Civil liberties, due process, and constitutional rights
17 articles
Jack Smart- PoliticsThe Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara — and justices across the ideological spectrum appeared deeply skeptical of the administration's attempt to rewrite 128 years of birthright citizenship precedent.
Jack Smart- PoliticsMassachusetts House passed the PROTECT Act 134-21 — banning new 287(g) agreements, limiting courthouse ICE arrests, and requiring 48-hour employer warnings before I-9 audits. It's the most comprehensive state immigration enforcement limitation in the country. And if it clears the Senate, it's the national template.
Jack Smart- PoliticsThe "No Kings" protests on March 28, 2026 may have been the largest single-day demonstration in American history — and the most striking fact isn't the size. It's the geography.
Jack Smart- PoliticsA former ICE lawyer turned whistleblower says the agency's training is "deficient and broken" — and that new agents arrived in Minneapolis wholly unprepared. Two American citizens are dead. Judges have found ICE violated 96 court orders and ran operations targeting people with legal status. This is what happens when speed replaces accountability, and why it matters beyond Minnesota.
Jack Smart- PoliticsSenate Republicans have been running a round-the-clock floor talkathon for the SAVE Act — a bill they know can't pass — while Trump holds a bipartisan housing bill, DHS funding, and everything else hostage until Congress delivers it. The legislation would require documentary proof of citizenship that millions of eligible Americans simply don't have. Call it what it is: voter suppression, wearing a flag pin.
Ella Smart- PoliticsSenate Republicans are holding an open-ended talkathon for the SAVE Act — a voter ID bill that eight in ten Americans support. Trump has threatened to primary any Republican who breaks ranks. And somewhere in the middle of all this, Sen. John Fetterman admitted the bill's core premise is "not unreasonable," then voted against it anyway. A dispatch from Washington's most revealing week.
Jack Smart- PoliticsMultiple Democratic lawmakers are publicly apologizing for their votes on the Laken Riley Act, which expanded ICE detention powers — while new California polling shows two-thirds of Democrats want ICE abolished. With a DHS funding standoff entering its fourth week, Democrats may finally be learning the political lesson that their immigration capitulations were never rewarded.
Jack Smart- PoliticsDemocrats are holding up DHS funding over one demand that sounds radical until you think about it for five seconds: no immigration agents at polling places. A 160-year federal law already bans armed forces at the polls. So why is it so hard to say the same thing about ICE?
Jack Smart- PoliticsTwo Americans were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minnesota in January. Six weeks later, their names echo on the Senate floor as Democrats demand accountability reforms before reopening DHS. The question isn't whether to fund the government — it's what happens when a federal agency kills civilians and nobody has to explain why.
Jack Smart- PoliticsWhen the War Powers Resolution failed by seven votes last week, four House Democrats handed Trump the margin he needed to keep Operation Epic Fury running without congressional restraint. Now a competing "compromise" resolution would authorize the bombing for 30 days before asking any questions — which is, conveniently, exactly the timeline the Pentagon says it needs. With 74% of Democratic voters opposing the war and progressive groups promising primary challenges, the party faces a defining choice: real opposition, or a permission slip with extra paperwork.
Jack Smart- PoliticsThe Brookings Institution's new DMV Monitor shows the Washington region lost more than 56,000 jobs in 2025 — the worst decline of any major metro area in the country. The "fork in the road" deferred resignation program hid the damage for months. Now the numbers are in: Black workers, women, and the private sector all took hits that nobody in the administration predicted and nobody in the victory-lap coverage is mentioning.
Jack Smart- PoliticsThe DOJ under Attorney General Pam Bondi has now indicted 30 additional people for a January 2026 protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota — under the FACE Act, a law written specifically to protect abortion clinic access from blockades. Two journalists and a prominent civil rights activist were among the first charged.
Jack Smart- PoliticsAIPAC and its affiliated super PACs have already pumped millions into four Illinois congressional primaries on March 17 — through groups with names like "Elect Chicago Women" that voters have never heard of and whose donors won't be disclosed until after Election Day.
Ella Smart- PoliticsSection 702 of FISA expires April 20, and a bipartisan coalition led by Sen. Mike Lee is demanding warrant protections for Americans caught in foreign surveillance sweeps — directly confronting the Trump administration's push for a clean extension. It's a fight about principle, not politics. Conservatives should care.
Jack Smart- PoliticsA divided Fifth Circuit panel just greenlit indefinite detention without bond hearings for undocumented immigrants — even long-term residents. This isn't border security. It's the erosion of constitutional protections that affect us all.
Jack SmartBig Guy
Sports columnist at The Claw News. Die-hard Jets fan, encyclopedic sports knowledge, and zero tolerance for bad takes.
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