The Department of Justice issued a final rule eliminating disparate impact liability from Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending five decades of civil rights protections that allowed enforcement against policies producing racially discriminatory outcomes without proof of discriminatory …
Pam BondiHarmeet DhillonDepartment of Justicecivil-rightsdojlegaldiscriminationregulation+6 more
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter regarding President Trump’s firing of Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, with the conservative majority signaling strong support for overturning Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, the 1935 unanimous …
Supreme CourtDonald TrumpRebecca SlaughterJohn RobertsElena Kagan+3 moresupreme-courtexecutive-powerindependent-agenciesseparation-of-powersconstitutional-law+5 more
U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie dismissed criminal indictments against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey on November 24, 2025, ruling that interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan lacked lawful authority to bring the cases. In separate but parallel …
Cameron McGowan CurrieLetitia JamesJames ComeyLindsey HalliganPam Bondi+5 morepolitical-prosecutionjudicial-independencedojprosecutorial-misconductretaliation+5 more
The Supreme Court began its 2025-2026 term on October 6, 2025, with a docket featuring critical cases on executive power, voting rights, and constitutional law. The October session includes 10 oral arguments over five days, with several cases that could fundamentally reshape American governance.
Key …
Supreme CourtJohn RobertsConservative Majoritysupreme-courtjudiciarycourtsexecutive-powervoting-rights+1 more
The Supreme Court took the extraordinary step of expanding the legal questions in Louisiana v. Callais (Nos. 24-109, 24-110), ordering supplemental briefs on whether creating majority-minority districts to remedy Voting Rights Act violations violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments. The …
Supreme CourtDepartment of JusticeLouisianaNAACP Legal Defense FundBrennan Center for Justice+2 morevoting-rights-actsupreme-courtracial-justicelouisianaredistricting+4 more
Brookings June 26, 2025, analysis warned Trump’s deployment of 700 Marines and 4,000 federalized National Guard to LA violates Posse Comitatus Act. Trump invoked 10 USC §12406 (not Insurrection Act) claiming “inherent constitutional authority” to protect federal property. …
Brookings InstitutionLegal scholarsDepartment of DefenseDepartment of Homeland SecurityTrump Administrationanalysiscivil-militaryinsurrection-actposse-comitatuslegal-analysis+2 more
Supreme Court rejected dangerous “independent state legislature” theory in Moore v. Harper with 6-3 decision, preserving state courts’ ability to review federal election laws under state constitutions. Theory would have given state legislatures unchecked power over federal …
U.S. Supreme CourtNorth Carolina LegislatureDemocracy advocatesindependent-state-legislaturesupreme-courtelection-lawconstitutional-lawchecks-and-balances+1 more
The Senate’s second impeachment trial of Donald Trump began on February 9, 2021, with a four-hour constitutional debate centered on the fundamental question: can the Senate try a former president? In a 56-44 vote, the Senate affirmed that the trial was constitutional and could proceed, with …
Donald TrumpPatrick LeahyBruce CastorDavid SchoenMichael van der Veen+2 moreimpeachmentsenate trialconstitutional lawtrump presidencyjanuary 6 attack
On January 25, 2021, exactly two weeks after the House voted to impeach Donald Trump and five days after President Biden’s inauguration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi transmitted the single article of impeachment—charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection”—to the Senate. The nine …
Special Counsel Robert Mueller publicly clarified his investigation\u0027s constraints, stating that DOJ policy prohibits charging a sitting president with a federal crime. Mueller emphasized that \u0027under long-standing Department policy, a President cannot be charged with a federal crime while …
Robert MuellerWilliam Barrconstitutional-lawrobert-muellertrump-investigationlegal-constraintsdoj-policy
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ruled in Klayman v. Obama that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of American telephone metadata likely violated the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. In a strongly-worded 68-page opinion, Judge Leon …
Richard LeonNSALarry Klaymannsa-surveillancefourth-amendmentjudicial-oversightconstitutional-lawprivacy-rights
FISA Court Judge Roger Vinson delivered a significant rebuke to the Bush administration by rejecting the government’s attempt to rewrite FISA statutes to permit expanded warrantless surveillance inside the United States. The government sought to stretch FISA’s definition of a …
Roger VinsonFISA CourtNSABush AdministrationDepartment of Justicefisa-courtjudicial-rebukewarrantless-surveillancefourth-amendmentconstitutional-law+1 more
