United States President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speak in Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 7, 2020, after being declared the winners of the presidential election. Both wear masks to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
Credit: © Andrew Harnik, AFP/Getty Images

Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States on January 20. His inauguration looked different than inaugurations past. Because of the ongoing pandemic (global outbreak) of the coronavirus disease COVID-19, efforts were made to limit the size of crowds and prevent the spread of germs. Gone were the parades and balls. Instead, the country marked the transition of power with virtual parades and televised performances.

As is tradition, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States swore in the incoming president. This year, that honor went to Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. Biden then give his inaugural address and conducted a review of military troops. Celebrities were on hand to help celebrate the occasion. Lady Gaga performed the national anthem, and Jennifer Lopez gave a musical performance.

The events took place on the west front of the United States Capitol—which, only two weeks before, was raided by a violent mob intent on halting Biden’s certification as winner of the presidential election. President Donald Trump, under impeachment for inciting the mob, did not attend the inauguration ceremony, becoming one of only a handful of outgoing presidents to skip the inauguration.

A poem by Amanda Gorman drew particular attention. Gorman, a Black woman, became the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration. The poem, titled “The Hill We Climb,” was written for the occasion and referenced the January 6 Capitol attack.

Thousands of military troops and police officers had been stationed at the Capitol—and at state capitols around the country—in anticipation of further violence. Experts had warned of far-right extremist groups’ desire to stage attacks at such locations on or around Inauguration Day. In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, 15,000 troops—more soldiers than in Iraq and Afghanistan—had been stationed in Washington, D.C. The weekend before the inauguration, several groups of armed protesters showed up at the capitols of such states as Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. They were met with military vehicles and police barricades. In the end, however, the inauguration festivities went off without violence.

Another major threat to the United States—COVID-19—led officials to scale down inauguration celebrations. Biden’s inauguration schedule began Tuesday night, with a somber memorial to the 400,000 Americans who have died from the disease, held at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. To limit the spread of germs, tickets for the events were not made available to the general public. And, instead of a traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, there was a virtual parade featuring music, poets, and dancers. The parade honored America’s frontline workers (workers likely to encounter COVID-19). In place of balls in honor of the new president, there was a star-studded television event on Wednesday night. Hosted by Tom Hanks, the event featured such entertainers as Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake, and Kerry Washington. The television event ended a day filled with celebration and patriotism.

President Donald J. Trump
Credit: The White House

On Wednesday, January 13, Donald J. Trump became the first United States president to be impeached twice. Impeachment is the formal accusation of serious misconduct against a government official. In this case, the accusation against Trump included incitement of insurrection—that is, encouraging an uprising against the government. Impeachment is an extraordinary check on presidential power. The Constitution specifies that officials shall be removed from office after impeachment for, and conviction of, “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

In the article of impeachment, Trump is accused of “inciting violence against the government of the United States.” The accusation stems from the violent, pro-Trump demonstration in which rioters attacked the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The accusation alleges that Trump—in a rally held before the event and on social media—encouraged supporters who stormed the Capitol, endangering hundreds of lives.

On the morning of January 6, members of Congress had convened at the Capitol to certify Democrat Joe Biden as winner of the November presidential election. However, the count was disrupted by protests that turned violent. Supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol, pushing through barriers and climbing walls. Lawmakers were quickly ushered to safety. Shouting and waving flags, the unruly mob entered the official chambers of Congress, as well as the personal offices of senators and representatives. Some damaged or stole property. Others took pictures of themselves occupying one of the nation’s most sacred buildings. Several people were killed in and around the Capitol. Dozens of people have been arrested since the attack, and many more are being investigated.

One week after the attack, the vote for impeachment took place in the House of Representatives, passing 232 to 197. Unlike Trump’s first impeachment, in 2019, the vote did not strictly fall along party lines. A number of House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach. The vote set the stage for a trial to occur in the Senate. If the Senate votes to convict Trump, he may be barred from ever holding public office again.

