Supreme Court

Article

Bringing Back Death

As states were finding ways to reinstate the death penalty after the supreme court objected to its arbitrary imposition in 1972, Robert Pugsley spoke out against it.

By Robert Pugsley

June 28, 2018

Supreme Court

Domestic Affairs

Article

Preventing a Partisan Court from Getting Worse

The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, and the rush to replace him, threatens to roll back a century’s worth of social progress

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

June 28, 2018

Supreme Court

Domestic Affairs

Article

Ignoring the Evidence

Despite extensive documentation of Trump’s intent to discriminate against Muslims, the conservative majority upholds the travel ban

By Paul Moses

June 27, 2018

Immigration

Donald Trump

Muslim-Christian Relations

Supreme Court

Article

The Case for Conscience

The drift of the news coverage is that this ruling doesn’t change much, but the justices are calling for respect for the freedom of conscience

By Paul Moses

June 6, 2018

Supreme Court

LGBTQ issues

Secularism and Modernity

Article

Not Worth a Cake?

It’s hard to see how a baker’s claim to religious freedom doesn’t amount to discrimination

By John Gehring

December 7, 2017

Article

Consensus & Uncertainty at the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Missouri church that was denied state funds to fix its preschool playground. Is this a slippery slope?

By Richard W. Garnett

August 2, 2017

Supreme Court

Domestic Affairs

Article

With Intent to Suppress

Equal access to the voting booth is in jeopardy

By The Editors

May 30, 2017

Article

Contraception & Cooperation

Questions around the ethics of cooperation in wrongdoing—especially in regard to the contraceptive mandate—can't be set aside

By Bernard G. Prusak

March 27, 2017

Contraception mandate

Article

Gorsuch’s Lie

We now have an ideological judiciary

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

March 23, 2017

Article

The Supremes Again, Now a Proposal

By Peter Steinfels

February 6, 2017

Supreme Court

Domestic Affairs

Article

The Supremes, a Suggestion

By Peter Steinfels

February 2, 2017

Donald Trump

Supreme Court

Article

Sen. Sasse Gets Trumpified

By MICHAEL PEPPARD

February 1, 2017

Donald Trump

Election 2016

Supreme Court

Article

Abortion & Social Justice

Nothing would do more to energize social-justice movements than a broad-based coalition able to break through the impasse of abortion politics in the United States.

By Gerald W. Schlabach

December 20, 2016

Article

'Loving'

"Loving" avoids the impersonal feel of most docudramas; it is a movie of soft voices in homely settings. History is made without cinematic exclamation points.

By Richard Alleva

December 19, 2016

Article

Credibility Gap?

The rationale for sticking with Donald Trump illuminates how practicing single-issue politics damages the credibility of the prolife movement.

By John Gehring

October 13, 2016

Article

An Acceptable Arrangement

By signing one sentence asking for an exemption, the Little Sisters are not formally cooperating. They are materially cooperating only in a minor and remote sense.

By Edward Vacek

August 11, 2016

Contraception mandate

Ethics

Secularism and Modernity

Theology

Article

Lights, Camera, Contraception?

What do the plight of the Little Sisters of the Poor and the fate of persecuted Christians in the Middle East have in common? The USCCB "explains" in a video.

By The Editors

May 17, 2016

Contraception mandate

Article

Real Voter Fraud

Seventeen states have imposed tough new voting restrictions for this election, a campaign of voter suppression that presents a true threat to our democratic system.

By The Editors

May 3, 2016

Article

Arizona's Voting Rights Alarm Bell

An outrage was perpetrated against voters in Arizona, and we can't ignore the warning that the disenfranchisement of thousands of its citizens offers our nation.

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

March 28, 2016

Article

Citizen Obama

By Dominic Preziosi

March 21, 2016

Article

It's About Democracy

The conservatives who use “judicial activism” as a battering ram against liberals are the real judicial activists. That explains their opposition to Merrick Garland.

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

March 21, 2016

Article

Going to Extremes

In a span of about twelve hours, Americans got definitive evidence that the Republican Party is in thrall to its most ideologically and tactically extreme forces.

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

March 16, 2016

Article

'Prophecy Without Contempt': Watch Cathleen Kaveny, Peter Steinfels & Bishop Robert McElroy in Conversation

By Dominic Preziosi

March 8, 2016

Muslim-Christian Relations

Article

An Original

Antonin Scalia’s impact on the Court was mixed. He will be remembered more for the flamboyance of his dissents than for the reach of his majority opinions.

