The U.S. Constitution

Why State Voter Files Are Not “Just Public Records”

Voter registration records sit in a complicated place. States often let the public view or purchase parts of the voter file, but those same states also treat the information as something that can create serious privacy and security problems if it spreads too broadly. That push and pull is why...

Can a President Nationalize U.S. Elections?

It is a tempting idea in moments of political anxiety: if elections feel chaotic, why not put them under one national set of rules and one national administrator, the president? People sometimes call that “nationalizing” elections, as if voting could be folded into the executive branch the way a...

Can a President Cancel the Midterms?

Every few election cycles, the same anxious question comes roaring back into American political life: can the president just cancel the midterms? The legal answer is refreshingly plain. No. Midterm elections are not a discretionary event the executive branch can switch off like a light. Federal...

Should BB Guns Be Treated Like Firearms?

Most Americans learn the word firearm the same way they learn the word speech . We assume we know what it means until the law forces us to define it. That definitional pressure is back, this time aimed at a category many people file under “kid stuff” or “backyard plinking”: BB guns and pellet guns....

Flydubai Pilot Allegedly Stabbed Co-Pilot in Hijacking Attempt on Tel Aviv Flight

A Flydubai passenger flight headed from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted and landed in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after Israeli officials said one of the pilots attempted to hijack the aircraft, setting off a violent confrontation in the cockpit. Flydubai later confirmed there had been an "altercation" on...

Maine’s 72-Hour Waiting Period Heads to the Supreme Court

A multistate coalition led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Beckwith v. Frey , a challenge to Maine’s 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases . The coalition filed an amicus brief urging the justices to grant certiorari. The filing comes...

Attempted Hijacking on a Tel Aviv Flight: What Happens Next

An attempted in-flight hijacking is aviation’s nightmare scenario because it compresses decisions into minutes. On September 30, 2026, that fear became very real on a Flydubai passenger flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, when Israeli officials said one of the pilots stabbed his co-pilot and attempted...

Can a Special Counsel Seize a Senator’s Phone Records?

There is a particular kind of constitutional alarm bell that rings when prosecutors go digging through a member of Congress’s communications records, especially when the member is not notified at the time because a third party is gagged from saying anything. That alarm is sounding now because Sen....

Why Alito’s Recusal Matters in the Supreme Court Climate Case

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito recused himself from a closely watched case over climate change liability less than a week before oral arguments were scheduled to begin. That is what happened in Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County , a dispute over whether Boulder,...

Florida Audit Fuels Moskowitz-Singer Clash Over COVID Relief Oversight

Federal relief money is designed to move fast in an emergency. But once the checks clear, the question shifts to oversight: who tracked where the dollars went, and what safeguards were actually in place? That debate has become a campaign flashpoint in one of the country’s most competitive...

Can DEI Policies Be Challenged in Court? What the Seattle Case Means

A unanimous federal appeals court ruled Monday that a jury should decide whether Seattle’s DEI initiatives created a racially hostile work environment for a White employee, while emphasizing that federal anti-discrimination law protects workers regardless of race. The three-judge panel did not rule...

Due Process and Second-Home Property Taxes

Property taxes feel like the most ordinary kind of government power. A bill arrives. A due date follows. Life moves on. But when a city rolls out a new surcharge aimed at second homes, ordinary turns into something sharper. A government notice can carry real consequences. And that is where the...

Cornell Chi Phi lawsuit: what we know

Most high-profile campus cases are loud in the usual way, through accusations, denials, and institutional statements. This one is loud in a different way, because so much of it turns on what was said after the fact, what was put in writing at the time, and what different systems can do with the...

Jack Smith Defends Trump Probes Under GOP Fire

A four-hour Senate Judiciary Committee hearing put former special counsel Jack Smith back in the hot seat over two federal investigations into Donald J. Trump: one tied to efforts to undo the 2020 election and one tied to classified documents kept at Mar-a-Lago. Republicans repeatedly argued the...

Healthcare Fraud and Congress’s Power to Stop It

When Americans hear the phrase healthcare fraud , it often lands as a moral headline. Someone is cheating, someone is getting rich, and someone else is left holding the bag. But the practical issue is more concrete. Fraud and abuse in federally subsidized healthcare can drain taxpayer dollars and...

Temporary Protected Status Is Shrinking

Temporary Protected Status is one of those programs that sounds like a promise until you read the fine print. The promise is protection. The fine print is time. This moment is being defined by three concrete developments: the TPS population has shrunk to 274,000 after terminations , the White House...

Why Pete Buttigieg Is Back in the National Conversation

Pete Buttigieg is having one of those political moments that looks sudden, but really is not. One day he is a familiar Democratic voice making the occasional appearance. The next, he is a headline name again, framed as both a policy combatant and a potential future contender. The spark is...

Why the 2026 Midterms Are Getting Loud Already

The 2026 midterms are starting to feel loud, and it is not because Americans suddenly became obsessed with congressional procedure. It is because people can feel the equation forming: a president in the White House, an anxious opposition, a governing party trying to defend its record, and a...

Can Federal Prisons Restrict Transgender Treatment? What the Supreme Court Fight Is About

When the Justice Department asks the Supreme Court to “save” a Bureau of Prisons policy, it can sound like a morality play. But it is really a power question and a constitutional question, with a medical question inside it. This explainer is written to be evergreen . It explains the legal standards...

Can Citizenship Be Revoked? What Denaturalization Requires and Who Can Do It

In moments like this, a familiar question pops up fast: can the government revoke someone’s citizenship? The Constitution treats citizenship as a status with real gravity, not a license that can be canceled when politics turns ugly. That does not mean citizenship is untouchable. It means there are...