Conor Friedersdorf
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Ringo Chiu / Reuters Why Did an Ex-Marine Open Fire in a California Bar?
A shooting in Thousand Oaks, California, leaves many questions unanswered.
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Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / Getty Goodbye to All Quack
Central Park’s most famous resident bids New York City farewell and heads for sunnier climes.
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Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Republicans Must Choose Between Trump and the Rule of Law
The president’s actions Wednesday portend a choice for GOP officials: Is their greater loyalty to the president or to the public’s right to know what he’s done?
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Terray Sylvester / Reuters Florida Votes for Democracy
A supermajority of voters approved a change that will extend the franchise to more than 1 million people in a swing state where elections are regularly decided by razor-thin margins.
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Joshua Roberts / Reuters Oversight Is the Biggest Winner of the Midterm Elections
The Democratic victory in the House provides an opportunity to drain the swamp, after two years of willful Republican cover for dodgy behavior.
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Caitlin Ochs / Reuters An Embarrassment of Glitches
A wealthy country should be able to conduct a national election with fewer problems than the United States experienced in the 2018 midterms.
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Carlos Barria / Reuters What Happens If Trump Wins His Bet on Demagoguery?
The president is sowing fear and stoking ethnic anxieties. Voters can punish him for weakening America or ensure more of the same.
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Brian Snyder / Reuters Truth vs. Social Justice
Academic recognition shouldn’t hinge on a scholar’s moral character.
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Andrew Cullen / Reuters What Progressives Can Learn From Michael Avenatti’s Mistake
By arguing that Democrats should nominate a white, male candidate, the self-promoting attorney pushed progressive premises to their logical, and objectionable, conclusion.
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Jim Bourg / Reuters Conservatives Have Lost the Supreme-Court Excuse for Supporting Trump
If the talk-radio host Hugh Hewitt is right that the war for the judiciary is over and his side has won, then it’s also time for him to abandon his support for the president.
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Faisal Mahmood / Reuters A Lawsuit Tests the Limits of Anonymous Speech
A journalist wants to know who accused him of rape in a shared spreadsheet. What are the implications of outing or protecting his accusers?
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Brian Snyder / Reuters The Idioms of Non-Argument
What happens when reviewers spend more time focusing on the motives of authors than the merits of their claims?
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters The GOP’s Unearned Moral Indignation
The story many are telling themselves in the wake of the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation battle rests on delusion.
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Does ‘White Male Rage’ Exist?
Many journalists covering Brett Kavanaugh’s angry Senate testimony made claims more sweeping than the evidence they provided to back them.
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters Everyone Wants the Supreme Court to Thwart Democratic Majorities
The Constitution protects the rights of minorities—and despite their rhetoric, both Republicans and Democrats support that.
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Toya Sarno Jordan / Reuters The Divide Over Kavanaugh Isn’t as Big as It First Appears
Even as voters disagree, many are drawing on the same basic set of values to reach opposing conclusions.
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Reuters Prosecute Those Making ‘True Threats’ Against Ford and Kavanaugh
Threats of violence discourage people from participating in civic life. This is an unusually good opportunity to deter them.
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Jim Bourg / Reuters How Lindsey Graham Tries to Keep Trump Hawkish
The South Carolina Republican lobbies to keep American boots on the ground in foreign conflicts—but neglects some of the attendant costs.
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Kris Tripplaar / The Atlantic Festival Free Speech Will Survive This Moment
Optimists and pessimists offered competing visions for the future of the First Amendment at The Atlantic Festival.
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Reuters ‘Truth Is Confirmed by Inspection and Delay’
Discoverable facts relevant to the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh remain uncovered.
