March 6

Trump creates Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by executive order

On March 6, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. The order directed the government to hold forfeited bitcoin as a reserve asset and told Treasury and Commerce officials to develop budget-neutral strategies for possible additional bitcoin acquisition.

NIH begins mass termination of active grants involving LGBTQ health, gender identity, and DEI research

Nature reported that the National Institutes of Health had begun canceling active, funded research grants in areas including LGBTQ health outcomes, gender-affirming care, HIV prevention in at-risk populations, structural racism and health disparities, and DEI-focused training programs in medicine. The cancellations affected grants that had already been through competitive peer review and were in mid-execution, meaning researchers had already hired lab staff, recruited study participants, and published preliminary findings. NIH program officers reportedly received lists of keywords used to flag grants for termination review, including terms like "gender identity," "sexual minority," "health equity," and "diversity." Researchers whose grants were canceled often had no warning before the funding stopped appearing in their accounts. The sudden terminations disrupted ongoing clinical trials and forced universities to furlough or lay off research staff hired on grant funds.

Trump signs executive order creating a strategic bitcoin reserve

President Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury Department to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, treating Bitcoin seized through federal law enforcement as a long-term sovereign asset rather than liquidating it at auction. The order prohibited selling existing government Bitcoin holdings and directed Treasury to develop a framework for acquiring additional Bitcoin without taxpayer expenditure. No congressional authorization was sought for the reserve's creation.

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Treasury turns DOJ forfeiture bitcoin into a strategic reserve

The Treasury Department operationalized Trump's Bitcoin executive order by transferring approximately 200,000 BTC seized through DOJ civil and criminal forfeiture proceedings into the newly designated Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued guidance ending the DOJ's practice of auctioning seized cryptocurrency, redirecting all future digital asset forfeitures to Treasury custody. The transfer restructured how federal law enforcement proceeds are managed, bypassing established auction protocols.

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Treasury creates Bitcoin reserve from DOJ civil forfeiture assets

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced operational details of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, confirming the government would hold seized Bitcoin indefinitely as a sovereign wealth instrument rather than converting it to dollars. Bessent outlined a framework allowing Treasury to acquire additional Bitcoin through budget-neutral means, including exchanges of other forfeited assets. The reserve structure positioned the U.S. as the first G7 nation to hold cryptocurrency as an official sovereign reserve asset.

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Trump signs executive orders targeting law firms that represented his opponents

President Trump signed Executive Order 14230 targeting Perkins Coie — the law firm that worked with Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign — suspending security clearances for all firm employees, barring them from federal buildings, and directing agencies to cancel government contracts with the firm. Within weeks, Trump issued similar orders against WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, and Paul Weiss. The targeted firms had represented clients or employed attorneys in cases adverse to Trump. More than 500 law firms signed an amicus brief calling the orders an attack on the legal profession. Federal judges permanently blocked three of the four orders as unconstitutional, with Judge Beryl Howell calling the Perkins Coie order "an unprecedented attack" on the legal system.

Federal Judges Organize Coalition to Defend Judicial Independence

Hundreds of current and former federal judges formed an unprecedented coalition in response to executive branch attacks on judicial independence, including White House statements questioning adverse court rulings and DOJ letters challenging judges' authority to issue nationwide injunctions. The coalition, organized through the Federal Judges Association, issued a formal statement asserting Article III courts' constitutional independence. Chief Justice John Roberts declined a Senate appearance but issued a public statement reaffirming judicial independence.

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Burgess Owens announces he will not run for re-election

House Education Subcommittee Chairman Burgess Owens (R-UT) announced in March 2026 that he would not seek re-election after three terms. Owens made campus free speech—including antisemitism enforcement, bias in scholarship programs, and student group rights—central to his subcommittee tenure. (Inside Higher Ed, Mar. 6, 2026)

SEC adopts climate disclosure rules for corporations first time US public companies report

The Securities and Exchange Commission, under Chair Gary Gensler, finalizes rules requiring public companies to disclose climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions in their annual filings. The rules require large accelerated filers to disclose Scope 1 and 2 emissions (direct emissions and those from purchased energy) and material climate risks to their business operations. The rules are the first of their kind in the US and represent a major victory for investors seeking comparable, consistent climate data. Industry groups immediately challenge the rules in court and the SEC pauses their effective date pending litigation. Critics argue the rules were weakened significantly from the original 2022 proposal by dropping Scope 3 (supply chain) emissions disclosures.

Republican-led states leave ERIC after voter-fraud conspiracy pressure

Florida, Missouri, and West Virginia announced on the same day that they would leave ERIC, a multistate voter-roll maintenance compact. Their exits followed earlier withdrawals by Louisiana and Alabama and came after conservative attacks falsely framed the data-sharing program as a partisan threat. West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner and Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said their states would use other data sources. The withdrawals weakened an interstate tool that helped election officials identify voters who moved, died, or registered in more than one state.

Abbott launches Operation Lone Star, deploying the Texas National Guard to the border

Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Operation Lone Star less than two months into President Biden term, deploying Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and the Texas National Guard to the southern border to arrest smugglers and deter illegal crossings. Abbott framed the operation as a state response to what he called a federal failure to secure the border under the Biden administration. A March 2022 investigation by ProPublica, the Texas Tribune, and The Marshall Project found that DPS counted more than 2,000 arrests with no link to border security in Operation Lone Star totals, raising questions about accuracy of reported results. By 2024, Texas had spent over $10 billion on the operation, setting the political stage for SB4.

Trump issues revised travel ban after first ban faces court challenges

President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13780, replacing the first travel ban while keeping restrictions on nationals from several Muslim-majority countries. The revised order removed Iraq from the list but continued the same core policy architecture: using national-security claims to restrict entry from targeted countries.

Kennedy Executive Order 10925 introduces term 'affirmative action' for federal contractors

President John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 10925, requiring federal contractors to take "affirmative action" to ensure employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin does not occur. The order creates the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and establishes that federal contractors cannot discriminate in hiring and must affirmatively work to recruit from minority groups. Though the order predates Title VII, it establishes the first federal mandates for affirmative employment actions and coins the term "affirmative action" in an executive context, laying groundwork for the civil rights era's employment discrimination framework.

Supreme Court denies Black citizenship in Dred Scott

The Supreme Court rules in Dred Scott v. Sandford on March 6, 1857, that Black people, whether enslaved or free, are not citizens of the United States and cannot sue in federal court. Chief Justice Roger Taney also declares that Congress cannot ban slavery in federal territories.\n\nThe decision tries to settle the slavery conflict by protecting slaveholders’ property claims across the country. Instead, it deepens the national crisis and becomes one of the most condemned rulings in Supreme Court history.\n\nThe event is foundational to the racism timeline because the Court writes white supremacy into constitutional doctrine and denies Black people membership in the political community.