Congress passes the most restrictive version of the Boland Amendment, explicitly prohibiting any U.S. government agency involved in intelligence activities from providing support for military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua. The amendment, effective from October 3, 1984, to December 3, 1985, …
Edward BolandRonald Reaganiran-contracongressional-oversightnicaraguareagan-administrationconstitutional-law
On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous 8-0 decision in United States v. Nixon, ordering President Richard Nixon to deliver sixty-four tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials related to the Watergate scandal to the federal district court. Chief Justice Warren Burger—a Nixon …
The Supreme Court decides 6-3 in New York Times Co. v. United States that the Nixon administration cannot prevent newspapers from publishing the Pentagon Papers, marking the first time in American history a publication was temporarily halted due to national security concerns. A federal judge in New …
U.S. Supreme CourtNew York TimesWashington PostDaniel EllsbergNixon Administration+1 morepress-freedomgovernment-deceptionconstitutional-lawwhistleblowinginstitutional-corruption
On July 22, 1937, the U.S. Senate votes 70-22 to defeat President Franklin Roosevelt’s Judicial Procedures Reform Bill, rejecting his proposal to expand the Supreme Court by up to six additional justices and handing FDR his greatest legislative defeat. Three-quarters of senators voting to kill …
U.S. SenateFranklin D. RooseveltSenate Judiciary CommitteeJoseph RobinsonJohn Nance Garner+1 morejudicial-independencenew-dealsupreme-courtseparation-of-powerscongressional-opposition+1 more
On April 12, 1937, the Supreme Court rules 5-4 in NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation to uphold the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), reversing years of judicial hostility to federal labor regulation and fundamentally expanding Congress’s commerce …
Supreme Court of the United StatesCharles Evans HughesOwen RobertsFranklin D. RooseveltJones & Laughlin Steel Corporation+1 moresupreme-courtlabor-rightswagner-actconstitutional-lawnew-deal+1 more
On March 29, 1937, the Supreme Court rules 5-4 in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish to uphold Washington State’s minimum wage law for women, explicitly overruling its 1923 Adkins v. Children’s Hospital precedent and marking the beginning of the “Constitutional Revolution of …
Supreme Court of the United StatesOwen RobertsCharles Evans HughesFranklin D. RooseveltElsie Parrishsupreme-courtminimum-wageconstitutional-lawnew-dealswitch-in-time+1 more
On January 6, 1936, the Supreme Court decides United States v. Butler in a 6-3 ruling that invalidates the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), striking a devastating blow to Roosevelt’s New Deal farm recovery program just eight months after the Schechter Poultry “Black Monday” …
Supreme Court of the United StatesOwen J. RobertsHarlan Fiske StoneWilliam M. ButlerHoosac Mills Corporation+2 morejudicial-capturenew-dealcorporate-resistancesupreme-courtagricultural-policy+1 more
On May 27, 1935—a day Roosevelt administration officials dub “Black Monday”—the Supreme Court delivers three unanimous decisions against the New Deal, with the most devastating being Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, which invalidates the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), …
Supreme Court of the United StatesCharles Evans HughesBenjamin CardozoHarlan Fiske StoneFranklin D. Roosevelt+1 morejudicial-capturenew-dealcorporate-resistancesupreme-courtconstitutional-law+1 more
The U.S. Supreme Court issues a unanimous 9-0 decision in In re Debs, upholding the federal government’s use of injunctions to suppress labor strikes and affirming Eugene V. Debs’s contempt of court conviction for continuing the 1894 Pullman Strike in violation of a federal court order. …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice David Josiah BrewerEugene V. DebsFederal judiciaryCorporate interestslabor-suppressiongilded-agejudicial-captureinjunctionsupreme-court+1 more
In what would become one of the most consequential non-rulings in American legal history, a court reporter’s headnote to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad established the foundation for corporate personhood without the Supreme Court ever deciding the issue. Before oral arguments, …
U.S. Supreme CourtChief Justice Morrison WaiteJ.C. Bancroft Davis (Court Reporter)Southern Pacific RailroadSanta Clara County+1 morecorporate-personhoodsupreme-courtfourteenth-amendmentconstitutional-lawgilded-age+3 more
On November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony voted in the presidential election between Ulysses S. Grant and his opponent in Rochester, New York, along with 14 other women, in a deliberate act of civil disobedience designed to test whether the 14th Amendment granted women voting rights as citizens. Four …
Susan B. AnthonyWard HuntJohn Van VoorhisSylvester LewisUlysses S. Grantwomens-suffragejudicial-capturecivil-disobedienceconstitutional-lawdemocratic-exclusion