By Kenneth J. Cooper
Setti Warren made state history in 2009 by becoming the first black mayor elected in Massachusetts. Now, after just 18 months in office, the 40-year-old mayor of Newton, an upscale suburb, is trying to make a great leap to the U.S. Senate.

By Leslie Proll
The alarmingly high number of vacancies in the federal judiciary threatens to undermine the administration of justice. Considerable attention has been devoted to the causes and consequences of the Senate’s failure to confirm judicial nominees. But remarkably little has been said about the impact of this crisis on the color of the federal bench.

By The Editors
Elena Kagan, the United States Solicitor General and former Dean of Harvard Law School, was confirmed by the Senate Thursday as the nation’s newest Justice of the Supreme Court.

By Lee A. Daniels
Two prominent Senators in the last week have said they believe the Senate should consider revoking the automatic right of American citizenship granted all children born in the United States – including children of undocumented immigrants.

By The Editors
African-American and Native American farmers, who’ve endured decades of discrimination from the federal government, rallied in Washington this week in an effort to get the Senate to finally approve payout of the billions of dollars they were awarded through the settlement of lawsuits nearly a decade

By The Editors
After weeks of deadlock in Congress, the Senate and House this week quickly passed legislation extending unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who’ve been out of work for six months or longer.

By The Editors
Solicitor General Elena Kagan, President Obama’s second nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, moved a step closer to confirmation Tuesday when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send her nomination to the full Senate.

By Lee A. Daniels
Breaking a two-months-long partisan deadlock, the Senate Tuesday voted to restore unemployment benefits to the more than 2 million jobless workers who have been out of work for at least six months.

By Lee A. Daniels
Thursday the U.S. Senate refused to pass legislation extending unemployment benefits for jobless workers coming to the end of their regular benefits period. As a result, by the end of next week, more than a million jobless Americans will have lost their benefits this month.

By The Editors
Black farmers’ years of litigation and political lobbying to try to right an egregious wrong endured another frustrating setback Thursday when the Senate once again refused to appropriate the funds necessary to settle their long-decided discrimination lawsuit against the federal government.