Articles by Eleanor Stratton

You can tell a lot about a democracy by what it counts and what it ignores. After each federal census, Tennessee had fresh population numbers in hand, then largely ignored what the new figures meant for representation. District lines for the state legislature had not been meaningfully updated since...

Justice Thomas, Criminal Procedure, and the Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights was written for the ordinary moment: the knock at the door, the traffic stop, the search you did not expect, the courtroom you never planned to enter. Most constitutional rights are not exercised in marble hallways. They are tested in fluorescent-lit rooms by people who cannot...

The Courts vs. a Transgender Troop Ban

Americans tend to talk about “the military” like it is a separate country with separate rules. In one sense, that instinct is right. The Constitution gives the political branches extraordinary control over national defense, and courts traditionally hesitate before telling commanders how to run...

Los Angeles is the kind of city that can turn anything into a spectacle, including a municipal election. But the spectacle is not the story. The story is that Spencer Pratt, a reality TV figure turned online influencer turned mayoral candidate, is gaining real traction in the race, powered by a...

New Hampshire’s Proof-of-Citizenship Voting Rule Blocked

New Hampshire tried to add a simple checkpoint to one specific voting scenario: if you show up on Election Day not yet registered and you want to register and vote that day, you must prove you are a U.S. citizen. Late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Samantha Elliott blocked that requirement, ruling...

Judge Orders Kennedy Center to Drop Trump Name

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is not just another cultural venue. Its name is fixed by federal statute, not by branding instincts or board votes. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered that President Donald Trump’s name be removed from the Kennedy Center,...

Fusion Voting Explained

Most American ballots force a simple story: you pick a candidate, and that choice also picks a party. Fusion voting scrambles that script. It lets multiple parties nominate the same candidate so that candidate appears on more than one party line on the ballot. Voters can support the candidate and...

IEEPA Explained: Presidential Emergency Economic Powers

When Americans hear the words national emergency , they tend to picture troops, disaster zones, and urgent speeches. But a huge share of modern emergency power is quieter and more technical. It runs through banks, shipping insurers, payment rails, export licenses, and corporate compliance...

Proof-of-Citizenship Voting Requirements Explained

Most election rules you hear about are framed as a simple question: can you vote or can you not? Proof-of-citizenship requirements sit in a more procedural lane. They are not mainly about how you identify yourself at the polls. They are about how election officials decide whether a person is...

What Does a District Attorney Do?

The words district attorney sound straightforward: an attorney for a district. In real life, the job is both narrower and more powerful than that. A district attorney, often called a DA or, in some states, a state’s attorney , is the chief local prosecutor for a county or prosecutorial district....

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Explained

The Sixth Amendment guarantees the “Assistance of Counsel” for the accused in criminal prosecutions. Most people hear that and picture a simple promise: if the state is trying to take your liberty, you get a lawyer. But the real promise is sharper than that. A lawyer who shows up and does almost...

Criminal Discovery in Federal Cases Explained

In a federal criminal case, “discovery” sounds like it should mean the same thing it means in civil court: broad, document-heavy exchange where each side can demand information from the other and take depositions to lock in testimony. That is not how criminal discovery works. Federal criminal...

Shaw v. Reno Explained

Most redistricting controversies feel like inside baseball until you see the shape of a district that looks like it was poured through a crack in the map. That was the visual spark behind Shaw v. Reno (1993). The case did not say legislatures must ignore race. It said something narrower and more...

McCulloch v. Maryland Explained

There are Supreme Court decisions that resolve a dispute. And then there are decisions that shape what kind of country the United States can become under the Constitution. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) is the second kind. On the surface, it was a fight over a bank and a state tax. Underneath, it was...

Most Americans grow up with a simple civics story about elections: each party holds its own primary, each party picks a nominee, and the general election is a head-to-head contest between Democrats and Republicans. Alaska’s “top-four primary and ranked general” model departs from that script by...

Many U.S. single-winner elections ask you to do something oddly narrow: pick exactly one name, even if you would be perfectly fine with two or three. That design choice is not a law of nature. It is a rule, and like any rule, it shapes behavior. Approval voting rewrites that rule in the simplest...

Good Faith Exception and Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

The exclusionary rule sounds simple: if the police break the Fourth Amendment, the evidence gets thrown out. As a baseline in criminal cases, that is often the idea. In practice, it is much messier. Courts have built in pressure-release valves. Some evidence stays in even if the search was...

Most people think a criminal sentence ends when the jail door opens, probation ends, or the fine gets paid. But a conviction can keep punishing you long after the judge is done. Lawyers and policymakers often call these collateral consequences (sometimes collateral sanctions or discretionary...

Federal cooperation deals have a reputation: a quiet conference room, a stack of exhibits, and a person trying to talk their way out of the worst day of their life. What actually happens is less cinematic and more contractual. “Cooperating” in a federal case usually means the government wants...

Guilty, Not Guilty, Nolo Contendere, and Alford Pleas Explained

At an arraignment , the judge confirms what you are accused of, makes sure you understand key rights, and asks a deceptively simple question: How do you plead? Those words are a switch. A not guilty plea keeps the government in proof mode. A guilty plea moves the case into sentencing mode. And two...