The Supreme Court Sandra Day O’Connor Left Behind Is Dead, Too Her successors abandoned the principles of pragmatism and compromise she represented.
capitol riot
Jan. 12, 2021
Don’t Impeach Trump: Treat Him Like a Civil War Traitor The Constitution contains a quick and simple way to bar the president from holding office again.
Trump Didn’t Choose Barrett — She Was Chosen for Him Trump is only a vessel, an instrument through which conservative legal activists and a pliant Senate have made the judiciary a bit more Trumpian.
Will Kavanaugh Give Trump the Power to Fire Anyone He Pleases? President Trump claims he has an “absolute right” to dismiss federal officials. An imminent Supreme Court ruling could make that true.
coronavirus
Mar. 10, 2020
What Was the Trump DOJ’s Problem With Coronavirus Prevention Posters? Immigration courts were hanging CDC posters on their walls. Someone in Washington had a problem with that — before backing down.
supreme court
Nov. 13, 2019
Trump Won’t Own His DACA Decision. But the Supreme Court Might Choose to. The president has hidden behind spurious legalese in trying to remove protections for 700,000 Dreamers. Will John Roberts allow him to prevail anyway?
russia investigation
Nov. 4, 2018
Mueller’s Gone Quiet, But Expect Some Post-Midterms Surprises Roger Stone’s maneuvering, Michael Flynn’s plea deal, and a newly unsealed Watergate document provide clues about the special counsel’s next move.
No, President Trump Can’t Strike Birthright Citizenship Out of the Constitution The president is trying to stir up questions about the 14th Amendment, though for more than a century the courts have been very clear on its meaning.
How Will the Supreme Court Handle the Case of Kids Suing for Climate Action? “The right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free society,” wrote a federal judge.
The Future of Transgender Rights Now Rests With Brett Kavanaugh If the Trump administration redefines gender under Title IX, the issue will end up before the courts — and Kavanaugh will likely be the deciding vote.
Harvard Admissions Trial Won’t End Affirmative Action – But That’s the End Goal By taking up the cause of a small group of Asian-Americans, conservatives hope to give the Supreme Court a chance to end a historic civil-rights tool.
With Legal Storm Looming, Pat Cipollone May Be Perfect for White House Counsel He appears ready to pick up Don McGahn’s task of reshaping the judiciary, and his experience with congressional probes could certainly come in handy.
supreme court
Oct. 10, 2018
On the Morning Kavanaugh Took the Bench, One Moment Stood Out Inside the Supreme Court, there were a lot of interesting, if subtle, dynamics at play as the new justice was seated.
supreme court
Oct. 7, 2018
Kavanaugh’s Confirmation Shreds the Pretense of an Apolitical Supreme Court The brute ascension of Justice Kavanaugh throws a wrecking ball at any remaining illusion that the Court is the only nonpartisan branch of government.
the kavanaugh hearings
Oct. 2, 2018
Rachel Mitchell’s Kavanaugh Report Just Tells Republicans What They Want to Hear The report on her questioning of Christine Ford and Brett Kavanaugh reads like the work of a GOP operative, not a serious sex-crimes prosecutor.
Kavanaugh Hearings: How Should Senators View the Evidence? Supreme Court confirmation hearings aren’t trials. Senators are free to make up their own minds about what they hear, with basically no constraints.
brett kavanaugh
Sept. 25, 2018
Brett Kavanaugh’s First and Highest Loyalty Is to the Right-Wing Machine Appearing on Fox News to defend yourself is a page from the movement conservative playbook — one that no other SCOTUS nominee has used.
Paul Manafort Has Nothing Left But Information By cooperating with the feds, he’s cashing in his last asset.
What Would a Joint Defense Agreement Between Manafort and Trump Mean? Unpacking the implications of an arrangement Rudy Giuliani seemed to tease.
russia probe
Sept. 11, 2018
Why the Mueller Probe’s Papadopoulos Bombshell Fizzled The ex–Trump aide’s plea deal raised hopes that he might be the key to more 2016 election mysteries, but prosecutors say he mainly hindered the probe.
the kavanaugh hearings
Sept. 7, 2018
Kavanaugh Put Trump Sycophancy Ahead of Defending the Judiciary After Gorsuch called out Trump’s attacks on the courts, there was talk of rescinding his nomination. At his own hearing, Kavanaugh avoided that risk.
the kavanaugh hearings
Sept. 6, 2018
Kavanaugh Can’t Hide His Slavish Devotion to Presidential Power Despite the judge’s evasive answers on executive power, his hearings have only underscored that no one should count on him to rein in Trump.
the kavanaugh hearings
Sept. 4, 2018
Why the Still-Secret Brett Kavanaugh Documents Are a Scandal Whatever may be lurking in Kavanaugh’s past might be the Democrats’ last chance to stop his nomination.
the kavanaugh hearings
Sept. 2, 2018
Welcome to the Brett Kavanaugh Show What to expect from four days of hearings for the man primed to swing the Supreme Court rightward.
