Trump Won't Enforce the TikTok Ban. Is That Constitutional?
The Constitution requires the president to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
Constitution
Warning: These Social Media Rules Will Erode Civil Liberties
Plus: Pittsburgh lowers prostitution penalty, FSC v. Paxton, the Diddy verdict, and more…
The Fourth of July Is a Celebration of Freedom—From Government
The belief that limited government best protects individual rights turned out to be America’s secret sauce.
Federal Prison Guards Allegedly Beat an Inmate to a Pulp. The Supreme Court Says He Can't Sue.
The ruling tells an interesting story about how the very body that created a cause of action for victims of federal abuse has since worked to undermine that right.
What Frederick Douglass Can Still Teach Us About the Fourth of July
Plus: What songs are on your Independence Day playlist?
Trump's 'Giant Win' Does Not Validate His Unconstitutional Birthright Citizenship Order
Tellingly, the president avoided defending his dubious interpretation of the 14th Amendment at the Supreme Court.
Trump Is Now More Powerful Thanks to the Supreme Court. But Will It Last?
Plus: Conservatives won big overall this year at the Supreme Court.
Clarence Thomas Undermines Free Speech in Porn Site Age-Verification Case
The Supreme Court's decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton weakens the First Amendment rights of adults everywhere.
Ro Khanna: Congress Must Take Back Its War Powers
Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) discusses the War Powers Resolution he co-sponsored with Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.), the Israel-Iran conflict, and why the antiestablishment left and right must work together.
Trump's Unconstitutional Act of War
Plus: A criminal justice case that managed to unite Alito and Gorsuch.
The Attack on Iran Is Unlawful
Trump's attack on Iran plainly violates the War Powers Act. Limits on executive power are most important when they are inconvenient.
Trump Shreds the Constitution by Bombing Iran
The attack on Iranian nuclear sites is a risky gamble. And it was completely by choice.
Have Presidents Grown Too Powerful To Be Removed From Office?
Joe Biden showed that the 25th Amendment doesn't work. Donald Trump showed that impeachment is broken too.
Why Donald Trump and Josh Hawley Are Wrong To Call for Jailing People Who Burn the American Flag
The Supreme Court ruled decades ago that burning the flag is protected by the First Amendment, no matter how offensive that act may be.
He Fell Behind on His Taxes. So the Government Seized His Home, Sold It, and Kept the $258,000 Profit.
But now his case against the government can move forward.
3 Supreme Court Cases To Watch in June 2025
Plus: The glorious return of drive-in movie season.
Is the Supreme Court Really That Divided? The Facts Say No.
Unanimous rulings on discrimination, guns, and religion once again challenge the common media narrative that the Court is hopelessly polarized.
Overruling Trump's Tariffs Should Be an Easy Decision for SCOTUS
Plus: A love letter to the heavy metal band Slayer.
Trump's Attack on the Federalist Society Is a Bad Omen for Originalism
The MAGA loyalty that Trump demands is anathema to everything that originalism is supposed to be about.
Civil Rights Groups Say Immigrants Are Being Denied Legal Access at Detention Centers
Reason confirmed reports of dysfunction and violence at one of those detention centers earlier this week.
What J.D. Vance Gets Wrong About Judicial Deference to Executive Power
The federal courts are supposed to be a bulwark against presidential overreach, not a rubber stamp.
British Attacks on Free Speech Prove the Value of the First Amendment
Speech codes intended to battle misinformation are instead empowering the government to be the arbiter of truth.
'Banal Horror': Asylum Case Deals Trump Yet Another Loss on Due Process
President Trump is entitled to try to execute his immigration policy. He is not entitled, however, to violate the Constitution.
A Top Antitrust Enforcer Is Open To Prosecuting People Who Disagree With Him
Mark Meador thinks the Federal Trade Commission may have the legal right to investigate nonprofits that “advocate for the interests of giant corporations” if they don’t disclose their donors.
Report: 50 Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Entered the U.S. Legally, Contrary to White House Claims
"It's not just one or two administrative errors," says the Cato Institute's David Bier.
What Kristi Noem Gets Wrong About Habeas Corpus
The legal principle safeguards civil liberties, protecting even unpopular people from the government.
Trump Says Birthright Citizenship Is Only 'About the Babies of Slaves.' Historical Evidence Says Otherwise.
The 1866 debate over birthright citizenship included a debate over immigration.
Federal Court Scraps Rule That Gagged Tennessee Civil Rights Attorney From Criticizing a Private Prison
For nearly three years, Daniel Horwitz faced contempt of court for talking about a private prison that was one of his most frequent courtroom opponents.
Trump's Case Against Birthright Citizenship Is a Constitutional Loser
The text and history of the Fourteenth Amendment run counter to Trump’s executive order.
The Court-Ordered Takeover of Rikers Shows the Crisis in American Prisons and Jails
A federal judge finally acknowledged that New York City won't fix the constitutional crisis at Rikers on its own, but the problem goes far beyond New York City.
Judge Orders Tufts Grad Student Rumeysa Ozturk Be Released on Bail From Immigration Detention
Ozturk's continued detention "potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of people in this country who are not citizens," said U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III.
Can the President Refuse To Spend Money Authorized by Congress?
Impoundment, line-item vetoes, and the tricky problem of cutting spending through the executive branch
Federal Judge Rules Trump's Alien Enemies Act Proclamation Is Unlawful
The Trump-appointed judge found that the administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act "exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute's terms."
Justice Department Memo Claims Alien Enemies Act Allows Warrantless Home Searches and No Judicial Review
The memo says "Alien Enemies" aren't subject "to a judicial review of the removal in any court of the United States."
Is This Constitutional? Here's How Due Process Works
It appears many people are now eager to dispense with due process.
The Trump Administration Continues To Attack Due Process
"We have thousands of people that are ready to go out, and you can't have a trial for all of these people," Trump said.
Why Due Process Matters
Plus: A listener asks who was the better president: Trump or Obama?
6 Cases That Paved the Road to Mass Incarceration
In Justice Abandoned, a law professor argues that the Court got these key decisions wrong.
What Happens When Presidents Defy Court Orders?
“The Executive will lose much from a public perception of its lawlessness and all of its attendant contagions.”
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Trump Administration's Attempt To Block Return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
"This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear," Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson warned.
The Man Who Fought Chicago for His Cadillac—and Never Got It Back
Spencer Byrd's case helped spark reforms and a federal lawsuit, but he died before seeing justice.
Stephen Miller Egregiously Misrepresented a Supreme Court Order While Trump Nodded Along
No, the Supreme Court did not give Trump free rein in the case of a wrongly deported man.
ICE Retracts Threat To Stop Illegal 'Ideas' at the Border
The pro-censorship post was quite the Freudian slip from the Trump administration.
Supreme Court Unanimously Orders Trump To 'Facilitate' the Return of Wrongly Deported Man
Trump lost on his most aggressive claims of executive power for the second time in a week.
John Roberts Only Postponed the Bigger Fight Over Trump's Deportations
The Supreme Court did not answer two of the biggest legal questions raised by Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.
Border Cops Try To Make an End Run Around Attorney-Client Privilege
Detroit lawyer Amir Makled has confidential client data on his phone. That didn’t stop U.S. Customs and Border Protection from trying to search it.
The FBI Wrongly Raided a Georgia Family's Home. Now Their Case Is Going to the Supreme Court.
A federal court ruled Trina Martin could not sue the government after agents burst into her home and held an innocent man at gunpoint.
