Elaine Mallon
Elaine Mallon covers national politics through the lens of the courts and the law, tracking how judges, lawsuits and constitutional questions reshape policy fights across the country. She is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, focusing on high-impact legal decisions, federal–state clashes and the campaigns shaped by them. Her work follows the intersection of conservative and progressive forces as they battle over immigration, elections, social policy and civil rights in the courtroom and on the campaign trail.
Courts, Judges and Constitutional Fights
Mallon’s core focus is the judiciary and its role in national politics, with a steady stream of coverage on Supreme Court and appellate decisions that carry political consequences.
She reports on efforts by advocacy groups to shape the high court’s docket, including challenges to Justice Elena Kagan’s impartiality in a major climate litigation case and calls for recusals when justices’ prior work is at issue. Her pieces on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s intervention in mail ballot rules, and on Supreme Court losses that still leave room for strategic relief, examine how individual justices can alter electoral ground rules in ways that matter for upcoming midterms.
Beyond the Supreme Court, she writes frequently about lower-court rulings that redefine constitutional boundaries. Her reporting on an appeals court decision involving AI-generated child sexual abuse material and the First Amendment parses how emerging technologies collide with free speech protections and criminal law. In coverage of judges labeled “activist” or criticized for defying Supreme Court precedent, she details the reasoning behind controversial opinions and the reactions they trigger from the White House, state officials and litigants. The through-line is close attention to legal reasoning and practical impact: rulings are explained in terms of what they change for policy, enforcement and political leverage.
Immigration, Citizenship and Federal–State Clashes
Immigration and citizenship law are another recurring strand in Mallon’s work, often framed as clashes between federal authorities, state governments and the courts.
She has covered litigation over birthright citizenship orders tied to the Trump administration, documenting how a judge’s decision can block an executive initiative and prompt sharp criticism about judicial overreach. In reporting on a Trump-appointed judge who threw out a Department of Justice lawsuit against Minnesota’s sanctuary-style immigration rules, she examines the limits of federal power when states set policies that conflict with national enforcement priorities.
Her pieces on a blue-state governor’s pardon that undercut a major Supreme Court immigration fight follow the tactical use of state-level decisions to neutralize or reshape federal cases before they reach the high court. Across these stories, Mallon emphasizes the mechanics of legal strategy: how lawsuits are structured, how rulings interact with existing precedent and what practical constraints they impose on future immigration policy. The coverage is less about abstract debate and more about the specific orders, settlements and procedural moves that change the trajectory of national fights over who can enter or remain in the country.
Social Policy Battles and Civil Rights
Mallon also reports extensively on social policy disputes where law, medicine and activism collide. Her coverage of a major hospital agreeing to halt youth sex reassignment treatments in the wake of a Department of Justice agreement details how federal interventions can reshape clinical practices and state-level debates on transgender care. In a long-running case against pro-life activists that ultimately ends with charges dropped and records expunged, she follows the legal arc from initial prosecution through appeals to resolution, underscoring how prosecutorial decisions and judicial reviews affect advocacy work on abortion.
Education and public health emerge in stories about pandemic-era relief funding and the legacy of 9/11.
Mallon’s reporting on COVID cash intended to help students that instead took a detour through other priorities in a blue-state school district focuses on how earmarked federal funds are repurposed and what that means for learning loss and accountability. Her co-bylined piece on newly released 9/11 documents challenging earlier assurances about air safety at Ground Zero revisits historic government messaging through fresh records, linking past decisions to ongoing health concerns and compensation debates.
Taken together, these social policy stories show a preference for documentary evidence - court filings, funding agreements, archival records - and for tracing how those documents affect people’s rights and obligations.
Campaigns, Candidates and Party Power Struggles
While the courts are a constant, Mallon also tracks how legal and policy fights play out in electoral politics. She has written on Barack Obama’s role as a Democratic headliner visiting Texas, framing his presence alongside President Biden’s more subdued profile and exploring what that says about party strategy and voter engagement. In coverage of a Michigan Senate debate where Rep.
Haley Stevens criticizes Abdul El-Sayed as a “celebrity candidate,” she highlights policy contrasts and questions about experience that shape intra-party contests.
Her work on a Bernie-backed California House candidate whose diversity, equity and inclusion writings resurface during a race against Rep.
David Valadao connects academic and activist language to concrete electoral vulnerabilities. These campaign stories are grounded in specific remarks, writings and debate exchanges, showing how candidates’ records on social justice, healthcare and civil rights become live issues in close races. Across this strand of her beat, Mallon keeps the emphasis on how legal histories, ideological commitments and past public statements translate into current campaign dynamics and party power struggles.
4 more politics journalists.
A.D. Quig
A.D. Quig follows money and power through Chicago and Cook County government, showing how political decisions, taxes and public spending affect residents and businesses. At the Chicago Tribune, she covers city and county politics, municipal finance, tax policy, budgets and the structures shaping mayoral and council authority. She joined the Tribune in 2022 after covering politics for Crain’s Chicago Business and The Daily Line. Her work examines council power, ethics rules, police leadership, tax incentives, public agencies and pandemic aid. She has reported on data center tax breaks, property tax errors, federal relief spending and the fiscal effects of major development proposals. Quig combines insider government reporting with public accountability journalism. She uses public records, data and budget documents, follows committees and staff negotiations, and explains complex decisions in plain language with precise numbers and a direct link to everyday consequences.
Adam Daly
Adam Daly covers politics for amNewYork with a focus on the inner workings of city and state government and the low-profile forums where power is exercised and negotiated. He reports on commissions and panels that shape how New York is governed, treating charter reform and government efficiency as central political terrain. His coverage of moves to replace an Adams-era charter commission with a new government efficiency panel foregrounds mandate, authority, and what “efficiency” means in practice for agencies and services. He tracks who gains and loses influence when one commission supplants another and which constituencies are being answered to. Daly explains dense procedural questions in clear, reader-facing terms, using specific institutional details and occasional wordplay to connect jargon-heavy reforms to public spending, service delivery, and mayoral power.
Adam Pack
Adam Pack covers Capitol Hill through power struggles, investigations and ideological fights, focusing on how Congress intersects with Donald Trump’s agenda. He is a politics writer on Fox News Digital’s Capitol Hill team, covering Congress, federal elections, legislative battles, election rules, war powers, primaries and intraparty fights. He previously wrote for the Daily Caller News Foundation. His reporting examines deadlines, vote counts, bill language, campaign spending, court rulings, oversight reports, culture clashes and emerging issues such as AI-backed political groups. He has covered FISA reauthorization, defense spending, the SAVE America Act, housing policy, redistricting, candidate absences, primary spending and disputes over sex, gender, religion and race-based caucuses. He reports primarily through news features and investigative-style pieces built around documents, committee reports, court records, unearthed video and specific legislative details. He often co-writes complex Capitol Hill stories and publishes “FIRST ON FOX” exclusives.
Adam Sullivan
Adam Sullivan is a veteran politics reporter for WCAX who connects elections and party disputes to everyday life. He covers statewide races, party primaries, federal representation, political rhetoric, extremism, and accountability across the Upper Valley and neighboring states. His reporting includes Becca Balint’s victory over Molly Gray in the Democratic U.S. House primary to replace Congressman Peter Welch. He also reports when political controversies affect public safety, political culture, towns, and institutions, including a New Hampshire Libertarian Party post endorsing violence against elected Democrats. Sullivan follows cultural stories with civic consequences, such as Noah Kahan’s appeal to fans to stop stealing a Strafford road sign linked to his music. He writes straight news centered on concrete events, official reactions, political context, community impact, and what comes next.