Trump’s two presidential impeachments are part of only four in the country’s history. In 1868, the House impeached President Andrew Johnson, who had inherited a wartime dispute between his predecessor, Abraham Lincoln, and Congress over how to treat the South after the Civil War. After impeachment, a Senate vote failed to remove Johnson from office. In 1998, the House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice. The charges developed out of Clinton’s efforts to conceal an improper sexual relationship. The House sent its findings to the Senate, which conducted a trial and found Clinton not guilty. Another president, Richard Nixon, resigned from office to avoid impeachment in 1974 for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

United States President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speak in Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 7, 2020, after being declared the winners of the presidential election. Both wear masks to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
Credit: © Andrew Harnik, AFP/Getty Images

In the early morning hours of Jan. 7, 2021, the United States certified its electoral count, making official Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. In November 2020, Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, defeated the Republican incumbents (office holders), President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Certifying the electoral count is an activity associated with the Electoral College, a group of representatives that formally elects the president and vice president. On Election Day, in November, voters choose among presidential and vice-presidential tickets (pairings of candidates) from various political parties. But, the votes do not directly determine which candidate will become president. Instead, they determine which party’s electors will represent each state in the Electoral College. The electors, in turn, cast electoral votes on behalf of the states they represent. Electoral votes determine the outcome of the election.

In December, following the election, the electors in each state assemble and cast their ballots. Either by custom or by law, the electors vote for the candidates designated by their party. After the electoral votes are cast, they are sent to the vice president of the United States, acting in his role as president of the Senate. In January, at a joint session of Congress, the vice president opens and tallies the votes. One Democrat and one Republican from each chamber count the votes. The candidate who gets a majority of the electoral votes is declared the winner of the election.

On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, members of Congress convened at the United States Capitol to carry out this largely ceremonial tradition. However, the count was disrupted by protests that turned violent. Supporters of President Trump, who had gathered to challenge the legitimacy of the election, stormed the Capitol, pushing through barriers and climbing walls. Lawmakers were quickly ushered to safety. Shouting and waving flags, the unruly mob entered the official chambers of Congress, as well as the personal offices of senators and representatives. Some damaged or stole property. Others took pictures of themselves occupying one of the nation’s most sacred buildings. Several people were injured, and one woman was shot and killed by the police. Several hours after the raid began, police and security officials cleared the Capitol. Lawmakers returned to the chambers to vote, intent on certifying the election results.

Outgoing Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, a Republican, was one of the first senators to speak when talks resumed. Just hours earlier, Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, had defeated Loeffler in a runoff election. (In November 2020, neither Loeffler nor Warnock received more than half the vote, requiring the state to hold a runoff election.) The Loeffler-Warnock runoff was not the only one held in Georgia on January 5. In another runoff, the Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff defeated Senator David Perdue, a Republican. These victories gave the Democrats slim control of the Senate, reshaping the balance of power.

United States President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speak in Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 7, 2020, after being declared the winners of the presidential election by several major television networks and news organizations. Both wear masks to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
Credit: © Andrew Harnik, AFP/Getty Images

The 2020 United States presidential election entered its final phases on November 7. On that day, several major television networks and press organizations called the election in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. In a victory speech in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden made a plea for national unity following the bitterly fought election. Biden’s opponent, President Donald Trump, refused to concede the election, however, and vowed to fight the results in court.

In-person voting took place on November 3, but the race was so tight that no definitive result was available for days. Trump, who had encouraged his supporters to vote in person, took several early leads on election night. In the early hours of November 4, he addressed his supporters from the White House, declaring victory and making widespread accusations of voter fraud. However, several key races were still undecided, and many Biden supporters had voted by mail. As the Trump campaign filed lawsuits in an attempt to stop the counting of remaining votes—many of them mail-in ballots—the battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin were called for Biden. Biden then overcame an early Trump lead to tip Pennsylvania, giving him the electoral votes to take the race. Georgia was also soon called for Biden, although the slim vote margin will likely lead to a recount.

Biden served as vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. In 2008, Biden and Senator Barack Obama, who was elected president, defeated their Republican opponents, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. In 2012, Obama and Biden were reelected. They defeated former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Before becoming vice president, Biden had represented Delaware in the United States Senate since 1973.

Senator Kamala Harris became the first woman vice president-elect. She was already the first Black woman and the first person of Indian descent to be placed on the presidential ticket of a major political party. Before becoming a member of the United States Senate in 2017, Harris served as attorney general of California. Attorney general is the state’s chief law officer.

Credit: © Prostock-studio, Shutterstock

Tuesday, November 3, is Election Day in the United States, the day on which nationwide elections take place. Americans will vote to elect the next political leaders at the local, state, and national levels. More than 90 million people—a record number—have already voted early, either in person or by mail. The rights of citizens to select their leaders is a key feature of democracy, a type of government ruled by the people.

