate seat — With the death early Monday of Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D), West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III (D) must select an interim replacement for a legend who many in the state and elsewhere consider one of a kind. — A quirk in West Virginia's laws appears …
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Martin Kady II / The Politico:
Senate loses ‘venerable institution’
Senate loses ‘venerable institution’
Discussion:
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Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Gun rights extended by Supreme Court — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court held Monday that the Constitution's Second Amendment restrains government's ability to significantly limit “the right to keep and bear arms,” advancing a recent trend by the John Roberts-led bench to embrace gun rights.
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Lee Ross / Liveshots:
High Court's Big Ruling For Gun Rights — In its second major ruling on gun rights in three years, the Supreme Court Monday extended the federally protected right to keep and bear arms to all 50 states. The decision will be hailed by gun rights advocates and comes over the opposition of gun control groups …
Washington Post:
As Kagan confirmation hearings begin, Republicans struggle for line of attack — For weeks leading up to the start of Elena Kagan's Senate confirmation hearings Monday, Republicans have struggled to find a compelling line of attack to take against the Supreme Court nominee.
The Politico:
GOP plans attack on Kagan — Republicans, who decided early on that they stood little chance of defeating Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, settled instead on making her confirmation process a “teachable moment” to highlight the dangers of liberal judicial activism.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, CNN, Michelle Malkin, And So it Goes in Shreveport and The Atlantic Online
Mallory Simon / This Just In:
Court rules for gun rights, strikes Chicago handgun ban — In another dramatic victory for firearm owners, the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional Chicago, Illinois' 28-year-old strict ban on handgun ownership, a potentially far-reaching case over the ability of state and local governments to enforce limits on weapons.
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Hatch: GOP won't filibuster Kagan
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Study Finds Questioning of Nominees to Be Useful
Study Finds Questioning of Nominees to Be Useful
Discussion:
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Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Third Depression — Recessions are common; depressions are rare. As far as I can tell, there were only two eras in economic history that were widely described as “depressions” at the time: the years of deflation and instability that followed the Panic of 1873 and the years of mass unemployment …
David Weigel / Big Government:
Hubris and Humility: David Weigel Comes Clean on Washington Post, the D.C. Bubble, & the ‘Journolist’ — In the first (and still best) “Austin Powers” film, a United Nations representative makes a faux pas and calls the film's villain “Mr. Evil.” — “It's Dr. Evil,” he huffs.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Do I Have Anything Interesting to Say? — Kartik Athreya, a self-described “rank-and-file PhD economist operating within a central banking system” who by his own admission has “contributed no earth-shaking ideas to Economics and work fundamentally as a worker bee chipping away with known tools …
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Boston Globe:
Brown outpolls Kerry, Obama — US Senator Scott Brown, who only months ago was a little-known figure even within the tiny band of Republicans in the state Senate, not only catapulted to national stature with his upset US Senate victory, but is today the most popular officeholder in Massachusetts, according to a Boston Globe poll.
WBBM-TV:
Alexi Giannoulias Subpoenaed For Blago Trial — CHICAGO (CBS) ― First it was President Barack Obama, then White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, now U.S. Senate Candidate Alexi Giannoulias is joining the Rod Blagojevich corruption trial subpoena list.
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John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
Why I Denied David Frum's Website A Spot In The Blogads Conservative Hive — It's no surprise that a guy like David Frum would be defending Dave Weigel, who resigned from the WAPO after his private comments mocking conservatives went public and proved exactly what conservatives have been saying all along …