Category: Federal
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Second Trump administration has seen historically high ambassador vacancies and political appointments
Seventeen months into President Donald Trump's (R) second administration, a historically high number of ambassador posts remain vacant. According to the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), an unprecedentedly high percentage of ambassadors appointed during Trump's second term have been political appointees. Ambassadors are the highest-ranking U.S. representative to their appointed countries or international organizations. Article…
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Tracker: Article III federal judicial nominations by president by days in office since 2001
This report is limited to Article III courts, where appointees are confirmed to lifetime judgeships. In the past month: By June 30 — 527 days in office — President Donald Trump (R) nominated 61 individuals to Article III judgeships. For historical comparison*: *Note: These figures include unsuccessful nominations. The following data visualizations track the number…
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President Donald Trump issued six executive orders in June, the fourth-lowest monthly total in his second term
President Donald Trump (R) issued six executive orders in June, the fourth-fewest of any month in his second term. As of July 1, Trump has signed 269 executive orders in his second term. The June executive orders addressed artificial intelligence, the administrative state, customs enforcement, quantum computing, and agriculture. Click here to read more about…
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U.S. Supreme Court agrees to review Arizona's documentary proof of citizenship and noncitizen voter removal laws
On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would hear Republican National Committee v. Mi Familia Vota, a case disputing whether two Arizona laws requiring documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) to register to vote in federal elections and requiring election officials to remove noncitizens from voter rolls violate the National Voter Registration Act…
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U.S. Supreme Court strikes down campaign finance restrictions on candidate coordination with parties
On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission that federal limits on the amount of money that a political party could spend in coordination with candidates were unconstitutional. The court previously held that political parties, as well as candidates and private groups, may make…
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U.S. Supreme Court rules 6-3 for presidential removal of independent agency commissioners
On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in the case of Trump v. Slaughter that the president may remove a leader of a multi-person independent agency for reasons other than those enumerated in statute. The Court upheld President Donald Trump's (R) 2025 dismissal of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, ruling that…
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An overview of the rules, agency documents, and notices published in the Federal Register in the second quarter of 2026
The federal government added 23,692 pages to the Federal Register in the second quarter of 2026, spanning from April 1 to June 30. This is more than in all other quarters during the second Trump administration. The next highest was the third quarter in 2025, during which the government added 19,256 pages. The 23,692 pages…
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Three statewide candidate filing deadlines in the next two weeks
As we approach the longest day of the year on June 21, candidates and voters in multiple states have election-related deadlines to be aware of as the 2026 election cycle continues. Three states have statewide candidate filing deadlines in the next two weeks. The map and bulleted list below show which states have candidate filing…
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U.S. Treasury previews guidance for federal Education Freedom Tax Credit scholarship program
On June 10, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a preview of the forthcoming guidance implementing the Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) scholarship program, which is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. President Donald Trump (R) enacted the tax credit as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The statute…
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No ESG-related shareholder proposals pass in 2026 proxy season
What’s the story? As of May 31, shareholders did not approve any proposals either in favor of or opposition to ESG-related topics during the 2026 proxy season. That’s according to a report summarizing the 2026 shareholder season published by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance which identified 135 ESG-related proposals that shareholders voted…