U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday the scene at President Obama's State of the Union address was "very troubling" and the annual speech has "degenerated to a political pep rally."

With NASA's space shuttle program coming to an end and the future of the manned space flight in doubt, President Obama is facing intense pressure over his budget priorities for the space agency.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed the hearing for a controversial Court of Appeals nominee after the panel received a letter from a home-state prosecutor blasting him as a judicial loose cannon and Republicans raised concerns about his alleged bias in favor of sex offenders. 

Denying that he groped anyone sexually, former Rep. Eric Massa said Tuesday that he was responsible for the events leading up to his resignation Monday in the wake of a House ethics investigation into sexual harassment allegations.

Legislation to give additional months of unemployment benefits to people who have been out of a job for more than half a year has won key GOP support that means it will soon pass the Senate.

The White House says the United States condemns Israel's approval of 1,600 new settlement homes in disputed East Jerusalem.

The Senate's official gatekeeper, said the Drudge Report, a conservative news aggregator, and whitepages.com "are responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate," according to an e-mail to the Environment and Public Works Committee.

The White House on Tuesday denied assertions by former Rep. Eric Massa that he was pushed out of office because he voted no on health care.

A Florida state senator is reportedly pushing for new legislation that would increase tax breaks for the movie industry but deny the same incentives to films featuring gay characters.

Some leading Republican groups are trying to guide a revival of conservative student activism in the "era of Obama" -- the latest push comes this Thursday at California's Reagan Ranch Center, where dozens of high school students who caught the conservative bug will converge to get inspired, get organized and get active. 

Dozens of same-sex couples made a historic walk down the aisle in Washington Tuesday as gay marriage became legal in the nation's capital.

Facing dismal poll numbers in his home state, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid has devised a re-election strategy: welcome third party candidates who can split the opposition in the uphill battle to hold on to his U.S. Senate seat.

A former John Edwards aide has narrowly avoided getting sent to jail for contempt over his handling of a purported sex tape showing the former presidential candidate.

The bill, and the test vote Tuesday, demonstrate the difficulty Democrats face as they focus on jobs.

Vice President Joe Biden told Israel Tuesday that the U.S. is willing to stand by those who will "take risks for peace."

President Obama will keep his promise to reach a solution on federal funding of abortions but that is not the centerpiece of his health care overhaul, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. 

A bitter dispute among abortion opponents over House and Senate versions of Obama's health care bill could derail his quest to remake the health insurance system.

The defense secretary praised the 800-soldier unit and told the troops that as the fight shifts toward securing Kandahar itself later this year, they will again be "at the top of the spear."

Under a potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information.

The former CBS News anchor is known for his homespun anecdotes, though his choice of language in this instance already is raising some eyebrows on media blogs