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Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

The Hill

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Listen live: Supreme Court weighs Trump’s firing of FTC commissioner

The Supreme Court on Monday will consider the future of independent agencies, hearing oral arguments on President Trump’s bid to fire a Federal...

yesterday 9

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Understanding Trump’s obsession with ObamaCare 

Donald Trump will say or do anything to bury the legacy of a predecessor he despises: Barack Obama.  

yesterday 3

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Trump’s ‘treason’ accusations are telling — and ironic  

Six Democratic lawmakers posted a video reminding members of the military of their obligation not to follow illegal orders. Their act was patriotic,...

24.11.2025 8

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Despite rise in executions this year, America’s death penalty has a bleak future 

This is all bad news for people seeking to end capital punishment in the United States. However, I don’t think that it suggests we are seeing a...

17.11.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Trump won’t let the 22nd Amendment stop him and his ambitions for a third term 

Can you imagine the Roberts court telling Donald Trump that he cannot serve a third term and that he must turn over power? The Court’s record offers...

03.11.2025 20

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Watch live: Johnson speaks to reporters as shutdown hits 27 days

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will hold his ritual daily press briefing on Monday as the House remains out of session on day 27 of the government...

27.10.2025 8

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

‘No Kings’ protesters don’t ‘hate America” — they hate what Trump is doing to it 

Protest is a legitimate way of giving voice to grievances, not a violent rebellion.

27.10.2025 7

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

George Washington welcomed ‘citizens by choice’ to the US. Why can’t Trump? 

“Citizens by birth or choice,” said the father of our nation, “the name of American … belongs to you.”  

29.09.2025 8

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

The Supreme Court has abandoned federal judges on the front lines of justice 

It is too bad Justice Brett Kavanaugh is so reluctant to display respect when it counts. 

23.09.2025 2

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Blind justice no more: The Supreme Court has sanctioned racial profiling 

Millions and millions of Americans speak Spanish or have a Spanish accent. If the government can target them, it can profile anyone. 

15.09.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Live updates: Trump to address religious liberty; Congress grinds toward shutdown deadline

President Trump starts out the week addressing the Religious Liberty Commission, which he established earlier this year. Trump is expected to speak on...

08.09.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Watch live: Trump speaks at Museum of the Bible

President Trump on Monday morning is scheduled to speak to the White House Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C....

08.09.2025 20

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

‘Celebrity privilege' goes only so far — just ask the Menendez brothers 

That “hard cases make bad law” is a longstanding maxim among lawyers and judges. It may be time to add to it that celebrity cases often make bad...

08.09.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

In the world of capital punishment, Florida is becoming the new Texas 

That spike may be driven by the political ambitions of Ron DeSantis

26.08.2025 2

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Executions are up in 2025 — should death penalty abolitionists change their tactics? 

The road to the abolition of capital punishment will not be uniform or smooth.  

28.07.2025 3

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Watch live: House Republicans hold news conference amid Epstein chaos

House GOP leaders will hold their weekly press conference Tuesday morning after backlash around the Trump administration's handling of disgraced...

22.07.2025 4

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Trump’s WSJ lawsuit is as dangerous as it is unprecedented 

Donald Trump made history on Friday when he became the first president to sue a newspaper for an article that exposed something he did not want...

22.07.2025 4

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Clarence Thomas’s killer jurisprudence  

Death penalty or no death penalty, Thomas used the Ruben Gutierrez case to carry on his crusade of constitutional purification. And it shows the depth...

16.07.2025 4

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

How Texas is wielding freedom of speech as a political weapon 

The courts shouldn’t allow Texas to restrict campus protests that it finds offensive or politically incorrect. 

07.07.2025 5

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Why are we still talking about Biden’s presidency?

“Always say yes to the president.”

16.06.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

The missing middle class puts Democrats in a ‘big beautiful’ bind

People in the lowest and highest income groups prioritize different issues. Satisfying members of one group may turn off the other. 

03.06.2025 4

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

What happens when religious freedom clashes with personal protections in court? 

Religious liberty must be balanced against other values. Not surprisingly, they become the stuff of intense legal and political debate. 

19.05.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Happening Now: The Hill’s Energy & Environment Summit

On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order announcing a new era of “Unleashing American Energy.” Since then, the White...

06.05.2025 4

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Trump’s attack on ActBlue violates the First Amendment 

Trump is drawing from a familiar playbook, clothing his latest act of election interference with the pretext that he is protecting election...

06.05.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Outside the US, the death penalty is a vestige from another time  

Whatever arguments are used, the journey toward worldwide rejection of capital punishment will not be concluded quickly. But it will come.

