(The Root) — Chief Justice John Roberts has held the role of “swing justice” in the past, casting the deciding vote in close Supreme Court cases. But his decision to side with the center-left justices in Thursday’s Affordable Care Act ruling, upholding the individual mandate, still came as a surprise. While the vote to reaffirm…

(The Root) — Just before the Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act in March, I asked Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, if the Obama administration had a plan B if the high court struck down the law’s individual mandate. She wouldn’t divulge. “We’re not…

(The Root) — It may have been overshadowed by other news from the Supreme Court, but on Monday the nine justices also handed down a major juvenile-justice ruling. The court ruled 5-4 that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders, ages 17 and under, are unconstitutional. The decision expanded a 2010 Supreme Court decision, which had…

(The Root) — When Mitt Romney began ramping up his education agenda last month, it appeared that he was positioning the issue of failing schools — which he billed “the civil rights issue of our era” — as one for making inroads with African-American and Latino voters. In the same week, Romney delivered an education-policy…

(The Root) — Despite decades of public service campaigns that drive home the importance of knowing one’s HIV status, getting tested is far from routine for many Americans. Of the estimated 1.1 million people living with HIV in the U.S., nearly 1 in 5 remain unaware that they are infected with the virus. An innovative…

(The Root) — The week’s top quotes in politics: “This should be a no-brainer. It should not be difficult. It should’ve gotten done weeks ago.”—President Barack Obama, calling on Congress to stop a looming (in 10 days) hike on student-loan interest rates. Republicans say that the president has failed to work with them on a…

(The Root) — The House Oversight Committee voted on Wednesday, 23-17, to cite Attorney General Eric Holder for contempt of Congress. The measure will go to the full House for a vote next. If passed by the House, the matter would then move to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald Machen Jr.,…

7/17/2012: On Tuesday actress and musician Jada Pinkett Smith testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about human trafficking and forced labor, both in the United States and around the world. Accompanied by her husband, actor Will Smith, their daughter Willow, and three trafficking survivors she called on Congress to do more in the…

(The Root) — Timed for Father’s Day weekend, on Friday the White House Domestic Policy Council issued a new report detailing the Obama administration’s various initiatives to encourage fatherhood and healthy families. “One out of every three children in America — over 24 million in total — lives in a home without their biological father…