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Tariffs on Trial: The Supreme Court’s Hidden Battle for Balance

Paramount-WBD Deal: Antitrust, Consumers, and the Future of Media

Paramount-WBD Deal: Antitrust, Consumers, and the Future of Media

Donald Trump isn’t joking about a third term

Donald Trump isn’t joking about a third term

Pete Hegseth walking in a congressional hallway

The War against DEI Is Gonna Kill Us

Two containers, one with a U.S. flag and another with Canada's flag.

Just the Facts: U.S.–Canada Tariff War Escalates As Trump Raises Stakes

Georgia committee gives counties options for 'souls to the polls'

Georgia voting
Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumFeb 25, 2021
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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A Georgia House committee removed one contentious item from an elections overhaul package on Wednesday while leaving most of the bill intact.

The Special Committee on Election Integrity amended the legislation by reworking a provision that would have banned early voting on the Sunday before Election Day, when Black people often leave church and go vote together — an event known as "souls to the polls." Instead, counties will have the option to offer early voting on a Saturday or Sunday.

More than 70,000 voters were cast on Sunday, Nov. 1 last year, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Joe Biden carried Georgia by 12,000 votes.

Even with that Sunday ban excised, voting rights advocates remain opposed to the bill, which they say is a vehicle for voter suppression. It would require photo ID to be provided when requesting a vote-by-mail application, cut off those submissions 11 days before each election and prohibit the use of drop boxes excerpt inside early-voting locations.

The committee approved the bill on a party-line vote, sending it to the full House for consideration.

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ICE’s Growth Is Not Just an Immigration Issue — It’s a Threat to Democracy and Electoral Integrity
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Meet the Faces of Democracy: Toya Harrell
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Governance & Legislation

Facing a Crackdown on Homelessness, Two Arizona Cities Offer Different Responses

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Mandatory vs. Voluntary Inclusionary Housing: What Cities Are Doing to Create Affordable Homes

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Mandatory vs. Voluntary Inclusionary Housing: What Cities Are Doing to Create Affordable Homes

As housing costs rise across United States cities, local governments are adopting inclusionary housing policies to ensure that some portion of new residential developments remains affordable. These policies—defined and tracked by organizations like the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy—require or encourage developers to include below-market-rate units in otherwise market-rate projects. Today, over 1,000 towns have implemented some form of inclusionary housing, often in response to mounting pressure to prevent displacement and address racial and economic inequality.

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Rebuilding Democracy in the Age of Brain Rot
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Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Rebuilding Democracy in the Age of Brain Rot

We live in a time when anyone with a cellphone carries a computer more powerful than those that sent humans to the moon and back. Yet few of us can sustain a thought beyond a few seconds. One study suggested that the average human attention span dropped from about 12 seconds in 2000 to roughly 8 seconds by 2015—although the accuracy of this figure has been disputed (Microsoft Canada, 2015 Attention Spans Report). Whatever the number, the trend is clear: our ability to focus is not what it used to be.

This contradiction—constant access to unlimited information paired with a decline in critical thinking—perfectly illustrates what Oxford named its 2024 Word of the Year: “brain rot.” More than a funny meme, it represents a genuine threat to democracy. The ability to deeply engage with issues, weigh rival arguments, and participate in collective decision-making is key to a healthy democratic society. When our capacity for focus erodes due to overstimulation, distraction, or manufactured outrage, it weakens our ability to exercise our role as citizens.

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Trump's Clemency for Giuliani et al is Another Effort to Whitewash History and Damage Democracy

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, September 11, 2025 in New York City.

(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Trump's Clemency for Giuliani et al is Another Effort to Whitewash History and Damage Democracy

In the earliest days of the Republic, Alexander Hamilton defended giving the president the exclusive authority to grant pardons and reprieves against the charge that doing so would concentrate too much power in one person’s hands. Reading the news of President Trump’s latest use of that authority to reward his motley crew of election deniers and misfit lawyers, I was taken back to what Hamilton wrote in 1788.

He argued that “The principal argument for reposing the power of pardoning in this case to the Chief Magistrate is this: in seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments, when a well- timed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquility of the commonwealth; and which, if suffered to pass unimproved, it may never be possible afterwards to recall.”

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What the Success Academy Scandal Says About the Charter School Model

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phi1/Getty Images

What the Success Academy Scandal Says About the Charter School Model

When I was running a school, I knew that every hour of my team’s day mattered. A well-prepared lesson, a timely phone call home to a parent, or a few extra minutes spent helping a struggling student were the kinds of investments that added up to better outcomes for kids.

That is why the leaked recording of Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz pressuring staff to lobby elected officials hit me so hard. In an audio first reported by Gothamist, she tells employees, “Every single one of you must make calls,” assigning quotas to contact lawmakers. On September 18th, the network of 59 schools canceled classes for its roughly 22,000 students to bring them to a political rally during the school day. What should have been time for teaching and learning became a political operation.

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