The Supreme Court just overturned Roe v. Wade. Before today, the right to an abortion was protected under the U.S. Constitution, which meant that state lawmakers couldn’t just ban the procedure if they wanted to. Now states have free rein to ban abortion, to restrict abortion and to regulate abortion. So what happens next? Here’s […]
Author: Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, Laura Bronner and Anna Wiederkehr
How The Supreme Court’s Gun Ruling Remakes Gun Control For Millions Of Americans
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that the right to bear arms in public is protected by the Second Amendment. This means that it could soon be much easier to carry a handgun on the streets of New York or Los Angeles. What will Americans t…
The Supreme Court’s Approval Rating Is Dropping
Senior legal reporter Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux explains why the Supreme Court’s approval rating has dropped over the past few months. For most of the court’s history, it has largely followed public opinion, but in today’s hyperpartisan environment, will a low approval rating sway the court? Transcript The Supreme Court is usually people’s favorite branch of government. […]
Is It Time To Expand The Supreme Court?
There’s nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says the Supreme Court must have nine justices — that’s just the way it’s been for more than 150 years. But recently, some Democrats have proposed adding justices to the court. Here, senior writer and legal reporter Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux asks legal experts and historians to weigh in: Should […]
Do Americans Really Want Permanent Daylight Saving Time?
Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. Congress can’t agree on much lately — except, apparently, their hatred of changing the clocks twice a year. On Tuesday, just after Americans set their clocks an hour forward over the weekend, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent (although they still […]
What Biden’s Appointees Can Tell Us About His Supreme Court Nominee
It’s Supreme Court nomination season again. Last week, Justice Stephen Breyer announced that he will retire from the court at the end of the term, and President Biden has said he will name his nominee by the end of February. In keeping with a campaign promise, Biden is widely expected to nominate a Black woman, […]
Confidence Internal: Will Biden Make Kamala Harris His Supreme Court Nominee?
It’s another episode of Confidence Interval, where we share a hot take we’ve been hearing … and then reveal how confident we really feel about the idea. This time, senior writer Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux considers the tweets claiming that President Joe Bi…
War With Russia Has Pushed Ukrainians Toward The West
Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup. For the past eight years, it’s been pretty easy for most Americans to forget about the simmering conflict between Russia and Ukraine. But the war — which began in 2014 when Russian forces annexed Crimea and pro-Russian separatists seized control of parts of eastern Ukraine — is suddenly […]
Why The Supreme Court Almost Overturned Roe v. Wade 30 Years Ago — But Didn’t
In 1992, a conservative-leaning Supreme Court almost overturned Roe v. Wade. But at the last minute, they had a change of heart. This year, another conservative-leaning court will decide whether to overturn the landmark ruling that made abortion a constitutional right. In this episode of “Reigning Supreme,” senior legal reporter Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux uncovers how abortion […]
The Second Amendment Didn’t Protect Your Right To Own A Gun Until 2008
A little over a decade ago, the Supreme Court redefined the Second Amendment. Before then, in the eyes of the federal courts, the amendment protected the rights of state militias to bear arms — not the rights of individual Americans. That all changed in 2008 with the stroke of a pen. And this November, the […]