By The Editors

February 25, 2016

Article

The Optimist

Of the many threads within Scalia’s jurisprudence, perhaps most durable is his abiding and occasionally maddening optimism about the character of the American people

By Marc O. DeGirolami

February 23, 2016

Article

… the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association … of cohesion and essential resources. The Friedrichs case has been steered through the … uphold Abood . What is really at stake in the Friedrichs case is whether the right of …

By The Editors

February 9, 2016

Article

Obama Fights the Furies

With venomous voices of the GOP dominating dialogue, President Obama used his final State of the Union message to battle against intolerance, anger, and pessimism.

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

January 13, 2016

Article

Bring Back the Gallows?

The Court’s threat is clear: If the manufacturers of midazolam decide to step aside, the states can always return to the firing squad or electric chair or gallows.

By Cathleen Kaveny

August 24, 2015

Article

Pomp & Circumstances

For supporters of same-sex marriage, Obergefell is definitely a victory. But the victory is not primarily one for the Supreme Court—or for Justice Anthony Kennedy.

By Paul Horwitz

July 10, 2015

Article

Privacy, not Equal Protection

Articulating a basis for the Court’s judgment that's preferable to the somewhat diffuse mix of rationales on which Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority relies.

By Michael J. Perry

July 9, 2015

Article

Regulating the Value of Hard Work

Will Republicans be able to admit that enforcing "conservative" values about the honor of work might require what are seen as "progressive" measures by government?

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

July 1, 2015

Article

Roberts’s Pragmatism, Scalia’s Precedent

By Dominic Preziosi

June 25, 2015

Domestic Affairs

Health Care

Supreme Court

Article

Blackballed

Pinckney's short history deals with basic things—Reconstruction, Ku Klux Klan terrorism, crude political machinations like Plessy v Ferguson—white people can forget.

By Don Wycliff

May 4, 2015

Article

Overheated

The furor over Indiana's RFRA raises questions about our capacity to engage in the kind of thoughtful, careful public discussion that issues like this demand.

By Paul Horwitz

April 8, 2015

Article

Nonexistent & Irreplaceable

'Religion' is a concept flexible enough to be accommodated legally while keeping the state neutral about theological questions.

By Andrew Koppelman

March 27, 2015

Domestic Affairs

Supreme Court

Article

SCOTUS gets another shot at gutting the ACA

By Mollie Wilson O’Reilly

November 13, 2014

Health Care

Supreme Court

Article

Death penalty in the Colorado gubernatorial race

By MICHAEL PEPPARD

October 23, 2014

Article

All in a night's work for Ruth Bader Ginsburg

By Dominic Preziosi

October 21, 2014

Domestic Affairs

Race

Supreme Court

Article

'Scalia: A Court of One'

A biography of the Supreme Court justice that offers us a better view of Scalia’s press clips than of Scalia himself.

By Paul Horwitz

October 11, 2014

Books

Supreme Court

Article

Using 'Hobby Lobby' to refuse a subpoena about child labor

By MICHAEL PEPPARD

September 16, 2014

Domestic Affairs

Ethics

Supreme Court

Article

Blind Ideological Justice

We are confronted with a conservative judiciary using any argument it can to win ideological victories that elude their side in the elected branches of government.

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

July 23, 2014

Article

Hobby Lobby: A victory for religious liberty?

Cathleen Kaveny, E. J. Dionne, and the bishops on what the Hobby Lobby SCOTUS decision means for religious liberty.

By Mollie Wilson O’Reilly

July 10, 2014

Supreme Court

Article

If Hobby Lobby is a religious 'person,' is a GTMO detainee one too?

By MICHAEL PEPPARD

July 8, 2014

Barack Obama

Supreme Court

War and Peace

Article

'A Minefield'

It's one thing to be asked to provide contraception, another to contribute to a plan covering it, and another to tell the government your religious objections to it.

By Cathleen Kaveny

July 7, 2014

Domestic Affairs

Supreme Court

Web Exclusive

Article

Some Advice for Liberals....

By Margaret O'Brien Steinfels

July 6, 2014

Supreme Court

Article

To get Kennedy on board, did Alito throw Little Sisters under the bus?

By MICHAEL PEPPARD

July 1, 2014

Contraception mandate

Supreme Court

Article

You Vote, They Decide

Big campaign donations threaten the common good by allowing big donors to drown out the voices of ordinary voters both before and after elections.

By The Editors

May 27, 2014

Article

A Missed Chance on Religious Freedom

The court majority failed the empathy test and lost a chance to balance honor of religion's role in public life with the rights of those of all faiths.

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

May 8, 2014

Article

Hobby Lobby invests in same drugs to which it objects?

By MICHAEL PEPPARD

April 1, 2014

Abortion

Contraception mandate

Supreme Court

Article

Same-Sex Marriage & Religious Freedom

After Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoes bill affecting gay marriage, similar bills in other states will give us another master class in how to hold a culture war.

By Paul Horwitz

March 27, 2014