Another election year, another courtroom battle over voting rules. At this point, constitutional lawyers might as well keep overnight bags packed beside their desks. The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to suspend lower-court rulings blocking portions of the President’s executive order on citizenship verification and mail-in voting. The request would allow the administration…
Trump’s Iran Warning and the Fight Over the Strait of Hormuz
President Trump has issued Iran a blunt warning: Every time Iranian forces attack a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the United States will destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant, including potentially those in or near Tehran. The threat comes amid renewed American airstrikes, continued Iranian attacks on commercial shipping, and the collapse of…
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…
Who Should Enforce the Supreme Court’s Ethics Code?
The Supreme Court finally adopted a formal code of conduct in 2023, committing its members to uphold judicial integrity, avoid actual or apparent impropriety, remain impartial, disclose relevant financial interests, and refrain from political activity. What the code didn’t establish was an independent process for investigating alleged violations or determining whether a justice had failed…
Nancy Mace Weighs a Run for South Carolina’s Open Senate Seat
The sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham has left South Carolina facing an unusually compressed and consequential decision. Gov. Henry McMaster must appoint a temporary replacement, while candidates prepare for a special Republican primary scheduled for August 11, a possible runoff on August 25, and the general election on November 3. Filing begins July 21,…
Trump’s Election Commission Shake-Up
President Trump’s decision to remove the remaining leadership of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has opened yet another front in the seemingly endless battle over how American elections should be administered and who should be trusted to administer them. Trump fired Democratic commissioners Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, while Republican commissioner Christy McCormick resigned after…
A Housing Bill, an Election Bill, and a Missing Signature
President Trump has declined to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act because the Senate failed to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility—or SAVE America—Act. Trump is allowing the housing legislation to become law without his signature. Under the Constitution, a bill automatically becomes law when the president neither signs nor vetoes it within…
The GOP’s Planned Parenthood Fumble
Planned Parenthood is back to billing Medicaid for non-abortion services after a one-year federal reimbursement ban expired in early July 2026. That has pro-life groups furious, Planned Parenthood relieved, and Republican lawmakers once again discovering that campaign promises are much easier to shout into a microphone than to turn into durable law. Funny how that…
The Venezuela Aid Dilemma
Venezuela’s earthquake crisis has created the kind of moment that tests more than buildings, roads, and emergency systems. It tests judgment. It tests compassion. And, in Washington’s case, it tests whether America can walk and chew gum at the same time: help suffering people without accidentally handing a political gift basket to a government figure…
The Border, the Bump, and the Citizenship Battle
The Supreme Court’s ruling upholding birthright citizenship has set off the next round of immigration politics: not just who gets citizenship after birth, but who should be allowed into the country before birth. Specifically, some have begun floating tighter restrictions on pregnant foreign visitors entering the United States. The issue is “birth tourism,” meaning foreign…