On this week's Politics & Power, Praveen Fernandes, vice president at the Constitutional Accountability Center and a constitutional law expert, will join News4JAX anchor Bruce Hamilton to explore the issues being raised by President Donald Trump's talk of possibly running for a third term.

Washington and Oregon have become the latest states to ask a court to reject President Donald Trump’s efforts to overhaul elections in the U.S., a day after Democratic officials in 19 others filed a similar lawsuit.

A Middleburg couple is hoping for a miracle to happen after ICE ordered the husband, who’s been in the country illegally for over a decade, to turn himself in to return to India.

A Middleburg couple is hoping for a miracle to happen after ICE ordered the husband, who’s been in the country illegally for over a decade, to turn himself in to return to India.

Although some parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda are getting bogged down by litigation, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is having better luck in the courtroom.

A federal judge in Boston has blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump that would end birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally.

A federal judge who just blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of people in the U.S. illegally says he's not persuaded by the Trump administration's arguments.

The struggle over the Equal Rights Amendment started more than a century ago when suffragist Alice Paul first proposed it shortly after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

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.

All Georgia voters will face choices on two proposed constitutional amendments and an additional referendum on the 2024 general election ballot.

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.

A Florida House panel on Tuesday took a first step toward shifting to partisan school-board elections and backed a proposal that would limit school-board members to eight years in office instead of the current 12.

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.

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.

Some Florida teachers are raising concerns about the state’s new civics training.

A woman is taking over as the U.S.S.

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.

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.

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.

(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.

The Florida Education Association teachers union is challenging Corcorans July 6 emergency order requiring schools to reopen in August unless state and local health officials say otherwise. The union alleges that Corcorans directive violates the state Constitution, which guarantees Floridians the right to safe and secure public education. And throughout August, well have -- all 67 of our districts will open.Under Corcorans order, school districts outside of Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties risk losing state funds if they dont open bricks-and-mortar classrooms. Dodson was assigned to the case this week, after Leon County Circuit Judges Angela Dempsey and John Cooper recused themselves. But the reality is, of the districts that opened up this week, six of them have almost 100% teacher participation.

The Florida Education Association teachers union is challenging Corcoran’s July 6 emergency order requiring schools to reopen in August, unless state and local health officials say otherwise. The union alleges that Corcoran’s directive violates the state Constitution, which guarantees Floridians the right to “safe” and “secure” public education. Under Corcoran’s order, school districts outside of Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties risk losing state funds if they don’t open bricks-and-mortar classrooms. Dodson was assigned to the case this week, after Leon County Circuit Judges Angela Dempsey and John Cooper recused themselves. Florida deserves much better than confusing commands concerning life and death issues.”The union is also asking Dodson to expedite the case, slated for an online hearing Thursday morning.

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.

“By systematically awarding a statistically significant advantage to the candidates of the party in power, Florida’s ballot order scheme takes a side in partisan elections,” Walker wrote. Ron DeSantis’ administration and national Republican groups, who joined the case as intervenors, appealed Walker’s decision, and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Wednesday in Atlanta. Arguing that a federal court “has no subject-matter jurisdiction” in the lawsuit, the state is asking the appellate court to reverse Walker’s order and dismiss the challenge. They succeed in carrying their burden on none of these elements,” the state lawyers argued.

President Donald Trump impeached by US House on 2 chargesPublished: December 18, 2019, 11:12 pmPresident Donald Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives becoming only the third American chief executive to be formally charged under the Constitution's ultimate remedy for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Ron DeSantis on Monday questioned a proposal to increase Florida's minimum wage through the constitutional amendment process, warning about effects on the restaurant industry. "If you're going to amend the Constitution it should be provisions similar to what we've seen with the federal Constitution," DeSantis said. Orlando attorney John Morgan, who chairs and has largely bankrolled the political committee Florida For A Fair Wage, strongly disagreed with DeSantis' assessment of the process. "He (DeSantis) has a chance to have a fair minimum wage enacted in the next session. The state's minimum wage this year is $8.46 an hour, with tipped employees at $5.44 an hour.