Criminal Justice
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Trent Nelson / AP The ‘Death Penalty’s Dred Scott’ Lives On
In 1987, the Supreme Court came within one vote of eliminating capital punishment in Georgia based on evidence of racial disparities. Instead, it created a precedent that civil-rights advocates have been fighting for decades.
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Christopher Aluka Berry / Reuters The New Abortion Bills Are a Dare
State legislators in Alabama and Georgia know that abortion bans will likely be overturned in lower courts. They are aiming higher.
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters There’s a Way for Democrats to Sue Trump—Thanks to the Republicans
A lawsuit to block the border wall could go the route the House GOP took in 2014 to challenge Obamacare.
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Leah Millis / Reuters The Most Remarkable Thing About Trump's Proposed National Emergency
With his solution to the border-wall impasse, the president seems to be working within the boundaries of law—revealing the massive power of the American executive.
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Alex Brandon Trump’s Evangelical Advisers Could Help Him Secure a Win on Sentencing Reform
Conservative Christian leaders are a major force behind criminal-justice legislation being considered in the Senate. But black and progressive clergy see danger in allying with the president, even on this issue.
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Illustration by Cam Floyd; animation by Andrew Embury The Tragedy of Mental Illness in American Prisons
At the time of his death, following a violent altercation with guards, Karl Taylor was one of thousands of mentally ill inmates who are confined to institutions that are supremely ill-equipped to handle them.
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Marc Levy / AP The Justice Department’s Investigation of Clergy Sexual Abuse Will Test the Catholic Hierarchy
A new inquiry significantly escalates the involvement of secular authorities.
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Alex Wroblewski / Reuters Kavanaugh Has a Strong Chance of Confirmation—and of Becoming an Election Rallying Cry
The Supreme Court nominee has become a symbol of the president’s quiet judicial legacy and the anti-Trump resistance.
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Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Why Paul Manafort's Trial Is Going So Fast
The Eastern District of Virginia isn't called the “rocket docket” for nothing.
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Jim Bourg / Reuters Brett Kavanaugh Has GOP Bona Fides—and a Controversial Record
Trump's Supreme Court pick faces a brutal nomination fight ahead.
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Customs and Border Patrol / Reuters Religious Leaders Condemn Family Separations—but Not Necessarily Trump
His “zero-tolerance” policy has been called “traumatic” and “cruel.” But his most stalwart supporters are sticking with him.
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Matthieu Bourel The End of Civil Rights
Across immigration, policing, criminal justice, and voting rights, the attorney general is pushing an agenda that could erase many of the legal gains of modern America's defining movement.
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J. Scott Applewhite / AP Democrats Split Over Trump's Prison Pitch
The party is torn over a reform bill that just passed the House with the president’s support: Should it back modest changes to the criminal-justice system or hold out for more?
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters The People Trump's War on Drugs Will Actually Punish
His campaign, backed by the Justice Department, only reinforces a law-enforcement paradigm that puts people of color in prison.
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Rich Pedroncelli / AP When Republicans Attack States' Rights
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s lawsuit against California’s immigration policies reflects a common fair-weather federalism.
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Jonathan Ernst / Reuters The Trumping of the FBI
The president and his allies don’t want to protect the bureau’s political independence—they want to subvert it.
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Joshua Roberts / Reuters 'An Assault on the Body of the Church’
Catholic parishes have been hit hard by President Trump’s decision to suspend Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans.
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Joshua Roberts / Reuters Can Government Officials Have You Arrested for Speaking to Them?
The Supreme Court faces a test of the authority of politicians to use police to silence their critics.
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Dola Sun Americans Don't Really Understand Gun Violence
Why? Because there's very little known about the thousands of victims who survive deadly shootings.
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AP The Long History of Black Officers Reforming Policing From Within
Black Lives Matter and Donald Trump’s agenda are inspiring some police to more vocal advocacy. But their project—ending racial bias in the profession—is a decades-old one.
