Author: Eleanor Stratton

A federal judge in San Francisco has stood as a bulwark against the power of the White House, blocking the Trump administration from cutting off federal funding to dozens of so-called “sanctuary” cities and counties. This is not a ruling on the merits of immigration policy. It is a powerful and constitutionally significant affirmation of…

In a dramatic new move in the escalating war over the Jeffrey Epstein files, the Department of Justice has publicly released the full transcript of its recent prison interview with the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Hailed by the administration as an act of “transparency,” this is a calculated and constitutionally significant maneuver. Blocked by…

For nearly two decades, the federal government has made a simple bargain with a generation of teachers, nurses, social workers, and other public servants. If you work in a vital, often lower-paying, public service job for ten years and make your student loan payments, the government will forgive the rest of your debt. Now, the…

For ninety years, Social Security and Medicare have formed the bedrock of economic and health security for America’s seniors. These programs represent a constitutional promise, enacted under Congress’s power to provide for the “general Welfare.” Now, the President’s signature legislative achievement – the “big, beautiful bill” – is having profound, and in some cases, hidden…

A sitting Supreme Court Justice has, in a formal written opinion, accused her own colleagues of playing a child’s game with the law of the land. In a scathing dissent to an emergency ruling, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson declared that the Court’s majority seems to be operating under the rules of “Calvinball” – a game…

From the Oval Office on Friday, after weeks of exercising direct federal control over Washington, D.C., the President turned his attention to a new target. “Chicago’s a mess,” he declared, before adding ominously, “We’ll straighten that one out probably next.” This is not a mere political boast. It is a direct threat to deploy the…

In a fiery speech celebrating the federal takeover of Washington, D.C., the President of the United States announced he would personally join federal and local police on the streets of the capital. This is not a routine visit with law enforcement. It is a powerful and constitutionally unprecedented act that shatters a long-standing norm separating…

A legal and humanitarian battle is raging in our federal courts over the fate of 60,000 immigrants. The Trump administration is moving to end their “Temporary Protected Status” (TPS), while a lower court judge has accused the administration of acting with “racial and discriminatory animus.” Now, a federal appeals court has stepped in, pausing the…

The Supreme Court, the First Amendment, and the Coming War Over Internet Speech In a cryptic, unsigned order from its “shadow docket,” the Supreme Court has refused to block a sweeping new Mississippi law designed to police social media to protect children. But in a stunning twist, Justice Brett Kavanaugh sent a powerful and contradictory…