German (DE) 
English (US) 
Spanish (ES) 
French (FR) 
Hindi (IN) 
Italian (IT) 
Russian (RU) 
Politics-The Conversation
How health insurers get a free pass to deny coverage from a 52-year-old law meant to protect worker pensions
A little-known law called ERISA bars millions of patients from suing for damages when health insurers wrongly deny claims.
View Full Coverage
Military voters were at the heart of the Supreme Court’s mail-in ballot decision
Mail-in voting was created during the Civil War so soldiers could vote. That legacy helped shape how the Supreme Court ruled more than 160 years later...
View Full Coverage
As the US turns 250, a forgotten founding influence helps explain its current unease
Montesquieu shaped how Americans understood liberty, and his warning about a ‘tyranny of opinion’ speaks to today’s polarization.
View Full Coverage
Why Denver stopped treating sidewalk repair as a DIY project – lessons for other cities and homeowners
New legislation in Denver created a program to build, repair and maintain sidewalks throughout the city.
View Full Coverage
‘In the end the court did its job’ – a former federal judge reviews a Supreme Court term full of momentous decisions
A former federal judge analyzes key Supreme Court decisions this term, reflects on growing judicial invective evident in its opinions, and judiciously...
View Full Coverage
Banning transgender girls from school sports affects all children – why allowing strangers to scrutinize children’s bodies may put all girls at risk o...
The US Supreme Court ruled that states could exclude transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports teams.
View Full Coverage
Data center fights pit social values, democracy and capitalism against each other
Data center proposals are often local controversies with significant underlying principles at stake.
View Full Coverage
How public celebrations quietly remake what it means to be American
From a synagogue’s 5K to Appalachia’s Hillbilly Days, shared celebrations pull strangers together.
View Full Coverage
In a rebuke to Trump, the Supreme Court rules that birthright citizenship is the law of the land
Pointing to the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, the high court ruled that all babies born in the United States ‘are citizens by birth.’
View Full Coverage
In rebuke to Trump, Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, emphasizing the promise of equality in the Declaration of Independence
Pointing to the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, the high court ruled that all babies born in the United States ‘are citizens by birth.’
View Full Coverage
Political parties can now spend unlimited money supporting candidates, after Supreme Court overturns decades of precedent
A huge amount of money flows into campaigns in the United States. For 20 years, the Supreme Court has been loosening rules for who can contribute and ...
View Full Coverage
Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. Slaughter turbocharges presidential power
The high court’s ruling effectively endorses the unitary executive theory, greatly expanding the power of the president.
View Full Coverage
How a tiny Caribbean island made American independence possible
The American Revolution was won not just by ideals and armies, but by the strategic trade networks of a small Caribbean port.
View Full Coverage
Supreme Court rules your cellphone location data is protected by the Fourth Amendment
Geofencing warrants, which round up the location data of everyone in a specific place at a specific time, are now legally subject to Fourth Amendment ...
View Full Coverage
Washington DC’s physical appearance has long been a battleground for competing national ideals and presidential visions
President Donald Trump’s capital redesign follows centuries of debate and discussion about how Washington should look to the world.
View Full Coverage
In 2 landmark decisions, the Supreme Court expands gun rights for concealed carry holders and casual drug users
Two recent Supreme Court rulings suggest the high court is so pro-gun it has decided it must also be pro-drugs.
View Full Coverage
The danger of US-Iran ceasefire agreement is what it leaves out
A strong deal would build in real penalties for going back to war: automatic, reversible costs that fall on anyone who restarts the fighting.
View Full Coverage
How the US Supreme Court decides its cases – a step-by-step guide
Grasping how the nation’s highest court makes policy requires stepping into an exceptionally regulated and sometimes hidden routine.
View Full Coverage
I study the Declaration of Independence, and here’s why the colonists’ grievances are surprisingly relevant, 250 years later
A partisan judiciary, arbitrary power, officials beyond the reach of the people – these are the grievances that drove a revolution.
View Full Coverage
Pennsylvania coroners refuse to release autopsy reports – and that hinders research on deaths in custody
When coroners shield their records from public view, they’re not just violating the public trust. Often, they’re also breaking the law.
View Full Coverage
Why thousands of federal lawyers leaving government service matters for everyone in the justice system
More than 10,000 attorneys who worked for the US government have left their jobs during the second Trump administration; a former federal judge analyz...
View Full Coverage
Medication abortion: Decisions from federal courts, the FDA or Trump’s Department of Justice could try to end access via telehealth
This year, decisions from the courts, FDA or DOJ could all shut down telehealth for medication abortion, which is how most people in ban states get ca...
View Full Coverage
Trump doesn’t own the government – even though he acts as if Congress is not his equal in constitutional power and authority
In President Donald Trump’s public language, Congress rarely appears as a coequal branch of government. It appears as an obstacle, an audience, a pres...
View Full Coverage
In deep-red Idaho, even Republicans break with Trump on farm labor
A statewide survey finds majorities in farm country at odds with the deportation push reshaping their workforce.
View Full Coverage
Americans keep voting for scandal-prone candidates because they just don’t want the other party to win
Polarization and negative partisanship have lowered the standards for whom Americans are willing to support.
View Full Coverage
How local communities are challenging Big Tech data centers’ noise, pollution and rising electricity bills
Local needs, political tensions and corporate power all get involved in the democratic processes by which Americans govern their communities.
View Full Coverage
Colorado criminal cases are dismissed at a higher rate when prosecutors face heavier workloads
When prosecutors’ caseloads increase, so do dismissal rates.
