The U.S. Supreme Court on October 22 allowed New Hampshire to exclude student identification cards from the voting process for the November midterms, including their use as backup evidence of a voter’s identity. The emergency decision pauses a lower-court order while litigation continues; it does not finally resolve the challenge to the state’s restrictions. The … Read more
The Supreme Court opens its 2026-27 term today with arguments in a climate-liability case, with major disputes over religion, AR-15 bans, Arizona’s voting rules and the Trump administration’s immigration policies set for later this fall. The Court now issues about twice as many full-court rulings on emergency applications as on argued cases, according to Georgetown … Read more
Reading When a new government policy gets challenged in court, the fight rarely ends with one judge’s ruling. It moves through a series of steps, each with its own name and its own effect, and understanding those steps helps explain why a policy can be “blocked,” then “unblocked,” then blocked again within a matter of … Read more
A divided Ninth Circuit ruled that many immigrants arrested inside the United States must have a chance to seek release on bond.
Learn how U.S. campaigns raise and spend money through individual donations, PACs, Super PACs, parties, public funding, and outside groups.
A divided federal appeals court ruled that New Jersey’s bans on semiautomatic rifles and magazines holding more than 10 rounds violate the Second Amendment.
Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan will appear before Congress to discuss the Supreme Court’s fiscal year 2027 budget and security needs.
How Redistricting Works Every 10 years, the United States carries out a census, an official count of everyone living in the country. The most recent census was in 2020, and the next is scheduled for 2030. The population numbers from the census trigger a process called reapportionment, in which the 435 seats in the U.S. … Read more
What the Supreme Court Is The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States. It sits at the top of the judicial branch, one of the three branches of the federal government, alongside the legislative branch (Congress, which makes laws) and the executive branch (the president, who carries out laws). The Court has … Read more
What Happened On June 30, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox that states may ban transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams at publicly funded schools. Justice Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion, holding that the laws violate neither the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause … Read more
What Happened On June 29, the Supreme Court issued two rulings on the same day, both written by Chief Justice Roberts, addressing whether Trump can fire members of independent federal agencies. In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court ruled 6-3 that Trump could fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, overturning the 1935 precedent Humphrey’s Executor v. United … Read more
