The Supreme Court Sapping Black Voting Power Was Not an Accident
The U.S. Supreme Court’s majority in Louisiana v. Callais overturned the results‑based test of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, reverting to a narrow intent‑only standard. By redefining the burden on plaintiffs, the ruling enables states to redraw congressional maps that dilute Black voting power, as seen in Tennessee’s split of Memphis’s majority‑Black district. The decision follows a decade‑long judicial trend that began with Shelby County v. Holder, systematically weakening federal voting‑rights protections. Legal scholars warn the opinion will accelerate discriminatory gerrymandering across the South.
Supreme Court Conservatives Promised That Ending Roe Would Solve a Major Problem. They’ve Made It Infinitely Worse.
The Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision promised to settle the abortion debate by returning the issue to the states, but it has instead produced legal chaos. A recent 5th Circuit ruling barred nationwide tele‑medicine distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone,...
State Courts Are Blocking Abortion Bans Left and Right. Republicans Have a Plan to Stop Them.
State courts in Utah and Tennessee are increasingly blocking abortion bans, prompting Republican lawmakers to enact procedural statutes that reshape how cases are heard. Utah passed a law allowing the state to move a lawsuit to a three‑judge panel after...
The Supreme Court Has Found Its True Enemy: Multiracial Democracy
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6‑3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, effectively gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The decision eliminates the primary federal tool for challenging racially discriminatory voting maps, leaving Louisiana with no majority‑Black...
The Supreme Court Just Greenlit a Gerrymander That Even a Trump Judge Thought Was Too Racist
The Supreme Court on April 29, 2026 used a shadow‑docket order to overturn a district court ruling that Texas had illegally diluted minority voting power with its 2025 mid‑cycle redistricting. The 6‑3 decision, authored by Justice Alito, allows the new...
How the Supreme Court Should Respond to Trump’s Fed Probe Surrender
The Justice Department dropped its criminal probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after a federal judge ruled the investigation was a pretext to pressure the Fed on interest rates. The case underscores a broader clash between President Donald Trump...
The Supreme Court Just Twisted Its Cop Immunity Doctrine in an Even More Violent Direction
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a one‑paragraph, unsigned order vacating the 9th Circuit’s decision that allowed a civil rights claim over the death of Roy Scott, a Black man who died after officers restrained him during a mental‑health crisis. The Court’s...
Trump’s $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Could Be Political Suicide for Republicans
President Donald Trump is pushing a $1.5 trillion defense budget for FY 2027, roughly a 50% jump from the current level. The plan earmarks an 85% increase for weapons procurement and a 64% rise in research and development, while personnel costs grow...
The Clever New Lawsuit That Could Finally End ICE’s Reign of Terror in Blue States
Civil rights lawyers, led by the ACLU, have filed a lawsuit in Maine on behalf of Juan Sebastián Carvajal‑Muñoz, a lawful resident who was allegedly abducted, shackled and detained by ICE agents. The suit sidesteps the Supreme Court’s narrow Bivens doctrine...
Trump Just Automated Draft Entry. It’s Time for the Supreme Court to Step In.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has issued a proposed rule that would automatically register all U.S. men ages 18 to 26 for the draft, a move tied to a December National Defense Authorization Act provision. While President Trump...
Trump DOJ Refuses to Rule Out Second Amendment Right to Nuclear Weapons
The Trump administration’s Department of Justice filed court briefs arguing that any weapon deemed in "common use" by law‑abiding citizens could fall under the Second Amendment, even hypothetically extending that protection to nuclear arms. The stance builds on the Supreme...
Sonia Sotomayor Warns That Texas May Execute an Innocent Man
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of Texas death‑row inmate Rodney Reed, who maintains his innocence in the 1998 murder of Stacey Lee Stites. Reed has asked for DNA testing of the victim’s belt, arguing that modern...
In Atoms, Electrons Arrange Themselves in Quantum Levels Known by Which Name?
Slate’s daily science quiz asks readers to name the quantum levels where electrons arrange themselves, a fundamental concept in atomic physics. The question highlights the term “electron shells” or “energy levels,” though the article itself is locked behind a Slate...
The Supreme Court Just Heeded One of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Sharpest Dissents
The Supreme Court halted the Trump administration’s attempt to instantly revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian nationals, keeping protection for over 350,000 immigrants while the case moves to the merits docket. The shift follows Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s pointed dissent...
A Top Official Just Quit in Protest of the Iran War. His Resignation Letter Reveals One of the Biggest Fallacies...
Joe Kent, the Senate‑confirmed director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned on Tuesday, citing conscience objections to the Trump administration’s war in Iran. His departure, the most high‑profile protest resignation of the second Trump term, underscores a growing rift within...