The U.S. Constitution

The Supreme Court Takes Up the Home Distilling Ban

A Reconstruction-era statute makes it a federal crime to distill spirits at home, even for personal use. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to consider whether Congress had the constitutional authority to impose that ban more than 150 years ago. On paper, the case is about liquor. In practice, it...

Trump and Vance’s $25M Whistleblower Reward Fund, Explained

Governments talk about waste, fraud, and abuse the way people talk about dieting. Everyone agrees it matters. Everyone promises they are finally getting serious. Then the incentives stay exactly what they were. On Tuesday afternoon, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance plan to put a...

Rubio’s 60-Day Sanctions Window and the Foreign Policy Fight

When Americans hear the word sanctions , it can sound like something a president can flip on and off. In practice, it is often messier: sanctions and tariffs can be written into law, adjusted through executive action, and debated through the language of diplomacy. That tension is now front and...

A Maryland Magnet School Case Puts Admissions Back Before the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new case out of Maryland that turns on a familiar flashpoint: when, if ever, can race be part of a public school admissions policy? This dispute is narrower than the Court’s 2023 ruling striking down the use of race in college admissions under the 14th...

The Bend School Shooting and the Law of Armed Self-Defense on Campus

A shooting at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon ended with the suspected attacker dead after being shot by a bystander. Early accounts said police were first called around 1:00 p.m. about a shot fired into a car. About a minute later, multiple 911 calls said the person had entered the...

Washington’s $126 Gun Permit Fee

Washington is moving toward a new step for firearm purchases: a state-issued permit-to-purchase that comes with a stated price tag. Beginning May 1, 2027 , residents will have to pay $126 to acquire the permit required to buy a gun. Radio host Jason Rantz has noted the permit-to-purchase will be...

Can the Government Collect Voter Data From 47 States? What the Lawsuit Says

A new lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., is challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to collect and analyze voter data from across the country. The complaint alleges the Department of Homeland Security obtained voter files from at least 47 states , then handled the...

Why Brennan’s Lawsuit Failed and Why the Investigation Still Matters

When a former senior official sues a sitting administration, most people assume the court is about to referee the underlying political fight. That is not what happened in John Brennan’s case. A federal judge dismissed Brennan’s lawsuit against President Donald Trump and multiple top officials...

Why White House Press Secretaries Get Fired So Fast

White House press secretaries can look like public officials in their own right. They stand at the podium, speak for the president, and become a daily proxy for the administration. But the job is still a job. And in this case, it lasted a week. White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia is leaving...

Katie Zacharia Ousted After Five Days as Press Secretary

Katie Zacharia’s time as the White House press secretary ended on Friday, less than a week after it began. Zacharia started on Monday. By Friday, President Donald Trump told reporters he had encouraged her to “reconsider” taking the job. Trump described a conversation with Zacharia as advice about...

Martial Law Talk Is Back. Here’s What the Constitution Actually Allows.

“Martial law” has become one of those phrases that can hijack the national nervous system in a single news cycle. It sounds like a button a president can press when politics get messy. It sounds like tanks, curfews, and soldiers replacing civilian government. That is why the latest round of...

Fired FBI Staff Sue Over Trump-Case Dismissals

When people hear “FBI” and “Trump classified documents” in the same sentence, they tend to assume the story is about evidence, indictments, or executive privilege. This one is about something more basic: a workplace dispute involving people who worked on a politically charged investigation. Nine...

What the Constitution Protects When Campaigns Turn Personal

Campaign season has a way of turning personal fast. Michigan’s Senate race offered a clear example Thursday, when Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s “Shouldn’t Be This Hard” tour stopped in Iron Mountain for a town hall featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. El-Sayed tore into President Donald...

Supreme Court Takes Up DOGE Records Fight

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that centers on whether a nonprofit group can obtain records connected to President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and what limits apply when lower courts order discovery while still deciding whether DOGE is even subject to the...

When a Minor Violation Becomes Financial Ruin

You can live in a constitutional republic and still feel like the rules are hard to see until you trip over them, and the penalties are anything but subtle. Cases like these show how quickly that gap can open. Because somewhere in America, a six-pack of beer can end with the government taking a...

When Judges Lose Immunity: The Line Between the Bench and the Jail Cell

Judicial immunity is one of those legal doctrines that sounds absolute until you see what it is actually designed to protect. Judges need room to make unpopular calls without worrying that every disappointed litigant will sue them personally. But immunity does not turn a robe into a blank check,...

Can Antitrust Law Apply to a White House TV Press Pool Boycott?

When the Justice Department opens an antitrust investigation into major television networks, it immediately raises two different kinds of questions. One is practical: do the facts fit antitrust law? The other is about power: what happens when federal enforcement collides with press access and a...

The Supreme Court and the Climate Lawsuit Federalism Fight

In a country built on divided sovereignty, the hardest questions are often not about what we should do, but who gets to do it. That is the constitutional engine under a high-stakes fight now before the Supreme Court: whether states and cities can use their own courts to seek massive damages from...

The Lobsterman Case and the Fourth Amendment’s “Regulated Industry” Loophole

Here is the question that keeps nagging at me, the kind I used to ask a classroom full of teenagers who thought “rights” were something you either had or you did not. If you need a license to make a living, does that mean the government gets to watch you do it all day, every day? Frank Thompson, a...

The CFTC’s Line on Prediction Markets

Washington is again wrestling with a familiar boundary question in a new context: when does a wager become a federally regulated financial instrument, and when is it simply gambling? On Friday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed two measures aimed at separating prediction markets from...