What is the Comstock Act?
The law prevents the mailing of drugs used for abortions.
By Charlie Savage
I primarily write about national security and legal policy. While I help cover the Justice Department, the themes I pursue often also take me into interagency legal deliberations across the executive branch — including the White House and military, intelligence and diplomatic organizations — as well as into federal court and Congress.
One of my specialties is post-9/11 issues — like war powers, surveillance, torture, indefinite detention, military commissions, drone strikes, government secrecy and leak inquiries. An overlapping focus is presidential power, which also brought me into a variety of novel legal issues surrounding former President Donald J. Trump. I am also interested in judicial nominations and legal philosophy.
In addition to daily events coverage, I write news analysis pieces, explainers that break down complex legal issues, and enterprise or investigative articles aimed at bringing hidden information to light. I regularly sue the government seeking disclosures under the Freedom of Information Act.
I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where my parents were teachers. After graduating from Harvard College in 1998, I became a local government reporter at The Miami Herald. I spent the 2002-03 year on a journalism fellowship at Yale Law School, where I earned a master’s degree and refocused my career on 9/11-related legal issues.
Soon after, I joined the Washington bureau of The Boston Globe, where my work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2007. Later that year, I published my first book, “Takeover,” about the Bush-Cheney administration’s efforts to expand presidential power. After moving to The Times, I co-taught a Georgetown University seminar on national security and the Constitution. Designing its syllabus helped inspire my second book, “Power Wars” (2015), an investigative account of national security legal policymaking under Obama.
I am married to Luiza Ch. Savage, the executive editor for growth at Politico.
Because an informed electorate is necessary for American democracy to function, I see the calling of journalism as identifying and telling the truth — especially about what the government is doing and dealing with — as best as I can discern it. When I explain complex topics, my goal is to distill their essence in straightforward language so that non-specialists can understand them, yet in a way that experts will not find oversimplified. Where I am ferreting out new information, especially on sensitive topics, I treat the protection of confidential sources as essential. I aim for precision and nuance, and when I make a mistake, I correct it. You can learn more about The Times’s ethics policy here.
You can DM me on social media or reach out on NYT Tips to get my Signal.
Facebook: charlie.savage
Threads: @charlie.savage.nyt
Anonymous tips: nytimes.com/tips
Mastodon: @charlie_savage
Bluesky: charliesavage.bsky.social
The law prevents the mailing of drugs used for abortions.
By Charlie Savage
The partisan gridlock gumming up Washington has prompted states controlled by one party to set off on their own.
By Charlie Savage and Jack Healy
The witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, declined to cooperate with inquiries into Stefan Passantino prompted by her assertions that he pressed her to protect Donald Trump.
By Luke Broadwater and Charlie Savage
The district attorney, Fani T. Willis, was given two choices: have her ex-boyfriend withdraw from the prosecution team or step aside herself.
By Charlie Savage
A former special counsel, Robert K. Hur, faced sharp scrutiny over his conclusion that the evidence was insufficient to charge President Biden with a crime and his disparaging remarks about the president’s memory.
By Charlie Savage and Michael D. Shear
The special counsel, Robert K. Hur, concluded that the evidence was insufficient to charge President Biden with a crime, but sharply criticized him.
By Charlie Savage
The special counsel, Robert K. Hur, accused the president last month of “significant” memory problems. The interview transcript offers context to his report.
By Charlie Savage
The special counsel, Jack Smith, filed an array of rebuttals to motions by former President Donald J. Trump to dismiss his documents case.
By Charlie Savage and Alan Feuer
The main opinion was a joint ruling that was not signed by any particular justice. None of the opinions addressed whether Donald J. Trump engaged in insurrection.
By Charlie Savage
The provision disqualifies former government officials from holding office if they took an oath to support the Constitution but then betrayed it by engaging in an insurrection.
By Charlie Savage