The primary presidential candidates include the Republican President Donald J. Trump and the Democratic nominee former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Trump became president of the United States in 2017. He had previously been known as a high-stakes real estate developer and reality television personality. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former first lady, U.S. senator, and secretary of state. Trump’s running mate is Vice President Mike Pence. Prior to his election as vice president, Pence had been the governor of the Midwestern state of Indiana since 2013.

Biden served as vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. In 2008, Biden and Senator Barack Obama, who was elected president, defeated their Republican opponents, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. In 2012, Obama and Biden were reelected. They defeated former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Before becoming vice president, Biden had represented Delaware in the United States Senate since 1973.

Biden’s vice-presidential running mate is Senator Kamala Harris. She became the first Black woman and the first person of Indian descent to be placed on the presidential ticket of a major political party. Before becoming a member of the United States Senate in 2017, Harris served as attorney general of California. Attorney general is the state’s chief law officer.

Americans will vote not only for a president; many will also vote for lawmakers to represent their states. These lawmakers will fill seats in one of the country’s two lawmaking bodies, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Races for House and Senate seats—as well as races for state and local offices—are known as downballot or downticket races. They are called that because they may be influenced by the turnout for the presidential election at the top of the ballot.

Many of our readers are not eligible to vote. (Voters must be age 18 or older.) But, we encourage you to learn about the candidates and to talk to the adults in your life about their voting plan.

Amy Coney Barrett, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Credit: © Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images

On October 26, the American jurist (legal scholar) Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge Barrett became the 115th justice and only the fifth woman to be appointed to the nation’s highest court. In September, President Donald J. Trump nominated her to fill a vacancy on the court created by the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg eight days earlier.

Barrett’s confirmation was contentious, in part because of the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for November 3. The confirmation process began only six weeks before Election Day, and Democrats argued that the seat should not be filled until after Americans cast their votes. On March 16, 2016, President Barack Obama had nominated Merrick Garland to the court. The Republican-controlled Senate at the time had refused to consider the nomination, arguing then that it was too close to the 2016 election, some 7 1/2 months away, to consider Garland. Many of the same Republicans voted to confirm Barrett in 2020.

Democrats expressed their opposition through voting—not a single Democratic senator supported Barrett’s confirmation. Republicans celebrated her nomination, with only Senator Susan Collins of Maine voting against it. Barrett’s confirmation gave conservatives a firm 6-3 majority on the court.

Court observers have described Barrett as a conservative judge. She has consistently ruled conservatively on such issues as abortion rights, gun control, and immigration. She has criticized the Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling that upheld key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Barrett describes herself as an originalist, meaning that she believes the Constitution of the United States should be interpreted as it was originally meant to be understood.

Amy Vivian Coney was born on Jan. 28, 1972, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was raised in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. She received a bachelor’s degree from Rhodes College in 1994 and a J.D. degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1997. After graduating, she served as a law clerk for Laurence H. Silberman, a judge serving on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. She then served as law clerk for the Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. She married Jesse Barrett in 1999.

Also in 1999, Amy Coney Barrett began working as an associate for private practice law firms in Washington, D.C. She became an adjunct faculty member and fellow in law at the George Washington University Law School in 2001. In 2002, Barrett joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame as a law professor. President Trump nominated her to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals is a federal court that makes legal judgments for the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

December 19, 2019

Yesterday, December 18, the United States House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump. Impeachment is the formal accusation of serious misconduct against a government official. In this case, the accusations of misconduct against President Trump include the abuse of presidential power and the obstruction of Congress—charges that are explained below. Impeachment is an extraordinary check on presidential power. The Constitution specifies that officials shall be removed from office after impeachment for, and conviction of, “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” No president, however, has ever been removed from office under the terms of impeachment.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks to the media following the vote to impeach President Donald Trump on Dec. 18, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Credit: © Sarah Silbiger, Getty Images

In the articles of impeachment, Trump is accused of abusing his power as president by asking a foreign government—that of Ukraine—to investigate a political rival. Asking a foreign government to interfere in the U.S. political system is forbidden by the U.S. Constitution. Trump is accused of pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic contender in the 2020 presidential election. Trump is also accused of obstructing the congressional investigation into the matter. Despite admitting that he asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, Trump insists he did nothing wrong, and he has called the impeachment process a “witch hunt.”

