The Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship ruling is one of those cases where constitutional text, history, immigration policy, presidential power, and judicial philosophy all collide in one very crowded legal hallway. The Court affirmed the lower court’s judgment against President Trump’s executive order, which sought to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to…
Truth, Libel, and the Media’s Very Expensive Hall Pass
Few Supreme Court precedents have shaped American political speech more than New York Times v. Sullivan, the 1964 decision that made it much harder for public officials, and later public figures, to win defamation lawsuits. Supporters say that high bar protects free debate, especially criticism of powerful people. Critics say it’s become a legal bunker…
Ballot Security or Federal Overreach?
The controversy over Postmaster General David Steiner’s statement about mail ballots is one of those political stories where everyone immediately runs to their assigned battle stations. Supporters hear “election integrity” and reach for the applause button. Opponents hear ‘federal voter data portal’ and see less of a postal reform and more of a constitutional boundary…
The “Anti-Weaponization” Fund: Good Principle, Terrible Packaging
The Justice Department’s proposed “anti-weaponization” fund is one of those ideas that sounds righteous in theory but politically combustible in practice. The basic claim behind it isn’t hard to understand: if federal agencies used government power to punish people for their politics, beliefs, speech, associations, or religious convictions, those people deserve more than a polite…
Jay Clayton for DNI: Competence, Caution, and the Pulte Problem
President Trump’s nomination of Jay Clayton to serve as Director of National Intelligence is one of those Washington moves that manages to be both calming and concerning at the same time. On one hand, Clayton is a serious person with a serious résumé. He’s not some cable-news goblin pulled from the fever swamp and handed…
When Compassion Loses the Receipts
The Trump administration’s decision to cut off federal funding to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, better known as LAHSA, is exactly the kind of story that makes everyone retreat to their assigned political corners. Conservatives hear “fraud,” “mismanagement,” and “billions in homelessness spending” and immediately start checking their blood pressure. Progressives hear “Trump,” “funding…
Who Should Write the Rules for Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence has officially entered the “Congress is trying to do something about it” phase, which means we’ve now moved from “terrifyingly fast technological disruption” to “terrifyingly fast technological disruption, but with committee hearings.” According to reports surrounding the Obernolte-Trahan AI negotiations, Reps. Jay Obernolte, a California Republican, and Lori Trahan, a Massachusetts Democrat, have…
Investigating E. Jean Carroll: Equal Justice or Political Payback?
The Justice Department has reportedly opened a perjury investigation into E. Jean Carroll, focusing on whether she lied during civil litigation against President Trump when she said no one else was paying her legal fees. AP reports that the probe is being led by federal prosecutors in Chicago, while acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is…
Weighing Trump’s Federal Gas Tax Holiday Proposal
President Trump’s proposal to suspend the federal gas tax comes at a politically obvious moment. Gas prices have surged amid the Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz remains under Iranian pressure, and ordinary Americans are getting clobbered at the pump. Trump floated the idea after prices rose past $4.50 per gallon, while the federal gas…
War, Power, and the Constitution: Who Actually Gets to Pull the Trigger?
On Friday, President Trump claimed that the War Powers Resolution is “totally unconstitutional.” That’s not exactly a mild critique. That’s the political equivalent of flipping the table and saying the rulebook itself is illegitimate. The War Powers Resolution, passed in 1973 in the shadow of the Vietnam War, was Congress’s attempt to rein in a…
