You’re reading The Briefing, Michael Waldman’s weekly newsletter. Click here to receive it in your inbox. The late 19th century was a dismal time in American politics. Corruption ran rampant. Congress ...

During the 2021 redistricting cycle, self-interested politicians continuously gerrymandered voting districts despite attempts by the Ohio Supreme Court to help implement fair maps. The current ...

Last week, President Trump issued a new executive order that aims to illegally rewrite the rules for federal elections. The principal thrust of the order is to charge the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ...

You’re reading The Briefing, Michael Waldman’s weekly newsletter. Click here to receive it in your inbox. As the war in the Middle East launched by President Trump continues to unfold, the president ...

Three federal courts have ruled this year that the Department of Justice has no right to obtain states’ complete voter registration lists, which contain confidential personal information such as ...

What is the Federal Prison Oversight Act? Signed into law in 2024, the Federal Prison Oversight Act was designed to bring more transparency and accountability to the U.S. prison system, which is the ...

This resource looks at ICE Homeland Security Investigations, the backbone of the White House’s immigration enforcement apparatus, and its dangerous exploitation of social media information.

Restoring key privacy protections will benefit both national security and civil liberties. Six weeks after the attacks of 9/11, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act. The 131-page law was enacted ...

With its latest gerrymandering decision, the Court is creating a political system primed for distortion and deeper division. You’re read­ing The Brief­ing, Michael Wald­­­­­man’s weekly ...

This article first appeared at Just Security. In an internal memo made public through a whistleblower report, the Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) instructed ICE officers ...

The outcome of the appeal, brought by GEO Group, could set important legal precedent on wages for detainees who work in for-profit immigration detention centers. A case pending in a federal appeals ...

Many things propelled Donald Trump’s election victory. Inflation. A worldwide anti-incumbent backlash. Anger at institutions. A swing to the right among working-class voters of all racial backgrounds.