| Article II | Section of the Constitution that gives the President broad executive power; Trump & allies use it to justify maximum control over the entire executive branch. |
| Birthright Citizenship EO | Trump 2025 executive order attempting to end automatic citizenship for children of illegal immigrants / temporary visa holders (currently stayed in lower courts, SCOTUS likely to rule 2026). |
| Brnovich v. DNC (2021) | SCOTUS decision that made it much harder to win Section 2 VRA cases by adding new hurdles for “vote denial” claims. |
| Callais (Louisiana v. Callais) | Pending 2025–26 SCOTUS case expected to gut or kill the “effects test” in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. |
| Chevron Deference | 1984 doctrine (overruled June 2024 in Loper Bright) that forced courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous laws. Its death = massive deregulatory power. |
| Deep State | Catch-all term for unelected, entrenched career bureaucrats and agency leadership who allegedly resist elected presidents. |
| DOGE | Department of Government Efficiency – Musk/Vivek advisory commission slashing regs and headcount in 2025–26. |
| Effects Test (VRA §2) | Post-1982 rule letting plaintiffs win voting-rights lawsuits just by showing discriminatory “results,” not racist intent. Expected to die in Callais. |
| Humphrey’s Executor (1935) | New Deal-era precedent that says the President can’t fire heads of “independent” agencies at will. Trump v. Slaughter is trying to kill it. |
| Intent Test | Older, tougher standard (pre-1982) that requires proof of deliberate racist intent to win a VRA case. Likely replacement if Callais goes our way. |
| Loper Bright v. Raimondo (2024) | The case that killed Chevron deference 6-3 in June 2024. |
| Project 2025 | Heritage Foundation blueprint (mostly adopted) for dismantling the administrative state and installing loyalists. |
| Remain in Mexico (MPP) | Trump-era policy forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico; restored 2025. |
| Schedule F / Schedule F 2.0 | Trump executive order (2020, revived 2025) that reclassifies tens of thousands of career civil servants as at-will political appointees so they can be fired en masse. |
| Section 2 (Voting Rights Act) | The last major surviving piece of the 1965 VRA; lets private citizens sue over vote dilution or denial. On death row in 2026. |
| Seila Law (2020) | First big unitary-executive win; said President can fire single-director agencies (CFPB) at will. Stepping-stone to killing Humphrey’s. |
| Shadow Docket | SCOTUS emergency rulings (stays, injunction lifts) without full briefing or oral argument. Trump has won ~19 of 20 in 2025 on this docket. |
| Shelby County v. Holder (2013) | Killed the VRA preclearance formula (Section 4(b) + Section 5); gutted federal oversight of state election laws. |
| Slaughter (Trump v. Slaughter) | December 2025 SCOTUS case on whether Trump can fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter (and by extension all independent-agency heads) at will. Expected to overrule or cripple Humphrey’s Executor. |
| SFFA v. Harvard (2023) | Ended race-based affirmative action in college admissions; precedent conservatives are using to argue race-based redistricting must also have an “end point.” |
| Unitary Executive Theory | Legal doctrine that the entire executive branch (including “independent” agencies) must be under direct presidential control. |
| VRA | Voting Rights Act of 1965 – federal statute (not a constitutional amendment). |
