The U.S. Constitution

What Voters Trust Each Party to Fix

Americans rarely vote on a single issue. But elections still tend to organize themselves around a few dominant anxieties, the problems voters feel in their bones when they pull into a gas station, watch local news, or scan their bank app. A new national survey conducted April 17-20 offers a clear...

Congress Pauses Epstein Hearings, and Oversight Starts to Look Optional

Congress does not have to win a criminal case to do its job. It does not have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It does not even have to name a defendant. Its job is simpler and, in a functioning republic, more relentless: find facts, expose failures, and fix the laws that allowed those...

Congress Hits Pause on Epstein Hearings

Congressional oversight is supposed to work like sunlight. A committee announces witnesses, sets a timetable, and the public gets to watch the government do what the Constitution quietly expects it to do: investigate, inform, and legislate with facts rather than rumors. So when the House Oversight...

Congress at 10% Approval: A Crisis of Legitimacy or Just Another Tuesday?

Congress is sitting at 10% approval , with 86% of Americans disapproving , a level that ties the worst public verdict ever measured for the institution. Those are not “bad numbers.” Those are governance numbers . They tell us something about whether people still believe the system is capable of...

The Shadow Docket Was Built to Restrain Presidents

When people hear the phrase “shadow docket” , they usually imagine something secretive: important decisions made quickly, with little explanation, outside the Court’s normal rhythm of briefing, oral argument, and a signed opinion. That concern is real. But there is another part of the story...

Tariffs in Court: Refunds, Prices, and Next Moves

Tariff fights tend to end up in the same place most constitutional conflicts do: the gap between what government can do and what the public is told it will do. This is a general, evergreen guide to how tariff litigation and implementation typically unfold. It is not commentary on any single case,...

Can a Secretary Dismantle the Department of Education?

The U.S. Constitution does not create a right to education. It does not assign schooling to Washington. And it does not mention a federal Department of Education. In practice, that has helped leave primary responsibility for schools with the states. That said, the modern federal education state is...

Senate Border Funding Push: Enforcement, Shutdown Pressure, and Taxpayer Stakes

Washington loves to pretend a “shutdown” is a single switch that flips to OFF. It is not. It is a pressure chamber, and when funding talks stall, that pressure tends to show up first in departments built for constant operations. One concrete way this can bite: when funding is unsettled,...

Tariff Power and the Courts

Tariffs are sometimes treated like a presidential dial. Turn it up to project resolve. Turn it down to ease price pressure. In some election cycles, they are used to signal solidarity with steelworkers, farmers, or consumers. They can also be framed as a fast tool for bargaining leverage or for...

Should Candidates Be Allowed to Bet on Their Own Elections?

Here is a civics-class question that should make every voter a little uncomfortable: if a candidate can legally raise money, buy ads, hire staff, and shape the message, why should it feel different when that same candidate puts cash on the outcome of their own election? Because it is different. Not...

Federal Court Halts Arkansas Act 900 in NetChoice Challenge

Arkansas tried, once again, to reshape how social media works for young people. And once again, a federal court stepped in. In NetChoice LLC v. Griffin , a judge in the Western District of Arkansas issued a preliminary injunction against Arkansas Act 900 of 2025, concluding that major parts of the...

How Much Power Should an Attorney General Use to Reshape Gun Enforcement?

When Americans talk about “gun policy,” they often picture Congress passing a law. But a large share of day-to-day Second Amendment enforcement flows through the Department of Justice and its sub-agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). That reality is at the...

Supreme Court to Hear Green Card Case on Charges

For many families, a green card represents stability: the ability to live and work in the United States on a long-term basis and to build a life with fewer immigration uncertainties. But lawful permanent residence is not the same as citizenship. One major difference is that the federal government...

The SEC Settlement Gag Rule and the First Amendment

When most people think about the First Amendment, they picture a public square, a protest sign, or a newspaper editorial. But some of the most consequential speech questions happen in quieter places, like the fine print of a settlement agreement. That is the heart of the dispute over the SEC’s...

When the Court Leaks

For most of American history, the Supreme Court has asked the public for patience. Read the opinions, follow the reasoning, accept the result, even if you hate it. That bargain is not written into the Constitution, but it is the cultural glue that has kept nine unelected lawyers from looking like...

Virginia Democrats’ referendum would rewrite redistricting rules for a 10–1 map

Virginia is holding a rare kind of election with national consequences: a statewide referendum that would change the rules for drawing congressional districts and immediately swap in a new set of lines that could reshape who represents the Commonwealth in the U.S. House. The proposed map is not...

Tariffs and the Courts

Tariffs are often framed in politics as easy to announce and, depending on context, harder to defend. Supporters may describe them as a show of strength or bargaining leverage. Critics may describe them as a broad cost increase that can feel tax-like in practice. Once tariffs are challenged, the...

SCOTUS to Weigh Funding for Schools That Reject Same-Sex Parents

The Supreme Court just agreed Monday to hear a case that sounds, on the surface, like a narrow fight over preschool paperwork. It is not narrow. It is a live question about what Americans mean when we say “religious liberty,” and what we mean when we say equal access, even when the legal fight...

Tariffs After a Court Ruling

TL;DR: Congress holds the Constitution’s core tariff power, but it has given presidents several statutory tools to act in defined circumstances. Courts typically police the boundaries of those statutes. In scenarios where a court narrows one statutory pathway, disputes often shift to which...

Who Owns Presidential Records?

In everyday life, we assume the person who writes an email or takes a note “owns” it. The presidency does not work that way. When a president and the White House staff create documents while carrying out public duties, those materials are generally treated as public records , preserved for...