In deciding whether to vote for the tax and spending package now sitting before the Senate, Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) says he’s been asking himself a simple question: Does the bill increase the federal deficit next year? “The answer, without question, is that this bill will grow the deficit,” Paul told his fellow senators on Sunday […]
The New Orleans City Council is considering an ordinance that would allow the city’s police department, in the name of fighting crime, to use real-time facial recognition technology to find and track people as they move about the city. As The Washington Post reported last month, New Orleans police had already been secretly receiving real-time […]
The Justice Department is proceeding with plans to revive a moribund relief process for people who have lost their Second Amendment rights as a result of criminal convictions. The department’s FY 2026 budget proposal, published earlier this month, includes funds for a Firearm Rights Restoration Initiative within the Office of the Pardon Attorney. That is […]
Who’s allowed to launch an attack on another country? Just asking questions. Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) joined Reason‘s Just Asking Questions podcast to discuss the War Powers Resolution he’s co-sponsored with Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.), which would require President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before continuing to drop bombs in Iran. He also discussed Trump’s […]
President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” aims to avert the tax increases that would result from the expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and it’s drawn criticism for not doing enough to reduce the debt or deficit. Earlier in June, The Washington Post reported on publicly funded homes in some cities costing […]
This week, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch examine the latest U.S. military strike on Iran, unpacking the bipartisan pattern of anti-war campaign rhetoric followed by hawkish foreign policy once in office. They debate whether intervention is ever justified, what escalation might look like, and why Congress keeps abdicating its war […]
Photo 27165352 © Valentin M Armianu | Dreamstime.com In two previous posts, I critiqued a dangerous provision of the Senate version of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which – if enacted – would severely undermine judicial protection against unconstitutional federal government actions (see here and here). In the process, I highlighted critiques by Arizona Supreme Court […]
Hours after the U.S. bombed several sites in Iran, President Donald Trump called the operation a “spectacular military success.” Whether or not that turns out to be true, the attack looks rather different as a legal matter. Trump appears to have significantly overstepped his authority, as the attack was not authorized by Congress and was […]
Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order against President Donald Trump’s unilateral deployment of the California National Guard, saying that decision was illegal and unconstitutional. That same day, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit imposed an administrative stay on U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer’s order, and […]
This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released new guidance on “facility visit and engagement protocol for Members of Congress and staff.” “ICE detention locations and Field Offices are secure facilities. As such, all visitors are required to comply with [identity] verification and security screening requirements prior to entry,” it specified. “When planning to […]