The recent presidential pardons of figures who tried to overturn the 2020 election are part of a broader effort to rewrite one of the most sordid episodes in recent memory. The effort should be rejected, and the pardon power — abused by presidents of both parties for far too long — needs to be reined in.

Earlier this month, the president ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — To be elected governor of California, a candidate needs six vital assets.

Maybe not the entire six-pack, but almost. They include:

–A salable message. How’s the candidate going to make life better for the voter? Specifics, not just poll-generated platitudes. And beating up on President Trump isn’t going to be ...Read more

Today we discuss Texas, overreaction and the voluminous field of candidates for California governor.

Is there anyone who is not running for governor?

I'm not. And neither are my two cats. At least they weren't as of this morning, when we discussed the race before breakfast.

That leaves us somewhat short of the 135 candidates who ran in ...Read more

In a video posted to X late Friday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., announced she’d be resigning from Congress in early January, only halfway through her third term. Greene explained the decision in a direct-to-camera speech from her home, saying she’s “always been despised in Washington, D.C., and just never fit in” and suggesting ...Read more

When President Donald Trump claimed that members of Congress deserved the death penalty last week, he showed yet again that he doesn’t respect the rule of law.The president turned to social media Thursday morning to accuse six Democratic members of Congress of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.” The commander in chief made this ...Read more

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell famously described the high inflation that had just started dragging down U.S. consumers in July 2021 as “transitory.” His word choice suggested that elevated inflation, like stormy weather, would soon pass.

But not only have high prices persisted, inflation rates have remained elevated since the ...Read more

President Donald Trump’s tight grip on the GOP, long assumed to be an inevitable feature of American life (like gravity or the McRib’s seasonal return), has started to loosen.

Republicans are now openly defying him. The man who once ruled the GOP like a casino boss can’t even strong-arm Indiana Republicans into gerrymandering themselves ...Read more

On Nov. 5, the Supreme Court convened what may be one of the most important trade cases of this generation.

Justices across the ideological spectrum carefully probed whether a president may deploy sweeping import duties under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The outcome will resonate well beyond tariffs. It strikes...Read more

Down parkas. Designer handbags. Winter boots. Every Friday after Thanksgiving, crowds barge into stores, elbows flying, desperate to snag the season’s “must-have” deals. Even as more of us shop online—and Black Friday sales creep closer to Halloween—the desire for a deal persists.

Here’s a thought: What if our shopping reflected ...Read more

The next outbreak of serious disease is merely “a plane ride away,” public health officials have long warned. The current crop of measles cases in Canada proves that point.

A traveler infected with measles visited a community in New Brunswick with a low vaccination rate, sparking a national outbreak of the disease in 2024. About 50 people ...Read more

If there was any doubt that the current U.S. administration is the world’s greatest threat to action on climate change, President Donald Trump removed it on Sept. 23 when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly and called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” and a threat promoted by “stupid people.”

He ...Read more

The British have, at long last, cast away Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — and rightly so. His shockingly parasitic existence, alleged sexual and financial misconduct, association with Jeffrey Epstein, evasions and astonishing lack of remorse have rendered him an embarrassment even by the indulgent standards of hereditary privilege.

But now, ...Read more

"I knew that of course most private-equity investors make the U.S. economy stronger," the man wrote, a little indignantly. I'd come across the quote, from The City Journal in 2012, while looking for something else. It's published by the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and prestigious enough for Barnes & Noble to sell it.

...Read more

Joshua trees face an uncertain future. Scientists warn that without significant climate action, the species could be functionally extinct by 2070 because of climate change.

The recent government shutdown left Joshua Tree National Park vulnerable to vandalism during peak visitor season, with the Mojave Desert Land Trust reporting graffiti and ...Read more

It's sheer coincidence that I'm writing here on the same subject as my Los Angeles Times colleague Jonah Goldberg's most recent column: The crying need to amend the Constitution to do something about the much-abused presidential pardon power, the only unchecked power that a president has.

The fact that both Goldberg, a right-of-center ...Read more

It has long been established that some of President Donald Trump’s most frequently used rhetorical weapons have been misogynistic insults. It is just as well known that the president seldom hides his contempt for journalists.

So it’s hardly surprising anymore when Trump degrades women reporters. But the president reached a new level of low ...Read more

Kim Kardashian’s bar exam fail offers a cautionary tale for fans of AI.

Kardashian told Vanity Fair earlier this month that she used ChatGPT to answer legal questions while preparing for her law school exams. According to Kardashian, the AI chatbot frequently provided incorrect answers.

“I use (ChatGPT) for legal advice, so when I am ...Read more

In one respect, New York City’s unusual election results this year fit a national pattern: Voters opted to make housing easier and faster to build. Here’s hoping it’s a trend that lasts.

A lack of housing has become a nationwide problem. High prices and mortgage rates have depressed sales. With rent costs outpacing incomes, nearly half ...Read more

The bedrock life principle, the house always wins, derives from the mathematical advantage casinos build into their games. But what if that wasn’t the price of admittance?

On an American roulette wheel, a bet on the number 13 pays off at 35:1. If there were 36 slots on the wheel, both the house and the bettor would break even in the long run,...Read more

“Why is no one doing anything about ICE?” is the question I'm most frequently asked when people find out I’m a constitutional law professor.

They’re not wrong to ask. In the 10 months of President Donald Trump’s administration running roughshod over the Constitution and federal law, nothing has been more upsetting to our collective ...Read more