COVID Is an Emergency.  To SCOTUS's Conservatives, It's Also an Opportunity.  —  Where the liberal justices see sickness and death, the conservatives see a chance to crush government.  — A Trucker Stuck for 14-Plus Hours on a Virginia Highway Explains What It's Like—and How She's Peeing

The chair of the Jan. 6 panel says the committee will ask Mike Pence to appear  —  Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the Democratic-led House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, says they expect to ask former Vice President Mike Pence to voluntarily appear this month.

Can Eric Adams really hire his brother?  —  Bernard Adams wouldn't be the first family member of a mayor to work in their administration.  —  New York City Mayor Eric Adams' brother, Bernard Adams, is getting a high level job as deputy commissioner in the New York City Police Department …

Ted Cruz Debases Himself for the Base  —  The Texas senator tries to be all things to all people, and ends up pleasing no one.  —  hat an extraordinary disappointment Ted Cruz is.  On paper, the man should be a star.  He's intellectually gifted, he has a remarkable memory, and …

QAnon Star Who Said Only ‘Idiots’ Get Vax Dies of COVID  —  Cirsten Weldon told her fans not to get vaccinated and wanted Dr. Anthony Fauci executed.  She just died of COVID.  —  A leading QAnon promoter who urged both her followers and strangers she passed on the street …

America's Omicron Wave Already Looks More Severe Than Europe's  —  From abroad, where COVID-conscious Americans now look for portents of our near-term Omicron future, nearly all the signs have been positive over the last few weeks.  In fact, case numbers aside, the U.K. and continental surges …

Lani Guinier, civil rights champion and Harvard law professor, dies at 71  —  A leading voice for voting rights long before her nomination to lead the US Justice Department's Civil Rights Division made her nationally known, Lani Guinier died Friday.  —  Ms. Guinier, the Bennett Boskey professor …

‘The last straw’ |  After months of curfew violations and threats, DOJ wants Proud Boy locked up  —  Federal prosecutors say Joshua Pruitt has shown he won't abide by court-ordered restrictions while he awaits trial on charges related to January 6.  —  WASHINGTON — The Department …

Three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery sentenced to life in prison  —  The three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, in Georgia were sentenced Friday to life in prison.  —  The sentences for Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery; and his father, Gregory McMichael, do not carry the possibility of parole.

Democracy is on the brink of disaster.  For voters, it's politics as usual. … It was the scariest of times, it was the stablest of times.  —  Contemporary American politics offers an unsettling study in contrasts.  On the one hand, Donald Trump's lies about a stolen presidential election …

Biden, funerals and a bygone America  —  LAS VEGAS — He spoke at a private memorial for the former first lady of Indiana, eulogized two former Republican senators and sat in the audience to honor the life of a onetime GOP secretary of state.  —  He flew to Delaware to pay homage to the state's former governor.

Drudge hits ‘mute’ on Biden  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration.  With Allie Bice.  —  The Drudge Report made its name by making life hell for Democrats in the White House.  —  But over the past several months …

Why I Soured on the Democrats  —  Until recently, I was a loyal, left-leaning Democrat, and I had been my entire adult life.  I was the kind of partisan who registered voters before midterm elections and went to protests.  I hated Donald Trump so much that I struggled to be civil to relatives on the other side of the aisle.

DeSantis confirms as many as 1 million Covid tests expired in state stockpile  —  Hospitals struggle amid explosion of omicron and CDC guideline confusion  —  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's top emergency management official confirmed Thursday that 800,000 to 1 million Covid test kits …

Steve Bannon Sought Bizarre Loan as His Jan. 6 Woes Spiraled  —  Amid mounting legal problems, Bannon seems to have tried to borrow against property linked to a nonprofit he founded with a Chinese billionaire. … Ex-White House strategist Steve Bannon appears to have recently sought a loan …

Parents sue to end illegal Chicago Teachers Union strike  —  A group of Chicago parents have filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Teachers Union, calling this week's school closures an “illegal strike” and demanding that teachers return to school for in-person learning.

It's time for the press to take Tom Cotton seriously  —  Journalists would do themselves a huge favor if they stopped treating Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas as a right-wing nut job and consider the possibility that he is actually smarter and more reasonable than his critics say.

Biden, surveying Colorado fire damage, comforts families and promotes agenda  —  President Joe Biden traveled to Colorado to survey the damage caused by a rare winter fire that tore through a suburban neighborhood before the start of the new year.  —  In remarks at a Denver County community center …

Texas National Guard struggles to pay soldiers, while slashing tuition help by more than half  —  As Gov. Greg Abbott mobilizes thousands of Texas National Guard troops to assist with his border initiative known as Operation Lone Star, the state has struggled to pay soldiers on time while slashing …

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson expected to run for reelection  —  Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson is expected to run for reelection and kick off his campaign next week, according to a source familiar with his decision.  —  For months, the incumbent Republican declined to say whether …