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Members of the National Guard patrol the entrance to the Union Station stop on Washington, D.C.'s Metro system, on March 25, 2026. President Donald Trump was appearing at a GOP event at Union Station that night. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom) The National Guard’s top general told Congress on Friday that it would follow the Constitution and the law when he was asked about the possibility President Donald Trump would order troops to polling places for the midterm elections. The remarks at a U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee hearing came as Democratic lawmakers also voiced unease over the  continuing deployment of nearly 2,500 National Guard members  in Washington, D.C. Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, asked Gen. Steven Nordhaus, chief of the National Guard Bureau, what assurances he could provide to Americans concerned about the deployment of troops at the polls.  “The National Guard, obviously, always follows the Constitution, law, policy and g...

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, in March visits a wastewater treatment facility in the city of Social Circle that the city says would be overwhelmed by plans to convert a warehouse to house up to 10,000 immigration prisoners. The city locked the facility's water meter, forcing the Department of Homeland Security to consider trucking out sewage and bringing in water. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock) Some of the Trump administration’s controversial new warehouse immigration detention centers are getting scaled back and postponed as states and cities fight back and new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reviews actions taken by his ousted predecessor, Kristi Noem. Some states and cities have seen more communication and compromise as Mullin takes over and the Department of Homeland Security faces a continued funding shutdown that has reached 60 days. That includes discussions about a proposed Arizona detention center where DHS agreed to ...

An unloaded Glock 19X handgun sits next to a magazine and 9 mm ammunition at a gun range. Several states have enacted laws that allow judges to temporarily remove guns from people in crisis, but a growing number of states are banning the measures. (Photo by Amanda Watford/Stateline) This story was originally published by The Trace , a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. On May 18, 2018, a teenager at Santa Fe High School in Texas walked into the school armed with his father’s guns and opened fire, killing eight students and two teachers. Evidence later showed the teen had been experiencing a severe and spiraling mental health crisis leading up to the attack. But Texas had no mechanism that would have allowed law enforcement or anyone else to petition a court to temporarily remove firearms from the home. Last year, the state made sure it never would: Lawmakers banned extreme risk protection orders, which allow police and families to ask judges to temporarily r...

An election worker hands out “I Voted” stickers in Salt Lake City on Election Day in 2024. More than 30 initiatives on ballots across the country this year focus on democracy, including questions on voting rights, election processes, redistricting and similar issues. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) More than a third of state ballot measures that voters will be asked to consider this year relate to democracy, with questions on voting rights, election processes, redistricting and similar issues. “It’s the redistricting fights that are really getting heated after the Trump administration began pressuring Republican-led states to shore up the GOP majority in Congress in preparation for the midterm election,” said Quentin Savwoir, director of programs and strategy at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a progressive policy organization that tracks ballot initiatives. For example, next week Virginians will be asked whether they want to temporarily allow the state to...

U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 11, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly’s legal team is urging a federal appeals court to uphold a ruling that allows the former Navy captain to keep his retirement rank and pay while his First Amendment case against the Pentagon moves forward.  Benjamin C. Mizer, partner at Arnold & Porter, wrote in  a brief filed April 15 that the Defense Department violated Kelly’s constitutional rights when it tried to punish him for appearing alongside other Democrats in the “Don’t Give Up The Ship” video.  The Trump administration’s appeal of  the district court’s ruling , he wrote, doesn’t cite “a single case” that has expanded the limited speech rights of active-duty military members to “retirees like Senator Kelly.” The legal precedent the Trump administration did reference, Parker v. Levy, “involved an...

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, speaking at a Future Farmers of America event Aug. 18, 2025, at the Tennessee State Fair. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) Democrats on a U.S. House spending panel slammed President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to farm and nutrition programs Thursday, as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins pledged to collaborate with members of both parties to address their concerns. The president’s budget request would make deep cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gutting programs to help feed hungry people and support farmers in need — even as the rising costs of groceries, gas and other necessities made those programs even more essential, Democrats on the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee told Rollins. “It’ll be hard for our constituents to believe that USDA serves America’s farmers and rural communities when USDA is taking away their services,” the panel’s ranking Democrat, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, said. The propos...