Donald Trump Trump's Appeal of His New York Convictions Highlights the Absurdity of Alvin Bragg's Convoluted Case The Manhattan district attorney converted a hush payment into 34 felonies via a chain of legal reasoning with several conspicuously weak links. Jacob Sullum | 10.28.2025 5:50 PM
Congress Help Legislators Legislate Again Legislative disfunction is at the root of many current controversies, and past legislation bears part of the problem. Jonathan H. Adler |The Volokh Conspiracy | 10.23.2025 9:51 AM
Trump Administration Donald Trump's Antitrust Enforcers Continue Their Harassment Campaign Against Google There is no hard evidence of Gmail discriminating against Republican campaign emails, but that’s no matter to the FTC Chairman. Jack Nicastro | 9.5.2025 2:36 PM
Campaign Finance Campaign Finance Laws Institutionalize Corruption Powerful political allies get a pass, while dissenters are crushed with massive fines. This isn’t a flaw in the system—it’s the point. David Keating | 6.23.2025 5:45 PM
Donald Trump Alvin Bragg's Misbegotten 'Election Interference' Case Against Trump Ends With a Whimper Aside from a felony record that may yet be erased on appeal, the president-elect will face no punishment for trying to conceal his hush payment to Stormy Daniels. Jacob Sullum | 1.9.2025 2:35 PM
Corruption Eric Adams Gamed a New York Campaign Finance Scheme That Was Ripe for Corruption The New York City mayor's kickbacks from Turkish officials translated into extra cash from taxpayers. Joe Lancaster | 12.5.2024 6:00 AM
Elon Musk Elon Musk Spent $118 Million To Elect Trump. What Will He Get in Return? Will the mercurial tech mogul put his thumb on the scale to help his own companies, or will he push for a broader deregulatory agenda? Joe Lancaster | 11.12.2024 5:47 PM
Free Press Trump's Legal Complaints Against 2 News Outlets Reflect His Disregard for Freedom of the Press The Republican presidential candidate argues that CBS and The Washington Post broke the law by covering the election in ways he did not like. Jacob Sullum | 11.4.2024 6:30 AM
Foreign Policy Who Are Langley's Favorite Candidates? Campaign finance records reveal what the community at the heart of U.S. national security policy thinks about outside politics. Matthew Petti | 11.1.2024 11:53 AM
Politics A Look Back at the Panic Over Big Money in Politics Law professor Ann Southworth offers a balanced take on the fallout from the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Walter Olson | 10.29.2024 6:30 AM
Sixth Circuit Sixth Circuit Allows Enforcement of Ohio Law Barring Foreign Expenditures on Ballot Initiatives A divided circuit panel stays the district court's injunction against enforcing Ohio's law. Jonathan H. Adler |The Volokh Conspiracy | 10.8.2024 6:07 PM
Campaign Finance Biden's Exit Exposed the Chaotic Maze of Campaign Finance Law A $92 million war chest and unclear regulations highlight the need for reform to protect political speech. David Keating | 8.8.2024 3:05 PM
First Amendment A Law Professor's Beef With a First Amendment 'Spinning Out of Control': Too Much Speech of the Wrong Sort Even as he praises judicial decisions that made room for "dissenters" and protected "robust political debate," Tim Wu pushes sweeping rationales for censorship. Jacob Sullum | 7.2.2024 4:35 PM
Donald Trump Laurence Tribe Bizarrely Claims Trump Won the 2016 Election by Falsifying Business Records in 2017 That take on the former president's New York conviction echoes similarly puzzling claims by many people who should know better. Jacob Sullum | 6.7.2024 1:20 PM
Donald Trump A Jumble of Legal Theories Failed To Give Trump 'Fair Notice' of the New York Charges Against Him The lack of a clear rationale for charging Trump with 34 felonies raises a due process issue that is likely to figure in his appeals. Jacob Sullum | 6.6.2024 2:35 PM
Donald Trump The Prosecution's Story About Trump Featured Several Logically Impossible Claims Whatever Trump did after the 2016 presidential election, it seems safe to say that it did not retroactively promote his victory. Jacob Sullum | 5.31.2024 1:35 PM
