About: The editor

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is urging the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice John Roberts to reject an executive order from President Trump that called to restore “truth and sanity” to the Smithsonian Institution. “It is imperative that you, along with your fellow Regents, continue the storied legacy of the Smithsonian that tells the American story […]

Four years ago, the Biden administration announced a dedicated docket program for newly arriving families apprehended after making an illegal border crossing. The goal of the program was to “decide cases expeditiously” — within 300 days of initial master calendar hearings — without compromising due process or fairness. I expressed my view of this program […]

We explain the administration’s cuts to research.

After 20 percent of the agency’s work force was cut, federal health officials have decided to bring back some experts and review firings to fill gaps in critical roles.

The Trump administration will allow self-driving cars an exemption from some safety rules for testing amid a push to compete with China, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday.  U.S. developers of automated vehicles will now have access to an exemption program for “non-commercial purposes that involve research or demonstration,” according to a letter from the […]

Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison on Friday, putting a bookend on the two-plus-year scandal that captivated Washington and brought the New York Republican from a GOP trailblazer to an embarrassing stain on the party.  The sentence, as reported by The Associated Press, marks the latest development […]

It must hurt to be hoist with one’s own petard. President Trump would know. Having appropriated the Russo-Ukrainian War with his boastful claim in 2024 that he could settle it in 24 hours, Trump is in the unenviable position of owning it. Biden’s war is now Trump’s war, regardless of the awkwardly expressed, embarrassingly unpersuasive […]

A $56 million grant to train emergency responders and supply them with the overdose reversal spray, plus other programs that address addiction, could be eliminated.

Kristi Noem, the top official charged with patrolling the nation’s borders and protecting it from terrorist threats, was burgled in plain view of her security detail.

Federal authorities reportedly have arrested a Wisconsin-based judge amid an investigation into whether she tried to help an undocumented migrant avoid arrest after he appeared in her courtroom. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested at around 8 a.m., according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, citing confirmation from the U.S. Marshall’s Service. FBI Director Kash […]

A bipartisan delegation of House lawmakers will be attending Pope Francis’s memorial service in Rome this weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Friday.  The group of 10 legislators, led by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), will attend the late pope’s funeral on Saturday in St. Peter’s Square.  Scalise will be accompanied by Reps. […]

Forty years ago, as a White House reporter for Knight-Ridder Newspapers (now McClatchy), I waged a small battle on behalf of democracy.  I prodded the White House Correspondents Association to hold annual elections for officers, a requirement under the organization’s bylaws that had been ignored for years. Until my protest, outgoing officers merely handed their […]

Consumer sentiment nosedived in April to the lowest level since the peak of the postpandemic inflation surge as President Trump’s trade battles shake the global economy. Sentiment dropped 8.4 percent from March to April and was down 32.4 percent from a year ago, according to the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers, falling to the […]

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) is endorsing Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) in the Democratic primary to replace retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in Illinois. “At this perilous moment in Washington, Juliana’s fighting spirit and dedication to improving lives is exactly the type of representation Illinoisans need, and I’m proud to endorse her for the […]

Italy today celebrates the 80th anniversary of its liberation. After two-and-a-half years, Italian partisans got rid of both the Nazi German former ally that had occupied half the country and morally rid itself of the already-fallen Italian fascist regime. To put it jokingly: We Italians invented fascism, but luckily we also invented anti-fascism. Fascism, before […]

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing the federal workforce, is slashing more than half of its staff around the country, pinning the blame on President Trump and his executive actions.  AFGE is expected to lay off more than 200 employees, going from 355 workers down to about 150, the union […]

Participants on a Signal group chat discussion about a strike on Houthi targets in Yemen are facing a lawsuit over a request to turn over all conversions they had on the encrypted app over the last three months. The suit is the first filed since reporting indicating Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed the same strike […]

Facing federal funding suspensions and investigations, elite universities have arrived at a moment of crisis. Many have — rightly, in our opinion — pledged never to compromise on core principles of academic freedom, and vowed to resist the federal government’s heavy-handed tactics. Most have refused, however, to fully acknowledge how their own delinquencies have precipitated […]

The marshals are in an increasingly bitter conflict between two branches of government, even as funding for judges’ security has failed to keep pace with a steady rise in threats.

Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested on suspicion that she “intentionally misdirected federal agents away from” an immigrant being pursued by the authorities, the F.B.I. director said.