• ELECTION SECURITYDOJ Sues Arizona Over Proof of Citizenship Requirement for Voter Registration

    By Masood Farivar

    DOJ on Tuesday said it was suing Arizona over its new proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration. DOJ says the Arizona law violates the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. DOJ also says that the Arizona voter registration requirement “flouts” a 2013 Supreme Court decision – in a 7-2 decision — which rejected an earlier attempt by the state to implement a similar mandate.

  • ELECTION SECURITYJan. 6 Hearings Highlight Problems with Certification of Presidential Elections and Potential Ways to Fix Them

    By Derek T. Muller

    The televised hearings held by the House Jan. 6 Committee highlighted the lack of clarity regarding how Congress counts presidential electoral votes — a lack of clarity which was exploited by former president Donald Trump in his attempt to overturn the results of the presidential election. Members of Congress publicly aired baseless claims that the election results were in doubt, while Vice President Michael Pence was pressured to exercise power he does not have to unilaterally refuse to count electoral votes from some states or indefinitely delay counting. Congress cannot prevent all mischief, but it can reduce the possibility of mischief in the future.

  • IMMIGRATIONSupreme Court: Biden Can Terminate “Remain in Mexico” Program

    By Aaron Reichlin-Melnick

    Almost a year after the Supreme Court allowed a federal judge in Texas to order the Biden administration to restart the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy, also known as the “Remain in Mexico program, the Supreme Court on Thursday, 30 June, ruled in the Biden administration’s favor, allowing President Biden to end MPP.

  • ENERGY SECURITYAnnouncing the Electric Resilience Toolkit

    By Romany Webb, Noha Haggag, and Michael Panfil

    A new Electric Resilience Toolkit aims to support policymakers and stakeholders working on issues around electric sector regulation and climate resilience planning. Such planning is essential to ensure electricity infrastructure is designed and operated in a way that accounts for the impacts of climate change—impacts that are already being felt and which will only intensify in coming years.

  • GUN SAFETYWill Closing the “Boyfriend Loophole” in Gun Legislation Save lives? Here’s What the Research Says

    By April M. Zeoli

    If you have two domestic abusers who have both committed the same severe physical violence against their partners, but one of them is married to their intimate partner while the other isn’t, then only the domestic abuser who is married could be prohibited from having a gun. Among the provisions of the bipartisan gun safety bill passed by Congress, is one which closes the so-called “boyfriend loophole” which allows some people with a record of domestic violence to still buy firearms.

  • CRIME FIGHTINGPublic Safety Experts Warn: NYC’s Crime-Fighting Strategy Could Backfire

    By Chip Brownlee

    As city leaders double down on policing amid a spike in shootings, a new idea is gaining hold among experts: could less policing actually reduce gun violence?

  • GUNSSupreme Court Sweeps Aside New York’s Limits on Carrying a Gun, Raising Second Amendment Rights to New Heights

    By Morgan Marietta

    The core argument of the 23 June Supreme Court decision in a case involving New York State law is that gun rights are to be treated the same as other hallowed rights like the freedom of speech or freedom of religion recognized in the First Amendment. For most of the history of the court, Second Amendment rights have been seen as distinct, more dangerous, and thus more open to regulation. The majority of justices have now changed that approach to the Second Amendment.

  • GUNSWhat Makes Guns Automatic?

    By Jessica Taylor Price

    As was the case following other mass shootings, the killing of 19 children and two adults at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas was followed by calls for various gun-safety measures at the federal and state level. What do these restrictions mean, and how effective would they be if passed?

  • DEMOCRACY WATCHIs There Anything to Learn about Watergate? New History Says Yes

    By Christina Pazzanese

    Historian Garrett Graff argues “America misremembers Watergate as an event, the break-in of the DNC offices, when history has shown us that Watergate was more of a mindset. It was this dark, paranoid, conspiratorial, corrupt mindset that enabled a whole series of crimes and abuses of power that permeated the entire Nixon White House from the campaign of ’68 right through his resignation in ’74. It encompasses a dozen distinct but interrelated scandals with overlapping players, differing motives, differing targets that led the Nixon administration deeper into this morass of scandal.”

  • ELECTION SECURITYMan Pleads Guilty to Threatening Election Official

    A Nebraska man pleaded guilty on Thursday to making multiple threatening posts on an Instagram page associated with an election official. The case is part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, announced in June 2021, to lead the department’s efforts to address threats of violence against election workers.

  • GUNSWhat Can the ATF Do About Converted Machine Guns?

    By Alain Stephens and Champe Barton

    Auto sears have become increasingly popular among criminals, and have been tied to dozens of shootings by extremists, mass shooters, and drug traffickers. Lawmakers are clamoring for action on auto sears, and history leaves clues about what approach the ATF might take.

  • DOMESTIC TERRORISMTop DOJ Official: Easy Access to Powerful Gus Linked to Domestic Terror Attacks

    By Jeff Seldin

    “We have to be clear about this as a nation,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen told an audience on Wednesday, “[t]he ability of violent extremists to acquire military-grade weapons in this country contributes significantly to their ability to kill and inflict harm on a massive scale.”

  • GUNSDid the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 Bring Down Mass Shootings? Here’s What the Data Tells Us

    By Michael J. Klein

    A spate of high-profile mass shootings in the U.S. has sparked calls for Congress to look at imposing a ban on assault weapons. Such a prohibition has been in place before – from 1994 to 2004. That ban was limited, but nonetheless, the 10-year life span of that ban – with a clear beginning and end date – gives researchers the opportunity to compare what happened with mass shooting deaths before, during and after the prohibition was in place.

  • GUNSSome Light in the Distance for Major Curbs on Gun Violence

    By Alvin Powell

    The killing of nineteen children and two teachers in in Texas and subsequent debate about what can be done to prevent similar tragedies from happening again, highlighted the widespread recognition about how difficult it will be to spark change in the polarized debate on the issue. Chan’s School’s David Hemenway is uncertain about effects of Uvalde deaths, but believes growing body of research will turn tide in time.

  • POLICINGShifting Policing Responsibilities from City to County Doesn't Affect Crime Levels

    Disbanding city police departments and shifting law enforcement responsibilities to county governments appears to have no affect on overall crime rates and leads to fewer police-related deaths, according to a new study. The study also finds disbanding leads to fewer police-related deaths, but less transparency.