In calling for the investigation of his investigators, President Trump appears to have embraced the adage that the best defense is a good offense. How good an offense? Legal experts are weighing in.

Shifts in the worker-employer compact bear watching. Some employers have faced allegations of widespread workplace discrimination or of cheating workers on their pay. Yet increasingly, workers are asked to waive any right to class-action lawsuits in order to be hired. This piece looks at what today’s Supreme Court decision favoring such employer policies may mean.

Here’s another piece on cause and effect. As the scale of the national opioid crisis becomes clearer, it can be easy to become overwhelmed by what seems like an insurmountable challenge. But one city found a way to confront that hopelessness. Now others are following suit. 

Women in Zanzibar have been particularly affected by climate change, echoing a global trend. But their case illustrates another truism: Women are key to combating it, too.

Legends of elves and gnomes and other Norse-based mythology may make for delightful reading. But they reflect a fairly narrow band of cultural influences. That appears to be changing.

America’s faith in the ability of those in prison to redeem themselves often ebbs and flows based on which political party is in charge of law enforcement. So it is with some surprise that the US House of Representatives appears ready to pass a bipartisan bill that would improve rehabilitation programs in federal prisons, better preparing inmates for a crime-free life and a possible reduction of their time behind bars.

Support of the bill by both Democrats and Republicans may be a result of recent reforms in many states, such as Texas and Georgia, that have helped ex-convicts develop life skills for reintegrating into a community – the kind of reforms that many experts attribute in part to the nation’s lower crime rate in recent decades.

The bill, known as the First Step Act, calls for the Bureau of Prisons to create individual plans for all people incarcerated in federal prisons to participate in education, job training, and other programs. Inmates could be assigned to prisons closer to their families. And those about to leave prison would be given help in setting up banking accounts and obtaining IDs. Those who participate in such efforts might be offered halfway houses or home confinement for the final part of their sentence.

In short, the plan relies on the idea that individuals, no matter what their past crimes, are capable of making a choice between right and wrong if given the right support.

In early May, the measure was approved by the Judiciary Committee by a 25-to-5 vote. And President Trump says he is eager to sign the measure. “When we talk about our national program to hire American, this must include helping millions of former inmates get back into the workforce as gainfully employed citizens,” Mr. Trump stated last week. “America is a nation that believes in the power of redemption.”

The bill’s future in the Senate remains unclear. It could be changed, better funded than the House’s $50 million goal, or perhaps twinned with a pending bill on reform of sentencing guidelines.

At the least, the political momentum in Washington seems to be toward giving inmates a second chance by offering better incentives to adopt a higher sense of themselves and their possibilities. Part of the concept of freedom in the United States is the freedom of individuals to know what is good – and choose it.