Texas’ draconian immigration law SB4 is back on hold after a ruling late Tuesday night by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. SB4 would allow state law enforcement officials to arrest and detain anyone they suspect of crossing the border illegally. It also would allow judges to issue orders to deport people to Mexico. The Fifth Circuit’s decision followed an earlier decision by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to let the law go into effect. Texas Tribune immigration reporter Uriel...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday reiterated his plans to do exactly what President Joe Biden keeps advising him not to do: launch a ground offensive into the crowded city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Netanyahu’s comments came after Biden directly warned him against it in a phone call, their first in more than a month. Netanyahu insists a ground offensive in Rafah is the only way to eliminate Hamas, despite the fact that more than a million displaced Palestinians are...

Ohio is one of five states holding primary elections on Tuesday. A few big races there will make it a key state to watch in November. Democrat Sherrod Brown is looking to hold on to his Senate seat in what’s likely to be a tight race that could make or break control of the chamber. There’s also an open seat on the state’s Supreme Court that could lead to Republicans losing their majority. Ohio Democratic Party Chair Liz Walters talks about what’s at stake there this election cycle. And in...

The Georgia racketeering case against Donald Trump can proceed with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in charge. However, on Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that if Willis stayed on, her lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade, would have to leave the case. He stepped down later that day. One of Trump’s co-defendants accused Willis of misconduct for having a romantic relationship with Wade, but Judge McAfee said it did not constitute the kind of conflict of...

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he’s invading the Palestinian city of Rafah despite strong opposition from the Biden administration. Why does Israel, a country that seems to rely on the U.S. for so much, increasingly ignore and defy its long time American patron? And at what point is a defiant ally not really an ally at all? This week on How We Got Here, Israel’s decades-long effort to break free of their military, economic, and diplomatic dependence on the...

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called for new Israeli elections to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., called Netanyahu an “obstacle to peace.” Ben Rhodes, co-host of Crooked’s ‘Pod Save The World’ and former deputy national security advisor to President Barack Obama, explains what Schumer’s comments could signal about Democrats’ shifting attitudes toward Israel over the war in Gaza. And in headlines:...

Americans have considered the idea of reparations for more than a century, but there’s real momentum around the movement to make it happen right now. Multiple states and localities have launched studies into doing it and California has even introduced legislation. We’ll talk to Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist Trymaine Lee whose podcast “Uncounted Millions” looks at ways reparations could reshape the lives of the descendants of formerly enslaved people. And in headlines: The...

The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a bill that could force the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell the social media platform or face a ban on U.S. app stores. Lawmakers say TikTok is a potential national security threat. The bill has bipartisan support in the House. Tech journalist Louise Matsakis explains why banning TikTok is one of the few issues lawmakers can agree on these days. And in headlines: The House Judiciary Committee grilled Special Counsel Robert Hur over his...

President Biden on Monday unveiled his $7.3 trillion budget proposal for the next fiscal year. He calls for new spending to lower the cost of healthcare, housing and childcare, and wants to offset it by raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations. The proposal as it stands now has little chance of passing a divided Congress, but is the basis for negotiations and also serves as a campaign promise for his reelection. A settlement over Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay and Trans” bill means...

Ramadan began Sunday night, and it was also the unofficial deadline by which the Biden administration hoped to have negotiated a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But as fighting in Gaza rages on and the death toll there tops 30,000, President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amped up their criticisms of each other. Haiti’s government is on the brink of collapse after local gangs united in a coordinated attack on the nation’s capital city Port-au-Prince. The...

Primaries elections are good, right? It’s how we hold the party accountable and raise up progressives! It turns out there’s more to the story. This week on “How We Got Here,” Max and Erin explore how party primaries have led to the success of more extreme candidates, the passage of fewer polices, and an increase in American polarization. From the Tea Party and Ron Paul to decidedly not "tea" parties with Texas House Speakers, this week’s episode probes the dangers of primaries, and why the...

President Biden delivered his State of the Union Thursday night. He traded verbal blows with his conservative opponents inside the room, and also offered a preview of his 2024 campaign message. Pod Save America's Tommy Vietor assessed Biden's speech on topics such as abortion access, Gaza, immigration at the southern border and more. And in headlines: Sweden joins NATO, Trump can't delay his payment to E. Jean Carroll, and House lawmakers advanced legislation that could ban TikTok.

President Biden delivers his third State of the Union address Thursday night ahead of this November’s election. Part of the challenge for Biden is to show voters that he’s still got the energy for another four year term. But he also has to motivate his base, including progressives who are following his campaign with varying amounts of enthusiasm. Activists and organizers across the country told us about the issues they’re most concerned about, and what they want Biden to say when he steps up...

