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are voting in twin referendums to decide whether to amend the constitution and remove passages the government says are outdated and sexist.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

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

The Biden administration is no longer accepting applications for federal student loan forgiveness after court orders blocked the program.

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.

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett says judges are not deciding cases to impose a “policy result,” but are making their best effort to determine what the law and the Constitution require.

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.

More than one year after his prison release, Richard Wershe Jr., formerly known as “White Boy Rick,” is launching a cannabis brand.

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

Former Vice President Mike Pence is defending his role in certifying the results of the 2020 election and says he is proud of his own actions on Jan. 6.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the structure of the agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac violates separation of powers principles in the Constitution.

As the nation this week made Juneteenth a federal holiday, lawmakers are reviving 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.

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.

Read: Experts: Capitol riot product of years of hateful rhetoricIn response, lawmakers are calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the Constitution’s 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Learn more: What is the 25th Amendment and how does it work? The Vice President and Cabinet should invoke the 25th Amendment, or Congress should impeach and remove the President. — Brenda Lawrence (@RepLawrence) January 7, 2021Rep. Haley Stevens, Michigan’s 11th DistrictI encourage those with the authority to invoke the 25th Amendment to exercise that power. pic.twitter.com/5VK8DLTLn4 — David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) January 7, 2021Speaker of the U.S. House Rep. Nancy Pelosi, from California, previously introduced legislation in October requesting Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

The 25th Amendment has never been used to remove a president -- but it’s there for a reason. The 25th Amendment, proposed by Congress and ratified by the states in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, provides the procedures for replacing the president or vice president in the event of death, removal, resignation, or incapacitation. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence defied President Donald Trump early Thursday morning as he affirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s November victory, putting an end to Trump’s futile efforts to subvert American democracy and overturn the results of the election. 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.

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?

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.

The House approved Friday a package of historic rules changes so Congress can keep functioning even while it's partly closed. Under the new rules, House lawmakers will no longer be required to travel to Washington to participate in floor votes. House lawmakers will be able to draft bills, conduct oversight and even issue subpoenas from the comfort of their homes. A key Trump ally, McCarthy argues if other Americans are at work, Congress should be, too. But Republicans warn there will be legal challenges to legislation passed during this period, questioning the constitutional legitimacy of proxy votes.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON, D.C. – Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Monday that those like her who support an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution should start over in trying to get it passed rather than counting on breathing life into the failed attempt from the 1970s. “I'd like it to start over.”Congress sent the amendment, which guarantees men and women equal rights under the law, to the states in 1972. In addition to Virginia, Nevada and Illinois also voted to ratify the amendment after the deadline, in 2017 and 2018 respectively. So if you count a latecomer on the plus side, how can you disregard states that said we've changed our minds?”Ginsburg has previously expressed the view that the amendment “fell three states short of ratification.”Ginsburg has been a champion of the Equal Rights Amendment for decades. She said her answer is “not quite.”Ginsburg noted that every Constitution in the world written since 1950 has the equivalent of an Equal Rights Amendment.

Voters in the West are deciding several ballot measures Tuesday, including one that would make Tucson, Arizona, a sanctuary city and initiatives that would legalize sports betting in Colorado and an affirmative action referendum in Washington state. Among the highlights:ARIZONAPeople in Tucson are being asked to designate it as Arizona's only sanctuary city. Proposition 205 was started by a group of activists looking to give a voice to the city's sizeable Latino communities. Tucson's entire City Council, all Democrats, is opposed, citing concerns about the potential for losing millions of dollars in state and federal funding. COLORADOA measure that would legalize sports betting and tax it to help conserve water is being considered in Colorado.

Sullivan previously told the Justice Department that it could not yet appeal his decisions that allowed the case to move forward into evidence-collection. It's an extraordinary step for the Justice Department to go around a lower court's decision before a case is resolved. Trump has repeatedly accused Democrats of "presidential harassment" in their efforts both to obtain his financial records and haul in his closest aides to testify. In other court cases, Trump's private legal team has argued that the Democrats' subpoenas have no legislative purpose and invade his privacy. Democrat-led House committees have subpoenaed Trump's financial records from multiple entities that keep them.

Copyright 2019 CNN(CNN) - A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration policy denying bond hearings to asylum seekers. US District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled that people who are detained after entering the US to seek protection are entitled to bond hearings and the chance to be released from custody under the Constitution. The policy would have effectively blocked concerted efforts by immigration lawyers and immigrant rights advocates to push for bond hearings for detained asylum seekers. Michael Tan, a senior staff attorney with ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, celebrated the ruling Tuesday as having "forcefully rejected" the administration's efforts. "The court forcefully rejected the Trump administration's bid to arbitrarily jail asylum-seekers without a hearing," Tan said in a statement.

DETROIT – The ultimate decision facing Judge Steven Rhodes is this: Does Michigan's Constitution, which protects retiree pensions, supersede federal bankruptcy law? That's what Attorney General Bill Schuette is going to argue. "My job as attorney general is to aggressively advocate that position," the AG said. Detroit's emergency manager and the high-powered restructuring specialists working on the city's Chapter 9 filing believe that federal law trumps Michigan's Constitution. "Anybody who knows me knows that I'm an attorney general that supports and defends the Constitution," he said.