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Trump Is Weaponizing the Department of Education After Pledging To Kill It
Instead of abolishing the department, the president increased its budget. It's now pursuing investigations against school districts for seemingly political reasons.
Why America's Prisons Keep Failing
C.J. Ciaramella discusses 250 years of prison reform, the crisis facing state prisons, and whether America can build a more humane system.
A SCOTUS Petition Argues That the Second Amendment Requires Carry-Permit Reciprocity
Meanwhile, the top court of Massachusetts considers whether the state can deny carry permits to applicants who are deemed "unsuitable."
Animal Advocates Say a Florida Sheriff's Office Blocked Them Online. Free Speech Lawyers Are Fighting Back.
The free speech organization, FIRE, says the Polk County Sheriff’s Office’s bans on its social media pages violate the First Amendment.
Latest
Why Conservative Republicans Are Worried About License Plate Cameras
Recent comments by Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis reflect a bipartisan backlash against warrantless surveillance.
Why Public Schools Lost 1.4 Million Students
Plus: J.D. Vance wants to pay stay-at-home parents, what America got wrong after 9/11, and whether FDA cuts are putting food safety at risk
Referees Have Nothing To Hide. The NFL and NCAA Should Show Every Big Replay Review Live on TV.
Plus: The NBA’s punishments to Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers are great, but not quite enough; and an ode to the friendships connected by fantasy football
Retaliation
Plus: Capitalism blaming, desalination innovation, Houthis fire on Saudi Arabia, and more...
The American Prison Experiment: A 250-Year History of Good Intentions and Bad Results
A strange trip through the U.S. prison system's never-ending cycle of failure and reform
Podcast
Why Public Schools Lost 1.4 Million Students
Plus: J.D. Vance wants to pay stay-at-home parents, what America got wrong after 9/11, and whether FDA cuts are putting food safety at risk
Robert Anderson's Cold War
How Eisenhower’s treasury secretary became a Cold War fixer, an intelligence go-between, and a man no one wanted to discuss.
Who Owns California's Gold?
The Gold Rush was not only a scramble for wealth. It was also a scramble for property rights.
Photo: AI Unfurls an Ancient Scroll
The Vesuvius Challenge awards money to researchers who use AI to decipher ancient scrolls.
Do You Have the Right To Possess an AR-15? The Supreme Court Will Soon Decide.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a pair of cases involving rifle restrictions imposed by Connecticut and Cook County, Illinois.
NYC Law Could Force Uber and Lyft to Keep Dangerous Drivers on the Road
A federal judge temporarily blocked it from taking effect. But the legal fight is ongoing.
The Iraq War Cheerleaders Were Wrong. They're Wrong About Iran Too.
Hawkish pundits predicted both wars would be swift and successful. That's not how it turned out.
A Federal Indictment Charges an ICE Officer With Lying About a Shooting That DHS Eagerly Defended
The habitually dishonest department uncritically accepted a story that was immediately contradicted by video footage and physical evidence.
Texas Terrorism Law Chills Speech for Muslim Group
By labeling this group a terrorist organization, the state is chilling more than Muslims' freedom of expression.
The Right to Trial is Vanishing. Could Bolder Juries Save It?
A new campaign by the Cato Institute aims to educate jurors on their right to vote their conscience against unjust laws and sentences.
The Lindsay Clancy Jury Was Tasked With an Impossible Question
In the court of public opinion, there is little room for ambiguity here. But those who watched the trial know that reality is far less satisfying.
DOJ Says Barring AI Training on Copyrighted Material Could 'Severely Hamper' Tech Progress
Training a model on copyrighted work is the same transformative use exception that protects The New York Times' journalism.
In the White House's Retro Arcade Games, the Trump Administration Always Loses
In MAGAfied versions of Tapper and Tetris, the seed oils will eventually get through and the border wall will be breached.
Trump Is Expanding Executive Power. Democrats Are Already Eyeing the New Tools.
Some Democrats are licking their chops over other economic powers that Trump has claimed for the presidency.
OpenAI Agents Gone Rogue
Plus: Mail-in ballots, mortgage rates reach new high, arcade.gov is a new low, and more...
October 2026
Magazine
The American Prison Experiment: A 250-Year History of Good Intentions and Bad Results
A strange trip through the U.S. prison system's never-ending cycle of failure and reform
