National
The Right to Research: Undoing The Dickey Amendment’s Limits on Studying Gun Violence
Dr. Cassandra Crifasi never planned to go into public health. She ended up in the field as, in her words, a “med school reject.” But Crifasi, who is now the Co-Director of the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at Johns…
The Fallout: The Fight Over Nuclear Waste on Yucca Mountain
Yucca Mountain, from a distance, does not seem distinct from any other mountain in the vast Nevada desert. Like thousands of others, it looms tall over the bare, arid landscape. But get closer and you will begin to see evidence…
From Farm to Gulf: The Mississippi River Carries the Consequences of Biofuel Policy Downstream
Pollution pouring into the Gulf of Mexico has created a harrowing scene: rose-colored algae covers the seafloor, and decomposing wildlife blankets the shore. An ever-expanding “dead zone,” where low dissolved oxygen kills or displaces undersea life, now occupies a record…
A Thumb on the Scales: Democrats Boost Extreme Candidates in GOP Primaries
Kelly Schulz is every bit a classic conservative. To her, being a Republican is “about small government, it’s about less taxes, it’s about good education, it’s about individual freedoms.” Her words hearken back to an older Republican Party, one defined…
Puerto Rican Grassroots Organizations Pave the Way Forward in the Aftermath of Hurricane Fiona
On September 18, 2022, in the flood plains of Cayey, Puerto Rico, a two-story blue-gray house stood surrounded in over ten feet of river water. On the second floor, a trapped family of three awaited rescue. Members of the Bureau…
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Progressive Originalism on the Court 
The night before her first trial case as a district judge, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stayed up late with her clerks carefully reviewing trial rules and procedures. Though the case was straightforward by legal standards––the defendant was an alleged bank…
A First Step: Federal Marijuana Possession Pardon Leaves Systemic Issues
Quentin Wathum-Ocama wouldn’t describe himself as a marijuana decriminalization activist. But as an educator in St. Paul, Minnesota, he sees the effects of marijuana criminalization every single day, from students being unable to access financial aid to adults struggling to…
All God’s Children: The Fight Over LGBTQ+ Inclusion at Christian Universities
In 2008, Brit Blalock graduated from Samford University, a Christian university in Alabama. At the time, it was unsafe to be an openly gay student on campus. “I was on a scholarship and while no one had told me this…