Ahead to President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in the White House with GOP control of the House, the Senate, and a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. We’ll talk about any legal pushback over policies or appointments to key positions in his administration.

California voters have rejected a measure amending the state Constitution to ban forced labor in any form.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has directed the military to carry out a smooth transition to President-elect Donald Trump with a reminder to the force of its obligation to follow the lawful orders of the next commander in chief.

It’s up to governments to run and administer elections and maintain the official record of who won and by how much.

Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House would require presidents and vice presidents to publicly disclose tax returns before, during and after their time in the White House.

Democrats have introduced legislation that would prohibit U.S. officials from accepting money, payments or gifts from foreign governments without congressional consent.

Irish voters are voting in twin referendums to decide whether to amend the constitution and remove passages the government says are outdated and sexist.

A federal judge has blocked a Texas law that would allow police to arrest migrants suspected of entering the U.S. illegally.

Hundreds of people charged with storming the U.S. Capitol three years ago have had a powerful incentive to plead guilty rather than go to trial.

Five voters in Massachusetts have become the latest to challenge former President Donald Trump's eligibility to appear on Republican primary election ballot in March, claiming he is ineligible to hold office because he encouraged and did little to stop the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

A series of lawsuits challenging former President Donald Trump's ability to run for his old job raise the question of what, exactly, is an insurrection.

The heir to the Spanish throne has sworn allegiance to the Constitution on her 18th birthday, laying the groundwork for her to become queen when the time comes.

Lawyers for a group of Colorado voters are focusing on the January 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol and former President Donald Trump’s words and actions in a hearing that could determine whether the Constitution’s insurrection clause bars Trump from running again for the White House.

Federal prosecutors say Donald Trump is “not above the law” as they are urging a judge to reject the former president’s efforts to dismiss the case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The political party that captured first place in Thailand’s general election two months ago — only to see the country’s unelected Senators block it from taking power — is fighting back.

A divided Supreme Court has struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.

A first-of-its kind trial in Montana will decide if the constitutional right to a healthy, livable climate is protected by state law.

2022's most notable quotations include a tart retort by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to a U.S. offer of help.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz condemned the comment by the former president, but he also said that reporters were overblowing the story and should instead “focus on what matters.” Sen. John Cornyn called the move “irresponsible” on Monday.

The Supreme Court is about to confront a new elections case that could dramatically alter voting in 2024 and beyond.

Chileans have resoundingly rejected a new constitution to replace a charter imposed by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet 41 years ago, dealing a stinging setback to President Gabriel Boric who argued the document would usher in a progressive era.

Over 30 years after a U.S.-led international military coalition expelled occupying Iraqi troops from Kuwait, planners have broken ground on the long-simmering plans for a Gulf War memorial.

The Supreme Court has been asked in arguments to overturn a nationwide right to abortion that has existed for nearly 50 years.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority justices are signaling they will allow states to ban abortion much earlier in pregnancy.

Sedition and treason cases have been rare in U.S. history.

As the nation this week made Juneteenth a federal holiday, lawmakers revived calls to end a loophole in the Constitution that has allowed another form of slavery to endure.

The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act passed 244-172 with 29 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the legislation. The White House announced its support earlier Wednesday for reauthorizing VAWA, which aims to reduce domestic and sexual violence and improve the response to it through a variety of grant programs. AdPresident Joe Biden introduced the original Violence Against Women Act in June 1990 when serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A subsequent version was eventually included in a sweeping crime bill that President Bill Clinton would sign into law four years later. Congress has reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act three times since.

FILE - In this Feb. 8, 2021 file photo, A mural of George Floyd is seen in George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. DOES THE U.S. CONSTITUTION REQUIRE DIVERSE JURIES? In the 1940 decision Smith vs. Texas, the high court ruled unanimously that the Constitution prohibits racial discrimination in the selection of grand juries, finding it “at war with our basic concepts of a democratic society and a representative government.”WHY ARE DIVERSE JURIES MORE LIKELY TO DELIVER FAIRER VERDICTS? “With diverse juries, there are more vantage points,” he said. Other studies have found similarly positive effects on juries, even if just one or two non-white jurors are included with a mostly white jury.

The impeachment trial represents a remarkable reckoning with the violence in the Capitol last month, which the senators witnessed firsthand, and with Trump’s presidency overall. AdThe impeachment trial, Trump’s second, begins in earnest on Feb. 9. “The only honorable path at that point was for President Trump to accept the results and concede his electoral defeat. Instead, he summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue,” the Democrats wrote in an 80-page document. “There is no ‘January Exception’ to impeachment or any other provision of the Constitution,” the Democrats wrote.

