The Justice Who Wrote Plessy v. Ferguson Had Some Awful Ideas About Women Voting, Too
After Henry Billings Brown stepped down from the Court in 1906, he launched an exciting second career as something of a freelance bigot.
Balls & Strikes
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Todd Blanche Will Promise Anything Republican Senators Ask
Trump’s attorney general nominee can’t afford to lose any more votes. Republican senators know it.
The Good Stories Are Always Worth It
We’re looking for new contributors to Balls & Strikes. Here’s how to pitch us.
I Am Begging Senate Democrats to Do Anything Other Than Help Confirm Trump Judges
Four months before the 2026 midterms, three Democratic lawmakers have decided to give a historically unpopular president a little boost.
Anti-Trans Activists Know What the Supreme Court Will Let Them Do Next
Brett Kavanaugh says that sports are just “different.” The anti-trans activists he’s emboldening do not see things that way.
A Brief History of This Bizarre Pro-Management PSA, Starring the Dallas Cowboys and Young Clarence Thomas
Among the perks of being chairman of Reagan’s EEOC: getting to film public service announcements with your favorite football team.
The Supreme Court Keeps Inviting Trump to Get More Ambitious
The justices don’t give Trump everything he wants. But they are very comfortable giving him a lot.
Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas Think Police Abuse of Black People Is Kind of Overblown
The conservative justices’ vision of a “color-blind Constitution” is an effort to declare the law powerless to address real-world consequences of illegal discrimination.
Clarence Thomas’s War On Affirmative Action Was Never Just About the Law
As law students, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor both had memorably awful experiences—and took very different lessons from them.
The Senate Must Not Confirm Any More Trump Judges Who Are This Bad at Parking
A closer look at Judge Ryan Nelson’s deeply embarrassing bid to fight a stranger in a mostly empty parking lot.
“Thank You Very Much, I Love You Sir” Is Somehow a Real Todd Blanche Quote About Donald Trump
Things at the Justice Department are going to get way, way worse before they get better.
There Are No Serious People In the Trump Justice Department
The nation’s top law enforcement agency is now a law firm that serves only the president’s personal interests, and bills its time to you and me.
Senate Democrats Are Not Taking Their Jobs Seriously
If Trump is picking judicial nominees who will serve as “MAGA loyalists,” why are you voting to confirm any of them?
Trump DOJ Lawyer Correctly Describes Congress’s History of Circumcising Presidential Power
During oral argument in the cases about Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms, a Justice Department lawyer brought up a very different form of severability.
The Justice Department Offers America’s Least Employable Lawyers $25,000 to Humiliate Themselves In Public
In response to an ongoing staff shortage, the Trump administration launches a real-world experiment to see how much an attorney’s reputation is worth.
The Republican Justices Want to Help Republican Politicians Win Elections
The Supreme Court just issued a decision making it easier for lawmakers to racially gerrymander their states. Republicans are already racing to take advantage.
Originalist Judges Are Spitting On the Constitution and Think You Won’t Notice
A law in Texas requires every public school to display the Ten Commandments in every single classroom. No problem, says the Fifth Circuit.
The Most Offensive Thing a Supreme Court Justice Can Do Is Be Honest About the Supreme Court
The legal profession has no problem with Clarence Thomas publicly railing against the evils of progressivism, as long as he doesn’t mention any colleagues by name.
Brett Kavanaugh’s Colleagues Are Getting Awfully Tired of Brett Kavanaugh
Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s comments about the Supreme Court’s recent racial profiling case are just more evidence that Kavanaugh’s colleagues kind of hate his guts.
Pam Bondi Was Bad. Trump’s Next Attorney General Will Be Worse
Trump gets rid of Cabinet members for one reason: He’s decided that his interests would be better served by an even more obedient loyalist.