Pema Levy

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

Not even a year ago, though it feels like a decade, the US Supreme Court granted presidents immunity from criminal laws when they act in their official capacity. In other words, presidents don’t have to worry about breaking the law, as they will never be held to account. On Thursday, the Trump administration was back at the court with a related request: Will the justices please allow us to enforce illegal orders against anyone who fails to sue to stop us?

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

When the Trump administration asks the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to deny birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants and visa holders, its legal theory will rest on a reinterpretation of a critical phrase of the Constitution. But when you plug their preferred meaning back into the historical context in which the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause was enacted, the results are nonsensical. In other words, the crux of the government’s argument simply makes no sense.

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

In 2022, Florida Republicans enacted the Stop WOKE Act, which sought to remove from school curriculums any lessons that might cause students to feel “discomfort,” “guilt,” or any other “psychological distress” because of their race. It went without saying that the legislation’s authors were referring to white students who might experience a sad feeling because of what their ancestors did to Black people in the United States.

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

In Donald Trump’s second term, a familiar pattern is emerging: the president does something illegal, someone sues to stop him, and eventually the Supreme Court decides the case. From which agencies Trump can effectively shutter, to which agency heads he can depose, to whether or not he can disappear people into a Salvadoran gulag or deny infants birthright citizenship, the buck stops with the nine justices on the nation’s highest court. But that court is not acting…normally.

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

It all started with Richard Nixon. It was the summer of 1974, and Watergate was closing in on his presidency. A grand jury had subpoenaed secret recordings of Nixon and his aides that would show the president had been involved in the criminal conspiracy. A judge had ordered Nixon to honor the subpoena. The president’s lawyers faced a daunting task: block the release of those damning tapes.