The U.S. Constitution

Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical Condition

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and onetime adviser to President Donald Trump, has been hospitalized and is in “critical but stable condition,” according to his spokesman. The statement came Sunday from spokesman Ted Goodman, who did not disclose what led to Giuliani’s...

Can the FCC Yank ABC’s Licenses Over a Political Feud?

When people hear that the federal government “licenses” television stations, a natural conclusion follows: if Washington grants the privilege, Washington can take it away. And if it can take it away, why not use that threat when a network becomes politically inconvenient? That line of thinking...

Trump Promises ‘Project Freedom’ to Move Ships Out of the Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States will begin an operation on Monday to “help free up” ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow and strategic waterway now at the center of overlapping blockades in the Gulf. Trump described the effort as a “humanitarian gesture”...

The U.S. Marshals Service: Powers and Constitutional Role

People usually notice the U.S. Marshals Service at the loud moments. A high-profile arrest. A fugitive search splashed across headlines. A judge escorted through a garage entrance after threats spike online. But the Marshals are not a general-purpose federal police force, and they are not a private...

Presentence Investigation Reports and Federal Sentencing

Federal sentencing has a reputation for being cold and mathematical, like you type a few numbers into a formula and the judge prints a prison term. In reality, one of the most influential documents in the entire process is often written after the plea or verdict, when most of the drama seems...

Judicial Recusal: When Judges Must Step Aside

Most Americans learn the basics of the courts as if judges are neutral machines: a case goes in, the law comes out. Recusal is the part of the system that quietly admits what everyone already knows. Judges are people. They have friendships, investments, former clients, spouses with careers, strong...

Superseding Indictments Explained

You can be indicted, arraigned, and think the shape of your case is finally set. Then the government comes back with a new charging document that adds a defendant, adds counts, fixes dates, or swaps in a different theory of the crime. That is a superseding indictment. And the word is doing more...

Immigration Bonds and ICE Custody Hearings

When someone is held by ICE, families often reach for the closest familiar idea: bail. But immigration detention is civil, not criminal. That one distinction changes almost everything about release. There is no jury, and there is no criminal prosecutor. Instead, the government is represented by a...

What Secretaries of State Do in Elections

During election season, the phrase “the secretary of state” starts showing up in headlines like it is a single national referee. It is not. There is no single federal official who serves as “secretary of state for elections.” The federal government does have election-related roles,...

Divided Government

Americans talk about “divided government” like it is a temporary weather system: clear skies when one party wins everything, gridlock clouds when power splits. But divided government is not a glitch. It is what you should expect from a constitutional design that intentionally divides power even...

Pledged Delegates, Superdelegates, and How Nominees Are Chosen

Every four years, Americans talk about “winning the primary” as if a state’s popular vote directly crowns a nominee. It does not. Not exactly. What it actually does is award delegates , and those delegates later cast the votes that formally nominate a candidate at the party’s national...

Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Explained

Americans like to say voting is a right. In practice, voting is also a process. A long chain of check-in tables, poll books, registration databases, ballot scanners, and human judgment calls. When that process fails, the Constitution usually does not hand you a simple remedy. Elections are largely...

National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter), Explained

Most Americans have heard of “Motor Voter” in the vague way we hear about a lot of election laws: it sounds like something about the DMV, and it probably happened in the 1990s, and it is either the reason elections are easier or the reason elections are suspicious, depending on who is talking....

Runoff Elections in the United States

America runs elections the way it runs a lot of things: locally, inconsistently, and with more rules than most voters realize until the rule hits them. One state can send a Senator to Washington with a simple plurality. Another can send you back to the polls a month later for a runoff. A...

Election Recounts, Audits, and Certification

On election night, you are not watching “the results.” You are watching unofficial tallies roll in. Networks project winners. Candidates concede. Social media declares victory. But none of that is the legal finish line. The legal finish line is a quieter sequence: local officials reconcile...

House Passes Senate DHS Funding Bill After Johnson Reverses Course

After a 75-day funding lapse that left much of the Department of Homeland Security in a prolonged partial shutdown, the House voted Thursday to approve a Senate-passed spending measure that funds most DHS operations through September. The bill is expected to be signed swiftly by President Donald...

Supreme Court Strikes Down Louisiana Map, Tightens Rules on Race in Redistricting

The Supreme Court handed down a major redistricting decision on April 29, 2026, striking down Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map and sending a clear message to states nationwide: using race as the leading factor in drawing district lines triggers the Constitution’s toughest test, and states...

Court Says the Second Amendment Covers Firearm Parts

Building a firearm at home used to sound like something only a dedicated hobbyist would attempt. Today, for many gun owners, it is closer to a practical form of customization, especially with modular platforms like the AR-15. That reality matters legally, because a federal appeals court has now...

Supreme Court Takes Up Bid to End TPS for Haitians and Syrians

The Supreme Court is stepping into a high-stakes dispute over Temporary Protected Status , a humanitarian immigration program that lets people live and work in the United States when returning to their home country is unsafe. At issue are Trump-era decisions aimed at ending TPS protections for...

Privileges or Immunities Clause, Explained

The 14th Amendment is famous for two ideas most Americans can recognize on sight: due process and equal protection . But it opens with a third promise that sounds like it should be the main event. “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens...