Pema Levy

Washington, D.C.

Reporter @MotherJones Send me secure tips: pemalevyATprotonDOTme pemalevy.33 (Signal) Also find find me at @pemalevy.bsky.social

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Articles

The Supreme Court is really “just vibes”

6 days 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.
The dangerous legal theory behind Trump’s power grabs

1 week 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.
The Supreme Court is about to let religion ruin public education

1 week ago | lgbtqnation.com | Pema Levy

This article first appeared on Mother Jones. It has been republished with the publication’s permission. In modern America, religious education is offered in private schools or in a homeschooling setting. Public education, by contrast, is secular, because the government is not in the business of sponsoring religious indoctrination.
The Supreme Court is about to let religion ruin public education

1 week ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

In modern America, religious education is offered in private schools or in a homeschooling setting. Public education, by contrast, is secular, because the government is not in the business of sponsoring religious indoctrination. But in two cases the Supreme Court heard over roughly the last week, the justices appear ready to throw out public education as we know it and usher in a new era where tax dollars flow to religious schools and religion can dictate what is taught in public classrooms.
The Supreme Court is trying to normalize its own anti-LGBTQ animus

2 weeks ago | lgbtqnation.com | Pema Levy

This article first appeared on Mother Jones. It has been republished with the publication’s permission. On Tuesday, a group of religious parents had their day at the Supreme Court, hoping the justices would grant them something extraordinary: the ability to pull their kids out of a classroom whenever instruction verges into territory that contradicts their religious beliefs.
The Supreme Court is trying to normalize its own anti-LGBTQ animus

3 weeks ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

On Tuesday, a group of religious parents had their day at the Supreme Court, hoping the justices would grant them something extraordinary: the ability to pull their kids out of a classroom whenever instruction verges into territory that contradicts their religious beliefs. Based on the justices’ responses in oral arguments, those parents are very likely to win the day—and public education may never be the same. The case, Mahmoud v.
A conservative judge just issued a dire warning about the Abrego Garcia case

3 weeks ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

A conservative federal judge just issued a dire warning: The government must bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States after he was illegally deported to a brutal Salvadoran prison, or else the country will descend into lawlessness. The opinion, from the 4th Circuit’s J. Harvie Wilkinson III and joined by two colleagues, is an extraordinary document—and is all the more notable coming from a judge who has long championed presidential power.
Trump refuses to bring back those wrongly detained in El Salvador. You could be next.

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters. At any moment, the Supreme Court will issue a decision in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man whom the Trump administration admits itdeported to a notorious Salvadoran mega prison due to “administrative error.” The ruling could pose a make or break moment, not just for the life of Abrego Garcia, but for what kind of country we are going to be.
SCOTUS allows Trump to send Venezuelans to a Salvadoran mega-prison

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy |Isabela Dias

In a Monday evening ruling, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to resume the removals of Venezuelan migrants accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang under the unprecedented use of the wartime Alien Enemies Act. The decision, lifting a district court’s temporary restraining order halting the removals, was 5-4, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the Democratic appointees in dissent. The ruling is a significant win for the Trump administration.
Trump’s tariffs give him a new way to dole out reward and punishment

1 month ago | motherjones.com | Pema Levy

Just a few months ago, Americans’ optimism about the economy was on the rise. The stock market boomed after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, and measures of business confidence rose. But all the positive sentiment came with an asterisk: It assumed that Trump would not follow through on his campaign promise to dramatically raise tariffs.