Explainers

The 2010 Supreme Court decision further tilted political influence toward wealthy donors and corporations.

Judges have a range of tools for enforcing their orders in the face of noncompliance.

This detention and deportation power poses an alarming risk of abuse and rights violations in both wartime and peacetime.

The framers wanted to insulate the president and federal officials from corrupting influences, but a new law is needed to ensure effective enforcement.

The practice has long been a thorn in the side of American democracy, but it’s becoming a bigger threat than ever.

The illegal order risks preventing millions of eligible American citizens from voting.

The landmark 1965 law is one of the most successful civil rights measures in history, but the Supreme Court has eviscerated it.

The procedure, whose use has increased dramatically in recent decades, has troubling implications for democracy.

Judicial impeachment shouldn’t be used to punish judges for their rulings. Here’s why.

The vague and rarely used law gives the president broad power to deploy the military domestically — but it’s not a blank check.

The law generally prevents the president from using the military as a domestic police force.

The centuries-old tool is a bedrock principle of constitutional democracy that protects against unlawful detention.

It took more than a century of fighting by generations of activists to achieve suffrage for all American women.

The 14th Amendment has long been understood to grant American citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.

Reproductive rights in the United States, explained.

There are significant loopholes in the rules that apply to the high court.

Thirty-eight states have finally ratified the ERA, but whether its protections for women’s rights are actually added to the Constitution remains an open question.

Our elections are secure and trustworthy, but rumors and lies on social media abound.

States offer multiple paths for amending their constitutions, which are much easier to change than the federal Constitution.

The recent rise in crime is extraordinarily complex. Policymakers and the public should not jump to conclusions or expect easy answers.

Despite spikes in some cities, crime data doesn’t show a nationwide increase in shoplifting and other forms of retail theft.

The law surrounding the concept is complicated and unsettled. Congress should pass legislation that better defines its scope.

Efforts to secure full political representation for the District of Columbia have gained momentum, but obstacles remain.

The Court’s use of the Constitution to defend individual rights and liberties from the mid-20th to early 21st centuries stands in sharp contrast to its rulings before and since.

As the landmark law turns 60, we trace the historic events that made it a bipartisan reality.

A national popular vote would help ensure that every vote counts equally, making American democracy more representative.

Public financing is the most effective solution we have to the problem of big money in politics.

Most immigrants facing deportation are entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge, but their legal rights differ from those in criminal cases.

The conservative justices are increasingly using a secretive process to issue consequential decisions.

Americans should feel safe to vote free from intimidation by the presence of the military or federal agents.

For decades, the law blocked racially discriminatory election rules and voting districts — and it could do so again, if Congress acts.

Here’s how a conflict in Europe would implicate U.S. defense obligations.

Military personnel, aid workers, and other Americans living abroad have a right to vote, and there is a secure system that lets them do it.

State laws require officials to certify results, and safeguards are in place should someone fail to fulfill that obligation.

The Electoral College is one of the most undemocratic features of U.S. elections.

Understanding how the classification system works is critical to understanding Trump’s culpability — legal and otherwise.

These special postelection meetings have been far more momentous (and controversial) than their name suggests.

There are five inhabited U.S. territories, each with its own court system and governing documents.

The Washington, DC, court system shares many similarities with state courts, but with a few important caveats.

The allegations are serious, but fraud in small donor matching programs gets caught.

Excessive incarceration and immigration detention has resulted in a perverse system where people in custody are shuttled among facilities around the country for money.

The U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t offer guidance on legal issues beyond actual cases before it, but many state supreme courts do.

The process is designed to withstand election denialism.

Trump’s eligibility to vote this fall will depend on the outcome of his New York sentencing and pending prosecutions.