15.04.2025 3

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Trump caused the stock market crash — Democrats must hold his feet to the fire 

We’ve never before had a president so intent on simultaneously undoing our form of government and the infrastructure of our economic life.  

08.04.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Watch: House GOP leaders hold press conference amid group chat blowback

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his GOP leadership team held a press conference Tuesday morning, as the Trump administration faced a chorus of...

25.03.2025 20

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Watch live: Gabbard, Patel, Ratcliffe testify at global threats hearing

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, FBI Director Kash Patel and CIA Director John Ratcliffe will testify Tuesday before the Senate...

25.03.2025 20

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Wisconsin’s high-stakes Supreme Court election is a referendum on Trump 

The stakes in the April 1 election are muchmore than political. 

25.03.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Trump’s 2025 strategy: Use power while you have it and don’t worry about the polls 

The president and the Republican Party seem not to be troubled by polls. They are adhering to a simple maxim: Political power is a terrible thing to...

06.03.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Why the fate of Ukraine still matters to America 

As the Trump administration works to end the conflict, it should keep in mind why the fate of Ukraine matters here in America. 

03.03.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Is there no limit to Trump’s ever-expanding presidential powers? 

Donald Trump has made clear that he intends to bend the federal bureaucracy to his will.

24.02.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Why new Attorney General Pam Bondi is going all in on the federal death penalty 

Elections have consequences, so the slogan goes.

17.02.2025 20

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

The Democratic Party is not dead yet 

Democrats can’t ignore the Americans’ disillusionment with our political institutions. They need to offer a plausible and persuasive message of...

10.02.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Why won’t Congress fulfill the vision of the Founders? 

Today's lawmakers are hardly what James Madison envisioned. 

03.02.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Our universities need both free speech and diversity protections to succeed  

We need to think creatively about threats to open inquiry and ways to preserve and enhance free expression on campus. Reiterating well-worn attacks on...

21.01.2025 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Watch live: DC mayor holds briefing on inauguration safety

Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) will join other Washington, D.C., and federal authorities on Monday morning to brief the public on safety preparations for the...

13.01.2025 4

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

End state-sanctioned secrecy in South Carolina's penal system 

The regime of secrecy has won another battle.  

13.01.2025 5

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Biden's decision to block the US Steel sale would have made Harry Truman proud 

Biden’s decision serves as a reminder, as the new president comes to power, of just how much a president can do under the broad and often vague...

06.01.2025 6

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Happy holidays? Only if you don’t need customer service in America. 

Welcome to America’s customer service nightmare. 

30.12.2024 4

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

The peaceful transfer of power is rarer than Americans might think  

Remembering that history makes the peaceful transfer of power that Biden is promising seems less a rote exercise than a commitment that must be...

23.12.2024 6

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Christopher Wray’s big mistake: Why it was wrong for the FBI head to step down 

Wray should have stayed and tried to uphold the rule of law for as long as he could. That is exactly what he is asking his subordinates at the FBI...

16.12.2024 9

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Arizona AG panders on the death penalty  

It is a serious mistake for Arizona to restart the machinery of death and for other states to cling to capital punishment.

09.12.2024 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Democrats' hard 2024 lesson: Demographic change and identity politics aren't enough 

As the 2024 election results showed, identity is loose-fitting, rather than a surefire predictor of political attitudes and behavior. 

02.12.2024 8

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Don't just pardon turkeys — use Thanksgiving to spare lives on death row 

This Thanksgiving, governors should use their sovereign power to put down the executioner’s axe.

25.11.2024 5

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

A right to life, but not to die — it’s not just women’s bodies MAGA wants to control 

What just happened in West Virginia is unprecedented.

18.11.2024 4

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Voters rejected a 'woke' America — time for Democrats to listen and learn

Kamala Harris’s version of freedom was a caring kind of freedom, but it was also a technocratic, policy wonk kind of freedom — and many Americans...

11.11.2024 8

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

What does Donald Trump's return mean for the death penalty? 

Abolitionists will have to play defense at the federal level, and plot a long-term strategy for ending the death penalty in the United States. 

07.11.2024 10

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Biden's ‘garbage’ gaffe could elect Trump and do lasting damage to his party 

Last week, President Biden seemed to call Trump supporters "garbage," prompting a wave of faux outrage and callbacks to Hillary Clinton's 2016...

04.11.2024 3

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor

Should we allow prisoners on death row to volunteer for execution? 

A gruesome crime, a cruel penalty. Some might think justice was done. But was it?

28.10.2024 20

The Hill

Austin Sarat, Opinion Contributor