Editorial
Before the War Resumes, Congress Should Read the Whole Bill
Central Command now puts the Iran war at $47.1 billion and counting. Voters deserve a full accounting before a new round of strikes, not after.
Opinion
Editorials of The Monochrome Chronicles, arguing from the center-left. News pages are written separately.
Editorial
Count Every Lawful Ballot
A week before the midterms, the administration is fighting less about fraud than about whose votes get set aside.
Editorial
A Million-Dollar Bounty Is Not How a Democracy Protects Its Elections
With a week to go before the midterms, the president is offering a reward for fraud tips while his Justice Department loses in court. Voters should not be made to feel like suspects.
Editorial
Career Prosecutors Are Not the President’s Personal Staff
A judge’s ruling that Maurene Comey was unlawfully fired is a defense of the civil service, and of every citizen who expects the Justice Department to work for the law rather than for grudges.
Editorial
A Choice Between War and a Deal Should Not Be One Man’s to Make
The president says he is weighing whether to finish off Iran or sign an agreement. Before any new campaign, Congress should debate it and vote.
Editorial
The Justice Department Has No Business Holding Alaska’s Election Hostage
A lawsuit to delay certifying the Senate race if the Republican loses, ordered by the president himself, invites voters to doubt a result before a single ballot is counted.
Editorial
A Student ID Should Be Enough to Vote in New Hampshire
The Supreme Court let the state bar student identification at the polls days before the midterms. The rule solves no proven problem and puts a new hurdle in front of young voters.
Editorial
Fake Polls Are a Real Problem. A Regulator’s Threats Are Not the Fix
Broadcasters should vet surveys with care, but the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has no business deciding which polls the public may hear about two weeks before an election.
Editorial
Justice Kagan Is Right That the Court Stepped Back and Let Democracy Wear Down
Her warning about gerrymandering, voting rights and money in politics deserves attention two weeks before an election held on maps drawn for maximum advantage. Congress and the states do not need the court’s permission to act.
Editorial
Farmers Need Diesel Relief. They Also Need Washington to Stop Raising Costs
An $8 billion check at harvest time will ease real pain. But aid that arrives just before an election, to offset costs driven by the government’s own war and trade choices, is not a farm policy.
Editorial
Prosecute Illegal Voting, but Do Not Use It as a Reason to Shelve 20,000 Ballots
Charging people who break election law is the government’s job. Putting a cloud over thousands of mail ballots on the strength of an unverified list two weeks before an election is something else.
Editorial
Condemn the Riots in France, Then Answer the Anger Behind Them
Looting and arson betrayed the hundreds of thousands who marched peacefully over prices and schools. Governments everywhere, including our own, should hear what they were saying.
Editorial
Vote Early, and Make Washington Prove Its Case Before Any Ballot Is Set Aside
Saturday’s rallies urged Americans to cast ballots before November 3. The Justice Department’s last-minute bid to freeze 20,000 California mail ballots shows why that advice matters.
Editorial
Cheaper Diesel Is Not Worth Letting Russia Off the Hook
Congress wrote a law to squeeze the buyers who fund Moscow’s war. The president has shelved it, citing peace talks, weeks before an election.
Editorial
A Thumb Drive and a Sticky Note Are Not Grounds to Freeze Californians’ Votes
Only citizens may vote, and no one disputes it. But a federal list of unknown size and accuracy, delivered weeks before an election with a 48-hour deadline, is no basis for holding lawful ballots hostage.
Editorial
Voters Already Knew What September’s Price Report Confirmed
A war-driven fuel shock is pushing up the cost of nearly everything while paychecks lag. The response should be honest about causes, protect the people squeezed hardest and leave the Federal Reserve free to do its job.
Editorial
Cheaper Diesel Is Worth Fighting For, but Not on Moscow’s Terms
Families and farmers need relief from fuel prices. A sanctions waiver negotiated with Vladimir Putin, over the objections of senators from both parties, is the wrong way to get it.
Editorial
Searching a Lawmaker’s Home Three Weeks Before an Election Demands an Answer
The Justice Department owes the public more than a one-line statement when it takes an overt step against a sitting member of Congress who is on the ballot.
Editorial
A Ceasefire Announced by Social Media Post Is Not Yet a Ceasefire
Stopping strikes on power plants and refineries is a worthy goal. Getting there requires written terms, a confirmed Russian commitment and an end to undercutting the Ukrainian government Washington says it supports.
Editorial
Antitrust Law Should Not Be Turned on the White House Press Pool
The Justice Department’s inquiry into five networks treats a shared news judgment as a cartel. It will chill coverage of the presidency, which may be the point.
Editorial
A Hearing Whose Verdict Seems Already Decided Will Not Protect the Fed
President Trump’s new committee to judge Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook follows the Supreme Court’s procedural road map. It does not answer the deeper question of whether a president should be able to purge the central bank when it displeases him.
Editorial
A War Should Not Be Scheduled Around an Election
President Trump’s promise not to strike Iran before November 3 is welcome as far as it goes. Voters deserve to know what comes on November 4, and Congress should insist on telling them.
Editorial
Immigration Agents Have No Business Policing Voter Registration Drives
Newly released records show Homeland Security investigators gathered nearly 100 million voter records and weighed sending undercover agents after nonprofits. That is not election security. It is intimidation.
Editorial
Pay the Taxpayers Back, Then Close the Loophole
The president’s promise that his super PAC will fund future ads is welcome, but it leaves the public stuck with the bill for the ones that already ran.
Editorial
End the Supreme Court Vacancy Lottery
Justice Alito’s retirement musings and Democrats’ threats of a blockade show why the country needs regular, predictable appointments instead of an endless war over timing.
Editorial
Ninety Dollars Is Not a Health Policy
A one-time Medicare rebate timed to land before Election Day does little about the costs that are actually squeezing older Americans.
Editorial
Brazil’s Voters, Not Washington, Should Decide Brazil’s Election
Tariffs tied to a criminal case, sanctions on judges and an unexplained embassy shutdown on the eve of the vote send the wrong message from a country that asks others to respect its own elections.
Editorial
The Diesel Deal Is Welcome, but Threatening Allies Is No Energy Policy
The G7’s emergency release may shave a little off fuel prices. Families, farmers and truckers need a steadier plan than brinkmanship with the countries the United States depends on.
Editorial
Border Money Should Not Pay for the President’s Midterm Ads
Twenty million dollars set aside for border security is buying television spots that look and sound like a campaign. Congress, which holds the purse, should say so plainly and stop it.
Editorial
Make Data Centers Pay Their Own Way, and Mean It
The Senate’s failed vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act was a campaign set piece. The problem it pointed to is real, and households deserve a law with teeth before their next bill arrives.
Editorial
A Foreign Government’s Promise Is Not a Hearing
The Supreme Court has let third-country deportations restart before deciding whether they are lawful. Until it rules, the burden of the court’s caution falls on the people with the most to lose.
Editorial
The Power of the Purse Should Not Expire at the End of September
The White House’s latest pocket rescission lets approved money run out before Congress can vote. Lawmakers of both parties should close the loophole before it becomes routine.
