Heidi Pascual's web site

By Tom Moore

President Trump’s moves to politicize the Department of Justice (DOJ) may well breathe new life into a long-dormant law that shifts the costs of wrongful federal prosecutions back to the government.

The Hyde Amendment is a provision tucked into a 1997 appropriations act—not the more widely known amendment that has banned the use of federal funds for abortion since 1977—that allows acquitted federal defendants to recover attorneys’ fees from the government if “the position of the United States was vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith.”

It has mostly lived in obscurity until now because, in the last 29 years, the DOJ—whatever its flaws—had not placed itself at the service of a president a president who has communicated a desire to seek vengeance upon his political foes.

The Hyde Amendment was born of outrage over the prolonged criminal prosecution of then-Rep. Joe McDade (R-PA), who was charged in a long-running corruption case and ultimately acquitted. Congress responded by giving courts power to reimburse prevailing defendants in truly abusive cases. Courts have interpreted the statute narrowly. It sets a very high bar. It is not enough that prosecutors cut corners or engage in misconduct along the way. The case itself has to be fundamentally unjustified from the start. In United States v. Shaygan, for example, prosecutors hid evidence, failed to turn over key Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports, ran a secret side investigation targeting defense counsel, and were rebuked by the trial court—but the 11th Circuit still threw out the fee award because the underlying charges had an evidentiary basis. Hyde applies when the prosecution is rotten end to end—not when a legitimate prosecution is handled badly.​-- READ MORE

By Emily Gee

Americans around the country have watched gas prices soar since the Trump administration began its war with Iran in late February. Two weeks after the announcement of a tenuous ceasefire agreement, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is still effectively at a standstill, oil prices remain elevated, and Americans are paying about 35 percent more for gas than they were before the conflict. According to polling conducted earlier this month by the Pew Research Center, more than two-thirds (69 percent) of Americans are concerned about high gas prices as a result of the U.S. military attacks on Iran.

While U.S. retail gas prices typically rise and fall seasonally due to changes in demand and the transition between winter and summer fuel mixes, the magnitude of the price shock consumers are currently experiencing exceeds those normal fluctuations. (see Figure 1) This year’s price spike generated the largest monthly increase in the gas price index since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking in 1967, sending prices to their highest levels since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

FIG 1

As of April 22, 2026, the national average was $4.02 per gallon, with prices highest in California ($5.83) and lowest in Oklahoma ($3.38), according to state average gas price data from AAA. (see Table 1) Prices tend to be lower in regions closer to sources of supply—such as the Gulf Coast, home to about half of U.S. refining capacity—and also reflect variation in reformulation requirements and gas taxes. Comparing current prices to those on February 27, the day before the war began, shows that the largest relative increases in gas prices have been in Utah (51.7 percent), Idaho (45.7 percent), Tennessee (45.6 percent), Mississippi (45.4 percent), and Kentucky (45 percent). -- READ MORE

By Tom Moore

Hawaii is poised to become the first state to use its long-dormant legal authority to drain corporate money from its elections—and the legal questions raised about the move have clean answers.

When Hawaii drafted its constitution for eventual statehood in 1950, the delegates made very explicit the principle that runs through the laws of the 49 states that preceded it into the Union. “The power of the State to act in the general welfare shall never be impaired by the making of any irrevocable grant of special privileges or immunities,” reads Article I, Section 21 of the Hawaii Constitution.

Sixteen years after Citizens United started laying waste to America’s elections, the Hawaii legislature is poised to put that tool to unusually good use. S.B. 2471—a bill under which Hawaii would no longer grant artificial entities, including corporations, the power to spend in Hawaii’s politics—has passed both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support. It is in conference committee now, one step away from Gov. Josh Green’s (D) desk.

Gov. Green has said he will sign a good bill that meets constitutional muster. That is the right test. S.B. 2471 meets it.

