Research shows that termed-out lawmakers become less active

Critics argue that term limits weaken democracy and legislative effectiveness

Opponents contend that term limits deprive voters of choice, remove experienced lawmakers, and shift power to lobbyists and unelected staff. They believe frequent turnover reduces institutional knowledge and undermines the effectiveness of legislatures.

16 states impose term limits on their legislatures

As of 2025, 16 states limit how long lawmakers can serve, usually capping tenure at eight to 12 years in one chamber or across both chambers combined. Most of these limits stem from a 1990s reform wave aimed at curbing career politicians.

Congressional turnover was far more common in the early republic

Many early lawmakers served just one or two terms before stepping aside, reflecting the ideal of the citizen legislator and the discomforts of living in Washington, DC. Longer careers in Congress became typical only later in the 19th century.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

Congress is passing fewer laws than in previous decades

A Reuters analysis shows that legislative output in the US Congress has declined as polarization deepens, bipartisan cooperation erodes, and lawmakers rely more on sprawling, must-pass spending bills rather than regular lawmaking.

Researchers found that 2020 redistricting tactics created safer districts and reduced competition

Studies of the 2020 redistricting cycle show that map-drawing strategies locked in predictable outcomes. The result was fewer competitive races, more incumbents shielded from challengers, and representatives less responsive to broader voter preferences.

Many politicians join private equity firms after leaving Washington

Both Democrats and Republicans have a history of leaving politics to work in private equity, raising concerns about the government's protection of private equity firms.

There are ETFs that track lawmakers' stock purchases

If you can’t get enough politics in your life, why not invest like a politician? Because members of Congress are required to disclose their stock purchases, you can do just that, and the NANC and KRUZ ETFs make it even easier. NANC, referencing Nancy Pelosi, holds a basket of stocks that Democratic politicians have purchased. KRUZ, referencing Ted Cruz, holds a basket of Republican-held stocks.

Which Senate seats are up for election, and how they are leaning

There are 14 Democratic and 21 Republican Senate seats up for grabs. See the Cook Political Report's continuously updated estimates on how they're leaning.

Inside a congressional office, the scheduler is more powerful than you think

A former congressional scheduler explains that a member's time is the scarcest resource in any Hill office, and controlling the calendar means understanding every competing claim on it, from the legislative team to the member's family. The interview demystifies how a typical House office actually functions, from staff hierarchies to outside resources like the Congressional Research Service.

Effects of pay transparency legislation

Research on pay transparency’s impacts has been limited given the short amount of time since American states began passing pay transparency legislation. However, this early study from researchers out of Brown and Harvard found that increasing pay transparency could have the potential to decrease worker bargaining power, resulting in lower average wages for employees. Read the research here.

Thousands of constitutional amendments have failed

Of nearly 12,000 proposed constitutional amendments, only 27 were ratified. This article highlights radical failed proposals that would have renamed the country, abolished the presidency, capped personal wealth, or fundamentally rewritten how American democracy works.

Voter turnout in local elections is significantly lower than for national elections

While 64% of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2024 presidential election, turnout in municipal elections is usually below 15%. For school board elections—where members oversee more than 50 million students and $600B in spending—turnout is often around 5%-10%.

Young voters are ditching political parties

While the silent generation and baby boomers have become less likely to identify as political independents as they have aged, generation X and millennials are maintaining high levels of independent identification.

Americans think being informed is a priority for voting, but don't prioritize reading the news

Many Americans report feeling "news fatigue," finding much of the news they encounter irrelevant. Still, being informed is recognized as a major civic duty. Many Americans have stopped seeking out the news or are far more selective about where they receive it, and an increasing sense that its up to individuals to confirm the facts they're being told.

Retired gladiators often became trainers, referees, or exhibition fighters

Few gladiators survived to retirement, but those who did rarely left the arena behind. Many returned for high-pay exhibition bouts, trained new fighters, served as referees, or leveraged their fame into unexpected careers, including local politics.

Most people don’t keep their New Year’s resolutions

Studies suggest that only 9% of Americans who make resolutions keep them; 23% quit by the end of the first week of the new year, and 43% quit by the end of January.

Thousands of Black men held local, state, and federal offices during Reconstruction

Between 1865 and 1877, more than 1,500 Black Americans served in local, state, and federal offices—including 16 in Congress. This unprecedented political participation largely ended after Reconstruction as Jim Crow laws and racial violence suppressed Black voting.

Seven of South Korea's presidents have left office before their term ended

Recently removed President Yoon Suk Yeol isn’t the first South Korean leader to face turmoil at home. As this Voice of America piece shows, at least seven of the country’s 20th-century heads of state saw their political careers (and, in some cases, their lives) come to an abrupt and sometimes violent end.

Non-use or lapsed filings can cause a trademark to expire

Going more than three consecutive years without using a trademark can be considered abandonment—which means the trademark falls into the public domain and someone else could potentially file for the trademark. Besides non-use, not maintaining the paperwork or paying the fees can result in a terminated trademark.

When your 9-to-5 becomes optional

You've seen the headlines. But what would actually happen if everyone's 9-to-5 became optional? We dug into the data. Traced automation philosophy back thousands of years. Examined what happened when elevator operators disappeared. Looked at Alaska's 40-year experiment paying every citizen. And investigated the Philippines, where 89% of call center jobs are now at risk. What we found was more positive than bleak. This video explores three questions: What does the data actually show? What does history tell us about this kind of disruption? And what happens when work becomes optional?

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once called states 'laboratories of democracy'

Louis Brandeis argued that federalism allows states to experiment with new policies without committing the entire nation, thereby allowing successful ideas to spread while limiting the risks of failure.

A 'designated survivor' stays away from the State of the Union to ensure continuity of government

During major events like the State of the Union, one Cabinet member is kept at a secure location. This "designated survivor" would assume the presidency if a catastrophe eliminated those higher in the line of succession.

Research suggests the brain maintains connections to lost limbs

Decades-old research suggested brain reorganization after amputations, but brain scans show unchanged limb representations. Phantom limb pain may result from such unchanged brain maps, which may enhance prosthetic limb control in brain-computer interface technology.

Book-banning attempts remained near record highs in 2025

The American Library Association recorded 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, the second-highest level ever documented. Nearly all challenges, 92%, came from organized groups or government officials rather than individual parents.

Studies show immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans

Research examining incarceration records and crime data generally finds that immigrants—including undocumented individuals—have lower crime and incarceration rates than US-born citizens, though measurement is limited by gaps in national data on immigration status.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Planarian flatworms are small, aquatic worms with exceptional regenerative capabilities. When cut, the worms can regenerate multiple bodies in a matter of weeks.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.