Washington has discovered a political dilemma old enough to qualify for Social Security: What happens when the standards politicians enthusiastically applied to the other party suddenly wander across the aisle and sit down in their own living room? Sen. John Curtis, a Utah Republican, is asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate whether presidential family…
When the Press Pool Becomes the Story
There’s something almost impressively Washington about a fight over news coverage becoming bigger news than whatever the reporters were supposed to be covering. President Trump’s decision to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House has now escalated well beyond another round of complaints about “fake news.” Reporters from the three organizations lost…
Al Green’s Impeachment Effort and the Debate Over Immigration Enforcement
The dispute over President Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda has reached the impeachment debate. Representative Al Green’s effort raises a question that goes beyond whether Americans favor more deportations: When does the way an administration enforces immigration law become grounds for removing a president? House lawmakers rejected the effort. That establishes its immediate legislative outcome, but…
What Saxony-Anhalt’s Election Says About Germany
Germany’s political establishment just received the electoral equivalent of a brick through the window, and responding with another lecture about the neighborhood’s declining manners probably won’t repair the glass. The Alternative for Germany, commonly known as AfD, won a commanding 43.8 percent of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt’s state election, more than doubling its previous showing.…
Trump, Kristen Welker, and the Boundaries of FCC Authority
President Trump and NBC’s Kristen Welker have managed to turn two ordinary words—“mixed results”—into a national argument about political influence, media bias, federal authority, and the First Amendment. Apparently, Washington had a quiet moment and needed something to do. The dispute began when Welker, appearing in a live promotional segment on NBC-owned WRC-TV before Meet…
Lake Ontario or Lake America? The Politics of a Name
Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to replace “Lake Ontario” with “Lake America” in federal maps, contracts, documents, and communications within 30 days. The order can’t force Canada, international organizations, private mapmakers, state governments, or ordinary people to follow along. It…
The New Cuba Sanctions: Security, Sovereignty, and Economic Pressure
The Trump administration has opened another front in its pressure campaign against Cuba. Yesterday, the United States sanctioned three leaders of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, commonly known as ICAP, along with nine government entities operating in construction, mining, metals, imports, tourism supply, and labor contracting. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accuses…
The Constitutional Fight Over the Federal Ghost-Gun Rule
A federal judge in Texas has reopened the legal battle over the federal government’s regulation of so-called “ghost guns,” ruling that key portions of a Biden-era rule violate both the Second Amendment and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process. The decision may sound like a direct rejection of the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling upholding…
Steam or Electromagnetism? The Navy’s Carrier-Catapult Debate
President Trump has ordered the Pentagon to prepare a plan for replacing the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, better known as EMALS, with traditional steam catapults aboard the future USS Doris Miller. The same directive calls for replacing the carrier’s electromagnetic weapons elevators with hydraulic systems. Despite some of the broader headlines, Trump hasn’t ordered sailors…
The Air Force One Leak Investigation and the Boundaries of Press Freedom
The Justice Department’s attempt to identify confidential sources behind The New York Times’ reporting on the Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet has created a serious clash between two legitimate public interests: protecting national-security information and preserving a free press capable of investigating the government. The Hill reported that the DOJ sought communications records connected to…
