The Big Idea

The Supreme Court just dealt unions a harsh blow, but it doesn’t have to be a deadly one.

Biased comments by officials shaped the outcome of the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, but were ruled of limited importance on the travel ban.

We can fight stereotypes about Asian personalities while rejecting the idea that test scores are the only kind of merit.

The logic SCOTUS used to uphold the travel ban would justify Japanese internment camps.

He also knew calls for “civility” often serve to enforce the status quo.

Tech workers have traditionally shied away from organizing. That’s changing.

Carpenter forces police to get a warrant before getting some cellphone data. But other Fourth Amendment cases will undermine its impact.

There’s a long tradition of left-liberal activism within the party. Today’s left should keep that tradition alive — rather than rejecting Democrats as sellouts.

First, attack monopolies. Second, replace patents with prizes.

Deterrence tactics have dominated our border for decades. We’re still not sure if they work.

Until the public has to pay for war, it won’t demand peace.

A trip inside the memory palace of the beautiful game.

We’re approaching the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Heller decision. It didn’t cause a revolution in gun laws.

Experts are now looking to the social and environmental causes of the disorder affecting millions.

Two surgeons based in China say such surgery is “imminent.”

There’s a case for killing the space station. There’s no case for turning over the keys to a private company.

This flagrant violation of his constitutional duty should worry all Americans.

America has never treated families — nonwhite families, anyway — as sacrosanct.

Would you have kids if you were drowning in debt?

When the police get asked to handle mental health crises, the results can be tragic.

All founders need to tell compelling stories about the future. Tesla’s Musk takes things to a whole new level.

More and more “public” space is under corporate control. That affects how we interact as citizens.

Showalter has been reading — and loving — Roth since 1959.

It violates labor law and, most likely, players’ free speech rights.

No, really.

The General Data Protection Regulation Act, or GDPR, enshrines data protection as a fundamental human right

There’s more creepy spyware out there than you think — and regulating it is a legal and technological challenge.

It fits a pattern: US officials have historically found black radicals far more threatening than white supremacists.

Pinker’s hyper-optimism and faith in progress have little to do with the actual views of Enlightenment thinkers. Scholars who point that out aren’t enemies of Western civilization.

The extremist group Hamas wants to fill the void in Palestinian leadership. US abandonment of the peace process has furthered its goal.

The GOP is still working hard to dismantle affordable health care. They’re just doing it more quietly, argues a former top official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Far more than its peer countries, the US forces mothers to choose between work and time with kids.

A controversial New York Times article describes several popular white intellectuals as marginalized “renegades.”

He’s undercut diplomacy. The predictable next step: a steady drumbeat of calls for a military strike.

Repealing the controversial decision is a pipe dream. And there are more promising avenues for campaign-finance reform.

There’s much we don’t know about her role at a notorious “black site” where torture occurred — and about the role of other US officials.

Someone may be scrutinizing your genome right now, due to sites like 23andMe, police investigations, and hackers.

The April jobs report adds to the debate about whether a “natural” rate of unemployment exists.