The U.S. Constitution

Reflecting Pool Vandalism: What Federal Law Covers

You can stand at the Lincoln Memorial, look down the National Mall, and feel like you are standing inside the country’s shared memory. That is part of why vandalism stories involving the Reflecting Pool resonate so strongly. The Pool is not just a tourist backdrop. It is part of the National Mall...

Can Religion Disqualify Someone From Public Office?

You can feel the tension in the question because it lives at the intersection of two American instincts: the desire to judge leaders by character and the fear that government will start judging citizens by creed. That is why the Constitution, unusually early and unusually bluntly, draws a bright...

Can Parents Demand Bathroom Policy Answers From Schools?

When parents ask a school a direct question about privacy and parental notice, they usually expect a direct answer. A new federal lawsuit out of North Carolina turns on what the district will say, and what it says it cannot say. The case was filed by Brandon Matthews , a father with a fourth-grade...

Judge Rejects SPLC Bid to Toss Indictment for “Vindictive Prosecution”

In a significant procedural loss for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a federal judge has refused to dismiss the organization’s criminal case on the theory that it is the target of a “vindictive prosecution.” Just as importantly, the court also declined to authorize discovery aimed at...

What Is the Filibuster?

You can spot a filibuster fight a mile away because it always sounds like a constitutional argument. One side says the Senate is being “paralyzed.” The other says the Senate is doing what it was designed to do: cool the passions of the moment. But the filibuster itself is neither a constitutional...

What Is TPS? How Temporary Protected Status Works and Why Haiti TPS Can End

Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is one of the most misunderstood parts of U.S. immigration law because the word protected can sound like a permanent guarantee. It is not. TPS exists because Congress wrote a statute that lets the executive branch temporarily shield certain people already in the...

Can a President Renovate the White House Without Congress?

You can feel the constitutional nerve being touched whenever a president says, in effect, This is my house to secure and improve , and critics respond, You are a temporary occupant , and a court could ultimately agree in some form. To be clear, what follows is not a report about a specific, current...

After the Affirmative Action Ruling: What Colleges and Law Schools Can Still Consider

When the Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina in 2023, it did not say colleges must ignore a student’s life story. It held that the specific race-conscious admissions programs before it violated the Equal...

How a Government Shutdown Works

A government shutdown sounds like the whole United States government goes dark at once, like someone flipped a master breaker in the Capitol basement. In reality, a shutdown is something more mundane and more constitutional than that. It is what happens when Congress does not enact funding...

Can You Protest Outside a Church? First Amendment Limits and New Penalties Explained

You can protest outside a church. In many situations, it is classic First Amendment activity: speech, assembly, petition, all happening on a public sidewalk where Americans have always argued about public questions. But you cannot turn “protest” into a veto on worship. The Constitution protects...

Can Mail Ballots Be Counted After Election Day?

Every election cycle, the same question comes roaring back: if Americans vote on Tuesday, why are officials still counting on Friday, or next week, or sometimes longer? That confusion gets sharper when lawmakers point to a single rule they want nationwide: all mail ballots must be received by the...

Haiti TPS Explained: What Temporary Protected Status Is and What Court Orders Change

Temporary Protected Status sounds like something the Constitution must mention somewhere, tucked between “naturalization” and “habeas corpus.” It does not. TPS is not a constitutional right. It is a statute, a policy tool Congress created and the executive branch administers. That distinction is...

California Emissions Waivers Explained

California has more influence over what cars you can buy than most states have over their own speed limits. That sounds like a punchline until you read the statute. Under the federal Clean Air Act , California can ask the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to set vehicle emissions rules...

Treason and Leaks: What the Constitution Actually Says

When public officials call leaks “treason,” they are usually making a moral accusation, not describing a charge that fits the Constitution’s definition. That distinction matters because the Framers did something rare in constitutional drafting: they fixed the meaning of treason in the text itself....

Kagan’s Quiet Warning to the Left

For years, some progressives have treated the Supreme Court like a captured institution, a black-robed obstacle that can only be overcome by force of politics. Add seats. Impose term limits. Cut the Court down to size. The underlying argument is simple: if the Court is a partisan weapon, then the...

The “75 Cases” Claim: What Judges Ruled and Where the First Amendment Line Is

When you hear a sweeping claim like “courts have ruled dozens of times that President Trump stifled free speech,” it is worth slowing down and asking two librarian-style questions: What exactly counts as a ‘case’? and what did the judges actually say the government did wrong? Here is the concrete...

Can Fauci Plead the Fifth After a Pardon?

When Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared before a Senate committee on July 29, 2026, he declined to answer questions by invoking the Fifth Amendment . The flashpoint was not just political. It was constitutional: can someone still “plead the Fifth” after receiving a presidential pardon ? This question...

Who Gets to Tax You at the Border?

There is a moment in every civics class when the kids realize something unsettling: taxes are not just about money. They are about power. Who gets to reach into your pocket, under what authority, and with what limits. That old question has resurfaced at the border, where twenty-five states have...

When Agencies Become the Courtroom

Here is a question I used to spring on my civics students when they got a little too comfortable with the word government : When the government accuses you of wrongdoing and demands money, who gets to decide whether you actually did it? For most Americans, the instinctive answer is simple. A judge....

Wayne County Vote Counts and Mail-In Ballots: What the Constitution and Michigan Law Allow

Every election cycle has a familiar soundtrack: a big county becomes a villain, mail ballots become suspicious by definition, and ordinary administrative steps get rebranded as “miracles.” Wayne County, home to Detroit, sits at the center of that storyline in Michigan. So let’s slow it down and...