Issue 68
A topic. All topics.
Federal Courts
Orders allowed to operate before anyone rules on whether they are lawful, and the distance between what a court decided and what it was reported to have decided.
What the record shows
The Supreme Court decided the season's largest election cases on emergency applications rather than final rulings. On 24 August it lifted one of two injunctions against the mail voting order because the states had sued too early, without saying the order is lawful; most coverage reported a ruling the Court did not make. On 14 September it refused to let the Postal Service rule apply in November, saying the government was unlikely to succeed on the merits.
In late September the Court turned away Missouri's Trump-backed map for the third time and, by 6 to 3, revived expanded SAVE screening of voter rolls without deciding whether it is lawful. On 29 September it stayed an order requiring notice, and a chance to claim fear of torture, before removal to a third country, with argument set for December.
Lower courts ruled against the administration repeatedly, and compliance was partial. Hours after Judge Christopher Cooper held that the president's name cannot go on the Kennedy Center without an act of Congress, the board the president chairs voted to close the building. Minnesota's chief federal judge found in January that ICE had violated at least 96 court orders there; the Justice Department has since filed a misconduct complaint against 7 Minnesota federal judges for discussing that pressure with the New York Times.
Standing summary, carried forward and rewritten as the coverage moves. Every claim is sourced either to a dated edition below or to the named body that made the finding.
20 editions
Issue 64
The Record Caught Up. The Machinery Did Not Stop.
Issue 61
The Hearing, the Audit, and the Appropriation. Three Ways an Argument Disappears.
Issue 57
The Supreme Court Said No to a Map and Yes to a Database. Congress Was Not Asked.
Issue 56
Power Was Visible. Accountability Was Not.
Issue 55
The Records Landed and the Claims Did Not Hold
Issue 50
Four Institutions the Executive Does Not Own. Four Judges Who Said No.
Issue 49
The Loud Fight Ends. The Quiet One Keeps Running.
Issue 47
Six Institutions Said No. Most of Those Noes Will Not Hold.
Issue 46
Saying Stop Is Not the Same as Stopping
Issue 44
The Cost of the Iran War Is Arriving. The Channel for Complaining About It Is Narrowing.
Issue 41
A $5,000 Promise Rests on Election Machinery That Is Visibly Failing
Special release
Nineteen Months
Issue 39
The War Is Now a Price, and the Election Is Now a Docket
Issue 38
The Rule Is Not the Safeguard. Enforcement Is.
Issue 37
The War Became a Price, and the Price Walked Into an Election
Issue 36
The Administration Is Outrunning Review, and Losing the Argument Anyway
Issue 28
The Fight Is Over the Machinery, and the Courts Are Only Buying Time
Issue 27
The Documents Caught Up With the Statements
Issue 25