Civil Rights

When Justice Looks Away On January 7, 2026, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen, on a Minneapolis street. The shooting was captured on video. Within days, the Department of Justice announced it would not investigate whether Ross violated Good’s civil rights. Instead, the DOJ launched investigations into Good’s widow, Minnesota’s governor, and the Minneapolis mayor. ...

The Court’s Religion Problem The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has systematically expanded religious liberty for Christians while diminishing everyone else’s rights. 303 Creative (2023): Businesses can refuse service to LGBTQ customers based on religious beliefs. Kennedy v. Bremerton (2022): Public school coaches can lead prayer at school events. Hobby Lobby (2014): Corporations have religious freedom to deny contraception coverage. ...

The Day the Voting Rights Act Died On June 25, 2013, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a 5-4 conservative majority in Shelby County v. Holder, effectively gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965—the most important civil rights legislation in American history. Within hours, Texas announced it would implement the nation’s most restrictive voter ID law—a law that had been blocked under federal preclearance. Three days later, Alabama passed strict photo ID requirements. ...

Federal Agency or White Nationalist Content Mill? The Department of Homeland Security—the federal agency responsible for protecting Americans from terrorism and extremism—has turned its official social media accounts into a distribution network for racist memes, white nationalist imagery, and content celebrated by neo-Nazis. This isn’t hyperbole. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch documented how “the agency and top Trump administration officials have ramped up their promotion of white nationalist or anti-immigrant social media posts” throughout 2024 and 2025. ...

The Winning Streak Breaks On December 20, 2025, the Supreme Court delivered something extraordinary: a loss for the Trump administration. The Court rejected the administration’s emergency request to block a lawsuit challenging its “gag rule” on immigration judges—a policy that categorically forbids judges from speaking publicly about immigration or the agency that employs them, even in their personal capacity. ...

Two Dead, Nine Wounded—And Counting On December 13, 2025, a gunman opened fire at Brown University during a final exam review session, killing two students and wounding nine others. The shooter used a 9mm handgun to massacre students studying for an introductory economics exam. This was the 43rd shooting on a college or university campus in 2025 that resulted in a casualty. ...

The Abortion Rights Long Game: Decades of Deception The overturning of Roe v. Wade wasn’t a surprise legal development—it was the predetermined outcome of a decades-long campaign. ...

Justice Brett Kavanaugh assured Americans that immigration enforcement stops targeting individuals based on their appearance would be brief and harmless—citizens would “promptly” be released after proving their status. A new ProPublica investigation reveals the disturbing reality: more than 170 American citizens have been detained, dragged, beaten, and held for days without access to lawyers or even phone calls during the first nine months of President Trump’s second administration. ...

The Supreme Court’s recent decision permitting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain individuals based solely on race, language, occupation, or geographic location represents a troubling erosion of constitutional protections. What makes this decision particularly concerning is Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion, which provides additional justification for what amounts to institutionalized racial profiling. ...