Cipriani later married Michael S. Ensign, a gaming industry executive; he formally adopted young John, who considers him his "real father.

[4] John Ensign attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, becoming a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

[9] Ensign won the election by 1,400 votes and was reelected in 1996 by seven points, although Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton carried the district by a large margin that year.

[12] In April 2009, Ensign was planning a June 1 trip to Iowa, the first in his career, causing speculation that he was mulling a presidential campaign in 2012.

[14] On July 14, 2009, Ensign announced his plan to run for re-election to his Nevada Senate seat in 2012, even though his polling numbers had recently decreased.

[16] The Las Vegas Sun speculated in November 2010 that this might hurt his relationship with Reid, who could "man up" and oppose Ensign's re-election.

As chairman of the NRSC, Ensign was charged with assembling a staff to win back the U.S. Senate for Republicans in the 2008 elections.

In September 2007, it was discovered that Ensign had used the secret hold rule to prevent a bill requiring senators to file fund-raising reports electronically from being voted on.

)[18] Ensign insisted that, before a vote on the disclosure bill could be held, the committee would first vote on an amendment that "would force groups petitioning the Senate Ethics Committee to disclose the identity of donors giving more than $5,000", which watchdog groups charged was intended to prevent passage of the bill.

[20] On March 7, 2011, in the midst of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation, Ensign said he would not seek re-election in 2012 because he wanted to spare his family from an "exceptionally ugly" campaign.

"At this point in my life, I have to put my family first," Ensign told reporters at a news conference in Las Vegas.

[22] He said that he "will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings.

Specifically, the Court permitted the City of New London, Connecticut, to force a homeowner to sell her home for new development.

The decision that eminent domain could be used to issue a condemnation order on a property for a private purpose caused a backlash.

The conservative fiscal watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste awarded Ensign a 92% lifetime rating—the fourth highest Senator after Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn and Jon Kyl—as of 2007.

[36] In 1998, after President Bill Clinton admitted to having committed adultery with Monica Lewinsky, Ensign called on him to resign.

[39] In April 2008 Ensign voted against a measure to expand federal benefits to Filipino veterans in the Philippines, then a U.S. Commonwealth, against Japan during World War II.

[43] Ensign moved out of the C Street house in November 2009, after disclosure of an extramarital affair and reports that he influenced others to keep quiet about it.

Her husband, Doug Hampton, was a close friend of Ensign and worked as a top administrative staffer in his Washington, DC office.

[48][49][50] Ensign called Hampton's wife hours later to tell her to ignore the letter and flew out to spend the weekend with her in Nevada.

[52] On March 7, 2011, Ensign announced that he would not seek re-election to the Senate the following year because he wished to shield his family from the consequences of his past behavior.