Super Tuesday was mostly a blowout on the Republican side for former President Donald Trump. Nikki Haley did manage to eke out a win in Vermont, but that's not enough to give her a clear path to victory. Danielle Deiseroth, the executive director of the progressive think tank Data for Progress, helps us interpret what the Super Tuesday results could mean for both Republicans and Democrats in November. And in headlines: Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed the GOP-backed Arizona Border...

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump can stay on Colorado’s primary ballot. This reverses a decision by Colorado’s Supreme Court, which ruled that Trump could be disqualified based on his actions on January 6th, and the 14th Amendment’s stipulation that insurrectionists cannot hold public office. To understand the Supreme Court’s rationale, we spoke to Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s “Strict Scrutiny” and professor at the University of Michigan...

Oregon’s legislature has reintroduced criminal penalties for hard drug possession, effectively reversing course three years after voters passed the state’s Measure 110 and decriminalized possession in many cases. Many describe the reversal as a big setback for the criminal justice reform movement. But to understand how we got here, we look at where Oregon fell short in its implementation of Measure 110. Israel boycotted ceasefire talks in Cairo on Sunday after Hamas refused a demand to...

I see London, I see France, I see Shohei Ohtani’s underpants. This week, the MLB kicked off Spring Training with brand new see-through uniforms — yes, you read that right. But it’s not just MLB players’ clothing that’s seemingly crappier, the uniform change is another story in a long line of corporate decisions that have made the clothing we wear worse and worse with each passing year. Max and Erin get to the bottom of how fashion got so fast, telling the story of a little Spanish retailer...

More than 100 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured Thursday near Gaza City as people gathered around trucks to receive much needed food and aid. Hamas said in a statement that the Gaza Health Ministry had presented “undeniable” evidence of the Israeli Defense Force directly firing at civilians. Israel, for their part, denied that soldiers shot into the large crowd. Alabama’s legislature voted to protect in vitro fertilization, or IVF, following the ruling by the state’s Supreme...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Wednesday that he plans to step down as the Republican Senate leader in November. He has been the longest-serving Senate leader in American history, and is responsible for extensive damage to American politics and life. Congressional reporter Todd Zwillich explains why McConnell is leaving and why now. Both President Biden and former President Trump head to the southern border Wednesday as they jockey on the issue of immigration. Uriel García,...

Yet another government shutdown looms and lawmakers have until Friday night to avert it. Here's what's holding them up this time: House Republicans have refused to support a spending deal that doesn't cover some of their extremist priorities, like the reversal of a federal rule that broadens access to abortion medication. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he's committed to avoiding a shutdown, but we're definitely not out of the woods yet. The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments...

The Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments on a case that could upend the online world. At issue are laws championed and passed by Republicans in Florida and Texas which would prevent social media companies from banning users based on their viewpoints. Jason Koebler, co-founder of the tech publication 404 Media, believes that tech companies would leave both states if the Supreme Court allowed these laws to stand. Michigan holds its primary elections on Tuesday. From the war in Gaza to...

Former President Donald Trump cleaned up in the South Carolina Republican primary last Saturday, winning 60 percent of the votes to Nikki Haley’s 40 percent, in spite of the fact that the battle played out in Haley’s home state. For her part, Haley says she’s still not dropping out. The race now heads to Michigan which holds its Presidential primary on Tuesday. The results could demonstrate how much support President Biden maintains among a key demographic in the state: Muslim and Arab...

Republicans are coming after IVF? And no-fault divorce? This week, a Supreme Court ruling in Alabama and a new report from POLITICO unmasked an ascendant ideology taking over the Republican Party: Christian nationalism. Why does this ideology have Republicans waging war on public schools, failing marriages, and fertility clinics? And how did this movement go from the far fringes of the religious right to the center of the GOP? This week on How We Got Here, Offline’s Max Fisher and Hysteria’s...

The mother of deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said that authorities are “blackmailing” her over his remains to get her to agree to a secret funeral. Sanctions on more than 500 targets in Russia are expected from the U.S. State and Treasury Departments Friday for the Russian government’s suspected role in Navalny’s death. Saturday marks two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. The U.N. says that nearly 6.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country and become refugees in that...

The University of Alabama health system became the first organization in the state to pause IVF treatments following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said frozen embryos can legally be considered “children.” Meanwhile, the future of IVF in the ten other states remains unclear as well because, like Alabama, they say life begins at fertilization. To learn more about how this fits into the larger fight for reproductive rights, we spoke with Dana Sussman, deputy executive director of...