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A wave of decisions by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has lead to criticism that the court is more politicized than it used to be. Now there’s data to support that claim. Researchers with The Supreme Court Database — which is run by legal scholars from multiple universities — have shown that the court produced more conservative decisions this term than at any time since 1931.

NPR’s Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg joined Jamal Greene, a Constitutional law professor from Columbia University, and Tom Goldstein, the founder of SCOTUSBlog, to talk about the implications of the decisions from the term.

Donald Trump’s lie that the election was stolen from him continues to spread. That’s, in large part, because of a group of people crisscrossing the country, spreading false claims about voter fraud.

NPR’s Investigations team used social media and news reports to track four key figures in the movement: MyPillow CEO and longtime Trump supporter Mike Lindell, former U.S. Army Captain Seth Keshel, former high school math and science teacher Douglas Frank, and former law professor David Clements.

NPR’s Miles Parks explains their findings.

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COVID vaccines are available to children as young as six months old. Still, plenty of parents and caretakers have questions before they get their children the jab. NPR Health Correspondent Rob Stein and Dr. Nia Heard-Garris, a pediatrician at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, answer some of those questions from listeners.

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Trigger bans. Restraining orders. State and local disputes. New fights about old laws. After Roe, states are awash in abortion-related legal challenges. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer tells NPR ‘there’s a lot of confusion,’ and ‘it’s a terribly anxious time.’

The chaos has trickled down from state courts to individual abortion care providers, where staff and patients have been struggling to adjust to rapidly-changing legal realities. NPR’s Sarah McCammon visited one provider in Shreveport, Louisiana.

The shifting legal realities could make accessing abortion care difficult for members of the military who are stationed in certain states. NPR’s Brian Mann spoke to women in the military about their concerns.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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It may be too soon to crown the “song of the summer”. NPR Music’s Stephen Thompson says there’s no one quality that the songs that carry that title have… it’s a collective feeling, a shared vibe.

For so many Americans on this July 4th, songs of the summer and songs of protest feel one and the same.

NPR’s Ann Powers is a music critic, and Shana Redmond is a professor at Columbia University, and the author of “Anthem: Social Movements And The Sound Of Solidarity In The African Diaspora.” They explain the role of protest music in this moment.

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In states across the country, long before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, pregnant people were already being criminally charged, convicted, and imprisoned for loss of pregnancy. Advocates for reproductive rights say this is because laws created to protect pregnant people from violence and abuse are being used to prosecute people whose pregnancies end prematurely.

We speak with Dana Sussman of National Advocates for Pregnant Women about how the prosecution of pregnancy loss could look in the country’s new, post-Roe era. The organization documents and provides legal defenses in cases involving pregnant people charged with pregnancy-related crimes.

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As many countries have loosened their COVID-19 restrictions and reopened their borders, the demand for travel is high. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of flights getting canceled and delayed on a daily basis across the globe. A shortage in airline staff, especially pilots, is a big reason why.

Pilots took to the picket lines this week to protest this shortage. They are also frustrated by stalled contract negotiations and strained pilot schedules.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro spoke to Captain Casey Murray from Southwest Airlines Pilots Association about what has caused this shortage.

Airline companies are having to get creative in their efforts to recruit, hire and retain pilots. NPR’s David Schaper reports about how one major airline opened its own flight school.

Additional reporting in this episode came from Amanda Andrews at George Public Broadcasting.

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While the last few decades have shown major progress when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights globally, queer people have had to continue to fight for them.

During Pride month there have been several high-profile instances of violence targeted at queer people. These events are stark reminders that the struggle for equal rights and safety for LGBTQ+ people continues.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro spoke with three high-level diplomats assigned to LGBTQ+ issues – the U.S.’s Jessica Stern, Italy’s Fabrizio Petri and Argentina’s Alba Rueda – about whether life is improving for queer people globally.

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Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the January 6th committee landed with a bang. The surprise hearing on Tuesday, featuring this aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, was the most powerful evidence to date in the case that House investigators have been building through hours of public hearings.

NPR Senior Political Editor and Correspondent Domenico Montanaro and NPR National Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson walk through the case the committee has built so far, its implications for a potential criminal prosecution of former president Donald Trump and the impact it might have on an extremely polarized American public.

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There are 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in the United States. Very few of them get a chance to earn a bachelor degree. That’s due to a decades-old ban on the use of federal money to help people in prison pay for college classes.

But that’s about to change. Starting with the 2023-2024 school year, people in prison will be eligible to receive Pell grants in the amount of nearly $7,000 per year. Experts say this change will mean a chance at higher education for hundreds of thousands who are academically eligible.

NPR’s Elissa Nadworny reports on what the change means, and tells the story of a man who earned the type of degree that will soon be available to many more people.

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