Donald Trump Trump's Conviction Suggests Jurors Bought the Prosecution's Dubious 'Election Fraud' Narrative There was a glaring mismatch between the charges against the former president and what prosecutors described as the essence of his crime. Jacob Sullum | 5.30.2024 8:00 PM
Donald Trump Trump Jury Instructions Invite Conviction Based on a Hodgepodge of Dubious Theories The judge said the jurors need not agree about the "unlawful means" that Trump allegedly used to promote his 2016 election. Jacob Sullum | 5.29.2024 5:25 PM
Donald Trump Prosecutors Say Trump Tried to 'Hoodwink the American Voter,' Which Is Not a Crime Closing arguments in the former president's trial highlight the mismatch between the charges and the "election fraud" he supposedly committed. Jacob Sullum | 5.28.2024 5:50 PM
Prosecutors Prosecutors Are Still Hedging on Exactly What 'Crime' Trump Tried To 'Aid' or 'Conceal' This week the judge presiding over Trump's trial ruled that jurors do not have to agree on any particular legal theory. Jacob Sullum | 5.24.2024 3:10 PM
Donald Trump Alvin Bragg's Case Against Trump Presents a Tangle of Interacting Laws and Intent Puzzles To convert a hush payment into 34 felonies, prosecutors are relying on a chain of assumptions with several weak links. Jacob Sullum | 5.22.2024 3:35 PM
Donald Trump The 'Heart' of Alvin Bragg's Case Against Trump Is Misdirection Contrary to what prosecutors say, the former president is not charged with "conspiracy" or "election fraud." Jacob Sullum | 5.15.2024 12:01 AM
Donald Trump The Details of Stormy Daniels' Story About Sex With Trump Are Legally Irrelevant Under the prosecution's theory, Trump would be guilty of falsifying business records even if Daniels made the whole thing up. Jacob Sullum | 5.10.2024 4:10 PM
Donald Trump Stormy Daniels' 'Credibility Issues' Reflect a Broader Problem With Key Witnesses Against Trump New York prosecutors are relying on testimony from several people who do not seem trustworthy. Jacob Sullum | 5.8.2024 4:05 PM
Donald Trump The New York Case Against Trump Relies on a 'Twisty' Legal Theory That Reeks of Desperation To convert a hush money payment into 34 felonies, prosecutors are invoking an obscure state election law that experts say has never been used before. Jacob Sullum | 5.3.2024 4:10 PM
Donald Trump Alvin Bragg's 'Election Interference' Narrative Is Nonsensical Since Donald Trump's alleged falsification of business records happened after he was elected president, he clearly was not trying to ensure that outcome. Jacob Sullum | 4.18.2024 3:15 PM
Donald Trump Alvin Bragg Says Trump Tried To Conceal 'Another Crime.' What Crime? The leading possibilities are all problematic in one way or another. Jacob Sullum | 4.15.2024 1:30 PM
Antitrust Biden's Antitrust Case Against Apple Is Truly Stupid Plus: A listener asks about the absurdity of Social Security entitlements. Peter Suderman | 3.25.2024 5:06 PM
Donald Trump Two New York Cases Lend Credibility to Trump's Complaint of Partisan Persecution Neither Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg nor New York Attorney General Letitia James can explain exactly who was victimized by the dishonesty they cite. Jacob Sullum | 2.21.2024 12:01 AM
Donald Trump Alvin Bragg Is Trying To Punish Trump for Something That Is Not a Crime The essence of the case, the Manhattan D.A. says, is that Trump "corrupt[ed] a presidential election" by concealing embarrassing information. Jacob Sullum | 2.16.2024 2:05 PM
Government Spending The Real Scandal in Washington Is the Government's Reckless Spending Those sounding the loudest alarms about possible shutdowns are largely silent when Congress ignores its own budgetary rules. All that seems to matter is that government is metaphorically funded. Veronique de Rugy | 10.5.2023 12:01 AM
Donald Trump Trump's New York Indictment Was Just the Beginning of His Legal Woes The Manhattan case stinks of partisan politics, but Trump faces more serious legal jeopardy on at least three other fronts. Eric Boehm | 6.8.2023 6:00 AM
