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Far-Right Party Could Use Marine Le Pen Election Ban as Part of Battle Plan for Power in France
An expert in populist parties says the court’s decision could be exploited by the far-right party as part of its 2027 presidential election strategy.
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Can Border Patrol Go Through Your Phone? A Legal Expert Explains What Rights Travelers Have Entering the U.S.
A Northeastern legal expert explains the complexities involved with searches of phones and social media and what rights citizens and visitors have when entering the country.
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The Trade Deficit Isn’t an Emergency – It’s a Sign of America’s Strength
A trade deficit is often viewed as a problem. And yes, the U.S. trade deficit is both large and persistent. But far from a national emergency, this persistent deficit is actually a sign of America’s financial and technological dominance. Trump’s extreme tariffs, rather than reviving U.S. manufacturing, will erode the very pillars of the country’s economic dominance, at a steep cost to American firms and families.
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Why Was Russia Spared from Trump’s Tariffs?
Import tariffs, which President Donald Trump slapped on about 90 countries on 2 April, had some surprise omissions. One of them has turned out be Russia, which made many wonder why. Trump’s decision to spare Russia has not been lost on Russia’s ruling elite. Some top members of that elite could not help gloating over how some of America’s traditional allies were reeling from Trump’s tariffs, while Russia was untouched.
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Trump’s New Immigration Ban: An Arbitrary, Discriminatory Legal Immigration Rewrite
President Trump claims he wants a “merit-based” immigration system, but a system banning people based on their nationality is the opposite of merit-based. It is a national embarrassment.
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How Canadian Immigration Law Turns Judges into Border Guards
What happens to you if you get into an argument, it escalates, and you end up hitting someone with an umbrella or pulling their hair? In Canada, if you’re not a Canadian citizen, the consequences can be dramatic: you may be deported.
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Presidents Can’t Overhaul Election Law by Decree
On March 25, President Donald Trump published an executive order purporting to overhaul the nation’s election system. But under our American system, voting and voter registration are predominantly responsibilities of the states, with Congress constitutionally empowered to add some overlays through legislation of general applicability. A president cannot change those basics by putting out an executive order, nor may he commandeer the states, through funding blackmail or otherwise, into acting as instruments of his pleasure.
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American Couple Held in Mexican Maximum-Security Prison Over Timeshare Dispute
A Michigan couple has been detained in a maximum-security Mexican prison over a timeshare agreement dispute. American Express investigated the matter and sided with the couple, reversing the charges, but the Mexican authorities arrested them on charges of defrauding the hotel chain.
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Noncitizens Cannot Vote in New York City’s Local Elections, State High Court Rules
Though few localities allow noncitizens to vote, Republicans have made it a focus.
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Under Pressure from Trump, ICE Is Pushing Legal Boundaries
Confrontations with judges are grabbing attention, but more quietly a pattern of questionable arrests shows the extent to which the administration is willing to test norms and laws.
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Anti-Jewish and anti-Israel Bias Found in Leading AI Models, New ADL Report Finds
A comprehensive evaluation found that all four large language models (LLMs) — GPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), and Llama (Meta) — exhibited measurable anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias, though the degree and nature of bias varied across models.
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ICE Detains Spouse of an American Citizen on Couple’s Return from Honeymoon
A 26-year-old Peruvian citizen who returned with her American husband from their honeymoon, was detained by ICE, and has been in a Louisiana correctional center since 15 February. Following her marriage in May 2024, they applied for her permanent residency. At the time of her detention, their application was under review by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
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The Paradox of Democracy’s Success: Behavioral Science Helps Explain Why We Miss Autocratic Red Flags
The era of global liberal democracy led some scholars celebrated the “the end of history,” as risks to democracy appeared ever more remote. But in the same way that a nuclear power plant may appear to be operating safely until the last safety valve is broken, democracies can appear stable right up until they flip into autocracy. The growing electoral success of extreme rightwing parties in many Western countries, from France to Finland and from the Netherlands to Germany, has turned the end of history into the possible end of democracy.
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Trump Is Using the Alien Enemies Act to Deport Immigrants – but the 18th-century Law Has Been Invoked Only During Times of War
The Alien Enemies Act empowers presidents to apprehend and remove foreign nationals from countries that are at war with the United States. U.S. presidents have issued executive proclamations and invoked this law three times: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. All three instances followed Congress declaring war.
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Under What Circumstances Can a U.S. Green Card Be Revoked?
The recent arrest of Palestinian activist and U.S. legal permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil, who played a prominent role in last year’s Columbia University protests over the war in Gaza, has prompted questions about the limits of a green card.
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The long view
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
The “Invasion” Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.
Luigi Mangione and the Making of a ‘Terrorist’
Discretion is crucial to the American tradition of criminal law, Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak write, noting that “lawmakers enact broader statutes to empower prosecutors to pursue justice while entrusting that they will stay within the confines of their authority and screen out the inevitable “absurd” cases that may arise.” Discretion is also vital to maintaining the legitimacy of the legal system. In the prosecution’s case against Luigi Mangione, they charge, “That discretion was abused.”
Autocrats Don’t Act Like Hitler or Stalin Anymore − Instead of Governing with Violence, They Use Manipulation
Modern autocrats don’t always resemble their 20th-century predecessors. Instead, they project a polished image, avoid overt violence and speak the language of democracy. They wear suits, hold elections and talk about the will of the people. Rather than terrorizing citizens, many use media control and messaging to shape public opinion and promote nationalist narratives. Many gain power not through military coups but at the ballot box.