Laws and regulations

PERSISTENT SURVEILLANCEThe Toxic Legacy of 9/11…and How to End It
By Patrick G. Eddington
Restoring the Bill of Rights to its proper shape and place in our civic life would be one way to honor those killed on 9/11 and in the wars that followed.
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ELECTIONSDOJ Is Sharing State Voter Roll Lists with Homeland Security
By Jonathan Shorman
All studies of the subject have conclusively shown that the number of illegal liens voting in U.S. election is vanishingly small (these studies also hasten to add that the term “vanishingly small” exaggerates the number of illegal liens trying to vote). Still, DOJ demanded states turn over the lists. Homeland Security says it will comb through for “illegal aliens.”
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ELECTIONSStates Rush to Pass New Political Maps in Gerrymandering Blitz
By Brett Rowland, The Center Square
States are gearing up to deliver more votes for their favored political parties in a rare, mid-decade overhaul of voting maps that threatens to frustrate voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.
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POLARIZATIONInfluencers, Multipliers, and the Structure of Polarization: How Political Narratives Circulate on Twitter/X
A recent study provides a nuanced understanding of the mechanisms driving polarization and issue alignment on Twitter/X and reveals how political polarization is reinforced and structured by two distinct types of highly active users: influencers and multipliers.
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EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGThe President Should Not Have a License to Kill
By David J. Bier
The administration claims that the “war” on drugs justifies extrajudicial killing. But redefining civilian drug criminals as “combatants” gives away the reality: the government just militarized what was a low-level criminal law enforcement incident outside the United States. Once we consider the victims’ alleged illegal actions, we can see that the government committed the most egregious crime here.
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DEMOCRACY WATCHBrazil’s Bolsonaro May Soon Join Ranks of Failed Coup Plotters Held to Account − Hampering the Chance of Any Political Comeback
By John Joseph Chin and Joe Wright
Brazil’s Supreme Court is expected to deliver a verdict by Sept. 12 over charges that the former president and key aides plotted to overturn Bolsonaro’s 2022 election defeat to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Prosecutors allege that Bolsonaro and others discussed a scheme to assassinate Lula and incited a riot on Jan. 8, 2023, in hopes that Brazil’s military would intervene and return Bolsonaro to power.
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THE MILITARY & DOMESTIC LAW ENFORCEMENTJudge Warns of “National Police Force” in Ruling Trump Broke the Law Sending Guard to LA
By Jacob Fischler
President Donald Trump’s move to send National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to quell immigration protests in Los Angeles this summer violated a federal law against military members conducting domestic law enforcement, a federal judge in California ruled Tuesday.
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THE MILITARY & DOMESTIC LAW ENFORCEMENTGovernors Split Over Mobilizing National Guard as Trump Seeks More Troops
By Jonathan Shorman
Republican governors want National Guard members to help ICE, in addition to deploying to Washington.
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DEMOCRACY WATCHShe Pushed to Overturn Trump’s Loss in the 2020 Election. Now She’ll Help Oversee U.S. Election Security.
By Doug Bock Clark
Heather Honey has been appointed to a senior position in the Department of Homeland Security. State election officials and voting experts are concerned.
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DEMOCRACY WATCHTrump-appointed Judge Blasts Administration for Campaign Against Judiciary
By Morgan Sweeney, The Center Square
A Trump-appointed federal judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit against all 15 federal district judges in Maryland Tuesday, emphasizing the extraordinary nature of the case and excoriating the administration for its treatment of the judiciary as a whole.
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BIRTH RATESHow to Reverse Nation’s Declining Birth Rate
By Alvin Powell
Health experts urge policies that buoy families: lower living costs, affordable childcare, help for older parents who want more kids
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ELECTION SECURITYVoting from Your Sofa Is Secure Enough – but Will It Be Allowed?
By Sølvi Normannsen
A new electronic voting system developed at NTNU can withstand attacks from quantum computers, meaning digital elections can be conducted securely, even in the future.
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DEMOCRCY WATCHOn Nonexistent Crime “Emergencies”: Trump’s Politicization of the National Guard
By Patrick G. Eddington
What Trump is doing now has nothing to do with “crime control” because the DC murder and crime rate is the lowest it’s been in literally decades. These out-of-state National Guard call-ups from Red states are designed to intimidate elected Democrats in major metropolitan areas under the guise of “fighting crime” and alleged immigration enforcement. Trump’s use of Title 32 authority to do this is a misuse of the statute, designed to get around the Posse Comitatus Act so he can use military personnel under the control of Trump loyalist governors for what can only be truthfully characterized as de facto political repression ops.
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POLICINGWhat Would a More Effective Policing Strategy Look Like in D.C.?
By Chip Brownlee for The Trace
We spoke with crime prevention expert David Kennedy about the Trump administration’s takeover of law enforcement in the nation’s capital, and the tactics that might prove more effective.
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POLICINGThe Data Doesn’t Support Trump’s Justification for Deploying the National Guard
By Chip Brownlee and Jennifer Mascia for The Trace
The president has taken over policing in Washington, D.C., and threatened to do the same in other Democratic-led cities. An analysis by The Trace shows that his claims of runaway violence are false.
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