The bill, which is based upon the Center for American Progress’ “Corporate Power Reset,” is not a regulation of speech. It is a redefinition of corporate power. Aviam Soifer, former dean of the University of Hawaii’s law school, has studied the measure closely and concluded that it is squarely constitutional. -- READ MORE

By Allie Preston & Nick Wilson

Congress must ensure that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) improves recruiting, hiring, and training standards to prevent unqualified candidates from being hired and ensure that all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are extensively trained to prepare them to fulfill their roles safely and lawfully.

Indeed, federal law enforcement must be held to the same or higher professional standards as the state and local agencies they operate alongside. While local police departments across the country have strengthened training, transparency, and accountability policies in recent years, DHS has lowered standards under the second Trump administration. DHS should follow the lead of state and local agencies by adopting tested policies that prevent the hiring of unqualified or high-risk agents and ensure that all personnel receive the training needed to conduct themselves safely and appropriately in the field. Congress must intervene to mandate rigorous vetting, high-quality training, and robust use-of-force policies to ensure that federal immigration agents are held to the same professional standards as local police.

Problem: DHS is creating dangerous conditions on the street by failing to provide proper training to ICE and CBP agents.

According to an ICE whistleblower, under the second Trump administration, ICE has reduced training hours by 41 percent and passed recruits who used excessive force in training exercises. ICE now requires just 344 hours of training before starting, compared with an average of 806 hours for state and local academy basic training. -- READ MORE

By Hayley Durudogan & Devon Ombres

The Supreme Court is disregarding decades of its own conservative precedent—and the bedrock Purcell principle—in an ongoing quest to undermine voting rights.

On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 6-3 opinion in Louisiana v. Callais, a landmark, anti-democracy case that undermines Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Though the court stopped shy of fully overturning Section 2, Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion makes it incredibly difficult for voters of color to bring VRA claims when states engage in racial gerrymandering. Specifically, Justice Alito heightened the burden on plaintiffs looking to bring gerrymandering claims, requiring them to, among other things, prove intentional discrimination—a very high bar to meet.

Despite the fact that many legal commentators viewed Callais as all but decided given the conservative justices’ hostility toward voting rights, the decision has sent shockwaves through the legal community. After the Supreme Court struck down Section 5 of the VRA in the 2013 case Shelby County v. Holder, Section 2 was the last means of enforcing the so-called crown jewel of the nation’s pro-democracy laws: the Voting Rights Act.

Callais decisions will disrupt this year’s elections

Supreme Court Rule 45.3 provides the standard practice of waiting 32 days before effectuating a ruling and sending it to the lower courts for enforcement. In this case, the right-wing justices ignored their own rules by granting Louisiana’s request to finalize the opinion in Callais on May 4, 2026—less than a week after the case was decided.

-- READ MORE

By Sara Estep and Kennedy Andara


The newest jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 115,000 jobs were added in April 2026. This report follows months of volatile job gains and losses for the labor market, amounting to an average of 21,000 added per month since April 2025. Additionally, the unemployment rate for April 2026 remained at 4.3 percent. Although the latest report was largely upbeat, some signals of underlying weakness persisted. Long-term unemployment remained consistent, but the number of newly unemployed, or those jobless less than five weeks, ticked up by 358,000. Additionally, gains for prime-age women’s labor force participation pulled back slightly in April to 78 percent however, the participation rate for that demographic remains above the 2019 average of 76 percent.


New analysis from the Center for American Progress finds that much of the labor market growth since the COVID-19 pandemic has come from women, especially women with young children. After the last recession, this increase in labor force participation rates (LFPR) among mothers was largely driven by policies directing additional funds to the child care sector. It was also speculated that return-to-work orders in recent years would greatly affect women with young children. However, original CAP analysis shows that very few people have access to telework at all, and among those who do telework, the rate has been largely stable since late 2023. Taken together, these data points indicate that telework has not played a large role in broad LFPR trends since return-to-office mandates began.


Women’s labor force participation is sustaining the economy


-- READ MORE