How Manchin and Sinema Completed a Conservative Vision

The decision by Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin to block their fellow Democrats from passing new federal voting-rights legislation clears the path for years of tightening ballot restrictions in Republican-controlled states. It also marks a resounding triumph for Chief Justice John Roberts in his four-decade quest to roll back […] Read more »

Biden’s bad week and the unreality of great expectations

The bad news keeps on coming for President Biden. He ended 2021 at a low point in his presidency, hoping to turn it around in the new year. But things have only gotten worse. His spending and voting rights plans are at congressional dead ends. Inflation remains at multi-decade highs. […] Read more »

6 questions for politics in 2022

From control of Congress and the strength of the Biden presidency to potential Jan. 6 committee revelations and the future of abortion rights, there’s a lot at stake in 2022. We have lots of questions about what’s ahead. Here are six: 1. Can Biden turn it around?President Biden ended 2021 […] Read more »

Justice Roberts Tops Federal Leaders in Americans’ Approval

Chief Justice John Roberts earns the highest job approval rating of 11 U.S. leaders rated in a Dec. 1-16 Gallup poll with 60% approving of how he is handling his role. Only two other leaders on the list are reviewed positively by majorities of Americans — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome […] Read more »

The Republican Axis Reversing the Rights Revolution

The great divergence is rapidly expanding—and President Joe Biden’s window to reverse it is narrowing. Since the 1960s, Congress and federal courts have acted mostly to strengthen the floor of basic civil rights available to citizens in all 50 states, a pattern visible on issues from the dismantling of Jim […] Read more »

Why anti-abortion states have many of the worst outcomes for kids

Almost all of the states that produce the most unfavorable economic and health care outcomes for children are among those poised to ban or severely restrict access to abortion if the Supreme Court overturns the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision. That pattern underscores the paradox that the states most […] Read more »