Judge Ellis Knows What He’s Doing in the Manafort Trial And rumors that the trial has Mueller on the ropes have been greatly exaggerated.
Paul Manafort’s First Trial Is a Sideshow. The Next One Won’t Be. The real action is already happening across the Potomac, where another Manafort trial is bound to be much more revealing.
Justice Kennedy Surrendered to Donald Trump His sorry final act in the term that just ended — caving to the Court’s right wing on key decisions — will loom large in Kennedy’s legacy.
It’s Donald Trump’s Supreme Court Now The court’s decision upholding the president’s travel ban shows the that the conservative majority has no intention of standing up to him.
The Supreme Court Continues to Chip Away at Protections for Minority Voters The conservative majority seems very comfortable being aggressive on this issue, as its decision on racial gerrymandering shows.
The Supreme Court Just Put a Ding in the Surveillance State Chief Justice Roberts broke from his fellow conservatives to make cell-phone location data less accessible to cops.
SCOTUS: Forget What We Said Before About Not Having to Pay Sales Tax Online The court threw out ample recent precedent to rule that states can collect tax on internet buys.
Why the Supreme Court Keeps Dodging the Question of Partisan Gerrymandering The chief justice is terrified of looking political. And the swing justice won’t make up his mind.
On Obamacare, Jeff Sessions Is Standing Against the Rule of Law The attorney general has made a strange and shocking choice: not to defend the Affordable Care Act in court.
Justice Kennedy Has His Cake and Eats It Too in Gay Wedding Case In a much-watched civil rights case, Kennedy’s decision managed both to set down important markers while also avoiding the really big questions.
Why Michael Cohen and Michael Avenatti Both Had a Bad Day in Court One got beaten down by a federal judge for being a grandstander. The other seems more and more likely to face prosecution.
How a Federal Judge Is Laying Down the Law on Trump’s Twitter Habits One way to think of it is that she is — rather sneakily — giving him a test.
The Supreme Court Has Decided to Shut Workers Out of the Courthouse for Good Monday’s decision letting companies avoid class-action lawsuits is a devastating blow for workers.
Donald Trump Comes Unglued Amid Growing Pressure From Bob Mueller His latest freakout against the Dept. of Justice bears resemblance to his mendacious campaign promise to prosecute his political enemies.
Schneiderman Is Gone, But New York’s Legal #Resistance to Trump Will Go On The efforts of state attorneys general to uphold the rule of law are bigger than any one person.
The Supreme Court Will Make Trump Talk to Mueller If It Has To If Mueller’s effort to make Trump testify winds up before the court, expect SCOTUS to stick to the precedent set by United States v. Nixon .
Preet Bharara’s Former Deputy on His Old Boss’s Firing and Michael Cohen Case Former acting U.S. attorney Joon Kim discusses leading the Southern District of New York under the Trump administration.
In the Travel-Ban Case, Supreme Court Seems Ready to Let Trump Be Trump A day of interesting hypotheticals — and comments from the bench that suggest the president will get a lot of latitude.
In the Bizarre Michael Cohen Courtroom Drama, Trump Doesn’t Hold Much Sway The judge in Monday’s hearing treated the case like any other white-collar investigation involving shady lawyers and clients.
Robert Mueller May or May Not Go, But His Work Won’t Go Anywhere The special counsel has constructed an investigation that is sabotage-proof in key ways.
FBI Raids Show the Investigation of Michael Cohen Is No ‘Witch Hunt’ Despite what Trump thinks, federal investigators had to clear multiple hurdles to take such remarkable action, and Mueller didn’t orchestrate it.
Mueller (Quietly) Keeps Turning Up the Heat Recent court filings by the special counsel’s office in the Russia saga paint a picture very different than the one GOP critics are trying to sell.
Lawyer Who Lied to Bob Mueller May Have Blown Paul Manafort’s Russia Cover Alex van der Zwaan, a minor character targeted by Mueller’s investigation, could make history.
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