Liz Halloran

Bipartisan bonhomie broke out Thursday afternoon when four Democratic and four Republican senators made a case for their comprehensive immigration overhaul proposal.

The scene at the Dirksen Senate Office Building stood in marked contrast to the ugly end Wednesday of a smaller cross-party effort to fashion gun legislation that would ...

As investigators combed through evidence in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings, seeking both motive and perpetrator, we turned Tuesday to a security expert for guidance on how the investigation may be unfolding.

Bryan Cunningham, a former CIA officer, assistant U.S. attorney and deputy legal adviser for the National Security Council, ...

Rand Paul going to one of the top historically black colleges in the U.S. and trying to school students on who founded the NAACP?

Priceless.

Rand Paul going to one of the top historically black colleges in the U.S. and trying to make a case for his Republican Party as ...

Thousands of supporters will descend on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to call for legislation that creates a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally.

Sound familiar?

But this time, unlike in 2007 and 2010 when immigration legislation died in Congress after similar demonstrations, proponents of an overhaul ...

President Obama's campaign for new federal gun control laws takes him to Colorado on Wednesday, and next week back to Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre renewed the nation's fraught conversation about guns.

Though his trip to Connecticut was designed to coincide with the start of gun control ...

Two county prosecutors fatally shot in Texas. Colorado's top prison official gunned down. And a dozen more members of the U.S. justice community — ranging from police to judges — victims of targeted killings since the beginning of the decade.

What's going on?

After the killings of Kaufman ...

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a challenge to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between "one man and one woman as husband and wife."

It was the court's second and final day of hearing appeals involving same-sex marriage laws. And it served up ...

It wasn't so long ago that a handful of Vermont legislators in a shabby Statehouse committee room struggled over what to call their proposal to give marriage-like rights to the state's gay and lesbian residents.

Democrat Howard Dean, governor at the time, had already made clear he'd veto any legislation ...

The U.S. Supreme Court heard lively arguments Tuesday in a challenge to California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriages.

And, as many learned painfully after last year's court decision to uphold Obamacare, it is risky business to predict how justices will rule later based on questions raised in arguments.

So ...

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky doubled down Tuesday on a previous call for a path to citizenship, telling a major Hispanic business group that his message to the nation's illegal immigrants is: "If you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you."

...

It is a theme that has become increasingly familiar during the rapid evolution of American political attitudes toward same-sex marriage: People who learn that a friend or loved one is gay are far more likely to support same-sex marriage, even if they were once adamantly opposed.

Ohio Sen. ...

Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church made history twice Wednesday, electing the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere and the first Jesuit.

In choosing 76-year-old Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio of Argentina, now Pope Francis, the College of Cardinals signaled the growing importance of Latin America, Africa and Asia in the ...

The National Riffle Association's top lobbyist told senators that federal authorities need to enforce existing gun laws, not punish the "little people" with new regulations.

As the president and House speaker try to lead the nation away from the so-called fiscal cliff, experts in the art of negotiation say they're not impressed. "Much of this process is t...

History suggests that Susan Rice will be confirmed, if nominated for secretary of state. But some Republicans may be focusing on her statements about Benghazi to discredit the Obama a...

A handful of Republicans in Congress say they won't honor the Grover Norquist-led no-new-taxes pledge if it prevents a deal to avert the fiscal cliff. "Grover still swings a hammer," ...

The election thumping Republicans got Tuesday at the hands of Latino voters was severe. To formulate a fix for what went wrong, the party will need help from influential Republicans l...

Bloopers and stumbles made the news this presidential campaign, but Barack Obama's re-election was powered by plans begun on the ground four years ago. Here's how he did it.

Four years ago, 56 percent of female voters cast their ballots for Barack Obama. But with a recent poll showing him tied with Mitt Romney among women, Obama has been working anew to s...

Vice President Biden and the Republican hoping to replace him, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, face off for their sole debate Thursday in Danville, Ky. Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two men.