On November 3, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy. The case involves Colorado’s universal preschool program, which gives families roughly 15 hours per week of “free” preschool care that is worth roughly $6,000 per child. To be eligible, a preschool must sign an “equal opportunity mandate” [...]

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in the case Guerrero v. Johnson, which contemplates whether an inmate on death row can bring a second round of federal appeals challenging his execution due to an intellectual disability. Dexter Johnson was sentenced to death in 2007 over his role in a 2006 double murder [...]

The UK Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in Huda Ammori’s appeal challenging the government’s proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. Ammori’s case is that Palestine Action was a conscientious protest group aiming to disrupt the supply of weapons to Israel from the UK at a time when [...]

In more than two centuries of US history, only one president, Richard Nixon, has resigned. None has been removed from office through impeachment. Calls for President Donald Trump to resign following his party’s midterm losses thus have little historical precedent. Following the November 2026 midterm elections, Republicans will lose control of both chambers of Congress. But [...]

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans Thursday to commute all 548 death sentences in the state to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In an open letter to Californians, Newsom said capital punishment could not be administered fairly and had resulted in wrongful convictions. “I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s [...]

People have an understanding of many things they haven’t yet experienced, things they know from hearsay or brief reading. People have a tenuous, reasonable, or profound understanding of some things and subjects. Of Saturn’s rings; of watching the Super Bowl live; of driving a Formula 1 car; of how AI works; of Stephen Curry’s three-point [...]

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday enjoined the US government from deporting some 200 Afghan nationals detained in the US to Afghanistan or Pakistan. The temporary restraining order (TRO) requires the government to confirm that it will not send a number of asylum seekers back to Afghanistan or [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday declined to reconsider a decision pausing restrictions on the Justice Department’s communications with election officials, leaving the stay in place during ongoing ballot processing and counting. The court’s denial of full-court rehearing followed an 11-judge en banc panel’s 6-5 decision earlier Tuesday to reinstate [...]

Considered as literary genre, the Trump presidency is best described as “farce.” Though the “script” is ludicrous prima facie, it is simultaneously malignant and intermittently murderous. In a no-longer implausible scenario, this president’s simplifying approach to complex strategic problems could trigger unmanageable episodes of nuclear terrorism or nuclear war. There is more. Even on a [...]