Donald Trump Was Anyone Victimized by Trump's 34 Alleged Felonies? The case against the former president is both morally dubious and legally shaky. Jacob Sullum | 4.12.2023 12:01 AM
Donald Trump A "Water Pistol Unnecessarily Preceding" a "Missile-Launching F-35 Attack": Thoughts on the New York Trump Indictment Trump very much deserves to be prosecuted and punished. But the New York case is far more dubious than the other charges likely to be brought against him. Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 4.7.2023 2:24 PM
Donald Trump Prosecutors Are Still Hazy About What Crime Trump Was Trying To Conceal by Falsifying Business Records The continuing ambiguity reflects the legal challenges that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg faces in transforming one hush payment into 34 felonies. Jacob Sullum | 4.5.2023 3:00 PM
Donald Trump It Looks Like Donald Trump Will Finally Be Indicted Later Today Plus: Debating whether GPT-4 actually understands language, U.S. immigration law stops a college basketball star from scoring, and more... Eric Boehm | 4.4.2023 9:37 AM
Donald Trump Apocalypse Tomorrow: Trump's Looming Indictment Plus: the terrible case for pausing A.I. innovation Peter Suderman | 4.3.2023 5:20 PM
Donald Trump The Shaky New York Case Against Trump Reeks of Desperation To Punish a Reviled Political Opponent Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is relying on debatable facts and untested legal theories to transform minor misconduct into a felony. Jacob Sullum | 3.31.2023 3:20 PM
Donald Trump Trump Indictment Could Be the Jolt His Flailing 2024 Campaign Needs Plus: Evidence that social media causes teen health problems "isn't convincing," more states ban gender transition treatments for minors, and more... Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 3.31.2023 9:32 AM
Donald Trump Of Course, the Trump Indictment Is Political Plus: A listener asks the editors if the nation is indeed unraveling or if she is just one of "The Olds" now. Peter Suderman | 3.20.2023 5:06 PM
Donald Trump Is the Manhattan D.A. Upholding or Flouting the Rule of Law by Prosecuting Trump? The case hinges on the claim that the former president tried to cover up a campaign finance violation with which he was never charged. Jacob Sullum | 3.20.2023 2:20 PM
Donald Trump New York Arrest Would Be a Gift for Trump Plus: Libertarians ask Supreme Court to consider New York ballot access rule change, Wyoming bans abortion pills, and more... Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 3.20.2023 9:35 AM
Donald Trump Transforming Stormy Daniels' Hush Payment Into a Felony Would Reinforce Trump's 'Witch Hunt' Complaint Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg reportedly intends to prosecute Trump for falsifying business records. Jacob Sullum | 3.10.2023 3:30 PM
Election 2022 Why Did George Santos Lie About His Past To Get Elected to Congress? The massive power of federal government attracts frauds. Scott Shackford | 12.27.2022 2:15 PM
Election 2022 Democrats Spent Millions Boosting Far-Right Republicans. How Did It Pan Out? And is this a good precedent to be setting? Joe Lancaster | 11.9.2022 2:15 PM
Democracy Guardrails of Democracy, Extended: Comparing Notes On The Team Libertarian Report Fifth post in the symposium on the National Constitution Center "Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy" project. Walter Olson of Team Libertarian comments on similarities and differences between the three reports. Walter Olson |The Volokh Conspiracy | 9.1.2022 3:00 PM
Democracy An Upgrade, not a Rebuild Fourth post in the symposium on the National Constitution Center "Restoring the Guardrails of Democracy" project. David French presents the Team Conservative Report. David French |The Volokh Conspiracy | 8.29.2022 4:49 PM
Ketanji Brown Jackson When They Attack 'Dark Money,' They're Really Attacking Free Speech Republicans take a page from the Democrats’ book by crying “dark money” during Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing. Alex Baiocco | 3.25.2022 3:15 PM
