Ari Shapiro

Ari Shapiro reports on the White House for NPR with a focus on national security and legal affairs. His stories appear on all of NPR's newsmagazines, including All Things Considered and Morning Edition, where he is also a frequent guest host. Shapiro began covering the White House in 2010 after five years as NPR's Justice Correspondent, during which time his coverage of Justice Department policies and controversies chronicled one of the most tumultuous periods in the department's history.

The first NPR reporter to be promoted to correspondent before age 30, Shapiro has been recognized with several journalism prizes, including The American Bar Association's Silver Gavel for his coverage of prisoners lost in Louisiana's detention system after Hurricane Katrina; The Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize for his investigation of methamphetamine use and HIV transmission; the Columbia Journalism Review's "laurel" recognition of his investigation into disability benefits for injured veterans; and the American Judges' Association's American Gavel for a body of work reporting on courts and the justice system. He has appeared as a guest analyst on television news programs including The NewsHour, The Rachel Maddow Show and CNN Newsroom.

Shapiro is based in Washington, D.C., where, as NPR's Justice Correspondent, he covered some of the most significant court cases in recent history, including Supreme Court rulings on Guantanamo detainees, the perjury trial of top White House official Lewis "Scooter" Libby and the fraud trial of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. He has also broken stories about the government's evolving approach to counterterrorism, detention and interrogation policies. He investigated abuses of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and covered the legal proceedings against American soldiers accused of those abuses.

Before covering the Justice Department, Shapiro was NPR's regional reporter in Atlanta and then in Miami. In 2003, he was an NPR reporting fellow at WBUR in Boston.

Shapiro is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale. He began his journalism career in 2001 in the office of NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg. Shapiro was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and grew up in Portland, Oregon.

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U.S.
2:04 am
Thu March 21, 2013

As Gay Marriage Heads To Court, A Look Back At The Bumpy Ride

Originally published on Thu March 21, 2013 3:28 pm

Gays and lesbians have adopted the phrase "it gets better" as a kind of slogan to assure young people that life won't always be so tough.

Looking back, life has gotten dramatically better for LGBT people in the United States in a very short period of time. The modern gay rights movement began less than 50 years ago. Today, supporters of same-sex marriage outnumber opponents.

Now, the Supreme Court is about to hear two big cases that could shift the landscape for gay rights again.

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It's All Politics
3:38 pm
Mon March 11, 2013

Obama Team Stops Saying 'Global War On Terror' But Doesn't Stop Waging It

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Standing in front of the Constitution, President Obama delivers an address on national security and terrorism in 2009 at the National Archives in Washington.

Originally published on Mon March 11, 2013 4:36 pm

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush often made a provocative claim: He argued that the U.S. was fighting a war without a typical battlefield. In effect, he said, this war is everywhere.

"Our enemies make no distinction based on borders," he said in a 2007 speech in Michigan. "They view the world as a giant battlefield and will strike wherever they can."

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It's All Politics
2:27 am
Tue February 26, 2013

Loaded Words: How Language Shapes The Gun Debate

Credit Matt Rourke / AP
Advocates for and against stronger gun laws demonstrate in the Pennsylvania Capitol on Jan. 23 in Harrisburg, Pa.

Originally published on Tue February 26, 2013 8:44 am

The country has been debating gun regulations for months. Later this week, a Senate committee will start work on various proposals, including a background check on every gun sale and a ban on assault weapons.

But this debate over guns goes beyond disagreements about policy. Advocates on both sides quite literally disagree on the terms of the discussion — as in, the words they use to describe it.

Ask "gun control advocates" to describe what this debate is about, and they'll say "control" really isn't the word they prefer.

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It's All Politics
3:47 pm
Wed February 20, 2013

Republicans Make 'Benghazi' A Frequent Refrain

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., confer at the start of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week on the appointments of military leaders. McCain and Graham have been among the Republicans pushing the Obama administration for answers about the Benghazi attack.

Originally published on Thu February 21, 2013 5:02 pm

The White House hopes the Senate will confirm Chuck Hagel next week as defense secretary.

Republicans delayed the vote for the same reason they scuttled Susan Rice's bid to be secretary of state: Benghazi.

The attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last September killed four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya. And Benghazi has since become a rallying cry for Republicans.

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It's All Politics
2:18 am
Thu January 31, 2013

Cabinet Picks Show A Shift In How U.S. Wages War

Credit Alex Wong / Getty Images
President Obama shakes hands with his nominee to head the Defense Department, former Sen. Chuck Hagel, at the White House on Jan. 7. John Brennan, Obama's choice for director of the CIA, looks on.

Originally published on Thu January 31, 2013 7:34 am

Chuck Hagel, who spent more than a decade in the Senate asking witnesses questions at hearings, will be the one answering them Thursday as his confirmation hearing to be secretary of defense begins.

His hearing follows that of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who was confirmed this week to be secretary of state.

Kerry and Hagel have a prominent biographical detail in common: service in Vietnam.

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