View Full Coverage
How political leaders use combat spectacles to symbolize national power and purpose
For both Roman gladiators and modern-day mixed martial arts participants, physical contests become moral dramas about sacrifice and human limits. That...
View Full Coverage
Prediction markets are opening many new opportunities for unregulated insider trading and unethical bets – in the name of making a game out of politic...
The rapidly growing popularity of prediction markets is sparking worries about the markets’ effects on US politics, where campaign staff has bet on it...
View Full Coverage
The world agreed to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 – but marine protection can’t be judged by area alone
So far, about 10% of the ocean has formal protection as countries work toward the 30x30 goal, but many areas are still protected on paper only.
View Full Coverage
Trump’s US-Iran ceasefire deal is a costly return to prewar conditions – and resolving nuclear questions will run into the ‘indivisibility problem’
Iran has emerged with its uranium enrichment knowledge intact, its stockpile buried and fresh reason to believe that only a nuclear weapon would have ...
View Full Coverage
This successful Arctic fishing treaty has kept Russia, China, the US and others working together for 5 years – it could be a model for future diplomac...
As sea ice melts, more of the Arctic Ocean opens up. A former ambassador explains how this treaty creates time for scientists to figure out what lives...
View Full Coverage
Paving paradise: Dismantling the US Roadless Rule threatens to disrupt wildlife, water and peace in the last quiet places in America
The constant noise of traffic is so ubiquitous, it is barely noticeable to our ears – until we step into a roadless forest and experience true quiet.
View Full Coverage
Who was the first transgender person?
There is evidence of people who crossed gender boundaries even in ancient civilizations, though the terms naming them have evolved over time.
View Full Coverage
The Constitution promises an interpreter for fair trials – US courts often can’t deliver
Federal protections promise a fair trial in a language you understand, but for millions who speak lesser-known languages, courts can’t keep that promi...
View Full Coverage
Conspiracy theories that emerged from a civil rights shooting 60 years ago resonate today
The modern rhetorical and political resistance to racial equality finds its roots in the conspiratorial segregationists of the civil rights era.
View Full Coverage
Trump’s ‘narco-terrorism’ war in Latin America evokes Reagan – then as now, it’s more about fighting leftists than drug runners
The nebulous nature of narco-terrorism has allowed presidents from Reagan to Trump to deploy the term when it serves broader political goals in Latin ...
View Full Coverage
How Pennsylvania towns are protecting themselves from the noise, heat and utility costs of massive data centers
Communities across the state are demanding to know how proposed data centers would affect their electric and water bills, landscapes and quality of li...
View Full Coverage
Pepper pot stew was survival food for the poor and a path to freedom for Black women in early Philadelphia
Dina escaped from slavery and sold pepper pot stew on the streets of Philadelphia, while her enslaver tried to recapture her.
View Full Coverage
How money exchanges between House members shape the balance of power in Congress
Campaign contributions among House members show how parties build influence, protect vulnerable members and respond to election pressures.
View Full Coverage
Why the director of national intelligence needs more than political loyalty to do the job
The newly named director of national intelligence is a Trump political ally who has no experience in national security. A veteran of the field says it...
View Full Coverage
As America approaches its 250th anniversary, The Federalist remains an indispensable guide to understanding the constitutional system and the nation’s...
You know how important the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were to making the United States. But do you know about The Federalist and...
View Full Coverage
Detroit is spending millions on gunshot detection tech – is it an effective tool in the fight against violent crime?
New research on ShotSpotter’s deployment in Detroit suggests the technology did not reduce officer response times.
View Full Coverage
Can kids go to prison? A legal expert explains how young people can be tried and sentenced as adults
There’s a separate justice system for people under 18 because their brains are still developing. Treating them as adults can turn them into repeat off...
View Full Coverage
US indictment of Raúl Castro comes amid a long history of American aggression against Cuba
Recent military and economic pressure on Cuba, including Trump’s threats of a ‘friendly takeover’ of the island, follow a long pattern of US hostility...
View Full Coverage
James Comey’s Instagram seashell post sits in a murky legal zone between protected political speech and criminal threat
What’s a true threat and what’s political hyperbole? A scholar of constitutional and criminal law looks at the charges against James Comey for an Inst...
View Full Coverage
For Black women in abusive relationships, gun-control loopholes can engender deadly disparities
Guns are what make violent partners so dangerous. And in the US, Black women get less protection from laws meant to keep firearms out of abusers’ hand...
View Full Coverage
Tony Carruthers recently survived a lethal injection attempt – the latest man to endure a failed execution
The constitutional prohibition of ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ has shaped legal discourse around failed executions, but courts have not stopped stat...
View Full Coverage
From oversight to coercion: How authoritarian governments are twisting AI safety to get tech companies to fall in line
Authoritarian governments, including the Trump administration, are reorienting AI safety provisions away from protecting the public toward coercing su...
View Full Coverage
Democrats don’t get why they’ve lost most working class voters
Class-war rhetoric from Democratic candidates jams working-class voters into a prefabricated progressive agenda, an expert on rural and working-class ...
View Full Coverage
The more Fox News a white American watches, the more likely they are to believe in a racist conspiracy theory, regardless of party affiliation and dem...
White Americans who watch Fox News are more likely to agree that shadowy political elites are embracing permissive immigration policies to replace nat...
View Full Coverage
How out-of-work fishermen saved the American Revolution
A British ban stripped thousands of skilled mariners of their livelihoods overnight – and gave Washington a chance to turn the tide.
View Full Coverage