On Dec. 18, 2019, Donald Trump became the third U.S. president in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Credit: The White House

Wednesday’s impeachment vote in the House fell almost entirely along political party lines. The abuse of power charge was approved by a vote of 230-197 (229 Democrats and 1 Independent voted in favor; 2 Democrats opposed the charge, as did all 195 Republicans who continued to support Trump, a Republican; 4 other representatives did not take part). The second charge, of obstruction of Congress, was approved by a vote of 229-198 (228 Democrats and 1 Independent in favor; 3 Democrats and 195 Republicans opposed; 4 not taking part). In January, the impeachment process is due to pass to the Senate, where a trial will determine whether to convict the president and remove him from office. Republicans have a majority in the Senate, so reaching the two-thirds vote required for conviction is unlikely.

Trump is the third U.S. president to be impeached. In 1998, the House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice. The charges developed out of Clinton’s efforts to conceal an improper sexual relationship. The House sent its findings to the Senate, which conducted a trial and found Clinton not guilty. In 1868, the House impeached President Andrew Johnson, who had inherited a wartime dispute between his predecessor, President Abraham Lincoln, and Congress over how to treat the South after the Civil War. After impeachment, a Senate vote failed to remove Johnson from office. Another president, Richard Nixon, resigned from office while facing impeachment in 1974 for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

July 5, 2018

Last Saturday, on June 30, in cities and towns across the United States, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against the immigration policies of the administration of U.S. President Donald J. Trump. Targeting the administration’s separation of young children from families attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, people flooded more than 700 “Families Belong Together” marches nationwide. Protesters shouted slogans and carried signs imploring the administration to stop the separation policy, which has outraged people throughout the country and around the world.

People take part in the Families Belong Together march in New York City on June 30, 2018. Credit: © Christopher Penler, Shutterstock

The largest Families Belong Together protests on Saturday took place in such cities as Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., but protesters also gathered in more conservative-minded areas such as Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, and Wyoming. Protesters massed near a border patrol station in McAllen, Texas, where a detention center was holding migrant children in cages. People also protested near Trump’s golf resort at Bedminster, New Jersey, where the president was spending the weekend. Two days earlier, on Thursday, June 28, some 600 women were arrested in a preliminary immigration protest at the U.S. Capitol.

Credit: © Families Belong Together

The Trump administration treats migrants caught illegally crossing the border as criminals, regardless of their potential status as asylum seekers. (In international law, asylum is shelter and protection given by a nation to a person who is fleeing another nation. The United States has a long history of granting asylum to people fleeing danger and oppression in other countries.) Migrant parents are crowded into federal prisons to await trial, and because kids cannot be held with parents in federal jail, the “unaccompanied alien children” are sent to border holding camps or juvenile centers elsewhere in the United States.

Previous administrations varied on their treatment of families caught crossing the border illegally, but in most cases parents and children were held together in immigration detention or released to await a court date when a judge would grant asylum or deport them as unauthorized immigrants. Most families trying to cross the border are fleeing violence, persecution, or economic hardship in their home countries.

The Trump administration began enforcing its hard-line immigration policies in 2017. Family separations greatly increased in April 2018 after the Department of Justice instituted a so-called “zero-tolerance policy” that no longer excluded adults with children from criminal prosecution. From the middle of April to the end of May, the Department of Homeland Security reported that 1,995 children were taken from 1,940 adults. Overall, the Trump administration has separated some 2,700 immigrant children from their parents.

After drawing the ire of human rights groups, politicians, Pope Francis, the United Nations, and many foreign governments, the Trump administration backed down on the separations in June. A few hundred kids have since been reunited with their parents, but most remain isolated and far from their families. The administration’s immigration stance has not changed, however. Families trying to illegally cross the border continue to be arrested and detained indefinitely, but the administration claims that children are no longer being forcibly separated.

October 26, 2017

On Sept. 19, 2017, in his first address to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York City, United States President Donald Trump issued a stunning pronouncement regarding North Korea. If the United States was forced to defend itself or its allies against North Korean aggression, Trump told world leaders, “we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” Trump’s belligerent rhetoric—widely criticized by other world leaders—was the latest volley in a war of words between the two countries in which Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, had earlier threatened to destroy the U.S. Pacific Islands territory of Guam. North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

In a show of defiance on Independence Day in the United States, North Korea launches a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan on July 4, 2017. Credit: © STR/AFP/Getty Images

Tensions between North Korea and the United States have risen steadily since Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. During the year, North Korea escalated its fledgling nuclear weapons program, testing ballistic missiles and conducting earth-shaking nuclear tests in the face of worldwide disapproval. Prior to Trump, U.S. presidents had taken a more diplomatic approach toward North Korean threats, noting that while the United States was militarily capable of overpowering the North, the human cost of such destruction would be too high. Caught in the war of words was South Korea, a traditional U.S. ally that was itself trying to negotiate a long-simmering feud with its northern neighbor. South Korea’s official name is the Republic of Korea.

