U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi answers questions from the media at the U.S. Capitol on March 18, 2026.
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The combined political and legal roles and responsibilities of the US attorney general can create conflicts. Some attorneys general yielded to political pressure from the president – many did not.
The Trump administration wants a lot of voter information from states.
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The DOJ wants states to send it copies of voters’ names and addresses as well as sensitive information such as driver’s license and Social Security numbers. Here’s why many states have refused.
Anti-war activists protest in Washington against the US and Israeli bombing campaign in Iran, March 2026.
Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/StringersHub/Sipa USA
The US and Israel have taken a huge risk by attacking Iran. This war will make the world a more dangerous place.
How you pronounce the name of the country the U.S. is at war against may reflect your politics.
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Both President Trump and Vice President Vance pronounce Iran as ‘Ih-RAN,’ not ‘Ih-RON.’ A linguist says that how the country’s name is pronounced may be a political choice.
What power does the U.S. Congress have over the president’s war in Iran?
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As critics question President Trump’s motivations for war on Iran, it’s not just about politics. It’s about the Constitution and whether Congress has any hope of checking the president’s warmaking.
Rubble from a police station damaged in airstrikes on March 3, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.
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At the tail end of the Vietnam War, Congress engaged in a breathtaking act of legislative assertion, affirming that lawmakers held the power to declare war – not the president.
A group of men inspects the ruins of a police station in Tehran, Iran, on March 3, 2026.
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
A covert US campaign in the mid-20th century helped steer Iran toward the intense anti-American sentiment that has distinguished its government policy for decades.
Most other democratic countries spend only a fraction of what the U.S. does on elections.
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A gobsmacking amount of money is spent on federal elections in the US. The credit or blame for that reaches back to a landmark, 50-year-old Supreme Court decision.
CBS says it warned Stephen Colbert that an interview with a politician could trigger an FCC rule requiring broadcasters to give political candidates equal access to the airwaves.
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The ‘equal time’ rule has been around for a century and aims to promote broadcasters’ editorial independence and free expression – an idea that is now under threat from the FCC.
Coast Guardsmen stand in front of two truckloads of liquor seized on April 14, 1931, after a battle between three policemen and several alcohol smugglers near Falmouth, Mass.
AP Photo
Both Prohibition and current mass deportation efforts were hastily built, staffed by people permitted to use force, and had difficult objectives to achieve.
Georgia General Election 2020 ballots are loaded by the FBI onto trucks at the Fulton County Election hub on Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga.
AP Photo/Mike Stewart
An FBI raid on a Georgia elections facility has sparked concern about Trump administration interference in the 2026 midterms. An obscure 1970s Supreme Court case provides guardrails against that.
Hoping to preserve his narrow majority, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson campaigned alongside Matt Van Epps, who narrowly won a December 2025 special election in a strongly Republican district in Tennessee.
AP Photo/John Amis
Special election results have anticipated recent midterm outcomes. With Democrats now overperforming, that could spell trouble for the GOP in 2026.
Violent immigration enforcement in Minneapolis has drawn protests nationwide. Congress has yet to investigate, but hearings may be inevitable at this point.
AP Photo/Adam Gray
Congress has handed ICE a blank check, dramatically increasing its funding without exercising oversight.
The president loves exercising power in the United States and abroad. But he’s tanking in the polls – and the November mid-terms may clip his wings at home.
Who will be in the majority in Congress after the midterm elections?
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As the 2026 midterm elections edge closer, most people know the party that controls the White House is likely to lose seats in Congress. They usually do not know just how entrenched that pattern is.
Trump has spent the first year of his second term pushing the limits of presidential power. He’s the latest in a long line of leaders who try to bypass Congress.
The second Trump administration has weakened federal civil rights law and is shredding the foundations of America’s racially inclusive democracy.
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At its one-year mark, the Trump administration is dismantling the systems that once helped the US move toward a more open and equal democracy.
Federal law enforcement agents confront anti-ICE protesters during a demonstration outside the Bishop Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 15, 2026.
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Can the president use the Insurrection Act and send the military into U.S. cities? A web of legal provisions try to balance presidential power with the power of state leaders.
Explosions were seen across Caracas after the U.S. launched large-scale attacks on Venezuela and captured its leader and his wife.
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Congress has a legal, constitutional and even moral responsibility to assert itself as a branch when it comes to military actions by the US, says an expert on war powers.
