Compiled: Sunday, August 30, 2026 News window: August 23–30, 2026 (with immediate background where a story built through the month) Size: 156 questions — 6 per area across 17 domestic (USX) categories and 9 international (IX) regions

How to use this bank

Each area opens with a Context paragraph whose load-bearing facts carry their own inline hyperlink — click through before cutting cards. The context is written so a speaker can argue either side of every question beneath it.

Each area's six questions deliberately rotate through all five draw forms — What, Should, Will/Can, Is/Are, and multi-part How/Did — plus one extra. Forms are labeled so you rehearse structure, not just content.

Table of contents

Domestic (USX)

International (IX)

Coverage summary

DOMESTIC (USX)

1. Presidency and the executive branch

Context: The administration is governing heavily by executive order and national-security memorandum. Trump signed a "Gold Standard" childhood vaccine order on August 10 reviving a schedule change blocked in court; the Supreme Court on August 24 let key parts of his mail-voting order proceed; the Wall Street Journal reported he intervened at DOJ as it prepared to sue Live Nation; and fired Stars and Stripes journalists are suing the Pentagon alleging retaliation. The Iran war is at six months with no congressional declaration.

1. What are the consequences of governing major domestic policy through executive order rather than legislation? (What)
2. Should Congress reassert its war powers six months into the Iran conflict? (Should)
3. Will the courts remain the primary check on executive action through the midterms? (Will)
4. Is the administration's use of national-security authority for domestic ends constitutionally sustainable? (Is/Are)
5. How has presidential intervention in Justice Department enforcement decisions changed the meaning of prosecutorial independence? (multi-part How)
6. Did the Supreme Court's emergency-docket practice expand executive power beyond what any single ruling intended? (multi-part Did)

2. Congress and legislation

Context: Fiscal 2026 produced two shutdowns — a four-day lapse in January and a 76-day DHS shutdown from February 14 to April 30, the longest partial shutdown in U.S. history, triggered by a fight over immigration enforcement. All appropriations expire September 30. Senate appropriators Susan Collins and Patty Murray announced a bipartisan CR in early August to fund the government through December 11, explicitly to avoid an election-eve shutdown. Meanwhile the debt crossed $40 trillion on August 19 and the House Budget chair called for an Article V convention.

1. What does a pre-election continuing resolution reveal about Congress's appetite for confrontation? (What)
2. Should Congress abolish the shutdown mechanism through automatic continuing resolutions? (Should)
3. Can the appropriations process survive being used as leverage over immigration enforcement? (Can)
4. Are stopgap funding bills now the normal method of federal budgeting? (Is/Are)
5. How did the record 76-day DHS shutdown reshape the negotiating positions of both parties this fall? (multi-part How)
6. Did Congress cede its power of the purse by funding ICE and CBP outside the regular process? (multi-part Did)

3. Courts, the Supreme Court, and legal policy

Context: On August 24 the Court, 6-3 with an unsigned opinion, lifted a district judge's injunction against the mail-voting order, holding the states' challenge unripe rather than meritless; Justice Sotomayor stressed the ruling does not establish executive authority over state elections and Justice Jackson warned it injects chaos into the midterms. A second injunction still blocks USPS, which appealed on August 26. In February the same Court struck down IEEPA tariffs 6-3 in Learning Resources v. Trump, and it has separately allowed termination of Haitian TPS while litigation continues.

1. What are the implications of deciding election-rule cases on ripeness rather than merits? (What)
2. Should the Court decide emergency applications with signed, reasoned opinions? (Should)
3. Will the Court ultimately hold the mail-voting order unconstitutional? (Will)
4. Is this Court consistent in policing executive overreach, given it struck the IEEPA tariffs but green-lit the voting order? (Is/Are)
5. How will dueling injunctions over the same executive order affect election officials who must plan months ahead? (multi-part How)
6. Did the ripeness holding effectively insulate the order from review before November? (multi-part Did)