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A line roughly along the 38th parallel of north latitude separates North and South Korea. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

In 1948, the Korean peninsula was divided into the U.S.-backed democratic nation of South Korea and the Communist country of North Korea, which was supported by China and the Soviet Union. Both Korean governments claimed to represent all Korea. From 1950 to 1953, they fought for control of the peninsula in a bloody conflict known as the Korean War. Neither side won complete victory, and an armistice ended the fighting in July 1953. The United States, which fought with South Korea in the conflict, has stationed troops in the country ever since, and tensions between the Koreas have remained high. To this day, a demilitarized zone runs along the the 38th parallel of north latitude, keeping the bitter enemy countries apart.

Since the war, North Korea’s dynasty of dictators—Kim Il-sung, followed by Kim Jong-il, and his son Kim Jong-un—have kept the country isolated and at odds with much of the rest of the world. A nuclear weapons program started under Kim Jong-il was halted by an international agreement in 1994, but North Korea resumed the program in 2003. Kim Jong-un, who gained power in 2011, continued to develop North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, further increasing the nation’s problematic relations with the rest of the world.

North Korea intensified its nuclear weapons program in 2017. In February, the country began a series of missile tests. Experts believed the missiles were designed to deliver a nuclear warhead, and some appeared to be powerful enough to reach the west coast of the United States. In March, the United States began deploying a missile defense system in South Korea to defend the South and nearby allies from Northern missile strikes. In early August, North Korea announced it was developing a plan to launch missiles at Guam, home to large U.S. Air Force and Navy bases. President Trump threatened to retaliate with “fire and fury” if North Korea attacked.

On August 29, North Korea fired a missile over Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. (Japan, a close U.S. ally, also hosts U.S. military bases.) The missile firing drew strong international criticism—something that only added fuel to North Korea’s fire. In early September, the “rogue nation” (a nation that ignores international law) further worried the world by detonating a hydrogen bomb, threatening to reduce the U.S. mainland to “ashes and darkness,” and firing another missile over Hokkaido.

In the days following Trump’s September 19 address to the UN General Assembly, he and Kim exchanged insults, threatening increased military action and accusing each other of being mentally deranged. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho accused Trump of declaring war on his country, saying North Korea had the right to shoot down U.S. warplanes.

China, a traditional North Korean ally, has distanced itself from its troublesome neighbor. Yet China has much to lose in a potential conflict, and the nation remains a vitally interested spectator. China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, advised caution in late September: “We hope the U.S. and North Korean politicians have sufficient political judgment to realize that resorting to military force will never be a viable way to resolve the peninsula issue.”

June 2, 2017

Yesterday, June 1, United States President Donald Trump announced that the United States would formally withdraw from the Paris Agreement, an international treaty designed to combat global warming. The decision to withdraw from the treaty represented a sharp break with leaders of nearly all nations and went against the wishes of thousands of corporate executives, economists, environmentalists, other U.S. politicians, scientists, and even members of the president’s own Cabinet. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the treaty met with immediate international and domestic scorn and spurred numerous protests.

On June 1, 2017, protesters gather outside the White House in Washington, D.C., moments after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. Credit: Kellybdc (licensed under CC BY 2.0)

By joining the Paris Agreement in 2015 and ratifying it in 2016, the United States had voluntarily committed to cut back on the use of polluting fossil fuels, develop more green (environmentally friendly) technology, and raise funds to help poorer countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Trump, who has previously called climate change a “hoax,” sees these commitments as an unfair economic burden on the United States. Most evidence, however, shows that climate change is real and that moving to green technology actually stimulates economic growth.

The goal of the Paris Agreement is to slow and eventually cease the rise in global temperatures that has sharply increased in the last few decades. Scientists predict that, if global warming continues unchecked, it will damage human society and the environment. For example, global warming could melt enough of the ice near Earth’s poles to raise sea levels, flooding many coastal cities. Global warming could lead to more widespread droughts. It could also raise the risk of extinction for many plant and animal species. Already, global warming has greatly reduced glaciers at the North and South poles, harmed the world’s coral reefs, and created ever more erratic and extreme weather patterns.

Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is a lengthy process that will take until November 2020 to complete, leaving time for the United States to rejoin the treaty. A number of U.S. cities and states have already announced they will continue to comply with the provisions of the Paris Agreement whether the federal government does or not.