Jemal Countess Getty Images for MoveOn; Brendan Smialowski AFP via Getty Images
As Todd Blanche’s Nomination Advances, New Questions Emerge Over the DOJ’s Epstein Files
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has cleared two major hurdles: one in court, one on Capitol Hill.
Last week, the Justice Department complied with U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan’s order to submit 10 unredacted Jeffrey Epstein-related documents for private review. But in doing so, the DOJ also acknowledged it had mistakenly redacted one of Epstein’s own email addresses, while continuing to argue that nearly all of its other redactions were proper.
The admission prompted attorney and independent journalist Katie Phang—whose lawsuit forced the records into court—to argue the filing further undermines the department’s claim that it carefully applied the Epstein Files Transparency Act, particularly after victims’ identifying information was previously disclosed.
Meanwhile, Todd Blanche is back on track to be attorney general. Republican Sens. John Cornyn (Texas) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) flipped and said they would support advancing his nomination after being provided written assurances the Justice Department had formally rescinded the controversial “anti-weaponization fund,” which Trump had hoped he could funnel to the violent rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Senate Judiciary Committee is now expected to move forward with Blanche’s nomination.
The legal dispute over the fund remains active. On Monday, Democracy Forward—the legal organization representing the plaintiffs challenging the fund—sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding sworn confirmation that it cannot be revived. The group argues that the DOJ has repeatedly declined to provide the legally binding assurances requested by the court, despite relying on Blanche’s public statements to persuade Senate Republicans to advance his nomination.
“The American people are not fooled by this latest move and neither are we,” said Democracy Forward president and CEO Skye Perryman in a statement. “If the Justice Department truly intended to end the Anti-Weaponization fund on its own, it would submit the sworn declaration that the court in our matter requested … and make clear that it cannot be revived.”
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What Ariana Grande’s Weight-Loss Discourse Gets Wrong
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The Trump Administration Is Rewriting Sex Education to Promote Parenthood
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August 2026 Reads for the Rest of Us
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Another Federal Court Says the FDA Must Rethink Mifepristone Restrictions
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As Thousands of Migrant Children Lose Legal Representation, Trump’s ‘Lost Children’ Myth Lives On
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A Groundbreaking U.N. Resolution Calls Forced Pregnancy What It Is: Reproductive Violence
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A Decade After Hillary Clinton’s Historic Presidential Run, the DNC Is Fighting Over Ranked-Choice Voting
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The Undoing of American Democracy: The 2025-2026 Supreme Court Term in Review
In this special episode of On the Issues, Dr. Michele Goodwin records live before a packed audience in Washington, D.C., at Georgetown University to review and analyze the Supreme Court’s 2025-2026 term, which included major decisions on birthright citizenship, immigration, tariffs, voting rights and the reach of presidential authority.
With guests:
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law
Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer at Slate
Jamelle Bowie, columnist at The New York Times
Moira Donegan, a columnist at The Guardian
Sherrilyn Ifill, professor of Law at Howard Law School and former CEO and president of the Legal Defense Fund
Chris Geidner, legal editor at Law Dork
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Feminist Daily Newswire
Feminist Majority Foundation
- Americans Reject Trump’s “Big Ugly Law” as Women and Families Pay the Price
- Federal Court Rejects FDA’s Restrictions on Mifepristone
- Trump Administration Cancels Teen Pregnancy Prevention Funding
- Millions Lose SNAP Benefits as New Federal Law Tightens Access to Food Assistance
- The Democratic Women’s Caucus Honors Women Who Serve Despite Political Backlash
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Saving Seneca Falls: The U.S. Birthplace of ‘All Men and Women Are Created Equal’ Must Be Preserved
A caved-in roof. A crumbling porch. A memorial water wall in need of restoration.
These are just a few areas of the $10 million of deferred maintenance needed at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, N.Y., one of 11 sites on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2026 list of “Most Endangered Historic Places.” The Women’s Rights National Historical Park celebrates the first Women’s Rights Convention, held on July 19 and 20, 1848. Of the 433 parks within the National Park System, only 13 are dedicated to women’s history, making the inclusion of the Women’s Rights park on the “most endangered” list even more imperative. Rather than merely lament a need for restoration, the list, according to the trust, aims to increase “visibility, public attention and new resources to save and activate historic places for the public good.”
The story of suffrage, like so many stories in our nation’s history, is neither uncomplicated nor is it a “single story” that’s “preserved in amber,” insists Miranda Johnson-Haddad, president of the Friends of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, the non-profit philanthropic group that supports the park. Johnson-Haddad emphasizes that the park’s leadership wants to continue to have “brave conversations about difficult subjects,” including that some suffragists, like Stanton, succumbed to white supremacist thinking—despite being active in the abolition movement—championing the right to vote for white women, but not for Black men and women. No Black women were known to be in attendance at the first Seneca Falls Convention, and only one Black man, Frederick Douglass, signed the declaration.
Still, “these are stories that belong to all of us in all their messiness and complexity,” Johnson-Haddad stresses, “and that can guide us through the current messy complexity.” She cites “Bread and Roses,” a protest song dating back to 1912: “As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days / The rising of the women means the rising of the [human] race.”
April Hall
I Put My Career on Hold to Raise Five Children and Care for My Disabled Mother. America Depends on Women Like Me.
Front & Center amplifies the voices of Black women navigating poverty—highlighting their struggles, resilience and dreams as they care for their families, build careers and challenge systems not built for their success. Now in its fourth year, Front & Center is a collaboration between Ms. and Springboard to Opportunities, a nonprofit based in Jackson, Miss., working alongside residents of federally subsidized housing as they pursue their goals.
Christy is a Jackson, Miss.-based mother of five, family caregiver and entrepreneur. She is caring for her disabled mother while pursuing her dream of one day growing her catering business into a food truck.
“Taking care of my children and my mom at the same time is rewarding, but it is also hard. I really don’t get much help with my kids from their dad, so most of the time I’m here with them.
“What would make caregiving for two generations of family easier, is a break. If my mom had places to go, or if somebody could take her every other weekend or even every weekend sometimes, that would give me time to myself to breathe and live a little bit. My siblings are far away, my car situation makes it hard to get around and I’m always here, so having a little peace would help me and my kids too.
“Childcare vouchers … helped a lot with after-school care and transportation, but when I recently had to recertify, I was cut off because I missed getting a copy of my ID in by the deadline and ended up on a waiting list.”
