Articles by Eleanor Stratton

Preventive Pretrial Detention

In American civics, we teach a clean sequence: you get arrested, you post bail, you go home, you come back for court. Then real life interrupts the lesson plan. Sometimes a judge does not set bail at any price, or orders someone held without bail. Whether a court has that authority depends on the...

Direct Democracy in the States

Americans talk about “democracy” like it is one thing. In practice, we run two systems at once. At the federal level, the Constitution is relentlessly representative. You do not vote on federal statutes. You elect lawmakers who vote on federal statutes. Even the President is filtered through...

Withholding of Removal and CAT Protection

Asylum gets most of the headlines. It is the form of protection people recognize, the one that sounds like a fresh start. But in immigration court, many cases turn on two quieter forms of protection: withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) . They exist for a...

Adjustment of Status Explained

If you are eligible , you can pursue a green card from inside the United States without traveling abroad for a visa interview. That process is called Adjustment of Status , or AOS. It sounds simple in a sentence, but in practice it is a choreography of forms, deadlines, and eligibility rules that...

How U.S. Visas Work

Americans often talk about “getting a visa” as if it is the whole story. It is not. A U.S. visa is usually just a key that lets you knock on the door. What matters after you arrive is your immigration status , how long it lasts, what you are allowed to do, and what happens if you break the...

The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program Explained

In the American immigration debate, the word refugee gets used like a mood. Sometimes it means “person in danger.” Sometimes it means “anyone crossing a border.” Sometimes it means “a policy I like” or “a policy I do not.” But in U.S. law, refugee is a specific legal category with a...

One Person, One Vote

Most redistricting fights sound like political chemistry: “packing,” “cracking,” “efficiency gaps,” “communities of interest.” But beneath all of that is one rule so basic it functions like the mapmaker’s speed limit. Each district should contain about the same number of people....

Your Car’s Data and the Fourth Amendment

You can close your garage door, buckle your seatbelt, and still leave a trail. Not tire tracks. Data. Lawmakers are pressing for tighter limits on connected-car data after privacy advocates warned that modern vehicles can collect location, speed, route history, braking patterns, voice commands,...

Your Car as a Surveillance Device

Your car used to be a private bubble with a steering wheel. Now it is a sensor package on wheels, and the fight in Washington is no longer just about what automakers can collect. It is also about whether federal agencies, state investigators, or government contractors can obtain that data, or in...

The FCC’s News Distortion Trap

There is a specific kind of power in American government that does not look like censorship at first glance. It does not confiscate printing presses. It does not ban a book. It does not even need to win a defamation case in court. It simply reminds a speaker: your permission to operate can be...

GOP Section 702 Deal Hits Rules Committee Hurdle

A House Republican deal to renew and revise Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is hitting its first major procedural hurdle: the House Rules Committee. The committee decides what reaches the floor, how debate is structured, and which amendments are allowed. Lawmakers expected...

Geofence Warrants and the Fourth Amendment

There is a particular kind of search the Fourth Amendment was written to stop: the kind that begins with a dragnet and ends by deciding who looks suspicious. In 1791, that dragnet looked like a “general warrant,” a government permission slip to rummage through private papers without naming the...

When Protest Feels Pointless

There is a particular kind of political despair that does not look like quiet resignation. It looks like acceleration. It looks like a person deciding that the ordinary channels of democracy are not just slow, but fake. That the doors marked petition , vote , and litigate are props on a stage, not...

The Armed Man at the WHCA, and the Constitution We Practice

There is a particular kind of national anxiety that settles in when someone armed rushes a room full of public officials and journalists. It is not just fear of violence. It is the realization that our civic life depends on fragile rituals: public events, open access, a free press standing close...

Jurisdiction Stripping and the Courts

Every few years, Congress rediscovers a tempting lever: if courts keep striking down our laws, why not keep courts from hearing the cases at all? That idea has a name: jurisdiction stripping . It sounds technical, but it is one of the most direct ways the political branches can try to change...

Humanitarian Parole vs. Advance Parole

In everyday English, “parole” sounds like something you get after serving time. In immigration law, it means something very different, and much more precarious. Immigration parole is a discretionary permission to be in the United States for a limited period and a specific purpose, without being...

Presidential Signing Statements

The president signs a bill. Cameras click. Pens multiply. And then, sometimes, the president adds a few paragraphs that sound like a footnote to the law itself. That footnote is a presidential signing statement , and it is one of the most misunderstood tools in the executive branch. Some people...

The Insanity Defense

People talk about the insanity defense like it is a magic phrase: say it, and the courtroom door swings open. In reality, it is among the narrowest, most technical defenses in American criminal law, and it answers a very specific question. Not whether the defendant did the act. Not whether the...

Exhausting Administrative Remedies

You can lose a lawsuit against a federal agency without ever arguing the facts, the Constitution, or even whether the agency was wrong. The reason is often painfully simple: you sued too soon. Administrative law has a set of gatekeeping rules that sound procedural but act like a bouncer at the...

Probation and Parole Revocation: Due Process

Probation and parole can feel like they blur into everyday life. You report. You test. You keep curfews. You ask permission before you travel. It is supervision, not a court proceeding. Revocation is different. Revocation is the moment the system stops monitoring and starts deciding whether you...