DOJ Says Title VI Bans Only Intent. Decades of Civil Rights Law Say Otherwise.
For fifty years, a school district that suspended Black students at three times the rate of white students, with no paper trail of racist intent, could still face a federal…
DHS Is Partially Shut Down. Here’s Which Services Are Still Running and Which Aren’t.
Ten days in, and the DHS shutdown has stopped being theoretical. The gap between what officials predicted before February 14 and what is happening now is large enough to fuel…
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An Independent Team to Decode Government
Our articles are referenced by trusted think tanks and publications including Brookings, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, Pew Research, Snopes, The Hill, and USA Today.
Your Money & Home
Businesses Paid Billions in Tariffs the Court Says Were Illegal. Here’s How Refunds Would Work.
The Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs on February 20, 2026, and said nothing about what happens to the…
The Supreme Court Just Stripped the President’s Tariff Power. Here’s What That Means.
Roughly $240 billion in tariff revenue had been collected since April 2025 from importers across the country. On February 20,…
The Tariff Ruling Eliminated Nine Percentage Points of U.S. Trade Barriers Overnight
In Learning Resources, Inc. V. Trump, six justices formed a majority opinion, and with it, nearly half of America's tariff…
Your Health & Safety
An ICE Agent Killed a U.S. Citizen. Here’s What Accountability Mechanisms Exist—and Where They Break Down.
Renee Nicole Good's SUV was stopped sideways across a one-way street when ICE agent Jonathan Ross fired three shots and…
Civil Rights History in Schools: What Federal Education Standards Require
When Reverend Jesse Jackson died in February 2026, the national conversation about his legacy collided with an uncomfortable reality: most…
Inside the Grand Jury: How Citizens Block Prosecutions Prosecutors Want
In fiscal year 2013, federal grand juries approved charges in 99.993 percent of cases—196,964 indictments out of 196,969 matters presented.…
Your Voice & Rights
The Fourth Amendment Protections That Apply During Immigration Sweeps—For Citizens and Noncitizens Alike
The Fourth Amendment does not say "citizens." It says "the people." Courts have spent decades arguing about what that phrase…
How Jesse Jackson’s Presidential Campaigns Reshaped Voting Rights Enforcement
Jackson launched his first presidential campaign in 1983. The law existed. The federal government had tools to enforce it. What…
TSA Agents Must Work Unpaid During Shutdowns. Here’s What Labor Law Says.
This isn't some bureaucratic oversight or emergency improvisation. It's exactly what federal law allows. The legal framework permitting the government…
Your World
Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act Was Designed for Emergencies. Here’s What Congress Actually Intended.
Not during the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, not during the 1997 Asian financial crisis that spread across…
When Immigration Agents Can Enter Your Home Without a Warrant
More than 63,000 TSA officers are working without pay. FEMA disaster reimbursements to states face delays, including $11 billion tied…
Inside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court That Oversees Section 702
That court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, reviews every aspect of Section 702 surveillance—the government submits its surveillance rules for…
Can the NSA Search Your Messages Without a Warrant? What Section 702 Allows
This isn't a leak or a scandal. It's how Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is designed to…
Trending Federal Guidance
Understanding the Social Security Earnings Limit
You can receive Social Security retirement or survivor benefits while still employed. However, if you begin receiving benefits before reaching your Full Retirement Age (FRA), specific rules limit how much…
USPS Package Size Limits
Whether you're shipping products nationwide as a small business owner or sending gifts to loved…
Understanding Your Passport Costs: A Clear Guide to Fees
Getting a U.S. passport is your ticket to international travel, but understanding the associated costs…
Step-by-Step Guide for Applying for Social Security Benefits
Navigating Social Security benefits doesn't have to be complicated. This guide breaks down the application…
USPS Media Mail Rules and Restrictions
Media Mail is an economy shipping service provided by the USPS specifically for sending media…
Other Top Federal Guidance
Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Employees: Understanding Your Rights Under the FLSA
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the cornerstone of federal wage and hour law in the United States. Enacted…
Final Paycheck Laws: When Employers Must Pay Departing Employees
The end of an employment relationship involves several administrative steps, with the final paycheck being a crucial element. Understanding when…
Navigating Health Insurance Outside of Open Enrollment: Understanding Special Enrollment Periods
The main time for individuals and families to sign up for health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace occurs during…
Understanding Child Care Subsidies: CCDF Eligibility and Application
Affording child care is a significant challenge for many families across the United States. The Child Care and Development Fund…
How the Pentagon Spends Your Money: A Guide to Defense Dollars
The Pentagon manages one of the largest budgets on the planet. Each year, hundreds of billions of tax dollars flow…
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Congress Handed Presidents Tariff Power Decades Ago. The Court Just Took It Back.
Rick Woldenberg paid millions in legal fees to sue the federal government. He described his willingness to put his name on the lawsuit in blunt terms: "I didn't do anything…
Federal Workers in Shutdown Limbo: What Happens to Pay and Benefits
Approximately 260,000 Department of Homeland Security workers are either on the job without pay or sitting at home without pay. The first full missed paychecks will land in mid-March, right…
Section 702 Expires April 20. What Intelligence Agencies Lose If It Lapses.
Congress faces a deadline nine weeks away. What happens if nobody blinks and the authority lapses? Intelligence officials say the U.S. would lose the single most valuable foreign intelligence collection…
Why Congress Keeps Fighting Over the Same Surveillance Law Every Few Years
The Trump administration wants Congress to renew Section 702—a surveillance law that lets intelligence agencies collect Americans' communications without a warrant—before April 20, 2026. House Speaker Mike Johnson faces pressure…
When AI Companies Reach Bank-Sized Valuations, Financial Regulators Take Notice
For comparison, America's largest bank JPMorgan Chase has a market valuation of approximately $836 billion. JPMorgan manages over $4 trillion in assets and turns a profit. OpenAI loses billions of…
The Legal Architecture That Makes Federal Agencies ‘Independent’
Congress didn't declare federal agencies "independent" and hope for the best. Over more than a century, lawmakers wrote specific rules into law—rules about firing officials, boards with overlapping terms, funding…
Trump Order Targets Independent Agencies: What the Fed, FEC, and CFPB Could Lose
On February 18, 2025, President Trump signed an order that requires agencies that Congress deliberately set up to operate independently—the Federal Reserve, the Federal Election Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection…
Why Congress Created Agencies the President Can’t Fire—And Whether That Still Holds
On February 18, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order that attempts to bring agencies that Congress set up to be independent from the president—the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the…
When the White House Blocks Your Agency’s Rule: Legal Options for Fighting Back
On February 18, 2025, President Trump signed an order that requires independent regulatory agencies—the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and others Congress…
How Emergency Economic Powers Work—And What Counts as an Emergency
By late 2025, small business owners across America were paying more than $16 billion monthly in levies imposed under a law most Americans have never heard of. Tristan Wright makes…
The Federal Process for Designating New Civil Rights Historic Sites
The death of Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson on February 17, 2026, at age 84 set off an immediate scramble among preservationists. Not the usual scramble—the kind where historians debate legacy…