Law of the West

After New START, the World is Relearning Nuclear Fear

Hank Lacey — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 23:43:42 GMT

Nearly six months ago, on Feb. 5, the New START Treaty expired, ending the last binding limit on U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals. Three weeks later, the United States and Israel launched a second war against Iran, a decapitation strikethat killed the country’s supreme leader and marked a sharper escalation than their summer 2025 air campaign, in a wor…

Justice Department Opinion Declares EEOC Title VII Disparate-Impact Guidelines Unconstitutional

Hank Lacey — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 23:10:31 GMT

The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Justice, is seen June 21, 2024, in Washington. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a June 2026 opinion seeking to narrow Title VII disparate-impact liability. (Ajay Suresh/Flickr, CC BY 2.0).

The Justice Department on Tuesday declared unconsti…

Democratic Senators Ask Acting AG for Legal Opinions Supporting Trump Vote-by-Mail Order

Hank Lacey — Wed, 13 May 2026 06:33:36 GMT

Senate Democrats have asked acting attorney general Todd Blanche for detailed information about the legal rationale for President Trump’s March 31 executive order that seeks to end voting by mail.

The May 1 correspondence also suggests that the Department of Justice avoid any efforts to enforce the executive order.

Maryland Representative Introduces Supreme Court Term Limit Measure

Hank Lacey — Wed, 13 May 2026 06:20:18 GMT

The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen at dusk in Washington. Photo by Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The House of Representatives has another proposal before it that aims to put an end to life tenure for justices of the Supreme Court.

Rep. Johnny Olszewski, D-Maryland, introduced the Reform of Bench Eligibility (ROBE) Act last week. Acco…

Appeals Court Lets Congress Members Keep Visiting ICE Facilities Without Seven Days’ Notice

Hank Lacey — Sun, 10 May 2026 01:45:34 GMT

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., is shown in his official 116th Congress portrait. Photo by Franmarie Metzler, U.S. House Office of Photography, public domain as a U.S. Congress image via Wikimedia Commons.

Federal Trade Court Rules Trump’s 10% import Tariff Exceeded 1970s Trade Law

Hank Lacey — Sun, 10 May 2026 00:40:57 GMT

A divided federal trade court invalidated President Donald Trump’s 10% import surcharge Wednesday, but narrowed the practical reach of its ruling by dismissing most state challengers and refusing to issue a nationwide injunction against the tariff.

COMMENTARY: The AR-15 Is Not a Civil Right

Hank Lacey — Tue, 05 May 2026 22:01:18 GMT

The Justice Department’s lawsuit against Denver deserves more than a legal answer. It deserves outrage.

The federal government has sued the City and County of Denver and the Denver Police Department because Denver has kept in place a local assault weapons ordinance. The complaint asks a federal court to block Denver from enforcing that law against AR-15-…

D.C. Circuit Allows Pentagon to Require Escorts for Journalists During Appeal

Hank Lacey — Sat, 02 May 2026 01:18:04 GMT

The Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Arlington, Virginia. A D.C. Circuit order allows the Pentagon to require journalist escorts while the broader appeal over press access continues. Photo by Touch Of Light via Wikimedia Commons.

A federal appeals court on Monday allowed the Pentagon to require journalists to be escorted while …

Supreme Court Allows Pregnancy Center to Challenge New Jersey Donor Subpoena

Hank Lacey — Sat, 02 May 2026 01:08:34 GMT

Photo by Fine Photographics on Unsplash

Second Circuit Leaves $83.3 Million Carroll Verdict Against Trump in Place

Hank Lacey — Sat, 02 May 2026 01:01:33 GMT

A federal appeals court in New York has declined to revisit rulings that left in place an $83.3 million defamation verdict won by writer E. Jean Carroll against President Donald Trump, moving the long-running litigation one step closer to possible U.S. Supreme Court review.

5th Circuit Allows Louisiana Challenge to FDA Abortion Pill Rules to Proceed With Stay

Hank Lacey — Sat, 02 May 2026 00:44:28 GMT

The main entrance to the Food and Drug Administration’s White Oak campus in Silver Spring, Maryland. A federal appeals court blocked the FDA’s 2023 mail-order mifepristone rules while Louisiana’s challenge proceeds. Photo by Michael J. Ermarth/U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Trump Lawyer John Eastman Disbarred

Hank Lacey — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:07:25 GMT

Seal of the Supreme Court of California.

John C. Eastman, a lawyer who helped Donald Trump attempt to block certification of the 2020 presidential election results, has lost his license to practice law in California.

The Golden State’s highest court ordered disbarment Wednesday.

Ansari files articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

Hank Lacey — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 21:07:29 GMT

The Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., filed articles of impeachment Wednesday against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, opening a new effort to show that one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent Cabinet officials is a constitutiona…

Indiana's Student ID Ban on Hold After Federal Court Ruling

Hank Lacey — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:55:10 GMT

The Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Indianapolis, where the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana sits.

An Indiana federal court has blocked a Hoosier State effort to bar student identification cards as proof of a voter’s identity.

The April 14 decision holds that the Indiana law violates college students’ Fr…

Minneapolis, ICE, and the Constitution: What the Gopher State's habeas cases reveal about “Operation Metro Surge”

Hank Lacey — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 21:07:54 GMT

Minneapolis has become the country’s clearest warning sign that the Trump administration is willing to treat immigration enforcement as a theater of domination rather than a bounded exercise of federal power. The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, now sit at the center of a widening constitutional and civic crisis. They are not …

Federal Appeals Court Allows New Law Cutting Planned Parenthood Medicaid Funding to Take Effect

Hank Lacey — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 07:05:14 GMT

John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse (Moakley Federal Courthouse) on Fan Pier in Boston, Massachusetts, seen from Central Wharf, September 2024. Photo by 4300streetcar, licensed CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International).

Jeff Kent Was Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Other Worthy Candidates Were Not.

Hank Lacey — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 06:56:16 GMT

Jeff Kent, the late 1990s and early 2000s second baseman for the San Francisco Giants, has been elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. His election came Dec. 7 with the assent of 14 of 16 members of the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.

Kent was a productive player at the plate. During 17 seasons he hit 377 home runs and drove in 1,518 run…

Trump Says He Pardoned Colorado Election Denier Tina Peters. He Didn't.

Hank Lacey — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 05:50:27 GMT

Old Mesa County Courthouse on Rood Avenue in Grand Junction, Colorado. Photo by Wusel007, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons).

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he pardoned former Mesa County, Colorado clerk Tina Peters. The gesture is meaningless, though, because Peters was convicted by the Colorado judiciary for violations of Col…

COMMENTARY: Why Trump’s Removal Power Cases Threaten Congress, the Economy, and the Rule of Law

Hank Lacey — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 23:07:46 GMT

The U.S. Supreme Court building at dusk in Washington, D.C., home of the justices deciding Trump’s “unitary executive” removal power cases. Photo by Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

As the administration pushes an aggressive unitary executive agenda, new removal power cases invite the Supreme Court to weaken independent agencies, sideline C…

COMMENTARY: Texas Redistricting Order Exposes Supreme Court’s Pro-Republican Turn on Voting Rights

Hank Lacey — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 04:54:04 GMT

The U.S. Supreme Court’s six-justice conservative majority, whose recent emergency order in Abbott v. LULAC allowed Texas to use a disputed congressional map that voting-rights groups call a racial gerrymander.

Once again, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has stepped into the middle of an election fight, this time to save a Texas congressional m…