Politics

Transgender rights supporters rally outside the Supreme Court late last year. (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press) A federal judge agreed Tuesday to temporarily block prison officials from transferring three incarcerated transgender women to men’s facilities and terminating their access to hormone therapy under an executive order signed by President Trump. U.S. District Judge Royce … Read more

An activist judiciary has joined the legislative and executive branches in making public policy. The influence of judges has been magnified by their relative immunity from political pressure. Although the courts sometimes follow the election returns, in many cases, such as abortion, judicial decisions have short- circuited normal political discourse. That fact alone makes judicial … Read more

In a tweet late Monday, President Trump said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will begin deporting millions of people who are in the country illegally. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump’s bold but vague pledge to deport “millions” of migrants facing removal orders, starting next week, came on the eve of his reelection … Read more

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) speaks during a rally in Washington against the Republican healthcare bill. (Alex Wong / Getty Images ) Even six months after Donald Trump won the White House, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi doesn’t want to talk about election night, preferring to fast-forward to what happened the next day. … Read more

Garry South leans back in his oversized leather desk chair, one lanky arm folded behind his head, his lips curling in satisfaction. Each day brings him more claps on the shoulder, handshakes and breathless testaments to his brilliance as California’s political chess master of the moment. For the last three months, he has set the … Read more

Supporters of Proposition 10, in favor of rent control, demonstrate at an event last month in Sacramento. The measure would have made it easier for cities to expand rent control. (Steve Yeater / Associated Press) Proposition 10, a ballot measure to expand rent control in California, was decisively rejected by voters Tuesday in a victory … Read more

With the first two debates of the general election finished and early voting starting in many places, Hillary Clinton’s lead has strengthened in opinion polls in key states needed to win the White House, especially those with large minority populations. But Donald Trump’s core support among blue-collar white voters remains largely intact, giving him a … Read more

Charles Moran, head of the Log Cabin Republicans, says there should be “guardrails” to keep opposing sides from going over the edge in culture war. (Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times) Charles Moran is proudly gay and proudly Republican. To some that combination is an inherent contradiction, like being a meat-eating vegetarian, a violent … Read more

I was water-skiing with my children in a light drizzle off Hyannis, Mass., last month when a sudden, fierce storm plunged us into a melee of towering waves, raking rain, painful hail and midday darkness broken by blinding flashes of lightning. As I hurried to get my children out of the water and back to … Read more

Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator and co-chairman of OpenAI, attends the annual Allen & Co. Sun Valley Conference in 2016 in Sun Valley, Idaho. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images) A wealthy young Silicon Valley venture capitalist hopes to recruit statewide and congressional candidates and launch an affordable-housing ballot measure in 2018 because he says … Read more