The senators met for two days that week, left town and then came back for one more day this week. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneEditor's note: If you'd like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey's column, click here. The Texas Senate met for two days, left town and then came back for one more day this week. The House worked for three days that first week and then also left town, returning for two days this week. Blame the pandemic, and get ready for a legislative session that, in both the number of laws produced and subjects considered, will probably fall far short of what’s normal.

Seven Democrats in the U.S. Senate have filed an ethics complaint against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for his role lending “legitimacy” to false claims of election fraud ahead of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection in the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump. The Constitution also grants Congress the ability to censure its members, which is essentially just a strong condemnation from the chamber. Even after a mob of Trump supporters desecrated the U.S. Capitol, Cruz objected to certifying Arizona’s electoral results and he’s been in political hot water ever since. At any point in the investigation, the Senate ethics committee can hold a public or executive hearing to cross-examine documents and hear testimonies. Cruz denounced the violence, but he has fierce backlash from Democrats, and even some Republicans.

Following Wednesday’s storming of the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) shared his thoughts of those challenging the electoral count, explaining they misunderstand how America elects its presidents. “On Wednesday the Capitol of the most powerful nation the world has ever known was stormed by an angry mob. The congressman went on to explain Jan. 6 attack of the Capitol is the exact situation the founders of this nation sought to avoid. For this reason, the Founders opted to diffuse responsibility to electors from each state,” Crenshaw wrote. Ultimately, Crenshaw’s op-ed communicated those who challenge the electoral count misunderstand the process of electing United States presidents.

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. The tragedy deepened late Thursday as a Capitol police officer injured in the melee died, the fifth death related to the riot. The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that Officer Brian D. Sicknick died from injuries sustained responding to the riot on Wednesday at the Capitol. The procedure allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unfit for office. Black lawmakers, in particular, noted the way the mostly white Trump supporters were treated.

HOUSTON – The 25th Amendment became part of the Constitution in 1967 after being ratified by the states. The law essentially lays out what happens if a president is removed from office, either temporarily or permanently. Blackman said if eight of the 15 cabinet members and the vice president agree the president cannot discharge the duties of the office, the president is relieved of power. “They would need two-thirds in the House and two-thirds in the Senate to vote for removal,” Blackman said. The law also allows the president to nominate a vice president in the event of a vacancy in that office.

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) January 6, 2021I like many people voted for President Trump in the 2020 election and hoped for a different result. We are safe, thank GOD for the Capitol Police. My staff and I are safe and we thank the Capitol Police for their efforts to protect us. — Rep. Colin Allred (@RepColinAllred) January 6, 2021President Trump’s assault on our democracy has caused the violence that is happening outside the US Capitol right now. My staff and I are safe and we thank the Capitol Police for protecting us.

Pence acknowledged that reality in a lengthy statement Wednesday laying out his conclusion that a vice president cannot claim “unilateral authority” to reject states' electoral votes. Pence's move was an expected outcome, but one that carved a dramatic fissure between Trump and Pence, his once most loyal lieutenant. “If Mike Pence does the right thing we win the election,” Trump wrongly told supporters, who later marched through Washington and stormed the Capitol. He repeatedly returned to Pence throughout his speech, voicing frustration as he tried to pressure the vice president to fall in line. Neither Trump nor any of the lawmakers who objected to the count have presented credible evidence that would change the outcome.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has declared that he has the “absolute right” to issue a pardon to himself. The Constitution’s text — affording the president “power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment" — can be read to suggest that the Founding Fathers envisioned some sort of limitations on a president’s pardon power. The question of whether Trump will do it, though, is as unsettled as the question of whether he can. But, Tushnet said, Trump's lawyers could conceivably try to invoke double-jeopardy arguments to claim that a federal pardon should bar any New York state prosecution based on the same conduct. On the federal level, a self-pardon obviously handcuffs the Justice Department under President-elect Joe Biden from pursuing any federal case against Trump.

FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2020, file photo an American flag waves in front of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments over whether the Trump administration can exclude people in the country illegally from the count used for divvying up congressional seats. It's the latest, and likely the last, Trump administration hard-line approach to immigration issues to reach the high court. Will the quality of the census data be hurt by a shortened schedule, a pandemic and natural disasters? Will a lame-duck Senate pass legislation that could extend deadlines for turning in census numbers?

HOUSTON – While a tie in a U.S. presidential election is rare, the framers of the Constitution did develop a process to handle such a dilemma. The Senate is required to pick the vice president from the two candidates who got the most electoral votes. If the House can’t break the tie before the end of the presidential term, then the person elected vice president will act as president until the House can break their deadlock. There have been two presidential elections that have ended without an electoral majority, but it has been nearly 200 years since it happened. The first one happened in 1800 when Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr were tied with 73 electoral votes from the 16 states.

New York, Seattle and Portland, three cities recently labeled "anarchist jurisdictions" by the U.S. Justice Department, are suing to to invalidate the designation and to fight off the Trump administration's efforts to withhold federal dollars. “The Trump administration’s political threats against Seattle and other Democratic cities are unlawful and an abuse of federal power," Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a news release announcing the federal lawsuit. The Justice Department last month identified New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle as three cities that could have federal funding slashed. “They’ve actually taken this anarchist designation and started to include it in applications for federal grants,” Johnson said. As much as $12 billion in federal money affecting health, transportation and law enforcement programs could be at stake, Johnson said.

___“I don’t think abortion or the right to abortion would change. It’s never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge’s personal convictions, whether they derive from faith or anywhere else on the law.” — 2017 Senate hearing. — 2017 Senate hearing. Its members might be seen as partisan rather than impartial and case law as fueled by power rather than reason.” — Texas Law Review. If she is not sure enough, the preference for continuity trumps.” — Texas Law Review.

But what happens if a candidate for president dies before Election Day? Instead, they are voting for slates of electors who will pick the president and vice president as members of the Electoral College. In modern U.S. elections, the meeting of the Electoral College is essentially a ceremonial confirmation of the choice made by voters. If no candidate reaches 270 electoral votes, the House chooses the president and the Senate chooses the vice president, in a process spelled out in the Constitution. In 1824, Andrew Jackson won a a plurality of the popular vote and the most Electoral College votes.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)Some notable quotes from Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, a former Notre Dame law professor and current judge on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. It’s never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge’s personal convictions, whether they derive from faith or anywhere else on the law.” — 2017 confirmation hearing. — 2017 confirmation hearing. Its members might be seen as partisan rather than impartial and case law as fueled by power rather than reason.” — Texas Law Review. If she is not sure enough, the preference for continuity trumps.” — Texas Law Review.

Even if the election is messy and contested in court, the country will have a president on Inauguration Day. But states' electoral votes have to be cast on Dec. 14. When the electors meet, the candidate who gets at least 270 of the 538 electoral votes wins. But what happens if election issues still prevent a winner from being named? In a contingent election, House members have to choose among the three people with the most electoral votes.

The state 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Kraft's rights were violated under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Police say the recordings show Kraft and other men engaging in sex acts with women and paying them. Police say they twice recorded Kraft, a widower, paying for sex acts at the Orchids of Asia massage parlor. He said detectives had to fully record all massages, because the sex acts happened at their conclusion and 95% of male customers received one. DeSousa said even if the court finds police violated innocent customers privacy rights, the Supreme Court has ruled that in most circumstances, only improperly seized evidence should be thrown out.

OKLAHOMA CITY Oklahoma voters will decide Tuesday whether to expand Medicaid to tens of thousands of low-income residents and become the first state to amend their Constitution to do so. While an increasing number of Oklahoma voters took advantage of mail-in voting for Tuesday's primary, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. statewide. Amending the Oklahoma Constitution will prevent the Republican-controlled Legislature, which has resisted Medicaid expansion for a decade, from tinkering with the program or rolling back coverage. Oklahoma is one of 14 states, along with neighboring Texas and Kansas, that have not expanded Medicaid under the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority has projected that about 215,000 residents would qualify for a Medicaid expansion, for a total annual cost of about $1.3 billion.

What am I to do, without even having the decency of a conversation to discuss the difficulties of race? Low asked his colleagues on Wednesday. If we cant even have these tough conversations, what do you think is going to happen to the electorate?" Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, who authored the repeal, apologized on the Assembly floor just before the vote for not contacting lawmakers individually. This is not the same California that voted on this 25 years ago, said Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, a Democrat from Los Angeles. California State University, the nations largest four-year public university with 23 campuses and nearly 482,000 students, has a student body that is nearly 75% people of color.